Speculative Fiction – Page 23

The Devil Wears Shapeless Ugly Garments Covered in Dog Hair released

My latest flash fiction piece, The Devil Wears Shapeless Ugly Garments Covered in Dog Hair, was released on the Antipodean SF website overnight. Many thanks to a nameless work colleague (you know who you are) for the title, from which the story flowed.

This is the sixth flash fiction piece that Nuke (the editor) has published at Antipodean SF (see my bibliography for links to the rest), and once again I’d like to express my gratitude for all his support. I haven’t found a writing group and have limited contact with other writers (although the one or two that I do speak with are very generous with their time) – it is a good feeling to know there is at least one other person who gets some enjoyment out of my work!

The Devil Wears Shapeless Ugly Garments Covered in Dog Hair story was inspired by the sometimes brutal world of performance reviews in the public sector. I hope you enjoy.

A Confusion of Princes by Garth Nix – review

I have several Garth Nix books loaded onto my Kindle. Indeed, when I made a solemn vow to myself to read more Australian speculative fiction a couple of years ago, Garth Nix was one of the first names I came across. But somehow I never seemed to get around to actually reading any of Nix’s work. Not his fault, his books have just been the victim of my dreaded “to be read” list.

I also don’t read much young adult work. Mainly because I’m not young and have limited reading time – I prefer work that has been targeted at my demographic.

So A Confusion of Princes, being a young adult work by Garth Nix, would seem to have almost no chance of me actually reading it. Yet for some reason I found myself selecting it from my Kindle and plunging in.

The protagonist, Khemri, is a Prince of the Empire, gifted with superior technology (mektek), biology (bitek) and psychic ability (psitek). Raised in seclusion and guided to have a strong sense of his own importance, he is suddenly thrust out into the universe at large where he finds that his fellow Princes (all 10 million of them) aren’t the nice, honourable guys and gals his training has led him to believe. Many of them wish him dead, and aren’t above helping the process along a little.

This is a very readable book, I polished it off in only a few days. The universe sketched out is fascinating, with its Princes and (non-religious) Priests playing out politics on a galactic scale. But I chose the word “sketched” very deliberately, I would have loved to see the culture and operation of the universe expanded a bit more before Khemri begins his separation from it. Indeed, in many ways the story felt a little rushed. We didn’t see much of Khemri actually living the life of a Prince, therefore it didn’t have as much of an impact when he started to question the status quo.

The writing is very good, with a fascinating exploration of where technology might go and how things could be streamed together. I’m always interested in how authors envision that the politics and organisation of a galactic society – it is hard to imagine how you could maintain a cohesive government over such a large physical and societal space.

Khemri as a protagonist was interesting, but I must admit I found his “evolution” to be less convincing because of the speed with which it happened. While often clueless, he was self aware enough to defuse what might have otherwise been some irritating character traits.

The novel came with a short story about Master Haddard, Prince Khemri’s Master of Assassins. I thought it was a good stand alone story that showed a little more of the universe pre-Khemri.

Nix and associates built a prototype online game based around the universe that A Confusion of Princes is set in, but I understand it didn’t go any further. That’s too bad – the universe that Nix has created would suit a gaming vehicle. The prototype game can be found here.

All in all an enjoyable book. Highly recommended for young adult readers. Recommended for adults.

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

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

Madigan Mine by Kirstyn McDermott – review

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

I’m not a big reader of horror, not because of any kind of strong dislike of the genre but I find that horror novels seldom make it to the top of my reading list. Madigan Mine by Kirstyn McDermott makes me think that I’ll have to be more active in trying to find good quality horror – I really enjoyed this book.

I hadn’t read much about the story before picking up the novel, and the reading experience was richer for being surprising. But for those that like at least some plot overview, it tells the tale of Alex, a young man drifting through life who runs into a woman who he had known when they were both kids (the Madigan of the title). They get together and have a very dysfunctional relationship. Madigan attracts a quasi cult following of young goths. After she physically attacks Alex, they break up. Madigan commits suicide.

Then weird stuff starts to happen.

My superficial plot description above does not come close to doing justice to an extremely well put together novel. The writing is superb – visceral and compelling with just enough of an ick factor to highlight when something truly depraved is happening without going overboard. Set in Melbourne, it has a fantastic sense of place with the physical descriptions used very effectively to set mood and underscore the plot.

The characters are richly described and strongly developed over the course of the novel. Alex is particularly well drawn, very passive at the start and the story is an interesting case study in him gaining agency. Madigan is a fascinating character, strong willed and ruthlessly pragmatic in the pursuit of her goals. Her impact on an array of secondary characters highlights her evolving personality as she becomes increasingly self absorbed.

In fact most of the relationships portrayed in the novel are pretty messed up. The supernatural aspects of the book serve to highlight just how badly people can treat each other. There was some very interesting comments on power dynamics in relationships and the destructive effects of codependence. Issues of gender are also explored, with different gender orientations dealt with in a matter of fact manner, which is quite refreshing.

The pacing of the novel is excellent. McDermott plays with time, with very effective use of flashbacks to fill in the history of Madigan and Alex’s relationship. The novel had a “hard to put down” quality, with the story moving along at a fair clip and the mystery of what was happening in the present nicely balanced with the flashbacks showing how Alex got to where he was.

The ending of the novel is very strong, although difficult to talk about without giving important plot points away. It was an excellent way to leave the story, reminding me a little of a movie I recall from the late 90s (which I won’t name for fear of giving anything away!).

Madigan Mine was highly commended when released, winning the 2010 Aurealis Award for Best Horror Novel as well as the Victorian 2011 Chronos Award for Best Long Fiction. I can certainly understand why.

Highly recommended.

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

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

Striking Twice on Beam Me Up radio show/podcast

One of my flash fiction pieces, Striking Twice, has appeared in this week’s edition of the Beam Me Up radio show/podcast (episode 325). Paul Cole, the host of the show, did a great job of reading out the story. It starts at around the 23 minute and 19 second mark in the podcast.

Striking Twice was originally published in issue 168 of Antipodean SF.

Details of all my flash fiction pieces, including links to where they are published, can be found on my bibliography page.

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.

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

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:

Where is my jetpack?
The stories on Antipodean SF are archived after 1 month – I keep an up to date list of links on the bibliography page.
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