2021 writing update

Non-fiction:

Beautiful Australian Gothic Books (a post for Tor.com)
Chapter: “Heyer . . . in Space! The Influence of Georgette Heyer on science fiction” in Georgette Heyer, History and Historical Fiction edited by Samantha J Rayner and Kim Wilkins
Several observation journal posts/essays reprinted in Science Write Now Edition #5: Illustration & Illumination

Fiction:

“On Pepper Creek” in South of the Sun: Australian Fairy Tales for the 21st Century, AFTS and Serenity Press
“Gisla and the Three Favours” in Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet #43 (selected for Year’s Best Fantasy Vol 1, ed. Paula Guran, and Rich Horton said “This is at once a wholly traditional fairy tale in its shape, told beautifully and resolved matter of factly and honestly. Lovely.”)
“The Wonderful Stag, or The Courtship of Red Elsie” on Tor.com
A variety of tiny illustrated stories for patrons (final number somewhat in doubt, it was at least 12 by the end of the year but there was a chapbook with various riffs, etc, involved at the end)

Blog:

An awful lot of blog posts on art process, observation journals, creative exercises, fairy tales, etc., on this blog: 207 posts and 85,910 words. I’ve posted monthly round-ups of posts, for ease of browsing: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December.
107 posts on Patreon.

I’m working on another book! This has taken up the majority of this year’s writing time. I’m endeavouring to get the third draft done before Christmas. It’s a Gothic suburban tale.
As ever, I’m trying to shape a voluminous manuscript into something approximating a novel, and researching for my PhD project.
I’ve written several short stories of varying length, a few of which will be out next year (one is a prequel to the PhD novel).
I’ve been learning how to adapt someone else’s book for another project…
The observation journal is still going strong. I’d hazard it’s at approximately 235 entries for the year, which will evolve into blog posts, workshops, articles, stories, art, etc.

Shortlistings and awards

Flyaway won a 2021 British Fantasy Award (Sydney J Bounds Award) for best newcomer, and a 2021 Ditmar Award for best novella.
It was also shortlisted for the 2021 World Fantasy Award (best novella) and The Courier-Mail People’s Choice Queensland Book of the Year Award. It was a finalist for the 2020 Australian Shadows Award finalist and the 2020 Crawford Award.
“Contracts and Calcifer, or “In Which A Contract Is Concluded Before Witnesses”: the Transactional Structure of Howl’s Moving Castle“ (published in 2020 in the The Proceedings of the Diana Wynne Jones Conference, Bristol 2019) was shortlisted for the William Atheling Jr Award for Criticism or Review.

2021 Art overview: 2021 Art — an incomplete survey