2008 Judge's Comments: Brett McBean
As this was my first year as a judge for the Australian Shadows, I wasn’t really sure what to expect – the occasional short story or novel every month; or a continual onslaught of anthologies, collections, poems, shorts and novels? Were the judges going to be strapped into chairs and be forced to read every dark piece of fiction written during the calendar year – including all self-published and online works (even if they were 200,000 word novels) – with eyes pried open, a la Clockwork Orange?
Well, I’m here to say that aside from a scratched cornea or two (whoops, we promised we wouldn’t say anything, sorry Kirstyn...), the judging process wasn’t all that painful. It was difficult at times, sometimes downright frustrating (especially when trying to decide not only my top ten favourites, but ranking those stories), but ultimately a fascinating and enjoyable experience.
What struck me most about this year’s entries was the quality of the short story. There were a lot of shorts, what with magazines such as Midnight Echo and Black; the CD-Rom flash fiction anthology Black Box; and the Twelfth Planet anthology 2012. But for me, the highlight was the anthology Dreaming Again, edited by Jack Dann. The darker stories in this collection were, for the most part, all excellent, displaying the wide range of voices, styles and originality present in modern Australian horror fiction. And for me, the standouts in this anthology were: the utterly creepy and haunting "Lakeside" by Christopher Green; the moody, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it short "The Fooly" by Terry Dowling and the darkly fantastic "This Way to the Exit" by Sara Douglass.
Lee Battersby contributed a strong piece to the Shadows, with the bloody "Claws of Native Ghosts", as did Jason Fischer, with "Rick Gets a Job". And there was no story more disturbing than the violent sexuality of "Her Collection of Intimacy" by Paul Haines.
Another standout in the short story stakes was "I Love You Like Water", by Angela Slatter. Wonderfully written, it was disturbing, even poignant, and definitely timely (though hopefully not prophetic). Other short stories that didn’t make the cut yet I feel deserve a mention: "After Sunset" by Marty Young; "A Drowning" by Aimee Smith and "Family Tree" by Peter M. Ball.
As for the novels, the one I enjoyed the most was Simon Haynes’s fourth Hal Spacejock opus Hal Spacejock: No Free Lunch. While not particularly dark or horrific, this was nonetheless a supremely entertaining piece of speculative fiction. Another solid, enjoyable novel was The Opposite of Life by Narrelle M. Harris.
All in all, I was most impressed by the depth of talent we have here in Australia. Congratulations to all the authors who made the shortlist, commiserations to those who didn’t. I’m excited and extremely hopeful about the future of Australian dark fiction. Onwards and upwards!
Back to 2008 Shortlist