I would prefer to say that the Australasian Shadow Awards issued by the AHWA were the premier Australian speculative fiction awards, for the simple reason that I was once nominated for one, but the Aurealis Awards hold that place. Changes have been introduced to the rules, and I want to amplify the open letter written […]
From time to time I think that we should all remember to thank those who add something to our lives. If you like speculative fiction, I hope that like me you look forward each month to Lisa Tuttle’s book recommendations in the Guardian. Short, well-written, non-spoilerish, and with an authority not possessed by book influencers […]
So there is no real metric other than enjoying what I do. A writer is someone who writes, I spose. But when are you really a writer? When someone publishes your story? When someone pays you for a story? When someone pays you SFWA approved professional rates for a story? That happened once, early on. […]
FUN!! CRUX is available now.
I enjoyed the film Moneyball but nowhere near as much as Michael Hann. Funny thing is though, I would describe the book by Michael Lewis in much the same way as Hann as described the film. I maybe have some vague vestigial interest in sport, having been brought up in a Rugby League loving family […]
My wife has had many opportunities to notice my habit of ducking out of the room to avoid second hand embarrassment from TV. I can deal with tension, I have trouble with cringing. Lately I have noticed that I have had to pause reading when I am disturbed by weird things. Today I had to […]
I am very happy that I have a story appearing in CRUX 2026, created, published, edited, produced, etc, by Meridian Australis, “Melbourne’s premier speculative fiction organisation” – it must be true, they would not say it if it wasn’t. CRUX Volume 1 is being launched at Readings Carlton on 4 June. Unfortunately I live 878 […]
Hello Mr. Stevens, If only I had written a book regarding which Ms Tartt could be addressing me. If only the first in this series of emails had not arrived the day after someone(s) in Nigeria had been looking at my blog. If only my name was not in different font to the rest of the […]
David Malouf has died. I stopped reading David Malouf simply because I had read everything he had written. I lie. Not his poetry. It is a great failure of mine, I can only read poetry that I read at high school. Some lack of trust in myself. Some lack in myself. Some lack. So, correction. […]
I am very sorry to hear of the death of SF writer Ian Watson. I recently re-read, with great pleasure, Whores of Babylon, a book I can recall purchasing new when it was first released many decades ago. I can also remember scouring one of the many second hand bookstores that used to be common […]
Nobody is looking 