Reviews

Aurealis Awards

'Whitey', by Penelope Love, was a finalist for the 2007 Aurealis Awards, in the category of Best Science Fiction Short Story. For a full list of finalists in all categories, follow this link, and for a list of winners, follow this one.

This is what the judges had to say about 'Whitey':

This was a pearl of a story. It built up slowly from a very disorienting beginning, but this was the strength of the story - it took us somewhere totally alien and foreign, tricked the reader into making assumptions that had to be totally overturned by the story's end. So when it comes, the revelation about Whitey's identity and how she came to be what she was had enormous impact. Beautifully written, richly imagined and vividly described, we also appreciated the uniquely Australian feel of the story. Original and entertaining, Love's writing has that slightly bizarre, off-kilter feel to it that keeps you riveted to the final? page.

Australian Specfic in focus
reviewed by Alexandra Pierce

Shadow Plays is a fairly eclectic mix of Australian speculative fiction. There are some great stories, and some average stories, but none that are dreadful... This anthology can only be good for the Australian specfic scene. Giving Australian authors more opportunities - good opportunities - to get into print is a positive thing.

HorrorScope
reviewed by Mark Smith-Briggs

Shadow Plays is a stylish new anthology which offers an ambiguously broad collection of speculative fiction. Beautifully presented in an A5 soft-cover book, the anthology packs together 12 new speculative fiction stories from a predominately Australian based list of contributors...

Ben Payne's favourite Australian stories of the year

'Calliope: A Steam Romance', by Andrew J. McKiernan, has been listed by Ben Payne, editor and specfic enthusiast, as one of his favourite Australian stories of the year. For a full list of his favourite stories, follow this link.