CSfG members at Conflux

Conflux 7, Canberra’s speculative fiction convention, is set to get underway on Friday. A large number of multi-talented CSFG members will be there to launch books, speak on panels and participate in kaffeeklatches. If you’re keen to support them or are looking to find out more about the CSFG, you can find our members at the following events:

 
Friday

10am—Kick off Conflux with Nicole Murphy’s workshop on  Revising your novel: strategies and documents you can use to consider your work objectively.

3pm—Gillian Polack will be teaching a workshop on how to Mind your Medieval Ps and Qs.

5:30pm—Conor Bendle and Mik Bennett head the first panel of the convention: The Media “Franchise” and other tales of TV success.

7pm—Join Elizabeth Fitzgerald and the CSFG at the launch of the CSFG’s 9^th anthology Winds of Change.

10pm—Round out the evening with Nicole Murphy as she moderates a very steamy panel on Erotica.

 

Saturday

9am—It should be far too early for the Evil Overlord panel, but evil apparently never rests. Join Phill Berrie as he offers his expert opinion on the get-away vehicle.

10am—Nicole Murphy starts the day on the Starting the Journey panel.

11am—Conor Bendle and Elizabeth Fitzgerald will be running a discussion on anime.

12:30pm—Phill Berrie moderates a panel on Putting the Science in your Fiction.

Alternatively, join Elizabeth Fitzgerald for her kaffeeklatsch.

1:30pm—Conor Bendle and Mik Bennett offer their expertise on the Comic Adaptions panel.

2:30—Nicole Murphy will be collecting ideas and discussing plans at the Conflux 9 presentation.

3:30pm—Gillian Polack will be launching the Conflux cookbook at the Eneit Press Party.

Alternatively, join Simon Petrie for the Writing with Dinosaurs panel.

4:30pm—Elizabeth Fitzgerald, Gillian Polack and Nicole Murphy will all be participating in the mass book signing.

5pm—Phill Berrie moderates “From here to then” Time Travel and other quantum by-products.

7pm—Join Gillian Polack at the Hellenic Club for her last historical banquet.
 

Sunday

10am—Simon Petrie and Patty Jansen will be having a Q&A session about Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine at their kaffeeklatsche.

11am—Join Val Toh at the Speculative Poetry panel.

1:30pm—Gillian Polack discusses her experiences as part of the Creative Writing at University panel.

2:30pm—Gillian can then be found at the Great Libraries of Fantasy panel.

3:30pm—Bob Phillips stars as the captain of the Great Space Liner “Titanic III” on the Whodunnit? panel.

4:30—Nicole Murphy moderates a panel on publishing.

5:30—Nicole can then be found on the Paranormal Romance panel.

 

Monday

10am—Put on your thinking cap with Gillian Polack at the Critical Mind panel.

Alternatively, join Val Toh for a tasty discussion at the SF Food panel.

11am—Elizabeth Fitzgerald discusses her recent experiences at the editing panel.

11:15am–Alternatively, those in dire need of chocolate or medieval photos should relax with Gillian Polack at her kaffeeklatsch.

2:30pm—Join Matthew Farrer and Phill Berrie on the Speculating in Canberra panel.

Alternatively, Conor Bendle and Mik Bennett discuss franchise reboots at the Drop the Dead Donkey panel.

3:30—Nicole Murphy launches Conflux 9 at the Closing Ceremony.

And, of course, no matter what is going on you can always find us at the CSFG table in the dealers room.

WINDS OF CHANGE book trailer!

A wonderful trailer for the upcoming CSFG anthology Winds of Change, courtesy of Nicole Murphy.  Stay tuned for launch and preorder details!

Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror 2010 – the reading list

A little while back we were delighted to announce that several CSFG members had had work selected for Ticonderoga’s Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror anthology.  The editors of that anthology have now released a supplementary reading list to accompany the release of the book.

We congratulate everyone whose work made the reading list, but we’ll give a particular shout-out to CSFG members Simon Petrie (listed for “Running Lizard” in his collection Rare Unsigned Copy: Tales of Rocketry, Ineptitude and Giant Mutant Vegetables); Kaaron Warren (for “Sins of the Ancestors” and “The Coral Gatherer” in her Dead Sea Fruit collection and “Hive of Glass” in the Baggage anthology) and Gillian Polack, whose Baggage anthology published Kaaron’s story and two others on the list, Lucy Sussex’s “Albert and Victoria/Slow Dreams” and Deborah Biancotti’s “Home Turf”.

You can see the full reading list here on the blog of editor Talie Helene.  Congratulations once again to all the authors listed.

Nicole Murphy lunchtime talk at the Civic Library, Thursday 18 August

 If you’re in town this Thursday lunchtime, grab your lunch and come along to hear Guild member Nicole Murphy talk about her journey to publication and the creation of the Dream of Asarlai trilogy.  She’ll be speaking at the Civic Library from 12:30 to 1:30pm – you can book through the ACT Libraries site here.

“The Wishwriter’s Wife” by Ian McHugh up at Daily Science Fiction

It’s about time we let you know that The Wishwriter’s Wife, by Guild member Ian McHugh, is posted over at the Daily Science Fiction website.  Head on over to read it there if you haven’t had the pleasure already!

The Australian Speculative Fiction Blog Carnival

Every month a blogger in the Australian spec fic writing scene takes a turn to host the monthly blog carnival, collecting posts, chatter, advice, news and announcements from all across our community and rolling them all into one easy guide to what we’ve all been up to.

This month’s Carnival is hosted by the CSFG’s own Nicole Murphy, who has so much cool stuff to point us to that she’s had to split it into two sections!  You can read part one here, and part two here.

An invitation to the WINDS OF CHANGE anthology launch

At the end of September, as part of the Conflux science fiction convention, the CSFG will be launching its latest speculative fiction anthology Winds of Change.  Click on the invitation to magnify it and see the details – we welcome any and all who are interested in speculative writing and would like to join us to celebrate!

ROGUE GADDA by Nicole Murphy – cover and launch date!

Nicole Murphy’s Dream of Asarlai trilogy of paranormal romance adventure is steaming toward its resolution in Rogue Gadda, and Harper Voyager have now released the cover art that the final volume will wear.

If you haven’t yet entered the world of the Gadda, get started on the trilogy with Secret Ones and Power Unbound.  And remember that Nicole now has a regular newsletter with updates on her work and a bonus Gadda short story – sign up for it here!

And that’s not all.

Nicole has announced the details for the Rogue Gadda launch party!  It’s going off at PJ O’Reilly’s tavern in Canberra on the second of July, so make sure you RSVP in time to get a spot.

MISTIFICATION by Kaaron Warren – read an extract!

Kaaron Warren’s latest novel Mistification will hit shelves this June, but now we don’t need to wait that long to get a look.  Check out the cover and a taster extract, courtesy of her publisher Angry Robot.

Kaaron’s other novels for the Robot are Slights and Walking the Tree, and you can find her short fiction in Dead Sea Fruit and the CSFG-published The Grinding House.

Year’s Best Australian Fantasy and Horror

Ticonderoga Publications have announced their selections for this year’s Year’s Best Australian Fantasy and Horror collection.  The book will be a great cross-section of Australian writing talent and includes work by several CSFG members.

Congratulations to everyone whose work was selected, but especially:

R J Astruc for “Johnny and Babushka”;

Maxine McArthur for “A Pearling Tale”;

Simon Petrie for “Dark Rendezvous”;

Kaaron Warren for “That Girl”; and

Gillian Polack, under whose editorship the Baggage anthology racked up three selections for the Year’s Best (Maxine’s story, plus “Acception” by Tessa Kum and “Manifest Destiny” by Janeen Webb).

You can order the book at indiebooksonline.