AND AT THE OTHER END OF THE SPECTRUM (YES, MY SPECTRUM HAS THREE ENDS. WHAT OF IT?)

I'm rather chuffed to be told that Claws of Native Ghosts has been shortlisted for this year's Australian Shadows Award.

This award has been very good to me: In the four years the award has been running I've been nominated four times, winning the inaugural award, and it's a real rush to make the list-- Australian horror is an active, vibrant field, and the quality of the other nominees this year is astonishing. And I'm especially pleased to see two of my Clarion South acolytes on the list: Jason Fischer and Chris Green rank very highly on the NextBigThingometer, and you're seeing the start of that right now, careful readers.

The winner will be announced on March 13, so stay tooned.