2012 snapshot interview

The snapshot project is insane. Started by Ben Peek back in 2005, every 2-3 years a hardy band of speculative fiction bloggers get together and interview about a gazillion specfic writers and editors, effectively taking the pulse of the scene.
I'm honoured to be included. Kathryn Linge interviewed me in 2007, 2010 and she's done it again.
Make sure you read (or at least scroll) to the end so you can see the rest of the interviews.

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Trent Jamieson: Death Most Definite

  
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TrentJamieson.mp4 (312 KB)

Quick interview after the book launch at Avid Reader.

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2010 Snapshot of Australian Speculative Fiction interview

Kathryn Linge has interviewed me for the 2010 snapshot series (a follow-up on similar series ran in 2007 and 2005).

You can read the 2007 interview with me here.

Specfic: so hot right now

Had the pleasure of interviewing John Birmingham earlier this week, for a feature I'm writing for Black magazine about Without Warning.

The world may be going to hell in a handbasket but according to Birmo that's good news for fellow speculative fiction writers.

"I was actually at a booksellers conference the other day, I went down to talk to the managers of all the Borders stores in the country about Without Warning and we were having a chat before I got up to do my pimpin', and they were saying that escapist literature is very, very popular at the moment and they think the reason is people are just turning away from the world of real things because real things just aren't all that fun at the moment."

The You can check out the full article in issue 3 of Black magazine, available in all good newsagencies mid-November.

Help Paul Haines battle cancer

From dragonkat @ LJ:

Paul Haines, a much-loved member of the Aussie specfic commuity is going through a tough time. After being diagnosed with bowel cancer, having sections of his bowel removed and enduring six months worth of chemotherapy, he has recently discovered he has spots on his liver. Paul has met this news by reloading his guns and is going to fight it with two other forms of chemotherapy for cancers like his, combined with a monoclonal antibody called Avastin. Avastin, however is not part of Medicare or the private health system's funding at this stage. It costs $20,000 to do it. Money that he doesn't have.

So we're going to try and help him raise it.

Please follow this link and kick in some cash if you can.

You can also help by joining the Facebook group.

ASiF Q&A

I'm the special guest on the Australian Speculative Fiction in Focus forum for the next fortnight.

Feel free to drop by and ask me a question.

http://www.asif.dreamhosters.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=259

2007 Snapshot of Australian Speculative Fiction interview

Kathryn Linge interviewed me for the 2007 Snapshot of Australian Speculative Fiction series. You can read the interview here.

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.

"Fortunate Lives" to appear in Borderlands

Heard from Stephen Dedman yesterday that the editorial committee of Borderlands has unanimously decided to buy my short "Fortunate Lives".

It's a big thrill because I was trying to push myself in a different direction with that tale - blending a love story (and a sense of melancholy I was feeling at the time) with sf tropes.

Special thanks to Miranda Siemienowicz, Chris Lynch, Damon Cavalchini and the folks at Cafe Doom for helping me make the story (then known as "Only Love Can Bind Us") as good as it could be.

Margo Lanagan interview

Australian writer Margo Lanagan is best known for her short stories, with collection Black Juice winning two World Fantasy Awards and "A Fine Magic" picking up an Aurealis Award. Her latest collection, Red Spikes, has been nominated for a Children's Book Council of Australia award. However, she has also turned her hand to novel-writing, with The Singing Stones coming out soon as part of The Lost Shimmaron series, and "most of a draft" of another longer-form work in the pipeline. Lanagan spoke to Articulate ahead of the Sydney Writers Festival.

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!)

Speculative fiction links

Have been playing around with del.icio.us, and thought I'd generate some speculative fiction linkrolls. (If you'd like to be added, suggest a link.)

Horror


Science fiction


Fantasy

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.

Ditmar nomination

I've been nominated for a Ditmar Award in the Professional Achievement award, for my coverage of speculative fiction in Articulate.

It's a great honour, but as I said to fellow nominee Angela Challis today, for me writing about speculative fiction (and horror in particular) is a "no brainer". It gives me a valuable insight into writing/writers, and I think speculative fiction is sadly neglected by the rest of the mainstream media.

I consider myself extremely lucky to be in a position to write about something I'm interested in.

You can read the nominations here.

Aurealis Awards

Checked out the Aurealis Awards in Brisbane on Saturday night.

It was a very swish affair -- the organisers can be proud of their achievement.

As well as the actual awards, it was a great chance to put faces to names and voices to email addresses.

You can read my report for Articulate here.

Honourable mentions

Ditmar Award-winning writer/editor Shane Jiraiya Cummings has kindly put my name forward for consideration as a nominee for this year's Ditmar Awards - under the Best Professional Achievement category. I'm humbled to make his list, alongside industry stalwarts Russell B Farr and Angela Challis.

Elsewhere, writer Ben Payne has given my short "The Infinite Temple" (Borderlands #6) an 'honourable mention' in his imaginary Year's Best anthology.

Book of Shadows

My contributor's copy (and a copy I bought for Mum for Chrissie) arrived in the post this week and it looks fantastic.

For those who don't know, Book of Shadows is a compilation of stories published in Shadowed Realms.

After the edition my story, "Ad Infinitum", was published, the editors changed the maximum word count to 1,000, which means most of the stories in BoS are perfect for busy people!

My story sits alongside a host of dark fiction heavy-hitters, including Poppy Z Brite, Terry Dowling, Robert Hood, Stephen Dedman, Kurt Newton, Greg Beatty, Martin Livings, Lee Battersby, Josh Rountree, Mikal Trimm and Melissa Marr.

And for what it's worth to those outside the speculative fiction community, Brimstone is the only Australian publisher dedicated to dark fiction -- so it's worth supporting them.

You can buy it here, so what are you waiting for!

(You can read more about Brimstone Press here).

The day that Christmas died

To get you in the mood for Christmas, here's "No Man's Land" a story I wrote a couple of years back for Cafe Doom.

My great grandad always scared me. He died when I was 10. I’d never known him as a father, or even a grandfather. I’d never seen him in his prime, storming a machine gun post in Ypres. Even my older brothers had seen him when he still had two brain cells to rub together. But to me he was just this scary, smelly thing my parents rolled out for Christmas, Easter and Remembrance Day.

"Go and give Pop a kiss," they’d say, and I’d shudder.

He smelt of death. I didn’t realise it at the time, but that’s what I think of now. He was a man on the verge of death, and a man who had dealt death with his own hands.

Read on...

First Newsvine article!

Just wrote my first Newsvine article, on the Black Christmas kerfuffle.

You can check it out here.

Interview with Brimstone Press co-founder

Shane Jiraiya Cummings had this to say when I asked him why Brimstone Press decided to launch with two anthologies...

Leading with these titles is a step to gain wider recognition for the form, the genre, and these writers. Establishing a readership in the wider community requires someone to take that first step and expose the talents of these writers. If Brimstone Press didn't do it, who would? There is a tremendous wealth of ability in the small press speculative genres - horror, fantasy, and science fiction. We're looking to tap into this undercurrent of talent.

Read the full feature here.