Egoboo WA

Creative BADASS! Ooo, I wanna be one! Good thing there's a 12 point plan!

2012-01-30T08:00:00.000+08:00

Justine Musk has put out this article about ... how to be a creative badass: a 12-point plan.

What an excellent idea! This blog post is interesting because it sums up a lot of stuff I have learnt in the last few years, more specifically in the last two months about creativity and work and play.

It's also interesting to see an inherent 'trust the universe' kind of feel through the post, that if we're passionate enough, work hard enough, put ourselves OUT THERE enough, that what we want will eventually come to us.

This post is actually pretty brilliant for any one who wants to work consistently with their creativity, work honestly with their selves, and produce amazing work that people will want to read. Following or learning these steps will help you to be instantly creative, and help to slide past issues like writers block and the like.

Rusch on Readers and Their Expectations

2012-01-29T16:30:00.005+08:00

Via The Passive Voice I came across Kristine Kathryn Rusch's take on indie writers and their relationship with their readers. She has some interesting points to make as do the commenters relating to her post on The Passive Voice. I don't necessarily agree with all she has to say - in regard to what she has to say about writing volume I'm more in tune with some of the commenters, who point out that all writers are different. This, in turn, reminded me of the posts by Neil Gaiman and John Scalzi in support of G R R Martin when fans objected to how long he was taking to complete his series, Song of Fire and Ice. At the same time, her comments, as someone who has been published by big publishers and now is publishing independently, about the practices of both sides of the industry are always informative. Certainly worth looking at.

Writers and Kittehs - Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger?

2012-01-25T08:00:00.000+08:00

Lifted from Carol on Face Book is a webpage of writers and their cats. Or is it Cats with their writers?
Writers and Kittehs - Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger?

Place as Person

2012-01-24T10:30:00.000+08:00

Over on her blog, Mary Victoria is hosting a series of guest blogs on the role of place as a character in novels. She has had some fascinating posts with authors ranging from Lisa Hannett, Angela Slatter, Alan Baxter, Gillian Polack, Helen Lowe, Tim Jones and Joshua Palmatier to name just a few and there are more to come. Place as a person or even as an actual character is a time honoured trope in novels and it's fascinating to read here how different authors use it in their writing.

Ian Irvine Reveals 41 Ways to Keep Readers Turning the Page! � Ripping Ozzie Reads

2012-01-23T08:00:00.000+08:00

Ian Irvine Reveals 41 Ways to Keep Readers Turning the Page! � Ripping Ozzie Reads:

Ian Irvine has written what could be seen as a masterclass list of the things we use in writing, particularly novels. The list is quite expansive, and has a lot of great thoughts and ideas in it. Well worth a good read.

According to top New York literary agent Noah Lukeman (The Plot Thickens), if a writer can maintain suspense throughout the story, many readers will keep reading even if the characters are undeveloped and the plot is weak. Clearly, suspense is a vital tool, yet most books on writing only mention it in passing and few devote much space to its creation and development.

I’ve written 27 novels, and some of them have been rather successful, but Lukeman’s observation came as a revelation. Accordingly, I’ve scoured my writing notes for the past quarter century, and the books and articles I’ve read on storytelling, in order to compile a comprehensive list of ways to create suspense. Here it is. Sources and links are listed at the end.

Amazon and Publishing

2012-01-21T13:23:00.002+08:00

Interesting blog post here on the role of Amazon in changing the publishing industry:
http://pandodaily.com/2012/01/17/confessions-of-a-publisher-were-in-amazons-sights-and-theyre-going-to-kill-us/

Marsheila Rockwell: 'Shaala, Made of Stone'

2012-01-21T12:36:00.002+08:00

Marsheila Rockwell, whose novel 'Shaala, Made of Stone' will be published soon through Musa Publishing, has some interesting and insightful things to say about the Sword & Sorcery genre, how it differs from Epic Fantasy, and the desire to write strong female protagonists.
You can read her guest blog post at Musa here:
http://musapublishing.blogspot.com/2012/01/meet-marsheila-rockwell-of-shaala-made.html

Patty Jansen On Starting in Self-publishing

2012-01-21T09:00:00.000+08:00

Australian author, Patty Jansen embarked on self-publishing a year ago. She writes here about her experience. There are some very useful insights into the advantages and pitfalls of what - thanks to the new platforms available on-line not to mention e-readers - is becoming a popular way to get published without going the traditional route.

So You Have a Writer Friend…Don’t Panic � The Practical Free Spirit

2012-01-20T12:00:00.000+08:00

So You Have a Writer Friend…Don’t Panic � The Practical Free Spirit

Critiques: they hurt so good � Comedy or Tragedy?

2012-01-18T08:00:00.000+08:00

Miranda Sui shares how she deals with tough crits:

Critiques: they hurt so good � Comedy or Tragedy?: "Even someone with Supergirl Teflon feelings is going to feel the pain of a harsh critique now and again."

Managing Writers in the Workplace: A Guide for Employers | The Militant Writer

2012-01-16T08:00:00.000+08:00

A tongue in cheek look at employing a writer, and how to keep your writer happy and productive.

Managing Writers in the Workplace: A Guide for Employers | The Militant Writer

Slave to Sensation by Nalini Singh

2012-01-14T08:00:00.000+08:00

This is awesome! I was handed this, as well as book 2 and 3 from Tehani due to a moving-house-clean out, and I'm glad I grabbed them!

This is paranormal romance with an interesting slant, and without a single vampire in sight! Yay! I can't explain how happy that made me! Not that I hate vampires, but it just seems that the focus is always on them and nothing new ever gets said. I really enjoyed this sensual journey into the mind of a were-leopard/jaguar/whatever and the decent from icy calm into chaotic love.

The writing is clear and sensual, and wonderful genre stuff. I really enjoyed this, and really liked the protagonists too. I also liked the way every one had their own clear goals, and the coalescing of those many into one goal was a lovely plot technique.

No more writing, time to read book 2!

--
Sarah P

The Blood-Red Pencil: 10 Steps to a Better Story

2012-01-11T08:00:00.000+08:00

A handy checklist to help you trim the fat from your story.

The Blood-Red Pencil: 10 Steps to a Better Story

Jeff Bezos Owns the Web in More Ways Than You Think | Magazine

2012-01-09T08:00:00.000+08:00

Jeff Bezos Owns the Web in More Ways Than You Think | Magazine: While users of the iPad and the Fire will engage in many of the same activities—watching movies, reading books, playing Angry Birds—the philosophy behind the two tablets could not be more different. Apple is fundamentally a hardware company—91 percent of its revenue comes from sales of its coveted machines, compared to just 6 percent from iTunes. The iPad’s design, marketing, and product launches all emphasize the special character of the device itself, which the company views as a successor to the PC—complete with video-chat capabilities and word-processing software. Amazon, on the other hand, is a content-focused company—almost half of its revenue comes from sales of media like books, music, TV shows, and movies—and the fire-sale-priced Fire is designed to be primarily a passport to the large amount of that content that’s available digitally. The gadget comes preloaded with customers’ Amazon account information, and anyone who signs up for Amazon Prime, the company’s $79-a-year shipping service, will be able to access more than 12,000 (and counting) movies and TV shows on the Fire at no extra charge.

Applying For Grants - Lisa Hannett

2012-01-08T12:22:00.001+08:00

I came across the first of these posts by Lisa Hannett just before Christmas and have been waiting for her to put up the third and final one.

Applying for grants is one of those incredibly frustrating things that writers do in an effort to be able to spend serious uninterrupted time on completing a project. It doesn't matter if you are an established author or a beginner, to have the luxury of a set amount of money actually coming into your bank account so you can concentrate on what you want to be doing - getting that story that's roiling in your mind down on the page - without having to worry about other mundanities like generating a regular income is a wonderful relief. The trouble is the pot of money is small and the number of applicants is large so anything that might improve your chances is worth paying attention to.

For those who haven't read some of her amazing fiction, Lisa Hannett has a long list of short story publications including The February Dragon co-written with Angela Slatter which won Best Fantasy Short Story in the 2010 Aurealis Awards and received an Honourable Mention in the 2010 Year's Best Horror (edited by Ellen Datlow). Her first collection of short stories Bluegrass Symphony was published by Ticonderoga Publications in 2011.

She has recently successfully applied for a grant from the South Australian Government and has documented what she has culled from the experience. Here are the links to her posts.

On Applying for Grants Part One, Part Two and Part Three

Chesapeake Blue by Nora Roberts

2012-01-07T21:00:00.000+08:00

I really wanted to like this book. Really, really wanted to.

I was hoping I'd feel pretty strongly about this book because Nora is so prolific, and I'm hoping that one day I, too, might be so prolific. I wanted to relate to the book and feel that quantity did not trump quality, and I was really hoping that as my first Nora Roberts book I would come away feeling some sort of warmth or understanding. However, it was not to be.

Maybe it's the book. Maybe it's me. Regardless, this is book four of a trilogy. Seth, the successful artist, returns home to the Quinn family, and meets a rich florist, Dru. Together they face down family issues to ... get married and live happily ever after? The book did not actually have the word ROMANCE written on it anywhere, so I was wondering if this was a bit of a literary kind of book or a romance kind of book, and it was a wondering that continued for the entire novel. Actually, I'm still not sure.

The story sort of wended around, dithered for a while, talked to the ghosts for a bit, and finally got down to some hot and heavy action. Thinking more on this, I found the tension to be completely lacking. I also found the style of writing to be very stop/start, like I was reading some one's shorthand notes. It was a lot like how I remember Barbara Cartland's style to be; lots of short declarative sentences with very little flow or rhythm. I found it hard to lose myself into the story as nothing tugged me along. Also, (and this may be a genre thing) I don't understand why the book is called Chesapeake Blue.

Despite my confusion, it's a popular book. Printed in 2002, it's been reprinted in 2003, 2005 (twice) and 2007 (twice) as far as this copy is concerned. It had things i find eternally fascinating - family, conscious families, communities and intentional community building... but this book just missed it's mark with me. I'll still read more Nora Roberts as I want to explore how she manages her creativity and sales, but I doubt I will remember having read this book by tomorrow.

Sarah P

The 'New Author Platform'

2012-01-06T00:16:00.002+08:00

I'm currently attempting to get my head around the concept of author platform - what it means, how it has changed, and what a working 'platform' is actually comprised of.
I found this post helpful in clarifying all of the above - it doesn't seem quite so scary now (unless I think about it for too long...best just to get into it!).
http://www.alanrinzler.com/blog/2011/07/25/the-new-author-platform-what-you-need-to-know/?mid=56
Being a bit on the reclusive side, it's also enthusing me for 'the new' as opposed to the conventional expectations of traditional print publishing, as I'm grasping how much publicity and reader connection, even down to book signings, can now take place from the cosy on-the sofa seclusion of online presence and interaction.

'25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing'...

2012-01-05T15:09:00.002+08:00

...from the Terrible Minds blog, a heartfelt list; have a read, a laugh and....get writing!

http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2012/01/03/25-things-writers-should-stop-doing/

Following On - More On Depression

2012-01-05T13:38:00.000+08:00

Sarah's last post on the prevalence of depression among writers and other creative folk had hardly hit the Internet when I discovered this post where The Bloggess, a Texas based blogger and author, reveals her battles with mental health issues. Those who follow her blog are well aware of her struggle with depression and anxiety but she has now expanded on it to include her issues involving self-harm. This post and the one prior to it are well worth the read for anyone who has to deal with any of these issues, whether personally or because they know someone who is a sufferer. Honest posts like this are infinitely valuable because they let sufferers know they are not alone. Just a warning though, if you decide to read further, you should know that her blog, while generally hilarious (serious posts like this are rare), is aimed at adults and although she doesn't in these posts, The Bloggess sometimes uses language that may offend.

What Do You Do for Mental Health?

2012-01-04T08:00:00.000+08:00

Writers tend to be a depressive bunch. Given we're constantly being rejected and searching for ways to gain validation and publications and (one day) a sale, it's not really a huge surprise. Various people have ideas and ways to stave off the downward slope, and it's an important thing to examine.

Elizabeth Gilbert talks about it in her TedTALK about creativity and inspiration. I rather like her suggestion that inspiration and creativity should be considered partially external, to share the burden, so to speak, of the success or failure of a creative endeavour.

I was wondering what other people do to handle the constant stresses of writing. Do you believe in your Muse? Do you somehow separate your work from yourself, and do so successfully? What ways do you avoid getting depressed from being a writer?

Snuff by Terry Pratchett

2011-12-31T08:00:00.000+08:00

John's birthday present this year was a rather extraordinary dinner party and his surprise present was a copy of Pratchett's latest book "Snuff".

It's a Vimes book, which is always a good thing, and features Sybil and Young Sam quite a lot too. I am pleased that Young Sam and Sybil were quite intrinsic to the story - too often, I think families get shelved while the main protagonist goes on their adventure, only returning home when everything is safe and they never know anything of import ever happened. Pratchett is always careful to try and portray the key people in his novels as best he can, and there was a lot about the book I really enjoyed.

But there were also some things I didn't enjoy. I really felt like Pratchett had a Message, and he was going to beat me to death with it as often as he could. I also felt that the narrative was overly complex, derailing me constantly by many short mini-stories which were not necessary to the over-all arch of the book, and because they happened so often, they weakened any relationship that might have been drawn.

Also, there was a key scene I found terribly confusing; I just had to accept that I either missed a step, or the step had not been well illuminated, and moved on.

So my end summary is that I enjoyed it but it wasn't as strong as some of his other Vimes stuff. I found myself tearing up once or twice as I remembered there won't be many more of these books to come.

--
Sarah P

Writing Books: Formatting Text, manuscript format, indenting first paragraph

2011-12-28T09:12:00.000+08:00

To indent or not to indent... here's a link passed around during a recent batch of discussions by my writing group. Maybe this could be as contentious as the double space between sentences issues! Ha ha!

:-)

Writing Books: Formatting Text, manuscript format, indenting first paragraph

'The Tinker's Girl' by Catherine Cookson

2011-12-24T14:23:00.000+08:00

Catherine Cookson's 'The Tinker's Girl' was written in 1994, and is a really good read. It's been reprinted heaps of times, and I can see why!

The story follows a 14 year old girl who is bright, intuitive and intelligent, and she goes to live on a poverty stricken farm to help the Shaleman while their mother is dying. It's a fascinating 'historical fiction' (the word romance is not used anywhere on the cover) novel, that is richly detailed and incredibly in depth look at the hard life these people led.

As well as being an historical novel, it is also a sign to me that there has always been a call for strong female characters. Taking an in depth look at the lives and loves of these people of different classes and viewpoints, Cookson also deconstructs the constraints placed on the women of the time, and breaks them down with love and compassion.

I genuinely had no idea what to expect. Certain memes and expectations were derailed and lead astray. The evil older brother who becomes a sailor - I was completely expecting him to be in any final showdowns as the hero or heroine struggles to protect those they love - yet it was not to be. I was genuinely hooked into this novel because it subverts so many things about romances and women's fiction that I just wanted to know what happens next!

Our heroine grows, and Cookson's writing is delicious as she keeps out attention focused on her, and we see the development in the voice of the novel as Jinnie develops. She is outspoken yet obedient, a responsible maid living in abject poverty with some contentment. She learns a lot about life, but she never takes a back seat to the events that unfold around her. I loved seeing the inner workings of the family she lives with, and I loved seeing the way Jinnie defines the woman she becomes.

This is a great read. I'll be looking out for more Cookson as I'm fascinated that it still felt fresh even after almost 30 years and it also made me look back at the way I construct my novels. Cookson's novel felt rough and wild by design, and it was a feeling I really found caught me, and kept me tugged along until finally I finished the book and could go to bed! Yay!

This book kept me up late to see how it ended, and I enjoyed every minute of it. My copy is falling apart - I may have to try and fine a new one yet. I can easily see myself building a collection of them, ready to go next to my Viking romances!

--
Sarah P

Penumbra Speculative Fiction E-Magazine

2011-12-23T10:28:00.006+08:00

An interesting in-depth interview with Celina Summers, Editor-in-Chief of Musa Publishing, about Penumbra, a speculative fiction e-magazine released monthly with themed stories from 500-3000 words, paying pro rates.
Take a look at the 2012 calendar for themes and get writing!
http://muffin.wow-womenonwriting.com/2011/12/how-to-write-for-penumbra-interview.html

I did it! I joined the Australian Women Writers Challenge

2011-12-21T11:58:00.001+08:00

... and I bet none of you are surprised. I expect that a good percentage of the reviews next year will be of Australian authors, so buckle in and look for the tag AWWC to track my progress! I'm buying my Twelve Planets subscription soon, plus I have books lying around the place from heaps of Australian women. Watch out 2012, here I come!

Sarah P

Twelfth Planet Press Supports Australian Women Writers Challenge 2012

2011-12-21T08:00:00.000+08:00

Twelfth Planet Press | Twelfth Planet Press Supports Australian Women Writers Challenge 2012: Twelfth Planet Press is getting behind the Australian Women Writers Challenge 2012. We are offering a 10% discount on all of our books which fit the challenge – ie written by women – for the whole of 2012.

Sandra Hill's "A Very Virile Viking"

2011-12-17T08:00:00.001+08:00

I picked up a cheap copy of Sandra Hill's 'The Very Virile Viking' on my last book buying jag. Spotting it in the pile made me squeal with delight. This is my eighth? Ninth? Something... Viking book by Sandra Hill, and I do enjoy them so much!

I was very curious about how this one would go, since we had come across Magnus and all of his children in other books in the series. He starts off this novel with nine children in tow, an automatically unusual preposition on which to base a romance novel.

I do enjoy Sandra Hill's work. She manages to convey a masculinity which is sexy and yet also is very much his own person. Our hero Viking is also a time traveller, and one of the first people he meets is his destiny, Angela. She, being the modern woman, refuses to believe he could really have come from the past, and refuses to be sweet talked into his bed.

Also, Hill's Viking books are rich with depth and detail. I remember reading a Goodreads review that said the book "Dark Of The Moon" had been richly detailed 1920s book. Yet that was the book that I didn't even realise was set in the 20s until page 117. How could that possibly be richly detailed? And yet in all of Hill's Viking books, you know instantly, in voice, personality and dialogue exactly where you are and who you are, and I love it. These are very silly books, a lot of fun to read, and I'm pleased Hill still seems to be writing them.

I find all of these to be a great romp. Not the most feminist friendly, sometimes, but at the same time the women give back as well as the men do, and the power struggles add to the story rather than distract. The sex (and almost-sex) scenes were really hot, and I do enjoy Hill's sense of humour. I'm really glad to add another Viking novel to my collection.

Sarah P

kateelliott: Do Females Write Epic Fantasy Differently Than Males Do?

2011-12-14T09:17:00.000+08:00

Women writing fantasy has been a huge discussion in many places. Here's Kate Elliott's original post, asking some interesting questions and getting a lot of very interesting replies.

kateelliott: Do Females Write Epic Fantasy Differently Than Males Do?: "Do Females Write Epic Fantasy Differently Than Males Do?

This is more in the nature of a drive by post to note for the record that I'm on massive deadline doing revisions for COLD FIRE (Spiritwalker #2). Writing, as always, in my girly way.

I have literally not had time to refer to or discuss the various internet things about fantasy, nihilism, morals or lack thereof, beauty and truth, and so on and so forth except mostly to note that as so often, these conversations mostly seem to revolve around men and male writers. My god, people, were there not enough battle scenes in Crown of Stars? And yet, somehow this remains also a stereotype, that a sword fight, say, reflects masculinity and not femininity."

Australian Women Writers Challenge

2011-12-11T17:03:00.001+08:00

From the AWWC2012 webpage:

Australian Women Writers 2012 National Year of Reading Challenge

Keen on romance, fantasy, crime, YA, literary, mainstream women's fiction? Contemporary or historical? Memoir, other nonfiction or poetry?

Whatever your preference, whether you're a fan of one genre or a devoted eclectic, the 2012 Australian Women Writers Book Reading & Reviewing Challenge invites you to celebrate a year encountering the best of Australian women's writing.

Objective: This challenge hopes to help counteract the gender bias in reviewing and social media newsfeeds that has continued throughout 2011 by actively promoting the reading and reviewing of a wide range of contemporary Australian women's writing. (See the page on gender bias for recent discussions.)

Readers should approach this challenge with a spirit of willingness. There are no failures, just personal goals. Reviews can be long or short, favourable or "this book is not for me". Hopefully, along the way, we'll all discover some future classics and perhaps a few surprises among genres we're not familiar with. The main aim is to have fun.

Challenge period: 1 January 2012 - 31 December 2012

For more information, click here!

Reading Like A Writer by Francine Prose

2011-12-10T08:00:00.000+08:00

Francine does not believe that any one can learn creative writing, but she does believe we can all learn to appreciate text in a deep and very satisfying way.

I have a pretty troubled relationship to the classics. I've always been pretty leery of Austen, never managed to enjoy the Russian masters, and in general I managed to skip a lot of the Classics with a Capital C. This is despite doing English and Comparative Literature at university! I was much more comfortable with modern novels than the old stuff, and I never quite understood why people enjoyed them so much when I often found them turgid and kind of boring.

Now, I'm not about to say I've had a full 180 change of heart... but may 120 degree change. My eyes glazed and my brain grew resistant during the chapter about reading the English classics like the Bronte sisters and Austen, but I did learn a lot about words, sentences, and paragraphs. I learnt enough to consider tackling the rest of the Chekhov collection I have stashed somewhere; and I am consider reading some of Shakespeare as well. (Someone told me it helps to know the story before you read it, apparently!)

So despite me being an uneducated lout, I do read quite widely, and with Francine's book it was a lot like re-training me to read more thoughtfully and with greater chance to chew upon the words in the text. I read fast. I always have. And while reading Kant and Strauss at uni slowed me down, I don't think I have ever learnt to read quite like this before. It's not changed my way of inhaling the current Harlequin and Teen Harlequin novels I am reviewing, but I think it's opened me up to the possibilities of read *gasp* Literature.

Thanks to this book, I have now purchased The Picture of Dorian Gray and Lolita. But the Austen is staying firmly at the back of my shelves.

--
Sarah Lee Parker

Writers and Depression

2011-12-08T09:00:00.002+08:00

The wonderful Allie (who blogs at Hyperbole and a Half) has recently updated her blog with an account of her battle with depression. She tackles the subject in her own special fashion illustrating the experience with a unique drawing style.

We have - fortunately - advanced in our acknowledgement of depression. It's regarded less as a stigma to be hidden and more as it should be - an illness that can be treated.

Given how common depression is among writers (I googled the topic and was quite shocked at just how many well known authors have suffered from this debilitating illness) perhaps this is something we should all think about. We might not be sufferers ourselves but the chances are we know someone who is so it pays to be aware.

Is editing for me? � Donna Maree Hanson

2011-12-07T08:00:00.000+08:00

Having recently finished a course on Editing, Donna Maree Hanson ponders what skills she has learnt, the value of the course and her editing experience, and what she wants to do next.

Is editing for me? � Donna Maree Hanson

On Writing by Stephen King

2011-12-03T08:00:00.000+08:00

I finished Stephen King's On Writing, one of a series of books I purchased on the advice of Adrian Bedford.Once again, this book has been a Win. It's a wonderful read, entrancing and engaging, and it really does seem to get across the feel of Stephen King's personality.

It's at once a warm memoir and an excellent book on writing. King takes the time to talk about his family and his home life, and for each of those sections I want to go through with a highlighter and untangle some of the techniques he uses to make me feel exactly as I am sure he wants me to feel in each vignette. I found the later discussion of his car accident so harrowing I had to put the book down and take a breather, needing to re-establish that distance between me and the book.

I also liked the fact he talks about his unexpected successes, never really imagining the level of fame he would eventually arrive at. On Writing paints King as someone we'd all love to go to the pub with, and the snippets he puts into the book are almost like a how to in developing likable, human characters. King's advice on writing is invaluable, and I love the maxims and advice people have given him over the years.

Things I want to remember: in times of trauma, it's all in the details. Second draft = First draft minus 10%. Write for yourself (with the door closed) and only open it when YOU are ready. A lot of this is advice I have already been told, but King puts his own spin on things, turning each story into his own and every anecdote a tale worth telling.

Very good book to have around.

Sarah P

Award Winning Australian Women Writers

2011-12-01T09:00:00.001+08:00

As part of the Australian Women Writers 2012 National Year of Reading Challenge, the industrious Tansy Rayner Roberts has compiled a list of Australian women who have won awards in science fiction, fantasy and horror. You can find it here. So far the list consists of novels - adult, YA and children, collections, anthologies and non-fiction but she intends to expand it to include short stories later.

I had not heard about the challenge before I came across this post but it seems an interesting concept. The aim is to read and, if so inclined, to review books written by Australian women. There are a number of options open to participants ranging from simply reading to taking on set challenges. It can be genre related or not as you choose. Sounds like a good way to widen the scope of your reading.

YAY! Nanowrimo is done (for me)!

2011-11-30T10:00:00.001+08:00

I hit my 50K! Yay! Only another 40K to go on this novel.

So, what did I learn? I learnt that I like a little bit of pressure. As in, milling around doing 2K a day is cruisy and it felt very peicemeal to be following a plan. As soon as I opened Write or Die and set that time though, my writing was a lot better, a lot smoother, and a lot more coherent. Interesting stuff!

See you all next year!

Everything I ever learned about marketing I learned from Dungeons and Dragons | Internet Marketing Strategy: Conversation Marketing

2011-11-30T08:00:00.000+08:00

Everything I ever learned about marketing I learned from Dungeons and Dragons | Internet Marketing Strategy: Conversation Marketing

I think the title is pretty self explanatory, really!
:)

The Goddess Test by Amiee Carter

2011-11-26T08:00:00.000+08:00

Continuing my explorations of Harlequin Teen, I picked up a copy of 'The Goddess Test' by Aimee Carter, another beautiful looking book aimed firmly at the YA market.

Our heroine, Kate, is eighteen and looks after her dying mother. She comes across a tall, dark and dead guy, and eventually they fall in love. I'm being very simplistic here, but overall the book was a tad simplistic anyway. I read this in a day. No highlighter was required. Our Kate seems like a lovely girl, though I found the romance between her and Henry a little cold. They barely seemed to even hang out together. I like my genre mixed with my romance, and this is definitely a genre work, but the romance seemed to be a prize rather than a discovery, and so it left me a little cold. Warmer than the tiresome vampire novel though.

Also: not a vampire novel! Yay!

I liked the fact that Kate was looking after her dying mother and struggling to keep her life together, including high school and hospitals. I found it a little Twilight-ish while we were in the high school, but thankfully we progressed out of there very quickly. I expect that's a problem any teen romance near a high school is going to have for the next decade or so. I also liked that even when she passed the test, she had to leave and I rather did like the ending. I liked the potential it left open... were it me, there would be a sequel, possibly called The Human Test LOL

I did find the renaming of all the Gods to be a bit confusing. I guess necessary during the plot, but in the great denouement, we could have stuck with the original pantheon names.

The cover for this book crossed my metaphorical desk a week or so ago in this article: Cover Trends in YA Fiction: Why the Obsession with an Elegant Death? where author (Rachel Stark) puts together some of the covers that are current and asks the deadly question 'Why?' Here in Australia, we get the live girl cover, however she seems to be dashing away in a rather Gothic manner, looking over her shoulder in fear. I'd like to point out that no one actually flees during the book, and as far as I can make out, none of the dresses had their colour described, so I don't actually know if any of them were blood red... but anyway, I once again digressed.

Also, this was a nice stand alone, so no floundering around wondering if I had missed something or not. I didn't mind this book, but I'm also sure I'm not going to remember it clearly by the end of tomorrow. Hell, I'm writing the review right now in case I do forget by the end of tomorrow!

Sarah P

Livia Blackburne: The Blogification of Writing Tips

2011-11-23T11:36:00.000+08:00

A quick critical view in the role of blogs and writing tips and lessons in helping writers. It's not always a gift, and we need to be aware of what advice we choose to follow!

Livia Blackburne: The Blogification of Writing Tips

Obituary - Anne McCaffrey

2011-11-23T06:45:00.001+08:00

Oh no! Not another one!

As my husband said "We seem to be losing the authors of our childhood at a ferocious rate."

I loved Anne McCaffrey. I loved her early stuff, which was rawe and exciting and new. I have Restoree, and really enjoyed that, but I loved the Dragonriders of Pern, and Menolly's books more than anything. I am incredibly sad to see her go. A lot of my early stuff is based on the rich ideas Anne McCaffrey wrote, and I will always owe her a debt of thanks for that.

Thank you, Anne McCaffrey, for making my childhood awesome, and for giving me some of the sparks that led me to write. You will be sorely missed.

http://sf-fantasy.suvudu.com/2011/11/anne-mccaffrey-april-1-1926-november-21-2011.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_McCaffrey

Sarah P

'WTF?!' Anthology coming soon!

2011-11-21T20:05:00.004+08:00

'"Corrective surgery gone wrong, punk rockers abducted by aliens, zombie sharks, dead matadors, exploding ice cream factories, and dwarfs obsessed with pomegranates are just a few of the things you will find in this anthology. From the quirky to the serious to the surreal, whatever happens in these stories is bound to leave the reader wondering WTF?!

This anthology of 37 original stories will be out in the first half of December in print and as an e-book from Pink Narcissus Press at http://pinknarc.com/books.htm. It includes two stories from Perth-based writers; 'Cloudy with a Chance of Smoke' by Nikky Lee and 'Swan Wing' by Egoboo WA's Joanna Fay.

'Dark of the Moon" by Susan Krinard

2011-11-19T17:26:00.000+08:00

I don't know why, but I had a hard time finding the right cover pic to go with this review, which is a pity, because I found the cover immensely appealing! This was the second book I bought at Target the other day, along with that tiresome one, and this is YAVN in all it's glory.

It was a fun read. I had no problems with any of the language or stylistic choices, and it kept me amused for the whole book. My one big issue is that I didn't realise it was set in the 1920s until about the 117th page. And really, someone described the book as being a 'rich description of the 1920s,' and all I could think was "if it was that rich a description, surely I would have realised before the first twenty pages, let alone 120?'

Regardless, people do stuff, people get bitten, and people get sucked. The heroine was lovely, and I really liked the way she eventually took some things into her own hand. Our hero was also rather lovely, managing to be manly and yet not expire of masculine entitlement at the first sign of feminine independance. Not entirely sure what was with the story line of the brave plucky not-quite-ex boyfriend, but whatever. He seemed to have a sudden personality implant, from some one I wouldn't give the time of day to, to someone who seemed to care. About something other than himself.

Regardless, this was a nice solid read, and thoroughly innoffensive. There was, however, some sex. (Yay sex!) It was also thoroughly consensual sex (Yay consensual!).

Sarah P

Hewing Away the Rough Walls (Or, Five Ways to Put Your Story on a Diet) :: Shimmer

2011-11-16T08:55:00.000+08:00

Here's an excellent article from Lisa L Hannett, author of the collection "Bluegrass Symphony." She makes a lot of sense, if you've ever wondered how to trim your wordcount, then check out her advice!

Hewing Away the Rough Walls (Or, Five Ways to Put Your Story on a Diet) :: Shimmer

Nanowrimo Midway Update

2011-11-15T20:31:00.001+08:00

Laura E Goodin

So... why are you doing Nano again?
I have a major project -- a novel -- in the works, and decided NaNo would be a good way to get a huge body of work all piled up (albeit in a steaming pile) so that I could develop a clearer sense of one way the characters and premise might play out. I may stick with what I've got and just edit it, or I may decide it was a dead end, or something in between. But I'll know more about what I both want and don't want to do with the story. And it will take some pressure off me as the deadline approaches, because I'll already have thousands and thousands of words, at least some of which should be salvageable. (And, indeed, I'm not unhappy with the ones I've been producing so far.)

Now you are at the half way mark, how is it going?
Slowly. I have a lot of projects on the boil, including the research component of the Ph.D. for which the novel is the creative component. I'm having trouble being able to sequester large chunks of the day in which to write (my preferred mode; I'm not all that comfortable with stopping and starting).

How are your wordcounts?
Not the worst ever, but I'm way behind the strict NaNo schedule.

Do you think you will finish on time?
I probably will, but if I don't I still will have gone a long way toward accomplishing my goal for NaNo this year (i.e., learning more about what I do and don't want to do with the story). I'd like to, but I've won a few times before, so I don't really have anything to prove to myself. I already know I CAN write 50K words in a month, so I don't HAVE TO.

What do you think you're going to learn from Nanowrimo 2011?
Hopefully, the story that emerges will be of sufficient quality that I can work with it. I'm hoping to learn (or re-learn, more appropriately, as I keep seeming rediscover and then forget this crucial point at crucial points) that I can trust my intuition to come up with quality goods.

Sarah Parker

So... why are you doing Nano again?
To kick start my writerly habit. Plus I had a novel length idea. And it's fun!

Now you are at the half way mark, how is it going?
Really well, actually. I just had a three thousand word day, which is just brilliant. I am playing around with the way I write this time. I have a pretty strong plan, but I am allowing myself to play. I find that some parts I am in love with, and some parts of it will need a lot of fixing!

How are your wordcounts?
I have been hovering just under (by about 200 words or so) the expected wordcount on most days. I started late, have skipped a few days, and I have been ahead a couple of days. As of the end of the day today, I am about a thousand words over where I needed to be.

Do you think you will finish on time?
Yes.

What do you think you're going to learn from Nanowrimo 2011?
This year I think I am learning to talk more about my writing! And to talk more to other people about writing in general!

Helen Venn

So... why are you doing Nano again?
I'd got a bit distracted by Real Life so my current WIP had slowed. NaNo was just a way to jump start things again. It's worked but I'm not fussed if I don't get to 50,000 in new writing. I just want to keep things moving.

Now you are at the half way mark, how is it going?
Real Life has kicked me in the backside again which disrupted my routine a bit so I'm not up to the word count I'd hoped for but I'm happy enough with what I have. I've found and fixed some gaping holes too and that's meant less words on paper writing but it's just as important for the finished product so it's all good as far as I'm concerned.

How are your wordcounts?
Definitely not enormous but number of words is not the critical thing for me at this point.

Do you think you will finish on time?
Well, I'll have finished what I've set out to do which is to add a lot of useful words to those I started with but I won't have finished my novel . Fantasy novels are rarely only 50,000 words long and this is no exception.

What do you think you're going to learn from Nanowrimo 2011?
Tricky question. I'd say I've just had reinforced what I already knew which is to be disciplined, set goals and put in the time. Without those things no-one would ever get a novel written. The other thing is that the more you write the more your writing flows so having made a commitment to spend time writing every day makes it easier to continue and I find, although it mightn't apply to everyone, that the quality of my writing generally improves.

Sarah P

The Night of Writing Dangerously

2011-11-13T16:51:00.001+08:00

Saturday night two of the Egoboo crowd made it to the Rockingham version of the Night of Writing Dangerously, generously organized and provided by the Rockingham Council and run by Lee Battersby.

Satima and I ended up at far ends of the room, probably a good thing as my laugh carries! Over twenty sponsors donated time, memberships, books, magazines, and flyers to help make the Write-In awesome.

When we walked through the door, we were greeted by a table full of packed bags and a sign-in sheet, and to the right tables of tea, coffee, and huge stacks of prizes. Over fifty odd writers joined us for the wild ride of talking to professional authors (Anna Jacobs and Bevan McGuiness) and settling in for some serious wordcounts.

I made 3250 during the night. Not words I am in love with, but they are words to work with none the less. Various partners in crime wrote between 200 words through to 4000, and given the number of people there, possibly even more!

Anna Jacobs was a delight to listen to. Not only does she have fifty five books published, but she is a Pantser. She does very little planning, but lots of research, and has no idea what is going to happen until it does. She stressed the important of learning how to write in ways that suit YOU and only YOU, and that there are no solid rules other than your writing must be gripping, interesting, and drag the reader along for the ride.

Bevan McGuiness was enthusiastic and energetic, bouncing around the desk to talk about how he balances writing and full time work. He talked about finding sources of inspiration to help us maintain the creative flow, and developing his works around trying to capture the feel of the inspiration source.

Once the authors had had a bit of a chat with us all, we settled in for the first round of writing. I think on our table, the bulk of our words were written now. Fire and energy ran through our veins; though I will point out it was rather disconcerting to sit next to Heidi Wessman Kneale, who hammered her keyboard so fast I thought I saw smoke.

Is this what people think when they sit next to me? I have had numerous comments about typing like a machine gun, for example. Just because I learnt on the old fashioned type writer, I may be a little hard on the old board, and having been an IRC junkie for a while, my keystrokes might be on the high side...

I managed about 1700 words in the first hour (I think) and then after that I was pulling teeth. I got a cup of tea; I gossipped with Lyn Battersby, I chatted with people.. and then we had dinner, courtesy of Subway. It was really wonderful to be in a space with so many other creatives hammering away, and food was a simple "walk up and get it" rather than a "plan, remove children, start cooking, remove children, eat and clean up, remove children..." type of affair.

All in all I found the experience amazing, validating, and inspiring. I'm hoping I can make a few more writing nights happen through sheer force of will before the end of November, unfortunately much smaller ones, and ones with planning and children and cleaning involved.

Regardless, I would say my big lesson with this year's Nano is learning how to talk to other writers.
:)

Once again, I'd like to say thanks to Lee Batterby for running the event, and also to Ace Cinemas; Adventure world; Asgard Games; ASIM; Australian writers Marketplace; Coeur De Lion Publishing; Cosmic Comics; Fablecroft Publishing; Fremantle Press; Fun Station; Harper Collins Australia; Island Magazine; Meanjin Magazine; Peter Cowan Writers Centre; Rockingham Shopping Centre; Serendipity MediSpa Baldivis; Sterling's Office National; Twelfth Planet Publishing; Walker Books and White Dwarf Books.

The prizes were very much coveted! I will definitely be keeping an ear out to see if this will run again next year.

Sarah P

Twisted, Part 3 of the Intertwined Series by Gena Showalter

2011-11-12T14:24:00.001+08:00

I am rather enjoying going through the current HarlequinTeen series. The look and flavour of these novels are simply fascinating to read! This book I found at Target, at about $14.

I picked 'Twisted' by Gena Showalter because it had a beautiful cover. The colour is gorgeous, the stance of the models electric and it looks like an awesome series to read. Plus an added dust jacket on the front that said "free ebook!" What it fails to mention is that to actually get your free ebook, you have to cough up all your contact details and you're not allowed to opt out of the 'feel free to contact me as you like' clause. Hmph.

So, I did not get to get my 'free' ebook.

Despite that little disappointment, how did I feel about this book? Well... it was very obviously a middle book. The characters seemed to have had their definition completed in the previous one? Two? books, and so there was very little development or definition added in this book. Despite that, we spend an awful lot of time inside their heads where they angst, whine, turn into different people, do unsavoury things, blame each other for it, and remain very much in lust with each other for the entire novel.

At least someone got laid.

I found it rather hard sometimes to figure out what was actually happening. We were so deep in the guilt and self-disgust that I often had no idea what was actually going on outside the grey matter. I think I could sum it up as "a bunch of teenage supernaturals/supranaturals run around doing stuff for quests starts in the previous books and which don't really get very resolved during this book."

I'm a bit disappointed in a way; I enjoyed Twilight, as I really enjoyed hanging out with the characters. The basic level of plot is basically the same, the level of emo angst is probably actually lower than in Twisted, but the key difference is that I enjoyed hanging out with Alice, and Rose and even Edward, despite his stalkery fetishy thing. In this novel, the characters were just dreary. I don't know if it's because I am reading this out of order, but seriously dreary. The vampirism is tiresome, people can't communicate to share a cigarette (metaphorically) and people do dumb things and then blame each other for it.

And I'm supposed to feel for these people? Or be interested in what they're doing?

Anyway, the language was fine and once again my highlighters just got dustier. I was mildly disappointed. The writing was perfectly acceptable, I think I just had problems with the plot. The plot sort of settles as a great empty frame in a desert, and in theory is strung with the bright ribbons of the characters to make it interesting. Unfortunately, the ribbons seem to be dull grey and black, and with no colour to spice the themes, I've already forgotten half the book and I only finished it an hour ago.

Plus I didn't really enjoy the ending. It just emphasized that this was a middle book, marking time until it's all supposed to get interesting. There was no solid information on the cover to tell me where this book fits into the Intertwined series either, just that it was an Intertwined novel. By rights, this should have meant the book was fine as a stand alone novel, however this was very much not the case. I'd say this book needs a warm audience (people who are already into the series) to be successful. As a cold audience, I just felt glad when it was over.

Sarah P

Pitching - and Other Writerly Things

2011-11-08T11:30:00.001+08:00

Back in September, Nicola Morgan, an award winning UK author and source of much useful writing information, posted about how to put together a 25 word pitch on her blog, Help! I Need A Publisher! . A number of her readers put up their pitches for comment by Nicola and her blog followers. It made for an interesting learning exercise and proved very popular. So she did it again in October.

Stray pitches and synopses are still going up and being commented on and now she's started a series of free guidelines for writers, Crabbit's Tips For Writers. The first is here.

Always readable - as I think I've mentioned before - this is one of my favourite writing blogs and well worth a visit.

World Fantasy Awards 2011

2011-11-02T08:00:00.006+08:00

Congratulations to Alisa Krasnostein, winner of the Special Award Non Professional category for Twelfth Planet Press. There's a strong Australian representation in the short lists too with Jonathan Strahan, Angela Slatter and Shaun Tan also featuring.

The results are out here and you can watch the ceremony here. You might catch a glimpse of Egobooers Carol and Sarah in the audience. Alisa has blogged about her experience at Champagne and Socks.

Contribute to Westerly : Westerly Centre : The University of Western Australia

2011-10-20T08:00:00.000+08:00

Contribute to Westerly : Westerly Centre : The University of Western Australia: "Westerly publishes lively fiction and poetry as well as intelligent articles.

Westerly differs from other journals in that its focus is more towards the west coast of Australia and the Indian Ocean region (including Asia and India).

All academic work submitted is subject to a double blind refereeing process and all creative work is chosen by the independent poetry and prose editors."

Poems: $75 for one page / one poem or $100 for two or more pages / poems
Stories: $150
Articles: $150

The Mermaids Singing by Val McDermid

2011-10-18T08:00:00.000+08:00

I got my highlighters and pen all ready for this one. It was $4.99 from the Post Office, and we bought it in a fine tradition of "OMG we haven't made the Eftpos limit, what else can we buy in a hurry so as not to upset the following customers?" So I ended up with "The Mermaids Singing" by Val McDermid.

I was mildly disappointed that the writing was perfectly fine, and I travelled through the novel with nary a blip on my "phrases to trip over" radar. I put the pens away, eventually. I think maybe I was more scarred by The Girl In The Steel Corset than I thought!

So, the writing was fine. The book tumbled along, neither exciting nor dull. The characters were also neither exciting nor dull. People died, people chased other people, people found out whodunnit. Yeah, OK, so I'm not a big reader of the genre.

Having said that, I bought the book based on the cover and the title. The copy I have actually has a different colour art, but this was the closest to the cover I have. There is no barbed wire in this book, nor barbed wire men. I was a sad panda. There were also no mermaids, nor singing. Cue a VERY sad panda.

So what is with the title? Am I missing something? Is there some obscure story that makes the title meaningful? Mermaids are cool - why use them in the title if they're not in the book? Regardless, I was a bit put out that such a cool title was wasted on an not-cool book.

And men women relationships. Really? Hello, people, women can work with attractive men and not develop crushes on them. Really. And, you know what? It happens EVERY DAY. Why is it that as soon as someone in a crime novel has a vagina, she has to fall in lust/love/crush or be the lust/love/crush object? Why can't she just be a person?

The opening was also kind of confusing for me. We start with multiple points of view of three people, but they're all doing the same thing. And they all sound the same! And then we drop down to two main points of view and I can only tell them apart because the female of the two has a crush!

This book has been out for a long time already, so I'm going to whine about the text itself now, so spoilers ahoy if you worry about that kind of thing. The book is rife with assumptions about men and women, and I spent a fair amount of time thinking "really? You don't think a determined woman would be able to do THAT?" and "This section is written rather neutrally, I wonder if the book is supposed to be playing with our gender assumptions" and the answer is yeah kinda. But also not. It's been a long time since I read the genre, but it doesn't seem to have changed much. The levels of gore vary, but there's a hunt for a killer and blah blah blah. I didn't feel like I was reading anything different from the suspense/crime books I used to read.

Can't be bothered reading this one again. Would any one like my copy?

--
Sarah P

Winds of Change & Yellowcake Springs to be Launched 13th Nov KSP Centre

2011-10-17T08:00:00.001+08:00

The Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild's latest anthology, Winds of Change, was launched at Conflux in September.

In Perth, Winds of Change, will be launched at the Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers Centre

Date: Sunday 13th November
Time: 12:30 pm
Where: 11 Old York Road, Greenmount.

Please join us for Nibbles and drinks as we celebrate the year's end with our latest publications.

Perth Writers Joanna Fay, Naomi Mondello, Keira McKenzie and Carol Ryles are contributors to this antho.

Joanna's 'Stone-Singer' is a sliver of her current work in progress. It is set in the future of her epic novel series, a world she has inhabited since childhood.

Naomi's 'Gravity Express' is a steampunk adventure.

Carol's 'Saint Olivia's Light' was first drafted at Clarion West 2008, and is about a spirit trapped in a stained glass window.

Keira, who has recently joined Egoboo, illustrated Tsana Dolichva's 'Time Capsule'.

Table of Contents:

1. "Wraiths" by Jason Nahrung
2. "Gravity Express" by Naomi Mondello
3. "Time Capsule" by Tsana Dolichva
4. "The Tether of Time" by Leife Shallcross
5. "Trigger" by Zena Shapter
6. "Babel" by Robin Shortt
7. "Saint Olivia's Light" by Carol Ryles
8. "In Need of Assistance" by Chris Andrews
9. "After the Bombs" by Adam Tucker
10. "The Horns of Elfland" by Crisetta MacLeod
11. "Time Spent" by David Coleman
12. "Soul of the Machine" by Maxine McArthur
13. "Dream Shadow" by Alan Baxter
14. "Giant" by Annelise Roberts
15. "Evolution Baby" by Lesley Boland
16. "The Princess" by Valerie Y.L. Toh
17. "Children of the Ashes" by Greg Mellor
18. "By Watcher's Pool" by James Goodrum
19. "Turning the Blood" by Donna Maree Hanson
20. "Watching" by Nicole R Murphy
21. "The Stormchilds" by Helen Stubbs
22. "The Fool" by Jane Virgo
23. "Dragonfly" by Cat Sheely
24. "Stone-singer" by Joanna Fay

If you can't make it to the launch, Winds of Change can be purchased directly from CSFG's wordpress page.

Also being launched is Guy Salvidge's novel Yellowcake Springs, winner of IP Picks 2011.

Welcome to Yellowcake Springs; a pristine, friendly, secure community of citizens involved in the maintenance of one of Western Australia’s CIQ Sinocorp nuclear reactor facilities. You have nothing to fear inside the heavily-guarded community, nestled in the quiet streets between the radiation Red Zone and the razor-wired fences. Raise a family. Go to the park. Watch the sun set between the cooling towers. Lament the desperate lives of the lost ones living in the darklands outside the community, where overpopulation and starvation have created a lawless world. Feel lucky. You belong to CIQ Sinocorp now.

--
Carol.

Laura and Sarah go Head to Head - Wanna Join Up Too?

2011-10-16T17:16:00.001+08:00

Dear Author,

Nanowrimo is fast approaching, and this year Laura and I will be going head to head in 30 days of literary brawling.

What is Nanowrimo, you ask? It's a month of writing dangerously, throwing all your preconceived notions about 'writing' out the window, and allowing you to do something you always wanted to do - prioritise your manuscript! The challenge is to write 50K over 30 days... merely 1667 words a day. It's a lot of a challenge, but it's exhilarating and fun and you get to do it with friends.

Two of the Egoboo group will be accepting the challenge this year, Laura E Goodin and my humble self. I can write like a demon when I need to - but the only person I need to beat this year is the 50K mark. I intend to write updates on Egoboo as often as I can face the keyboard, so expect to see some stats and mumbles as I stumble along.

Come and join up with us to join in the fun - there will be widgets! Yay widgets! I have a bit of a handicap this year, stepping off the plane on the 1st of November, either losing a day of writing or gaining a day strapped into a plane seat with nothing better to do (except maybe sleep.) Battling with jetlag, will I be able to produce anything at all?

So come on in and join us! It's bliss! (or a frantic scramble for your manuscript. One of the two!)

Plus only a few months after that Twelfth Planet Press is opening the doors to new manuscripts. This could be your year! Join up today!

--
Sarah Lee Parker
P.S. I wrote my post first dammit! :)

Oh, yes, November will be intense.

2011-10-16T17:00:00.002+08:00

I know, I know. I've heard all the objections and whining about NaNoWriMo. If you are one of the NaNo wowsers (a great word that I only learned after coming to Australia), I suppose you are performing a useful service for those who traffic in outrage. Me, I love NaNo. I love the camaraderie and the productivity and the buzz and the spirit of fun. Because, at its heart, it's a game. A fun, encouraging, energizing game.

This year, in fact, I'm deliberately breaking the rules of NaNoWriMo, in that I will be adding words to an existing work, rather than starting a new project. And for you NaNo rule heavies, well, I stick my tongue out at you, too. (To show just how much, or how little, the rules matter in this good-natured game, there's an "official" term for people like me: NaNo rebels.)

I look forward to the encouragement of my Egoboo buddies, and I look forward to getting a very large percentage of my novel-in-progress drafted, or at least raking together a big pile of word-leaves to jump in and scatter. (Ah, what you Australians miss, growing up amid a tragic paucity of deciduous trees.) And I especially look forward to the chance to cheer my buddies on, on, on! On to glory! On to victory! On to transcendent states of mind where the words flow like the Zambezi over the Victoria Falls!

2011-10-16T13:26:00.000+08:00

Like Sarah & Laura, I've just decided I will do the Nanowrimo thing again this year. Not sure I should be doing it, but last year, got a novel completed in 2 weeks (well, 3 quarters of it) so shall do it again. Don't know if it will be in the same universe or something else entirely. I shall just have to wait & see.
I will both curse and enjoy the challenge, as much as I do with all my writing projects. It's a time to both be structured and free-flowing. It involves and condenses all the joys and frustrations of what takes normally takes a lot longer. It's writing in a time-box: all constrictions visible, no opening for escape, and yet, within that box, there are also no limits (TARDIS analogy, anyone?).
So Sarah - Laura - I will be joining you.

Best of luck to all 3 of us!

(this is the 1st post from new member, Keira - hopefully it won't be the last)

A Plea to SFF Writers for Variety in Pregnancy and Childbirth Depictions | Tor.com

2011-10-16T08:45:00.000+08:00

Childbirth and pregnancy is a gray area in SFF, where the cliches seem to abound and no one does a bare minimum of research about what birth and child bearing is actually like. Kate Nepveu puts out a much more nicely phrased plea for people using child birth and pregnancy in fiction to think a little, and do a little more research. Not every one screams during child birth (actually, as far as I've heard, very few people do!) and some people don't even get morning sickness, for example!

A Plea to SFF Writers for Variety in Pregnancy and Childbirth Depictions | Tor.com

One Cobble at a Time � When Critiques Wound

2011-10-14T08:25:00.000+08:00

One Cobble at a Time � When Critiques Wound: "This is the hard truth about critiques which rarely gets mentioned: If the critique hits one of your writing insecurities, or if you’re uncertain about the relationship with the person critiquing you, then the process can be emotionally injurious. And the writer is not the only one at risk, the critiquer is taking a risk as well. People can get hurt. I got hurt."

Teen Harlequin - In The Arms of Stone Angels

2011-10-11T09:52:00.004+08:00

I found 'In the Arms of Stone Angels' by Jordan Dane to be much better than 'The Girl In The Steel Corset' - to start with, it had some actual romance elements!

Stone Angels is described as a suspense novel, and I totally agree. It was a good solid read, without any language trips to throw me out of the book. I found it really very hard to read in parts as the ferocious maliciousness of teenagers was really hard to get through, but it did add some extra dimension and angles to the plot. I didn't guess who did it, which was also very nice, and the threads were all pulled together pretty tightly at the end in a way that satisfied me.

Nicely written, tightly constructed, it was a light read but really enjoyable suspense aimed at the young adult range. It included all the things I imagine are issues in YA lives - troubles with authority, self esteem/awareness, trust issues, and peer pressure to the max.

I also enjoyed the fact that the male of the romance didn't really exist as a person/character except in memories. In a way, the romance is a complete construction within the heroine's mind. He didn't need to have a completely active role, as the ploy was around him, but didn't need a male's agency to progress.

Our heroine's relationships are all quite troubled but believable. I really enjoyed this read, and will keep my eyes open for some other of Dane's books.

Sarah P

SF Conventions in Perth, 2012

2011-10-05T01:00:00.005+08:00

On Sunday, Carol Ryles and I dropped in on Villaincon, a small SF convention in Perth. Sadly, it was nowhere near as well attended as it should have been. It seems to me that fannish conventions are not doing as well as they once did. There are so many other calls on our time these days, and besides, events such as SupaNova cast all smaller events into the shade.

But there is still a place for the smaller, more intimate convention, where you can catch up with your friends in the bar and pick up all the latest goss. There are many people I never see outside of conventions – due, again, to all myriad of little things that take up so much time. But you can go to a con knowing that you’re going to meet like-minded people, new ones as well as old friends. So I was really pleased to learn that next year there will be no fewer than four conventions in Perth!

The first is the annual Genghis Con. I must admit I’ve haven’t been to this one, because I’ve always thought of it a student gig and my student days are well gone. However, while it did indeed start out in 1992 as a student con, run by SF aficionados from our universities, I’m assured that while it retains its low budget profile, plenty of older people attend. The 2012 offering will be held from 20-22 January at St Georges College, UWA, and it costs only $25 to attend plus $80 per night accommodation – which includes breakfast.

Then comes Swancon, which I’ve been attending for about ten years. I’ve felt quite bereft the odd time I’ve had to miss a year! It’s held over the Easter long weekend (5-9 April next year) so there are four whole days of panels, discussions, academic papers, book launches and socialising. The venue for next year hasn’t been announced, but it will be at one of Perth’s many lovely hotels. It’s going to be called Doom-Con this time, to reflect an apocalyptic theme. The overseas guest-of honour will be no less a personage than Brandon Sanderson, while local girl turned Brisbanite Marianne de Pierres will be the Australian GOH. Fan GOH will be Chris Creagh, a lecturer at Murdoch University. (Chris is the initiator of the Murdoch University Science Fiction Foundation, which is helping with the preservation of the Murdoch Uni Library's valuable collection of speculative fiction material)

If you book and pay for Swancon before the end of December they’ll give you really good deal, too! Only $185 full price or $140 concession for the four days.

Next up will be one that’s close to my heart – the Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers Centre Mini-con on Sunday, 9 September. This one-day gathering of writers has been held at Greenmount in the Perth Hills every two years since 2004, so this will be our fourth venture into the convention business. It’s only a baby con – just the one day and well under a hundred attendees – but because of that it’s intimate and chatty, with interesting panels, a good lunch and lots of books to spend your money on. And the authors could well be in attendance to sign them, too. More news will be posted here closer to the time.

And lastly will come Crime Scene on the 29-30 September at Novotel. This is a new venture for Spec-fic in Perth, but a logical one because a lot of SF readers also read crime, and SF writers often need to research crime for their works. It’s hoped that guests will include crime writers and experts on police procedure, forensics etc. This con doesn't have a website yet but you can find them on Facebook.

So, add the various fund-raising functions and it will be a busy year on the SF front in Perth. And that’s without even thinking about cons in the other state capitals! Maybe we can give you a run-down on those events in another post.

The Girl In The Steel Corset

2011-10-03T12:35:00.001+08:00

I was poking around Big W the other day at the books. I love romances, so I was checking out the Harlequin section, which has quite a diverse range of books these days! I was quite confused for the amount of choices I had!

So of course, I picked one by cover! I got The Girl In The Steel Corset, by Kady Cross, which has a fabulous steampunk cover. Gorgeous image on the cover, with beautiful rich colours and a striking image. I was amazed to realise the book was a Harlequin Teen novel, and was officially YOUNG ADULT. I read the first two pages, and was even more amazed that it was a teenage romance novel. Except it wasn't.

The opening pages were interesting and did draw me in, hence buying the novel, but beyond that it didn't seem to deepen or mature in the topics it raised. The opening stuff was then basilly forgotten while every one ended up on this strange adventure where Queen Victoria was thrown in for good measure, and some of the characterisations didn't work for me. I wanted the lead heroine to explore herself more, to have more at stake with the story being told; I wanted her to learn and grow. And to be honest, I didn't realise she was sixteen. I thought she was mid twenties to late twenties!

The other points of view felt quite similar to Finley's, and I found all of them to feel a little detached. It may just be the writing style is different from what I am used to, but I felt I was being told the character's emotional responses rather than feeling them, and the end scenes felt really forced. Also, Kady describes one of the girl's hair as 'ropey' about ten times. By the last quarter of the book I felt like shouting "I get it already! They look like dreads! Okay!" and I there was a LOT of discussion about what people were wearing that I thought was unnecessary. I would have preferred more time spent inside their bodies, and less outside.

Finley didn't really grow or develop as a character, and things seemed to happen where she then never really felt or did much about them after wards. After some shocking relevations about her parentage, she seems to just forget it, or have very little resonance with the big issue. I didn't feel for Fin much, and I didn't care if she did anything, and I didn't like her friends much either.

Things that didn't work for me - my favourite phrase which was TOTALLY out of place involved expecting some feathery wings to grow out of someone's arse. I was just so broken out of the book it took me a while to even try to read it again.

Despite all the negatives listed above, it was a very easy read. I can feel it draining from my head already, and expect to have forgotten the entire book within the week.

Sarah P

Literature and Latte - Scrivener

2011-09-24T11:59:00.000+08:00

I know I amlate to this boat, but I have fallen deeply and irrevocably in love with Scrivener. I have just done ten minutes of work on the novel I will be working on for Nanowrimo this year... and I have a fully fledged plan already. *SWOON!*

Literature and Latte - Scrivener

A Challenge for Everyone!

2011-09-23T15:37:00.000+08:00

Good morning everyone,

The City of Rockingham's National Novel Writing Month programme gets bigger each year, and the City is proud to announce award winning authors Bevan McGuiness and Anna Jacobs as guest authors for "The Night of Writing Dangerously", to take place at the Gary Holland Community Centre on Saturday 12 November from 5-10pm.

“The Night of Writing Dangerously” is a five hour writing marathon, with access to advice and consultation from professional guest authors who act as ‘bounties’ in a series of encouragement exercises with spot prizes throughout the night. All attendees will receive a 'show bag' of promotional materiel and there will also be a door prize comprising a basket of writing & reading related goodies, thanks to event sponsors Adventure World; Andromeda Spaceways In-flight Magazine; Asgard Games; Cosmic Comics; Coeur De Lion Publishing; Fablecroft Publishing; Fremantle Press; Fun Station; Harper Collins Publishers Australia; Island Magazine; Meanjin Magazine; Overland Magazine; Peter Cowan Writers Centre; Rockingham Shopping Centre; Serendipity MediSpa Baldivis; Sterling's Office National; Twelfth Planet Publishing and White Dwarf Books

Anna Jacobs writes historical and modern novels. She’s had 55 novels traditionally published so far, with others are contracted and in the pipeline. Her latest historical novel is ‘The Trader’s Wife’ set in Western Australia and Singapore in the mid 1860s. Her latest modern novel is ‘Moving On’, set in the UK and Western Australia, and she’s also had a book of short romantic stories published ‘Short and Sweet’. Anna is currently the 11th Most Borrowed Author of Adult Fiction in the UK and is doing equally well in Australian libraries, too.

Bevan McGuiness is the author of two fantasy trilogies as well as short stories, book reviews, a novel based on his experiences as a teacher, and pieces for texts on science education. He lives near Perth with his wife and daughter. Although he has worked as a factory hand, geophysicist and laboratory assistant, he is now a teacher of chemistry at a boys’ school in Perth, and is currently working on another fantasy trilogy and two children’s fantasy series.

Registration is free, but places are limited. To register, contact Lee Battersby, Community Development Officer (Arts & Culture), on (08) 9528 0386 or lee.battersby@rockingham.wa.gov.au

Lee Battersby - Community Development Officer

PO Box 2142 Rockingham DC WA 6967
Civic Boulevard, Rockingham Western Australia
telephone +61 8 9528 0386 facsimile +61 8 9592 1705
email lee.battersby@rockingham.wa.gov.au

Linkage

2011-09-23T09:52:00.000+08:00

Donna Maree Hanson interviews Ellen Datlow on editing. We all know the work of an editor is essential to the success of an anthology or magazine but just what that involves is often somewhat of a mystery. Here Ellen talks about the complexities of an editor's work and the different kinds of editing. The comments are worth reading as well.

What does “authentic” mean, anyway?

2011-09-21T09:18:00.000+08:00

What does “authentic” mean, anyway?

A very good post about presenting minorities in fiction.

WSFA Small Press Awards Finalists

2011-09-20T11:41:00.001+08:00

The short list for the WSFA Small Press Awards 2011 is up on the WSFA website. These awards are for short fiction published by small presses. Among the finalists this year is Enid and the Prince by R J Astruc, published in Worlds Next Door edited by Tehani Wessely, Fablecroft Publishing (June 2010). The winner will be announced at Capclave in October.

Last year's winner was Siren Best by Tansy Rayner Roberts, editor Alisa Krasnostein, Twelfth Planet Press (October 2009).

It's good to see Western Australian small presses is getting some recognition internationally.

Katharine Susannah Prichard Speculative Fiction Awards 2011

2011-09-15T17:06:00.000+08:00

The results for the awards are up on the Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers Centre website (they've accidentally been put in the Short Fiction Awards section). First prize went to Jack Nicholls of Victoria with Western Australian writers, Karen Dixon and Lee Battersby taking out second and third places.
Among the commended writers were two more West Australians, Lyn Battersby and Nicolette van Schie-de-Roos along with Victorian Glenda Janes and Elaine Kennedy and Kaylia Payne from NSW.

The Mundaring National Young Writers Awards winners were first prize Raeden Richardson (Vic), second Laura Potter (WA) with an encouragement award to Alice Johnson (NSW). All the commended writers came from WA - Eloise Caitlin, Will Donaldson, William John Nelson, Joshua Penkin and Alexandra Utley.

There's also a comprehensive Judge's Report that is well worth reading.

Congratulations to all.

US Tropes in Storytelling

2011-09-04T11:32:00.000+08:00

I was reading Champagne and Socks, Alisa Krasnostein's blog. Alisa is the editor and publisher of Twelfth Planet Press among many other things and periodically she puts up a list of links connected to the writing world. This is where I found this link to Aliette de Bodard's blog. The comments are as interesting as the blog entry itself.

I Just Had to Share This.

2011-07-27T09:00:00.040+08:00

The Novel Doctor is another blog I discovered while wandering the net.
This link encapsulates the way I'm pretty sure every writer feels at some time and it turns out there's some other useful stuff on this blog too.

Jo Reads Her Winning Poem on ABC Radio

2011-07-26T09:43:00.003+08:00

Last month, Joanna Fay (writing as Jo Mills) took first prize in the Banjo Paterson Award.

You can hear her reading her winning poem, Orpheus in the Desert, over at the ABC Radio Central West's Morning Show Blog. Here she also talks about the inspiration behind this beautiful and moving poem and how she takes the Orpheus legend and places it in an Australian desert landscape.

Congratulations Jo.

--
Carol.

What's Happening to Publishing?

2011-07-25T09:00:00.031+08:00

This week I heard about a successful writer who has not been able to sell her latest trilogy based on a proposal although she has been trying for nearly a year. She's gone ahead with writing it but has no idea whether it will ever sell. I wouldn't be surprised if this was a beginner but to hear it about an established author was, to put it mildly, unnerving. Even more disturbing, as I discovered in trawling the net, it appears she's by no means the only one in this situation.

There's more happening out there in the publishing world. On her blog, Pub Rants, Agent Kristin has something to say about Random House's recent decision to change the way it calculates royalties.

Then, as so often happens, I came across this on Nicola Morgan's blog, Help! I Need a Publisher linking to a post by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Both are blogs I look at frequently because they are full of practical good sense for surviving in the writing world. It seems there's a lot to worry about if you want to be a writer these days but while Kristine Kathryn Rusch tells us quite bluntly about all the problems she also offers some good advice about how to survive this period of turmoil.

Have a look at what they have to say but try not to fall into despair. I don't know why others choose to write but I started because I had stories to tell and share and that will not change. Yes, the writing world is in a state of upheaval but the truth is we don't know what will emerge out of the present situation. All we can do is keep our heads down and have faith that story telling will survive. It will because it always has. It may have a different form but human beings have an insatiable thirst for stories and it will need to be satisfied. At the same time we need to keep up with what is going on in the industry and adapt to those changes. Hard? Maybe but writers are imaginative and creative. We can do that.

It's going to be a bumpy road but I'll see you at the other end.

Edit: apparently the page isn't showing from the link to Pub Rants. I'm not sure why. Here's an alternative option. This link takes you to the blog. If you go to her post of June 29 and scroll down past the details about Courtney Milan's Unlocked, which she is justifiably excited about, you will find the part on Random House. The previous post about Harlequin is also interesting.

Congratulations

2011-07-19T12:15:00.004+08:00

Congratulations to Helen Venn and Sarah Lee Parker for receiving Honourable Mentions in the Second Quarter of the Writers of the Future Contest.

Helen for her story, "Nightwraiths" and Sarah for her story, "Just Another Day in Traffic Control".

Woohoo to you both!

What I've Been Reading.

2011-07-13T09:00:00.069+08:00

This year so far has been something of a case of swings and roundabouts for me. There have been all sorts of personal upheavals and several bouts of surgery which have made life difficult at times. But it turns out there is a side benefit to surgery. Confined to bed and with the options being daytime television or reading I devoured books. So here in alphabetical order by author are some of the books I've read - or reread - since mid March. They are a mix of adult and YA fiction and short stories.

Novels and Novellas:

Peter M. Ball Bleed, Twelfth Planet Press

Peter V. Brett The Painted Man, Harper Voyager

Kim Falconer Path of the Stray (Book One Quantum Encryption), Harper Voyager

Kim Falconer The Spell of Rosette (Book One Quantum Enchantment), Harper Voyager

Jennifer Fallon The Chaos Crystal (Book Four The Tide Lords), Harper Voyager

Jennifer Fallon The Gods of Amyrantha (Book Two The Tide Lords), Harper Voyager

Jennifer Fallon The Immortal Prince (Book One The Tide Lords), Harper Voyager

Jennifer Fallon The Palace of Impossible Dreams (Book Three The Tide Lords), Harper Voyager

Jennifer Fallon The Undivided (Book One Rift Runners), Harper Voyager

Richard Harland Liberator, Allen & Unwin

Richard Harland Worldshaker, Allen & Unwin

Trent Jamieson Death Most Definite, Orbit

Trent Jamieson Managing Death, Orbit

N. K. Jemisin The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (Book One of The Inheritance Trilogy), Orbit

Dave Luckett Paladin, Omnibus Books

Juliet Marillier Seer of Seven Waters, Macmillan

Karen Miller A Blight of Mages, Harper Voyager

Nicole Murphy Secret Ones, Harper Voyager

Tansy Rayner Roberts Power and Majesty (Book One Creature Court), Harper Voyager

Tansy Rayner Roberts The Shattered City (Book Two Creature Court), Harper Voyager

Sean Williams The Changeling, Angus and Robertson

Connie Willis All Clear, Allen & Unwin

Connie Willis Blackout, Allen & Unwin

Anthologies:

Listed by title:

A Book of Endings Deborah Biancotti, Twelfth Planet Press

Baggage ed. Gillian Polack, Eniet Press

Dead Red Heart ed. Russell B. Farr, Ticonderoga Publications

Glitter Rose Marianne de Pierres, Twelfth Planet Press

Heliotrope Justina Robson, Ticonderoga Publications

The Inheritance Robin Hobb/Megan Lindholm, Harper Voyager

More Scary Kisses ed. Liz Grzyb, Ticonderoga Publications

Sprawl ed. Alisa Krasnostein, Twelfth Planet Press

This list is by no means complete. I've read at least half as many books again as those I've listed here in that period but I wanted whatever I included to be books I could recommend. In different ways, I enjoyed each of these enough to say they are worth a read and, in the case of the many starts to trilogies, I'm looking forward to reading the sequels too.

Dario Ciriello chats with EgobooWA

2011-07-10T17:02:00.004+08:00

Dario Ciriello is a London-born writer, editor and publisher living in San Francisco, USA. He is a graduate of Clarion West, has been a finalist in the Writers of the Future Competition, and has had a number of short stories published in anthologies and journals. Panverse Publishing, which he founded in 2009, has released two anthologies of science fiction and fantasy novellas to critical acclaim, with a third volume forthcoming. Panverse has also published an anthology of short stories, Eight Against Reality, by the members of Written in Blood, the writing group Dario formed in 2007. Aegean Dream, Dario's tragi-comic memoir of a year spent on the Greek island of Skopelos, will be published this month.

Welcome Dario, it's great to have you here! Would you like to start off by telling us a bit about your journey as a writer? How did it start, and what experiences have most influenced its development?

My Father was a journalist, quite a heavyweight in his time, and my earliest memories are of going to sleep with him clacking away on his Olivetti Lettera 22 portable next door. My parents were both huge readers -- we had books everywhere -- and I've loved books since I can remember. As an only child, I had no distractions in my leisure time. I still have my first little story from when I was 9 or 10, and it's solidly in the SF/weird category with an oppressive overtone of cosmic dread. I was clearly already channelling Conrad and Poe, which just makes me wish I'd got serious about writing earlier instead of in my middle years. I guess my bottom line is that there are stories I want to read but which nobody else has written, so I'm going to have to roll my sleeves up and do it myself.

A writer's sensibility is no doubt inseparable from their tastes as a reader. Which writers and/or genres have touched you most deeply, and which writers do you see as prominent influences on your own style?

Yes. I think my trajectory's a pretty standard one for an SF & F writer who was a child in the 'fifties. After graduating from nursery and fairy tales I discovered Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. There's that great saying, the Golden Age of Science Fiction is thirteen, and I was certainly reading classic SF -- Asimov, Clarke, A.E. Van Vogt, Poul Anderson, E.E. 'Doc' Smith, and all the rest -- right around then. On the Fantasy side. I'd devoured everything by Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert E. Howard just in time to discover Hobbits in 1967.

But the real revelation that bonded me forever to the power of SF came when I came across Roger Zelazny at around age 15. The New Wave -- Zelazny, Ballard, Blish -- was reshaping SF at that time, and Zelazny just blew me away. (He still does, actually, and I re-read his work regularly). It wasn't just his astonishing stories but his wild, unique prose style as well -- there's been nobody like him before or since. The story that really did it was his novella, 'For a Breath I Tarry,' in which he seamlessly blended Genesis with the story of Faust and a few other things besides on a post-human Earth peopled only by robots. Unbelievable. The only perons who comes close to Zelazny in power for me is C.J. Cherryh. Though I find her work since the mid-90s a little tedious, she was producin both Fantasy and SF of astonishing quality for almost two decades. Anyone who hasn't read the Morgayne series (Fantasy) or the Chanur series (SF) is missing out. I'd definitely cite Zelazny and Cherryh as major influences.

I was always a style junkie, a throwback, and to this day resent Hemingway for the damage he did to English letters. His stripped-down minimalism is poison to me. Prose can be complex and beautiful wihtout being distracting. Which is why, outside of SF & F, I absolutely revere Jorge Luis Borges and John LeCarre (okay, Borges is borderline SF with a big side of metaphysics) -- nobody shapes prose so well as these two at the same time as telling a solid story. And LeCarre does character so well.

Written in Blood is a powerhouse of a writing group. Its members are widely published and some of them have gone on to gain novel publications with major publishing houses in the US and UK. What motivated you to form the group, and what brought this particular group of writers together?

I'd just moved to Greece in 2006, to this tiny island -- which suddenly became famous as the 'Mamma Mia!' island -- and I felt the need to stay connected to writers. So I had this idea of a distributed critique group with a twist: instead of a regular schedule we'd be an 'on-demand' group. So whenever anyone has a piece to crit the group would get a 24-hour heads-up and a short window in which to turn the piece around and deliver critique (we work on 5 days for shorts and a 30-day max on the longest pieces). And there'd be no flaking -- the group is called Written in Blood because we see our commitment to one another as a blood oath (I hate flakes!). I wanted people who were grown ups and took their writing seriously enough to commit at a professional level.

I'd met Juliette (Wade) at a con and invited her into a previous group when I was back in the 'States, and I knew she was frustrated, so she was the first invitee. Traci and Doug were old mates from my 2002 Clarion West, so they were invited. Aliette was an online buddy of Traci's through their shared interest in Aztec mythology, and Janice Hardy -- who writes YA Fantasy -- was a good friend of Juliette's via Critters. So we had our core group right there, and only added a couple more in the following year. I'd had this clear vision of the sort of group I wanted, capping it at eight, and it worked -- we've been solid for five years now. Amazing.

These people are awesome writers -- actually, Traci (T.L. Morganfield, who along with Aliette de Bodard, writes Aztec Fantasy) has just landed a terrific agent for her own two-volume Aztec epic. So of the eight of us, two have published trilogies, one (Juliette Wade) is rocking the SF world with a run of great stories in Analog, and another just got a major agent. Gives the rest of us something to shoot for!

Did Panverse Publishing evolve from your practice as a writer, or did you have a longer term goal of becoming a publisher? What inspired you to take the unusual step of specifically publishing scinece fiction and fantasy novella anthologies?

A good part of the impetus behind Panverse was frustration, frustration at the lack of markets for novella-length fiction, especially for newer writers; anger at the unprofessional way the industry in general deals with submissions -- nobody should ever have to wait more than 60 days in the slushpile; and above all frustration with what I perceived as the decline in the prominence of story in the genre. It seemed to me that SF & F had become so concerned with literary respectability that the field was losing sight of its core value -- story. Being the proud SoB I am, I believed I could do better!

Now I've always loved the novella form, and it's perfect for our genre. I missed the novella anthologies of old, and there were so few slots for stories over 12k words that I thought I could have my pick at a price I could pay. And I really wanted to give some newer writers a market -- not everyone can write to that popular 3-7k word slot. At the same time, Print on Demand was emerging, and gaining respectability. I figured that I couldn't lose much, and that in the process I'd be able to perhaps help some good work into print.

Panverse has expanded to publish a short story anthology, and your Greek odyssey of a travel memoir, Aegean Dream. What have been the highs and lows of Panverse so far, and what would you most like to see in its evolution from here?

The short story antho, Eight Against Reality, was something I really wanted to do for Written in Blood. It's a group anthology to which we each contributed a piece and which we shared the cost of.

The lows -- well, marketing is hell for me. Never been good at it, and starting Panverse in what has been the most financially challenged period of my life didn't help. Add to that the fact that it's impossible to get brick-and-mortar distribution as an independent using PoD technology, and getting significant traction is very hard indeed.

On the upside, Panverse has had some solid, even excellent reviews. Many critics were excited to see an annual all-novella anthology (and UNthemed at that!), and were happy to give this rare beast a look over. Alan Smale's AH story from Panverse Two, 'A Clash of Eagles', has just been nominated for the Sidewise award, and fully deserves it. But more rewarding than anything has been the knowledge that I've helped several new writers into print and recognition; like Mike Winkle, an unknown whose weird tale about Charles Fort and the Jersey Devil received high praise from several top reviewers. And all the writers have been great to work with.

I'm also hugely proud of the quality of the Panverse volumes. I was fortunate enough to find some terrific artists who'd work with me; and Janice Hardy from my crit group -- who happens to be a professional graphic and layout artist -- contributed all the layout work for Panverse One and Eight Against Reality and set the standard for me. Everyone is blown away by the quality of these books.

Finally, it's been a huge revelation to see how things look from the editor's side of the desk. It's just so important to OWN your story from the get-go. Now that I've started writing again after a long fallow period, I've learned a great deal that I can apply to my own writing.

As to Panverse's evolution, I'm pondering that. I dont' think I'll be doing any more Panverse novella anthologies -- it's a truly huge amount of work and I'm barely breaking even. I've considered digital-only editions, but with my sixtieth birthday coming up next year, I think I'm going to focus on my own writing instead. I'd like to make a mark of some sort before I shuffle off.

That said, I still have a handful of ISBNs, and with the current upheavals in the industry and editors terrified to take chances, I wouldn't be surprised if I end up publishing friends' books, or even something further of my own.

As a 'micro-publisher', how do you view the current upheavals in the publishing industry and what advice would you give to writers about navigating those changes when it comes to getting published (and/or self-publishing)?

Frankly, I think the traditional publishing industry deserves to die. Like the music industry, they do few favours to the artists who allow them to exist, and are -- in the main -- incredibly resistant to change. The booksellers aren't much better: between the mess of distribution and the insane 'returns' system, it's hard to imagine a worse business model. As Bob Dylan said, "Get out of the doorways, don't block up the halls!" If these people can't change, they just need to go away.

We're right in the the middle of a revolution, now. Digital books and sales of eReaders are achieving critical mass. With the switch to digital, traditional publishers have fewer bullshit ways to play games with authors -- the returns game is over and the cost of print and distribution becomes a non-issue. They're trying to draw some hard price lines on the basis of the cost of promoting and marketing books, but the average, non-celebrity author knows that the money the majors spends on marketing them is close to zero. It's becoming hard not to notice that the Emperor has no clothes.

I'm cautiously optimistic that the fallout of this will be mostly good for authors. I think Amazon and maybe Sony will get into the publishing business very soon and offer authors a far better deal than traditional publishers have or do -- certainly far higher royalties, though perhaps not advances. Others will follow. One or two of the majors and many of the smaller presses will adapt and survive what is certain to be a sizeable extinction event. I think print will certainly survive, but perhaps as a more high-end or collectable product...unless the Espresso machine, which prints books in five minutes on demand, becomes commonplace. Agents won't go away, and the smarter ones are already ahead of the curve on digital rights. Both they and their authors will see a more varied landscape as new players enter the field and experiment with different business models. It's a very exciting -- and very confusing -- time.

As for self-publishing, that's changing too. Right now it's still widely viewed as an exercise in ego, and professional reviewers have pretty much a blanket policy of not reviewing self-published work. It's true that 99.99% of it is dross, and -- worse -- dross that's poorly edited and produced. but by the same token, the vast majority of traditionally published books are dreck, only better packaged.

I think this will change. Some reviewers are already beginning to consider this policy, and there have been several instances of good self-published books seeing commercial pickup -- rare, but it's happened. The challenge, as always, is marketing, getting heard above the exponentially increasing static roar. But with some name authors experimenting with self-publishing and a growing number of authors choosing this option, it seems likely that channels will emerge for self-published books to be reviewed and noticed. Authors will likely have to be even more involved in marketing than they currently are -- which I think is not a good thing -- but that's the world we live in.

In conclusion, then, I'd advise a new author -- for now -- to go the traditional route of seeking an agent and publisher. But at the same time keep an eye on the industry, and in particular blogs like Kristin Kathryn Rusch's (http://kriswrites.com - her 'Business Rusch' section especially) and the guru megastar of self-publishing success, J.A. Konrath (http://jakonrath.com ).

The most important thing, of course, is to hone your craft. If you write SF & F, you're fortunate to have lots of pros and semi-pro markets that publish short fiction. Unless you only write novels, submitting and selling short fiction is a tremendous way to get real-world feedback and benchmark your progress, as well as learning to work with editors. And whether your fiction is long or short, a good crit group is absolutely vital.

But whatever the publishing landscape looks like, I do believe that success begins with a very simple formula: tell me a STORY, and make me CARE.

Thank you, Dario!

You can check out Panverse's current and upcoming publications at http://www.panversepublishing.com/

'Persephone' published in Westerly.

2011-07-03T08:12:00.001+08:00

Issue 56:1 of the literary journal Westerly is now out, with a rich and varied collection of fiction and poetry, including my poem 'Persephone' (under my poetry writing name, Jo Mills).

For more details, go to www.westerlycentre.uwa.edu.au

Enchanted Conversation: Submission Requirements

2011-06-27T11:49:00.001+08:00

Do you write Fantasy?

Enchanted Conversation: A Fairy Tale Magazine is putting out a call for submissions.

The fourth Issue Theme is 'Little Red Riding Hood' and opens on the 27th of September and closes on September 30th. Poetry and Stories welcome.

Enchanted Conversation: Submission Requirements

--
Sarah

Joanna Fay wins Poetry Prize in the 2011 Banjo Paterson Writing Award

2011-06-22T08:46:00.003+08:00

Congratulations to Joanna Fay for winning First Prize in the Open Poetry Section of the Banjo Paterson Writing Award 2011 for her poem, Orpheus in the Desert (writing as Jo Mills).

World Fantasy Convention 2011

2011-06-17T08:00:00.002+08:00

I'm going to WFC2011 this year! I am so excited the fizz is coming out of my ears!

It is still months away, but it's such a big thing, and it's the industry convention for fantasy writers and publishers, so I thought I would put together some thoughts on some of the people who are Guests of Honour at a World Fantasy Convention.

Today I'd like to take a personal look at Neil Gaiman.

I first came across Neil Gaiman with the Endless series. Death as a cute little perky goth? Dream as a tall gothy emo? Hell yeah! The Sandman Series was great. It was an awesome mythology, a saga and a heart wrenching story of imprisonment and duty. From what I remember! A lot of Gaiman's stories resonate with me on themes of loyalty, love, duty, and have the feel of a fairy tale more than a modern novel. Good Omens seemed to be a light hearted romp between Pratchett and Gaiman, covering ideas common to both of them and having a very different flavour to books like American Gods.

I've also come across Coraline, Neverwhere and Stardust in my travels. Admittedly, I have come across them as movies. We also have a copy of The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish, and we love Dave McKean artwork. My husband has the Dave McKean tarot deck, which is both a beauty and a terror to behold. All of these stories had women I admired and respected in them, and I love putting on Coraline and Stardust for the kids. I liked American Gods, which to me read as a huge diatribe on the relationship Americans have to religion, which I thought was interesting. It seemed Gaiman had a lot to say!

The other way I have come across Gaiman is when his fiancee Amanda Palmer organized a wedding between him and herself. It was a fanciful affair, with Amanda doing one of her statue perfomances as The Bride, and it took soem work (and a thermos of tea!) but in the end she gave him a surprise wedding. And it just seemed to suit them both so well, I had tears in my eyes as I looked through the wedding album. Just perfect, and perfectly gorgeous.

I have attended a convention with Gaiman as a GoH once before - Swancon five million years ago. It was my first ever Swancon, and I was there for one day. Gosh that was a long time ago! I remember he did a reading, and how he looked like a superstar, even then.

I see Neil Gaiman as a master story teller. All of this works are a reflection back at the readers, an intricate puzzle which illuminates and explores humanity.

To finish off this little chat, I thought I would post this advice from Neil Gaiman to new writers:

Guest Post from Author Nick Mamatas: “The Writer’s Life: Actually, It’s Awesome!” � Suvudu - Science Fiction and Fantasy Books, Movies, Comics, and Games

2011-06-10T09:00:00.001+08:00

Dear Gods I love Nick Mamastas! His blog and his online person are funny, articulate and OMG sharp. One day I'd like to be as sharp as he is!

Regardless, he has written a funny little article here about the life of a writer. I'm pleased to say I have purchased his Starving Better and I am eagerly awaiting delivery! I can't wait to read his pointy little comments and have a good giggle even as I learn stuff.

Guest Post from Author Nick Mamatas: “The Writer’s Life: Actually, It’s Awesome!” � Suvudu - Science Fiction and Fantasy Books, Movies, Comics, and Games

Meg Cabot's "How To Write A Novel" Video.

2011-06-03T08:36:00.000+08:00

I watch too many crochet videos. How can I tell?

I have completed two blankets, a scarf, a beanie, half a scarf and two thirds of a blanket in four or five months. That's how I can tell!

So I thought ... crochet in, crochet out. There must be some writing videos I can watch. And the very first hit is Meg Cabot, who is a prolific and funny author. Her little video here covers some of the basics she needs to write a novel.

Remember that every one writes novels their own way. My longest novel had only a name and a world. No plot, no plan, and no idea. My best novels were somewhere in between.Any advice given to you as a writer is good advice for the person who gave it to you! It might not be so good for you!
:-)

Interview with Thoraiya Dyer

2011-06-02T11:53:00.003+08:00

Thoraiya Dyer is a New South Wales based speculative fiction writer. She has had a number of short stories published in magazines and anthologies. A finalist in the Aurealis Awards in 2008 for her story, Night Heron's Curse, she was joint winner of the best fantasy short story in the 2010 Awards for her story, Yowie. In the Ditmar 2011 Awards she was awarded Best Novella or Novelette for her novelette, The Company Articles of Edward Teach, published by Twelfth Planet Press in their Novella Doubles series in 2010 and was also awarded Best New Talent.

Welcome, Thoraiya.

When did you first realise you were a writer?

When I was 5 years old, I changed from wanting to be a vet to wanting to be a writer. I had just been traumatised by some childhood immunisation and Mum told me that vets had to give needles to puppies. I couldn't imagine myself doing that! By the time I was 16, I'd decided to go for the
veterinary job after all. It seemed more secure and I really do love animals. For their own unselfconscious beauty as well as all the almost-human ways in which they reflect us.

How did you come to write speculative fiction?

A garden just always seemed more exciting if there could be fairies at the
bottom of it. OR if there could be a whole new planet where we could make
new and interesting mistakes instead of the same old ones. I wish I could
live forever because I'm desperately curious to know how the human story
ends. Science fiction is a way to indulge that.

What has been your most exciting moment so far as a writer?

Oh, can I say more than one? A couple of years ago, I sent a copy of ASIM with my short story, Night Heron's Curse, to a writer I respect and whose stories I am besotted with: Juliet Marillier (see interview below!) And she replied that she ENJOYED IT! And that is the biggest thrill for me, having writers whose work I love tell me that they reciprocate. I danced around my house for ages when Charles de Lint did me a blurb for Edward Teach - he made time for me! The man who wrote The Little Country made time to read my small press novelette!

So you can see how absolutely, tragically fannish I am. Books mean the world to me. My brain knows that writers are just people and it's ridiculous to idolise them. But my heart runs away with its fingers in its ears, singing, "la la la la!"

Of course, the Ditmar Awards Ceremony at Swancon this year will always glow warmly in my memory. It was the quadruple whammy of having won the award, of being congratulated by my idols, of having my wonderful supportive husband and my uncharacteristically well-behaved toddler in the audience (and occasionally on stage!), and the satisfaction of having lots of hard work by a number of people pay off.

(Not financially, but, you know. Maybe a fat cheque will be my next
highlight! Stay tuned!)

You list yourself among other things as an archer, veterinarian and traveller. Which of these inspires your writing most?

Archery inspires me to write sword & sorcery, vet science inspires me to write science fiction, and travel inspires me to write urban and historical fantasy. So you see why I can't pick just one sub genre to write in!

Where else do you get your inspiration from? I know it's a question writers hate but can you think of some examples of something that set your heart and mind racing and led you into a story?

The Bird, the Bees and Thylacine, (due to come out any day now in ASIM #51) came from a midnight contemplation of evolution and the small but vital differences that made the domestic dog such a successful species but the thylacine so dismally unsuccessful. I still think less competitive species are worth preserving, just as I think less competitive and warlike human cultures are worth preserving, and that led me to my Quaker main character and the question of whether a person could really go through life without doing any physical violence.

Did that sound very deep and meaningful? I also write stories about people I hate just so I can kill them off. Hahaha.

What are the essentials for you to sit down and write?

Before becoming a mother, I had the ability to completely wrap myself in my own thoughts; I would write on the back of receipts while standing up in train carriages. Now I need silence and preferably for my daughter to be absent or asleep! Her little voice, from the moment she was born, was wired into my brain, and even if she is not calling out for me that very moment, half of my brain is always listening for her while I am responsible for caring for her. So I can't immerse myself in story.

We all know rejections are part of the business of being a writer. How do you deal with them? Any memorable ones?

Oh, sending the stories straight back out again always helps. Electronic submissions are great; you hardly even have time to feel sad if you bounce it back out within minutes! The only problem is when you get to the last market on the list. Then you are allowed to have a small cry. You might even admit to yourself that maybe that story really doesn't work and never will. But that's OK, you still have hands, you can write another one. Novel rejections are harder because it can be 1 or 2 years between responses.

What - or who - has influenced you most as a writer?

Everyone knows I want to be Ursula Le Guin, right? Right?? Hahaha. I like to delude myself that I could have a style like hers one day, simple but so powerful.

What was the first book you remember falling in love with?

That was read to me? The Witches by Roald Dahl. That I read by myself? Hounds of the Morrigan by Pat O'Shea.

What was the most useful writing advice you've had?

"Don't take advice from anyone who isn't where you want to be" - Kevin J. Anderson.

(Yes, that means nobody should listen to my advice, unless they aspire to be an unemployed, de-registered vet who is intimately acquainted with children's TV characters Spotty Wot and Dotty Wot!)

You've had quite a year with your novelette, The Company
Articles of Edward Teach, being published by Twelfth Planet Press and
then your Ditmar and Aurealis successes. What are you working on now?
Anything in the pipeline?

My as-yet-untitled collection of short stories is forthcoming from TPP as
part of the Twelve Planets Series. It should be good. Not necessarily
because I am awesome, but because Alisa is John West and won't let anything
but the best go to print!

The novel I am working on now is about an imaginary continent half way between Australia and Antarctica. I only hope I can stop with the world building at some stage and start torturing some interesting characters. If there's too much world building, Juliet won't like it, will
she? Hahaha.

Thank you, Thoraiya. We appreciate your taking the time to talk to us.

You are Not a Weenie if a Critique Makes You Cry � The Practical Free Spirit

2011-05-27T13:27:00.000+08:00

Amy Sundberg is on a voyage of discovery - and we get free tickets to the ride! One of the things she noted the other day was that blogs without opinions seem to be a bit wishy washy.

To fix that, she's put together her first of a series of Backbone posts, and happen to have chosen something close to our hearts - the critique. She says 'you are not a weenie if a critique makes you cry,' and then lists a few of the myths writers tell each other, and busts each of them.

Crits are valuable things. Someone has taken the time, care, and effort to look over your work, consider where it's going and how it hangs together, and then told you. Every crit should be gratefully received.

But in the end, the text is your own. You can choose to ignore a crit, or you can choose to take a crit on board. Whatever you do, you're the one with the vision. You're the one who OWNS that text.

Take that vision and run.
:D

You are Not a Weenie if a Critique Makes You Cry � The Practical Free Spirit

Aurealis Awards 2010

2011-05-24T20:10:00.000+08:00

The winners of the Aurealis Awards 2010 were announced on Saturday night. Congratulations to you all. The list of winners can be found here.

Internet Research

2011-05-13T09:00:00.002+08:00

Writers research all the time. Even if you write speculative fiction - or other fiction for that matter - you need to make sure that your world is believable and to do that you, as the creator of this fictional world, need to know what makes it tick or your reader won't believe in it.

How do you do this? You can and should read widely and non fiction is where the really cool stuff comes from as are television documentaries. Would I have ever known about the way trees are trained to cross streams in parts of India, providing a living bridge, if I hadn't watched The Human Planet, a BBC documentary? Would I have ever dreamed that orcas in some parts of the world actually throw themselves up a certain beach so they can catch their prey if not for a wonderful nature documentary I saw? I doubt it.

Then there is the internet, a wonderful resource at our finger tips but one we have to use carefully. We have become so used to using it that we google now, using the name of a search engine instead of calling it research. But there is always the question as to reliability of information given that anyone can post anything on their websites. That's why I was pleased to find this article by Jane Friedman on her There Are No Rules blog giving her favourite research websites and as well some tips on how to get the most out of using Google.

Why not share some of your favourite research websites with us. We would love to hear from you.

Enchanted Conversation: Submission Requirements

2011-05-11T11:48:00.001+08:00

Do you write Fantasy?

Enchanted Conversation: A Fairy Tale Magazine is putting out a call for submissions.

The third Issue Theme is 'Cinderella' and opens on the 27th of June and closes on June 30th. Poetry and Stories welcome. Enchanted Conversations has also kindly provided details for their next deadline too, which is Issue Four, Poetry and stories, and "Little Red Riding Hood."

Enchanted Conversation: Submission Requirements

--
Sarah

Juliet Marillier talks to Egoboo

2011-05-04T21:37:00.001+08:00

Multi-faceted Perth-based writer Juliet Marillier recently gave Egoboo an hour out of her very busy schedule to talk about Druidry, Wagner, fairy tales, conventions and her writerly life. We had a handful of questions for her – and here they are, along with the words of wisdom she gave us in reply.

Joanna Fay set the ball rolling by asking: Do you draw on your druidic beliefs and practices in your writing?

Juliet: I actually came to Druidry through writing. When I was researching Daughter of the Forest, my first book, I found I needed to research Druidry because one of my characters was destined to become a druid. Just at that time, Philip Carr-Gomm of the UK-based Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids (OBOD) visited Perth to give a workshop for the University of Western Australia’s extension program. I went along to hear him and was impressed by his unpretentious, non-guru-like manner. He told us the story of Taliesin and how the Order sees story-telling as an integral part of spiritual practice. I was so intrigued that I enrolled for OBOD’s correspondence course. This felt rather like coming home – there were so many similarities between the Order’s teachings and my own belief system. Druidry recognises the power of storytelling for teaching and healing. We see ourselves as part of the web of life on earth, and that means sharing responsibility for the health of the planet. Conservation and sustainability are important in druid work. Another key belief is that the divine exists within all living beings. This ensures that we respect all forms of life, ourselves included. These beliefs can’t help but flow through to my writing.

Joanna: I’ve heard that you’re a Wagner enthusiast, like me. Do you find this influences your writing, too? And how about other music, art, and other literary forms? Are they also influences?

Juliet: My mother loved Wagner! I remember going the home of some Austrian friends when I was about ten, and over a series of evenings, listening to the entire Ring Cycle with musical score in hand. I was captured by both story and music. But although I enjoy Wagner and opera in general, these days I prefer to listen to folk music – Celtic and Hispanic music in particular. My CD collection is 95% folk music. I don’t usually listen to music while I’m writing, but when I do I choose something appropriate to the story and setting – that usually means some form of traditional music.

I love the Pre-Raphaelite painters, especially Waterhouse (I was delighted when Pan Macmillan brought out an edition of the Sevenwaters books featuring his paintings on the covers!) but whether they are actually an influence on my work is a moot point. I like many fairytale illustrators, notably Kinuko Y Kraft, who created the lovely covers for my two YA books, Wildwood Dancing and Cybele’s Secret. Most of the art work on my walls at home is fairytale based. I guess fantastic art has been an unconscious influence since childhood.

As for other literary forms, I read widely. For recreation I prefer general fiction and literary fiction. I love writers who combine excellent craft with great storytelling. I read very little fantasy.

Satima Flavell: Do you follow any fantasy writers at all?

Juliet: If you look at my bookshelves, you’ll see that I do love some fantasy writers. One is Joe Abercrombie, whose work meets my criteria: craft plus storytelling. All the authors I enjoy create characters with a lot of depth, and one reason I don’t care for much epic fantasy is that there’s often an emphasis on worldbuilding at the expense of character development. There are exceptions: Abercrombie is one, and others include Guy Gavriel Kay (I especially love Tigana and The Lions of Al-Rassan) and Jacqueline Carey. I also enjoy Neil Gaiman and I think Orson Scott Card is a great craftsman who sometimes gets carried away by his personal philosophies. In Australian fantasy, you can’t go past Margo Lanagan. Her Tender Morsels was utterly absorbing.

Satima: What else might we find on your bookshelves?

Juliet: Plenty of mainstream and literary fiction, and, of course, lots of folklore and fairy tales! A lot of non-fiction, too, mostly research-related: customs, languages, geography, history. Books on the writer’s craft. Favourite children’s books. Knitting books. Dog books.

Helen Venn: You’ve used myth and fable in your work a number of times. How do you work it in? And how do you keep it fresh?

Juliet: I’ve loved fairy tales and folklore since I was about two, so traditional storytelling creeps into my work in all kinds of ways. Generally it comes out in the manner of telling or in the choice of big themes – courage, friendship, true love, faith, honour. But sometimes I use a story as the basis of a book – I’ve done this for three of my thirteen published novels. I’ve always loved the Six Swans story, on which my first novel, Daughter of the Forest was based. I wanted to place a real family in the middle of those terrifying events and see how they coped. That fairy tale also appealed because of its strong female protagonist.

For Wildwood Dancing I took the stories of The Twelve Dancing Princesses and The Frog Prince and developed the plot around elements of both. Heart’s Blood uses Beauty and the Beast as its framework, but it is a much more complex and layered story than the fairy tale. I made many changes so my story would resonate for contemporary readers, but kept all the parts I loved most: secret garden, cast of mysterious retainers, magic mirrors. There’s more about this on my website: http://www.julietmarillier.com/books/hbauthorsnote.html

As for keeping it fresh, there are two main reasons for using fairy tale material: firstly, because you love it and secondly, because it fits the story you passionately want to tell. If you keep both of those in mind, the "how to" should become clear as you go.

Helen: What are the problems inherent in writing a story such as Heart’s Blood, which is so obviously based on a well-known fairy story?

Juliet: It depends on how closely you’re basing your work on the fairy tale. Some writers might twist the story to make it fit into, say, a feminist paradigm, or they might re-tell it as humour. One challenge is to make a story acceptable (and relevant) to contemporary readers rather than retaining the mores and values of the period in which it was first written down, since these could be unacceptable now. You need to do that without losing the charm of the original. For example, in Beauty and the Beast, a curse is lifted at the end and the hero becomes handsome. I didn’t want to send a message that physical beauty is necessary for happiness. Anluan in Heart’s Blood has a physical disability caused by a childhood illness, not a curse. He still has it at the end of the story, but has learned that it makes no difference to the people that love him.

Sarah Parker: How did you enjoy this year’s Swancon and the panels you were on?

Juliet: I’m not much of a con enthusiast generally, but this one was fun: well-organised, and in a spacious, comfortable venue. I especially liked the inclusion of the Romancing the West writers’ workshops under the Swancon umbrella. I would have liked to see hands-on writing workshops for speculative fiction writers too, not only for romance writers – it felt odd to me that the romance stream got “how to write better” workshops and the spec fic stream got “how to get published” workshops.

My panels were well attended and brought out some interesting questions. I especially enjoyed "Writer as business person/Writer as entertainer" with Sean Williams, Justina Robson and Simon Brown (who was an excellent facilitator). It was notable for frankness and good humour.

Satima: And how about your workshop on using fairy stories in writing romance?

Juliet: The quality of writing that came out of the workshop was very pleasing. It’s hard to write something that’s both creative and polished under workshop conditions. And I was happy to learn later than some participants had gone home and developed their ideas into stories.

Not only was it great to share my lifelong love of fairy stories with other writers, it also provided me with the opportunity to try out some ideas preparatory to presenting the material as a one-day workshop in Santa Barbara in June, for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). That workshop is called Old Bones, New Flesh, and is based on fairy tales as inspiration for creative work.

After Santa Barbara I fly on to New York, where I’m delivering the keynote address for the Women’s Fiction Chapter at the Romance Writers of America convention. I’ll base it on the ways in which women pass on wisdom from one generation to the next. And then to Lisbon for the release of Seer of Sevenwaters in Portuguese.

Thank you from all of us here at Egoboo, Juliet Marillier!

WTF?!

2011-05-03T14:09:00.002+08:00

Call for submissions by Pink Narcissus Press.
The third (and final?) call for submissions for the year is now open!

In case the title doesn't say it all, Pink Narcissus Press is seeking genre-breaking short stories that leave the reader wondering what hit them. We are looking for unusual stories, something that other publishers "love but can't publish". Whether it's set in space, in Dodge City, or on the head of a pin, setting should not dictate plot. Submissions should take risks, break boundaries and leave the reader wondering: "WTF?!"

The deadline is July 31, 2011. No word count requirement. If interested please see our submissions guidelines for more information, at http://www.pinknarc.com/

Interview with Rose Mambert of Pink Narcissus Press

2011-05-01T10:33:00.010+08:00

Rose Mambert is Editor-in-Chief of Pink Narcissus Press, founded in 2010 in Auburn, Massachusetts with Josie Brown and Bill Racicot. Rose holds a degree in Italian Literature from Middlebury College and teaches Italian and Cinema. Pink Narcissus Press launched its first anthology Elf Love in February 2011, and has a second anthology Rapunzel's Daughters coming out in July 2011.

1) What motivated you to set up Pink Narcissus Press and how did the editorial team get together?

Pink Narcissus Press was born one dark and stormy night about twenty years ago in Portland, Oregon when a friend of mine and I thought it would be cool to publish an indie magazine. Portland in the '90s was a very literary, coffee-shop kind of scene, so everyone we knew was some sort of writer or artist. However, we were young and not exactly motivated, so the publication never got off the ground. Since then, though, the idea had been in the back of my mind. Once I had the motivation, I decided to give publishing another shot.

Pulling the team together was easy. I called up Dr. Bill and Sweet Josie Brown and asked them if they'd like to found a publishing company. Fortunately, they said yes. Since then, we've recruited Stacy Guifre, who agreed to join our team if we called her "Principessa Stacy" and bought her a tiara.

2) With a background in Italian Literature and teaching in areas as diverse as Italian and cinema, what was your pathway to setting up a speculative fiction press? How far back do its roots go back for you personally?

I started reading fantasy back in highschool. I hung out with a geeky crowd, so all my friends were into fantasy and sci-fi, and kept shoving books into my hand, saying "Read this!" At the time, my writing was of the contemporary sort. Someone insisted I read Michael Moorcock's "Elric" series. As cliched as this will sound, these books changed my life. I've been reading and writing fantasy ever since. So I blame Michael Moorcock.

3) Pink Narcissus' first anthology, Elf Love, has now been published and is meeting with positive reviews. What were the major hiccups and highlights of getting Elf Love into print (and e-print) and what do you feel you've learnt from the experience? Oh, and what inspired you to lift off with elves?

We've learned a lot from the experience of Elf Love. Among other things, we've learned that publishing a book is a lot of hard work, that printers are unreliable, and that if you put two sexy elves on the cover, a lot of people are going to assume that the book is porn (which it isn't). Elf Love was not an easy project. In part, writers were hesitant (and understandably so) to submit to a brand new press with no publication record. In part, a lot of writers weren't inspired by the elf theme.

The theme of "elf love" came out of my unnatural obsession with elves. At the time, it seemed like a good idea - after all, no one else had published an anthology based solely on elves, so our book is certainly unique in that regard.

4) Recently you've opened up submissions for novels and novellas - do you have an overarching goal or aspiration/s for Pink Narcissus?

Our primary goal as a press from the beginning was to publish genre fiction novels. Larger publishers tend to overlook novels that are well-written for the sole reason that they don't easily fit into a particular category, and therefore would be difficult to market. Our goal is to give a home to such works. However, we decided the best course of action would be to build up a reputation by publishing some anthologies first.

5) Pink Narcissus currently has submissions open for no less than three new anthologies, Slashfest, A Stranger Comes to Town, and WTF?! You're certainly highly motivated and busy! Opening anthologies under different editors as well as opening submissions for novels/novellas, how do you coordinate yourselves as a team? Do you have an overall 'production schedule' as such?

As Editor-in-Chief, part of my job is to keep everything organised and give orders to my minions...I mean, to the editors. In truth, though, each editor works on the project that interests them, and sets their own deadlines. Once Rapunzel's Daughters comes out in July, we are planning on kicking Pink Narc into high gear, and hoping to average 5-6 titles a year. Since we're a small press, though, we can afford to keep our production schedule flexible.

6) In the light of current developments in the publishing industry, how do you see the future of the press? Do you see yourselves using conventional publishing forms, or moving more towards e-publishing and print-on-demand?

Currently we use both e-publishing and POD technology. When we started the company, we had a long and serious debate about whether we should print our books traditionally or go for POD. The advantages to POD printing are numerous, however, we were concerned about the stigma that often goes along with POD printing, which often (erroneously, I might add) gets equated with self-publishing, or worse, with vanity presses. In the end, though, it occurred to us that what you print is what counts - not who the printer is. In fact, it's becoming common for "traditional" printers to use the exact same technology (laser printing) as POD printers use for short runs (usually under 1000 copies). Usually only for large print runs will a printer crank up the old traditional lithograph offset press.

Whatever the technology, Pink Narcissus will continue to print paper copies. Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but there's something pleasurably visceral about the experience of holding an actual book in your hands and leafing through the pages that you just don't get from reading on a screen. Of course, given the growing demand for e-books, all our books will also be available in e-format.

Thank you, Rose.

To find out more about Pink Narcissus Press, and for details of published and forthcoming anthologies, and anthologies currently open for submissions, visit them at http://www.pinknarc.com/.

The Chicken Thief - Satima chats with author Fiona Leonard

2011-04-25T17:22:00.000+08:00

Fiona, you've decided to self-publish The Chicken Thief, despite the fact that many people who've read and enjoyed it feel it's more than worthy of mainstream publication. Can you tell us why you've elected to go down this route?

My first motivation was related to timing. The traditional publication route would have meant that even with a dream run, this novel would not have hit the shelves for another 18 months to two years. One of the central themes of The Chicken Thief is the story of a southern African dictator desperately clinging to power at a time when his country is demanding economic and political change – not unlike events currently unfolding in Africa and the Middle East. In countries like Egypt we've been given such an incredible insight into the struggle for democracy and I think having that real world context brings an extra dimension to the reading of this novel.

Secondly, I wanted to prove that it could be done in order to encourage other authors to also give it a go. I'm currently based in Ghana, West Africa. For many authors here, the international market is a distant and daunting prospect. I wanted to show that authors can find readers world-wide regardless of where they live.

Finally, it's probably got a lot to do with impatience! I don't enjoy the process of pitching to publishing houses - especially not all the waiting in between! I write to be read. While I thoroughly enjoy the act of getting a story down of paper, what motivates me to keep writing is the point of connection between that story and another person. I have been blogging for several years now and one of the things I enjoy most about that is the response from readers – love that fact that people read what I write and are then inspired in the comments to tell their own stories. I got a great email the other day from a woman who has been reading the novel. She detailed which parts made her cry and when she laughed out loud. As a writer, that is a wonderful gift – to know that a reader has connected with what you've written.

There are many ways to self-publish these days, including outfits such as Smashwords; sites attached to conventional publishers such as Create Space and a wide range of "vanity publishers". What method of self-publishing have you selected for The Chicken Thief, and why?

I'm e-publishing straight to Kindle through Amazon for the very simple reason that I want to put it front and centre of one of the largest global book distribution methods. I want it to be easy to find, easy to buy and easy to give! The Amazon people have made it incredibly simple for authors to publish and I admire them for it.

Living in Ghana, I am painfully aware of the cost-impediments to shipping hard copy books around the world. I love the fact that my blog is read by people the world over and I want my novel to be equally as accessible. Besides, carrying a large inventory of stock when you're self-publishing is a huge risk. This way I can sell a million copies or ten and my outlay is still the same.

I'm also mindful of the environmental impact of publishing. In coming months I will be offering a print-on-demand hard copy edition of the novel which seems to be a good compromise that allows people to literally get their hands on a copy while also going some way towards minimising the environmental footprint.

Self publishing, especially in the realm of electronic publication, is gradually finding wider acceptance, perhaps largely because of the success of certain authors such as Joe Konrath and Amanda Hocking. Yet there remain huge problems in regard to publicity and distribution. What do you foresee as the future for authors who decide to go it alone?

I don't see it in terms of "problems". Independent publishing is no different from any small business. You develop a product, you hone it until it is the best it can be, you study the market, find your niche and promote your product. I think writers have been trained to believe that the only way to enter the market is with someone else leading the way, and that's no longer the case. The thing is though, that writers who go the independent publishing route now need to be entrepreneurs – we're story tellers and story sellers! We need to believe in our creations, take responsibility for quality control and be prepared to do the research and leg work to help take it to market.

We are incredibly lucky though. We're coming to the market at a time when there are phenomenal resources available online that provide how-to information on every stage of the process. Plus it's getting easier and easier to find the people you need to help turn you pile of printed pages into a published novel. The reality is that not every writer wants to be an entrepreneur, and that's fine. There will always be a 'publishing house' model in some form to support authors. But for those authors who enjoy the selling side, that option is now open to them.

Do you think there is a market, world-wide, for books set in Africa?

Definitely. In the past there seems to have been an assumption, particularly in the US, that readers don't want to read anything that isn't set in their own backyards. However, I think if you grow up in a country outside the UK or US — in countries where the local publishing industries are relatively small — you know that this just isn't true. And there are plenty of books that have shown they can be successful in foreign markets. I doubt many readers would have had the chance to read a book set in Sweden before The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo came along and yet millions of people seemed to cope with the experience!

As for Africa, the reading population has repeatedly demonstrated that they are willing to embrace African settings - Alexander McCall Smith showed that readers would embrace a detective story set in Botswana, Abraham Verghese opened doors to a hospital in Ethiopia and readers happily followed John Le Carre in search of corrupt pharmaceutical companies in Kenya. Then there are of course the many wonderful Africa writers, writing about Africa who have achieved incredible success both at home and abroad — Chimamanda Nogozi Adichie, Ben Okri, JM Coetzee, Chinua Achebe — to name but a few. A friend recently shared a list of the top 120 books about Africa by African authors and it's a distinguished list.

I think there is a market, world-wide, for well-written, well-told stories. Where they are set is of secondary concern.

What's it like, being a 39 year-old white, Australian woman trapped in the body of a 25 year-old black, African man? In writing The Chicken Thief, you had to see the world through a very different pair of eyes. How did that work for you and your character, Alois?

There is no way I can ever hope to understand what it's like being a 25 year old African male. I can read widely, research, watch movies, learn about experiences and context, but the best I can ever hope for is a rough approximation. What I do understand intimately is what it's like to be afraid, or to feel like you've let people down, or to be desperately in love with someone that you're sure will never be interested in you, or to have wild dreams that you hope will come true. My focus has been on making that dimension of Alois as real as possible and giving him a strong and authentic voice to convey those emotions.

Funnily enough, while many of the central characters are men, I still think of The Chicken Thief as a book about women. Alois very much defines himself in relation to the women around him. To him, the women in his life are a frustrating and confusing bunch that he struggles to understand. Their mutual admiration and loyalty, however, provide the foundations for his life.

It took you a few years, on and off, to bring Alois's story out. You really must love the character to have stuck with him for so long! How did you discover the "Alois within" and why are you so drawn to him?

I absolve Alois of all responsibility for the delays in finishing this novel! The fact that it's taken me six years to write was largely due to the fact that I've been afraid to admit that writing novels is the form of writing I love most. For the most part, I've tried to pretend that writing novels was a hobby. Last year I finally accepted that it was the form of writing that I was most passionate about, and I created the opportunity to really devote myself to it.

I always get a bit nervous talking about my characters because people eventually notice that I refer to them as I would to real people! I find creating a character is more a process of discovery than creation. I wish I could remember where the idea for Alois as a chicken thief came from. I can easily trace the origins of all the other characters and yet Alois seems to have just appeared! I've enjoyed watching Alois unfold and grow as a character. I relate very strongly to his desire for freedom, his desire not to conform, and his fears that following an unconventional path will result in him letting down everyone that he loves.

We at Egoboo wish Fiona Leonard the very best of luck with The Chicken Thief. If you'd like to purchase The Chicken Thief,look here. Amazon will let you read a sample on your Kindle for PC, so you can try before you buy!

Interview with Glenda Larke

2011-04-20T17:00:00.000+08:00

Glenda Larke is the author of nine books, Havenstar (written as Glenda Noramly), the Isles of Glory trilogy – The Aware, Gilfeather and The Tainted, the Mirage Makers trilogy – Heart of the Mirage, The Shadow of Tyr and Song of the Shiver Barrens and most recently The Watergivers trilogy of which the first two books, The Last Stormlord and Stormlord Rising are out. Stormlord's Exile, her tenth book and the final one in The Watergivers trilogy, is to be released later this year. She has been shortlisted for the Aurealis Awards several times and is a finalist in the Fantasy section of the 2010 Aurealis Awards with Stormlord Rising - results to be announced May 21

Egoboo WA caught up with Glenda in the build up to Swancon 2011 where she is an invited guest.

Welcome Glenda.

On your blog you describe yourself as exotic. You have certainly lived in a variety of places. What started you on your travels? Where have you lived?

I started on my travels aged about nine -- in the wash-house of our farm in Western Australia. That was where a stack of old National Geographics was kept – black and white ones, from the 1930s. (No, I’m not that old, just the magazines were.) I loved reading them and dreaming of getting to all those places.

I left Australia for the first time when I was at university, on a New Zealand hitchhiking holiday, paid for by working on Rottnest Island as a housemaid every vacation from the time I was fifteen. I’ve hated bed-making and ironing ever since, but that holiday was fantastic.

Since then, I’ve lived in Malaysia (including Borneo), Austria (Vienna), and Tunisia. So that’s four continents and an island altogether.

  How have these moves impacted on your writing? Positively? Negatively? 

I don’t think there has been a negative impact.

On the positive side: where can a fiction writer go wrong with travel? There are ideas to be had everywhere. The desert scenes in the Mirage Makers and the Watergiver trilogies came from my Australian travels outback, from the Sahara of Tunisia and Algeria, from flying over Iran.

Other inspiration for stories came from the millipedes of the tropical rainforest, bird stacks off the coast of Britain, Indian water painters, fish traps on mangrove mud flats, Asian street markets, Roman ruins…

Travel has certainly ensured that I can write anywhere – from airports to fishing boat decks or in a tent. Or, believe it or not, on a sun-lounge under a casuarina, overlooking the aquamarine waters of Krabi Bay, Thailand. Which is where I am right now, typing this answer.  

You started out writing non-fiction articles so what was it that led you to write fantasy novels?

I actually started with fiction when I was about eight, and I’ve never stopped. My first published stuff, though, was non-fiction. I didn’t start with fantasy; my first novels were a mix of thriller, exotic destination and romance, rather like Mary Stewart novels. I changed to fantasy when I realise that anything I wrote set in the real world was going to freak out some of my husband’s relatives, who seemed unable to separate the writer from their writing. Of course, I loved fantasy as a genre, too!  

You build intensely detailed and believable worlds. I remember an interview with Elizabeth Jolley who said her novel, The Well, started with a single image of a well and grew image by image until she had the idea of a story. What comes first when you are writing a novel – the setting or the story?

I always start with a single idea.

Havenstar started with a conversation about how convenient it would be if a map altered according to what was happening on the ground. This was in the days before the GPS. (Or, for that matter, J.K.Rowling. Do you think I could sue her for pinching my moving map idea?)

The Aware arose out of a comment someone made about how he was sick of fantasies because they were always set in the Middle Ages, with castles, horses and dark forests with wolves. So I thought I’d write a whole book set on a sand spit with nary a castle or a horse or a forest. The era was vaguely 1800 A.D., but still one reviewer called it medieval, so you can’t win.

After the idea, I commence building the world in my mind. I rarely write anything down at this stage. The progression to a story comes easily when I start having to answer questions like: What sort of person would be important/in trouble/a hero/a villain in this kind of world?

In the Havenstar world, the answer was a mapmaker would be of paramount importance. In the Watergiver trilogy, it was someone who can supply water. In The Aware it was the person who could see magic.

My next trilogy, just begun, has its origins in two ideas: What if you have a society which believes one in every set of twins is born evil? And: Trading in bird of paradise feathers made people rich in Europe a couple of hundred years ago. What if the birds had had a way to fight back?  

What, for you, is the hardest part of writing a novel?

It varies from book to book, but there is always a stage where I am sure my writing is terrible and or boring. Sometimes I am right, and I have to re-write a large chunk, or re-arrange the way the story fits together. Sometimes I am panicking unnecessarily, or so my beta readers tell me. There’s no single or consistent problem. It can come at any stage of the story and the method of solving it varies. Sometimes I cut scenes, or I might add them. I might discard a character or include a new one.

At the micro level, for me the hardest thing in writing is to “get the hero out of the room”. Most writers will know what I mean. It doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with rooms or even with travel; it’s the problem of connecting two scenes so the transition makes sense without giving a lot of boring detail.

For example, if your protagonist has to dose his companion with a sleeping draught, where does he get the drug? It’s hard to make an explanation interesting when the method used has no impact on the story and is, in fact, utterly irrelevant. Yet if you don’t explain the “how”, then readers will ask in annoyance, “Hey, where did he get the drug from? He didn’t even have any money a moment ago, let along access to an apothecary!”

I hate getting the hero out of the room.

  You write very strong female characters – two of my particular favourites are Blaze Halfbreed and Ryka Feldspar. So how do you develop these characters? What makes them memorable?

Well, I’ll leave it up to readers to decide whether the characters are memorable and why. Characters for me develop all by themselves as the story continues, moulded by events as they occur. I always have an idea of who they are at the beginning, but only rarely do they follow the path that I planned for them.

All I knew about Blaze at the start of The Aware was that she’d had an appalling life as a child and she’d survived by being strong. Only later did I discover that she had a soft centre, and a self-deprecating sense of humour. Ligea, in the Mirage Makers, was strong in a very masculine way, often ruthless, because she was raised by two very nasty men who used her as their weapon of choice in an international conflict. By the end of the trilogy, she’s a very different person.

Ryka was a challenge right from the beginning. I wanted a pregnant woman who is placed in a terrible position, yet who refuses to hate. Her relationship with Ravard was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to write, because it involved the interaction between the abused and her abuser. I wanted her to be the strong one, even though she was constantly in the position of the weaker. I hope I succeeded, without ever appearing to belittle the experience of women in such situations. How to end the story of Ryka, Kaneth and Ravard was a further challenge. I actually changed the ending several times before – I think – I got it right.

What was the first book that you remember reading that stuck in your memory?  

There are three. One was a West Australian book by Katherine King, called Australian Holiday, which my mother read to me. I so loved that book, possibly because it was about things I knew – the Australian bush.

The second is one of the Milly Molly Mandy books. I can’t remember the exact title, but it was one of the first books I ever read by myself. However, it was mostly memorable because I was reading it on the (public) bus going to school when I was five and I missed the school bus stop. The school principal came looking for me by car… I remember that very clearly indeed!

The third was important because it was the last book my mother ever read to me: an unabridged version of Little Women printed in a tiny font. I was about seven, and once she’d read a chapter or two, I took the book from her because reading aloud was too slow, and I had to know what happened next. I’ve been a compulsive reader ever since.  

With Stormlord's Exile, the final book in The Watergivers trilogy, coming out later this year in Australia what comes next?

I’ve started another trilogy, the first book of which is tentatively titled The Witchery of Spice. It’s about great trade routes and birds of paradise, set in an imaginary world equivalent to c.1600 A.D. of our history. Think Elizabethan-like buccaneers and Low Country burghers clashing as they venture into Far Eastern trade; think Western colonists confronting Eastern cultures in the spice islands of the tropics. Add in magic and mayhem, heroes and heroines from both hemispheres…and that’s just beginning.

Thank you, Glenda.

ABC Pool Fiction Podcast

2011-04-18T09:51:00.002+08:00

This looks like an interesting opportunity: to create text and/or audio stories for the ABC Pool(as text online, podcast and radio). Stories of up to 5000 words can be uploaded as text pieces and reworked (or rework them yourself) into short audio pieces ready for podcasting. The project has a particular interest in flash fiction to a maximum of 100 words. Pieces can be in any genre, including fantasy and science fiction. Visit pool.abc.net.au for further details!

ASIM pre-slush workshop redux � Must Use Bigger Elephants

2011-04-13T08:00:00.000+08:00

Patty Jensen has been working her proverbial off recently with a series of posts about slushing for ASIM, using examples to highlight the biggest problems with each of the volunteer submission texts.

This is a fantastic way to see fifteen different story openings and the ways they worked or didn't work, and even chat with Patty further about the issues involved.

ASIM pre-slush workshop redux � Must Use Bigger Elephants

Patty's blog is also an excellent one to have bookedmarked for further reading. She also explores issues of Science in SF, researching, publishing, and short fiction. She also works tirelessly for ASIM.

Sarah Spotting at Swancon

2011-04-11T11:47:00.008+08:00

Yay Swancon! A mere ten days away! Here's my current line up of activities at Swancon. Come along and see me in action!

Welcome To Your First Convention Panel

Thursday, 21 April

7:30 PM

Plaza 3

What to expect. Who to talk to. What to do.

Welcome to Your First Convention Lunch (ALL WELCOME!)

Friday and Saturday

Lunchtime (12:30)

Plaza 3

Not if You Were the Last Short Story on the Earth

Friday, 22 April

9:30 AM

Mosman Bay

Safe Spaces

Friday, 22 April

7:30 PM

Plaza 2

Zombie Face Painting
Sunday 24th, 10:30am
Kids Stream

Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse
Sunday 24th 11:30am
Kids Stream

Perth Worldcon

Sunday, 24 April

2:00 PM

Mosman Bay

NaNoWriMo

Monday, 25 April

9:30 AM

Mosman Bay

Alien Face Painting (Possibly)
Monday, 25th of April
10:30am - 11am

Kids Stream

Defining Fandom

Monday, 25 April

3:00 PM

Plaza 3

Hope to see every one there!

Confessions of a Slush Reader: Why Should I Care? :: Shimmer

2011-04-06T08:00:00.002+08:00

Slushing is one of the most bitched-about parts of the publishing industry. People hate it and yet they also seem to love it, since so many people do it!

If it weren't for the brave slush-keepers, we'd be forced to read more unproofed, unedited, and confusing stories, so I for one am pleased to have these people doing their jobs! Slushing is also one of the more illuminating roles in the publishing industry, where you can have a close up view of what is actually being sent into markets. You may not get paid, but you do learn a lot.

This article has some great pictures, and also has some sample texts to look at.

Confessions of a Slush Reader: Why Should I Care? :: Shimmer

Swancon36 � Swancon Thirty Six | Natcon Fifty: Full program

2011-04-05T14:12:00.000+08:00

Natcon Fifty/Swancon's programme is now live! Check out the link below to find out what's happening and when, and then come along to let the good times roll!

Thursday night is free! This includes the Professional Artshow, as well as my panel Welcome To Your First Convention, intoductions to the Guests of Honour, and a pile of taster panels to see what's on offer.

Swancon runs from Thursday 4pm until Monday 5pm across Easter, and I'm getting really very excited! Expect some posts from me in the next few days as I sort out my panels and get some work happening!

Swancon36 � Swancon Thirty Six | Natcon Fifty: Full program: "Swancon Thirty Six | Natcon Fifty Program"

Best Horror of the Year 4

2011-04-04T08:24:00.002+08:00

Ellen Datlow has a call for submissions open for the fourth volume of the anthology series Best Horror of the Year (Night Shade Books), for short stories published (or to be published) during 2011. She is looking for stories that represent all branches of horror, including traditional/supernatural to borderline, high-tech SF horror, supernatural stories, psychological horror, dark thrillers etc. For more details see her blog at http://ellen-datlow.livejournal.com/

Guest Post By Tansy Rayner Roberts

2011-04-03T13:07:00.001+08:00

Tansy Rayner Roberts has a brand new book out called The Shattered City! To celebrate the release of Book Two of her Creature Court series, she's doing a blog tour!

Fantasy With Frocks

Sarah asked: "What is your favourite style or outfit in the series, and why?"

I think this is my favourite question I've been asked so far! I am a complete sucker for fantasy with frocks, and while making clothes is not my superpower, I always pay close attention to what my characters wear.

(the current book I'm working on features a heroine who is quite disinterested in clothes and to be honest I have no idea how to deal with that)

Velody, one of the main protagonists of Power and Majesty & The Shattered City, is a dressmaker, and so she sees clothes first, and people second. At one point, in Power and Majesty, she notes the glamorous gear that the members of the Creature Court tend to wear, and laments that she should be dressing them, not leading them!

I have many favourite outfits from this series! Many of them belong to the first book (such as the rose petal dress Velody makes for the Duchessa, and the frocks Velody and Delphine wear to the theatre, not to mention the leather trousers Ashiol steals from Velody, and the boots he "liberates" from Poet. I also have some extreme favourites from Book Three, Reign of Beasts (to be released in Oct/Nov this year) including a red flapper frock, a frock made entirely of skysilver, a couple of the good old reliable brown sentinel cloaks being put to rather saucy use, some steampunky Edwardian fashions, and the chance - finally - to put the Duchessa in breeches rather than a skirt. But that's the future, and we're not there yet!

So let's talk about the fashions of Book Two: The Shattered City. First of all, and most obvious, I have to rave about the gown that's on the front cover. I had to concede on the cover image of Book One, because honestly I do understand how hard it would be to depict Isangell's rose petal dress as I described it. But the cover for Book Two more than made up for it - depicting a perfect image of Velody in the antique green ballgown she ends up wearing for an important section of the novel.

I have other favourites, though! An embroidered waistcoat that causes nothing but trouble. A collection of animal costumes to be worn by children. A flame gown, Velody's latest creation for the Duchessa:

The silk was cool to the touch. It was a magnificent gown:
flame-orange, trimmed with soft charcoal-black leaves of silk that
tumbled from the Duchessa's shoulders to her knees. A perfect
festival dress for the chief day of sacrifice, the centrepiece of the
sacred games which would shortly be taking over the city.

But actually, my favourite outfit from Book Two is worn by the catty, wicked Livilla, usually seen in vampish ensembles while sucking on a cigarette holder...

It was Livilla, dressed in a long white morning dress as if she
was a daughter of the Great Families, all pearls and pale green
accessories. She wore gloves, and even her cosmetick was muted.
They had been right, damn it. Livilla was putting on a show.

She was alone, despite the table being set for three. As Ashiol
came down the grey stone steps, Livilla dropped a sugar cube
into her own teacup with a tiny splash. "You're here," she said,
sounding pleased with herself. "I knew you loved me really."

Okay, it doesn't sound all that impressive, but to my mind it's worth it for this later exchange...

Ashiol turned, surveying the city below. Flamebolts had hold of
the librarion and were spreading to other buildings on the Octavian
hill. Poet was right, Livilla was the only Lord in that part of the
sky.
He soared to her, body glowing with animor. "Livilla, what the
frig?" She was dressed like a matrona again, in the same modest
gown she had worn to take tea with the Duchessa, a rope of pearls
hanging to her knees. What kind of maniac danced the sky in beads?
"Ashiol darling, you can't expect me to catch flamebolts. I have my
hair to think of."
He growled under his breath. "Put the fire out. Move it!"
"Who died and made you Power and Majesty?"
Ashiol hesitated to go chimaera, just for a moment, unsure what he
might find when he reached for that shape. Then, realising his
weakness, he threw himself into his chimaera form, black and powerful
and edged with claws. And yes, wings, back where they belonged,
barely even hurting as he swiped out at Livilla.
"Such a bully," she said, eyes flashing with animor, but turned
and arced her body over the river where it curved behind the
Balisquine. She dipped down then soared up again like a swan, and a
trail of river water followed her in a fan-like tail. Livilla dropped
down over the Octavia and the water exploded over the flames,
drenching the buildings in a haze of light and animor.
Livilla had always been an artist in the sky, when she wanted to
be. "Good enough, my king?" she asked archly when the flames were
dampened.
Ash returned to Lord form and kissed her once on the cheek.
"Where did you get that stupidly respectable dress?"
"Stole it from a nun."
"That explains a lot, really."

=========

Tansy Rayner Roberts is the author of Power and Majesty (Creature Court Book One) and The Shattered City (Creature Court Book Two, April 2011) with Reign of Beasts (Creature Court Book Three, coming in
November 2011) hot on its tail. Her short story collection Love and Romanpunk will be published as part of the Twelfth Planet Press "Twelve Planets" series in May.

This post comes to you as part of Tansy's Mighty Slapdash Blog Tour, and comes with a cookie fragment of new release The Shattered City.

Creepy but Charming

2011-03-28T08:35:00.002+08:00

Books a go-go, a new Melbourne-based ebook publisher, is calling for submissions for their Christmas 2011 publication. The chosen story will be illustrated and sold on the Apple Itunes store as an enhanced book. They're looking for submissions that possess a child-like, magical or creepy charm (think Neil Gaiman, Shaun Tan, Tim Burton or even Charles Dickens) and fit into the genre of steampunk, magical realism, fantasy or science fiction. Submissions close April 1st 2011. For more details see http://novelexpectations.wordpress.com/

Call for Submissions.

2011-03-24T22:45:00.003+08:00

Pink Narcissus Press have opened up submissions for novels and novellas. This is what they have to say: 'If you're a novel writer, you may be interested to know that Pink Narcissus Press is now considering longer works of fiction for future publication. Novels or novellas with strong elements of fantasy, sci-fi, and/or horror preferred. Works which defy easy categorization even better'.
For more details, go to their website: http://pinknarc.com/submissions.htm

Does Your Manuscript Tick These Boxes?

2011-03-23T11:17:00.001+08:00

Nicola Morgan of Help! I Need a Publisher has put up a very useful post on the subject of how to judge if your MS is ready to fly. Go here to see her own and other checklists. While you're visiting her blog have a look at her other posts. They're worth the read.

A Stranger Comes to Town!

2011-03-23T08:30:00.003+08:00

Pink Narcissus Press, publishers of the Elf Love anthology, have another anthology open for submissions: A Stranger Comes to Town (working title).
'Pink Narcissus is now accepting submissions for a new anthology of fantasy travel stories to imaginary destinations. Editor Stacy suggests the following topics: sci-fi or superhero travel, travel through dreams or time, and parodies/humor, but will consider other genres.'
Submissions close on May 31st. Please see website for further details: http://pinknarc.com/submissions.htm

Interview with Mary Victoria: Author of The Chronicles of the Tree

2011-03-20T08:00:00.001+08:00

Mary Victoria was born in Massachusetts and has lived in Cyprus, Canada, Sierra Leone, France and the UK. Her career in animation took her to Wellington, New Zealand, where she began her first novel, Tymon's Flight: Book One of the Chronicles of the Tree, released in August 2010. Book Two, Samiha's Song, was released in February this year, and Book Three, Oracle's Fire, will be released in September.

1. How would you describe The Chronicles of the Tree to someone who has not read any of your novels?

Chronicles of the Tree is one tale told in three distinct parts, rather than three standalone novels. I was interested in exploring moments of great change in the story, whether personal or societal; it seemed to me that all the fantasy tales I loved most - Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea novels, the Lord of the Rings and many others - combined those elements of personal change with a sweeping, world-paradigm shift. I accordingly included elements of the classic coming of age tale in the first story, the hero's sacrifice in the second and apocalyptic 'End Times' myths as a basis for the third.

I was also interested in exploring changes propelled by environmental collapse. The world of COT, as the name indicates, is a giant tree, a huge continent of tangled vegetation hundreds of miles wide. The World Tree is the limit of the known universe for its inhabitants. All else is legend, a nightmare lurking beneath the Storm at the Tree's foot. But this world has a lifespan: half the Tree is already dying. Rainfall is scarce in the east, and whether through their own past mistakes or just plain bad luck, the easterners have a rougher time of it all round.

But don't be put off by all the intellectual explorations going on in the background. Chronicles of the Tree is also a good, old-fashioned adventure yarn. In fact, you could read it that way and ignore the underlying philosophy entirely. Many people do.

2. The gorgeous cover of Tymon's flight shows an engine-powered dirigible, hinting at the steampunk elements that appear now and then throughout. Do these carry on into novels two are three and if so, can you give us some teasers?

Technology is a theme underlying all three books. In the story of 'Tymon's Flight', the westerners, the Argosians, live in a society at about a 15th century level of technological development, which is just discovering steam power for the first time. Science is viewed with distrust and there is very much a religion vs. science divide fostered by the ruling priestly caste. The steam-powered flying machine one protagonist invents is accordingly considered 'demonic' (though as it turns out, the priests' dislike of the inventor's work is more due to his egalitarian philosophy than his scientific breakthroughs.)

At the same time, other, older technologies have persisted in this society, for the Argosians are certainly not the first civilization to develop and flourish in the Tree. Despite an earlier ban on its use, the priests do possess the secret of 'blast poison', a Tree equivalent of dynamite. And there are other, more ancient inventions in existence the elite keep secret, and use to maintain their hold over society. Those availing themselves of this forgotten technology have no idea how it actually works, employing it as one would 'magic'.

Those themes of technological innovation, the discovery or re-discovery of ancient civilizations and hidden powers are a theme running through the books, culminating in the third.

3. On your website, you write that inspiration for Samiha came from your great-grandmother, Samiheh, "the beloved matriarch of a family that still somehow manages to maintain contact over four continents". Where does Tymon come from?

Tymon is based on Timon of Athens, the story of the misanthrope. Timon is a rich man whose fair weather friends abuse his generosity; when he's cheated out of his money and has none left to give, no one wants to know him any more. He swears off society as a result and becomes bitter about humanity in general, living in a cave. Although my Tymon does not end up bitter, he certainly finds himself on the outskirts of society and questioning the truth of everything he has been taught by the priests.

Tymon starts off as a typical youthful rebel, rejecting social norms in an unthinking way and dreaming of personal freedom and glory. He receives a rather rude awakening from these daydreams and comes face to face with the deep injustices of his society. Thereafter, he realises he has to broaden his dreams - he can't live for himself alone. When he meets Samiha, he begins to learn what it means to live for a larger cause.

4. Tymon's Flight is not only your first published novel, but also the first novel you have written. What were your most memorable highs and lows on your six-year journey from beginner to published novelist?

Oh lord! There were some roller-coaster rides along the way, and still are. Just to reassure anyone whose jaw dropped to the ground at the mention of six years, the first novel didn't take that long to write. It took two years to write a first draft of 'Tymon's Flight'. And then another two to write it again, from scratch, when I realised it could not be sold in its current form. Let me explain.

Novel-writing - particularly plot-driven, adventure novel-writing - is not a 'gift' bestowed on talented writers from birth. It is a learned craft, 99% perspiration, as Edison used to say. I had to learn the process of fleshing out a story arc, creating believable characters and an engaging world. That took time, especially as the mother of a young child. I simply didn't have longer than a two-hour nap period to work in, until my child was old enough to go to kindy for a few hours a day.

So the lows over those six years involved the feeling that I would never get it done. The writing was slow, the learning curve was steep. I had no idea whether I was kidding myself: would all this be a waste of time? And yet I couldn't stop. I had to write.

The highs were, as you'd expect, specific moments: suddenly 'getting' a scene. Enjoying the revelations of a character. Being taken on by my agent. Receiving a publishing contract from Voyager, at long last, in 2009...

5. How do you manage your time between motherhood and writing?

Things are a little easier now than in those first few years. I write when my daughter is at school. That still only adds up to a grand maximum of 5 hours a day, 5 days a week, by the way. I have no idea how I wrote over 250000 words in twenty months for books two and three. I believe a minor miracle may have occurred.

It's quite hard to separate out the 'writing life' from the 'mother life.' They tend to wrestle with each other. But it can be done, and I have done it - though you can ask my daughter to tell you in a decade or two whether I did it well. Who knows, maybe I'm setting her up for years of expensive psychotherapy!

...And that, in a nutshell, is what it's like to be an author who is also the mother of a young child. Guilt-riddled.

6. You've worked as an animator for the Lord of the Rings Movies. In what ways does this artistic background inform your writing?

There are surprising similarities between animation and story-writing. Animated frames tell a tale, just as novels do: they describe character, emotions, certain events which develop over time. The main difference is in scale and medium. An animator is generally describing, in meticulous visual detail, the events befalling a character during the space of a single scene. That might last all of a few seconds - weeks of work for a minute of film. A writer on the other hand must conjure up many characters, many scenes, a whole world in fact, using the more abstract medium of language. An animated film is a cathedral built by a thousand workers, each in charge of a single gargoyle, or one part of a stained glass window. A fantasy novel is a cathedral built primarily by one person, using a great many mechanized tools called 'words'.

But those three fundamentals - character, emotion, development over time - are common to both disciplines. There are more similarities between animation and storytelling than between painting and storytelling, for example.

7. What parts of the Lord of the Rings movies did you work on?

I worked on some wonderful, iconic moments. Some of my favourites involve the Nazgul and fell beast - those scenes in Osgiliath in the Two Towers, when the fell beast almost snatches the ring from Frodo, and quite a bit more of the witch king and general fell-beastery in Return of the King. I liked animating that big, impossible beast. I also worked on a smattering of other interesting characters - Gollum, the balrog...

8. Right now you are finishing off Book Three, Oracle's Fire. What are your plans for the next trilogy?

I don't have plans for another fantasy trilogy right now. I'm a bit trilogy-ed out! I have plans for a standalone novel which I will begin to flesh out later on this year, when the proofs for 'Oracle's Fire' are done. The novel will have fantastical elements but will not be epic fantasy, per se. I'd like to try something quite different.

That doesn't mean I won't one day return to the world of COT, given the opportunity!

Thank you for the interview, Mary. It's been a pleasure talking to you.

Thank you so much for having me here, Carol!

Mary Victoria will be at Swancon 36, Hyatt, Perth, 21-25 April, 2011. Her website is here, which includes an amazing picture gallery of scenes from The Chronicles of the Tree.

'Tymon's Flight' can be purchased from Dymocks here and 'Samiha's Song' from here.

--
Carol.

The Other Side of the Story

2011-03-18T15:40:00.002+08:00

This is an excellent blog by fantasy novelist Janice Hardy. She puts up consistently good, practical example based posts on many aspects of writing craft and on other matters of interest, like writing query letters and finding an agent! Well worth checking out at http://blog.janicehardy.com/