The Past Future of Publishing.
When most writers think about the future of publishing they think about a world where the ease of e-publishing leads to the market being flooded by millions of wannabe authors. How is a new author going to get noticed in amongst all those books? But what if the 2050 bestseller list looks something like this: […]
A review of the Russian novel – Roadside Picnic.
Roadside Picnic, by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, has one of the most interesting and original premises I have read. Aliens land at several locations on Earth. They have no interest whatsoever in humanity and use alien barriers to ensure they are not bothered by humans. The aliens only stay for a short time and after […]
Speculative fiction I have been watching.
If much of the time you are too tired to read or write science fiction, like me, the next best thing is watching it, or some good speculative fiction. Fortunately I have Foxtel and an ipad, because if I had to rely on commercial television for my science fiction fix I would be one unhappy […]
A Dishonest Life?
I was listening to Radio National yesterday, and the memoir A Fortunate Life by AB Facey was mentioned. Those who watch First Tuesday Book Club would have seen A Fortunate Life come in at number three on their Ten Aussie Books to Read Before You Die list. If I remember correctly they said it was not […]
Confessions of a Tired (Aspirational) Writer.
As per usual, life has interfered in a major way with my writing so far this year. I went on holidays for ten days, I have had problems with my broadband, I have had problems with Divine, and a medicine I rely on went out of stock which made me even more tired than usual. […]
Reinhardt’s amazeballs ewebumsuckers
The genesis of this post comes from a typo and suspected typo. I will start with the suspected typo. Last week I read a press release announcing the BBC was remaking Blake’s Seven. The press release says: “Joe Pokaski and Martin Campbell have worked tirelessly with the Georgeville TV team to create an amazeballs reboot […]
New Yorker Magazine Rejects Itself.
The New Yorker Rejects a Story it had Already Published. I recently read a very funny article where writer David Cameron “grabbed a New Yorker story off the web, copied it into a Word document, changed only the title, created a fictitious author identity, and submitted it to a slew of literary journals”. His letter […]
Science fiction should be mandatory in schools.
I just read an article where an American politician, Ray Canterbury, wants to make reading science fiction mandatory in schools. My first response was how the hell did he ever get elected as a republican: aren’t they all creationialists and global warming deniers? My second response was what a great idea. Reading science fiction […]
Review of Chris Pavey’s Running Against Time
Why do runners always look like they are suffering so much pain? According to Chris Pavey’s book, Running Against Time, it is probably because they are injured, full of self-doubt, or in desperate need of a toilet break. Why do they put themselves through so much pain and self-doubt? Are they slightly mad and more […]
Marathon Stories.
Marathon Stories. Three Encounters with the Physical by Graeme Simsion came second in the recent Age Short Story Awards. The story is about a disastrous attempt at a first marathon and had a bit more resonance with me because last year I helped edit Chris Pavey’s Running Against Time, a book about Chris’ conversion […]