It was an absolute pleasure to judge this competition, with such a large number of high quality entries in the Open category. My long list was long indeed, and winnowing down the short list was a challenge. The percentage of highly readable and interesting stories was very high, higher in fact than I've come across in some stints slushreading for various publications, which is impressive indeed. As an editor of Australian speculative fiction, reading so many stories that hit my marks for character, plot and plain old "grab" factor made me feel that the position of Aussie SF is excellent and will continue to strengthen in the years ahead.
It's perhaps worth pointing out a couple of the problems with stories that consistently knocked them off the longlist. The first such issue is that of a work that is overlong for the story being told. This happens more frequently than most readers and writers realise. As an editor, I often come across a story that grabs me, is beautifully written, with engaging characters, but drags the plot out to a point where I lose interest. As an editor, if the story is strong enough, I know I can work with the author on tightening up the writing to eradicate this problem, but the very best authors (and this is often something that comes with experience) are those who tighten their stories themselves. Again, as an editor, given a choice between two stories with great characterisation, plot and writing, will ALWAYS choose the tighter piece. It generally comes with practise, but one method I recommend to fledgling authors is putting a story aside for some weeks on completion, and coming back to it with a fresher view, looking specifically for places where the words simply don't advance the plot. Don't be precious about your words! Be thrifty with them.
Another problem that arose across a number of stories was that of an overused story trope that was not executed in a fresh or exciting way. There's an adage that there are only nine plots in the world. That may be true, but plenty of authors find plenty of new ways to work those plots! Marvellous story tellers like Margo Lanagan take this quite literally in their use of traditional tales in their work.Your job as an author is to find your own new way to inject energy into a story idea, because there truly are no new stories, just new ways of telling them.
One final note that will always deflate a story in my eyes, is when a story has not been thoroughly proofread and self edited. Typos, spelling mistakes, misused grammar and punctuation, faulty paragraphing and other common errors MUST be tidied up before the story is sent out. If your manuscript does not look professional, your story is less likely to be taken seriously.
So, on to the stories that avoided these pitfalls and impressed the heck out of me.
There was a disappointing number of stories submitted in this section this year, but I was pleased with the quality of the writing from authors as young as 12. What was most disappointing however was finding that two very good stories had been previously published on blogs or in an online forum and had to be disqualified under the rules of the competition. It is imperative that new writers understand that publishers and competition facilitators do consider online publication as a valid publishing forum, and that even putting your story on your blog qualifies as publication. A magazine or anthology publisher is not going to want to pay you for a story that anyone can read for free online. It’s a hard lesson to learn, but in today’s world, it’s an essential one.
Winner: “Amber Isle” by Victorian, Raeden Richardson, is a strangely spooky piece. I found this disconcerting and intriguing, and it was an interesting read. It's wonderful to see such mature works by young authors, as it promises great things for the future of Australian speculative fiction.
Runner Up: Another young Victorian author, Michael Wu, takes out second place with a dark dystopian vision in “Utopia – the gardens of hell”. Somewhat preachy in theme (which is common for the genre but a tad heavy handed here), this story was well put together and very readable. A commendable effort for such a young writer.
As noted above, my longlist was long, and the shortlist was not all that short, but these stories in some way stood above their competitors. In a field of more than 80 stories, these works gave me something extra in their execution, rendering and story that made me remember them long after reading. I congratulate the authors and wish them every success for the future.
Winner: Queensland author Rebecca Bloomer grabbed my attention from the first paragraph with her alternate fantasy “If Wishes Were Fishes". This is a beautifully written alternative culture fantasy, the likes of which are becoming more common but are difficult to execute well – I read more than a handful of non-traditional fantasy settings in this judging process that simply came across as racist or lacking knowledge. “If Wishes Were Fishes” transcended these problems and allowed the setting to simply add a beautiful finesse to the story, which was very well-written.
Second: “Those Days”, by Western Australian writer Daniel Simpson, demonstrates that it is possible to put a fresh face on a known concept. I recently read Ted Chiang's very excellent robot story, and while Simpson has a way to go before matching Chiang's masterful work, I thought "Those Days" was well-executed and, despite the mechanical main character, very “human”. The author has written a considered and thoughtful piece, with a glimpse of a possible future.
Highly Commended: This first highly commended story was one I came back to repeatedly because of the wonderful writing - “Star-Crossed”, by Stephen Studach (NSW), was beautifully written, in a style that was utterly gorgeous and compelling. Where it fell down a little for me, and meant it just missed out on a place in the competition, was that the plot was too thin to hold my attention, but the writing was simply stunning and deserving of commendation.
Highly Commended: Another Queenslander in the top stories, Marisa Strasser produced “The Last Fairy Tale”. The two highly commended stories complement each other, as what “Star-Crossed” lacked in plot and character, “The Last Fairy Tale” more than makes up for, but it lacks the strength of beautiful writing that would have put it top of my list. I loved the concept portrayed in this story. It was one of the first stories I read for the judging and the idea stuck with me throughout the rest of the reading.
Commended: “The Ghost Wives”, by Catherine Moffat (NSW), had an unusual concept and a non-traditional cultural setting, which appealed to me. Not quite strongly enough written to make my top picks (this one was a little overlong for the tale at hand), but nicely told just the same. With a firm editing hand applied, I daresay I will see this story in print in the future.
Commended: This final story, "The True Seeing" by Cate Whittle (ACT), had such a powerful ending that I had to include it as commended, despite some other shortcomings. I liked the premise, and the fairly traditional fantasy world was well written. Where this story fell down was in the depth of plot for the length – it was simply overlong and a bit indulgent – a tighter piece would have done more justice to the great story being told.
As a final note, I would like to again express my delight that writers are coming on with such strong story-telling skills. Australian publishing has a promising future!
Tehani Wessely.
Tehani Wessely was a founding member of Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine. Now firmly entrenched in Australian speculative fiction and small press, she edits for Twelfth Planet Press (among other duties), judges for the Aurealis Awards, reads far more in one genre than is healthy, and writes reviews, non-fiction and interviews for ASif! and Fiction Focus. In her spare moments, she works full time as a Teacher Librarian and enjoys her husband and two children.
Tehani is the editor of ASIM #4, #16, #27, #31 and #37, three Best Of ASIM e-anthologies, co-editor of ASIM #36, the Twelfth Planet Press anthology New Ceres Nights and other projects, and is currently working on an anthology of children's stories tentatively titled Spec Fic for Kids. Tehani is part of the committee organising the 2011 event Swancon36/Natcon50 in Perth.