It’s awards season, and I’m happy to report that I have glad tidings!
I’ve been shortlisted for two Aurealis Awards: Best Young Adult Short Story for “The Lingering Taste of Your Last Supper” (winner of Crystal Lake Publishing’s monthly Shallow Waters flash fiction contest), and Best Horror Short Story for “Il re giallo” (from Strange Aeon: 2023). You can read the whole list here.
AND… Bites Eyes has been nominated for Best Collected Work in the Australasian Shadows Awards! Also shortlisted in other categories are two books containing work by me, A Vindication of Monsters and The Black Beacon Book of Horror. Read the whole list here.
Thanks to the judges, and congrats to my friends and fellow finalists! Now we wait with bated breath for the results to be announced.
In other news, I’ve had a couple of short pieces accepted for publication since we last, er, spoke. “Mildew Manor” will be published by Banksia Journal, and “Of Stuffed Frogs and Unshod Gods” has been picked up by Foofaraw. I also had a very close call with a highly regarded publisher who had shortlisted a novella of mine; whilst it’s disappointing to come so near and not make it across the line, it’s gratifying that I made their shortlist at all, given the relative paucity of their output and the strength of their existing roster. Maybe next year, then…
And I recently tried my hand at music writing, contributing an interview to Hot Metal Magazine. I pored over each monthly issue of HM back in the day, so it’s a real pleasure to be a part of its legacy.
What else, then? I’ve been running all over town looking for a new place to live, studying four units per term at TAFE, helping Meg with her own studies, working, chipping away at other writing projects including two books for later in 2024… it’s been all go! Man, I could do with a holiday…
Be well!
Mx
Listening:
…I Care Because You Do, Aphex Twin — She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She, Chelsea Wolfe — Hopiumforthemasses, Ministry — Made from Technetium, Man or Astroman? — The Triumph of Steel, Manowar
Reading:
The Dead Take the A Train, Cassandra Khaw & Richard Kadrey — Everybody Knows, Jordan Harper — H.P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness, Gou Tanabe — Piglet, Lottie Hazell — When the Lights Go Out, Tanith Lee
Watching:
Doctor Who: The Visitation — Hatchet for the Honeymoon — Prince of Darkness — Eaten Alive — Prom Night (1980)
Matthew R. Davis 