Steampunk Regalia
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GREAT SF AND FANTASY CLICHÉS
If you ever find yourself thinking “Geez, why hasn’t anyone thought of that before?” the answer is: they probably have. And, more to the point, they’ve written a story about it that appeared in Super SF Stories Bumper Xmas Edition 1938. So, if you’re new to the genre –...
Sydney Powerhouse Steam Spectacular
In May this year, as part of the Sydney Writers’ Festival, the Powerhouse Museum invited me to participate in their in their ‘Writer Overnighter’ extravaganza. I’ve written about it here, but here’s a fine photographic pictorial, courtesy of the Powerhouse Museum. ...
Writers Write: My Favourite Book 32
Tim Pegler As my childhood memories become foggier and less reliable, there are several book moments that stand out from the murk. The moment I discovered Herge’s The Red Sea Sharks (a graphic novel in a small rural library!) was like tripping over a gold nugget. The thrall induced...
I, You, He or She – Some Thoughts on Point of View
In 2003, I wrote the first draft of what was to become Blaze of Glory, the first book in my Laws of Magic series. As I was writing, I was perplexed by how difficult it was. It’s not that I expect writing a 100,000 word novel to be easy...
La Gazette du Bon Ton 2
This is my second batch of illustrations taken from the formidably chic French magazine La Gazette du Bon Ton. These illustrations come from 1914, the year the First World War began, but one wouldn’t know it from the languid, dreamy fashions and lifestyles portrayed here. Willful ignorance? A deliberate...
La Gazette du Bon Ton 1
I’ve been promising this for a while. It’s one of the things I stumbled across in my researching. How I love serendipity. La Gazette du Bon Ton was essentially what we’d call today a fashion/lifestyle magazine. It was published in Paris from 1912 to 1925, and offered a limpid...
Writers Write: My Favourite Book 31
Jenny Blackford Hidden somewhere in one of the cupboards, I have a small cross-stitched sampler hand-embroidered (and designed) by a friend when we were both 14 or so. It’s in Elvish. I also own the Donald Swann record of the poems and songs of Middle-Earth, which includes J.R.R...
Definition of a Good Book
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A new Laws of Magic idea
I’m playing around with writing an adult novel – ‘The Laws of Magic’ ten years on. Aubrey, Caroline, George and Sophie in a world startlingly like our own in the Jazz Age, but with magic. Now, I don’t know if this has been done before at all, taking a...