Category: Uncategorized
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Arrival: SF (‘Frisco, that is)
Seriously, San Francisco is in good shape. The weather is perfect (I thought I was being optimistic packing t-shirts, but no. Turns out I was being pessimistic packing jeans). The Mexican is superb, especially from Hair of the Dog Cantina. The wander through Columbus Avenue, into City Lights Bookstore & that place that lets you…
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My WFC schedule
On Saturday, 10am, I’ll be chairing this panel at the World Fantasy Convention: Why Steampunk Now? Steampunk is not only hugely popular right now but it is also a bit of an oddity in that it is simultaneously a literary sub-genre, a style of fashion, and a social movement. What interests and cultural concerns is…
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The votes are in
Lots of excellent endings in last week’s poll. Thanks, everyone. I had a blast reading through the nominations. I got to hear the ending to Ulysses (without having to read the book — thanks, Wendy! And great ending, too). I found myself in complete agreement with Stephen Dedman about the excellence of the ending for…
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End of endings
Since we happen to be discussing endings this week (and btw, some awesome endings being nominated over at the tell-me-your-favourite-ending poll — today’s your last chance to enter the competition!), it seems timely that IRoSF has just put up an interview called The Coming Dark, where Angela Slatter nails a few fellow Oz writers to…
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Pick your ending
I’ve been thinking about endings — as I am wont to do — & I thought I’d list a few of my favourites to inspire you to tell me your own favourite ending: * Best ending = LITTLE BIG, by John Crowley: I don’t often describe a book a ‘beautiful’, & that’s because I’m reserving…
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Upside (the head, mostly)
On a day which can only be described as ‘on the cruddier side of cruddy’, I discovered that Dexter Season 4 is even darker than previous seasons. It unnerved me so much that at least one point I had to stop eating my dinner. … Hurrah! I also discovered, in the mail, my custom-made 2010…
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Confluxing
While I think of it, I’ll partly be at Conflux this weekend, but have only signed up for the Mass Book Signing so far (in case anyone wants A Book of Endings signed! I mean, remember: they’re easier to eBay without the signature, right?). Working part-time has limited my financial ability to partake of cons…
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Red wall, drying
Sydney’s cold, wet weather caused some headaches for the recent home improvements at casa deborahb: most notably for the loungeroom, where the final wall of the house refused to dry. Here it is under a fan, as per the instructions of the army of Ukrainian painters: I nickname this photo, ‘Ah-choo‘. The paint peeled off…
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Success & the world
Reading today about how Angelina Jolie is currently the world’s most influential celebrity (& let’s not pause to wonder what she’s influencing, exactly — maybe people really are doing more about refugees now. Or maybe they’re just copying her hairstyle) leads me to wonder: Does the world seem smaller when you have that much power?…
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“For what nation can advance with its tongue torn out?”
Richard Flanagan addresses the Sydney Writers Festival on the importance of protecting the Australian publishing industry against the rhetoric of the ‘parallel importation, cheaper books’ argument.