03/02/2010 - Locus Magazine's 2009 Recommended Reading

My novella 'Wives' and X6, the anthology it is in, have both made the Locus 2009 Recommended Reading List.

Margo Lanagan's 'Sea-Hearts' in X6 also made the list.

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30/01/2010 - Aurealis Award Judges Reports

‘Wives’ by Paul Haines in X6 is cleverly crafted to force the reader to adjust from known parameters to the story's world, starting with a very simple image of a man in love with a girl in a country town, then, with hints and whispers, revealing that this world is not our own. The story is of a boy's coming of age as he tries desperately to assimilate his upbringing and his mother’s values - that women are not simply property - within a society where property is everything. The real danger of the Australian values of mateship and mates before dates is shown in stark reality. The dialect and language are appropriate to the scene and set the distance between today's Australia and a future where we are more isolated and "countrified". It is a story of isolationism and the ease with which those who are cut off learn hate for "the other". It comments on the brutality of mutilation and the reaction of our protagonist when he discovers he has no pity or empathy, just bitter resentment for his own loss. It is a story of despair—a mother's despair and the despair of giving up hope when love fails. This bleak story is haunting, and the ‘realness’ of this unreality is truly horrifying.

'Slice of Life—A Spot of Liver' by Paul Haines was one of the boldest entries in the horror genre for 2009 and delves into the darker side of humanity. The story of a man with a good job, a mortgage and a sound-proofed basement is well written and readable. He lives alone, indulging in the pleasures of good red wine and freshly
cooked liver. The revelation of his secret is caused by his mother coming to stay for a few days. The unfolding horrific elements have a very high ‘yuk’ factor but are unashamed and raw. Haines has a wickedly dark sense of humour and has written a story that is immediately engaging with vivid imagery and clever word play.

Slice of Life, Paul Haines (author) & Geoffrey Maloney (editor), The Mayne Press
Bleak, blackly humorous and brutally self-deprecating, this is uncomfortable yet fascinating and engaging fiction from an author whose no-holds-barred, no-prisoners-taken approach to writing is on glorious display in this collection. Juxtaposing life with air travel, psychosis and Machiavellian talking cats, this is Australian masculinity and sexuality as fiction at its most dark and disturbing. Not for the faint of heart, read a "slice" at a time.

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24/01/2010 - Aurealis Award Wins

I'm delighted to announce that my stories "Wives" (X6, Coeur De Lion, 2009) and "Slice Of Life - A Spot Of Liver" (Slice Of Life, The Mayne Press, 2009) have tied to win Best Horror Short Story.

I think this is the first time in the history of the awards that an author has tied with themselves to win.

Here's a full list of Aurealis Award 2009 Winners.

And there's more on my blog: Winning and Speeches.

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20/01/2010 - Rjurik Davidson reviews Slice Of Life

Some nice words from Rjuirk Davidson, award-winning author and an associate editor at Overland:

There I was, trawling my way through George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones. I'd got through 200 pages, so I had a good ... 600 or so to go. It was hard labour. Breaking rocks. Sure the plotting is good. Sure the characters are ok. Sure it rattles along. But I was underwhelmed by the sense of deja vu. Knights and castles and gilded shields and ... you get the picture. So I put it aside and picked up Slice of Life and felt like I'd been thrown into a cold river. I came up, wide awake, eyes open, thinking, I'm alive. The stories were tight, carefully crafted, original (and also reminiscent of someone like Ellison), daring and funny. I laughed out loud three times in the first two stories. Do you know how rare it is for me to laugh out loud? I have some criticisms, but don't we always have them? Let's not dwell on them. But one of the things I thought was - these stories should be better known, fuck it. I mean, I work at one of the top literary journals in OZ, and it's rare we'd ever get anything as good as "The Devil in Mr Pussy."

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