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.

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.

Fangs A Lot...

Yesterday I spent the day at Vampirefest 2010, the mini-convention run by the Melbourne Science Fiction Club. There were lots of friends and acquaintances, and plenty of vendors too (and yes, I bought a few bits and pieces). I also chatted with a few people I've seen at different conventions but never actually been introduced to before, and was fortunate enough to meet some new people as well.

I saw Trudi Canavan and Lucy Sussex, and met Edwina Harvey, Jason Nahrung and Kirstyn McDermott for the first time. All of them delightful, of course.  I'm sure they do exist, but I've yet to meet a writer in the speculative fiction genre that isn't friendly, encouraging, and happy to chat.

Jason and Kirstyn both made presentations, Star Wars and Star Trek clubs had to be kept apart by the Dr. Who fan club armed only with a blow-up Dalek.  The Browncoats set up at the back of the room, and a stormtrooper arrived and kept everyone in check. And we got to talk about Vampires!

A splendid time was held by all.  And I can't wait for Aussiecon in September.

We're Still Waiting...

Surprise, surprise.

Give Harrison Ford an award for stating the bleeding obvious.

I read an article today where Harrison stated that he still loved acting, but the reason he hasn't done much movie-wise in the past decade is because Hollywood is "bereft" of ideas.

(A great word, bereft.  I first learned it in high school when I wrote a short story - the only one my teacher ever liked - and I tried using literary reference and a simile in the opening paragraph. I described stems of wheat as ranks of soldiers stripped of their stripes, and my teacher crossed out stripped and wrote "bereft".)

Anyway, I don't know whether this is something new Mr. Ford has stumbled upon, or whether he's just finally worked up the nerve to announce it, but my friends and I have been saying this for a very long time. The movies I've enjoyed the most over the past few years have been the lower budget, almost indie movies. The Hollywood blockbuster with the predictable "awwwww" ending, or the really unfunny comedy, or the unfunny because it's crass comedy, or the Sci-Fi that relies on special effects and CGI, or the action film that counts deaths or explosions as a number per minute, or the screen adaptation of cartoon/childhood favourite sitcom/old franchise remake, or anything with Will Ferrell/Nick Cage/Steve Carrell/Nicole Kidman just don't do it for me. (Nick just can't act, Nic just can't emote anymore - and Steve and Will are definitely unfunny!)

Speaking of which, I went to see Avatar. Talk about a hyped over-rated film. It's OK - just OK.  I enjoyed it for what it was, but it was very lightweight, Sure, I saw it in 3D, and was blown away by the beauty of the images and it's 3Dness, but if I'd seen it in 2D I'd have been real disappointed. The Lion King meets Dances with Wolves. Sigourney Weaver's character starts as a hard-ass caricature (demanding cigarettes etc) that softens real quick without any real reason, the military guy is like every comic book soldier you've ever seen, the science guys are every nerd's nightmare, and the company man is the bean-counter from every film made.

The next day I went to see Up in the Air.  And it was a much better film.  And just when I thought it was heading for the predictable Hollywood ending, it didn't.  Thanks.

So I'm still waiting for some decent Sci-Fi. My friend agreed with me, but said he'll continue to support these films because hopefully it'll lead to an increase in Sci-Fi films.

Or are we sending the wrong message and telling them these thin SF films are acceptable. For my money, Moon is the best SF film I've seen in the past few years.

We Don't All Wear Funny Costumes, You Know.

About 6 months ago I discovered the Melbourne Science Fiction Club. One Saturday I headed down to an MSFC mini-convention that I'd read about online. I had an absolutely marvelous time and joined up on the spot.  Since then I've attended a few meetings, gotten to know a few people and learned a bit about 'our' history.

Last Friday was special, an evening I won't forget in a hurry. Murray, our extremely capable President, did a fantastic job of installing Helena and Jocko as Life Members. Not only was it fascinating to hear their stories of how they became involved in the club, it was great to hear the tale of how the club started. The second longest running SF club in the world, MSFC has been running since 1952. (The longest running is in L.A. - started in the 1930s) On hand for Friday's presentation were most of the serving Life Members, including some of the founders.  And besides learning about some of the crazy things that have occurred over the years (a teddy bear shaped hole in a window, indeed!) I was able to meet some very cool people, including Ditmar. I've already cleared the spot above my desk where the award that's named after him will one day sit.

In the past few months I've had a few moments of disillusionment with certain aspects of SF publishing, about my writing and with parts of fandom. But along with Continuum 5, the MSFC has restored my faith in the future of SF. Thanks guys, and thanks especially to those who decided in 1952 that their regular social gathering needed some formalisation.

Making Minimal Contact.

A few years ago, I bought The Bitterbynde Trilogy by Cecilia Dart Thornton.  With every intention of reading them soon thereafter, they were placed in the metaphorical stack of books next to my not-so-metaphorical bed.  For a number of reasons, none of which seem particularly clear at the moment, I've never gotten around to reading these three books, The Ill-Made Mute, The Lady of the Sorrows and The Battle of Evernight. (OK, so the last one sounds like it should be a Led Zeppelin song....)

On Friday night, I wandered down to the Melbourne Science Fiction Club where Cecilia was the guest speaker for the evening. After catching up with a few familiar faces, I settled down to listen to the amazing tale of how she became a full-time writer. None of this is secret or new as it's easily found online, but it's incredible hearing the tale direct from the source. Basically she wrote the three novels for herself, stuck them in a drawer for a couple of years before finally putting a sample chapter online with a crit group.  Within a short time an editor had contacted her, she had an agent and a U.S. publisher paid her a six-figure advance for her books. It's always good to see a local do well, and while I realise her story and success is the exception rather than the rule, it is encouraging and inspiring.

Cecilia was completely lovely and charming. She answered our questions patiently (I'm sure she's heard all of them before), laughed at our lame jokes and smiled and nodded politely as the conversation diverted wildly off-topic. I learned a great deal from her professionalism and her attitude. I truly believe it's important for a writer to present well and to always behave professionally. Earlier this year I attended a publishing seminar where I was left completely unimpressed by several of the presented authors.  They weren't particularly articulate, didn't seem to have much to say and were generally repetitive and used extremely well worn cliches. Two of them arrived dressed as though they'd just spent the day working on the car. And this was for a large gathering of teachers at the offices of a major publisher that was trying to convince us to buy these books for our schools.

An author as successful as Cecilia doesn't have to guest at a small SF group like ours, but in the SF and F world this is what authors do.  They all seem to be fanboys and fangirls deep down, and they can recall when they would read this stuff and wonder. They used to be like us (and still are at heart!). Cecilia even talked about the fan letter she once sent to Tanith Lee. 

I've never sent anyone a fan letter, but I've often wondered exactly what some of my 'heroes' would be like in real life.  Over the years I've been fortunate enough to have met a few names, but there are some I can only wish I could have met. It's too late now to meet people like Asimov, or PKD (I still marvel at hearing a PKD story firsthand from Chelsea Quinn Yarbro) or George Harrison, although there are still a few people in the literature and music world I would seriously love to meet.  Robert Silverberg is high on my list, as are Andy Partridge and Terry Scott Taylor. And from what I hear Tim Powers has a few PKD anecdotes up his sleeve. I need to win WOTF so I can attend one of his workshops, so I'll just keep writing and submitting. And I'll keep reading in wonder. 

Oh, and I've just dug out the Bitterbynde trilogy and pushed it to the top of that metaphorical stack. I'll get into The Ill-Made Mute as soon as I finish my current WOTF volume.