July 2012

To celebrate 15 years of Harry Potter, Bloomsbury is giving away special edition copies of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, as well as boxed sets and audio boxed sets. To enter, write in no more than 50 words why you love Harry Potter, and post your letter in the special postbox provided in your local bookshop. Entries close 31 July. You do have to put your date of birth on your entry form but there doesn’t seem to be an age limit. (harrypotter.bloomsburyanz.com)

The Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) is hosting Game Masters, a world premiere exhibition charting the history of video games and their talented developers including local talent, from 28 June–28 October 2012. Features 125+ playable games. Federation Square, Melbourne. The exhibition also includes a sideline in classic SF films. (acmi.net.au)

Narnia, a stage presentation based on C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe, is playing 23 June–18 August 2012 at the Brisbane Arts Theatre. Tickets $16, book online, suitable for all ages. (artstheatre.com.au)

Writers, Alison Goodman, author of EON and EONA, the bestselling and award-winning fantasy duology, will be running weekend masterclasses on the first two pages and narrative structure, at the Queensland Writers Centre in the State Library of Queensland, South Brisbane, July 21 or July 22. (qwc.asn.au)

And then, writers, you can practice your newfound skills: submissions close 30 September 2012 for the new Fablecroft anthology, tentatively titled One Small Step: an anthology of discoveries. Must be speculative fiction stories between 2,000 and 12,000 words that in some way address the idea of discoveries, new beginnings, or literal or figurative “small steps”. (fablecroft.com.au)

Jason Nahrung will be appearing on a panel about Australian dark fantasy fiction at Brisbane’s Logan North Library’s SF Month with Kirstyn McDermott and Angela Slatter on Saturday August 11, and at Noosa Library at 1pm on Tuesday August 14 to talk about Salvage (see below). See www.jasonnahrung.com for more information.

Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine is celebrating its 10th birthday with the release of issues 54 and 56! (ASIM 55 had a disagreement with the time-space continuum, but should be appearing soon).

ASIM 54, edited by Simon Petrie, features stories by Robert P Switzer, Zen Cho, Tamlyn Dreaver, Edwina Harvey, Kent Purvis, Sarah frost, Sue Bursztynski, Nike Sulway, M Darusha Wehm, Alter S Reiss, Anatoly Belilovsky, Nichole M Taylor, Belinda Crawford, Dirk Flinthart, Robert Porteous and C A L poetry by s.c. virtes and David Luntz as well as interviews, articles and book reviews. Cover art from Lewis Morley. Available as print or e-book from andromedaspaceways.com.

ASIM 56 was a collective editorial effort from the ASIM crew to celebrate the magazine’s 10th birthday. It features stories by Cathy Bryant, Lee Battersby, Jack Nicholls, Pete Aldin & Kevinn Ikenberry, Spencer Koelle, Matt Ward, David Tallerman, Grant Stone, Marina Finlayson, Christopher Kastensmidt, Daniel I Russell, Lyn Battersby, Baden Chant, Jacob Edwards, Mark Harding, Christine Lucas, Alec Austin, Sam Ferree, Logan Albright and Nigel Read. Articles by Edwina Harvey and Ian Nichols, and book reviews. Cover art from Nick Stathopolous. Available as print or e-book from andromedaspaceways.com.

SCREEN

The Revelation Perth International Film Festival will run from 5–15 July 2012 at Astor Theatre, Perth. Films include The Caretaker (vampires), The 25th Reich (time travel. And Nazis), Love (SF?), and Yakuza Weapon (violent SF), amongst the thrillers and horrors and dramas. Also includes the inaugural RevCon Academic. (revelationfilmfest.org)

Sydney’s Fuel VFX delivered more than 200 complex visual effects shots for Ridley Scott’s sci-fi epic Prometheus as one of the three lead visual effects vendors on the film. (fuelvfx.com)

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Book launch for Night’s Engines by Trent Jamieson, author of the Death Works series (Orbit) and Roil (Angry Robot Books), to be held on Thursday 19 July, 6.30pm, at Avid Reader, West End, Queensland. RSVP to events@avidreader.com.au or call 3846 3422.

Jason Nahrung‘s seaside Gothic novella Salvage has been published by Twelfth Planet Press. There will be a Brisbane launch at Avid Reader 6–8pm on Friday August 10. See www.jasonnahrung.com for more information.

Light Touch Paper, Stand Clear is a new anthology from Peggy Bright Books, edited by Edwina Harvey and Simon Petrie, featuring stories from Joanne Anderton, Adam Browne, Sue Bursztynski, Brenda Cooper, Katherine Cummings, Thoraiya Dyer, Kathleen Jennings, Dave Luckett, Ian McHugh, Sean McMullen, Ripley Patton, Rob Porteous and Anna Tambour. Available in print ($24.95) and e-book ($4.95) format from Peggy Bright Books. (peggybrightbooks.com)

Congratulations to Australian author Mark Barnes, whose debut fantasy novel and two sequels have
been acquired by 47North, Amazon Publishing’s Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror imprint, in a deal by John Jarrold, to editor David Pomerico. The first novel, Garden of Stones, will be published in spring 2013, with the first sequel following six months later. (thanks to Jonathan of SF2 Concatenation)

AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS

The second annual E. G. Harvey Award, sponsored by the Harvey Australia Foundation, will be given at Conflux 8 (see below) in September 2012. All entries must be original visual art works produced by an Australian artist in the previous 12 months. The medium for the work may be acrylic, oils, watercolour, pencil and/or ink, charcoal, mixed medium, sculpture, photography, animation or video-works. The value of the award is AU$500 (nonacquisitive). To be eligible for judging, works must be exhibited from the opening to the close of the Conflux Convention. Please book your space & display requirements by August 2012 by downloading the entry form and sending to artshow@conflux.org.au. (conflux.org.au)

CONVENTIONS

The Unseen University Convivium 2012 for Discworld fans takes place from 6–8 July 2012 — next weekend — at the University of Adelaide, in (surprisingly) Adelaide. Online registration has now closed, but tickets will be available at the door. The full programme is online, but highlights include a quiz, a gala dinner, a debate, a maskerade, and divers alarums and excursions and discussion panels and lectures. And if you’re tweeting, use #dwoz for easy searching. (ausdwcon.org)

Con 9 will be held in Melbourne this month, on 14–15 July 2012. Con 9 is a not-for-profit science fiction convention devoted to the “golden age” of classic Sci-Fi movies, TV shows and radio programmes up to 1965 (though the primary focus is mainly the 1950s). For the fans, by the fans. For membership and more information check out the website.

Heroes and Villains Pop Culture Expo will run 25–26 August 2012. It cuts across sci-fi, fantasy, horror, general TV and film, gaming, anime and animation to celebrate (surprisingly) heroes and villains. It will be held in the West Sydney suburbs at Panthers Exhibition Pavilion, Penrith.

Conflux 8 SF Convention (On the Beach — an Australian Apocalypse) will be held at the Novotel in Canberra from 28–30 September 2012, including pre-Con workshops. Guests so far include New York Times bestselling urban fantasy and paranormal romance author, Keri Arthur and Keith Stevenson, speculative fiction editor, reviewer, podcaster and author.

Nullus Anxietas IV, the fourth (…surprisingly) National Discworld Convention will be held in Melbourne on March 8–10, 2013 (Labour Day weekend in Victoria), at Bell Rydges, Preston. (ausdwcon.org/pages/NullusAnxietasIV)

Got more Australian SF/F news? Add it in the comments and/or send an email to have it included in next month’s issue and/or spread about on Twitter (follow @sfbullsheet).