Guest Post = Land of the Long Dark Cloud - Writing Dark Fiction Down Under by Dan Rabarts

Hi all - as you may or may not have noticed I have not been posting much lately. Largely due to the completion of my Masters thesis, my fiction writing and posts have been on hiatus. Now, I am back but this time I thought I'd try something a bit different by opening up my site to some fellow authors. The first guest post I present to you is from fellow countryman and all-around good guy, Dan Rabarts. Dan is a writer of the dark stuff along with excursions into fantasy and further afield. Here he offers us an interesting perspective on his recent work as it relates to possible sources and origins of inspiration, found in the locale and characteristic anomalies of life in New Zealand. If interested, I myself discuss the 'dark' aspects of New Zealand literature here in a recent interview with fellow writer and Dan's co-author, Lee Murray.

Give the below article a read and check out Dan's books via the links - you won't be sorry, he really is the real-deal and his stories will resonate with you long after you've finished reading them.

Also, please make sure to subscribe to this blog/website to stay tuned for the next post (if you subscribe now you also get a free digital copy of my collection, Dreams of Thanatos: Collected Macabre Fiction) - links to the right or click here.

Without further ado . . . here's Dan. 

Call for nominations for the SFFANZ Sir Julius Vogel Awards.

Nominations are now being accepted for the SFFANZ 2015 Sir Julius Vogel Awards (see below for link/details) and I have two books that are eligible for the ballot this year: Dreams of Thanatos: Collected Macabre Tales and Corpus Delicti: Selected Poetry.

The nomination period will close at 8.00pm on 31st January 2015. The awards recognize excellence in science fiction, fantasy, or horror works created by New Zealanders and New Zealand residents, and first published or released in the 2014 calendar year.

Anyone can make a nomination and it is free! To make a nomination please email sjv_awards@sffanz.org.nz. 

Just copy and paste the following info (for one or both) into the body of your email:

WHAT to Put On the Nomination

For Dreams of Thanatos: Collected Macabre Tales

ESSENTIAL Information
This is to enable SFFANZ to verify and process the nomination.

1. Name / Title of work - Dreams of Thanatos: Collected Macabre Tales
2. Name of Producer / Author / Creator - William Cook
3. What the work is i.e. - Collection (Short Fiction)
4. Year of First Release - 2014
5. What category you think the nomination belongs to - Professional Awards - Best Collected Work
6. GENRE - Horror
7. Contact details of the person making the nomination e.g. email or/and phone number

NOTE : If the only contact details you have are the publisher's contact information on the book you are nominating, that should be sufficient.

HELPFUL Information But NOT Essential

1. Publisher / Production company name - King Billy Publications
2. How to contact the producer / author - williamcookauthor@gmail.com, 64 4 385 2456
3. Other details about the work, that might be relevant - Print, Mobi, Epub
4. Where to get a copy of the work - Amazon, Kobo, Author
5. Any other comments you wish to add

 ****************************************************************

For Corpus Delicti: Selected Poetry

ESSENTIAL Information
This is to enable SFFANZ to verify and process the nomination.

1. Name / Title of work - Corpus Delicti: Selected Poetry
2. Name of Producer / Author / Creator - William Cook
3. What the work is i.e. - Collection (Poetry)
4. Year of First Release - 2014
5. What category you think the nomination belongs to - Professional Awards - Best Collected Work
6. GENRE - Horror
7. Contact details of the person making the nomination e.g. email or/and phone number

NOTE : If the only contact details you have are the publisher's contact information on the book you are nominating, that should be sufficient.

HELPFUL Information But NOT Essential

1. Publisher / Production company name - James Ward Kirk Fiction (U.S.)
2. How to contact the producer / author - williamcookauthor@gmail.com, 64 4 385 2456
3. Other details about the work, that might be relevant - Print, Mobi, Epub
4. Where to get a copy of the work - Amazon, Kobo, Author
5. Any other comments you wish to add

 ********************************************************************************

HOW Many Times May You Nominate?

1. You may nominate as many works as you feel is appropriate.
2. You may nominate more than one eligible work in the same category. This would suit people who are major fans of one media in particular e.g. people who read a lot of books or short stories.
3. You may nominate the same work in multiple categories if it fits the criteria of those categories.
4. You MAY NOT nominate a work more than once in any given category.

The rules, criteria and categories for the awards can be found by clicking this link. Guidelines for nominations can be found by clicking this link.

*Remember - You don’t need to be a member of any group or organization to vote/nominate, so if you've read my eligible work, why not show your appreciation and support by taking a moment to cast a nomination? I'd really appreciate a nomination as it would be a massive boost to my career as a writer if I won an award like this, or even if my work reached the final ballot.

The categories are (my *books are eligible in the underlined categories):

Professional Categories:
Best Novel
Best Youth Novel
Best Novella or Novelette
Best Short Story  
*Best Collected Work
Best Artwork
Dramatic Presentation
Best Production/Publication
*Best New Talent 
Fan Categories:
Best Fan Writing
Best Fan Artwork
Best Fan Production/Publication 
Special Awards:
Services to Fandom
Services to Science Fiction, Fantasy or Horror
 
Once again, the two books I have that are eligible this year are:
Dreams of Thanatos: Collected Macabre Tales and Corpus Delicti: Selected Poetry. 

Of course, these two titles are just a few of the works eligible for nominations, so have a read, take a look and cast away, me hearties.

Thanks for reading and voting (hopefully).