Something of great interest to the Galactic Suburbia crew this year was the launch of what is officially known as the Norma K Hemming award, but which we in our podcastly wisdom prefer to affectionately refer to the NAWWWMA (imagine the occerest accent imaginable) because it makes an award feel more iconic to have a one word name. Like the Hugos, or the Ditmars, or Cher.

Whoa, what would you give a Cher Award for? Big hair?

Also, if you called it a ‘Hemming’ for short it might be a touch more dignified, but also renders invisible the fact that it’s named after a woman, something still very rare in our field. ‘Norma’ is hard to miss.

The Norma is designed to mark excellence in the exploration of themes of race, gender, sexuality, class and disability, in speculative fiction works by Australians, or in Australia – the last one being a new addition for the second year of the award. As a longtime Tiptree fangirl, I am excited for us to have our own award to celebrate themes of diversity. I know that it seems at times as if there are so many awards that it’s hardly worth having any more, but something like the Norma has different criteria to something which is more generically looking for the “best” of a given category, and may work to expand people’s definitions of what good speculative fiction actually is.

“Win a Norma” certainly got added to my longlist of career wishes, along with “get nominated for a Tiptree,” “win a Tiptree” and “get to judge the Tiptree.” Like any award, though, it doesn’t matter what pretty rhetoric goes with it, its true significance can’t be seen until you’re a decade in and can look back and see just how interesting a list of winners it is. I look forward to that.

Norma Hemming herself was a fan and writer in the Australian scene. I love this iconic picture of her – more than any other details about her life, this makes me feel like she’s a person I know. After all, you can’t function in fandom without having a killer bitchface scowl, right? Not sure what she’s thinking when the camera snapped, but I like to think it’s something along the lines of “I am so judging you right now.” Or possibly “Where’s my jetpack?”

The 2010 Norma was given posthumously to Maria Quinn for The Gene Thieves (HarperCollins). Entries are now open for the 2011 award (works published in 2010). Anyone can submit works, though the need to supply 4 copies to the judges is probably going to limit nominators to authors and publishers. I always think it’s a bit of a shame to be so rigid about such matters – while you don’t want judges to feel obliged to purchase a lot of material themselves as used to happen in the olden days of Aurealis judging, at the same time I think it’s good if suggestions are encouraged from a wider range of people, and there’s something to be said for hunting and gathering as being an essential part of a judge’s duties…

So what novels or stories would you recommend to be Norma-worthy? I know that my first thoughts go to two stories by Thoraiya Dyer published by Twelfth Planet Press this year – “Yowie” from Sprawl and “Edward Teach” from the new TPP Double. “Teach” in particular has a lot to say about race and culture, and how alienating it can be for a Jewish or Muslim teen growing up in Australia – and that’s before the story gets to all the crunchy genderswapping. I also think that Glitter Rose, particularly the original story “Mama Ailon” would be worth considering, for what it has to say about pregnancy and motherhood. I had to think about this one – certainly in general fiction, dealing with such themes is hardly an exceptional exploration of gender roles, but because female biology is so often ignored or disregarded in fantasy and science fiction, I think it counts. I’d also point out that Angela Slatter’s Sourdough and Other Stories does a great deal to explore gender roles in fairy tales, and particularly to look at the portrayal of female characters in those stories. In novels, Karen Healey’s Guardian of the Dead has lots of crunchy themes of diversity, including a very rare and sympathetic portrayal of an asexual character – the first time I’ve seen this in a YA novel!

I’m sure I’ve missed lots. What else is there?

Some of the more astute among you may have worked out that Alisa Krasnostein is over in Washington DC at the moment, where she just attended the prizegiving ceremony at Capclave. I’m delighted to announce that my story “Siren Beat,” published by Alisa last year, has just won the Washington SF Association Small Press Short Fiction Award.

Not only is this an enormous honour, there is also a trophy! How brilliant is that? I’ve never won a trophy before.

Here is the speech I gave Alisa to read, although apparently there was unlicensed adlibbing and the getting of laughs, so who knows what she actually said! *grins*

(more…)

[direct from the iPad: a drawing by Raeli of Alisa at the TPP dealer's table]

memorable moment: Mondy staring at Aifin after about 10 minutes intense conversation about iPad sleeves and suddenly announcing, “Hang on, are you THE PRODUCER?”

many other memorable moments: Alex, expecting to be completely anonymous at this con, being faced by various people saying “are you ALEX FROM MELBOURNE?”

drink of the convention: the purple daiquiris at the Voyager 15 party.

frocks of the convention: Alex, Alisa & Terri at the Hugos.

book of the convention: THE LITTLE PINK ONE.

You can find a video here of Tony C Smith’s live broadcast of his reaction to the Hugo awards. About 40 mins in, he finds out he won the Best Fanzine for Starship Sofa and explodes with joy. It’s also a nice little visual of what it’s like to be following award ceremonies (as I usually am) via the internet.

Blindmouse’s con report (including a well thought out response to my disastrous female superhero panel)
Random Tangent has some great, detailed reports about panels attended. My favourite of course is Day 3 which refers to my feminism in fantasy panel!
Megan with glorious enthusiasm about her first ever lit panel.
Catherynne Valente documents how it feels to lose a Hugo.
Gary Kemble has gathered some links.
Voyager on the inaugural winner of the Norma K Hemming Award (THE NORMA!!!), Maria Quinn.

Tehani’s con report.
Flinthart’s con report
Mondy on life after Worldcon.

Thanks to Jonathan Strahan for pointing me towards this shortlist on the Capclave blog. Being nominated for an award like this, outside my own country, is super exciting. I really do love Siren Beat, and Alisa, Dion and Amanda did such a fantastic job of producing a beautiful book for it to live in.

Also, how fantastic is it to have an award especially for stories published by small presses?

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The Washington Science Fiction Association is pleased to announce the finalists for the 2010 WSFA Small Press Award for Short Fiction (published in 2009):

“each thing i show you is a piece of my death” by Gemma Files and Stephen J. Barringer, published in Clockwork Phoenix 2, edited by Mike Allen, Norilana Books (July 2009).

“Images of Anna” by Nancy Kress, published in Fantasy Magazine, edited by Cat Rambo (September 2009).

“James and the Dark Grimoire” by Kevin Lauderdale, published in Cthulhu Unbound, edited by Thomas Brannan and John Sunseri, Permuted Press, (March 2009).

“Race to the Moon” by Kyell Gold, published in New Fables, Summer 2009, edited by Tim Susman, Sofawolf Press (July 2009).

“Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast” by Eugie Foster, published in Interzone (January 2009) / Apex Magazine (August 2009), edited by Andy Cox (Interzone)/ Catherynne M. Valente (Apex).

“Siren Beat” by Tansy Rayner Roberts, published in Twelfth Planet Press, edited by Alisa Krasnostein (October 2009).

“The Pirate Captain’s Daughter” by Yoon Ha Lee, published in Beneath Ceaseless Skies Issue #27, 10/08/2009, edited Scott H. Andrews.

“The Very Difficult Diwali of Sub-Inspector Gurushankar Rajaram” by Jeff Soesbe, published in DayBreak Magazine, edited by Jetse de Vries (October 2009).

The award honors the efforts of small press publishers in providing a critical venue for short fiction in the area of speculative fiction. The award showcases the best original short fiction published by small presses in the previous year (2009). An unusual feature of the selection process is that all voting is done with the identity of the author (and publisher) hidden so that the final choice is based solely on the quality of the story.

The winner is chosen by the members of the Washington Science Fiction Association (www.wsfa.org) and will be presented at their annual convention, Capclave (www.capclave.org), held this year on October 22-24th in Rockville, Maryland.

In far more cheerful news, Alisa at Twelfth Planet Press has opened for pre-order sales of SPRAWL, a unique anthology of Australian suburban fantasy which will be released next month (aaargh so soon!) at Aussiecon.

It’s one hell of a line up of awesome local writers, and will be the perfect souvenir of the convention for those attending, and those who will be waving folornly to us from afar. I’ve read almost all of the stories and it’s full of weird and wonderful interpretations of that most mysterious and elusive of Australian settings, the humble suburbs.

And you know, there’s a story by ME in it! I’m very attached to “Relentless Adaptations,” my story inspired by the espresso book machine, the literary mashups trend, and the future of bookselling
.

Sprawl is an exciting new original anthology, edited by Alisa Krasnostein and published by Twelfth Planet Press, that will give readers from around the world a unique glimpse into the strange, dark, and often wondrous magics that fill the days and nights of Australia’s dreaming cities and towns, homes and parks, and most of all, its endlessly stretching suburbs.

Table of Contents

* Liz Argall/Matt Huynh – Seed Dreams (comic)
* Peter Ball – One Saturday Night, With Angel
* Deborah Biancotti – Never Going Home
* Simon Brown – Sweep
* Stephanie Campisi – How to Select a Durian at Footscray Market
* Thoraiya Dyer – Yowie
* Dirk Flinthart – Walker
* Paul Haines – Her Gallant Needs
* L L Hannett – Weightless
* Pete Kempshall – Signature Walk
* Ben Peek – White Crocodile Jazz
* Tansy Rayner Roberts – Relentless Adaptations
* Barbara Robson – Neighbourhood Watch
* Angela Slatter – Brisneyland by Night
* Cat Sparks – All The Love in the World
* Anna Tambour – Gnawer of the Moon Seeks Summit of Paradise
* Kaaron Warren – Loss
* Sean Williams – Parched (poem)

Sprawl will be released in September 2010.

For a sneak peek of some of the stories, don’t forget about the Twelfth Planet Cast which has five of them available as podcasts!

The latest ep of Galactic Suburbia is up now for streaming and direct download.
EDIT: Now available from iTunes too!

In which we discuss girl heroes, boy books, sexy zombies with whips, why proofing makes Alisa’s brain hurt, how many limbs get hacked off in David Eddings novels, and analyse what SF awards actually mean to us.

News
Ditmar nominations now up:
Author Hannah Moskowitz complains at the lack of and treatment of boy characters in YA
Tamora Pierce responds with a discussion of why she writes girl protagonists

What have we been reading/listening to?
Tansy: The King’s Bastard, Rowena Cory Daniells; The Loving Dead by Amelia Beamer.
Listening to: Starship Sofa 142 & 144, Notes from Coode St
Alisa: books she is publishing, including SPRAWL
Alex: the Belgariad, David Eddings. Worlds Next Door, edited by Tehani Wessely.

Pet Subject: SF Awards
The value in awards for writers/publishers/readers.
The value in awards when they become a long-running thing (ie does it mean more to get a Tiptree now that it’s been going for a long time?).
Difference between fan-voted, peer-voted, and judged awards.

Feedback, etc: galacticsuburbia@gmail.com

Just a reminder that you can hear me reading my story Fleshy at Terra Incognita SF.

TISF is a great monthly podcast which asks writers in the Australian spec fic scene to read one of their own stories aloud. The really cute thing is that Keith Stevenson, the mind behind TISF, actually posts a microphone and recording gear to each month’s author! Luckily I was able to assure him we have a microphone, which saved him the postage for one month…

Fleshy is a story I wrote for 2012, the first of the Twelfth Planet Press anthologies – a collection of near future stories. It’s one of the few stories I’ve ever written which I think of as “real” science fiction – it was even inspired by an issue of Cosmos magazine! I think it was two separate articles that sparked off the story – one about cloning technology and another about making art out of body organs. Possibly I am imagining that second article.

“Fleshy” is about a woman whose partner brings home an experiment in cloning technology – which she, living from home, has to live with. It’s a story about ethics in science and in relationships, with plenty of pop culture references in there cos I love them (plus, it being one of my story, tea and biscuits) and it’s kind of icky! It was also the first story I ever had shortlisted in the Aurealis Awards. I’m pretty proud of it, and it was fun to read aloud.

So go have a listen!

Gah, it’s been one of those days. The kind that makes you wish you had the kind of life where staying in bed all day was actually possible. Still, I have the recording of Galactic Suburbia tonight to cheer me up!

Over at the Voyager blog, I talk about my favourite fictional cities, and ask what your favourite SF/fantasy city is!

Someone on my LJ (hello anonymous person!) sent me an awesome link to this great “redesign Wonder Woman’s costume” art contest.

I also found (via @thirtysix on Twitter) a brilliant essay on the incidental misogyny in cyberspace, and the way that gaming businesses have failed their female customers. It’s an incredibly intelligent piece which includes a historical perspective on gaming & female characters in games, from the POV of a woman.

Over at Twelfth Planet Press, Alisa unveils two of the beautiful books she has coming out in time for Worldcon, with design by the ever talented Amanda Rainey: Bleed by Peter M. Ball (the sequel to the hugely successful fantasy noir Horn) and Glitter Rose, a boutique collection by Marianne de Pierres, the queen of Australian science fiction.

I’ve spent the day ripping central chapters out by their roots and replacing a whole bunch of madeyuppy rubbish with saner, cleaner, sexier narrative. It hurts, my brain, it hurts.

So all I can offer in the way of useful bloggage are some good things that other people have been writing:

Tehani interviews Malindo Lo (check out the Fablecroft blog for some other great interviews this week)

Kaaron Warren talks about getting ideas for endings, while Catherynne Valente talks about the importance of the opening paragraph

Why the Dove Movement is bad for your daughters (via Copperbadge/Sam Storyteller)

Stephanie Gunn responds to our latest (tenth!!!) Galactic Suburbia podcast, talking about her early experiences in reading genre.

A powerful post about what it can be like bringing a second baby into your family.

And Alisa has posted her list of Twelfth Planet Press eligible works and eligible artwork for the Ditmars that are currently open for nominations. This is convenient for me because all my eligible stories were published by Twelfth Planet Press!

That is:

“Like Us,” Shiny Issue 5 – short story
“Prosperine When It Sizzles,” New Ceres Nights – short story
Siren Beat – novelette

When my brain is together enough to sift through old recs posts I will put up a list of Australian stuff I liked in 2009! It seems so very long ago, doesn’t it?

In closing, Tehani pointed me at this announcement that 69 year old Wonder Woman has finally been allowed to swap the flag-bearing minidress/shorts for some sensible threads. I’m dubious about the Superman-style alternate version of her backstory, but I do like the mature, Black Canary style costume. And Issue 600 of her monthly comic (amazing what people will do to hang on to a franchise) is definitely something to be celebrated.

Over at the Twelfth Planet Cast you can hear me reading Thoraiya Dyer’s great story “Yowie” from the upcoming anthology sprawl. I read this one when GJ first accepted it, and was delighted to be asked to read it. It’s a beautiful piece that combines a very Australian mythology with the tough side of suburbia and motherhood, and other kinds of family love. One worth reading/listening to more than once!