The Year's Best Australian Fantasy and Horror 2010 (volume 1)

by Paul Haines

  The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy & Horror

  ~ 2010~

  The First Annual Collection

  for

  Helen Grzyb

  (L.G.)

  Olive Dean Egan

  (T.H.)

  The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy & Horror 2010

  edited by Liz Grzyb & Talie Helene

  Published by Ticonderoga Publications

  Copyright (c) 2011 Liz Grzyb & Talie Helene

  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise) without the express prior written permission of the copyright holder concerned. The acknowledgements constitute an extension of this copyright page.

  Introduction copyright (c) 2011 Liz Grzyb & Talie Helene

  “The Year in Fantasy” copyright (c) 2011 Liz Grzyb

  “The Year in Horror” copyright (c) 2011 Talie Helene

  Cover “The Fortress” by Yaroslav Gerzhedovich

  A Cataloging-in-Publications entry for this title is available from The National Library of Australia.

  ISBN 978–0–9807813–8–0 (hardcover)

  978–0–9807813–9–7 (trade paperback)

  978-1-921857-98-0 (ebook)

  Ticonderoga Publications

  PO Box 29 Greenwood

  Western Australia 6924

  Australia

  www.ticonderogapublications.com

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  Contents

  The Year In Review, Liz Grzyb & Talie Helene

  After The Jump, Felicity Dowker

  L’esprit de L’escalier, Peter M Ball

  That Girl, Kaaron Warren

  Walker, Dirk Flinthart

  The Bone Mother, Angela Slatter

  Children’s Story, Bob Franklin

  Night Shift, Dale Elvy

  Manifest Destiny, Janeen Webb

  Hive, Stephen M Irwin

  Acception, Tessa Kum

  Brave Face, Pete Kempshall

  Home, Martin Livings

  Soil From My Fingers, Lisa L Hannett

  Feast Or Famine, Gary Kemble

  Johnny & Babushka, R J Astruc

  Schubert By Candlelight, Matthew Chrulew

  Slow Cookin’, Angela Rega

  The School Bus, Jason Fischer

  The King’s Accord, Alan Baxter

  Dark Rendezvous, Simon Petrie

  A Sweet Story, Gitte Christensen

  A Pearling Tale, Maxine McArthur

  White Crocodile Jazz, Ben Peek

  Anne-Droid Of Green Gables, Lezli Robyn

  Ghia Likes Food, Bill Congreve

  Lovers In Caeli-Amur, Rjurik Davidson

  The Memory Of Water, Andrew J McKiernan

  Wood, Grant Stone

  She Said, Kirstyn McDermott

  Where We Go To Be Made Lighter, Christopher Green

  Mirror, Jenny Blackford

  High Tide At Hot Water Beach, Paul Haines

  The February Dragon, Angela Slatter & Lisa L Hannett

  About The Contributors

  Recommended Reading List

  Australian & New Zealand Fantasy & Horror Awards

  About The Editors

  Acknowledgements

  The Year In Review

  Liz Grzyb & Talie Helene

  The Year In Fantasy

  2010 was a great year for Australian fantasy. The Worldcon held in Melbourne served as an impetus for many publishers, both large and small, to focus on Australian and New Zealander speculative fiction. Several hundred stories in all subgenres of fantasy were published in 2010, contained in Australasian and international magazines, webzines, anthologies and collections. These were complemented by a wide range of novels reaching from dark and urban fantasy, paranormal romance to high fantasy and steampunk.

  It was fantastic to see Australians being published in a range of international publications such as Lezli Robyn in IDW’s Classics Mutilated anthology, Peter M Ball appearing in Apex Magazine, and Jason Fischer in the Writers of the Future competition and anthology. Lisa L Hannett had a productive year, appearing in the Tesseracts 14 anthology, joining Angela Slatter in having work published in Ann & Jeff VanderMeer’s Steampunk Reloaded anthology, and selling a story to Weird Tales magazine alongside Aidan Doyle, among others.

  Australians also featured prominently in worldwide awards, such as Shaun Tan’s Oscar for The Lost Thing short film; Tansy Rayner Roberts’ novella Siren Beat won the Washington SF Association’s Small Press Award this year; and World Fantasy Awards went to Margo Lanagan for her novella “Sea Hearts”, published in coeur de lion’s X6 anthology, and to Jonathan Strahan for his anthology editing work. Strahan was also nominated for his science fiction and fantasy anthology Eclipse Three from Night Shade Books.

  Tansy Rayner Roberts continued her excellent year by winning an Australia Council grant to write her next novel, an urban fantasy called Fury.

  Recommended novels

  The first two instalments of Trent Jamieson’s Death Works series were published by Hachette Orbit this year, and are unmissable. Death Most Definite is the first, introducing anti-hero Steven de Selby and his family business Mortmax. They are responsible for simplifying Australian deaths and “pomping”, processing their souls. Managing Death, the second in the series, is another gritty take on urban fantasy with a very Australian flavour.

  Juliet Marillier’s Heart’s Blood is a wonderful high fantasy novel published by Pan Macmillan this year, that will become a classic. Loosely structured around my favourite fairytale Beauty and the Beast, Heart’s Blood tells a tale of adventure and love, while exploring ideas about loyalty, mental illness, and how women can forge their own way in a patriarchal world.

  Feisty characters, steamy romance, danger and magic in an Australian setting: what more could any paranormal/urban fantasy fan want? Secret Ones is the first novel in Nicole Murphy’s Dream of Asarlai series from Harper Voyager about the Gadda, an almost-human race of magic users.

  Power and Majesty is Tansy Rayner Roberts’ first instalment in her Creature Court series released by Harper Voyager, telling of power struggles of a group of beings augmented with “animor”, animal spirits. It is a page-turner of a novel which overlays compelling reality and relationships with the fantastic.

  Other notable novels

  The big international publishers continued to play a large part in the Australian fantasy world this year, with Hachette and Harper Collins releasing many fantasy novels, as well as many titles from smaller publishers and independent press.

  Some notable fantasy titles from Harper Collins include: Anita Bell’s science fiction/fantasy novel Diamond Eyes; Trudi Canavan’s first novel in the Traitor Spy series, Ambassador’s Mission; Kylie Chan’s first two novels in the Journey to Wudang series, Hell to Heaven and Earth to Hell. Sara Douglass concluded her DarkGlass Mountain trilogy with The Infinity Gate; Will Elliott released Pilgrims; Kim Falconer finished her Quantum Enchantment trilogy with Strange Attractors, and started her new trilogy Quantum Encryption with Path of the Stray. Traci Harding began her scifi/fantasy Triad of the Being series with Being of the Field and Universe Parallel; Glenda Larke continued her Watergivers series with Stormlord Rising; Duncan Lay continued his Dragon Sword Histories series with The Risen Queen and The Radiant Child. Bevan McGuinness began a new The Ele
ven Kingdoms series with Slave of Sondelle; Fiona McIntosh completed the Valisar trilogy with King’s Wrath; Karen Miller released the second in her Fisherman’s Children series, The Reluctant Mage and the third in the Rogue Agent series, Wizard Squared, under her nom de plume K E Mills. K J Taylor released books two and three of the Fallen Moon series, Griffin’s Flight and Griffin’s War; and Mary Victoria began her Chronicles of the Tree series with Tymon’s Flight.

  Notables from Hachette Group include: Sam Bowring’s Broken Well trilogy books two and three, Destiny’s Rift and Soul’s Reckoning; Joel Shepherd’s fourth book in his A Trial of Blood and Steel series, Haven; Nalini Singh’s continuation of her Guild Hunter series with a reissue of Angels’ Blood and Archangel’s Kiss. Singh’s Psy/Changeling series was previously published in the USA, but was first released in Australia this year, including Slave To Sensation, Visions of Heat, and Caressed By Ice.

  Pan Macmillan released two novels from Juliet Marillier this year: the previously mentioned Heart’s Blood and a continuation of the Sevenwaters series, Seer of Sevenwaters. Lara Morgan also continued her Twins of Saranthium series with Betrayal.

  Random House published a couple of Australian young adult fantasy novels this year, Ben Chandler’s Quillblade, and Michael Pryor’s Moment of Truth.

  Other publishers who brought out fantasy titles from Australian authors include Solaris Books who released three volumes of Rowena Cory Daniells’ King Rolen’s Kin series: The King’s Bastard, The Uncrowned King, and The Usurper. Allen & Unwin brought out Deborah Kalin’s Shadow Bound and Berkley Heat (Penguin) published Christina Phillips’ paranormal romance Forbidden.

  Australian independent presses have brought out some interesting books this year, such as Twelfth Planet Press publishing Peter M Ball’s fantasy/horror novella Bleed and the fantasy and science fiction novelette duo The Company Articles of Edward Teach by Thoraiya Dyer and Matthew Chrulew’s The Angælien Apocalypse. Anne Hamilton published Many Coloured Realm through Wombat Books, and Davenport Creative released Virginia Higgins’ young adult novel Faerytale. Clouds of Magellan published G L Osborne’s Come Inside, and Interactive Publications brought out Jess Webster’s The Secret Stealer: A Grand History of the Curse and its Accursees, Volume 267: James Winchester IV. US small press Jupiter Gardens Press published Sylvia Kelso’s Source.

  Some notable self-published novels for the year are Reece Hauxby’s Justin Gale Deals With Death, Andrea K. Höst’s novels The Silence of Medair and Champion Of The Rose, and Robert N Stephenson’s Uttuku.

  Anthologies

  Independent presses brought out some great themed anthologies this year. For an overview of fantastic New Zealand speculative fiction taking a new look at the country and the world, you cannot go past Random Static’s A Foreign Country edited by Anna Caro and Juliet Buchanan. From Australian independent presses we recommend: Ticonderoga Publications’ Belong edited by Russell B Farr which takes a look at the search for home and belonging; Twelfth Planet Press’ Sprawl, edited by Alisa Krasnostein, which reinvents Australian sub-urban fantasy; and Baggage, Eneit Press’ final anthology, edited by Gillian Polack, exploring Australia’s cultural baggage.

  If you were to buy one anthology from the big publishing houses this year, it should be the aptly named Legends of Australian Fantasy edited by Jack Dann and Jonathan Strahan, published by HarperCollins. Between the covers lie stories from such greats as Isobelle Carmody, Juliet Marillier, Trudi Canavan and Kim Wilkins.

  Jonathan Strahan has had a very busy year with fantasy anthologies. In addition to Legends of Australian Fantasy, he also edited Swords and Dark Magic with Lou Anders for Harper Eos, Wings of Fire with Marianne S Jablon for Nightshade Books, and Subterranean Magazine Spring 2010 for Subterranean Press.

  Other anthologies of note published this year include: Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier’s Zombies Vs Unicorns from Allen & Unwin; The Year’s Best Australian SF & Fantasy, edited by Bill Congreve (Mirrordanse Books); The Phantom Queen Awakes edited by Mark S Deniz and Amanda Pillar, published by Morrigan Books; Ticonderoga Publications’ Scary Kisses edited by Liz Grzyb; Chris Lynch’s The Tangled Bank; Love, Wonder & Evolution from Tangled Bank Press; new press Fablecroft Publications’ young adult anthology Worlds Next Door and reprint anthology Australis Imaginarium edited by Tehani Wessely; and the Romance Writers of Australia yearly anthology Little Gems: Topaz which contains some urban fantasy and paranormal content amongst the romance stories.

  Collections

  Again, it is the independent presses who made a strong showing in single-author collections in 2010. PS Publishing in the UK brought out Rjurik Davidson’s Library of Forgotten Books, a collection of his novella-length works. Twelfth Planet Press brought out Marianne de Pierres’ linked series of fantasy stories in the beautifully packaged Glitter Rose. Subterranean Press published Terry Dowling’s Amberjack: Tales of Fear & Wonder, with a starred review from Publishers Weekly. Simon Petrie’s Rare Unsigned Copy: Tales Of Rocketry, Ineptitude, and Giant Mutant Vegetables was published by Peggy Bright Books. Angela Slatter had two collections of shadowy fairy tales published: the excellent The Girl With No Hands and other tales from Ticonderoga Publications and the similarly delicious Sourdough and other stories from Tartarus Press in the UK. Ticonderoga also published the darkly fantastic Dead Sea Fruit from Kaaron Warren.

  Magazines/Ezines

  Those who like their short fiction in periodical form were blessed with many publications to choose from, in both print and webzine format: Andromeda Spaceways In-flight Magazine is available in both print and pdf format; Aurealis Magazine is available in print; Orb Speculative Fiction, a print magazine, released Issue #8, a Greatest Hits collection of 29 of their stories. Antipodean SF, Moonlight Tuber, Semaphore Magazine and Ticon4.com are all free webzines that published Australian fantasy this year.

  Podcasts

  Podcasts seem to be the new big thing, with many new podcasts available discussing Australasian speculative fiction, including: Alisa Krasnostein, Tansy Rayner Roberts, and Alex Pierce’s Galactic Suburbia; Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond’s The Writer and the Critic; Ion Newcombe’s Antipodean SF Radio Show; The Terra Incognita Podcast from Keith Stevenson; The Bad Film Diaries Podcast from Grant Watson; and Gary K Wolfe & Jonathan Strahan’s The Coode Street Podcast.

  Other Media

  2010 was definitely dominated by Shaun Tan, as his short film The Lost Thing was released to thunderous acclaim from all, including the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He also produced The Bird King, a picture book from Windy Hollow Books, and Eric, a small picture book telling an excerpted story from Tales from Outer Suburbia, from Allen & Unwin.

  The Year In Horror

  Aussiecon 4 (Worldcon), held in Melbourne in September 2010, provided a focus for writers and publishers to connect with a fan base on a larger than usual scale, and the breadth of the horror stream curated by Kyla Ward was an excellent showcase of the genre. Notable events included the launch of Macabre with a rockstar reading line-up, the AHWA Nightmare Ball, and the panel discussion Directions in Australian Horror featuring Stuart Mayne, Honey Brown, Trent Jamieson, Bill Congreve, and Angela Slatter.

  The Australian Horror Writers Association (AHWA) annual general meeting was held at Aussiecon 4. A new committee was elected, including Leigh Blackmore taking role of president, and Geoff Brown vice president. At this time, the HorrorScope webzine ended its partnership with the AHWA as official news provider. Chuck McKenzie launched NecroScope as a zombie review sub-site of HorrorScope.

  The US Horror Writers Association announced a non-professional Supporting Membership with reduced rates. Supporting members are eligible to recommend works for the Bram Stoker Award, and receive discounted prices to the Stoker Award Weekend, receive the HWA’s monthly newsletter and get limited access to the message board.

  Novels

  Van Badham’s Burnt Snow (Pan Macmillan), the first in a YA trilogy about witches, follows the tribulations of a teen
witch battling through Year 11 at a NSW Central Coast highschool. John Birmingham’s post-apocalyptic adventure After America was published by Pan Macmillan Australia. Sue Bursztynski’s Wolf Born (Woolshed Press) is a medieval romance about werewolves. David Conyers’ Cthulhu mythos novella The Eye of Infinity was released as a chapbook on Halloween by US publisher Perilous Press. Terry Dowling’s Clowns At Midnight (PS Publishing) follows a writer on retreat from a clown phobia, who discovers strange artifacts in rural New South Wales. Anna Dusk’s debut novel In-Human (Transit Lounge) explored the erotic werewolf archetype using unconventional literary devices.

  Kirsty Eagar’s debut Saltwater Vampires (Penguin) is a YA riffing on vampires, surfer girls, and rock music. Poison Kissed (St. Martin’s Press), third installment in the Shadowfae Chronicles by Erica Hayes, tells of a gang enforcer banshee who suspects her snake-shifter gang boss of her mother’s murder. Trent Jamieson’s Death Most Definite (Orbit), the first installment in the Death Works series, follows a psychopomp employed to dispatch zombies and demons, who must fight for his own survival. Brett McBean’s The Garbage Man crime/horror series kicked off with Dirty Laundry.

  Kirstyn McDermott’s stunning debut novel Madigan Mine (Picador) entwines doomed romance with occult obsession and possession, and traverses Melbourne, Berlin and Ireland. Foz Meadows debut Solace & Grief (Ford Street) is an introspective YA vampire novel, with a vampire foster child coming into her powers. Tara Moss cat-walked into the realm of the paranormal with The Blood Countess (Pan Macmillan), the first Pandora English novel; an aspiring clairvoyant fashionista in New York takes on a vampire conspiracy in the cosmetics industry.