HAVE YOU OVERLOOKED – LEANNE FRAHM?

Leanne Frahm was born in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia in 1946. (Yes, another of us 1946ers) She received the first nomination for her work in 1978 when she was a finalist for the 1979 Ditmar Award for best fan writer. The following year she won the best fan writer award. Leanne’s first professional story was in 1980, entitled “The Wood for the Trees” which was published in the anthology Chrysalis 6, edited by Roy Torgeson. In 1981 her story, “Deus Ex Corporus”, won the 1981 Ditmar Award for best Australian short fiction. She won a Ditmar again in 1994 for “Catalyst”. In 1996 her story “Borderline” won the 1996 Aurealis Award for best science fiction short story. The following year she won the Ditmar Award for best fan writer for the second time.

In my opinion it’s a pity that Leanne has never moved on to writing books, because her short work is so good that I believe her books would have been well worth buying. I have her collection Borderline, which has five of her stories, each of them a small gem, never going quite where you expect and each with an ending that can be startling, but which is always satisfying. Her work can be hard to find, and, apart from Borderline, exists only in an assortment of magazines and anthologies. But it’s worth the time and trouble if you go looking for them, and I would particularly recommend the stories, Ithaca Week, On The Turn, Catalyst, Skein Dogs and Jinx Ship.

Short fiction

1. “The Wood for the Trees” (1980) in Chrysalis 6 (ed. Roy Torgeson)
2. “Passage to Earth” (1980) in Galileo, January 1980 (ed. Charles C. Ryan)
3. “Deus Ex Corporus” (1980) in Chrysalis 7 (ed. Roy Torgeson)
4. “Barrier” (1980) in Chrysalis 8 (ed. Roy Torgeson)
5. “Beyond Our Shores, a Colony” (1981 with Paul Collins) in Distant Worlds (ed. Paul Collins)
6. “Horn O’ Plenty” (1981 with Terry Carr) in Science Fiction Stories (ed. Judy-Lynn del Rey)
7. “A Way Back” (1983) in Universe 13 (ed. Terry Carr)
8. “Lost” (1983) in Chrysalis 10 (ed. Roy Torgeson)
9. “High Tide” (1983) in Fears (ed. Charles L. Grant)
10. “The Visitor” (1985) in Midnight (ed. Charles L. Grant)
11. “On the Turn” (1986) in Shadows 9 (ed. Charles L. Grant)
12. “The Supramarket” (1987) in Doom City (ed. Charles L. Grant)
13. “Reichelman’s Relics” (1990) in Amazing Stories, July 1990 (ed. Patrick Lucien Price)
14. “Olive Truffles” (1991, a.k.a. “Olivetruffles”) in Eidolon, Winter 1991 (ed. Jeremy G. Byrne)
15. “The Buyer” (1991) in Aurealis #5 (ed. Stephen Higgins, Dirk Strasser)

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