girlie jones

There's been an amendment to the Best New Talent category for the 2008 Ditmars Nomination Ballot as follows:

Jason Nahrung
Nathan Burrage
Angela Slatter
Tehani Wessely
David Conyers
No Award


Can I just say - oh man! Look at that lineup. How the hell do you choose who to vote for?! I think that's a really strong and broad list right there and that says a lot about what we achieved in 2007.

I'm gonna sweat for a while on this one. Although ... interestingly ... you've kinda of got 4 horror/dark writers and an editor there. And that shows an interesting snapshot of the scene too.

What happens when scientists can't be trusted? What if money or revenge were the motivation for scientific advancement and not understanding and wisdom and the cure for cancer? Dirk Flinthart explores the repurcussions in his offering for 2012. Here's an excerpt below.


She's staring at her watch as Lewis comes through the glass doors of the Downtowner. He's half an hour late. He isn't planning to apologise.

Deliberately, Lewis looks around. The place hasn't changed much; an affably battered bar-room crowded with the kind of college students who are short on money, but fun to know. He always liked the Downtowner, back when he was part of the scene, but it wasn't Jane's thing at all. Why has she asked to meet here?

Jane looks up and Lewis catches her eye. She smiles hesitantly, sliding across the leather seat to make room on her side of the table. She looks great; still slim and taut inside a little black dress just like the one she used to wear when they were together; a couple. Lewis returns the smile, but he sits down on the opposite side of the table. There's a moment; her face falls, ever so slightly, and Lewis gets a funny feeling inside - a mixture of satisfaction and shame. He covers it by signalling a waitress, ordering a Stoli and grapefruit juice.

“Nice suit, Lewis,” says Jane, as the waitress disappears. “It looks good on you. I suppose it was expensive?”

Money talk. Straight away, the old defenses come up. With an effort, Lewis shoves them aside. “Yes,” he says, leaning back. “It's tailored. It cost like hell, but you know what? It fits a whole lot better than a lab coat, and because it's for my work, I still get the tax break.”

“Marketing.” She spits it out like she might say child slavery. “You were a good scientist, Lew.”

“No I wasn't,” he says, but it isn't true.



Be among the first to read 2012 - still available for prepurchase at $20.

Watching Deal or No Deal and the chick needs the money for a publishing deal. So he asks her like, is she gonna get an agent or something? And she says, no, she has so many ideas for plots and the characters that she wants to start up her own publishing company and do it all within that.

Groan.

That'll show up in the AA reading, presumably if she ever actually *writes* the thing.