Tim Winton: story is the key

One of my colleagues at ABC News Online interviewed Tim Winton yesterday, talking to him about his latest novel Breath and writing in general.

You can read the feature here. I blogged it at Articulate, but I thought it was worth distilling the quote even further here:

"The magic of story overcomes most geographical or political or even age or
gender differences between people."

I know that that resonates with the sf project I'm working on at the moment (was agonising over the setting and nationality of the characters) and I'm sure it resonates with most other writers as well.

The web freaks me sometimes

I'm acting photo editor at work for the next two weeks, so I've been paying more attention than usual to Flickr.

Check out most recent uploads - 4.600-odd in the past minute. All kinds of photos, from arty to family snapshots to just plain weird.

I found this excellent photo of Dan Deacon at the Coachella Festival, blogged it at Articulate and then commented on the photo page. Within minutes, Mick O had posted a comment back at Articulate.

Until I found that photo I'd never heard of Dan Deacon, or the Coachella Festival, and certainly not of Mick O! Now I've got a relationship with Mick O. I mean, obviously it's a very shallow one but it's a seed, and some of these seeds will grow.

I've also recently renewed my acquaintaince with Facebook - for better or for worse. :) Since giving up on it a while back, they've introduced this "People you may know" feature. It's bizarre, seeing all these people you very barely know, you may have met once, or people from your deep, dark past. I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing, but it will definitely change many people's lives, if only in a small way.

These are just a couple of tiny, tiny examples, but I sometimes get the sense that the wired world is on the verge of something.

And as a writer, it all feeds into the subconscious (along with all the juicy tidbits of knowledge I pick up off Wikipedia).

(P.S. This blog post is also a test of Writer, a nifty little web-based word processing program. You write stuff on it, then can save it, email it, post drafts to your blog. It's pretty cool)

Courier-Mail article

Brisbane writer and journalist Jason Nahrung has done a very short interview with me for the Courier-Mail about my One Book Many Brisbanes win.

You can read it here...

“Untethered” wins One Book Many Brisbanes spot

I can now happily reveal that my short story “Untethered” has won a spot in the Brisbane City Council’s One Book Many Brisbanes anthology.

Given that this is by far the biggest competition I’ve ever won and, let’s face it, could be the biggest I ever win, there’s a few people I’d like to thank.

My wife Amelia. Writing is hard at the best of times, but when you’ve got two kids under five, it’s a real challenge finding the time. Amelia isn’t really into horror and science fiction, but she has always helped me find the time when I’ve really needed it. Without her help, “Untethered” either would not have been finished by the deadline, or would not have been polished to the extent that it was.

I’d like to thank the Vision Writers group, especially those who found time to do a last-minute critique of “Untethered”. The feedback, most of which I acted on, was obviously on the money! I’m very grateful to Rowena Lindquist for introducing me to Vision a few years back. I’m not the most active member, but it’s good to be able to connect with other speculative fiction writers, even if only via the internet.

And while I’m thanking writing groups, I’d like to extend this to the Australian Horror Writers Association and Queensland Writers Centre. People sometimes think writing is a lonely hobby and, while the actual sitting down and typing is a solitary experience, there is no shortage of camaraderie for those who wish to seek it out.

A big thanks to all the editors who have published my stories over the years, especially those who have offered me feedback and helped me improve my craft. I’d like to single out Angela Challis (Brimstone Press) for special thanks. I sold my first story to Angela’s Shadowed Realms. It gave me a lot of confidence going forwards. Since then, she has been very supportive of my writing.

Finally, I’d like to thank David Kowalski. David didn’t have any input into “Untethered”, but our chats over the past few months have made a big difference to my attitude to my writing. Earlier this year I was thinking about putting writing “on the back burner”. David’s limitless enthusiasm is a large reason I’ve persevered, and hopefully that decision will bear fruit over the coming years.

About Gary Kemble

(Photo by Amelia Kemble. High resolution version at Flickr)

Hi, I am a writer, journalist and blogger based in Brisbane, Australia. If you’re reading this bio much after April 16, 2008, please email me for something more up-to-date.

From a very young age I’ve had a love of science fiction and horror. As a kid watching Scooby-Doo, I was always disappointed when the monster turned out to be a crotchety old man in a rubber suit.

Growing up in the ‘burbs gave me lots of scope for considering the limitless ‘what ifs’ of that other, more fascinating world inside my head. In primary school I self-published a ghoulish tale called “Back From the Grave”, in which I saved the world (or Capalaba, at least) from a seemingly indestructible zombie. I often wonder what my teacher made of the severed heads.

Writing fiction was always play. It wasn’t until I read Stephen King’s On Writing in 2000 that I realised that if I wanted to spin it into something more than a hobby, I was the only person who could make it happen, and there was no better time than right now.

Since then, my short fiction has been published in magazines, anthologies and online in Australia, the US and the UK. My most recent credits are “All You Need is Love” (Dark Tales), “Fortunate Lives” (Borderlands) and “Night Terrors” (Black Box). I’m looking forward to seeing “Feast or Famine” in Macabre some time in 2008.

I work for the ABC as a sub-editor and reporter. In 2005 I helped establish Articulate, the ABC’s arts weblog, and have been an active contributor ever since, mostly covering the speculative fiction beat. My non-fiction has also been published in Writing Queensland magazine.
In 2006 I blogged Conjure, the 45th National Science Fiction Convention. As far as I know, I’m the only blogger in the Australian mainstream media to attempt such a feat. Since then, my coverage of speculative fiction in both Articulate and ABC News Online has been twice nominated for the Ditmar Award for Professional Achievement.

In 2007/08 I was on the judging panel for the Australian Shadows award, the top award for Australian writers of dark fiction and horror.

I am a member of the Australian Horror Writers Association, Vision Writers and the Queensland Writers Centre.

When I’m not at work or helping my wife raise our two children, I’m working on a collaborative crime thiller, a science fiction adventure and an alternative history novella.

Terrifying 1950s comic book covers

Tasty. Check out the slideshow here.

(Link/montage via BoingBoing)

James Doig on Australia's horror heritage

I have just interviewed James Doig on his Australian Gothic and Australian Nightmares anthologies of vintage Australian horror/supernatural fiction.

"I guess there is a danger here that we're becoming homogenised, subsumed by the latest Hollywood blockbuster. Just as the regional ghost story in the United States and Britain has pretty much disappeared, there is a danger that national traditions will go the same way. Too many modern stories have their roots in American popular culture - Stephen King, Hannibal Lector, Night of the Living Dead - rather than our own traditions.

"That said, I should say that our best writers have their own unique, distinctly Australian, voices. Terry Dowling, Margo Lanagan and Lucy Sussex are as good as anyone writing today, and there are many more who are right up there."

Read the full feature on Articulate...