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"The Macabre Modern" (from The Macabre Modern and Other Morbidities) has placed third in the long form section of this year's Rhysling Awards. As the Rhyslings are voted on by the membership of the Science Fiction Poetry Association, this has me feeling pretty darn chuffed. The 2020 Rhysling Anthology reprints all winners and nominees, and "The Macabre Modern" occupies a satisfying number of pages. The collection itself now contains two Australian Shadows Award winners (the essay "The Danse Macabre" and the poem "Revenants of the Antipodes") plus a Rhysling placeholder. T'is a good day to be a morbidly historical poet!


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My essay, "The Danse Macabre", in The Macabre Modern and Other Morbidities has won the Rocky Wood Award for Non-Fiction and Criticism in the 2019 Australian Shadows. That's another demon on the shelf! Thanks are due, once again, to my editor Danny.

"What exactly is a danse macabre?
The word macabre makes its first known appearance in the fourteenth century poem, “Respit de la Mort” (Respite From Death) by the French poet Jean Le Fevre. The line reads, “Je fis de macabre la danse” (roughly, “I did the macabre dance”). The context suggests that this qualifies the poet to pronounce on the ubiquity of death, the fate that ultimately awaits all who are born. Some commentators think Le Fevre must have narrowly escaped dying through accident or disease, and distilled the experience into this work. But why did he describe it as dance?..."


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Very pleased that two of my poems from The Macabre Modern and Other Morbidities - "Don't Open The Box!" and an extract of "The Macabre Modern" itself, are in the 2020 Rhysling Anthology. That means someone nominated them for the Rhysling Award. Which is great, but judged on its own merits this is a fantastic collection that I would recommend to anyone.



I am fond of "Don't Open The Box!" as it isn't often I do something a purely comedic and the structure had its own challenges. I performed it at Script in Hand, November 2017, when I was the MC for the evening, and it went down very well.

"I tell you, don't open the box!
"With the latch and the leonine claws.
"Don't mind what's inside it! If I choose to hide it,
'It's surely no business of yours...."

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The Australian Shadow Awards are given out annually by the Australian Horror Writers Association, but this is the first year they have included a poetry category. Individual poems are nominated rather than collections. This is in no small part the work of Danny Lovecraft,  who has been a tireless lobbyist for the form. Anyway, "Revenants of the Antipodes", my piece in the HWA Poetry Showcase V has been granted the natty little trophy.

My sincere thanks to everyone and apologies I could not make the award ceremony. "Revenants of the Antipodes" will be reprinted in my forthcoming collection from P'rea Press, The Macabre Modern and Other Morbidities.
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This is the first year that the Australian Shadow Awards have had a poetry section, and I'm shortlisted! "Revenants of the Antipodes", first published in the HWA Showcase V,is competing with excellent entries by Jay Caselberg, Rebecca Fraser, Bee Nielsen and Hester J. Rock.

This would not have been possible without the extensive lobbying of Danny Lovecraft of P'rea Press. This recognition of Australian dark poetry has been a long time coming, and I should also like to thank the brave judges who stepped up when Danny himself withdrew due to a potential conflict of interest.

Congratulations to us all!



NB. This button isn't official. The enterprising Alan Baxter made one up this year and kindly provided it to me.

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It appears I have my first-ever nomination for the Australian Shadow Awards. My essay "A Shared Ambition - Horror Writers in Horror Fiction" (Midnight Echo #12) has been shortlisted for the Rocky Wood Award for Non-Fiction and Criticism. This is both a surprise and an honour.

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