Read As Much As You Can.

I know I've briefly mentioned Paul Haines before, but I've now read both of his books and I cannot recommend them enough. I picked up Slice of Life late last year but it took me while to get around to it - not for any reason except I have a lot of books I need to get around to. Which reminds me. The next two books I read will have to be texts I teach, not books of my own choosing - Year of Wonders and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. After that, of course, I'll be back into the stack next to my bed.

Slice of Life was wonderful. I loved almost everything about it. There was only one story in there that didn't 'click' with me, and funnily enough a friend of mine picked the same story as the only flat spot. But overall it was an absolute joy to read through so I hunted out Paul's earlier book, Doorways for the Dispossessed.

A few stories appeared in both books, but I could live with that - they tended to be the better stories so I happy to re-read them anyway. The selection of stories didn't feel as unified and their ordering didn't seem to flow as well. (I presume he had a smaller body of work from which to choose) There were a number of typos throughout the book - but fortunately that didn't distract too much. It's also obvious his writing isn't as developed as in the later stories, but it was still a great read. Both are recommended!

Another book I picked up was another collection by a local author. I'd read good things about this book, it had some great endorsements on the back by a couple of authors I know personally and a couple of others I've read, and it's on a local imprint that I respect. Unfortunately, it seemed like the book contained every single word he'd ever written. I enjoyed a number of the stories, but too many of them relied on poor puns and jokes that were nowhere near as funny as the writer thought they were. The book should have been around half its size, and then we'd have had a book I'd be recommending.

Why don't I mention it by name?  Because the guy is a good writer and I liked enough of it that I don't want to put people off. I know writing styles often come down to a matter of taste and preference, and I recognise that this book is one that has merit and while I was disappointed in aspects of it, others might love the parts I didn't.

And because I'm only starting out in this field and I don't want to 'dis' local writers, editors and publishers.

Number Two Down - And Plenty More To Come.

So the weekend was spent in the city in fellowship with others of a like mind. Well done and congratulations to the organisers, volunteers and chairs.

It was great to either meet for the first time or catch up with Felicity Dowker (various short stories) Narrelle M. Harris (The Opposite of Life ), Paul Haines (A Slice of Life), Christian Tamblyn (Dragon of the Second Moon) and many, many others.


Cat Sparks was there too, and I was able to spend a lot of time talking to her. She was even lovelier in person than I had expected her to be and she offered me lots of fantastic advice on writing. I can't speak for other genres, but in speculative fiction it's wonderful that writers of all abilities and levels of success celebrate, share and support each other. Speaking of which, congratulations to Cat on finding an agent and the impending publication of your collected short stories.

My friend came along with me, solely as a result of conversations we had shortly after Continuum 5. This was his first con, and on the way he confessed some misgivings. He was concerned that he was there under false pretences, as he's more of a 'horror' fan than a 'Sci-Fi' fan. How did he cope? Well, he's gone and signed up for both Continuum 7 and Worldcon (Aussiecon 4) - which is great news for me as I've just saved some money on booking hotel accomodations by sharing with him.

And then to top it all off, I came home to some great writing news.  Nothing I can share yet, but something that's re-energised me and my words just when I needed it.

So, I'll see you at Aussiecon, right?

So Many Books, So Little Time.

Although I read continuously, even by my standards I seem to have raced through quite a few books over the past few weeks. And, I must say I'm very happy to report, some of the books I've enjoyed most have been Australian.

The Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild has quietly produced a number of quality anthologies over the past few years. I picked up a couple at Continuum 5 earlier this year, and have generally enjoyed the stories. Nor of Human had some moments, although the quality of story and writing varied greatly. Machinations, edited by Chris Andrews, however, was much stronger as a collection. I'm looking forward to reading the others.

I was fortunate enough to meet Narrelle M. Harris earlier this year. She was on a couple of panels at Continuum 5, where she was articulate and very funny. And now I'm able to report her writing suitably reflects this witty personality. The Opposite of Life is an entertaining vampire story set in Melbourne, my hometown.  Despite guessing the ending twist about a third of the way through, I thoroughly enjoyed the tale.  Very, very funny at times (Vampires who have never learned to drive twiddling their thumbs while seated on a tram as they chase someone across the city ) and an entertaining story to boot. Do I get bonus marks for recognising Stalactites? Also recommended.

And by the way, Narrelle - for later editions, the nightclubs are in the west end of Melbourne, not the east. I guess the editor missed that one.

I finished reading Writers of the Future Vol. 25, which means I've now read every winning story except for one. (The Two Tzaddicks by Ira Herman was not included in Vol. 1 as it had previously been published elsewhere) Vol. 25 had some excellent stories, although I didn't feel the standard was quite as high as it has been recently. Make sure you check out Garden of Tiang Zi by Emery Huang, After The Final Sunset, Again by Jordan Lapp and Risqueman by Mike Wood.

At the same time I'm still drifting in and out of Pulp Fiction: The Dames, an omnibus of 1930s detective and gangster stories.  An interesting read of a popular genre from another era. Between other books I'll pick this up for a few stories. Lots of fun to read, and some great dialogue that has since become cliched.

The cream of the crop, however, is Worldshaker by Richard Harland. An alternate history with elements of steampunk woven throughout. What a stunning and clever book! I was at a book launch for this novel a few months ago, and was thoroughly impressed by Richard's energetic reading, as well as his exuberance at having the book released. Last week I finally got around to reading it, and couldn't put it down. I laughed out loud in parts - especially the chapter when Col attends school for the first time. But the richness of the world and the depths of ideas ensnared me.  I've heard there are plans for another book in the 'series'.  I sure hope so. And the great news is that Worldshaker has sold to the US and the UK.  Congratulations, Richard. VERY highly recommended.

Oh, and just another quick one.  I've only read the first story from this dark collection (and that one seemed even darker because it's set around the train line and suburbs I live in), but it needs to be publicised.  Australian author Paul Haines' collection, A Slice Of Life.  The entire cover price goes towards Paul's fight against cancer.  Worthy cause indeed.

So if you haven't read any of these books, what's stopping you?  Read!