A review of Max Barry’s Lexicon
Max Barry’s Lexicon became a must buy after I heard the author read part of its frenetic and humorous opening at last year’s Melbourne Writers Festival. The novel has a wonderful premise. It is set in a world where poets and the words they use can be deadly weapons. Poets use their words to compromise […]
The Best Science Fiction Novel of 2013 is…
I came across a post about the recently awarded Nebula awards the other day. I was curious how close its short-list of nominees for the best science-fiction/fantasy novel of 2013 matched those of other awards, so I had a look. Nebula Awards We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, Karen Joy Fowler (Marian Wood) The […]
The Budget or Mad Max, Here We Come.
I have been very distracted over the past couple of weeks by the Australian Government’s budget. I worried about what the Government might cut, and how it might affect the poor. My concerns were realised when the Government produced a horror budget that attacks Australia’s most vulnerable. Hurting the Unemployed The budget’s most appalling […]
Murdoch Versus the NDIS
It has been an interesting time to be researching an article on the National Disability Insurance Scheme in Australia, with lots of discussion about it in the Australia media and on social media. My aim is to write an article based on interviews with one or two of the participants in the scheme. So I […]
Transcending the Mundane
I am sorry Transcendence, but you seem doomed to be ridiculed and scorned, because I liked you. My favourite films of the past two years all suffered the same fate. Last year it was Oblivion, the year before Prometheus. The year before that Rise of the Planet of the Apes was ignored by most science-fiction […]
One of My Pet Peeves in Science-Fiction
I was watching the movie After Earth the other night. It was released last year to a savaging by the critics, so I did not expect much. For those of you who missed it, After Earth is a Will Smith production vehicle for his son. It is set in the future where aliens have devastated […]
Ebook Sales Favour Indie Publishers.
For a while now, I, like many other writers, have been wondering how well independent or self-published authors are doing in the ebook market compared to those who use traditional publishers. There is so much secrecy in the publishing industry that it is hard to tell. But I have just read a report, written by […]
Science Fiction I Have Been Watching
I have watched a few new (well new to me) science-fiction shows over the past few months. A couple were excellent , two others will require more viewing to decide, and another had so many clichés in the first episode I was immediately sent looking for something slightly more original. I will start with the […]
BookBub – An ebook Promotion Site.
A few weeks back, I did a post on the price of the top 100 ebooks. In a comment on that post, author Anthea Lawson said one of the reasons for the big increase in cheap ebooks in the top 100 could be sites like BookBub. I had never heard of BookBub, so I went […]
A review of Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian
Blood Meridian is set in North America in the 1850’s. Most of the action takes place in Mexico. The book follows a 19 year-old boy who after a few misadventures, joins a band of men lead by the real life John Glanton, an ex-Texas Ranger. They head to Mexico to hunt down marauding Apache […]