I knew something weird was going on when my Qantas flight ran on time. AND THEN the crew were friendly and polite. What's with that? (Does Qantas read this blog?)

The charm of the weekend failed to wear off, with the Aurealis Award ceremony being a classy, cheerful & dignified affair.

(No 40-minute self-indulgent speeches starting with the phrase 'I first met J--- back in 1953 or 1954, and here's a real-time account of our ongoing friendship plus a dissertation on how important I've been to his work'. I mean, how does one even KNOW one's at an award ceremony without that marker?!)

(OK, that happened one time, & it wasn't the AAs, but it was very, very boring. It takes years to recover from a trauma like that.)

(That was the same award ceremony where someone in the audience brought an iPod. I offered them the contents of my wallet for a loan. They declined.)

(I am still addressing my issues about that particular award ceremony.)

The AA event last night had a relaxed, welcoming crowd and a genuine bonhomie that couldn't be attributed solely to the open bar. Though the open bar did help.

The highlight of the evening for me would have to be Anna Tambour's beautiful speech (winning for best horror short story). Writers, she said (and I paraphrase), write alone. And to even know your stuff is being read is touching. And to win an award is good.

There was more, but did I mention the open bar?

At some point I won the AA for Best YA Short Story & found myself having to deliver my own speech into the blinding light. I would've assumed the audience had been sucked through the ceiling into oblivion when I stepped under those (blinding) spotlights, but when I thanked Russ B. Farr for editing the antho which had resulted in so many nominees, there was spontaneous applause. So I knew someone was still out there.

I do not like the lights.

John Birmingham, who managed to tick off a generation of fans some years back with a particularly personal interpretation of a local convention he'd attended (that's another story) redeemed himself when collecting Garth Nix's award for best fantasy short story.

Birmo noted that Nix proves it's possible to create great prose & still 'make out like a fucking bandit'.

Sounds like a t-shirt slogan to me. 'Write good prose. Make out like a FUCKING bandit.'

Amongst other highlights, Kate Forsyth celebrated the community by mentioning how many friends she's found here, a humbled David Kowalski & Cat Sparks took out the Golden AAs, Will Elliott assured the crowd he understood what it was like to be in the crowd & NOT win an award you've been nominated for (... 'cos we were all wondering?), Justin Ackroyd bought me scotch (Strath Island, was it, J.? You'll have to remind me one more time), and Terry Dowling was honoured in absentia with the Peter McNamara Convenor's Award.

I met McNamara just once, when he was already extremely ill, but many of us can still feel the footprint he left on the local scene. So the Convenor's Award is always something to watch. And it's marvellous to see Terry celebrated. I'm sure he was chuffed.

Here endeth the infodump.

For winners' list & judges' reports, go here.

Now I'm going to lie down for quite some time.

In a world where magic leaves scars, Katya the witch has a pretty collection. When jilted Leida wants revenge on Tarakh, the cut is more than skin deep.

Hee hee! So reads the teaser for my story, A Scar for Leida, in the Ticonderoga productions the Fantastic Wonder Stories.

Hell, if you don't like the story, just go back & read the teaser over & again.

At HorrorScope, Fantastic Wonder Stories gets a rave review from Stephanie Gunn. Of my story:

Deborah Biancotti’s “A Scar for Leida” is one of the other standouts of this volume. Masterfully written, this story is worth the price of the anthology on its own. Biancotti’s words shine.

Hurrah! Gunn's review of the stories is generous enough to make for another page of teasers. :)

Kudos to all the authors, and to the editor: Farr should be proud of himself for collecting such an eclectic group of stories.

Curious? Buy the book!