Aurealis Awards

Checked out the Aurealis Awards in Brisbane on Saturday night.

It was a very swish affair -- the organisers can be proud of their achievement.

As well as the actual awards, it was a great chance to put faces to names and voices to email addresses.

You can read my report for Articulate here.

Happy Australia Day

You need to check out the big version to get the full effect.

Honourable mentions

Ditmar Award-winning writer/editor Shane Jiraiya Cummings has kindly put my name forward for consideration as a nominee for this year's Ditmar Awards - under the Best Professional Achievement category. I'm humbled to make his list, alongside industry stalwarts Russell B Farr and Angela Challis.

Elsewhere, writer Ben Payne has given my short "The Infinite Temple" (Borderlands #6) an 'honourable mention' in his imaginary Year's Best anthology.

Pine Coffin, Folded Flag

My short story "Pine Coffin, Folded Flag" - about a man's struggle with his conscience over his decision to dodge the draft during the Vietnam War - is now available at Espresso Fiction.

Charlie smacked his lips together and tried to work some moisture back through his mouth. This part of the country was always dry. The yellow land gave way to a piteous blue sky and searing sun that burned just as hot at eight in the morning as at midday or six in the evening. He thrust his spade half-heartedly at the unyielding ground, sending the solid clunk of steel on stone out into the endless drone of cicadas. He looked down into the hole, now about half as deep as it needed to be and roughly rectangular, and decided he deserved a break.

It's good to finally see it in print!

P-Mail: 'Like e-mail, only slower'

Inspired by Get a First Life, which I discovered on BoingBoing yesterday, I've developed P-Mail - paper-based e-mail!

Instructions

1. Download the P-Mail template.

2. Print it out. (You'll need to scale it, so it all fits on one page)

3. 'Write' to your friends.

4. 'Post' the letter (this requires an envelope and stamps).

UPDATE 3/4: As used by Google!

UPDATE 24/1: Eay has kindly produced an easy-to-use PDF file. (You can also check out his note on Flickr) Thanks!

UPDATE: I've been BoingBoinged! Woohoo!