Aurealis… concluded
Well, I did say I’d keep you posted… And Samantha kindly sent me a congratulatory email and told me to get blogging- so here I am.
The Aurealis Awards took place on the 26th in Brisbane. I am amazed to tell you that I received the award for best Science Fiction novel, and, whilst still reeeling from that event, was also awarded the Golden Aurealis for best novel overall.
The details of that night are hazy, partially due to the alcohol, but I had a wild time. I finally got to meet Will Elliot, recipient of the 2006 Best Horror and Golden Aurealis awards for The Pilo family Circus, who had reviewed my book so kindly in Spectrum magazine last October. Both Will, and his partner Christine, were nice enough to meet up with me before the event and ensure an adequate amount of Dutch courage. For someone with an imagination dark enough to invent a world of rabid evil clowns, Will was decidedly charming. The fact that he was the presenter of the Golden Aurealis really capped off my night. Christine took some pics, which I plan on posting as soon as my Internet connection becomes unthrottled. (Long story- please don’t ask.)
As someone with no real (previous) connection to the speculative writing community, I have to say I felt welcomed with open arms. I can’t bring myself to name drop here because, as Steven Spielberg once said to me, over a nice quiet drink with George Lucas and Stanley Kubrick, “David, the only thing worse than dropping names is not dropping names.” “Steve,” I’d replied wistfully, the thing is…” Sorry, just wanted to see how that looked on the screen. 
So, I was saying, I had the chance of meeting up with, and listening to some amazing writers. (I’m going to quickly thank Anna Tambour here. Her speech, earlier in the night (for receiving the award for best Horror Short Story) was inspiring and gave me the ability to open my mouth when I had to say a few words. She was full of wisdom and great ideas and it was enthralling talking to her.) The organisers did an astounding job and I have to say that I had the night of my life.
As this is starting to sound like an acceptance speech, I’ll shut the hell up, but I will just say a couple of last words.
Thanks to Will, my head’s down and I’m working hard on the next book. I am as excited about the way it’s turning out as I was about Company, which can’t be a bad thing. I will be talking about the new book here fairly soon, and rest assured, we ain’t looking at anything close to ten years with this baby.
I have had a number of enquiries from overseas about how Company of the Dead can be obtained. I am currently in talks about overseas sales and I will be posting here as soon as I have any news. (Believe me!) For the time being the book can be purchased online.
I also was asked about signed books. If anyone is really keen, I am happy, as long as time permits, to sign personalised copies and have them sent out from some of the Sydney based stores. Drop me a line at the contact page if you are interested.
So, in signing off, I hope this finds you all well. Thank you for all your kind emails and comments- and keep out of trouble.