2008 Judge's Comments: Chuck McKenzie
The judging of any fiction award is always fraught with difficulty, and no more so than when a particular year produces a bumper crop of truly wonderful pieces. How the heck are the judges supposed to reach any sort of amicable agreement when there are so many fine offerings to choose from? And 2008 does appear to have been a particularly good year, with outstanding fiction coming to us from the small presses and major publishers alike, and published both in Australia and overseas.
To me, it speaks very highly of the Australian genre community as a whole that the final nominees should be drawn from such a wide variety of publications: again, from small press (Lee Battersby's 'The Claws of Native Ghosts') and major publishers (Christopher Green's 'Lakeside' and Sara Douglass' 'This Way to the Exit'), as well as from periodicals, old and new (Jason Fischer's 'Rick Gets a Job' and Paul Haines' 'Her Collection of Intimacy').
It goes without saying that, if this high standard of publishing across the board continues into 2009 and beyond, Australian dark fiction may well find itself competing more consistently upon the international stage - where it belongs. Here's to a 'golden age' of Australian Dark Fiction!
Back to 2008 Shortlist