Year: 2012

Flash Fiction Appearing on Beam Me Up Podcast/Radio Show

Hot on the heels of one of my flash fiction pieces being read out on the US based Beam Me Up podcast/radio show (see previous post), I’m pleased to say that the host of the show (Paul Cole) is going to feature some of my back catalogue of flash fiction pieces over the coming months.

The Beam Me Up podcast mixes science news with science fiction stories. I often look for story inspiration in what is going on currently in the scientific community – Beam Me Up is one of my sources of regular news.

As well as news, the Beam Me Up podcast also features a steady stream of speculative fiction. I particularly look forward to hearing some of the serial stories (The Dark Inspector series comes to mind) each month.

My full list of published stories (all flash fiction) with details of where to find them can be found on my bibliography page.

The Devil Wears Shapeless Ugly Garments Covered in Dog Hair accepted for publication

I think that might have the record for my longest ever post title.

Ion Newcombe, the editor at Antipodean SF, has accepted one of my flash fiction pieces for publication. The Devil Wears Shapeless Ugly Garments Covered In Dog Hair is currently scheduled for issue 171 of Antipodean SF, published in September 2012. I’ll also record a reading for the radio show/podcast, which will be broadcast some time in September.

I know Nuke is always looking for new material for the Antipodean SF website, so if you fancy trying your hand at a short piece of speculative flash fiction you should check out the Antipodean SF submissions page.

Story narrated on Beam Me Up podcast/radio

One of my earlier flash fiction pieces, Shipwrecked – originally published on the Antipodean SF online publication, was selected by Paul Cole for inclusion in his weekly US based radio show/podcast, Beam Me Up. Shipwrecked is included in episode 323 and can be found towards the end of the podcast (it closes out the show – the story kicks in just before the 53 minute mark).

It was great to hear that one of my stories had some appeal to a US market, and Paul was very generous with his time in recording the story (soundtrack and all!).

For those that are interested, the original text for Shipwrecked is linked to from my bibliography page.

 

Reign of Beasts by Tansy Rayner Roberts – review

This review forms part of my contribution to the Australian Women Writers 2012 Reading Challenge. All my AWWC reviews can be found here.

Reign of Beasts by Tansy Rayner Roberts is the final book in her Creature Court trilogy. I’ve reviewed the previous two books elsewhere on this site (here for Power and Majesty and here for The Shattered City). To be honest I’ve been putting off this review for a bit – not because I didn’t enjoy the book (I did) but mainly because I’m finding it hard to come up with anything fresh to say about the third book in a trilogy.

Once again, I won’t give much of a plot synopsis for fear of spoiling this or the earlier books. From the Goodreads description – “The Creature Court are at war with each other. Three kings fight bitterly for power and dominance over Aufleur and the streets run red with blood.”

That about sums it up.

Reign of Beasts seemed more plot driven than character driven. There wasn’t as much sense of the characters developing or evolving as in the previous books, more reacting to circumstances in order to bring the overarching story to a conclusion. The conclusion itself was satisfying, with most of the questions raised throughout the series answered.

The one exception to the lack of character development was the threading of Poet’s back story throughout the book. These sections were very effective, even though the reader has seen how Poet turns out, his journey was very interesting and fleshed out some of the history of the Creature Court itself.

The previous books focused on the one city – Aufleur, with very little exploration of the world outside the city. Reign of Beasts has an expanded sense of place, with the city of Bazeppe featuring much more strongly. This broader landscape strengthened the story, providing a heightened sense of urgency as the consequences of failure increased.

The writing is very tight, with a good balance of drama and humour. The dialogue was particularly effective – the interplay between some of the minor characters was very entertaining. In fact, the minor characters somewhat stole the show generally, I found myself much more invested in them than some of the more major characters.

This book has lots of raunch. I mean lots. But then, if you didn’t like a bit of raunch in your reading diet I suspect you wouldn’t have got this far through the trilogy. So what are you complaining about?

I thought so.

Overall I found this a very satisfying end to the trilogy. Highly recommended.

I also reviewed this book on Goodreads. View all my reviews.

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In the Service of the Public – now available

Apologies for the slow blogging week – I’ve been moving house and it has caused havoc with my writing schedule.

I’m pleased to announce that Antipodean SF has published one of my short stories – In the Service of the Public in issue 169 (July 2012). This story was inspired by one of the courses I went on last year to learn how to be a better public servant (unfortunately my course didn’t have quite as exciting a finish).

If you’re reading this post in the future:

  1. Where is my jetpack?
  2. The stories on Antipodean SF are archived after 1 month – I keep an up to date list of links on the bibliography page.
  3. No seriously. Give me my jetpack.

Antipodean SF is always looking for new stories and Nuke is great to work with. If you are a budding writer and want to try your hand at flash fiction (about 500 words – it’s harder than it sounds) then I’d really encourage you to go to the Antipodean SF website and check out their submission guidelines.

 

Antipodean SF Radio Show – Episode 168

The Antipodean SF radio show episode 168 is now available for download, either through iTunes or from the website.

My story, Striking Twice, kicks in at about the 24 minute 30 second mark.

Antipodean SF is always looking for more stories. If you are writing in the speculative fiction genre and feel like giving flash fiction (500 words) a go, you should visit the Antipodean SF website and look at their submission guidelines page.

Enjoy!

-m

Analog – May 2012

Analog Science Fiction and Fact for May 2012.

May’s edition of Analog contained Part IV of Triggers by Robert J. Sawyer. Triggers worked on the premise that a small group of people, including the President of the United States, were caught in an accident where their memories were accidentally linked in a chain (Person A could access Person B’s memories, Person B could access Person C’s memories etc).

The story had an interesting premise, with several sub-plots to assist in holding the readers attentions (who shot the President? Would one of the characters escape an abusive relationship? etc). I enjoyed the writing and was following along with the story to the point where I was anticipating each instalment. However, I’ve got the say that part IV took the whole plot sideways. I didn’t really feel that the ending in any way fit with the setup of the story. So, excellent writing but a disappointing ending.

But It Won’t Set You Free by Tracy Canfield was a fun story where human’s are the “aliens” secretly running tests on a sentient species (including an unfortunate anatomical mixup that results in an anal probe situation).

Also in this issue:

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This work by Mark Webb is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Australia License.

The Shattered City by Tansy Rayner Roberts – review

This review forms part of my contribution to the Australian Women Writers 2012 Reading Challenge. All my AWWC reviews can be found here.

The Shattered City by Tansy Rayner Roberts is book two of the Creature Court trilogy. I reviewed book one (Power and Majesty) a few months ago.

The Shattered City picks up where Power and Majesty leaves off. I’m finding that it is a bit hard to give any kind of plot synopsis of book two of a trilogy without giving away information about book one. Suffice to say that the main character Velody has to navigate the complicated politics of the Creature Court and find out more about the enemy they are fighting against.

The first half of the book builds the tension about the as-yet-unseen enemy, demonstrating an intelligence behind the seemingly directionless attacks from the sky. Interestingly the last part of the book doesn’t really focus on the external enemy at all, bringing the focus back to the internal machinations of the Creature Court. In many fantasy trilogies, tension is built by increasing the scale of the world visible to the reader (thereby raising the stakes). The Shattered City doesn’t do this, rather it keeps the focus on a single city and builds tension through the personal interactions of the characters. It is an interesting technique.

It could be that my recollection of the first book has dimmed slightly over the months, but The Shattered City seems to have a fair bit more raunchy behaviour in it. It seems like well executed raunchy behaviour descriptive text to me, so if you like your novels steamy that aspect may appeal.

The book focuses on a wider array of characters and gives them more depth, particularly Velody’s companions Delphine and Rhian. This helps to give the series a more complete feeling, and I enjoyed getting to know more characters in more detail.

As a consequence of this, there is a lot more point of view swapping in this novel. It is handled well, I never felt confused about whose eyes I was seeing the story through which is impressive considering how often perspective is switched.

There was a lot less focus on the day jobs of the main characters (dress making etc), which kept the focus on the supernatural elements of the story and effectively highlighted the characters drifting away from the “real” world. Where professions were referenced, it usually had the effect of grounding the characters amidst the fantastic.

Like other work by Ms Roberts, the writing is very strong with vivid descriptions and fast, punchy dialogue.

Overall this is a strong work and upon finishing it, when my Kindle automatically brought up a screen giving me an option to buy and download the third novel of the trilogy, I pressed the button without any hesitation (I worry about what that particular feature of the Kindle is going to do to my to-be-read pile). Highly recommended.

I also reviewed this book on Goodreads. View all my reviews.

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This work by Mark Webb is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Australia License.

Damnation and Dames edited by Liz Grzyb and Amanda Pillar – review

Damnation and Dames (published by Ticonderoga Press) is a collection of noir style stories with supernatural themes, edited by Liz Grzyb and Amanda Pillar.

This was a very enjoyable anthology, with a lot of great stories that have been very nicely put together. All the stories stayed on theme, but there was enough variation to keep the collection interesting with some very unusual takes on the paranormal noir genre.

As is my habit with large collections I haven’t commented on every story individually (review would go for too long). There weren’t any stories I didn’t enjoy though, so where I haven’t commented it is mainly because I don’t have anything interesting to say, rather than there being a problem with the story itself.

The collection opens with  Blind Pig by Jay Caselberg, a good short story to set the scene for the rest of the book. Vampires, a private detective and a bit of old fashioned gum shoeing to solve a mystery.

I enjoyed Sound and Fury by Pete Kempshall, which included a bit of voodoo magic in a early 20th century setting. The ending was good and unexpected enough to be entertaining.

Burning, Always Burning by Alan Baxter and Felicity Dowker is a well written piece, with another unexpected ending. The prose was very evocative and the story satisfying. Mr Baxter was up for Best New Talent in the recent Ditmar awards and Ms Dowker has a new collection out called Bread and Circuses, which I’m looking forward to reading.

The Black Star Killer by Nicole Murphy is a story set in the world of the gadda, which I believe have formed the basis for some of Ms Murphy’s novels. The story was enjoyable and I suspect those that have read Ms Murphy’s other work would get something extra out of the story.

Silver Comes the Night by M.L.D. Curelas set up an interesting world. The story was good – very satisfying – and I got the sense that there had been a fair bit of background world building behind the story.

Sangue Della Notte by Donna Maree Hanson was another story that hinted at a much larger world. It was entertaining, but read almost as an introduction or prologue rather than a self contained piece.  I haven’t done enough research to see whether Ms Hanson has written more in this setting.

The Awakened Adventure of Rick Candle by Joseph L. Kellogg had a very original premise, of fictional characters accidentally brought to life, their “completeness” dictated by the quality of the writing and the amount of background given in their books. Very enjoyable story with a great ending.

Three Questions and One Troll by Chris Bauer moves more into the world of Fae, which was a bit of a change of pace from some of the other stories. I enjoyed the writing voice in this story.

Prohibition Blues by Lisa L. Hannett and Angela Slatter was another story focusing on the Fae. This was well written and felt like an anchoring story for the collection. The story had a great sense of place and invoked strong imagery. I particularly liked the way the characters were drawn in this story.

Ms Hannett was recently very successful at the Aurealis Awards for her collection Bluegrass Symphony as well as her short fiction, and that talent is evident in this story.

Also included in the collection were:

I also reviewed this book on Goodreads. View all my reviews.

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Continuum 8 – Wrap Up

So, it’s been a few days since I got back from Continuum 8 and I thought it was about time I wrote a “wrap up” post (now that everything has had a chance to sink in).

Those that have been following along with my day to day posts (day 1, day 2, day 3, day 4 and the awards ceremony) could probably tell that I enjoyed the convention immensely. I was attending more from a writing perspective than a general fan perspective, but the program was varied enough that there was usually always something on that I was interested in. It was also a great time to sit back and think about my own writing, while listening to experienced and knowledgeable people talk about the craft and the industry more generally.

Given the ongoing commentary about gender issues in the publishing industry, I was very interested to see how the gender balance on the panels went. A quick count over the sessions I went to comes to 53 female panel members compared to 21 male panel members, so certainly not male dominated (keep in mind this is just the panels I attended – the effort required for the task of checking the gender balance across the entire convention exceeds my laziness level).

Sydney seems to be quite fallow when it comes to speculative fiction events, but Jason Nahrung did mention GenreCon in Paramatta later in the year. According to Jason this is more of a writers conference than a fan conference. I’ve signed up for it, sounds like it will be very interesting.

I still have a bit of “credibility cringe” when it comes to approaching people at these kinds of events. It reminds me of the early years of my day job – you can’t help but wonder what on earth you could add to a conversation by people that are obviously experienced in their field. So I didn’t avail myself of the social aspects of the convention over the first two days. But even given my natural reticence, I did meet up with a few people that I had interacted with online. Sean Wright (Sean the Bookonaut to his internet fans) and David Golding made excellent dinner companions on Sunday night, and I really enjoyed my conversations with authors Jason Nahrung and Kirstyn McDermott on Monday. There were a few shorter conversations with some people who seemed quite cool and it would have been interesting to speak to for longer – Ian Mond (from The Writer and the Critic), Alex Pierce (from Galactic Suburbia and one of my favourite reviewers) and Russell B. Farr from Ticonderoga Publications to name a few.

My lesson for future conventions would be to explicitly organise to meet up with people I know earlier in the convention. From reading a few other convention round ups, the conversations in the bar seem to be a big part of the appeal. Hopefully next time I’ll know a few more people and I’ll be able to enjoy this part of the convention experience a little more.

I tended to pick which panels I would attend based on the subject matter the panel was covering. Without naming any names, there were panel members that were more prepared and perhaps slightly more thoughtful in their commentary. I think in future conventions I’ll be picking panels based as much on the people on the panels as the subject matter.

Attending the award ceremony was a good part of the experience. Because I’ve been paying a bit more attention to the Australian speculative fiction scene over the last year, I was more aware many of the works on the short lists and had voted accordingly. The atmosphere at the ceremony itself was great and it felt like a bit of a capstone for a lot of the reading and reviewing I’ve been doing lately. I’ll certainly be making sure I participate in the voting process again in future years.

All in all, I am really pleased that I attended Continuum 8. I feel recharged with respect to my own writing, and had quite a few interesting ideas inspired by the environment and the people I interacted with. If you are an aspiring writer in the speculative fiction field, I’d certainly recommend attending the national convention. In 2013 it will be based in Canberra, at the Conflux 9 convention. If you decide to go, make sure you let me know. We’ll organise to meet up on day 1!