Mags, Books, Writers, Awards

Christmas is coming, and with it a bit of extra work for some Sydney magazines who need the additional manpower over the festive season (to make their deadlines early and so get a little bit of time off for turkey and presents).

The extra hours mean my creative writing will obvously slow down a little, but in the meantime there's a spot of good news on that front too. I got word over the weekend from the editors of an upcoming anthology that the story I submitted at the end of last month has been accepted. Much as I'd like to rattle on about the book, I'll wait until there's been an official announcement about the contents. When that comes I can do all the exciting things like posting a list of authors and pictures of the cover. Until then, I'm just waiting on an email from the eds about tweaks, polishes and rewrites.

In other news, my writer mate Mondy has been in town for a wedding, and I popped out to meet him down the pub last night. A few familiar faces from Swancon also turned up to the catch up, and continued to initiate me into the names and antics of several players on the West Australian sci-fi writing scene. I absorbed as much as I could, but often there was just too much information - which again suggests I need to spend less time at the keyboard and more time getting out and meeting people.

Lastly huge congratulations to Rob Shearman for taking out a World Fantasy Award for his short story collection Tiny Deaths. There aren't superlatives enough to describe how good it is, so if you haven't read it yet, read it now. No excuses.