Speculative fiction awards
Hi all, Do readers of speculative fiction care about the many awards that are given to speculative fiction books every year? When they hear a book has won a Ditmar or Nebula award do they rush out and buy it? Does Hugo or Aurealis award winner on the cover of a book make the casual […]
Science Fiction Terminology
Hi all, While critiquing a story I noticed the author use both nanite and nanobot which to me are the same thing: a nano sized machine. I personally prefer nanobot. It got me thinking about other science-fiction terminology for the same thing, so which do you prefer: NaniteNanobotNano-machine And which do you prefer from the […]
Books on writing
I mentioned “The Writer’s Journey” by Christopher Vogel in my last post so I thought I might mention a few books I have found useful for my writing. The Writer’s Journey is the script writer’s version of Vogel’s The Heroes’ Journey. It details the structure many film scripts and novels follow. Most open in the […]
Review of Year’s Best Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy
Hi all, The Year’s Best Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy, Third Annual Volume, Edited by Bill Congreve and Michelle Marquardt was a bit of a disappointment. I couldn’t help thinking at the end: so this is the best that Australia had to offer in 2006. I must admit I have not been reading a lot […]
apocalypse all the time
Hi all, I have been reading The World Without Us by Alan Weisman. It’s a non-fiction book which asks the question: what would happen to planet Earth if humanity suddenly disappeared? I am about halfway through and each chapter of the book begins by explaining how humans have affected some part of the natural environment […]
The 2020 Summit and books
Hi all, The “Creative Nation” group at the 2020 summit seemed dominated by film, with nothing said about the Australian book or fiction writing market. I suppose the ailing film industry needs all the help it can get, but perhaps if they made more genre films, like science fiction, it would be more successful. Big […]
Are blogs a waste of creative time?
Hi all, What else would a writer be doing on a Friday night than ensuring he had written his blog entry for the week. I read an article in the Age today about blogging. It reckons that the best blogs are updated every day. Who the hell has the time to do that? And who […]
Male monkeys prefer boys’ toys
Hi all, I found this article in the Newscientist newsletter I receive. I cut and pasted it because I am pretty sure you have to signup to their site before they will let you read it. Male monkeys prefer boys’ toys * 17:28 04 April 2008 * NewScientist.com news service * Ewen Callaway It’s thought […]
ahhhhhhh there’s too much info in the world.
Help me. I’m going nuts trying to keep up with everything that’s going on in the world. I need at least a dozen more of me or a fascist brain organiser that ruthlessly splits potential input into useful or not. But I’m so scared I will miss the one vital bit of info that will […]
what’s happening
Hi all, Well let’s get the important stuff out of the way first. The catscan of my father’s brain revealed some broken small blood vessels which indicate he has suffered a series of small strokes, hence his current lousy memory and difficultly in putting words together when speaking. He called a bag a book the […]