Buy/Sell Your Membership - Transfers Available

Sometimes, for whatever reason, you buy a convention membership but can't end up going to the con. You can post "Memberships for Sale/Transfer" on this thread. We'll also include any new listings made on the blog in our next newsletter to members. Be sure to include your contact details!

Looking to buy a cheaper membership?
Check the comments thread of this post for memberships for sale or transfer...

Writing workshop with Jennifer Fallon!

Conjure will be hosting writing workshops on Friday, April 14th from 10:00am to 1:00pm.

Gain insights on writing fantasy or science fiction from some of Australia's top authors, find out about getting published in Australia or delve into the details of medieval history for that fantasy novel. These workshops are open to the public and we encourage all writers interested in fantasy and science fiction to book in - places are limited!

Workshop Fees
$38.50 Conjure Members
$60.00 Non-members
Click here to email your booking to our programming coordinators.

Getting Published
Tutor: Jennifer Fallon
Jennifer Fallon is one of Australia's bestselling fantasy novelists. Her books, including the Demon Child Trilogy and Hythrun Chronicles, have been released all over the world and translated into several languages. In this three hour workshop, Jennifer provide you with a wealth of practical advice about what you need to do to improve your chances of breaking into the publishing market. Not to be missed!

Check out the Workshops page on the Conjure website...

Win short story comp... get published in Aurealis!

The Conjure 2006 short story competition is open!

First Prize: $200 plus publication in a future issue of Aurealis magazine
Second prize: $100
Third prize: $50

Entries close midnight, Friday, March 10, 2006.

The competition is being run by Conjure and is co-sponsored by Conjure, the Australian Science Fiction Foundation and Australian Speculative Fiction.

Eligibility
Entry is free and is open to all non-professional Australian authors. For the purposes of the competition, Conjure and the ASFF have adopted the Science Fiction Writers of America definition of a non-professional, which is a writer who has no more than two stories published in markets that pay 5 cents a word or more, or a novel published by a major publisher.

Please direct queries about eligibility to the competition organisers. robert.hoge@conjure.org.au

You do not have to be a member of the convention to enter.

Submission Guidelines
To enter, e-mail your story as an attached RTF file to storycomp@conjure.org.au.

Please include a cover sheet that lists your name and address. The story should be in standard format - in 12pt times new roman or courier and double spaced.

The subject line should read: CONJURE STORY COMP: Your story title.

Terms and Conditions
Other conditions and terms of entry are detailed below:
1. Only one entry will be accepted per author.
2. The story must be speculative fiction. Stories that the judges consider not to be speculative fiction will not be considered.
3. Each entry should consist of one short story with a minimum length of 1000 words and a maximum length of 3000 words.
4. Entries must be entirely original works of fiction and cannot be based on existing series, properties or characters. Stories based on existing books, comics, TV series, or movies will not be read.
5. Entries must be wholly unpublished works and must remain unsold and unpublished until after winners are announced.
6. The judges reserve the right to declare a verdict of no award for any/all of the prizes.
7. The judges' decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

Entries close midnight, Friday, March 10, 2006. Winners will be announced at the Ditmar Awards ceremony at Conjure.

Transfer Your Membership

Sometimes, for whatever reason, you buy a convention membership but can't end up going to the con. You can post "Memberships for Sale/Transfer" on this thread. We'll also include any new listings made on the blog in our next newsletter to members.

Be sure to include your contact details!

ACCOMMODATION - Find a Roomie!!!

Need a bed? Got a room at the convention hotel but nobody to share it with?

Post your want ads in this thread to find other people looking for room-mates for the convention to share accommodation costs.

We'll also post any new notices made to this thread in our newsletters to members.

Be sure to include your contact information!

Cory Doctorow reads Human Readable

Conjure's International Guest of Honour, Cory Doctorow, podcasts some of his stories via his website, craphound.com

His latest offering is Part 1 of his short stoy, Human Readable, which was published in the anthology Future Washington (2005). Cory says...

It's the tale of a world that's been upended by hyper-efficient planning algorithms based on ant-colony optimizations, so that Los Angeles has the best traffic in the world. However, when these networks crash, they really crash -- cars, surfboards, and many other common conveyances end up catastrophically failing, with concomitant loss of life. Part One MP3

When going to an SF Con be prepared to...

We want to hear your tips and advice for new SF con-goers! What should the unsuspecting convention attendee expect to encounter?

For example, author Cory Daniells had these pearls of wisdom to impart:

"When going to an SF Con be prepared to...

1. Drink a lot.

2. Discuss obscure points of what happened in Red Dwarf Series 4 episode 6. (Feel free to substitute Firefly, Buffy, Doctor Who, Zena or any other cult spec fic show)

3. Find yourself in a bar or waiting for a panel to begin and start chatting with the person next to you, only to discover later that they are an international guest or a multi published author.

4. Argue passionately about the possibility of AI or Nano technology evolving in the next 15 years.

5. Hang out in the Hucksters room. (I sat on a table in the Hucksters room at World Con in Glasgow and I swear it was like that place in Douglas Adams' book where everyone in the universe passes by and stops to chat).

6. Discover a world of like minded people who believe eccentric is not a dirty word."

What are YOUR contributions?

Welcome...

Hi there, welcome to the new blog for Conjure 2006, the 45th Australian National Science Fiction Convention happening in Brisbane, Australia in April this year.

This blog will keep you up to date with news and announcements from the convention. It is also a place for our con members to congregate and chat, to swap info about sharing accommodation, find friends, talk about the convention and just hang out.

In coming months we also hope to have some guest blogging by our special guests, and blog (and podcast) the convention from April 14-17.

Stay tuned...