TELOS DOCTOR WHO NOVELLA WINS MAJOR AWA

. Telos are delighted to announce that Fallen Gods, the Doctor Who novella written by Jonathan Blum and Kate Orman, has won the Aurealis Award for Best Novel, 2003, the first time in the history of the Aurealis Awards, World Fantasy Awards, World Horror Awards and Hugo Awards that a TV tie-in has won Best Novel. The Aurealis Awards for Excellence in Australian Speculative Fiction were established in 1995 by the publishers of Aurealis Magazine to recognise the achievements of Australian science fiction, fantasy and horror writers. There are five divisions, in addition to the Convenor’s Awards for Excellence. To be eligible, works must have been written by an Australian and first published in the relevant calendar year. There are five divisions: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Young Adult and Children’s. The Young Adult and Children’s categories each cover all three genres. Keith Stevenson of Aurealis Magazine said: Since 1995, the Aurealis Awards have celebrated the best works in the Australian speculative fiction genre. The Award winners are selected by a panel of industry professionals: writers, editors, and critics who are all active in the field. 2003 saw the very first media tie-in novel winning the Science Fiction Award. It’s a testament to the depth of writing and artistry of Jonathan Blum and Kate Orman that Fallen Gods took out the top honours against strong works from some of the best authors Australia has to offer. The judges, Robert Hood, Maxine McArthur, Benjamin Payne and Tansy Rayner Roberts had this to add: The novel category was also characterised by excellent work within popular film and TV franchises: a Star Wars trilogy by Sean Williams and Shane Dix and two Doctor Who novels – one by Kate Orman and the other by Kate and husband Jonathan Blum. Remarkably, both the latter books made it onto the shortlist. Kate’s Blue Box is a detailed and imaginative exploration of the beginnings of the Internet, with the Doctor effectively adding a dramatic commentary to a bizarre treasure hunt. But it was Fallen Gods that blitzed the field; all four judges, independently, gave it close to the highest rating possible. Fallen Gods, which gains rather than loses from its concise nature, is a complex, beautifully researched and conceived novel. It requires of the reader no particular knowledge of the Doctor Who universe – rather, it creates its own world, with a poetry and moral seriousness capt! ured in some of the best writing of the year. Ben Payne further went on to say: Fallen Gods is one of the most elegant works of scifi I’ve read for some time, and deserves to find a wide audience. David Howe, director of Telos, commented: As an editor I’m always looking for great writing, and a powerful plot, and Fallen Gods had both of these in spades. It’s very heartening to know that we have managed to break what some may dismiss as mere ‘spin-offery’ into a wider arena, and hopefully this will encourage readers to explore more of this sort of fiction to discover what wonders may be lurking there. Stephen James Walker, co-director, added: I feel this really vindicates the approach that Telos took with the Doctor Who Novellas – trying to reach out to a market beyond the usual Doctor Who fan readership. Jon and Kate delivered a superb entry in the series, and thoroughly deserve this award. Of course David and I would love to be able to continue to produce the Novellas, and to have the opportunity to bring further kudos to the Doctor Who brand, but sadly that isn’t possible, as BBC Worldwide have declined to renew our license. The Award was accepted by author Grant Watson, whose delight was plain to see: This is an utterly amazing thing, he said. The Aurealis is a jury-voted professional science fiction award, kind of like the Palm d’Or of Australian SF. It’s a big deal. Books published in this country that win the award tend to boast about it on their covers. To win this, Jon and Kate were considered better by a jury of SF professionals than four other novels including one by a New York Times bestselling author. Congrats Jon and Kate!! Congrats David Howe for editing them!! What a victory for Doctor Who prose fiction! . ]]>