Philippa Ballantine - Author

Award-winning Author of fantasy, science fiction, and steampunk

Archives for July 2010

Awards and colleagues

As the award and con season rolls on, I am once more caught up in the excitement. The Parsec Awards has  again short-listed Erotica a la Carte in its Best Anthology category. Although I won’t be at DragonCon this year, I am chuffed to know that my little experimental cast is up there with the likes of Escape Pod and Variant Frequencies.

And then there are the Sir Julius Vogel awards which are special to me, as they show just how amazing the range of talent we have in this tiny country is. Weather Child is up for an award and I admit another of those spectacular trophies would be sweet. If you are planning on attending Au Contraire or are a member of SFFANZ then you can vote here.

Both Tee Morris and I will be at Au Contraire, as well as attending AussieCon– which is also WorldCon. Exciting times.

But then I know things are heating up in the South Pacific. One sure sign of it is the unveiling of SpecFicNZ at Au Contraire. (Check out the event page here) A group of people devoted to genre writing- utter bliss that I could not have imagined five years ago.

Genre is now alive and well, and we are busting into New York and getting contracts.

In addition to my 2 book deal with Ace/Penguin and another 2 book deal with Eos/HarperCollin for the book I co-authored with Tee, there are a lot of excellent writers in New Zealand who are breaking into New York

So in the interests of bringing attention to my colleagues and fellow kiwis here’s a list. If you know of anymore to add, please do so in the comments.

  • Nalini Singh– New York Times best seller in paranormal romance.
  • Russell Kirkpartick – epic fantasy author, first published by Voyager/HarperCollins he is published all over the world.
  • Helen Lowe – her epic fantasy series starts coming out with Eos/HarperCollins in October 2010.
  • Mary Victoria – epic fantasy published by HarperCollins.
  • Elizabeth Knox– award winning, historical/YA fantasy writer
  • Lyn McConchie – multiple award winner, and has co-authored books with Andre Norton.

Out of a tiny country that’s not too bad. And that’s not including Australians living here, or New Zealanders living in Australia. Or indeed all those learning the craft and coming up.

After compiling this list I am feeling positively optimistic. So talley-ho New Zealand! I am so damn proud of you all!

A rare event

One of the other great pieces of news to come out of Balticon was the news of an emerging paying market- and one buried in podosphere goodness. I had a chance to chat with Scott Roche about Flagship the new ezine.  Scott and the team have great plans and I am looking forward to seeing how they proceed into the future.

But for now, this is a paying market that gives you a chance to not only have your words in print, but also in audio.

Here’s the official word.

Beginning July 4th, science fiction and fantasy fans will be given a new place where they can discover authors and stories they’ll be able to enjoy wherever they go.  Flagship, the new e-zine by publisher Flying Island Press, will soon be releasing short stories every other month in formats for the Kindle, the iPad and iPhone, and other electronic readers.

Flying Island Press also recognizes the increasing popularity of podcasts and other forms of audio fiction.  So, in addition to the e-zine, an audio version will be available to listen to on any MP3 player.  Stories they release will be available both in text and in audio, allowing the consumer to choose their preferred version.

Zach Ricks, managing editor for Flagship, had this to say.  “I wanted to hearken back to what some have called the Golden Age of Science Fiction.”  It’s his hope that “FlagShip will be a place for optimistic, entertaining fiction.”

Each issue will cost $1.99 for the text version or the audio version or get both for just $2.99.

Issues will be available starting July 4th, 2010 at http://flyingislandpress.com/flagship