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2023 Awards Season

It’s that time of year again when 2023 Awards seasons rolls around. I have several works eligible in Horror and Fantasy categories for short fiction, Collections and Novelettes for the Aurealis Awards, Stoker Awards, British Fantasy Awards, Ditmar Awards, Australian Shadows Awards, Nebula Awards, Hugo Awards, Otherwise Awards, Shirley Jackson Awards & World Fantasy Awards.

If you’ve read any of these works and enjoyed them, please vote for them.

If you’ve not yet had a chance to read them, links are on this website!

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Norse Myth: Nidhogg

Nidhogg (Old Norse Níðhöggr, “He Who Strikes with Malice”) is one of several serpents or dragons in the Nine Worlds. The most famous serpent is Jormungand or the Midgard-serpent but Nidhogg is a dragon trapped beneath the Yggdrasil and constantly gnawing at its roots and corpses. Nidhogg is a force for chaos by destroying Yggdrasil, he will pull the Norse cosmos into chaos and away from balance.

Nidhogg presides over part of Helheim called Náströnd (“The Shore of Corpses”) where perjurers, murderers and adulterers are devoured by the dragon. The potential for Christian influence is apparent here as the concept of the afterlife with moral retribution is not inherent to Norse mythology.

Nidhogg has a prominent role in Ragnarok, the epic battle and destruction of the Nine Worlds and the Norse cosmos. In the Poetic Edda, the poem ‘The Völuspá’ describes how Nidhogg will fly free from beneath Yggdrasil after Ragnarok.

The roots of Yggdrasil keep the Nidhogg trapped until Ragnarok when shaking of the Nine Worlds weakens of Yggdrasil and allows Nidhogg to start chewing and tearing his way free from the underworld with the coming of Ragnarok.

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Greek Myth: Sirens

Funerary statue of a siren with a shell lyre, c. 370 BCE

In Ancient Greek mythology, the sirens are vaguely described by various sources but are usually interpreted as being large birds with the heads of women.

In the classic Ancient Greek legend The Odyssey attributed to Homer, the hero Odysseus’s ship is attacked by sirens who sing from the cliffs with the voices of women. The witch Circe had forewarned Odysseus and his crew to block their ears with wax so not to hear the siren’s song. Odysseus was tied to the mast as he insisted on hearing the sirens but safely tied, he couldn’t be taken from the ship. According to Circe, the sirens would fly down from three cliffs, attack crews and take men back to their roosts to feast on their victims.

The painting John William Waterhouse (1891) and depicts the sirens as described in ancient Greek mythology.

Ulysses and the sirens– John William Waterhouse (1891)

During the medieval period, the siren became confused with the mermaid and was often depicted in many Bestiaries as a half-fish, half-woman or a chimera of both with wings.

Bestiary bound in a theological miscellany. British Library, Harley Collection, MS 3244.

English artist William Petty was one of the first artist to depict the siren as a naked woman in Ulysses and the Sirens (1837) but a darker interpretation than later artists with Petty depicting the sirens an rocky isle atop the corpses of sailors lured to their deaths.

Ulysses and the Sirens– William Petty (1837)

Following the tradition of William Petty, a second siren painting by John William Waterhouse (ca. 1900) The Siren depicts the Petty-style completely different interpretation of the siren. Here, the siren is a beautiful naked woman playing a lyre and sitting on the rocks to lure sailors into the ocean to drown before they reach her.

The Siren– John William Waterhouse (ca.1900)

This transformation of the siren from the classical Greek version into the one we know today as the deadly seductress is a fascinating re-shaping of folklore and mythology over time.

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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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Slavic Folklore: Upiór

The Upiór is present in Slavic and Turkic folklore and resembles the vampire. The Upiór is depicted as a ravenous and insatiable creature with vampiric features. Belief in the Upiór may have spread across the Eurasian steppes through migrations with its origins in the regions surrounding the Volga River and the Pontic steppes.

An Upiór is created after the death of those who practised sorcery who undergo transformations in their graves and can assume animal forms. The Upiór is described as having an enlarged cranium and an elongated tail and also capable of flight.

Upiór can assume any form including human forms. Individuals under the sway of an Ubır are tormented by a ceaseless hunger and progressively become frail. An Upiór deprived of sustenance becomes aggressive and eventually driven to consume carrion and human blood.

Upiór are blamed for causing epidemic outbreaks, distress and madness in humans and animals.

Vampire Burials

In suspected Upiór cases, the grave is exhumed and nails driven into the coffin. This practice, reminiscent of contemporary vampire narratives, is widely regarded as effective.

In 2012, the discovery in Bulgaria of an 800-year-old skeleton with an iron rod stabbed through its chest, led to speculation of a vampire burial.

Upiór and Vampires

Immortality and Feeding off Life Essence:

The Upiór and the vampire both possess an insatiable hunger – whether blood, life essence, or energy. The Upiór is voracious and devours not only the flesh but also the life force of its victims leaving them weakened and dying. The vampire is also known for its hunger for human blood in order to prolong its existence.

Shape-shifting and Manipulation:

The Upiór is also a shape-shifter, which allows it to assume various forms including animals. Vampires are sometimes suggested to take the form of bats or wolves to enable them to blend into the night. This shared attribute with the Ubir suggests a link between folklore.

Dread and Vulnerability:

Both the Upiór and the vampire evoke a sense of dread and vulnerability in their victims. The ability of both Upiór and vampires to deceive the senses, blend with humanity and consume life energy strikes a common fear of violation that transcends cultural boundaries. The shared fear of deceitful danger hidden beneath a facade.

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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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Celtic Myth: Danu

Danu is one of the oldest Celtic goddess. She is represented by the earth and its abundance. Many place names in Ireland are associated with her, most notable the Paps of Anu in Kerry, which resemble the breasts of a large supine female, part of the land.

Danu is known as the ‘beantuathach’ (farmer) associating her with fertility. Rivers are also associated with her and in general, the fertility and abundance of the land.

Not many stories involving the Danu survive, but she appears is one story about Bile, the god of light and healing. Bile was represented as a sacred oak tree that was fed and nurtured by Danu resulting in the birth of Daghdha.

Danu is associated with the Tuatha Dé Danaan, the people of the goddess Danu. These were a group of people, descended from Nemed, who had been exiled from Ireland and scattered. Danu offered them her patronage allowing them to reunite, learning new magical skills and return to Ireland in a magical mist. The mist is Danu’s symbolic embrace. The Tuatha Dé Danaan are the clearest representatives in Irish myth of the powers of light and knowledge. The Tuatha Dé Danaan were associated with Craftsmanship, music, poetry and magic, as was Danu herself.

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Norse Mythology: Frigg

Frigg (Old Norse Frigg, “Beloved”) is the highest-ranking of the Aesir goddesses. She’s the wife of Odin, and the mother of Baldur.

Frigg is depicted as a völva – a Viking Age practitioner of the form of Norse magic known as seidr. Seidr was a shamanic discerning fate and working within that structure to bring about changes – often weaving new events into being. In this way, Frigg and the Vanir goddess Freya are confused or by the Viking Age – combined into the same figure.

In the Viking Age, the völva was an itinerant seeress and sorceress who traveled from town to town performing commissioned acts of seidr in exchange for lodging, food, and often other forms of compensation as well. Similar to other northern Eurasian shamans, her social status was highly ambiguous – she was exalted, feared, longed for, propitiated, celebrated, and even scorned. This seems a very unlikely practice for a woman in Frigg’s position as the wife of a Chieftain and leader of the gods, Odín.

The Vanir goddesses Freya is often confused with Frigg in later writings – so much so that they are often the same figure. Freyja means “Lady” which is a title rather than an actual name. In the Viking Age, Scandinavian and Icelandic aristocratic women were sometimes called freyjur, the plural of freyja.

Odin’s has frequent absences from Asgard when he assumes the role of The Wanderer donning a ragged black cape and hat and walking among the mortals in Midgard. During Odin’s absences, Frigg assumes control of Asgard and the gods and she is the only other than Odín who may sit on Hliðskjálf – the high seat that enables sight anywhere in the Nine Worlds.

Frigg’s had a significantly elevated position among the Aesir but was treated cautiously because her weaving included not just fate but also the weather and her clothing was known to change appearance based on her moods.

Favoured people: Women; especially wives and mothers

Manifestation: She wears a belt which keys hang as common for the Viking Age ruler of the household

Attribute: Distaff from a loom

Element: Water

Constellation: In Norse cosmology, the constellation now known as Orion’s belt was called Frigg’s distaff or spindle

Runes: Mannaz, Pertho, Wunjo

Bird: Stork

Hall: Fensalir (“Marsh Hall”) is the after-death destination for happily married couples who can spend eternity together.