Sir Julius Vogel Award Nominations - 2013

http://helenlowe.info/blog/2012/01/29/guest-post-simon-
litton-june-young-discuss-their-approach-to-reading-
nominating-for-the-sir-julius-vogel-awards/

http://www.concatenation.org/conrev/unconventional2012.html

http://www.sffanz.org.nz/reviews/reviewdocs/timeless.shtml 

(Nominations are numbered because otherwise the text of the descriptions of each nominee may make it hard to determine where each entry begins and ends -- the number has no other significance).

Garth Lawless is a new writer living in Tauranga, in the sunny Bay of Plenty in New Zealand along with his beautiful Trish and their two "children" Moolu and Popcorn (teacup poodles). His daughter, Daisy is off having adventures of her own.

Guardians of the Shimmer: DreamTime is his first ever published novel. There are two more books planned in this sequence, and he has three more series in his head based on characters in these books. Garth loves to read, devouring everything he can get his hands on (although chicklit is the garlic to his vampire).

Also in the pipeline is a series of children's illustrated books in conjunction with a talented Tauranga artist, Joyce van der Lely, the creator of the cover art for the Guardians of the Shimmer series. His favourite sport is Skydiving and he is currently learning kite-boarding (for when it gets too windy to throw himself out of a perfectly good airplane).

Further info can be gleaned on the web, but mainly on his Facebook page: GuardiansoftheShimmer

Adam Christopher is the pen name of Adam Christopher McGechan. Adam was born in Auckland in 1978, and just seven years later discovered the first love of his live – Doctor Who. Adam joined the New Zealand Doctor Who Fan Club in 1990, and after more than a decade of contributions to the club’s fanzine, TSV, he became its editor in 2003. In 2010 TSV tied with Phoenixine to win the Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best Fan Publication.

In late 2006, Adam moved to the North West of England, where he now resides.

Adam’s debut novel, Empire State, was published by the UK-based imprint Angry Robot Books in January 2012, and was followed by Seven Wonders in September the same year. A sequel to Empire State, The Age Atomic, was published in April 2013, and Adam’s fourth novel for this publisher, Hang Wire, will be published in January 2014. This will be followed, in March 2014, by The Burning Dark, Adam’s first novel for the US-based publisher Tor Books.

A comics fanatic, Adam’s first published work in this form came in April 2013 with The Sentinel, on ongoing serialized adventure, part of the VS Comics digital anthology series. Adam’s home on the web is at http://www.adamchristopher.co.uk and he can be found on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ghostfinder

Matt & Debbie Cowens are the co-authors of Mansfield with Monsters (Steam Press 2012) and Steam Pressed Shorts (2012). They also contributed to the collaborative horror novel The Event.

Debbie is the author of “Upon a Star” (Wily Writers), “The Truth about Dragons” (Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine Issue #50), “The Delightful Maiden” (Tales for Canterbury), “Losing Nemo” (School Journal), “The Show of Wondrous Creatures” (Prinkipria), “The Death Meter” and “No Smoke without Fire” (Every Day Fiction), “A Final Glimpse of Light and Dark” (Shades of Sentience), “Beauty and the Old Maid” (Enchanted Conversation) and “The Maze” (Supernatural Fairy Tales).

Matt is the author of “Shore Leave” (Tales for Canterbury), “No Hidden Costs” (Future is a Foreign Country), “The Tunnel” (Wily Writers), “Minor Rampage”, “Fire Safety” and “Dead Weight” (Every Day Fiction), “Waste Not” (AntiSF), “Murray the Sex Machine” (Shades of Sentience) and “Solomon's Pearls” (Bluewood Publishing).

Matt has drawn cover art for Steam Pressed Shorts and the Drabblecast.

Matt has also recorded numerous podcast narrations of short stories including “Post-Flesh” and “King Rat” (Star Ship Sofa), A Foreign Country Podcast Promo Podcast, “The Spectre Bride by William Harrison Ainsworth” (Librivox) and more than 20 stories for Every Day Fiction.

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I would like to nominate Debbie and Matt Cowens in the category of Best New Talent.

A list of the SF/F works they have been involved with in recent years includes:

Mansfield with Monsters (Anthology)

Steam Pressed Shorts (Anthology)

Cover art - Steam Pressed Shorts

Cover art - On Dasher

Cover art - A Little Black Death

“Shore Leave” - Short Story in Tales for Canterbury

“No Hidden Costs” - Short Story in Future is a Foreign Country

“The Tunnel” - Short Story on Wily Writers

“Minor Rampage” - Short Story on Every Day Fiction

“Fire Safety” - Short Story on Every Day Fiction

“Waste Not” - Short Story on AntiSF

“Dead Weight” - Short Story on Every Day Fiction

The Event - Collaborative Novel

“Murray the Sex Machine” - Short Story on Shades of Sentience Anthology

“Solomon's Pearls” - Short Story from Bluewood Publishing

Post-Flesh and King Rat (Star Ship Sofa) - podcast narration

Solomon's Pearls Podcast

A Foreign Country Podcast Promo Podcast

A Final Glimpse of Light and Dark written by Debbie Cowens read by Matt Cowens Podcast

The Spectre Bride by William Harrison Ainsworth (podcast)

Lots of Every Day Fiction Podcasts:

EDF043: ONE IN FOUR SHOT written by Mickey Mills

EDF044: THE INVESTIGATION written by Cat Rambo

EDF042 – Tears Of The Android written by J. R. Hume

EDF041 – Chain of Lies written by Catherine Nichols

EDF040 – Blue Collar Boys written by Aaron Polson

EDF039 – Fire Safety written by Matt Cowens

EDF038 – No Smoke Without Fire written by Debbie Cowens

EDF037 – Ophidiophobia written by Deborah Winter-Blood

EDF036 – Snowman written by Shaun Simon

EDF035 – Shakespeare In My Pocket written by David Macpherson

EDF030 – Fodder written by Paul Graham

EDF029 – Building A Sparrow written by Chad Reddent

EDF022 – Telephone Call written by James Bloomfield

EDF020 – Ripples written by Jennifer Campbell-Hicks

EDF018 – Code Mustard written by Chris Allinotte

EDF017 – DEAD WEIGHT written by Matt Cowens

EDF013 – MR. STERNE written by Michael Tracy

EDF009 – The Death Meter by Debbie Cowens

EDF048 - Better Lessons

EDF052 - The Wall

EDF051 - Anarcho Syndicalist Commune

EDF049 - Flowers, Secrets

EDF047 - The Machine

EDF050 - It's a Living

EDF045 - The Last Station

EDF046 - Letter to you after thirteen months

I am a proudly Indie author living in rural Auckland and writing dark Urban Fantasy as full time as I can with a young family. I have previously published non-fiction for children and picture books for pre-schoolers, but have found my writing nirvana in producing action-packed stories of supernatural creatures and their constant fight to balance good and evil, along with a healthy dose of adult-rated romance. My first two full length novels; A Cat's Chance in Hell and All Hell Breaks Loose (Books 1 and 2 in the Hellcat Series), both regularly spend time in Amazon's hotly contested Contemporary Fantasy and Paranormal Romance Top 100 Bestseller Lists and is proving very popular with readers on book-club giant, GoodReads. This Urban Fantasy series has sold over 12,000 copies in the past year and has attracted over 100 Amazon reviews and 350 GoodReads ratings. It has sold everywhere from the US and UK to the Pacific Islands and Australia, as well as locally. The novels are available in all e-book formats as well as paperback from all reputable online bookstores. The 3rd, highly anticipated, instalment in the series is due to be released later in 2013.

I am nominating the author Jane Higgins in the category of Best New Talent.

Jane Higgins very deservedly won the Text Prize in 2010 for her Young Adult (YA) story The Bridge. Having read The Bridge I can see why. The Bridge tells the story of a future dystopia where a city is divided into 2 parts and its occupants are locked in a prolonged military conflict with each other. Divided by a river with multiple bridges to get across, The Bridge tells the story of 2 teenagers who cross one of the bridges to retrieve the kidnapped little brother of one of the teenagers. Told in a way that shows how the other side see the enemy and how the other side sees itself.

I read The Bridge and thoroughly enjoyed the story both as a genre YA novel with action in it and a thinking piece of fiction. Reading this book, the contents do make you think. First there is the mystery of Nik's parents, then there is the "other side", the propaganda and deliberate mis-information perpetuated in a war, religious overtones that influence decisions and finally internal power struggles presented in a way that readers will understand what is going on, but incorporated into a very good, very readable story. One fan I know who reads a lot of genre fiction was of the opinion it was the best NZ YA genre fiction novel he had read in the 2012 year.

Ms Higgins has the background to write credible genre fiction. According to her bio on her website, she a has a degree in mathematics and astronomy, is well-travelled and is now a senior researcher in Social Sciences at Lincoln University. I thought The Bridge subtlety showed her academic and professional background very well. She is also a bit of a genre fan, and respects the science fiction genre in her writing.

The Text Prize is awarded by Text Publishing, an Australian publisher based in Melbourne. The Bridge was published by Text in 2011. It has since been picked up by Tundra Press for the North American market. The Bridge also won an Honour Award in the Young Adult Fiction category of the 2012 NZ Post Children's Book Awards.
http://booksellers.co.nz/awards/new-zealand-post-childrens-
book-awards/2012-Awards

Annette was a full member of the Phoenix Science Fiction Society (the local Wellington science fiction and fantasy club) from 1993 until 2010.

During this time she was Club President from July 1995 to June 1997, July 1999 to June 2000 and again July 2003 to June 2004.

After her final tenure as club president she went on the become Club Secretary from July 2004 - June 2005.

In-between being club president and club secretary she was a Committee member from July 1997 to June 1999, July 2000 to June 2003 and again July 2005 to June 2006. Overall Annette was very involved in the running of the Phoenix Science Fiction Society from 1995 to 2008.

During her time as a member of the Phoenix Science Fiction Society she started the board gaming special interest group in October 1996, and was its principal convener from its inception until May 2008. Conveners run the special interest groups (SIG) of Phoenix on a routine basis and are involved in the overall organisation of the group as a part of Phoenix. Conveners also act as the main contact for the other members of this group, which Annette did very well.

The Board Gaming SIG was and is a very successful part of Phoenix. It attracted new people to the club, as many gamers are also genre fans. It always had a very good turnout, when you consider the total full membership of the Phoenix Science Fiction Society. This was in part due to Annette's efforts and her huge assortment of board games (not war games).

Annette hosted many official Phoenix functions during her time with Phoenix. This included the monthly board gaming held by Phoenix. It also included the monthly Phoenix PIG, so named because it got its start as the Port Ingestion Group. Since then, Phoenix PIG has diversify to a proper supper and social evening for club members and friends. Annette's mid-winter PIGs were always hugely successful as a full range of very good cooking got served. Annette was always a very fine hostess, whether it was board-gaming or general social events. Her social organisation for the club was greatly appreciated. Annette also organised board-gaming afternoons for the very serious board game players in the group. This allowed the hard-core members to learn new games and get introduced to other players not in the club but who may have different games worth knowing about. This enabled a sharing to occur, ensuing that the Phoenix Board SIG stayed fresh as new games got gradually introduced to all the SIG members. It does take time and practice to learn, maybe debate an interpretation of a rule, and then teach a new game to others. This was something Annette always understood and she facilitated it to make sure it occurred.

In-between her activities with the Phoenix Science Fiction Society, Annette was co-chair and prime mover of Con With The Wind, the national science fiction and fantasy convention held in Wellington over Queen's Birthday Weekend in 2002. This was a very successful convention getting something like 200 full and day attendees, and guests from Weta Workshop. One personal memory of this convention was the Lush sponsorship which Annette secured for the convention. Lush do wonderful skin care, soaps and shampoos, as well as a general assortment of toiletries. You might like to think "fans would not be interested in this sort of thing" but I do know this sponsorship resulted in at least 2 long-term regular customers for Lush. It is this creative thinking "outside the square" and hands-on willingness to put it into action that made Annette's contribution valuable and important. http://www.lushnz.com/

Lastly, Annette created and fostered a strong sense of community within the Phoenix Science Fiction Society. This is important for any club. It is what helps retain members.

Mr Minchin launched the small publishing house Steam Press in 2011, with the novel The Prince of Soul and the Lighthouse by Fredrik Brounéus and which has since been sold (under translation) into Germany and the Czech Republic. Since then more titles have been released to critical acclaim, including Mansfield with Monsters, which has gone on to a second edition and Tropic of Skorpeo and Mr Minchin is actively seeking further titles to publish.

The publishing house was established as there was no commercial venue within New Zealand for the release of genre fiction. The ongoing success of Steam Press illustrates the need and worth of this venture.

http://www.steampress.co.nz