The Squid conspiracy has generated a list of the Australian stories, artworks, and books that impressed us in 2006. It is presented in Ditmar categories for the consideration of nominating folk, but remember that these are merely recommendations and not suggested nominations. For one, Greg Egan will not be accepting any Ditmar, but it would be remiss of us to overlook “Riding the Crocodile.”

[Addendum: I have made a handful of changes since the list was first posted. Most recent update is 26 Jan 2006.]

Novels
K-Machines, by Damien Broderick
The Pilo Family Circus, by Will Elliott
Prismatic, by Edwina Grey
Magic Lessons, by Justine Larbalestier
Carnies, by Martin Livings
Sir Thursday, by Garth Nix
The Devoured Earth, by Sean Williams
Geodesica: Descent, by Sean Williams and Shane Dix
The Last Days, by Scott Westerfeld
Midnighters 3: The Blue Hour, by Scott Westerfeld
Specials, by Scott Westerfeld

Novella/Novelette
“Along Came a Spider” by Simon Brown (Agog! Ripping Reads)
“Dharma Bums” by Jack Dann (Postscripts #4)
“World’s Wackiest Upper Atmosphere Re-entry Disasters Dating Game” by Brendan Duffy (Agog! Ripping Reads)
“Riding the Crocodile” by Greg Egan (One Million A.D.)
“The Devil in Mr Pussy” by Paul Haines (c0ck)
“Screening Test” by Chris Lawson (Agog! Ripping Reads)
“The Souls of Dead Soldiers are for Blackbirds (Not Little Boys)” by Ben Peek (Agog! Ripping Reads)

Short fiction
“The Dying Light” by Deborah Biancotti (Eidolon I)
“Stealing Free” by Deborah Biancotti (Agog! Ripping Reads)
“Surrender 1: Rope Artist” by Deborah Biancotti (Shadowed Realms: Redback)
“The Cup of Nestor” by Simon Brown (Troy)
“Leviathan” by Simon Brown (Eidolon I)
“The Grief Doll” by Lily Chrywenstrom (Ticonderoga Online #7)
“The Colossus of Roads” by Shane Jiraiya Cummings (Ticonderoga Online #9)
“Dead of Winter” by Stephen Dedman (Weird Tales #339)
“Down to the Tethys Sea” by Stephen Dedman (Science Fiction Chronicle #266)
“Three Wishes” by Shane Dix (Borderlands #8)
“La Profonde” by Terry Dowling (Basic Black)
“One Night Stand” by Dirk Flinthart (Agog! Ripping Reads)
“Baby Jane” by Margo Lanagan (Red Spikes)
“Daughter of the Clay” by Margo Lanagan (Red Spikes)
“A Feather in the Breast of God” by Margo Lanagan (Red Spikes)
“A Fine Magic” by Margo Lanagan (Eidolon I)
“The Point of Roses” by Margo Lanagan (Black Juice — original in the 2006 edition)
“Under Hell, Over Heaven” by Margo Lanagan (Red Spikes)
“Winkie” by Margo Lanagan (Red Spikes)
“Empathy” by Chris Lawson (COSMOS #8)
“Hieronymous Boche” by Chris Lawson (Eidolon I)
“Dwar7es” by M4r+1n L1\/1ng5 (Ticonderoga Online #9)
“When the World Was Flat” by Geoff Maloney (Agog! Ripping Reads)
“Mosquito Story” by Afifah Myra Muffaz (Fantasy Magazine #4)
“Street of the Dead” by Cat Sparks (COSMOS #9)
“The Revenant” by Lucy Sussex (Eidolon I)
“See Here, See There” by Anna Tambour (Agog! Ripping Reads)
“The Syncopation Streak” by Anna Tambour (Polyphony #6)
“Iron Shirt” by Susan Wardle (Ticonderoga Online #10)
“Dead Sea Fruit” by Kaaron Warren (Fantasy Magazine #4)
“Woman Train” by Kaaron Warren (The Outcast)
“The Seventh Letter” by Sean Williams (Bulletin Summer Reading Edition)

Collected Work
Agog! Ripping Reads, ed. Cat Sparks
Basic Black, by Terry Dowling
Best Short Novels: 2006, ed. Jonathan Strahan
Borderlands, vols. 6-8
Eidolon I, ed. Jonathan Strahan and Jeremy Byrne
Fantasy: The Very Best of 2006, ed. Jonathan Strahan
Red Spikes, by Margo Lanagan
Science Fiction: The Very Best of 2006, ed. Jonathan Strahan
Shadowed Realms: Redback, eds. Anglea Challis & Shayne Jiraiya Cummings
Ticonderoga Online issues 7-9, eds. Lyn Battersby, Liz Grzyb, & Russell B. Farr
Troy, by Simon Brown
The Year’s Best Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy Vol.2, eds. Bill Congreve & Michelle Marquardt

Best Artwork
The Devoured Earth, cover by Greg Bridges
Lost in Space: Voyage to the Bottom of the Soul, comic art by Michael Dutkiewicz
26 Lies/1 Truth, cover by Andrew Macrae
Daughters of Earth, cover by Cat Sparks
“The Blow-Off”, artwork by Cat Sparks
The Arrival, by Shaun Tan
Fell, comic art by Ben Templesmith

Fan Writer
Greg Tannahill, for The Dust Forms Words (amongthedust.blogspot.com)

Best Professional Achievement
Kylie Ahern, Wilson da Silva, and Damien Broderick for COSMOS magazine
Alisa Krasnostein for editing and co-editing ASif!, Shiny, and Ceres
Jonathan Strahan, for editing multiple professional anthologies
Shaun Tan, for The Arrival

Best New Talent
David Conyers
David J. Kane

William Atheling Jr. Award
“Man and Super-Monster: A History of Daikaiju Eiga and its Metaphorical Undercurrents”, by Rob Hood (Borderlands #7)
Daughters of Earth: The Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction, by Justine Larbalestier
The Elephant at Midnight: The Curious Novels of Irskine Henry by Garth Nix
“Bad Film Diaries – Failing the Will Save: How to Draw Enjoyment from the Dungeons and Dragons Movie” by Grant Watson (Borderlands #6)
“Bad Film Diaries – Sink or Swim: The Truth Behind Waterworld” by Grant Watson (Borderlands #8)
Stephen King: Uncollected, Unpublished, by Rocky Wood (with David Rawsthorne and Norma Blackburn) (Kanrock Publishing)