Love and Romanpunk by Tansy Rayner Roberts

Since their creation in 1995, awards have been given in various categories of speculative fiction. It has grown from a small function of around 20 people to a two-day event attended by over 200 people. To qualify, a work must have been first published by an Australian citizen or permanent resident between 1 January and 31 December of the corresponding year the presentation ceremony is held the following year. The Aurealis Awards are presented annually by the Australia-based Chimaera Publications and WASFF to published works in order to 'recognise the achievements of Australian science fiction, fantasy, horror writers'. Rayner Roberts' lean prose draws you in from the first few paragraphs and keeps that pace going straight through.Aurealis Award for young adult short storyĮxcellence in young adult speculative fiction short stories But Love and Romanpunk is its own, self-contained vision, one that turns the wit and heart up as much as any story could sustain. They both have vampires, slayers, and meaty relationships. The obvious comparison for Rayner Roberts' work here is Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

For such a slim volume, it packs a wallop. In less than 120 pages, Tansy Rayner Roberts has not only told a kick-ass series of interlinked stories in Love and Romanpunk, she has also, quite possibly, kicked off the next historical period for writers to mine. Shortlisted for Best Collection, Aurealis and Ditmar Awards 2012Ĭonnie Willis meets Gail Carriger over more than a cup of tea. 'Julia Agrippina's Secret Family Bestiary' - Nominated Best Novella/Novelette Ditmar 2012 'The Patrician' - Winner Washington Science Fiction Association Small Press Award 2012, Winner Best Short Story Ditmar 2012, Shortlisted Best YA Short Story, Aurealis Award 2012,

Julia Agrippina's Secret Family Bestiary.

Yes, you do have to wear the damned toga. Immortal heroes really don't fancy teenage girls. Don't let your little brother make out with silver-eyed blondes. Women named Julia are stronger than they appear. The world is in greater danger than you ever suspected. (He didn't even know she had a thing for pointy teeth.) (Shame about the manticores.)įurther in the future, the last man who guards the secret history of the world will discover that the past has a way of coming around to bite you. Sometime in the near future, a community will live in a replica Roman city built in the Australian bush.

(If it was the poet you are thinking of, the story would have ended far more happily, and with fewer people having their throats bitten out.)

Hundreds of years ago, Fanny and Mary ran away from London with a debauched poet and his sister. (It included more monsters than you might think.) The document was lost, or destroyed, almost immediately. Thousands of years ago, Julia Agrippina wrote the true history of her family, the Caesars.

Love and Romanpunk by Tansy Rayner Roberts