SF Commentary.

Bruce Gillespie, one of the godfathers of Australian fandom, made me an offer I couldn't refuse.

Bruce has a fantastic track record in the fields of editing, publishing, zines and criticism. He has more award nominations than anyone I know, including three Hugo nominations. (I don't include Mike Resnick in that - I don't 'know' him, I've merely mocked him on forums). He published the fantastic, and ridiculously expensive (on eBay, etc) and difficult-to-find, The Electric Shepherd, founded Norstralia Press, is a life member of the Melbourne Science Fiction Club, is a recipient of the A. Bertram Chandler Award and is an all round good guy.

His long running SF Commentary is a fantastic magazine, and I'm thrilled to have my picture on the front cover of #83.

My good friend, Fenna Hogg (who was my best man at my wedding, but that's another story) took a photo of me and turned that into a brilliantly artistic image.

Bruce saw it and asked if he could use it. As Bruce writes in this issue:

Melbourne graphic artist Fenna Hogg’s cover does not in fact portray Philip K. Dick wearing a scramble suit. That’s what it looks like to me. It is actually based on a photograph of Melbourne writer and teacher Steve Cameron, who arranged with Fenna for its use as a cover.

Cool, huh?

Check out Bruce's range of zines, including SF Commentary and Steam Engine Times here.

A Professional Geek From Melbourne.

In 2011 I contacted the Continuum people and offered to run a panel on my favourite SF writer, Philip K. Dick. I automatically invited Bruce Gillespie (editor of the fabulous The Electric Shepherd) to join me, then sat back to see what happened.

Someone with a strange name was then allocated the panel, then had to withdraw, and then another (with a more 'normal' name) was assigned. I think we may have emailed a little beforehand, but I do recall the night before the panel when David McDonald introduced himself to me. He asked me how the panel was to run, and I briefly explained very little (as it was all PowerPoint based and quite logical in order).

The next day Bruce, David and I ran a very successful and interesting PKD session. Bruce, of course, was wonderful as always. But I owe much of that success to the insights and thoughts of David.  Afterwards we chatted, and it turned out we not only had some same acquaintances in the 'real world, but had similar backgrounds with matching reference points. So I sat in on a Dr. Who panel he'd organised, a wonderfully emotive Sarah Jane tribute, and found that he had a similar approach and attention to quality and detail that I had.

Afterwards, David bought me a coffee, and I impressed him with my...  well, everything.

Over the past year or so, David and I have become firm friends. We've become crit buddies, shared good news and bad, and built a mutual respect for each other's work and approach to writing. We have similar philosophies, morals and ethics.

Oh, and he'll always remind me of the crit session I conducted on Cold Comfort (from Epilogue) at Conflux mere hours before the submission deadline. You see, he was plying me with drinks and one thing led to another... But that's a story for future panels when we are both deservedly recognised for our abilities and writing credentials.

David is an up-and-coming writer whose work deserves attention. He's a great guy, a good friend and a fabulous writer. He was deservedly nominated for the "William Atheling Jr Award for Criticism or Review" (along with Tansy Rayner Roberts and Tehani Wessely) for the “Reviewing New Who” series. And I'm proud to share the Epilogue TOC with him. Check him out here.

And don't believe a word he says about Canberra. What happened at Conflux, stayed at Conflux.

Continuum.

I had an absolutely fantastic weekend at Continuum.

The Philip K. Dick panel ran smoothly and was well received. Both Bruce Gillespie and David McDonald were fantastic - great insights and an obvious appreciation of PKD's work. I really want to thank them for agreeing to be part of this panel. I also need to thank Tessa B. Dick, Phil's wife, for so kindly answering a few questions for me. Don't forget, both her biography of Phil and her own autobiography are available.

The other panels I was on were good fun too. Sure, I was nervous just before they started, but once they were underway I completely relaxed.

It was great catching up with old familiar faces (Gitte Christensen, Earl Livings and Sue Ann Barber to name a few) and meeting new people. Once again I find it thrilling to be able to sit down and converse with people whose work I've bought and read and names I've only heard of. Richard Harland, Jack Dann, Joel Shepherd, George Ivanoff, Narrelle M. Harris -  and that's only naming a few. I must admit I was a little disappointed not to see some of the usual luminaries there, but I guess people have other publishing commitments and being the long weekend means other events are on also.

Despite the range of panels not being as varied as in previous years (C'mon, do we really need another three or four Vampire panels?) it was still an amazing weekend and I had a great time.

Onward and upward.

Time For A History Lesson.

There is currently some fantastic Spec Fic coming out of Australia. And some wonderful small publishers grooming the next crop of writers. But it only just occurred to me that I have very little idea of the tradition of SF writing in this country.

Sure, I know of Damien Broderick writing in the 70s, and the publishing work of people like Bruce Gillespie and Paul Collins, and I've even heard of a guy called George Turner from the 60s.

It's always cool when you receive an email from, or meet an author you've been reading for a while. That's happened to me with all the above (except Turner) and several others. It turns out that I originally met Paul Collins around 25 years ago. An old friend of mine, Steve Dash ( A talented artist indeed. You still around Steve? Still painting?), did the artwork for The Tempting of the Witch King (Russell Blackford) and Ring of Truth (David Lake) and introduced me to Paul when he ran a shop down in St. Kilda. And it's very cool seeing Paul still around and still publishing. Then there was the new breed of writer that came to the fore over the past 25 years. (Lucy Sussex, Sean Williams, Greg Egan, Terry Dowling) I've been lucky enough to meet some of them too - and even to be on first name terms with them. And I've met several of the up and comers.

We've certainly had a long history of fandom here. Melbourne Science Fiction Club is the second longest running SF club in the world.

But what about writers of Australian SF before the 70s. There's only one that I really know of. I went to school with a kid who was the niece, or granddaughter, or something, of Ivan Southall who wrote the Simon Black series. Unfortunately, I only ever read his adventure books. But surely there had to be SF written before that.

It looks like Aurealis Publishing is about to rectify the gaps in my knowledge.  Just in time for Worldcon 68, they are reprinting 'lost' Australian classics, dating from between 1880 and 1930.  A set of six to start with, and then I believe there will be more on the way. This is a series I'm looking forward to reading.

Support your small independent publishers who are helping to keep Spec Fic alive.  Order a set today.

And don't forget to vote for the Ditmars.