Fantasy and the Pharmaceutical Industry
After a recent trip to the chemist I’ve become convinced that the pharmaceutical industry has hundreds of Fantasy writers working for it. I’m not sure if this has been a deliberate policy of recruiting down-at-heel Fantasy writers whose last trilogy was cut short after Book 2 or if hordes...
Radio Times
A couple of weeks ago, I was asked in to 774 ABC Melbourne for Raf Epstein’s monthly ‘Read with Raf’ book club, to chat about ‘The Martian’. I’d sent in a review based on my blog piece and Raf enjoyed it enough to want more. Raf, Alicia Sometimes and...
10 Australian YA Dystopian/End of the World Novels Not To Be Missed
Ah, definitions, definitions, definitions! It’s always the way with genre fiction that we have to grapple with definitions and borders and ruling in and ruling out. It’s funny how mainstream fiction doesn’t get all het up about things like, but that’s an issue for another day. This selection of...
10 Australian YA High Fantasy Novels Not To Be Missed
In singling out High Fantasy, I’m really genre splitting here and trying to show that Fantasy is a vast and varied offering, with all sorts of subtleties, approaches and flavours that non-genre readers are perhaps unaware of. By High Fantasy, I mean the full on Tolkienesque epic, complete with...
Writing: External World vs. Internal World
As is my wont, I’ve been thinking deeply about this whole business of writing – again. As a result of this I’m ready to make a Big Statement. <Clears throat> All narrative writing is a balance between describing the External World and the Internal World. Obviously, more explanation is...
The ‘Powder Mage’ Series and the Challenges of Writing Historical Fantasy
I don’t often post book reviews on my blog, but I’m making an exception here as my response to The Powder Mage series of books is complicated and possibly centres on some important aspects of writing Fantasy, especially fantasy with an historical context. Brian McClellan’s The Powder Mage series...
Fantasy and Historical Fiction? The Same Thing, Really.
Bold statement – writing Historical Fiction and writing Fantasy (of certain sorts) are almost identical undertakings. A Game of Thrones and Wolf Hall? The same thing, really. Think about it. Writers of both have to introduce and explain an unfamiliar world. Writers of Historical Fiction and writers of Fantasy can’t...
Back cover reveal
And here’s the back cover for Leo da Vinci Vs the Ice-cream Domination League, with lots of teasers. The fabulous Jules Faber does the illustrations, and the book is due out from Random House Australia in August....
DISTRACTION THROUGH ACTION
When advising or teaching people about writing, I often emphasise the usefulness of doing preparatory work before starting to write. With Fantasy and Science Fiction that can mean considering details of the world in which the story will take place. Listing aspects of the world can mean thinking about...
Autumn
Keats said it, and said it best. Autumn is the ‘season of mists and mellow fruitfulness’. I love the cool, dewy mornings. I love the way the hot air balloons arrive, happy in the calmer, cooler skies. I love the long, blue afternoons that fade into drowsy dusk. I love...