My Favourite Reads of 2023
Finally hit my target of 50 books this year. Reading is part of my job as a writer, and I aim to do so every evening. I’m not fast and wouldn’t want to be. I savour what I read (when …
Year in Review – Awards, Book Deals, and Incandescent Rage
Big year. It started relentlessly, and never really gave up. January kicked off with my finishing a tie-in novel, Aliens: Bishop.
Never thought I’d write a tie-in novel, never thought I could write any novel in 4.5 months, never …
Aliens: Bishop (why I shut up and took the gig)
I wrote an Aliens novel. I did it in five months and I can’t quite remember how. My previous record for completing a full-length novel was about three years.
I didn’t want to write an Aliens novel. Not at first. …
Awards Eligibility – Ditmars
Ditmar voting is open. For the uninitiated, the Ditmars are the annual Australian peer-voted awards for Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror.
What does peer-voted mean? Well, that you are either attending the National Convention (this year it is Conflux …
The Line Between Success and Failure in Publishing
This originally was going to be my acceptance speech for the Aurealis Awards, but my wife talked me out of it, saying it it was ‘too sad’. I’d been nominated in the SF Novella and Novel categories. I didn’t …
Two Book Deal
Fuck yeah.
I have more than one novel* in me, apparently. At least two more, to be precise, after signing a new deal with Titan Books (UK).
The first is The Escher Man. It takes place five years after …
Update: Two Aurealis Award Nominations, & other news
I received two Aurealis Awards nominations, and it is fair to say I’m pleased. These are (easily) Australia’s premiere speculative fiction awards. They are also juried – which while carrying its own flaws, I’d take any day of the …
Radio Interview – ABC – ‘Out of this World’
I really enjoyed this interview on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) with host Kim Huynh. Kim is a man of many talents. He lectures in international relations at the Australian National University; has written about the refugee experience – both …
The Ten Best Books I Read in 2022
Read about forty books* this year, which isn’t bad. I try to read every day – the second most important part of the job of being a writer is reading widely – but unfortunately I am also human. As a …
Supanova Convention: Going Home in the Back of Divvy Van
After two very long days at Supanova, talking about my novel to readers, I left Sydney at 7pm Sunday, looking forward to collapsing into my own bed back in Canberra later that night. Instead, I found myself pitching my book …