Jun 18

Continuum and Octopuses and Costumes, Oh My!

or ‘what I’ve been doing for the past two weeks’

I know this is way late, but I have an excuse! Convention-flu.

Let me take you back in time, before too much wine, not enough sleep, and an over-reliance on take away food turned me into the croaky, slouching creature you see before you. Back to… Continuum!

Lots of exciting things happened at Continuum, not least of which was catching up with wonderful friends, making new ones, and finally meeting some folks I’ve only ever known through the internet. Crazy times, people, when someone is in the same room as you but the most efficient way to find them is via twitter!

My convention started with an early morning interview with Nalini Haynes of Dark Matter Fanzine. You can listen to it here. We talk about Debris, and Suited, and writing in general — I did my best to make sense, and coffee helped with that! I then braved Melbourne public transport and weather, and visited the wonderful Notions Unlimited bookshop.

This is the point where the convention gets into full swing, and becomes a blur of panels, conversations at the bar, and gin & tonic. The best way to sum it up? How about a photo of Kaaron and I proving that books really are the best weapons?

Highlights include the Ishtar book launch (so looking forward to reading this one!) as well as the launch of Felicity Dowker’s collection Bread and Circuses (ooh so cool!). Speaking of book launches, Light Touch Paper, Stand Clear! was also launched. I did a short reading from my story, The Bone Chime Song, and then we all had cake. What’s a launch without cake?

What else happened? Oh yeah, and then I won the Ditmar for Best New Talent. 🙂

I think this photo (courtesy of Nalini Haynes at Dark Matter Fanzine) shows my complete shock rather well.

My bright orange squeaky octopus, officially named Al Stevens, now looks down at me from his spot on the wall of my study.

Let’s move along now, shall we? Leave lovely Melbourne — with its yummy pizza, and creepy mist — behind and return to Sydney. And real life. After a week at the work sales conference (which did involve a wine tasting, so can’t have been that bad!) I headed to Supanova. I’ve never gone to a Supanova before, but I had a small idea of what to expect. So much energy, so much fandom, so much love for stories no matter how they’re told. I did my best to dress up (in a steampunk outfit which I mysteriously don’t have a photo of… :p) but I paled in comparison to some of the outfits I saw. Check out their facebook page to see what I mean!

EDIT! Marianne de Pierres found a photo of me. Isn’t she helpful? 😉

After a day of chatting to people about Debris, writing, and sci-fi in general, my voice finally packed it in, and I headed home.

So now I sit here, coughing up my lungs. But you know what, it was worth it. Epic fortnight was truly epic. And I have an octopus to prove it!

Jun 04

2011 Australian Shadows Award

It’s very exciting to report that both The Sea at Night and Out Hunting for Teeth have received honourable mentions in the 2011 Australian Shadows Award.

Congratulations to the winners — particularly Dead Red Heart! — and all the honourable mentions — including Midnight Echo 6!

Jun 03

Continuum 8!

This year is moving at an insane crazy pace. Need proof? Continuum is only a few days away! See, crazy!

I made a belated decision to go this year, but that doesn’t mean I’m not looking forward to it. No sireee.

Jo’s very rough plan for Continuum:

Thursday: Get up f**-off scary early. Long drive

Friday: Busy in the morning pretending to be *cough* I mean, being an author. But not a whole lot more until the con kicks off in the afternoon. Anyone wanna hang out? I’d love to visit Notions Unlimited, surely public transport would take me there!

Saturday: 9am ‘Take the pebble from my hand’ – heckle Kaaron Warren from the back of the room while she’s talking about being a mentor (she was mime, so I am totally allowed to do this. In fact, she has endorsed the plan)

2pm ‘Ishtar Launch’ – Finally buy this amazing anthology, hug it tightly

3pm ‘Reading’ – with my fellow FableCroft authors. Bask in their awesomeness. Hope some of it rubs off on me

6pm ‘ASIM 10th Birthday/Light Touch Paper Stand Clear’ launch’ – more basking in the amazing glow of amazing authors. Also, I have a story in this anthology. Apparently, there will be cake

Sunday: 4pm ‘Launch of Bread and Circuses by Felicity Dowker’ – buy this book, get it signed. Hug it also. There’s a lot of book hugging going on in my plan

5pm: ‘Hey I Game Too!’ – I’m actually on a panel! We’re a group of women, and we love games. So there!

8pm – ‘Awards Ceremony’. It’s okay, I probably will have had enough gin by then

Monday – another long drive, back again. Today I bought driving snacks. Might need to get more before Monday

 

So, there you have it. In between I will be going to panels, hanging out at the bar, and stalking… ah, I mean… talking to a whole heap of absolutely amazing writers. Oh, and I have it under pretty good authority that copies of Debris will be available and I would be absolutely thrilled if anyone asked me to sign one.

Also, I have bookmarks! They’re very pretty!

Come say hi, and you can totally have one.

May 17

A teaser from A Memory Trapped In Light

I wasn’t going to submit to Epilogue (then known by it’s temporary name, Apocalypse Hope) because I just didn’t have any idea what to write. Epilogue is an anthology of post-apocalyptic stories where there is hope for the future, and hope is hard. I’m all for dark and depressing, twisted, sad, even nasty. But hopeful? I didn’t think I could do that.

Until the editor, Tehani, mentioned to me “you can set it in the Debris universe, you know” and BAM! BOOF! *insert comic-book expletive* I had an idea. You know why?

I already had a post-apocalyptic world to work with.

A Memory Trapped In Light is set in the Debris universe… but it’s not one you might recognise. It’s actually extremely spoilerific, there’s a character in this story who is absolutely vital to everything that happens in the books, but you won’t know it. Not yet.

I also hope it’s a fun story all on its own! With laser cannons and giant-undead-metal-spiders, it can’t be that bad, right?

Epilogue is an awesome anthology, and I’m honoured to be a part of it. Seriously, it is. I’ve proof read it. I know. It’s still up for pre-order at a special price, and I totally recommend you go pre-order. Go on, off you go. I’ll wait here.

In the meantime, here’s a teaser for A Memory Trapped In Light. Enjoy!

Isola wired an ancient laser cannon to an untended Shard, and breathed a little easier when it began to charge. She didn’t have much time. It was already an hour since Ruby had been taken, and she felt each second, each minute, like the cut of a knife.

“Izzy, please,” Alida whispered, crouched behind her. “Don’t do this. The bosses haven’t given you authorisation. You’ll be punished.” She froze as something clattered in the distance, metal crashing through metal.

Isola ignored it. Just the ruins of Crust, falling in on themselves. “I don’t care.” She dug through her stash — stolen from graves and abandoned caches — but the bosses had confiscated most of her finds, and the laser cannon was the only weapon they’d left her with. She’d be lucky if it fired at all. “I’m not going to leave Ruby to the Legate.”

“But—”

“She’s my little sister!” Isola snapped. “And I’m not arguing with you. Now go away, or the bosses will think you’re involved. Want to get wired for my sake?”

The cannon rattled, and a dim silex hub in its side brightened. Charged — she hoped. Isola tugged it free, wrapped it in her jacket and tied it awkwardly around her waist. She pulled on heavy boots, strapped goggles to her forehead, and tore a fresh strip of linen to breathe through.

Alida hung back, not quite able to leave, not strong enough to try and make her stay. Isola paused to run dirty fingers through the girl’s lank blonde hair, and plant a hard kiss on her mouth. “And don’t you dare rat me out.”

Isola knew ways out onto Crust that the bosses didn’t, and she avoided all primary passageways through the dilapidated factory. Her parents had been junkies here, and she’d lived with this gang for most of her life. They’d died when Ruby was young — their mother bled out around an improperly inserted jack, and their father lost his mind to a strong Pionic Flare — so Isola cared for her the only way she knew how; keeping out of the bosses’ sight whenever she could, and teaching Ruby to scavenge for weapons and tech so they were both too useful to be forcefully wired.

It’d worked well enough, until they’d stumbled on a Legate Drone, and her sister — not as fast, not as nimble — had been caught.

May 11

A teaser from The Bone Chime Song

Light Touch Paper Stand Clear is due for release in June — it will hopefully be launched at Continuum in Melbourne. Edited by Edwina Harvey and Simon Petrie, and published by Peggy Bright Books, I was intrigued by its concept from the very beginning: “Nothing happens without some initial impetus or spark. But it’s also impossible to predict exactly what will happen once that spark is struck, that match lit. Will the rocket shoot skywards? Will the dragon shoot flames from its mouth if provoked by one more jab from the rusty sword? Will the fireworks display appease, or at least distract, the ruthless, jaded emperor?”

What is the spark? What happens once it’s struck?

I’m curious to see how my fellow writers have been inspired by this, I can only imagine the variety of stories we’re going to see in this anthology.

‘The Bone Chime Song’ is my answer. It’s part dark-fantasy / murder- mystery, part doomed romance. There are Necromancers, windchimes, dead Gods and mangroves. The spark? Well, I think there are two. There’s a murder, and the lengths one character will go to solve it. But there’s a second spark, personal and private, the slow-burn of a love kept hidden over many, many years.

What happens once these sparks are struck?… Well, here’s a bit of a taste.

First, the Song.

Those bones were singing before Casimir brought them to me. I heard their jumbled and discordant notes through wood and calico lining, through security spells and spirit wards, as far away as the centre of town. I appreciated the warning; it gave me time to compose myself before I opened the shop to him.

He stood a little too straight, dark waistcoat emblazoned with an eye in gold thread, crisp white shirtsleeves rolled up to his elbows in the heat. His loosely clubbed hair was iron grey, and the Summoner scars across his cheeks stood out as though they were fresh.

Five years since I last saw him, and he had aged far more than he should have. The war was long over and he was married now, with three apparently beautiful children. Not that I’d ever seen them—I had no desire to put myself through that particular torture. What right did he have to come here now, looking so tired and old?

“Casimir,” I said, stepped back to let him enter, and prided myself on the steadiness of my tone.

“Zvonimir.” He entered stiffly, with none of his usual sharp soldier’s step. “I come requesting help.”

I jammed the shop door open, and was surprised to see his dark Watchman’s carriage waiting, surrounded by half a dozen or so of his UnderWatch Necromancers. They scowled back at me, white robes bright in the midday sun. What could their fearless Watchman—war hero, powerful Summoner and wholesome family man—want with a poor, middle-aged craftsman like me?