I thought I’d do a quick post with all of this information, since not one, not two, but THREE books that I’m in have recently been released as ebooks. It’s drought or flood in the writing world, I tells ya.

Firstly, and most importantly, my collection Living With the Dead has now been released in ebook format.  Both epub and mobi versions are available directly from the publisher, Dark Prints Press, for the very low price of AU$5.  That’s five bucks for twenty years of work and twenty three stories.  I think that’s quite reasonable, don’t you?  It can be purchased in ebook and hard copy here:

http://darkprintspress.com.au/books_living.html

Secondly, Ticonderoga Publications‘ Dead Red Heart, a massive collection of Australian vampire stories, is now also available in ebook format from Smashwords.  US$5.99 isn’t much to ask for a collection of 33 amazing stories, including both my solo story “The Rider” and the much-acclaimed collaborative tale I oversaw, “The Tide”. Buy it now if you haven’t already!

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/324818

Lastly, but by no means leastly (??), the Canberra Science Fiction Guild‘s collection Next is also now available as an ebook! Including my story “Cause and Effect”, as well as many many others! Only US$4.99!

http://csfg.wordpress.com/2013/05/29/next-is-now-an-e-book/

I think that’s about it, unless I’ve missed any!  Oh yes, I have!  The Australian Horror Writers Association magazine Midnight Echo has released its ninth issue, and my story “Black Peter” is there.  It’s free for AHWA members, and AU$2.99 for a digital copy (all formats included – PDF, epub and mobi) or AU$12.50 plus postage for a hard copy.

http://midnightechomagazine.com/products-page/midnight_echo/midnight-echo-issue-9-duplicate/

And Antipodean SF have just released their 180th issue (yes, you read that correctly!), which contains a silly collaborative story by myself and Jason Fischer, “Art, Ink”.  It’s available as an epub here:

http://antisf.com/e-reader/file/15-antipoeansf-issue-180

Right, I think that’s it.  Carry on!

Breaking amazing news, this evening the Australian Horror Writers Association announced the winners of its annual Australian Shadows Awards, and to my absolute surprise and delight, my story “Birthday Suit” from Living With the Dead has won the award for Short Fiction!  Considering I was up against Felicity Dowker, Jason Fischer, Andrew J. McKiernan, Marty Young, and TWO stories by powerhouse (and foreword writer for my collection) Kaaron Warren, I didn’t think I stood a chance, so I’m utterly flabbergasted and humbled by the results.  I’ve been writing professionally for over twenty years now, and this is the first national award I’ve won in that time.  So at this rate, I’ll most likely win my next in around 2033!

All the results are available here:

http://www.australianhorror.com/index.php?view=334

“Birthday Suit” is a very special story for me, and is dedicated to my writing inspiration and friend, Paul Haines.  We all miss you heaps.

I should also point out that this now-award-winning story is still available to download for free here:

http://www.darkprintspress.com.au/books_living.html

The book is also for sale here, so if you haven’t bought it yet, now is the perfect time!  I should also mention that Craig Bezant, commander-in-chief of the Dark Prints Brigade, also won a Shadow tonight for editing the truly excellent anthology Surviving the End, which features a story by me as well, so in a way, I can bask in the reflected glory of that win as well.  Craig and I will be clinking skull trophies when we get out hands on them, I’m sure!

The good news keeps on coming… after “Birthday Suit” was nominated for a Tin Duck, then Living With the Dead was nominated for an Aurealis Award, now comes the news that both “Birthday Suit” and Living With the Dead have been nominated for Australian Shadows awards, “Birthday Suit” for Short Fiction and Living With the Dead for Collection.  That’s amazing news; I’ve been nominated for the Shadows in the past a couple of times over the last twenty years, but never twice in one year, so I’m really happy that the hard work Dark Prints Press and I have put into Living With the Dead has been recognised.  I’m so proud and humbled yet again to have been nominated with such an esteemed list of amazing writers, and can’t wait to hear the results; win or not-win, it’s all good with this crowd in the running!

The complete list of nominees is available HERE:

http://australianhorror.com/index.php?view=325

And remember, you can read “Birthday Suit” for free and purchase Living With the Dead HERE:

http://www.darkprintspress.com.au/books_living.html

More exciting news on the awards front, following the Tin Duck nomination for my story “Birthday Suit” (still available for free download HERE) from my collection Living With the Dead… now the book itself has been nominated for Best Collection in this year’s Aurealis Awards.  This is a huge honour, and I’m thrilled to be included in such an amazing list of nominees.  Special note has to go to Dark Prints Press for publishing the book in the first place, Craig and I worked very hard on the collection and I’d like to think that the hard work really paid off.  I’m incredibly proud of the book, and it’s really wonderful and humbling that others might just like it too!

Living With the Dead is still available for sale HERE.  Get it now, before it wins an award and becomes a best-seller!

Well, it’s been quite a while since I’ve surfaced here, as it’s been a whirlwind time for me. But I’ve popped back to say that my story “Birthday Suit”, one of the three original stories from my collection Living With the Dead, has been nominated for a Tin Duck award, the Western Australian SF awards handed out every Easter at Swancon here in Perth. So to celebrate, Dark Prints Press has kindly put the story online for free, for all to read! It’s one of my favourite stories, and one that has a bittersweet history, which is touched on in its afterword.

Anyway, the story, and the book from whence it sprung, is available here:

http://www.darkprintspress.com.au/books_living.html

And please, I’d LOVE to hear what you think of it! And also remember, Ditmar nominations are closing very soon now, and both this story and Living With the Dead are eligible. No pressure!

Last year there was a review of my collection Living With the Dead in the Leader newspapers in Melbourne by Mark Smith.  I’ve just gotten my hands on a copy, and here’s the review:

It’s such a lovely review, so I’m really thrilled.  It’s also the first official review of the book I’ve seen, so yay!  And if you haven’t bought it yet, well, you must have received SOME money for Christmas…

Please note that I’ve also included the Sudoku from the same page, for your puzzling entertainment!

Yes, after twenty long years in the making, it appears that my collection Living With the Dead is so huge, so amazing, that it requires not one but two book launches in order to get off the ground.  Yes, there’ll be a smallish launch at GenreCon in Parramatta NSW next weekend, then a fortnight after that we’ll be in Perth WA to launch it again, this time at Stefen’s Books in the CBD, so all my Perth friends and family can make it.  Yep, this is a nationwide book launch tour, baby!

The details of each are:

Living With the Dead GenreCon Launch
Sunday November 4th 2o12, 3pm-4pm (AEST)
The Rydges Parramatta (at the convention!)
(this will be happening during the Australian Horror Writers Association community showcase, for which we give our sincerest thanks!)
Facebook Event: http://www.facebook.com/events/349618555128834/

Living With the Dead Perth Launch
Saturday November 17th 2012, 11pm-12pm (AWST)
Stefen’s Books, Shop 8 Shafto Lane, Perth, Western Australia (then afterwards at The Generous Squire across the lane!)
Facebook Event: http://www.facebook.com/events/383858688349095/

I hope to see both east and west coasters at these events, and to press copies of this book into your unsuspecting hands!  Big thanks have to go to GenreCon, the AHWA and Stefen’s Books for kindly allowing us to launch.  You all rock!

The good folks at GenreCon, a genre-centric convention running in Sydney in November 2012 (Friday the 2nd to Sunday the 4th), have released their program, and it looks like a whole lot of fun.  And what’s more, I’m on the first panel at it! My panel is:

RATED [A] [S] [V] [N] [L] [D]
Conan Doyle Room; Friday, 8:00pm

Stays up late and discusses the craft of writing adult themes, from sizzling sex-scenes to acts of horrific violence. What phrases are best avoided? When is it time to stop letting yourself get carried away? Are there any lines that shouldn’t be crossed? Our panellists will talk frankly about what works, and what doesn’t.

Participants: Yvonne Eve Walus, Denise Rossetti, Martin Livings; Chair: Rosie Courtney

This should be a hoot and a holler.  Looks like I’m the only horror writer involved on the panel (and the only man too, eek!), so hopefully I can defend my particular dark alley of the ghetto, and can’t wait to meet my fellow panelists.  There’s also an Australian Horror Writers Association Community Showcase at 3pm on the Sunday, followed by an afternoon tea, and I’m hoping I might be able to squeeze in a book launch for Living With the Dead amongst that somewhere, as Craig Bezant from Dark Prints Press will also be there.

Anyway, it looks like being a fascinating convention, especially because it’s involving so many disparate genres that we in the spec-fic area normally wouldn’t get much of a chance to interact with, so I’m hoping to see lots of friendly and familiar faces there (other than the ones I’ve spotted already in the program and member list!), or else I’ll be frightened and alone.  And nobody wants that, do they?

The program is available here:

http://www.genrecon.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/GenreCon-Program.pdf

Now Matthew Tait over at Hellnotes has also reviewed my Ebook novella Rope.  And I think he liked it too, which is excellent!

http://hellnotes.com/rope-book-review

Martin Livings has been traversing Australia’s dark fiction scene for over two decades now, providing dependable tales with a mature rendering of prose. Although short, Rope still manages to deliver something that is unmistakably the author’s.

You can still of course purchase Rope from Dark Prints Press in ePub and mobi format, and also find links to purchase it from Amazon and Kobo, here:

http://www.darkprintspress.com.au/books_novellas.html

I’ve been wanting to talk about this for months now, but it just never seemed like the right time, and there hasn’t actually been an official announcement as of yet.  But you know what?  Living With the Dead is out at the end of next month from Dark Prints Press, we’ve been putting the final touches on it, the last editing has been completed, the cover is pretty much locked in, and now I want to talk about it.  So I’m going to, and nobody can stop me.  So there.

And so, without further ado, I’m very happy to announce that the foreword for Living With the Dead has been kindly written by none other than…

Kaaron Warren!  Yay!

Kaaron is one of the best writers in the field today; Dead Sea Fruit from Ticonderoga was a stunning collection, and her debut novel Slights from Angry Robot was an absolute ripper as well, winning the Australian Shadows Award for that year (final judgment for which was provided by me, so I know whereof I speak!) and the Ditmar as well.  So to have her writing the foreword for Living With the Dead is incredibly gratifying and humbling.

I just want to quote a single line from the foreword as a bit of a teaser:

“I wouldn’t be surprised to learn he writes his first drafts in blood.”

How did she know???  Anyway. hopefully this is another excellent reason to rush out and buy the book when it’s released, or you can pre-order it now!