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Conflux Convention

I’ll be attending the 17th Conflux Speculative Fiction Convention in Canberra from 29th September – 3rd October, 2023.

I’ll be in the Dealer’s Room – All weekend!!

Book Promo — Cursed Shards edited by Leanbh Pearson with Stephen Herczeg, 29th September, Friday 5.30 pm.

I’ll be on 3 panels:

Entrances to Evil: Doors in Dark Fiction – Leanbh Pearson, Lisa Fuller, Joanne Anderton, Daniel O’Malley. Friday 29th September, 7:30pm.

Ditmar Awards Ceremony, Saturday 30th September, 5pm.

Spirits Abroad – Rebecca Hayward, Leanbh Pearson, Americo Alvarenga, Imogen Cassidy. Sunday 1st October, 12:45pm.

Insatiable – Leanbh Pearson, Zachary Ashford, Aaron Dries (18+), Sunday 1st October, 8pm.

Raganrok : A Witch’s Curse Book Launch – Leanbh Pearson with Zachary Ashford, Monday 2nd October, 1:30pm.

Black Fox and Bitterbind Book Launch – Leanbh Pearson with Louise Peiper, Monday 2nd October, 1:30 pm.

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Diversity Grants & Awards

I’m really excited to announce I’ve been nominated for the Ditmar Awards for Best New Talent and Best Novella for Bluebells – an LGBTQI, disability dystopian alternate history horror.

I’m a recipient of the 2023 Horror Writers Association Diversity Grants to allow me to continue research for my HWA mentorship project with Lee Murray. The final piece will be an alternate history, gothic horror, GBTQI, disability with Fae versus gangsters in 1920s Sydney.

It’s a great time to be writing with my heart, soul and passion. Very excited to see where diversity in horror and dark fantasy can take us!

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Ditmar Award Nominations!!

I’m thrilled to announce I’m included in the 2022 Ditmar Awards Nominations. There is such a fabulous variety of works nominated this year.

Presentations will be held at Conflux Convention in September/October.

I’m nominated for Best New Talent and my LGBTQI dystopian alternate history novella Bluebells is nominated in Best Novella or Novelette.

Congratulations to all the nominees and can’t wait to celebrate everything Australian speculative fiction at Conflux.

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Appearances: Canberra Geek Markets

I’ll be at the Canberra Geek Markets this Saturday 29 April at EPIC, Canberra.

My stall is located next to the Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild (CSFG) stall

Come along and check out comics, books, media and merchandise for all your inner Geek desires!

I’m selling and signing books and have some cool merchandise all available at sale prices!

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Online Live Book Launch!!

Join me and author of Rarkyn’s Familiar Nikky Lee for a virtual book launch March 9th 19:30-20:30 AEDST (+11:00 UTC) for The Devil and the Loch Ard Gorge. A belated launch due to my extended illness but it’s finally time to celebrate this gothic horror novelette.

The virtual launch will be held live on Facebook and will remain available as a recording on my Facebook page. Nikky and I will discuss all things gothic horror, hauntings, traditional gothic literature and the history behind the ill-fated Loch Ard shipwreck in 1878 off the infamous southern Australian shipwreck coast.

The virtual book launch can be accessed here.

SIGNED copies of the The Devil and the Loch Ard Gorge are available for purchase via my Shop or kindle and paperback on Amazon here. SIGNED bookplates are also available from my Shop for overseas customers where postage from Australia is unfortunately prohibitive.

Hope to see you there and join the online discussion or via the discussion board!

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Bluebells Book Launch

A very late posting of the offical launch of Bluebells on October 2nd, 2022 at Conflux 16 Convention in Canberra. The book launch which had been delayed due to my health issues and extended hospital stays. So this was time to celebrate!

@Cat Sparks

We kicked off the launch with Zachary Ashford giving a great introduction to my writing career and focus so far: I’m an LGBTQI and disability author of numerous short stories in the horror and dark fantasy genres. Bluebells was my debut novella.

Zachary had a couple of questions on what inspired me to write Bluebells. The answers ranged from climate change, an interest in WWI, vampires and the Black Death and ‘Spanish fever’. Alternate history had always fascinated me and the question in my mind became what if the world had fallen into a post-apocalyptic state during WWI? What if the future we know, never happened?

@Cat Sparks

Zachary invited me to do a quick reading from Bluebells. I chose a passage near the end where the vampire Nicolas confronts and debates his humanity alongside his vampirism.

@Cat Sparks

A book signing and purchase option for copies of Bluebells followed and I had a lovely time meeting new and old friends while I signed copies.

@Cat Sparks
@Cat Sparks
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Conflux 16 2022 Convention

A very late post on the October 2022 Conflux 16 Speculative Fiction Convention held in Canberra. Aside from being an invited panelist for 4 seperate panels, I ran my first Dealers Table for the four days and officially launched Bluebells.

I was also an invited panellist on 4 panels – each exciting to engage with an audience and discuss the theme in question with other likeminded writers.

“Queering Fiction” was a wonderful discussion about how authors create characters with a LGBTQI identity – or how authors like Sam Hawke create an entire world where sexuality is fluid and accepted.

“Re-imagining Horror in a Pandemic” was a great lineup of panelists discussing how the pandemic affected them as writers but also how the wider public changed perceptions and fear became a driver of society. For horror writers, fear is the driver of a story. Many ideas were exchanged on whether horror writing would become more or less popular and certainly Fantasy seemed to be the main genre read during pandemic lockdowns.

“Including Disability in Fiction” was such an important panel that like the queer community, characters with disabilities are often absent, stereotyped or in the background of a storyline. This panel explored what writers living with disabilities experience and want to see more of in fiction and from their own writing.

“Climate Change: Past and Future” was a fascinating panel exploring the emergence and importance of climate fiction in publishing scene. Discussions ranged from the emergence of man-induced climate change to the reality of how climate change is affecting everyday existence and how that has seen the explosion of dystopian fiction. An important comment by Cat Sparks was that perhaps we should be focusing in our writing of turning the current climate crisis around and sending a message of hope in doing so.

The last event was a live 5 minute reading session with Kaaron Warren. I read an excerpt from Bluebells when Peter first meets Nicolas de Laon on the frontlines in Belgium.

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Australasian Horror Award Win

I am so excited to share the announcement that I was the 2022 winner of the Australasian Horror Writers Association Robert N Stephenson Flash Fiction & Short Story Competition for the Flash Fiction category. My story “The Carnival Girl “ was a dystopian horror with LGBTQI themes and will be published in the next episode of the AHWA magazine Midnight Echo.

Thank you to all the judges and a massive congratulations to all who entered and honourable mentions!

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Bluebells Book Launch

Conflux 16- Speculative Fiction Conventions from October 1 -3 will be hosting my book launch for Bluebells. After several hospital admission interruptions, I’m looking forward to properly launching my debut novella from Black Hare Press.

Tickets for Conflux 16 are essential. Book here.

Bluebells has its belated official launch on October 2nd at 12:30 pm AEST.