Nov 22, 2011 - It is with great sadness that we must report the sudden passing of Anne McCaffrey on November 21, 2011. Anne was a wonderful person, and long standing friend of Albedo One. Her writing enjoyed huge popularity as well as critical acclaim. Her fine short story "Weyr Search"', originally published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact in 1967, won a Hugo Award for Best Novella in 1968. Her novella Dragonrider won a Nebula Award the following year. Her novel, Restoree, is regarded as an important and influential riposte to stereotypical portrayals of women in the science fiction of the decade. In 2005, Anne was named the 22nd Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writer's of America (SFWA) and in 2006, she was Inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame. Anne had also acted for the past two years as a Grand Judge for the International Aeon Award Short Fiction Contest, lending her great experience to the task of choosing the winning stories in the contest. More information, including a statement from Anne's son, Todd, can be found here. Our deepest sympathies go to Anne's family, friends and legion of fans.

Oct 13, 2011 - We're most happy to report to you with more results from our continuing digitization projects here at Albedo One. Today we have made more back issues available for purchase in low-cost .pdf format. These are issues 21 down through 13, and you can buy them safely and securely through PayPal on this page, or you can choose three free back issues in .pdf format when you subscribe to Albedo One, Ireland's premiere fantasy, horror and science fiction magazine!

Oct 11, 2011 - Octocon, the National Irish Science Fiction Convention is now only days away, and what's more, we will be launching our two new Aeon Press anthologies at the Convention. These are Box of Delights, edited by John Kenny, featuring stories from Mike Resnick, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Don D'Ammassa and many others, and Transtories, edited by Colin Harvey, featuring fiction by Joanna Hall, Jay Caselberg, Priya Sharma, Thomas L. Martin, Lawrence M. Schoen and many others, including Aliette de Bodard, the winner of the British Science Fiction Association Award for Short Fiction, as well as the Writers of the Future Contest. Octocon takes place on the 15th & 16th of October in the Camden Court Hotel, Camden Street, Dublin 2, Ireland. Expect both anthologies to be available for sale online here soon!

Oct 7, 2011 - We are very happy to announce that Albedo One author David T. Neal has just had his first novel published. The novel is entitled Saamaanthaa and David describes it as "a sprawling werewolf novel set in Chicago, circa 2007 -- a sort of hipster "Heathers" meets "the Howling" -- darkly comic horror." You can expect to see a review forthcoming in Albedo One. David has been published in Albedo One no less than twice, with "Rotgut" and "Aegis", the latter being the Second Place Winner of the International Aeon Award 2008 Short Fiction Contest (published in issue 37). You can see D. T. Neal's website here.

Sept 28, 2011 - Most will now have heard of the recent and very untimely passing, at the young age of 51, of respected UK genre author and editor, Colin Harvey. Colin was a good friend of the Albedo One Team and from small beginnings in meeting Colin and enjoying his good humour at several genre conventions, we planned and looked forward to collaborating on many interesting projects. As it is, before his passing, we were fortunate to have benefited from Colin's great abilities and energy as editor of a forthcoming anthology of short fiction from our book publishing arm, Aeon Press, entitled Transtories. We also benefited from Colin's talents as an author, and very proudly, we feature a fine short story from Colin in the upcomng issue 40 of Albedo One, entitled "The Ghost Station". The same issue of Albedo One also features an interview with Colin, and we make this available here now, ahead of time. Our deepest sympathies go to Colin's wife, Kate, his family and many friends.

Jun 28, 2011 - We're delighted to say that we have now posted short biographies of all the Grand Judges of this year's International Aeon Award writing competition for horror, fantasy and science fiction. By entering, not only do you have a chance to win the €1000 Grand Prize and publication in Albedo One, but you will have the chance of seeing your work considered by such luminaries as Ian Watson, Anne McCaffrey, Mike Resnick and Michael Carroll. We are also very excited to announce that in celebration of reaching issue 40 of Albedo One, we have decided to make this a bumper issue of 100 pages, packed with the best fiction we can get our hands on. Not only that, but you can expect to see this issue by mid-August at the very latest!

Feb 27, 2011 - We're very proud to be able to announce the three winners of the Aeon Award 2010 writing competition for short stories. As you will see in the main news collumn to your left, the winners are of diverse nationality, comprising U.S., Greek and Irish writers, clearly demonstrating the international scope of the Aeon Award writing contest. It's also noteworthy that the winning story is a translation from Greek. Fiction is often translated from English to other languages, but much less often translated in the other direction. We hope that having a translated story win the Aeon Award will make a contribution to showing the English speaking world what they are missing in terms of the abundant quality fiction that often never sees translation.

Feb 20, 2011 - An update on the Grand Judges for the International Aeon Award 2011 Short Fiction Contest. We would like to hail the return of the long-serving and most excellent Ian Watson to the Grand Judges panel for the Aeon Award contest. We'd also like to welcome the return, from the 2010 panel, of beloved Hugo award winning SF author Anne McCaffrey and the multiple award winning speculative fiction author Mike Resnick as Grand Judges for the Aeon Award 2011 contest. This year we welcome aboard the respected Irish speculative fiction author Michael Carroll. We'd like to thank Sam Millar, revered Irish crime and horror author, for his role as Grand Judge in the Aeon Award 2010 competition.

Dec 4, 2010 - The International Aeon Award 2010 Short Fiction Contest is now closed to submissions. Thank you to everyone who entered their writing and supported the competition. In the next two weeks, the judges will decide upon those stories received in the final round (October - November) that will be added to the shortlist. After this, the judges will enter into fierce debate to choose the top six stories from the shortlist, and these will be sent to our panel of Grand Judges, Ian Watson, Mike Resnick, Anne McCaffrey and Sam Millar for the final decision. Don't forget, the Aeon Award 2011 will open for submissions as of January 1 2011, and has a Grand Prize of €1000 and publication in Albedo One.

Oct 28, 2010 - We're delighted to hear word that
Perilous Press has released The Eye of Infinity, the first Harrison Peel tale in three years, in chapbook format. The Eye Of Infinity features a Mike Dubisch cover and a dozen illustrations by Nick Gucker, and is available from the Perilous Press store. The Eye Of Infinity is written by Albedo One's man in the Land Down Under, Contributing Editor David Conyers, and continues the saga of Harrison Peel, a veteran of covert wars against alien invaders, and fuses Mythos horror, quantum physics and interstellar cloak and dagger action into an instant pulp classic.

Oct 15, 2010 - For anyone happening to pass the Camden Court Hotel, Dublin, October 16 and 17, call in and say hello to the editors of Albedo One, many of whom will be attending Octocon, the National Irish Science Fiction Convention, as guests. On other news, we're delighted to say that Priya Sharma's fine horror, "The Nature of Bees", has been Recommended for a Bram Stoker Award. The story was first published in Albedo One issue 38 and now you can read it online for free as the second of our Fiction Highlights. We wish Priya the best of luck in the voting!

Sept 7, 2010 - The Irish Writer's Centre, Parnell Square, Dublin, is hosting a Fantasy Fiction workshop with Celine Kiernan, on the 11th and 12th of September. Celine is an experienced fantasy writer and the workshop is a good opportunity to hone your skills. The Irish Writer's Centre is a voluntary organisation that prides itself on running specialised, tailored workshops and courses often unavailable elsewhere, on subjects such as Travel Writing, Fantasy Fiction, Historical Fiction, Screenplays and many other genres and formats.

Sept 1, 2010 - Two items of good news. First, Albedo One's interview with renowned hard SF author, Greg Egan, conducted by David Conyers and first published in Albedo One issue 37, has now been made available online and free to read on Greg's homepage. Go see! Secondly, Dublin film director Thomas Hefferon is taking out a film option on the short story "Shelter" from Albedo One editor, David Murphy's 1995 chapbook Broken Heroes. Thomas bought the Albedo One published collection in Dublin's much missed Dandelion Bookshop way back in the nineties. The story, first published in FTL, the magazine of the old Irish Science Fiction Association (in issue six in the autumn of 1990), stayed with him all these years and struck a chord with his filmic imagination. Now he's in a position to turn it into a short film. It's incredible to think that this can happen to a story first published nearly twenty years ago and last published in '95.

Aug 22, 2010 - You can now read Albedo One editor, Robert Neilson's article "Don't judge me because I write science fiction" online at Essentialwriters.com. Well worth a look if you are a writer intending to submit a story to Albedo One and want to get an idea of what we like and don't like. See the article here.

Aug 20, 2010 - Albedo One contributing editor, David Conyers, has had his Aeon Award 2006-2007 shortlisted story, "Black Water", shortlisted for a Ditmar Award. The Ditmar recognises excellence in science fiction written by Australian authors. We wish David the very best of luck. Moreover, we're delighted to be able to publish "Black Water" (which first appeared in Jupiter Magazine) here on the Albedo One website as the first of our Fiction Highlights. Go check it out!

Aug 18, 2010 - We're happy to announce that for the first time ever, we have now made all of our still-in-print back issues available for purchase online, as well as making issues 1, 3 and 4 available to purchase in low cost .pdf format. Some of these issues are very rare, with only a few copies remaining in print. So go visit the Albedo One Shop and start adding to your collection!

Aug 04, 2010 - Owing to the demands of our readers, we're now delighted to be able to offer subscriptions to Albedo One in electronic .pdf format, as well as our traditional print format. Each issue in an electonic subscription will be emailed to e-subscribers, or can be downloaded directly from the new Albedo One site. We're even offering an excellent value combined electronic and print subscription option. Follow the link to see all options for subscribing to Albedo One.

Mar 02, 2010 - This year we're proud to announce that long-serving Grand Judge, renowned SF author Ian Watson, will be joined by Hugo-winning SF author Anne McCaffrey, multiple Hugo Award-winning author Mike Resnick, and respected Irish horror author Sam Millar as Grand Judges for the Aeon Award 2010 short fiction contest. The contest is open until November 30th 2010 for submissions of up to 8000 words in length in all speculative fiction genres. The Grand Prize is 1000 euro and publication in Albedo One magazine. See full contest details here.

Jan 19, 2010 - The excellent Susan Lanigan is holding a workshop on Writing Short Fiction on 30 January 2010. An accomplished writer herself, twice shortlisted for the Hennessy New Irish Writing Award, published in other magazines and shortlisted several times for the Aeon Award short fiction contest, she hopes to encourage exploration of the writing self through exercises, discussion and hopefully plenty of fun! The fee is a recession-busting €10! For more info and to sign up, please see here.

Dec 14, 2009 - The Aeon Award 2009 is now closed to submissions. A personal thank you to all who entered. We appreciate your support for the Award! The contest is our way of giving back to the writers and readers that support Albedo One, by giving the writers of quality works a high profile Award with a more substantial monetary value. Right now, the judges are in the difficult process of choosing a top six from the 27 excellent stories shortlisted for the Award. Keep an eye out here before Christmas when we will be announcing the top six.

Dec 13, 2009 - The Book Of Hopes And Dreams is a charity poetry anthology, featuring many award-winning and internationally respected writers, including Simon Armitage, Margaret Atwood, Moniza Alvi, Alan Brownjohn, David Constantine, Cyril Dabydeen, Carol Anne Duffy, Ian Duhig, Ruth Fainlight, Vicki Feaver, Elaine Feinstein, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Charles Ades Fishman, Magi Gibson, Alasdair Gray, Tony Harrison, John Heath-Stubbs, Michael Horovitz, Mimi Khalvati, Tom Leonard, Robert Mezey, Edwin Morgan, Lawrence Sail, Penelope Shuttle, Jon Stallworthy, Anne Stevenson and many others. Money raised from sales of this book will go to Spirit Aid for their aid programme in Afghanistan. The Book Of Hopes And Dreams is available as an e-book and is available for a minimum donation of UK £1 or US $2. Please make your payment via paypal to dee@thunderburst.co.uk. Send an email to that address to let Dee know you've paid. As soon as funds are received you will be emailed your e-book. All funds raised (minus paypal admin charges will) go direct to Spirit Aid.

Oct 1, 2009 - A new and very worthy initiative that has recently come to Albedo One's attention is The Big Smoke Writing Factory which offers creative writing classes and workshops and is based at number 7, Lower Hatch Street, Dublin 2. We know several of the organisers and teachers, including the estimable Claire Hennessy, and they definately mean business. If you're looking to improve your writing skills, The Big Smoke Writing Factory comes highly recommended.

Sept 15, 2009 - David Conyers, Albedo One’s most recent member to the Albedo One team and their man in the land Down Under will be a special guest at GenCon, Australia, to be held at the Brisbane Convention Centre 18-20 September 2009 in Queensland. While he is there talk about his science fiction writing, he will also discuss his role as a contributing editor and reviewer for Albedo One and will provide details on the Aeon Award, which is open to all speculative fiction writers of all nationalities. David’s science fiction story “Black Water” was short-listed for the Second International Aeon Award short fiction contest, which ultimately became the catalyst that brought him onto the Albedo One team in the first place.

July 25, 2009 - Some of the editors of Albedo One will be attending the upcoming SF Worldcon in Montreal in August of this year. We always value meeting other writers, readers, editors and publishers. Being stuck on an island, we probably don't get enough of this sort of contact. So, if you're going too, make sure to say hi to Bob Neilson, David Murphy, John Kenny or Frank Ludlow. In fact, the organisers of Worldcon have kindly given us a panel to discuss all things Albedo One. Come along and say hello!

Panel Details:
When: Sun 11:00
Location: P-524C
Title: Albedo One
Session ID: 572

July 03, 2009 - A quick round-up of news for all our readers. But where to begin?! Congratulations to Albedo One authors Philip Raines and Harvey Welles, whose story "Alice & Bob" in issue 35 of Albedo One has been given an Honourable Mention in the most recent volume of the prestigious Year's Best Science Fiction, edited by Gardner Dozois. Congratulations also to Julian West, whose 2004-2005 Aeon Award winning story, "My Marriage" will be translated and published in the highly respected French science fiction magazine Galaxies SF , edited by Pierre M. Gevart. Albedo One editor Bob Neilson has now taken to the blogosphere, one of his main intentions being to further Albedo One's efforts at translating and promoting European and international work in SF, fantasy and horror into English. See how the project is coming along here.

May 24, 2009 - Issue 36 of Albedo One is now at the printers, so subscribers can expect their copy in the post soon. The issue is of course also available to buy in print or low-cost pdf form on this website through PayPal! The issue features an interview with Paul Di Filippo and new fiction from Mike O'Driscoll as well and the Aeon Award 2008 winning story from Colin Henchley. Not to be missed!

Oct 7, 2008 - Albedo One authors have picked up four Honourable Mentions in the Year's Best anthologies for 2008. In Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link and Gavin Grant's fine volume, The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror, Michael Matthews' "A Trail of Stars Whirling", Andrew McKenna's "Barrellhouse" (from issue 33) and Nicola Caines' "Times Winged Chariot" (from issue 32) were all given Honourable Mentions. Well done to the authors! In Gardner Dozois' prestigious Year's Best Science Fiction, Geoffrey Maloney's story "Blonde on Blonde" was also given an Honourable Mention. Not bad for a small magazine from Ireland!

Oct 6, 2008 - We've spotted that Alexander Kruglov's fine cover art, "It Will Never Fly Again" (issue 32 of Albedo One) was nominated for a 2008 British Fantasy Society Award, as was John Hogan's horror tale, "Unnatural" (also issue 32). Though these didn't make the ultimate shortlist, we're happy to see Alexander and John's work being recognised (Alexander's cover was also nominated for a 2007 British Science Fiction Association Award).

Feb 26, 2008 - Some good news to report! Albedo One author Will McIntosh, whose story "Friction" appeared in issue 30 and won the "Best In Issue Award" has appeared in a recent podcast on the excellent escapepod.org and can be downloaded or listened to free on the website. Well worth listening to!

Feb 12, 2008 - Issue 34 of Albedo One is almost ready to go. We're in the final proofing stages, and expect to see the issue in print by the end of February! As you know this issue features all top three shortlisted stories from the Aeon Award 2006-2007 contest, including Nina Allan's winning story, "Angelus". Juliet E. McKenna and Andrew McKenna return with more erudite book reviews, and we have an interview with Raymond E. Feist to boot! Not an issue to be missed!

AEON AWARD 2011 TOP 6 SHORTLISTED STORIES & AEON AWARD 2012 LAUNCH!

Feb 2, 2012 - The Interim Judging Panel has finished the agonising process of deciding upon the top 6 stories from all those 25 fine stories shortlisted in 2011. These 6 stories have now gone to the Grand Judges of International Aeon Award Short Fiction Contest, 2011, who will choose the three winning stories. The entire shortlist is presented below. The top 6 stories are highlighted by three asterixes ***. The author names of all shortlisted stories will be withheld to ensure impartiality as the last leg of the judging proceeds, but will be announced here for all the world to see when the judging is completed. We congratulate the authors of the stories that have made the top 6, and wish them the best of luck! We also thank the authors of all the shortlisted stories for entering their fine work. The contest could not exist without the support of you, the writer, and we look forward to reading your work in the Aeon Award 2012 contest which is now open for entries.

He Sees You When You're Sleeping ***
Heredity ***
The Time of Birds ***
Where the Sun Shines Brightly ***
Tokyo Haze ***
Doctor Suess is Dead ***
Anne Arquey 20871223F
Beyond the City of Ice
Silkie
Young Woman with a Horn
Do I Owe You Something?
Wire
The Ballad of Boomtown
No Foundation
Case Notes of a Witch Doctor
Smokedogs
Dying Moon
Leftovers
Stained
Funeral March
The Graydon Chronicles: Johannes Burman (1858-1888)
A Well-Known Figure from the Area
The Stray
Darke Wing
The Creeper

The Aeon Award is a short story writing competition for fantasy, horror and science fiction (i.e. all the speculative fiction genres), with Grand Prizes of €1000, €200 and €100 and publication in Albedo One. Remember, the first round of the 2012 contest runs from January 1 2012 to March 31st 2012, so get those stories submitted to the competition - full details here.

ISSUE 41 OF ALBEDO ONE IS RELEASED!

Dec 28, 2011 - Having set ourselves the considerable challenge of following our last issue of Albedo One (number 40) with its bumper 100 pages featuring no less than 12 fine stories, we now proudly present our latest issue. Issue 41 features an interview by David Conyers with Iain M. Banks and boasts the same redesigned look from issue 40 with interior artwork accompanying the fiction. The issue features stories by Bruce McAllister ("Demon") and Eric Brown ("Differences"). We also proudly present the three winning stories of the International Aeon Award 2010 Short Fiction Contest, "Aethra" by Michalis Manolios, "Pinocchio" by Jacob Garbe and "A Room of Empty Frames" by Robin Maginn. Further excellent fiction is provided by Peter C. Loftus ("Reflected Glory"), Judy Klass ("Lost Highway Travellers") and Francisco Mejia ("Nathan Swindle and the Citadel"). The issue continues our programme of translations with an English translation of Jan J.B. Kuiper's surreal fantasy "Blavatsky's Knee", translated from Dutch by Roelof Goudriaan. We are also proud to feature the three winning stories from the 2010 John West Brainfood.ie Fantasy Writing Competition. Students aged 11 to 20 from all over Ireland were asked to ‘feed their imaginations’ and compose a short story based in the fantasy/science fiction genre. Almost 5,000 entries were received from students nationwide. The competition judges were Frank P. Ryan and A. J. Healy. The winners were 13 year old Lauren Mulvihill (the overall winner) from Dungarvan, Co. Waterford, with "Ways of Making Maths More Interesting", 12 year old Kathy Cronin from Tralee, Co. Kerry, who won the ‘Senior Primary Category’ and 17 year old Aaron Elbel from Killarney, Co. Kerry, who won the ‘Senior Secondary Category’. Albedo One is delighted to see the writing of speculative fiction receive such an impetus in Irish schools. Issue 41 of Albedo One features cover art by Richard Wagner and the interior artwork comes courtesy of Anastasia Alexandrin. It is available for purchase now in print and low-cost pdf format.

AEON PRESS LAUNCHES TWO NEW ANTHOLOGIES!

Nov 15, 2011 - Albedo One is absolutely delighted to announce the launch of not just one, but two, fine new collections of original short fiction, Transtories, and Box of Delights, from our book publishing arm, Aeon Press, Ireland's only dedicated publisher of science fiction, fantasy and horror.

Transtories features excellent new science and speculative fiction by Joanna Hall, Jay Caselberg, Priya Sharma, Tala Bar, John Kenny, Thomas L. Martin, Lawrence M. Schoen, Susanne Martin, Robert Neilson, Sharon K. Reamer, Rob Rowntree, Jonathan Shipley, Rodney J. Smith, Cody L. Stanford, Daniele Scerra, and Hugo, Nebula and Campbell Award nominee Aliette de Bodard, the winner of the British Science Fiction Association Award for Short Fiction, as well as the Writers of the Future Contest. The collection is edited by the late Colin Harvey.

Box of Delights, edited by John Kenny

Box of Delights takes a much darker turn and features sixteen brand new spine-chilling tales of love and death from the pens of Mike Resnick, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Steve Rasnic Tem, Don D'Ammassa, Erin Pringle, Robert Neilson, Priya Sharma, Taylor Grant, Eleanor Marney, Erik T. Johnson, N. A. Sulway, John F. D. Taff, Ian Wild, David Murphy, Craig Saunders and Sean Mac Roibin. The collection is edited by John Kenny.

Both collections can be purchased safely and securely online here for just €11.95 in print format, and in low-cost electronic .pdf format for just €6.49.

ISSUE 40 OF ALBEDO ONE IS RELEASED!

Albedo One Issue 40 Cover Image Sept 29, 2011 - At long last, issue 40 of Albedo One, Ireland's magazine of science fiction, fantasy and horror, is available to purchase in both print and electronic pdf format. To celebrate the milestone of our fortieth issue, and to thank all our readers, reviewers and those who have supported us in many ways since our first issue in 1993, we have made issue 40 a bumper 100 page issue. This allows us to feature no less than twelve fine stories from our inventory, spanning the speculative fiction genres. Stories include "Painting the Air" by the multiple Hugo Award winning James Patrick Kelly, with further fine stories from Karen Heuler ("Thick Water"), Christopher Aylett ("Charles and Alice"), Alex Jennings ("Billy Pete"), Dom Turner ("Tick Tock Life") and Aurealis Award winner Geoffrey Maloney ("The Dunce's Castle"). From respected Irish authors Peadar Ó Guilín and Nigel Quinlan we bring you "The Drowner" and "The Would-be Adulterer" along with the first published story from Irish author Robin Maginn ("Vanishing Tom's Blues"). As if the above were not enough, the issue also features the Second and Third Place Winning Stories from the International Aeon Award 2009 Short Fiction Contest, "Bridges" by Nick Wood and "Canis Lupis, Rosa Canina" by Judith Brown. We are also proud to include an exceptional piece from UK author Colin Harvey, who sadly and suddenly died in August of this year at the untimely age of 51. Colin's story, a fine and surreal work of SF, is entitled "The Ghost Station". In the non-fiction department, the issue includes interviews with James Patrick Kelly and Colin Harvey, as well as reviews from Albedo One co-editor John Kenny and our regular review collumnists Juliet E. McKenna and David Conyers. And finally, we hope you will like the revamped interior layout and design, with internal art by Hilary Lawler and Anastasia Alexandrin accompaying each story and a fine cover from Richard Wagner. All in all, not an issue to be missed.

AEON AWARD 2010 WINNERS!

Feb 25, 2011 - Albedo One, the Irish magazine of science fiction, fantasy and horror, is delighted to announce the winners of the International Aeon Award 2010 Short Fiction Contest, as chosen by our esteemed panel of Grand Judges, renowned SF author Ian Watson, beloved Hugo Award winning SF author Anne McCaffrey, the multiple award winning speculative fiction author Mike Resnick, and revered Irish crime and horror author Sam Millar.

The Aeon Award is a prestigious fantasy, horror and science fiction writing competition, running annualy from January 1 to November 30. Each year, the three winning authors receive Grand Prizes of €1000, €200 and €100, including publication in Albedo One. The first place winner is also given the option of publication in Authorlink.com's excellent Storywire section, where authors earn royalties from online readers of their work.

The winners for 2010 are Greek author Michalis Manolios, coming in first place for his story "Aethra" (translated by Thalia Bisticas), U.S. author Jacob Garbe, coming second for his story "Pinocchio", and Irish author Robin Maginn, coming third for his story "Room of Empty Frames". Our utmost congratulations to the authors of the three winning stories!

And finally, don't forget that the Aeon Award 2011 writing contest is now open to submissions!

AEON AWARD 2011 LAUNCHED!

Jan 1, 2011 - Albedo One is proud to announce the launch of the Sixth International International Aeon Award Short Fiction Contest, 2011. The Aeon Award is a writing competition, and its goals are to promote writers and writing in the speculative fiction genres, including science fiction, fantasy, horror or anything unclassifiable or in-between.

The contest is open to writers from all nationalities for stories of up to 10,000 words long, that are previously unpublished in English. Grand Prize is €1000 and publication in Albedo One. Second and third place prizes are €200 and €100 euro and publication in Albedo One. The contest is open from January 1st 2011 to the end of November 2011, after which the winning stories are chosen by our Grand Judges, who will be announced shortly.

Since 2004, the Aeon Award has helped promote exceptional work of authors in speculative fiction. Aside from winning the cash prizes and publication in Albedo One, winning and shortlisted stories have been given Honourable Mentions or been reprinted in prestigious volumes such as the Year's Best Science Fiction, edited by Gardner Dozois, and the Year's Best Fantasy and Horror, edited by Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link and Gavin Grant. Other winning stories have been translated and published in prestigious European magazines, like Galaxies SF, edited by Pierre M. Gevart.

The Aeon Award short fiction contest is a great opportunity to promote your work. A modest entry fee of 7 euro applies, which can be paid easily and securely online via PayPal on our Aeon Award contest guidelines page. Get those stories submitted!

ISSUE 39 OF ALBEDO ONE IS RELEASED IN .PDF AND PRINT!

Albedo One issue 39 cover Oct 20, 2010 - We're delighted to make issue 39 of Albedo One available in .pdf format! Electronic subscribers will receive their copies shortly, and we are currently awaiting the hard copy version of the magazine from the printers. The issue features an in-depth interview with multiple Hugo Award winning author Mike Resnick, as well his story "Hothouse Flowers". The fiction line-up also includes "Frogs On My Doorstep" by Annette Reader, winner of the Aeon Award 2009 short fiction contest, with further distinctive contributions by Uncle River, Martin McGrath and J. L. Abbott. As part of our ongoing translations project, we're delighted to bring to you for the first time in translation to English from the original Finnish, the winning story of the Atorox Award 2009, "The Horse Shoe Nail" by Mari Saario (translated by Liisa Rantalaiho). The issue concludes with the latest reviews from our able collumnists Juliet E. McKenna and David Conyers.

Buy the issue now in .pdf format! UPDATE, NOV 2010 - Hard copies of issue 39 are now back from the printers, so print subscribers will see their copies very soon, and you can order single copies of this issue here.

ALBEDO ONE WEBSITE REVAMP AND ALBEDO 2.0!

Aug 1, 2010 - Albedo One is proud to launch its new, revamped website. We feel that the new look and design will show off what Albedo One and its contributors have to offer in a more effective manner. What you see here now is, of course, only the beginning! The new site is still a work in progress and you'll see some buttons that don't lead anywhere just yet - but expect this situation to change shortly, so check back often for updates!

For now, you'll still be able to buy Albedo One in print and .pdf formats, enter the Aeon Award 2010 short fiction contest with Grand Prize of €1000, subscribe to Albedo One and check out out our writers' guidelines for those who would like to submit their work to the magazine.

We believe in offering frequently updated and interesting online content. So, as well as bringing you some of the best content of Albedo One, we will be featuring online exclusive content, including movie and book reviews. As part of this, we're very excited to announce the launch of our Albedo 2.0 Fiction Showcase. This will bring to you, directly, four times per year, some of the very best original fiction we can get our hands on, for free, and exclusively online.

To launch Albedo 2.0 we are delighted to publish for the first time, a unique and excellent horror from the estimable Donald Mead. The story is entitled "A Falcon Sharp and Passing" and was placed in the top six of the Aeon Award 2009 short fiction contest shortlisted stories. Click here and enjoy the read!

ISSUE 38 OF ALBEDO ONE IS RELEASED!

Albedo One issue 38 cover May 06, 2010 - Issue 38 of Albedo One is back from the printers and available for purchase on this website in print and low-cost pdf formats. Subscribers can expect to see the issue land on their doorsteps shortly. This issue's fiction is headed up by an evocative fantasy by the estimable Bruce McAlister, with further distinctive contributions by Aaron Polson, Priya Sharma, Matthew F. Perry and Martin Belderson. These stories range widely across the genres of SF, fantasy and horror and we hope you will enjoy them. The issue also features a fine, surreal horror, from Allison Francisco, which was placed third in the Aeon Award 2008 short fiction contest. The issue also features an in-depth interview with a true legend of SF, Jim Gunn, as well as book reviews from our regular columnists Juliet E. McKenna and David Conyers, with further contributions from Peter Loftus, John Kenny and Peter McClean. The fine cover art this issue comes courtesy of U.S. artist Jacob Probelski. All in all, an issue not to be missed.

Print copies can be purchased online, while pdf copies can be purchased and downloaded.

AEON AWARD 2009 WINNERS!

Feb 20, 2010 - Albedo One is proud to announce the winners of the International Aeon Award 2009 short fiction contest. The Aeon Award is a high profile writing competition for science fiction, fantasy and horror, and ran this year from January 1st 2009 to November 30th 2009. All short stories shortlisted for the writing contest are listed below, with the names of each author now revealed.

Grand Judge Ian Watson chose the winners. First place went to "Frogs on My Doorstep" by Annette Reader. Watson described the story as "very intriguing and full of emotional impact. The alternate world concept is handled very convincingly, and is reminiscent of the recent work of Chris Beckett." Reader receives the €1000 Grand Prize and publication in Albedo One.

Second place goes to "Bridges" by Nick Wood. Watson said the story, featuring a future South Africa in which apartheid never ended, is "politically acute and powerful, with its heart in the right place… and is in many ways a 'textbook story', because it's so well done." Second prize is €200 and publication in Albedo One.

Third place goes to "Canis Lupus, Rosa Canina" by Judith Brown. Watson said "the story is nasty, but brilliantly written, with masterly descriptions of landscape and powerful imagery." Third prize is €100 and publication in Albedo One.

Thank you to all who entered and supported the contest in 2009!

A Falcon Sharp and Passing - Donald Mead
Canis Lupus, Rosa Canina - Judith Brown
Frogs on my Doorstep - Annette Reader
Something Other - David Heaton
Bridges - Nick Wood
Fenn, Brother of Francis - Susan McElheran
He Who Picks the Bones - Frank W. Haubold (translated by Jason Roberts)
Trimble Does Time - Gerard Farrell
In the Boughs of his Blood Orange Tree a Vampire Sat to Dream of Love - Ian Wild
Stars in the Skies - Jennifer Harwood-Smith
Don't Go Playing with Naiads - Alice Godwin
The Girl in the Blue Bikini - Peter Loftus
Once, When the Sun Rose in the West - Susan Lanigan
Deconstruction - Alexis Boddy
Reflected Glory - Peter Loftus
Conversion - Jennifer Harwood-Smith
All the Beautiful Lights of Heaven - Russ Colson
Star in a Glass - Vaughan Stanger
Wailing Wheel - Joe Nazare
Angele Dei - Chandler Kaiden
Lost Things - Jennifer Harwood-Smith
On the Feast of Stephen - Cyril Simsa
The Art of the Intractable - Nathan Jones
Gordon Street - Katharine Clayden
Pirate Copies - Ian D. Martin

Remember, the Aeon Award 2011 Short Fiction Contest is open for entries to Nov 30th 2011.

ALBEDO ONE NEWS

Albedo One Online Content - What's New?