Tansy Rayner Roberts's Blog

Miss Seabourne investigates! Murder mysteries, high society sorcery and family scandals abound in this magical Regency-inspired fantasy world. Welcome to the Teacup Isles. 

If you’ve missed out on my cozy paranormal Regency series of novellas about Miss Mneme Seabourne solving magical mysteries, then you’re in luck! I’ve just released a Kindle-exclusive digital box set of the first three novellas in the series: Teacup Magic – The First Collection. If you’re a KU subscriber, then you can read the whole book for free.

Writing festival! We had so many big plans for the second Terror Australis Readers and Writers Festival after the last one in 2019 brought so many amazing, talented writers to the Huon Valley. Alas… Covid. With our borders closed in Tasmania, we can still have a lovely event, but it’s gonna be a bit more boutique than originally imagined.

Sign up now for CSI: Tasmania!

We’re making up for it though, with a Fabulous, Epic, Enormous Digital Festival coming two weeks after the Live Festival. From the comfort of your own living room you will get to see panels, interviews and sign up for mini-master classes or book parties with writers from all around the world.

If you love murder mysteries & second-hand fashion, this is the new cozy crime series for you.

Meet Samantha Sullivan, a former wedding planner trying to put her life back together with a new job at the friendly beachfront boutique Fashionably Late.

After Sam is sent to collect fifteen wedding dresses from a dead man’s estate, the strangest week of her life begins to unfold. Who is the anonymous designer Chameleon? Was Ethan Brady’s death a genuine accident, or a sinister hit-and-run? Where is pop star Colette Cray’s dress, and why is her hot bodyguard so desperate to find it? Whose shirt is splattered with suspicious green dye?

If Sam and her friends don’t solve this crime of fashion, someone will get away with murder…

This is a brand new light-hearted Tasmanian cozy mystery from the author of A Trifle Dead, Drowned Vanilla and Keep Calm & Kill the Chef.

Dyed and Buried (Fashionably Late #1) will be released on September 14th, 2021. Pre-order today!Dyed and BuriedChapter One

There’s nothing quite like driving down into the Huon Valley. The dips and bends open up into a welcome view of green and wet, even when the weather is warm and dry everywhere else. From Kingston Beach, it takes around half hour to get yourself thoroughly lost in winding roads of farms and weatherboard huts, some of them still held together with hope and string.

So much of the Huon is up-and-coming now, with a vineyard around every corner and organic cherry farms replacing the older family apple orchards. Five-star restaurants, coffee pop-ups and sushi kitchens are dotted around towns that used to have nothing but a basic takeaway shop and, if you were very lucky, a bakery that did a good custard tart.

It’s particularly green and lush at this end of the year (emerging from the frosts and fog of winter, still a few months before bushfire season begins). When I was a wedding planner, we did good business around the Huon. Rustic paddocks for trendy wedding photos, darling traditional churches, mountain views, wineries willing to host a sit-down for eighty people…

Today, I had a different mission. 

The house was a new build, high on one of the green hills surrounding the town of Huonville. I assumed that the locals hated it, because it was one of those architectural marvels that looked great in a magazine, but stuck out like a sore thumb in an area where the preferred aesthetic was practical and down to earth. The sun hit the windows as I drove up the gravel driveway; so much glass and shining stainless steel that I lost all vision for several seconds and had imprints blazed on to my retinas.

A thin, impatient looking blonde woman in a killer black dress came out on the steps as I parked my boss’s Prius. She shielded her eyes against the sun, looking annoyed at its very existence. A jolt of familiarity went through me. Jeena Harding. She was exactly my age; I went to school with her. Neither of us had been expecting to see each other today. So, this was going to be fun.

“Samantha Sullivan,” she said, blinking at me as I got out of the car. “What on earth are you doing here?”

“Diana sent me,” I said. I was wearing my oldest jeans and a jumper that had seen better days. If I’ve learned anything in the last few months, it’s how to appreciate garments with staying power. “I’m from Fashionably Late?”

“Oh.” I saw Jeena recalibrate what she thought that she knew about me. Then she smiled in a way that was entirely lacking in nice. Her manicure clenched down around a shining black tablet, brand-new. “Bit of a comedown for you, isn’t it? Grubbing around in other people’s cast-offs?”

“There are worse jobs.” I wasn’t going to say ‘better than nothing’ because the truth was, the second chance that Diana gave me with Fashionably Late was better than I could have hoped for. I’d fallen on my feet with this job, and I wasn’t going to diss it just to make Jeena freaking Harding feel better about herself.

She frowned. “I was promised discretion. I didn’t think they’d send someone I know.”

“I mean —” I spread my hands wide. Tasmania, mate. Tripping over a person you were at school with every time you try something new is pretty much par for the course.

“Fine.” She turned and led the way up her shining white steps, stomping in dress heels that probably cost more than my car. (They wouldn’t last long if she treated them like that, my inner Diana informed me. The re-sell value would drop like a rock. But I wasn’t here to buy her shoes.)

In the foyer — because yes, this house was big and fancy enough to have its own foyer — a woman in a neat apron hurried over to consult Jeena on some details about appetisers, calling her ‘Mrs Harding-Brady.’ That was a shocker.

Well, no. No, it wasn’t. Donovan Brady was the best looking boy in our year. Of course he ended up married to Jeena Harding, who was so pretty and confident she did part-time modelling during Grade 10.

I remembered how often in our shared art class she would scoff about whatever it was we were working on, because she knew professional photographers.

Today, I watched her make a quick series of decisions about spring rolls and sashimi. The second she was done, Jeena started walking again, expecting me to follow at her heels like a faithful dog. There were  a lot of stairs ahead of me: the house was three storeys, built into the side of the cliff. So much glass. So much stainless steel. You wouldn’t want to slip on a banana peel on the top floor, that was for sure.

“You never met my husband, did you?” Jeena said as we began our long march upwards.

“I mean, he was at school with us,” I replied. Which was probably better than saying ‘we never shared a conversation but once had a sexually charged moment in the library involving far too much eye contact.’

She rolled her eyes at me over her shoulder, quite a feat of engineering. 

“Not Donovan, god. Who’d marry him? I meant his brother, Ethan. Four years older.”

Oh, right. Not totally living the local cliche of meeting your true love in high school, then.  

As we climbed the stairs, we passed a series of professional glamour shots that looked like they belonged to a Hollywood life: the engagement party, the wedding, the exotic honeymoon, all the other expensive holidays that followed.

Donovan’s older brother was lighter-haired and more clean-cut than I remembered from our high school rebel without a cause, but equally handsome.

“Congratulations,” I said awkwardly.

Jeena gave me a startled look over her shoulder, and laughed suddenly, like she’d been wanting to all day. “Weird choice of platitudes, but okay.”

I stared blankly at her. I used to be good at this. Being polite to clients. Knowing exactly what to say in a given circumstance. But the last couple of years drained that out of me. Now I’m lucky if I remember to say ‘good afternoon’ instead of ‘good morning’ when sending an email after lunch.

Jeena took pity on me with another toss of her perfect blonde hair. “You know this is an estate sale, right?” she said as she trip-trapped higher up the stairs.

Well, yes, obviously. Oh. Oh. 

“Your husband died?” I blurted out, scrambling after her like a hapless baby goat. “I’m so sorry. I thought — from the message I thought it was like, an elderly great-aunt or something. That’s usually how it goes.”

Four years older than us. He hadn’t even made it to 35.

“Funeral’s this afternoon,” said Jeena, head held high. She had recovered her bitchy poise, but now I was feeling a whole lot less judgy about it. Let her have all the emotional armour she wanted. How was she old enough to be a widow? How was I old enough to have gone to school with someone who had to hold a funeral for her husband? 

“I’m so sorry for your loss,” I managed, more heartfelt than before.

Jeena shrugged, looking cool and brittle. “It is what it is. Here we are. Now.” At the top of the last flight of stairs, she stopped short in front of a large metal door, scrolled rapidly through her tablet, then thrust it at me. “Your boss said you’d sign this.”

I’d gone along with Diana to countless estate sales over the last few months, learning the trade. I’d never been handed an NDA before. “Mind if I read this?”

“Be my guest.”

It was fairly simple; a two page document detailing in fancy legal language that I would not disclose the details of the sale, or the origin of the items, to anyone. Or they’d sue the pants off me. Joke was on them; I had nothing left to lose.

I signed it with a squiggle of my finger and handed the tablet back. “If there’s a genie in a lamp in this room, I should warn you, we don’t do brasswork.”

Oh, jokes. Exactly what a woman wanted to hear on the morning of her husband’s funeral. Nice one, Sam.

Jeena unlocked the door. “I want these gone before guests start arriving. You have three hours. Sooner would be preferred.”

I stepped around a stack of moving boxes, still flattened, and into… well. A fairy freaking wonderland of wedding dresses.

My first thought was this was the most elaborate practical joke anyone had ever bothered to play on me. Jeena Harding had to be holding some kind of longterm grudge. Why else would she set this up? Wedding dresses, of all things. A cruel reminder of the business I had poured my heart into, and the disaster that left a trail of wreckage through my family and many others.

I wasn’t over it. 

Jeena didn’t look delighted with herself, though. So, I guess it was a horrible coincidence, and not a mean girl prank. She stood there, arms crossed tightly over that killer black dress, her head turned away like she didn’t even want to look at the room full of bridal wear. “Your boss said you’d pay cash,” she said flatly.

I was well aware of the packet of money burning a hole in my handbag; literally, as the handbag was on its last legs, and the lining was torn in two places. “Diana only gave me two grand. These could be worth that each.”

They were gorgeous. Airy garments of beauty, power and swagger. Satin and beading and lace. They looked like they’d just walked off the pages of a fashion magazine on the backs of supermodels.

They also, against the odds, looked comfortable. Like a bride could dance the night away and eat a sandwich at the same time. Classy.

“They don’t have labels,” said Jeena, still sharp as nails. “I’ll take the two thousand if you get these out of here, right now. Discreetly. And I never hear about them ever again.” 

I stepped closer, peering at one of the dresses. “The quality of stitching is excellent. We don’t really do wedding dresses, but formal season is coming up. Most of these will end up dyed magenta and sold off to teenagers.”

Jeena didn’t flinch. Whatever her emotional hangup was about her room full of wedding dresses (seriously, who has a room full of wedding dresses?), she had no love for them. “Perfect,” she said, holding out her hand.

I opened my handbag, rummaged around and handed her the fat envelope.

Jeena turned on her heel, as if she couldn’t stand to be in the room a moment longer. She didn’t even count the stack of golden fifty dollar notes. “Pack them up before you leave. If anyone sees even an inch of white satin sticking out of a box on your way out, my lawyer will be in touch.”

So. That’s how my day was going so far.

Dyed and Buried (Fashionably Late #1) will be released on September 14th, 2021. Pre-order today!

My crime writing alter ego, Livia Day, has a new book coming in September! You can pre-order this new Australian cozy murder mystery, Dyed and Buried, in ebook right now. Paperback pre-orders will also be available soon.

Dyed and Buried (Fashionably Late #1)

Meet Samantha Sullivan, a former wedding planner trying to put her life back together with a new job at the friendly beachfront boutique Fashionably Late.

After Sam is sent to collect fifteen wedding dresses from a dead man’s estate,  the strangest week of her life begins to unfold. Who is the anonymous designer Chameleon? Was Ethan Brady’s death a genuine accident, or a sinister hit-and-run? Where is pop star Colette Cray’s dress, and why is her hot bodyguard so desperate to find it? Whose shirt is splattered with suspicious green dye? 

If Sam and her friends don’t solve this crime of fashion, someone will get away with murder…

A brand new light-hearted Australian cozy mystery from the author of A Trifle Dead.

PRE-ORDER TODAY!

Our honeymooning heroine must unmask a magical murderer.

Happily married, Mrs Mnemosyne Seabourne travels to an island of no magic, for a relaxing honeymoon with her new husband Thornbury.

But the magic-free Isle of Aster is not what it seems. There’s a monster roaming the hills, a royal scandal brewing on the horizon, and (of course!) an impossible, magical murder to be solved.

On the night of the Midsummer Masque at the Queen’s country palace, Thornbury goes missing, leaving Mneme to unravel a web of secrets and lies involving her own husband.

Who could commit magical murder on an island with no magic? Only a spellcracker…

If you enjoy cozy magical mysteries, glamorous masquerade balls and the art of saucy letter writing, you’ll love this new Teacup Magic novella.

Spellcracker’s Honeymoon, third of the Teacup Magic series, is out in the world! Find all the sales links for the ebook version here.

You can also buy the paperback at Booktopia, Amazon, and more.

Two cover releases in two months… and now I can talk about both of my upcoming 2021 releases!

Spellcracker’s Honeymoon (Teacup Magic #3)

Our honeymooning heroine must unmask a magical murderer.

Happily married, Mrs Mnemosyne Seabourne travels to an island of no magic, for a relaxing honeymoon with her new husband Thornbury.

But the magic-free Isle of Aster is not what it seems. There’s a monster roaming the hills, a royal scandal brewing on the horizon, and (of course!) an impossible, magical murder to be solved. 

On the night of the Midsummer Masque at the Queen’s country palace, Thornbury goes missing, leaving Mneme to unravel a web of secrets and lies involving her husband. 

Who could commit magical murder on an island with no magic? Only a spellcracker…

If you enjoy cozy magical mysteries, glamorous masquerade balls and the art of saucy letter writing, you’ll love the third Teacup Magic novella, sequel to Tea & Sympathetic Magic and The Frost Fair Affair

Spellcracker’s Honeymoon, the third novella in my Teacup Magic series of Regency magical cozies, is available for ebook pre-order right now. The book will be released as ebook and paperback on 21 July.

Any reader who emails me evidence that they pre-ordered the book will be sent a bonus wedding breakfast scene. See this offer here on my newsletter.

I also have a Special Offer on right now for my Patreon subscribers — if you pledge $1 or more to my Patreon during June, you’ll receive an ebook of Spellcracker’s Honeymoon and the wedding breakfast scene, one month before everyone else!

(Plus many other great ebook rewards)

Meanwhile, under my other writing name, Livia Day has a brand-new cozy crime mystery coming out in September. If you loved my Cafe La Femme series, you won’t want to miss this launch of a new series about upcycled fashion, Tasmanian scenery, and mysterious deaths.

Dyed and Buried (Fashionably Late #1)

Meet Samantha Sullivan, a former wedding planner trying to put her life back together with a new job at the friendly beachfront boutique Fashionably Late.

After Sam is sent to collect fifteen wedding dresses from a dead man’s estate,  the strangest week of her life begins to unfold. Who is the anonymous designer Chameleon? Was Ethan Brady’s death a genuine accident, or a sinister hit-and-run? Where is pop star Colette Cray’s dress, and why is her hot bodyguard so desperate to find it? Whose shirt is splattered with suspicious green dye? 

If Sam and her friends don’t solve this crime of fashion, someone will get away with murder…

Sign up to my monthly Livia Day newsletter so you don’t miss updates, pre-order links when available, and my regularly musings on vintage crime and cozy mysteries from an Australian point of view.

My project to list my favourites of every era of Doctor Who continues! You can read The One List right here.

Top 20 Second Doctor Stories

The Mind Robber – one of the most wonderfully bonkers Doctor Who stories of all time, every second of this one is burned on to my soul. Thank goodness it survived or we’d never have believed it was this good.The Highlanders – glorious adventure which is one of the best examples of how to use a three companion TARDIS crew, giving perfect storylines to each character. Funny, clever and a bit political. The true historicals went out in style. I fell in love with Ben and Polly because of the novelisation of this story, but the audio version also works really well.The War Games – excellent serial which somehow cannot be watched too many times, so basically magic. Hartnell serial storytelling for the Troughton era – pure gold.The Enemy of the World – it’s just so good. Tightly plotted with so much to say, and excellent performances from all the main cast and guest starsThe Faceless Ones. Gorgeous, creepy and packed with character moments, this story might suffer slightly from the loss of Ben and Polly in the middle but Jamie and Sam more than make up for it as an unexpected one-off dream team. Excellent production and scripting, high concept… the recent animation release pushed it up into a top position.The Invasion – an iconic story for so many reasons, but also just jolly good epic storytelling in its own right.The Web of Fear — massively overrated and yet somehow still really, really great. Anne Travis deserves all the love and so does our Brigadier even if he’s only a Colonel. Wonderful iconic story.Fury From The Deep — super creepy, great premise, excellent and respectful writing out of a companion. It works brilliantly on audio and I can’t wait to see the animated version which JUST arrived.The Three Doctors – a splendid Second Doctor romp in which he is forced to join forces with his future self and face off against Omega, with only his trusty recorder as a companion. And Jo, sometimes.The Ice Warriors — simply epic, a classic base under siege with some fascinating future world building and a great new ‘monster’The Tomb of the Cybermen — one of the first stories to Return in a way that was suitably dramatic, this excellent SFF thriller still holds up apart from the racist bits. The visuals are extraordinary. Victoria and the cybermat is one of the all-time great moments. Do not put it in your handbag!The Abominable Snowmen — I like this one loads and the animated eps help a LOT.The Evil of the Daleks – one of the more interesting shifts in Dalek storytelling, shame they didn’t go further with that whole human factor thing at the time. Great (if horrid) introduction of epic new companion Victoria via family murder, a tradition that keeps on giving.The Underwater Menace — ambitious, great fun and full of some excellent nonsense. I do enjoy how often they try to give Ben water/nautical subplots.The Power of the Daleks – a good bit of space base drama with some clever Dalek moments and (more importantly) some excellent Ben and Polly moments as they try to figure out what on earth has happened to their newly-regenerated Doctor.The Seeds of Death – lots of good bits.The Macra Terror — great premise, solid story. The new animated version is great except for Polly’s hairThe Five Doctors – worth a mention for the glorious re-team up between Two and the Brig, who get some of the best material in this unholy mash up of nostalgia chaosThe Two Doctors – another excellent team up story that shows off the sharper edge of Troughton’s Doctor, plus was the space vessel that launched Season 6A, a glorious piece of fannish headcanon that took on a life of its own.The Dominators and the Krotons – I honestly cannot tell these two stories apart.

MY FAVE SECOND DOCTOR ERA CALLBACKS

Polly in the Five Companions – specifically the bit where the Fifth Doctor asks if she ever sees anything of Ben and she replies “I see all of him every day.”Polly & Ben Cyberman 10th anniversary photo spread in the Radio Times (1977) which allowed us to see these characters in colour for the first time.Sarah wearing Victoria’s Dress in Pyramids of MarsThe Cybermat my mother made me as a small child, and the 2nd generation of tiny cloth Cybermats she then made for my own children.That bit in Robot of Sherwood where they show us the face of Patrick Troughton in an old Robin Hood.

It’s not easy being a DIY journalist, vlogger, and hashtag headline genius, but, when it comes to Aussie superheroes and intergalactic supervillains, Friday Valentina has seen it all. Her mother is Tina Valentina, the original Girl Reporter, who never lets anything get between her and a story, and her best friend is a superhero keeping it on the down-low, trusting her with his secrets.

When Tina is kidnapped, the superhero brains trust picks Fry to join the interdimensional rescue mission: spandex, action, and a spaceship called ‘Audrey’. Oh, and choc-chip cookies, of course.

Buy the ebook of GIRL REPORTER right now:
Amazon US
Amazon AU
Smashwords

And please, if you’ve already read Girl Reporter and you haven’t left a review on GoodReads or your bookselling platform of choice, it would be AMAZING if you could do that this week. It is astounding how much difference a number of reviews can make to the profile of a new release.

Girl Reporter belongs to my mostly-disorganised series of Australian superhero yarns, filled with all my personal critiques and favourite squishy bits of the superhero genre, wrapped up in snarky humour. This novella is also a love letter to the trope of the plucky girl reporter, including Hildy Johnson in His Girl Friday, Lynda Day in Press Gang, Sarah Jane Smith… and of course, the epic Lois Lane herself.

In a recent Verity episode, we talked about lists: best of lists, worst of lists… there’s a lot of lists in Doctor Who fandom and of course unless you’re the person making them, they are invariably wrong. We refer to these lists a lot on the podcast, because it’s a quick shorthand for Received Fan Wisdom about which stories are worth paying attention to…

Anyway, I can’t let Liz have all the fun — and there are only so many of her old blog posts that Deb can tear apart for episode themes, so I thought I’d have a go.

Over the next few months, I’ll be posting my lists of favourite/best Doctor Who stories, Doctor by Doctor. And no, I don’t distinguish between favourite and best in these lists. Except when I do. MY LIST MY RULES.

I look forward to everyone arguing with my very correct opinions.

THE ONE LIST: Top 20 First Doctor StoriesThe Daleks’ Master Plan — gorgeous space opera, the serial format arcing across so many planets and stories, history and SF, the Meddling Monk, Bret Vyon and Sara Kingdom. So much amazing material in this train wreck (behind the scenes) of a production, and it’s one of my most cherished pieces of Doctor Who. The Myth Makers — comedy and tragedy, with marvellous material for all the regular cast and some iconic guest appearances. The Trojan War has never been more Doctor Who. Pair the audio version with: one of the best and most interesting Target novelisations of the entire run of books – told from a unique POV.The Dalek Invasion of Earth — wonderful Doctor Who, chilling and well-constructed. Unforgettable moments for every cast member.The Romans — fun, dark, hilarious and weird. So many iconic bits of Ancient Rome crammed together. I love this one so much, even though Nero is too old. Also, this is where Ian and Barbara finally hook up CANNOT BE DENIED.The Chase — I love it, I love it, I love it. Goofy and funny, intensely emotional and a different story every week. Particularly good showcase for Vicki. Lovely intro for Steven. Plus a great writing-out of the iconic companion pairing of Barbara and Ian.The War Machines — an all-time classic, introducing the dynamite Ben and Polly companion team, plus robots in Swinging Sixties London. The Keys of Marinus — everything I love about the serial sci-fi format of this early version of the show is here, in crisp black and white. A great TARDIS team at the top of their game.The Edge of Destruction — glorious intense experimental episode in which the main cast unravel and attack each other inside the TARDIS. Why doesn’t this happen EVERY SEASON?The Time Meddler — brilliant concept that turned the Doctor Who formula on its head for the very first time. An unforgettable villain in the Meddling Monk. Great story for the Doctor himself and also to launch the Steven/Vicki TARDIS team properly.The Celestial Toymaker — weird, experimental story with a creepy guest star and great showcase for Dodo and Steven. Full of oddness, not like any other story.The Ark — excellent space story with a great premise and structure.Mission to the Unknown — for a 30 minute story about a doomed mission with no Doctor in sight, this is a shockingly good episode of the show. You can count it as part of The Daleks’ Master Plan if you like but it will only rank higher.The Daleks — an epic, vital Doctor Who space adventure. Tragically I had already watched the movie adaptation too many times when I got to this one, so it feels like a less shiny version of the real thing. The Barbara and Ian bits are definitely better than the movie, though…An Unearthly Child — yes, the first episode is brilliant. I admire those who can appreciate the cave men episodes; I am not one of them.The Gunfighters — fun romp, great Hartnell.The Aztecs — intense, excellent drama. Important story. But you know me, I like the romps better.The Massacre of St Bartholomew’s Eve — a heart-rending showcase for Steven and for William Hartnell if not the First DoctorThe Reign of Terror — everything that’s good about Doctor Who historicals. Plus the Doctor wears a great hat.Marco Polo — A most excellent what-might-have-been but I don’t have the adoration for this one that so many fans do. Possibly I’ve never seen the right reconstruction? I guess I’d better wait for the long-lost version to be found…The Tenth Planet — important story for the show but not as interesting as almost every Cyberman story that followed.BONUS LIST: Top First Doctor Return Appearances The Three Doctors (1972-1973) – he doesn’t get as many minutes or lines as Two and Three, but he makes the most of his running time, and it’s really nice to see original Hartnell making fun of his later incarnations — a tradition that the show stuck to for decades.The Five Doctors (1983) – Richard Hurndall, the first replacement, had a thankless job in this story, and he acquits himself well. His reunion with Susan was worth the wait (if you don’t think about it too hard).An Adventure in Space and Time (2013) – a lovely retelling of how it all started, and a killer performance by David Bradley. A new version of the original TARDIS team starts right here… and of course Big Finish followed throughTwice Upon A Time (2017) – David Bradley IS the First Doctor…Daughter of the Gods (2019) – this extraordinary Big Finish audio adventure gives doomed companion Katarina another chance at the adventure she deserved. Peter Purves and Frazer Hines do great double turns as their old companion parts as well as their respective Doctors.

I love the Aurealis Awards! Since I first started paying attention to them in the late 90s, I’ve always been interested in the annual shortlists of cool stories/novels by Australian SFF writers. There are so many shortlists, divided by genre. More book love!

This year’s shortlist is here: https://aurealisawards.org/2021/03/31/2020-aurealis-awards-shortlist-announcement/

Judged by panels of experts who volunteer their time to read everything they are sent in their category, the various shortlists are independent which means books and stories can sometimes appear in multiple places, if they’ve impressed more than one panel! This year, I note that Thoraiya Dyer’s novella Generation Gap (Clarkesworld) appears on both the SF and Fantasy novella lists! I’m always delighted for works that represent multiple genres.

It’s also interesting to me to get a sense for the breadth and variety of publishers who are publishing and distributing the work of Australian authors — especially to see how much work was published here vs. overseas. I was a judge this year on the Science Fiction Novel category (so it’s the only one I knew about before the list was released!) and one of the exciting thing about our shortlist is that it features 6 books from 5 different publishers — a sign of health in the industry! The days of all the Fantasy novels being from HarperCollins are behind us.

I had four nominations this year, which is delightful and pleasing. Three of my four titles are self-published… and they seem to be the only books listed as self-published on the shortlist this year, though it may be that they’re just the only books self-published by an author who hasn’t come up with a cool name for her own publishing imprint yet… anyway, my point is that self-publishing often hits a wall with distribution. Many popular awards, you have no chance at if your books aren’t widely distributed in (cough, US) bookshops for a general readership. Because not enough people have read them in order to nominate.

With the AAs, though, if you submit your works, chances are high the judges will read them, which puts self–published work and the small presses on an equal footing with Big Name Publishers. And I have to say, given how easy it is to fall for impostor syndrome when you publish your own work… award nominations from panels of your peers can feel incredibly gratifying.

Here are the stories!

“Kids These Days” in Rebuilding Tomorrow (Twelfth Planet Press) – a tale of anxiety and the mentorship of teenagers in a post-apocalyptic society. (nominated for Best Young Adult Short Story)

The Frost Fair Affair (self-published) – a cozy mystery of Regency magic, palace espionage and flirting on sleigh-rides. (nominated for Best Fantasy Novella)

Castle Charming (self-published) – a collection/mosaic novel about disaster princes and royal romance in a fairy tale mash-up world. (nominated for Best Collection)

Unreal Alchemy (self-published) – a collection/mosaic novel about students at an Australian magic university, and their various shenanigans around a geeky rock band. (nominated for Best Collection)

Shout out for both Rebuilding Tomorrow and Unnatural Order, fabulous anthologies I had stories in, for their Best Anthology nominations. And huge congratulations to all of the nominees in every category. It’s so lovely to be part of such a huge celebration of Australian SFF.

Book release day! My writing chapbook From Baby Brain To Writer Brain is out today from Brain Jar Press. It’s a collection of short essays (such brevity, are we sure I wrote it?) about that time in my life when I had a baby when in the middle of a major book contract, and all the things I learned along the way about managing deadlines, mother guilt, wordcount, and getting words on the page.

I’ve been told it’s inspiring and helpful to those struggling with finding their own balance of creative work and real life! It is definitely a book about small victories and messy results, if that sounds like your sort of thing. Plus it’s coming in between Angela Slatter and Sean Williams in the Writing Chaps series of books, which makes me look like I belong to the BEST CLUB IN THE WORLD.

Other book news: my Patreon subscribers at $2 and higher received a new short story, Death of Snow, to download this week. Want to read it too? Join up and your $2 pledge gets you another 10 stories and novellas at the same time.

Over at the Sheep Might Fly podcast, my serial of Castle Ever After, the sequel novella to Castle Charming, is nearly complete. You can listen to it for free.