My Favourite Reads of 2024
Hit my target of 52 books read for the year. As I keep saying (because it’s true) reading is part of the job of a writer. I put aside a couple of hours every evening to do so. When I …
Five Pieces of Awful Writing Advice (from the masters)
- Don’t keep a notebook (Stephen King)
“I think a writer’s notebook is the best way in the world to immortalise bad ideas. My idea about a good idea is one that sticks around and sticks around.”
Terrible advice, …
Three ways to write a novel: The Odyssey, The Fever Dream, and the Fix-Up
The Escher Man took me ten years to write. Aliens: Bishop took five months. Ghost of the Neon God was a short short story, then two short stories, then a final expansion into a novella. Three books, three radically different …
Well This Sucks (how Amazon screwed my new novel, and what to do about it)
Preorders are, apparently, a big thing. Publishers place huge importance on them.
As far as I can tell, there are three main reasons for this: 1) They are a way to gauge future interest in the book, and therefore inform …
Award Eligibility – Ditmars
Ditmar Awards 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, or that you are …
Dungeons and Dragons – Stories as Healing
For the past six years I’ve worked a professional DM, running Dungeons and Dragons campaigns for autistic teenagers and young adults, funded under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). I love the work. A dream job, really. I’ve got my …
News Update: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (Award Nominations, New Projects, and Toxic Fandom)
It was a huge honour, about a month back, to receive two nominations for the Aurealis Awards, Australia’s premier prize for speculative fiction. I got category nods for ‘Best Science Fiction Novel’, (Aliens: Bishop) and ‘Best Fantasy …
Double the Punk – Two New Releases – Ghost of the Neon God and The Escher Man
I have not one, but two books coming out this year. Which makes me appear incredibly productive, but it’s all an illusion, as you will see. The books:
Ghost of the Neon God is a novella set in Australia. I …
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 …