Photograph by Alex of a bookshelf at Pulp Fiction, Brisbane, during author signings.

Cat Sparks and Rob Hood, Brunswick St Mall

Pre-ceremonial nibbles and drinks are as much a part of the ritual as the awards themselves.

Scott Westerfeld wins for Leviathan

Scott Westerfeld accepts the prize for Best Young Adult Novel.

Paul Haines makes history

The shadow of Paul Haines steps up to accept an unprecedented tied win for two of his own stories.

Reading Rosaleen Love

A great idea from the convenors: between winners, reading short excerpts from great Australian works that predate the Aurealis Awards. This reading was from Rosaleen Love’s “The Total Devotion Machine.”

Justin Ackroyd, golden boy

Justin Ackroyd, bookseller extraordinaire, accepts the Peter McNamara Convenor’s Award for services to the speculative fiction community.

The full 2010 Aurealis Award results can be found here. More photos from the weekend, not Aurealis-related, after the fold.

Steeple roof, St John’s Cathedral

Taken from our hotel window, the amazing St John’s Cathedral. Construction began in 1906. Finally consecrated in October 2009. Check out those herringbone patterns on the copper spires.

Brisbane lights, long exposure

Photograph by Isobel after a technique of Alex’s. If you know your electronics, you can tell the neon lights from the incandescents.

Lightning for Neda, GoMA

We took the kids to the Gallery of Modern Art. Last time I was here, the gallery gave an enormous space to art approved by the Chinese government, including heaped servings of unleavened Mao unctuoum. This time a smaller space was devoted to art from an officially-sanctioned North Korean studio. Much as I approve of reaching out to other parts of the world through cultural exchanges, I’m not entirely convinced that granting public space to totalitarian apologetics is a good trade-off.

But this piece below more than made up for it…

“Lightning for Neda” by Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian was created using a 16th century technique for recycling the shards of mirrors broken in transport. Waste not, want not. There are six panels here, each made from over 4,000 mirror shards arranged in complex geometric patterns. The panels are not flat, either; they are intersecting planes (see photograph below).

Farmanfarmaian fled Iran after the 1979 Revolution but returned ten years ago and has been working there ever since. “Neda” is Farsi for voice. This, my friends, is why we reach out.

Elk coated in acrylic spheres, GoMA

“Greetings, Acrylic Elk.”

*   *   *

Best science fiction novel
Andrew McGahan, Wonders of a Godless World, Allen & Unwin
Sean Williams, The Grand Conjunction, Astropolis Book Three, Orbit

Best science fiction short story
Peter M. Ball, ‘Clockwork, Patchwork and Ravens’, Abyss & Apex Magazine May 2009
Peter M. Ball, ‘To Dream of Stars: An Astronomer’s Lament’, Abyss & Apex Magazine October 2009
Christopher Green, ‘A Hundredth Name’, Abyss & Apex Magazine #31
Greg Mellor, ‘Defence of the Realm’, Cosmos #25
Mike Resnick & Lezli Robyn, ‘Soulmates’ Asimov’s September 2009

Best fantasy novel
Peter M. Ball, Horn, Twelfth Planet Press
Trudi Canavan, Magician’s Apprentice, Orbit
Glenda Larke, The Last Stormlord, HarperVoyager
K.E. Mills, Witches Incorporated, HarperVoyager
K.J. Taylor, The Dark Griffin, HarperVoyager

Best fantasy short story
Christopher Green, ‘Father’s Kill’, Beneath Ceaseless Skies #24
Ian McHugh, ‘Once a Month, On a Sunday’, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #40, Andromeda Spaceways Publishing Co-operative Ltd
Tansy Rayner Roberts, ‘Siren Beat’, Roadkill/Siren Beat, Twelfth Planet Press
Angela Slatter, ‘Words’ The Lifted Brow #5
Lucy Sussex, ‘Something Better than Death’, Aurealis #42, Chimaera Publications

Best horror novel
Peter M. Ball, Horn, Twelfth Planet Press
Honey Brown, Red Queen, Penguin Australia
Stephen M. Irwin, The Dead Path, Hachette Australia
Tracey O’Hara, Night’s Cold Kiss, HarperCollins Publishers Australia
Kaaron Warren. Slights, Angry Robot Books

Best horror short story
Felicity Dowker, ‘Jesse’s Gift’, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #40, Andromeda Spaceways Publishing Co-operative Ltd
Christopher Green, ‘Having Faith’, Nossa Morte, February 2009
Paul Haines, ‘Wives’, X6, Coeur de Lion Publishing
Paul Haines, ‘Slice of Life – A Spot of Liver’, Slice of Life, The Mayne Press
Andrew J. McKiernan, ‘The Message’, Midnight Echoes, Australian Horror Writers Association

Best anthology
Alisa Krasnostein (editor), New Ceres Nights, Twelfth Planet Press
Keith Stevenson (editor), X6, Coeur de Lion Publishing
Jonathan Strahan (editor), Eclipse 2, Night Shade Books
Jonathan Strahan (editor), Eclipse 3, Night Shade Books
Jonathan Strahan (editor), The New Space Opera 2, Harper Eo

Best collection
Deborah Biancotti & Alisa Krasnostein (editors), A Book of Endings, Twelfth Planet Press
Greg Egan, Oceanic, Gollancz
Paul Haines & Geoff Maloney (editors), Slice of Life, The Mayne Press
Robbie Matthews & Donna Hanson (editors), Johnny Phillips Werewolf Detective, Australian Speculative Fiction

Best illustated book/graphic novel
Nathan Jurevicius, Scarygirl, Allen & Unwin
Bruce Mutard, The Silence, Allen & Unwin
Emily Rodda & Marc McBride, Secrets of Deltora, Scholastic Australia
Madeleine Rosca Hollow Fields, Seven Seas Entertainment

Best young adult novel
Kate Forsyth, The Puzzle Ring, Pan Macmillan
Cassandra Golds, The Museum of Mary Child, Puffin Books
Glenda Millard, A Small Free Kiss in the Dark, Allen & Unwin
Scott Westerfeld, Leviathan Trilogy: Book One, Penguin
Sean Williams, Scarecrow, HarperCollins Publishers Australia

Best young adult short story
Joanne Anderton, ‘Dragon Bones’, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #39,Andromeda Spaceways Publishing Co-operative Ltd
Sue Isle, ‘Paper Dragons’, Shiny #5, Twelfth Planet Press
Ian McHugh, ‘Once a Month, on a Sunday’, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #40, Andromeda Spaceways Publishing Co-operative Ltd
Tansy Rayner Roberts, ‘Like Us, Shiny #5, Twelfth Planet Press
Cat Sparks, ‘Seventeen’, Masques, CSFG

Best children’s novel
Deborah Abela, The Remarkable Secret of Aurelie Bonhoffen, Random House Australia
Kate Constable, Cicada Summer, Allen & Unwin
Jen Storer, Tensy Farlow and the Home for Mislaid Children, Penguin/Viking
Gabrielle Wang, A Ghost in My Suitcase, Puffin Books

Best children’s illustrated work/picture book
Graeme Base, Enigma, Penguin/Viking
Anna Fienberg (author), Kim Gamble (illustrator), Tashi and the Golem, Allen & Unwin
Pamela Freeman (author), Kim Gamble (illustrator), Victor’s Challenge, Walker Books Australia
Dan McGuiness, Pilot and Huxley, Omnibus Books
Gregory Rogers, The Hero of Little Street, Allen & Unwin

It was a wonderful evening despite the oppressive heat (it was still terribly uncomfortable walking outside at 3 am!). I had the honour and sweet pleasure of accepting Simon Brown’s award on his behalf; I was also delighted to see some well-earned recognition going to many friends and writers I respect.