It is currently the nomination period for the coveted Sir Julius Vogel Awards and many of our members have work that qualifies for nomination.
We are proud to present a list below of qualifying work by our members. This is in no way meant to be an exhaustive list of SJV worthy work- just the work of our members to have a look at and nominate if you feel it merits it.
BEST NOVEL
Tui Allen:
Ripple- published October 2011- In Print (from The Book Depository) and in E-book forms.
Philippa Ballantine:
Spectyr put out by Ace
Phoenix Rising by Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris (Harper Voyager)
Diane and Kevin Berry:
Dragons Away by K. D. Berry published by Blue Wood Publishing.
Jane Higgins:
The Bridge, a YA novel, published August 2011 by Text Publishing, winner of the Text Prize.
Tim Kilgour:
The Last Arrival in Time published at Smashwords and Amazon.
Lee Murray:
Battle of the Birds, Junior Novel (Professional Novella – fantasy genre) Taramea Publishing.
Michael J. Parry:
The Spiral Tattoo (Ebook format only, Sky Warrior Books)
Mary Victoria:
Samiha’s Song (book two of ‘the Chronicles of the Tree’) published by HarperCollins
Oracle’s Fire (book three of ‘the Chronicles of the Tree’) published by HarperCollins
BEST SHORT STORY
Grace Bridges:
Lily’s Tale in OtherSheep magazine from Written World Communications.
Underground…Undersea in Underground Rising, an anthology from The Writers’ Cafe Press
Debbie Cowens:
Upon a Star (Wily Writers)
The Delightful Maiden in Tales for Canterbury by Random Static.
The Truth about Dragons (Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine Issue #50)
Amanda Fitzwater:
Lynne Jamneck:
Azif in Fantastique Unfettered (#4)
Renaissance in White Cat Magazine (October 2011)
Into The Black Abyss in Something Wicked magazine (#15) (South Africa)
Helen Lowe:
The Fountain in Tales for Canterbury anthology published by Random Static
Samuel Mae:
The Sun Sets No Different at the Edge of the Universe – Bards and Sages Quarterly, January 2011– winner of the 2011 Reader’s Choice Award for this issue.
Pistols at Dawn Amongst the Evergreens – Electric Velocipede #21/22 – only the opening available onsite
Clinohumite – Bards and Sages Quarterly, July 2011
Goldar the Unwieldy – Short-Story.Me
Juliet Marillier:
Juggling Silver in Tales for Canterbury by Random Static
Ripley Patton:
The Bus to Nostalgia in the Tales for Canterbury published by Random Static
Dan Rabarts:
Crucible published on the Wily Writers podcast in 2011.
Grant Stone:
Young Love on the Run from the Federal Alien Administration New Mexico Division (1984), published at Strange Horizons back in May is eligible in the Best Short Story category:
Mary Victoria:
The Daughter of the Khan in the Tales for Canterbury anthology published by Random Static
Rites in the River anthology published by Dark Quest Books
Marty Young:
Desert Blood in Dead Red Heart
Behind the Midnight Blinds – HorrorWorld in April.
BEST COLLECTED WORKS:
Philippa Ballantine:
Tales from the Archives- a podcast anthology of steampunk short stories.
Tim Jones:
Eye to the Telescope- Issue 2 of the Science Fiction Poetry Association’s online journal featuring New Zealand and Australian speculative poetry, edited by Tim Jones.
Paul Mannering:
The Man Who Could Not Climb Stairs and Other Strange Stories
BEST NEW TALENT
Diane and Kevin Berry
Debbie Cowens
Jane Higgins
Tim Kilgour
BEST PRODUCTION/PUBLICATION
Grace Bridges:
Aquasynthesis, an anthology she edited and produced:
Samuel Mae:
Comets and Criminals–a genre zine
BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION
Paul Mannering:
SERVICES TO SCIENCE FICTION, FANTASY, OR HORROR
SpecFicNZ:
For establishing the first and only professional association for writers, editors and creators of speculative fiction in and from New Zealand. Founded and launched in August 2010. Reached it’s 100th member in January 2012.
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Works are listed in alphabetical order by author’s last name in each category.
If you are a member of SpecFicNZ with a work you would like added to the above list, please contact us at specficnz@gmail.com (subject line SJV Work) with details of the work and we will gladly add it. We don’t know you have a qualifying work unless you tell us.
And again, this list is not associated with the running and process of the SJV awards. This is not a list of nominees, only a list of works that qualify for nomination. They aren’t nominees until you officially nominate them using the process outlined HERE. SpecFicNZ does not make nominations. We simply wanted to provide you with a list of works by our members that you could read and possibly nominate.
We do hope you nominate them by the deadline of March 31st, 2012.
Thank you.
We are proud to announce that SpecFicNZ’s own Jane Higgins, winner of the Text Prize for young adult writing and author of The Bridge, will be a featured guest at this year’s New Zealand International Arts Festival held in Wellington February 24th-March 18th.
Jane will be involved in one of the Embassy Sessions, as well as doing one of the Writers and Readers School Days on dystopian worlds.
Be sure to take advantage of the full Festival and don’t dare miss Jane and her Embassy presentation.
The 2012 SpecFicNZ committee had been working hard to bring you a myriad of valuable writing events, contests and resources over the next 8 months.
Here is a just a brief overview of what is coming:
- January: Kindle and SpecFicNZ e-fiction give-away for those with current paid-up 2012 membership. Make sure to join or renew before January 31st to be entered in the draw.
- February: Speculative Romance Twitterfiction Contest.
- March: SpecFicNZ, in conjunction with New Zealand Book Month, presents Flights of Fancy: Literary Event and Speculative Readings by SpecFicNZ authors.
- April: Wily Writers Short Story Contest for SpecFicNZ members only. Prizes: on-line publication, pro-rate payment, plus additional prize money.
- May: Launch of SpecFicNZ’s new bimonthly e-journal on speculative fiction writing, The SpecFicNZ Voice.
- June: The SpecFicNZ Grand Gather at UnConventional.
- July: Novel manuscript contest in conjunction with Steam Press Publishing for SpecFicNZ members only. Prizes: Personal critique by editor Stephen Minchin and monetary prizes.
- August: AGM and election of new committee.
We look forward to serving your writing endeavors in 2012.
The 2012 SpecFicNZ Committee
There is exactly one week left to submit your entries to the “Tales for the Archives” contest SpecFicNZ is running in conjunction with Pip Ballantine, Tee Morris and The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences.
If you have been working on a story be sure to get it in by the January 31st, midnight (NZ time).
For more details about the contest and specifics on how to enter go HERE.
Good luck to all and happy entries.
We are thrilled to announce that member Mary Victoria’s books Samiha’s Song and Oracle’s Fire are both up for the UK’s Gemmell Award in the Legend category.
If you are a reader and fan of Mary’s books, be sure to go over and give them your vote before the deadline of March 31st, 2012.
Best of luck to both Mary and Helen.
We are delighted to announce that member Helen Lowe’s The Heir of Night has been nominated for the UK -based Gemmell Awards, established to honour heroic fantasy author David Gemmell—and to celebrate excellence in the heroic/epic fantasy genre that Gemmell exemplified through books such as Legend, Waylander and The Knights of Dark Renown,to name only a very few from amongst his body of work.
The Heir of Night has been nominated in two categories, theLegend Award for Best Fantasy Novel 2011, and the Morningstar Award for Best Fantasy Debut 2011.
The Gemmell Awards are reader voted, with voting links on the respective web pages—so for The Heir of Night to get through into the final round of shortlisted books is dependent on your support. We are encouraging all readers and fans of Helen’s work to click on the following links and vote now for “The Heir of Night“. 
The Morningstar Award: to shortlist The Heir of Night for Best Fantasy Debut—vote here
The Legend Award: to shortlist The Heir of Night for Best Fantasy Novel—vote here
Please do vote in both Award categories, as it would be wonderful if The Heir of Night could make a good showing amongst both the Morningstar’s ‘new names’ and in the more ‘wide-open’ Legend section—your vote will definitely count in both sections.
And feel free to spread the word to anyone you know who may wish to vote and support The Heir of Night as well.
SpecFicNZ is happy to announce that under the new coordination of members Lisa Agnew and Mary Jones the AUCKLAND AREA MEET-UPS will be resuming this month.
When: Sunday, 22nd January. Time; 1 – 3pm
After that, on the third Sunday of every month, 1-3pm.
Where: Northern Steamship Co, 122 Quay St, Britomart
Contact: Mary Jones or Lisa Agnew. Email at jmmjones(at)xtra(dot)co(dot)nz
RSVP’s to the contact e-mail above are appreciated for table booking purposes.
Membership in SpecFicNZ is not required to attend.
SpecFicNZ would like to compile a list of Sir Julius Vogel Award Qualifying Work by our members.
In order to qualify, the work must be speculative fiction (Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, etc), and must have first been published in 2011 by a New Zealand resident or citizen.
Categories for professional nominations are:
Best Novel
Best Novella or Novelette
Best Short Story
Best Collected Work
Best Artwork
Dramatic Presentation
Best Production/Publication
Best New Talent
Nominations are due by March 31st, 2012, so if you have a qualifying work (or several), please e-mail the details (and any links to the work) to specficnz@gmail.com with “SJV Work” in the subject line.
SpecFicNZ is in no way associated with the running or awarding of the Sir Julius Vogel Award. For more details about the award visit the SFFANZ website.
The New Zealand based e-zine Comets and Criminals has re-opened for submissions for issue #3.
C&C has recently upped their submission word count to 10K and is seeking stories in the Science Fiction, Crime and Mystery, Adventure, Historical, and Western genres.
Be sure to read issues 1 and 2, or the Released This Week page to get a feel for what editor Sam Mae is looking for. And be sure to welcome Sam as one of the most recent members to join SpecFicNZ.
Yesterday, SpecFicNZ hit the benchmark of becoming One Hundred Members Strong!
We hope you will join us in celebrating this accomplishment.
Leave a comment. Post a Woot! Do a jig. Or better yet, celebrate by writing something speculative and fabulous.
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