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The Aurealis Award shortlists have been announced, & winners will be made public at a presentation on 12-May at North Sydney’s Independent Theatre. You can still get tickets to the event (catered – and with booze!) at the Aurealis Awards website. It was a record-breaking year for entries in most sections, I hear. It definitely was for the category I was judging: we practically tripled last year’s number of entries.

I’m very proud that BAD POWER from Twelfth Planet Press made the shortlist for Best Collection amidst a strong field of contenders – Paul Haines, Sue Isle, Lisa L. Hannett and Tansy Rayner Roberts – & a big year for collections overall. BAD POWER can be purchased in print or ePub at the Twelfth Planet Press online shop & all good bookshops.

I’m *also* proud to see Gilgamesh Press’s ISHTAR novella anthology in the Best Anthology section. ISHTAR was recently reviewed at the awesome Thirteen O’Clock website: “This collection is a bold and clever book, with three writers taking very old stories and breathing new life into them. The Ishtar mythology on which the stories are based is renewed by the words of these three.”

ISHTAR is available for Kindle for only a few bucks, & is available in other formats on the Gilgamesh Press shop. The print release should be available soonish, too.

ISHTAR contains my first novella – a form I’m finding myself quickly addicted to, alas (‘cos, where can I send ‘em for publication, they are quite long??), which I kinda tongue-in-cheek called “And the Dead Shall Outnumber the Living”, a reference to a particular piece of Ishtar mythology I came across during my research. To my delight, “And the Dead…” is also up for an Aurealis Award in the category of Best Horror Short Story. There I am again, alongside Paul Haines & Lisa L. Hannett, Margo Lanagan & Angela Slatter. Such awesome company.

Give-away #1: If you’re interested in reading my AA-shortlisted novella – set in modern day Sydney, in present tense, as Detective Garner investigates the strange & terrible deaths of male prostitutes on her beat, which leads her eventually to confront the very goddess Ishtar herself – email me at rous AT deborahbiancotti.net for a PDF of the novella.

I’m mad keen for people to read my story, ‘cos I’m not sure I’ve ever had so much fun writing anything, ever. Go on, send an email or drop your email address into the comments for a free PDF. Hopefully it will even whet your appetites to buy the whole AA-nominated anthology so you can read the awesome ISHTAR novellas by Kaaron Warren & Cat Sparks.

Give-away #2: If you’d like a chance to win a print copy of either ISHTAR or BAD POWER (your choice!), answer this question in the comments: who’s your favourite fictional woman, & what makes her so awesome?

And finally, as convenor of the Illustrated Book/Graphic Novels category, I’m very, VERY proud of the shortlist Andy Buchanan, Zoe Wadsworth & myself put together of 5 strong, remarkable works from a field of 23 entries this year. They are all wonderful & you should read them all & support our burgeoning local graphic novel industry:

“Hidden” by Mirranda Burton (author and illustrator ) (Black Pepper)
“Torn” by Andrew Constant (author) and Joh James (illustrator ), additional illustrators Nicola Scott, Emily Smith (Gestalt Publishing)
“Salsa Invertebraxa” by Mozchops (author and illustrator) (Pecksniff Press)
“The Eldritch Kid: Whiskey and Hate” by Christian Read (author) and Michael Maier (illustrator) (Gestalt Publishing)
“The Deep: Here be Dragons” by Tom Taylor (author) and James Brouwer (illustrator) (Gestalt Publishing)

Read the full list of shortlistees in the Press Release.

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