Jo Spurrier and Dan O’Malley

Before they head south to Conflux next year, the Aurealis Awards this year were again hosted in the fabulous Independent Theatre in North Sydney. It was the first Aurealis Awards for our two intrepid Publishers Rochelle and Anna and they seemed to emerge unscathed ( though we will have to keep an eye out for any odd behaviours). Author Scott Westerfeld was Master of Ceremonies and the night included a special screening of a short film by well-known artist Nick Stathopoulos and director Ryan Cauchi, “It Grows“.

Two of our books, The Rook by Daniel O’Malley and Winter Be My Shield by Jo Spurrier were up for Awards ( well, techincally The Rook isn’t Voyager, but we’ll take it anyway! ) and The Rook won Best Science Fiction Novel for 2012!

From Rochelle:
The 2013 Aurealis Awards, the last to be held in Sydney, went out with a big bang (pun completely intentional). Taking our seats with our nominated authors, Jo Spurrier and Dan O’Malley, we were treated to the intriguing horror short film It grows from artist Nick Stathopoulos and Ryan Cauchi. Proceedings moved swiftly to the reason we were all there — the books. The full list of winners is available at aurealisawards.com but all you really need to know is that Margo Lanagan won everything. Well, not quite everything. Our own Dan O’Malley (author of The Rook) took out best Science Fiction novel. Kate Eltham, winner of the Peter McNamara Convenors’ Award for Excellence, gave a lovely speech about how Speculative Fiction in Australia is a tribe, not just a genre, and looking around the room and seeing so many familiar faces, I realise it is true. But speculative fiction is a very inclusive and welcoming tribe, with no painful initiation rituals, for which I am thankful. Over drinks at the Mundo Tapas Bar winners were congratulated, books from the goodie bags were swapped and friendships were cemented.

The Harper crew!

From Anna:

I was so excited when Daniel O’Malley’s THE ROOK was nominated for the Aurealis for best Sci-Fi – partly because it’s a brilliant book and deserves the recognition, but also because it gave me the perfect excuse to attend the awards ceremony. It was a great event, hosted by the charming Scott Westerfeld, and attended by a really fun and welcoming crowd of sci-fi and fantasy readers, writers and publishers – the coolest group of nerds it’s been my privilege to hang out with. The nominees in all categories were really strong, and it was a massive thrill when THE ROOK was announced as the winner of Best Science Fiction Novel. The celebrations continued into the wee hours at the after party. Thanks to SpecFaction NSW for a terrific night!

Sarah JH Fletcher (one of the Judges), Abigail Nathan (an editor) and our own Rochelle

Did you head along to any of the Aurealis Awards in the past, or go to the awards last weekend? Share your stories in the comments below!

We are continuing to review the remaining entries as quickly as we can, and will update you again in a few weeks. As before, if you have a question as to your status or would like to pull your submission, please email us at voyagersubmissions(at)harpercollins.com.

Working sheep dog from Victorian era (British Museum Archives)

I have something of a reputation as a crazy cat lady, but to be truthful I like dogs as much as I like cats. Dogs play a very important function beyond being pets. Dogs have been trained to herd animals; track lost people and animals; act as guards; detect drugs, bombs and bodies; assist the blind, the elderly and the police; they can even be trained to detect cancer and termites, and that is only a partial list of the useful roles that dogs undertake for the benefit of the human race. Of course, this sort of work depends on senses and skills that human beings don’t have, but it also takes a great deal of intelligence to work in such a collaborative manner.

Now, canine intelligence is very different to ours. Dogs are a pack animal, and work best within the hierarchy of a structured

Blind dog and his guide dog (from the Internet, source unknown)

pack. When we domesticated dogs, (or, conversely, dogs domesticated us) dogs substituted human beings for other dogs in the pack hierarchy; modern dogs consider their family their pack. Generally, one of the humans is the pack leader, and trouble can occur if the dog thinks it is the pack leader; we’ve all met those pampered dogs that rule their owners with an iron paw. Most of the time, the family dog is lower in the hierarchy.

Human beings are also a collaborative species. We aren’t a pack animal as such, but human beings prefer to work in a team or a social group for the benefit of the entire group. This means that we are already primed instinctively to work in a partnership. So, this means that human beings and dogs found it relatively easy to form a bond, since both species prefer to work in groups. Human beings might have the superior cognitive skills, but there are certain basic aspects that correspond between human and canine behaviour when acting as a team.

So – on what level are dogs and humans collaborating?

Dogs let us do the thinking for them. Even though they are highly intelligent, dogs usually let their humans do the thinking while they get on with the task. The perfect example is the sheep dog, which lets the human direct where the sheep are supposed to go while doing the dog does the actual work of moving the sheep. This means dogs have developed a high level of understanding of human communication, which we humans depend upon without questioning it.

I have taken for granted how well my little dog knows me. He has only one eye, and so can easily lose sight of the ball. When he hasn’t seen where the ball has gone, he will look at me, and I point in the direction the ball has gone, and he shoots off in that direction. Taking direction from a pointing finger – simple right? But dogs don’t have fingers. There is nothing in their instinctive behaviour for the recognition of human body signals.

Humans think we are pretty clever because we can read some basic canine body signals, and forget how amazing it is that dogs can read our signals right back, and to a higher level than we realise. Brian Hare from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, and colleagues, have studied dog behaviour for human-dog collaborations.  Hare has been quoted saying, “The dog is the only species we’ve found that has some of the communicative skills that look like what infants need to acquire language and culture.” In other words, not all of a dog’s social behaviour is instinctive; some of its behavioural patterns are learnt.

Now, human beings aren’t unique in sharing bonds with other species, but we, as a species, are unique in that we seek out other animals for friendship. It has been theorised that this aspect of our behaviour meant we had a ready source of fresh food when prehistoric times were tough. Ethologists are beginning to question this theory. They think it is part of the ‘altruism’ that human beings use as a species to survive. The prehistoric dogs contributed to the hunt and shared the food; a well-trained dog would be too valuable an asset to kill for food and would be considered part of the family group (just like now).  If our ancestors killed their pets every time they were too lazy to hunt, dogs would never have been domesticated.

And how did the canine species benefit from domestication? They had formed a pack that hunted better than any group made up of just humans or dogs. Of course, dogs didn’t think ‘This is a better pack’. The dogs that were domesticated had longer lives and more puppies than those who remained untamed. And it works both ways … human beings that didn’t have dogs (or ate their pets) were probably less successful than those human beings who did team up with dogs.

Domestication is a two-way street.

And cats? Well, who wouldn’t want a furry companion sleeping on their feet in a chilly climate? However, they are generally not a pack animal. Scientists are still working on whether there is the same level of communication between human beings and their cats as there is between human beings and their dogs.

Duncan Lay, Rochelle and KJ Taylor

It was my first time at a Con, and I’d been told that Conflux in Canberra was the best one to go to, because it was the most literary and had the most friendly people out of all the cons. This proved to be true. Firstly, it was wonderful meeting all the Voyager authors – Katie Taylor, Duncan Lay, Jonathan Strahan, Glenda Larke, Sean Williams, Jack Dann, Janeen Webb, Trudi Canavan, Nicole Murphy and Karen Miller.

I had a great time meeting lots of people there, especially Marc Gascoigne of Angry Robot books who was one of this year’s guests of honour. Marc and I were on a panel together and talked about future directions of publishing, his is a “medium” publisher and thus he felt they could be quicker and more reactive than large publishers like ourselves. (I am taking that as the gauntlet being thrown!) We talked about Digital Rights Management (Angry Robot do not use it, we do) and we both agreed that we all should capitalise on the interest being taken in epic fantasy at the moment with everyone glued to Game of Thrones. I also got to be a fan-girl when meeting authors like Garth Nix, Kate Forsyth and Margo Lanagan — all of whom I respect deeply and couldn’t quite believe they were so ‘available’!

Duncan and Katie launched each others books at the Con!

As well as watching Katie Taylor and Duncan Lay launch each others book on Saturday night, I attended quite a few panels, including ‘Do self-published authors need an editor?’ with Patty Jensen, Abigail Nathan and Ian Nicholls. Having been an editor for 10 years, you can probably guess which side I was on! Another panel I found interesting was one by Alex Addsett about contracts and copyright for authors — always worth checking the fine print and good for me as part of a publishing company to know which things authors see as dealbreakers and what would help them. I also attended a panel about what to do after receiving your first publishing contract (hint: it doesn’t involve moving to a tax haven!) I thought it would focus more on things like checking proofs, building an online profile but it seems the hardest thing many authors find once they’ve got a contract is actually to keep writing!All in all I had a wonderful time and am now happily ploughing my way through the 15 or so manuscript submissions that were pitched to me during a pitching session.

Congratulations to the organisers, Donna Maree Hanson and Nicole Murphy in particular!

To help inspire you here’s a review written by our biggest in-house Feist fan Tim:

It’s hard to say which of Feist’s 30 novels is my favourite. When I look back there are scenes from a few books that I can recall easily, simply because they are pivotal moments in the series but because they about characters that I’d grown to love.

Erik Von Darkmoor first appeared in The Serpent War saga, and he really grew on me when he was one of the desperate men who were forced to join Calis’ Crimson Eagles on Novindus — something about a mercenary company always impresses. His character grew across the saga, rising in the rank to become a Knight-Captain and being a pivotal player in the safety of the Kingdom against Kesh. What cemented his place was his final appearance in Wrath of a Mad God when he makes his last stand on Kelewan against the Dasati.

Nakor is another brilliant character that has endeared readers to the series. His rucksack that allows him to steal apples and oranges, his wit, and his outlook on magic have really made him a stand out as the series progressed, especially in The Serpent War saga and subsequent books. His latest reincarnation in The Chaos War saga has been epic and I’ve loved the evolution that Feist has created for him.

   So really, when it comes down to it, what I’m saying is that it’s the characters that have the most impact on deciding which is my favourite Feist novel. No matter how much I loved the original, Magician, where we are first introduced to Pug and Tomas and the world of Midkemia and Kelewan, it’s the later books were he found his groove as a storyteller and developed such well-rounded characters that have been my favourite. I feel The Serpent War saga is the best, just because it’s got Erik and Nakor, but if I have to pick one, Shadow of a Dark Queen would be it – just because it sets up what is an excellent sequence of books with my two favourite characters.

Good luck to everyone!

PS- Be sure to check out GRRM’s AMAZING new website: http://www.georgerrmartin.com/

From there I encountered it in Umberto Eco’s iconic story (and film) The Name of the Rose, which uses the concept in its likely historical context- that of the forbidden or heretical text from the Dark Ages of Europe. At a time when science, or any form of discussion of ideas beyond the dogma of the church could be punishable by death many books would have become secrets literally worth dying for.

This special DVD of The Evil Dead came in a rubberised version of The Necronomicon itself.

My next encounter was with the iconic, and possibly most famous fictional forbidden book, H.P. Lovecraft’s Necronomicon.  At first it was through Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead movies, but later I went back to the source and read H.P. Lovecraft’s stories themselves. The first mention of it is in the short story The Hound, published in 1924. It’s history is later glimpsed in other stories and revealed to be the writings of a mad Arabian poet named Abdul Alhazred who wrote it after roaming the ruined cities of Babylon and Persia and the revelations contained within had the power to send its readers mad.

One of most interesting things about it is the way it became part of the “Cthulhu Mythos”- a multiple-author connected sharing of concepts, characters and objects between Lovecraft and his friends’s stories. This has been expanded upon by other authors who came later in an early form of fan-fiction where they incorporated aspects of the Mythos into their own narratives ( including one of my favourite authors Brian Lumley ), culminating in author August Derleth’s significant re-working and detailing of the Mythos in his stories.

While Raimi’s imagining of the Necronomicon ( just called The Book of the Dead in the first film ) is more macabre ( being ‘bound in human skin and inked in blood’), it shares many of the same elements including a middle-eastern origin and the power to summon forth other-worldly demonic forces merely by reading its pages.

Other fictional books came about around the same time include Clark Ashton Smith’s The Book of Eibon, Robert Bloch’s De Vermis Mysteriis but perhaps one of the earliest examples is Robert W. Chambers fictional play The King in Yellow which features in a short story from a book of the same name in 1895. Reading Act II of this play drives the reader mad with the “irresistible” revealed truths, and the King himself seems to be a malevolent supernatural entity. One of my other favouite filmic uses of the concept is in the movie The Ninth Gate about a book that can be used to open the gates of hell.

The cover of the 1st edition of The King in Yellow

Inspired by discoveries from Ancient Egypt of the Book of the Dead mixed with the heretical European grimoires and manuals of witchcraft & the Gothic writings of the 19th Century, The Necronomicon is a powerful concept and metaphor for forbidden knowledge, seduction, the lure of power & underground political and scientific movements that continues to resonate and disturb.

Post by Mark Curnow

Links:
H.P. Lovecraft’s books
http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/24810/from-lovecraft-to-evil-dead-the-history-of-the-necronomicon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King_in_Yellow
http://theremnanttrust.com/wp2/

The First Attempt: The Aerowagon

Image from Wikipedia Commons

Now don’t confuse the Aerowagon with the car of the same name. The Russian Aerowagon was a train powered by engine of a plane. It was the brainchild of a Latvian chauffeur and inventor, Valerian Ivanovich Abakovsky; Valerian was the driver for Soviet officials and may have used his connections to garner interest in his Aerowagon. The prototype was finished in July, 1921. The prototype Aerowagon survived its first test run. Then the Aerowagon was set to be tested by a group of several top-ranking communists led by Fyodor Sergeyev, a close friend of Josef Stalin. Unfortunately, on this trip, on the track from Tula to Moscow, the Aerowagon derailed at a high rate of speed. Everyone on board was killed, including Valerian. All six passengers were buried in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis. It appears that Valerian Abakovsky hadn’t the skill to properly turn his idea into a working vehicle. However, the experimentation with the concept didn’t die with him.

Schienenzeppelin or Rail Zeppelin

Image from Wikipedia Commons

 Now, you think the tragedy of the Aerowagon would have discouraged anyone from trying to merge trains and aircraft. Not so! The concept of the Schienenzeppelin was designed and developed by the German aircraft engineer, Franz Kruckenberg, in 1929. This was well before the Hindenburg disaster in 1937, so Frank was unaware he was combining two disastrous vehicles, but he had to have known of the tragedy behind the Aerowagon. Even so, the German Imperial Railway company went ahead and built a prototype in 1930. Like the zeppelins, the exterior of the vehicle was built to have an aerodynamic, streamlined silhouette, constructed out of aluminium. Inside the carriage, the interior was kept clean and Modernistic; this was the era of the ‘classic’ Science fiction and its influence was obvious in this instance. The prototype was speedy, able to reach speeds of 200km/hr in 1931. However, there were obvious safety issues with the uncovered propeller – imagine the chaos that would create in a crowded train station – and there was the competition for the resources with the juggernaut of the German war machine. In the end, the project was abandoned as unfeasible as WWII broke out.

M-497 – also known as ‘The Black Beetle’

Image from www.oil-electric.com

Image from www.oil-electric.com In 1966, the New York Central Railroad corporation developed and tested their M-467, nicknamed ‘The Black Beetle’. They mounted two (TWO!) second-hand jets on the top of a diesel train engine, and modified the front of the train to make it more aerodynamic. Then they tested this prototype on a section of straight track between Indiana and Ohio, where it reached speeds of 295km/hr. However, this modified rail car was only used to test the strains caused by high speed and there were never plans to put the M-467 into production. Sadly, ‘The Black Beetle’ was dismantled and the rail car was returned to normal service. I’d have thought a train enthusiast would have bought it and preserved it.

The Aérotrain

Image from Wikipedia Commons

The Aérotrain was actually a series of prototypes of a Hovertrain developed in France from 1965 to 1977, using airplane propellers and/or jet engines for the main propulsion. For example, during tests run on 1 November 1967, Aérotrain 01 – equipped with a jet engine – reached 345km/hr. The main problem with the Aérotrain was that it needed especially made tracks and couldn’t run on a normal train track. The lead engineer was Jean Bertin, and the project faltered after his death in 1975. In the end, the French rail went with their high-speed train system.

Working Model of the Aérotrain Image from www.fanboy.com

Turbojet train – the ER22 

Image from Wikipedia Commons

And now we have come the full circle. The ER22 was another foray by Soviet inventors into a turbojet-powered train engine for use on railway tracks. It was built in the USSR in 1970, and was clocked at 250km/hr. However, it never went into production. Don’t you just adore the way the jet engines look like some sort of exotic antlers?

So, there you have it. Next time you watch the JATO episode of Mythbusters, you will know what inspired the urban myth.