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!

Still Waiting For The Phone Call.

I never did get the rewrite of my current story completed in time. I had a couple of days to go before the end of the quarter for Writers of the Future and decided the story was too good to rush.

There are some unusual ideas in there, and I had another idea that I wanted to work through the story.  I felt that if I waited and spent my time writing and polishing the story, I'd end up with a better piece.  And so I dug up an older story and sent that off instead. A few reprints ended up in the waste paper bin as I made a couple of minor changes, but after some re-reading I deleted those alterations. In the end I simply added one sentence.

I don't anticipate a win from the story I submitted, but then again you never know.  I recall Jordan Lapp thought that of his last entry and it went on to win the quarter. Writers are often the worst judges of their own work. This is a story I quite like, although I've had mixed comments from others. Who knows though, this could be the unexpected one that finally connects with the judge.

Third quarter results have started appearing on the WOTF site, and I know for a fact a couple of finalists have had emails and phone calls. Either Joni has lost my number or has been too busy to call me. Surely my last entry was worthy of at least a semi-finalist?

Seriously, I don't like my chances for this quarter. I figure if I haven't heard by this stage, I haven't won. Now I'm simply hoping for another Honourable Mention. The last group of these should be posted by the end of this week. I know there's nothing shameful about a HM (in fact, it's a positive), but it's not what I'm aiming for either.

So that'll be another story to send out to the mags. And then it's back to my desk to finish off my Q1 story in time for the end of December. Now that one will win.

Future Writer Of The Future?

I'd hoped to have completed another draft of my current story by now but I didn't get as much writing done as I'd planned over the past two days. The end of the month is marching towards us now, which means the deadline for the fourth quarter of the Writers of the Future competition is looming. I have some serious work ahead of me over the next ten days to lash this beast into a better story.

With a week to go before the Q2 deadline I had serious misgivngs about that story, so I spent a couple of days working on it and mailed it with only a day or so to go.  That story received an Honourable Mention and a certificate.  At the moment, the third quarter stories are still at the judging level. WOTF recently had huge celebrations for their 25th Anniversary, and so things have been delayed slightly.  Hopefully we'll start to hear some results soon. And if you haven't been over to the WOTF site and checked out the video footage of the award ceremonies, have a look.  I really enjoyed it.

I should also once again congratulate Emery Huang and Jordan Lapp, two winners from the 25th volume.  I know there were other winners but I almost feel as if I know these two guys a little as they've both been regulars over at the WOTF forums.  I've encountered ("met" and "know" seem like strange words to use for forum-world) both over there and they seem like good guys. I really look forward to reading their stories. Emery also walked off with the grand prize, and from all accounts deservedly so.

I've ordered Volume 25 and it should be on its way to me by now.  The timing is just about perfect.  I'm halfway through Volume 24 and will finish it in the next day or so. In the past year I've read all the volumes, in order, and it's been interesting to see the growth of the competition. The quality of entries and winners has improved and from time to time I found stories that showed now established writers at their beginnings. Perhaps in a few years Emery and Jordan will have work in bookstores, and I'll be able to say "I encountered them way back when." So far, there's only one winning story that I haven't yet read.  I believe back in Volume 1 the rules weren't as clear as they are now, and one winner's story had previously been published elsewhere.  I'll have to dig that one up.

In the meantime I'll just keep plugging away, honing my skills, improving my writing, submitting to magazines and entering the competition.