Australian Speculative Fiction Carnival

It's been a busy month!

For a start, we had the Aurealis Awards, the It Affair of the Aus Spec Fic Calendar (and still no news I believe on who is going to try to measure up to the grand, black tie productions brought to us by Fantastic Queensland). The winners are listed here.

Attendees at the AAs included Angela Slatter, Cat Sparks, Karen Miller, Scott Westerfeld, Robbie Matthews, Kaaron Warren, Ben Payne, Paul Haines (I, II), Deborah Biancotti, Donna Maree Hanson and Jason Fischer. Jonathan Strahan, like many of us, had to stay home and follow the excitement via Twitter. Thank goodness for ScottW's fashion tweets.

Elsewhere on the internet:

Justine Larbalestier on Unsung YA and the Most Influential YA of the Decade. Charles Tan interviews Angela Slatter.

Girlie Jones announced the final issue of YA ezine Shiny is available for sale. Talie Helene discusses Women in Horror month. Trent Jamieson has upped stakes to a new blog.

Ticonderoga Publications announced collections by Kaaron Warren and Angela Slatter, to be out by Aussiecon 4. Cat Sparks announces her own collection, The Bride Price, is to be published by Orb Publications, also for Aussiecon 4.

Tansy Rayner Roberts discusses the latest Bloomsbury cover racefail, and links to some of the best posts about Amazon v. Macmillan (I, II). Alan Baxter on the release of the iPad and what it means for e-books. Mondyboy on Amazon, Macmillan, the iPad and e-books. Karen Miller on e-book pricing.

Strange Horizons reviewed A Book of Endings by Deborah Biancotti and Eclipse 3, the Aurealis Award-winning anthology edited by Jonathan Strahan.

Hugo-pimping & promotional freebies from Paul Haines and Twelfth Planet Press. Robert Hoge starts the Homegrown Hugo Nomination campaign to get Australians on the Hugo ballot (I, II). TansyRR discusses "Wives" and some other great candidates for the Hugo ballot. [comment to the carnival with your own recs!]

Nominations are now open for the Tin Ducks, and membership of DudCon will give you voting rights in the Ditmars. HorrorScope discusses the number of Australians on the Bram Stoker longlist. You can also vote for many Australians (or anyone else) in the Locus poll and survey.

Justine Larbalestier on mansplaining and how to avoid derailing discussion with your own privilege. Girlie Jones on How to Suppress Women's Writing and some recent posts about feminism and writing. MonissaW on the strength of our female ancestors, and gender-based colour coding on book covers.

The Egoboo writing-critiquing group on the guidelines they use for critiquing. Deborah Biancotti on what she wanted to achieve with A Book of Endings. Gillian Polack on body language as worldbuilding, and word culture. Rowena Cory Daniells asks, does it have to be a trilogy?

Latest Terra Incognita podcasts include readings from Marianne De Pierres and Matthew Chrulew, and Ben Peek describes making his own recording for the March TISF.

Greteldragon asks what people really want from Swancon, and Danny Oz responds to some of the issues raised with a post and a poll about parenthood and cons. Mynxii proposes a set of core values for the WASFF. Felicity Dowker is upset about criticisms of the Aurealis Awards horror panel, and Martin Livings responds.

In closing, please draw your attention to the Australian SpecFic Snapshot which is happening THIS WEEK. Check in on these blogs every day between the 15th and 22nd of February for a series of interviews with people in the Aussie spec fic scene about what they are doing in this, the year of an Australian Worldcon: Kathryn Linge, Random Alex, Girlie Jones, Rachel the Mechanical Cat, TansyRR and EditorMum. Last time, the team hit 86 interviews - will they break the record?

Next month's carnival will be hosted by Alan Baxter. As ever, if you notice something interesting that has been missed from the last month, please link to it in comments. Thank you and goodnight!