John Birmingham vs the zombies

(Hopefully by the end of this post I'll have done enough to justify the link bait)

I went to The Reader at State Library today -- an if:book Australia symposium on the future of writing, publishing, technology and readers.

There was a lot of food for thought, but Dale Spender's address 'New Reading, Same Heresies' really got me thinking, because it dovetailed nicely with something else I've been thinking about lately.

(Apologies for all the cliches -- brain is tired)

Dale talked about the history of reading, about how when the church controlled reading, it was a highly specialised thing. Only the select few could do it, it took 14 years to learn how to do it, and so on.

After Gutenberg, the church wasn't keen on everyone having access to books. Printing presses were smashed, books burnt.

Dale then went on to talk about how, at various times, reading has been portrayed as something that undermines society.

It got me thinking that that's not unlike how video games are percieved at the moment.

So, looking at books as a form of entertainment, and as a way of learning via something that is entertaining, why should reading be valued more highly than playing video games.

Take John Birmingham's Axis of Time trilogy and put it up against Left 4 Dead 2.

I'm sure that JB will tell you that Axis of Time is just an excuse to take bad-asses from the near-future and send them back to 1942 to blow shit up. But it also says a lot about how community standards have changed (for better and for worse) since the 40s.

Left 4 Dead 2. It's a video game, you take part in it. And yeah, it's mostly about taking to zombies with shotguns, pipe bombs and chainsaws. But if you play it right, it's a social game (it's designed to be played with friends). You learn about team-work, strategy, loyalty, betrayal and, if you're like me, how much you suck at it.

I value reading. I want my kids to read. Literacy is hugely important. But so are the things kids can learn from video games (not Left 4 Dead 2, but age-appropriate games). Technology is going to be even more important to our kids than it is for us. It's going to be an increasingly integral part of life.

What do you think? Is tech smarts as important as book smarts?

(PS: I thought about putting the zombies up against James Joyce, or Jack Kerouac ... is that a fairer comparison? What do we gain from ploughing through the classics -- that's the special bonus question)

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David Rollins talks about KAL007 in The Zero Option

I interviewed Australian author David Rollins last week about his latest book, The Zero Option, which offers a new theory on the 1983 shootdown of Korean Airlines flight 007.

You can read the feature here. (And there's a really interesting wikipedia article here)

I particularly like this quote:

After I wrote The Zero Option I sent it to a number of people around the world, just to give me notes, and one of them was a producer in Hollywood. After he read the book he said 'keep your eye on the rear-vision mirror for a while'. And it's something that a few people have said to me.

It's a good read, by the way, and I'm envious of Rollins getting to all those far-flung corners of the globe!

I'm going to post some extra bits and pieces from the interview on Articulate, probably tomorrow.

One Book Many Brisbanes 3 launch

Had an excellent time today at the One Book Many Brisbanes 3 launch at City Hall.

It was a great opportunity to meet some people I've been swapping emails with since finding out I was one of the winners, although it would have been good to have more time to chat with the other authors.

Check out the Flickr photo pool here. (If you were at the launch and took photos and don't mind sharing them, please join the group and upload your photos).

There's a possibility some of the authors might be appearing at a local library near you soon, so if I can I'll definitely be getting involved in that -- I'd love to hear some of the stories behind the stories.

Speaking of which, you can now read all of the stories (including "Untethered") here.

You can find out how to buy the book here, or alternatively borrow it from your local library.

The really good news is that Brisbane City Council is going to run the competition again next year.

I would strongly recommend that if you're a writer, you enter. I never thought I would win. I entered because, frankly, with a $6,000 prize, how could I not enter. And look what happened.

Sometimes life delivers happy endings!

Ian Fleming's writing regime

At the launch of the new James Bond novel Devil May Care, Sebastian Faulks says:

"In his house in Jamaica, Ian Fleming used to write a thousand words in the morning, then go snorkelling, have a cocktail, lunch on the terrace, more diving, another thousand words in late afternoon, then more Martinis and glamorous women.

"In my house in London, I followed this routine exactly, apart from the cocktails, the lunch and the snorkelling."

Never mind the cocktails and glamorous women - I'm just envious of anyone who can get through 2,000 words a day.

(Via Articulate - click to see the Bond girl!)

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 zombies are coming!

(Check out the non-blogger'd version of this pic here)

Robert N Stephenson's Zombies anthology is on its way - set for a December 1 release... just in time for a very zombie Christmas.

My local paper, Westside News, interviewed me this week, and we did a photo shoot out at Toowong Cemetery.

(I offered them the above pic, but they were worried about copyright issues, since the zombies are courtesy of The Zombie Diaries).

Zombies features my story "Dead Air" about a zombie outbreak on-board a 747 en route from LAX to Brisbane.

You can buy the anthology here.

Insight into Australian horror

There are signs in the US and the UK that horror fiction is in the throes of a comeback but Australia is yet to follow suit. So what is on the cards for Australian horror? Marty Young formed the non-profit Australian Horror Writers Association in 2003 to further the development and evolution of dark fiction and provide a sense of community for Australian horror scribes. To celebrate All Hallows' Eve, Articulate spoke to Young about the challenges facing Australian horror writers.

Horror making a comeback?

Last week I asked Shona Martyn, publishing director at HarperCollins, what her take was on the likelihood of a horror comeback.

She said there was no sign of Australia following the lead of the US and UK, but that it could just be a matter of time.

Agent Sydney (of the recently launched Call My Agent! blog) says horror will probably always be a niche market.

You can read Agent Sydney's full response here.

Convergence 2: special coverage!

(Well, as special as is possible without actually going!)

Rob Hood: Revenge of the giant monsters: Wollongong-based writer and editor Rob Hood turned his love of giant monsters into an anthology of short stories by writers from around the world, Daikaiju!, which went on to win the Ditmar award for best collection. But like any monster worth its scales, Hood has lost control of his creation, and ended up editing not one but three books full of giant monster stories. As he prepares to launch volume two - Revenge of the Giant Monsters - at the National Science Fiction Convention, Hood spoke to Articulate about his obsession with big monsters and some of the more bizarre takes on the theme.

Jason Nahrung and Mil Clayton: Looking on the dark side: In 2000, stranded three states apart, Brisbane writer Jason Nahrung and partner Mil Clayton started writing a story together, a chapter at a time, by email. Four years on Nahrung unearthed the novella and set to work transforming it into supernatural thriller The Darkness Within. He successfully pitched it to Australian publisher Lothian, which was soliciting for an adult dark fiction line. Lothian was then swallowed up by Time Warner, which was in turn bought by Hachette Livre. Lothian's adult dark fiction line was cancelled, but the books already contracted - including Nahrung's - were kept on. Ahead of the book's launch at Convergence 2, Nahrung and Clayton spoke to Articulate about the sometimes rocky road to publication, and the fortunes of dark fiction in Australia.

Tansy Rayner Roberts: Finding the Lost Shimmaron: In what appears to be an industry first, Australian writers group wRiters On the Rise (RoR) has sold a seven-part children's book series to ABC Books. The Lost Shimmaron tells the tale of the crash of an alien spacecraft in rural Australia and the quest of the 'mystical energy beings' to rebuild their ship and return home. As the 46th Australian National Science Fiction Convention gets under way in Melbourne, Articulate caught up with Tansy Rayner Roberts, who leads the series with Seacastle.

Shaun Tan: Solving the puzzle

Western Australian illustrator Shaun Tan has picked up a host of awards for his work, most recently overnight he picked up the New South Wales Premier's Book of the Year award for the haunting The Arrival, and also two gongs at the Aurealis Awards. As he prepared to put some young artists through their paces at the Sydney Writers Festival, he offered Articulate a fascinating insight into the creative process.

Read on...

(Vote on Newsvine)

Sean Williams interview

Prolific Adelaide-based science fiction writer Sean Williams kicked off his career contracted to write nine books in two and a half years, and hasn't slowed down since. He's taking a break from his "gothic noir space opera" series Astropolis, novelisation of a Star Wars game and a series of dark fantasy novels for kids to take part in a packed schedule at the Sydney Writers Festival. In the lead-up to the festival, Williams found a slot in his hectic schedule to correspond with Articulate.

Read on...

(Don't forget to vote on Newsvine and Digg!)

Matthew Reilly interview

Matthew Reilly has likened his novels to big budget Hollywood action movies, without the budget restrictions. The Sydney-based author is set to get a taste of Hollywood himself, when he moves to the US later this year to work on a TV pilot. Meanwhile, the film adaptation of Hover Car Racer is crawling through the works at Disney. As Reilly prepared for his Sydney Writers Festival duties, Articulate asked him about his plans for Jack West Jr and Shane Schofield, breaking readers' expectations, and dealing with the critics.

Read on...

And don't forget to vote for this feature at Newsvine!

And also at Digg.

Learning the hard way, now on Newsvine

There are writers who hone their skills writing short stories, attend a few workshops to network and learn a few tricks, and then sit down and tackle the biggie, the novel-length manuscript.

Then there's people like me. Compulsive novelists. Over the past 10 years I've written or co-written five novel-length manuscripts, all but one rejected. I've had a lot of fun, but if I had my decade over again I might do things a bit differently.

Think there's nothing worth knowing from a failed novelist? Think again.

Read the feature on Newsvine...

(Note: feature first published in Writing Queensland, April 2007)

Ben Templesmith: Comics 'in the blood'

Posted an interview with WA artist/writer Ben Templesmith yesterday, who has just been nominated for two Eagle Awards and whose vampire-fest 30 Days of Night will appear as a major Hollywood blockbuster later this year.

Since publishing a feature about Character Sketches a while back I've been getting tip-offs about happenings in the comics scene, and the more I hear the more interested I become.

I was in Borders the other day and thought I'd check out their comics section, but it was a total dog's breakfast. Didn't seem to be any order whatsoever.

Anway, here's a couple of choice quotes from the Templesmith interview.

On seeing 30 Days of Night on the big screen:

"It's going to be crazy to see something I came up with on my drawing desk at 3am in the morning living and breathing on screen."

On working with comic industry legend Warren Ellis:

"Warren's mind is like the Ganges river. You just don't know what might float on by next. He has so many ideas."

I also thought it was kind of cute Templesmith was stoked about Melissa George's involvement in the project. (He described it as "funny and cool as hell").

Read the full feature at Articulate.

Learning the hard way

Have been on many 4.30am starts lately, hence my lack of Kemblogging.

However, I heard the other day that an article I wrote, "Learning the Hard Way" -- recounting all the stuff I've learnt from having my novel-length manuscripts not published -- will feature (hopefully) in the April edition of Writing Queensland.

Terry Pratchett: conventions, guilty pleasures and orang-outangs

If you haven't heard of Terry Pratchett or at least seen the rows of Discworld books monstering the fantasy section of your local bookshop, then welcome to Earth.

You're unlikely to know Pratchett, who has sold about 40 million books worldwide, is in Australia this weekend for the first Australian Discworld Convention.

It's also possible you're not totally au fait with the role Pratchett has played helping amateur dramatics groups save the orang-outang, or how reading Discworld books is one of life's guilty pleasures.

Read on to become enlightened!

Australian Shadows judge

I've accepted an an invitation from Australian Shadows Award director Kirstyn McDermott to join the judging panel.

Myself and two other judges will prepare a short-list for the guest judge.

It's a great honour to be asked and I'm looking forward to getting stuck into Australian horror and also contributing something to the community.

(For those who don't know, the Australian Shadows is an annual award presented by the Australian Horror Writers Association and judged on the overall effect - the skill, delivery, and lasting resonance - of a work of horror fiction written or edited by an Australian and published either in Australia or overseas.)

True lies with Ben Peek

Writers tell lies - it's their job. But when they present lies as truth, readers are often outraged. Sydney writer Ben Peek explores the nature of truth, and the history of literary hoaxes in his novella Twenty-six Lies, One Truth - billed as "an autobiography by a man who has been nowhere, done nothing, and met nobody" - and found enough room to mount a spirited defence of the c-word.

Read the feature...

Save the robotic zombie assassins!

On the Million Penguins wiki-novel project, blogger Jon Elek, says he is pumped but he's also expecting the worst.

"In an ideal world, we could throw in a sense of plausibility, balance and humour. That's asking a lot, and in truth I'll be happy so long as it manages to avoid becoming some sort of robotic-zombie-assassins-against-African-ninjas-in-space-narrated-by-a-Papal-Tiara type of thing."

It's going to be boring, in other words.

What I say is, there should be more robotic zombie assassins and more African ninjas in space.