Convergence 2: special coverage!

(Well, as special as is possible without actually going!)

Rob Hood: Revenge of the giant monsters: Wollongong-based writer and editor Rob Hood turned his love of giant monsters into an anthology of short stories by writers from around the world, Daikaiju!, which went on to win the Ditmar award for best collection. But like any monster worth its scales, Hood has lost control of his creation, and ended up editing not one but three books full of giant monster stories. As he prepares to launch volume two - Revenge of the Giant Monsters - at the National Science Fiction Convention, Hood spoke to Articulate about his obsession with big monsters and some of the more bizarre takes on the theme.

Jason Nahrung and Mil Clayton: Looking on the dark side: In 2000, stranded three states apart, Brisbane writer Jason Nahrung and partner Mil Clayton started writing a story together, a chapter at a time, by email. Four years on Nahrung unearthed the novella and set to work transforming it into supernatural thriller The Darkness Within. He successfully pitched it to Australian publisher Lothian, which was soliciting for an adult dark fiction line. Lothian was then swallowed up by Time Warner, which was in turn bought by Hachette Livre. Lothian's adult dark fiction line was cancelled, but the books already contracted - including Nahrung's - were kept on. Ahead of the book's launch at Convergence 2, Nahrung and Clayton spoke to Articulate about the sometimes rocky road to publication, and the fortunes of dark fiction in Australia.

Tansy Rayner Roberts: Finding the Lost Shimmaron: In what appears to be an industry first, Australian writers group wRiters On the Rise (RoR) has sold a seven-part children's book series to ABC Books. The Lost Shimmaron tells the tale of the crash of an alien spacecraft in rural Australia and the quest of the 'mystical energy beings' to rebuild their ship and return home. As the 46th Australian National Science Fiction Convention gets under way in Melbourne, Articulate caught up with Tansy Rayner Roberts, who leads the series with Seacastle.