Seven Favourite Books of 2018
Read about 40 books this year, which isn’t bad considering the towering piles of enervating academic articles I had to read for the PhD. I watched a lot of movies and TV of course – probably too much. My loyalty …
Mongol Dreaming
A long time back – must be fifteen years ago now – I lived in Mongolia. I was a volunteer, very young, passionate, working with a city government department on the intractable problem of homelessness in Ulaanbaatar. The department was …
I, Cyborg: Japanese Noir
Ghost in the Shell (1995) is a landmark of Japanese anime and global cyberpunk. It powerfully articulates contemporary fears about technology and its impact on our humanity, and explores the relationship between body and mind, between memory and identity, and …
The Writer’s Training Regime, Part 6: Dungeons and Dragons
I’ve fallen in love with dungeons and dragons again, descending once more into the depths of the nerd.
As I’ve written previously, I am employed as a dungeon master to run a D&D campaign for a group of NDIS-funded …
Two Shitty Years: variance, poker, and the writing life
I knew something was wrong. Whenever something goes right, I am immediately suspicious, for starters. So back in 2016 when I was nominated for an Aurealis (and ended up winning), had an inclusion in Clarke’s “Best Science Fiction of the …
Dungeons and Dragons – The Radically Social Response to Autism
I wrote ‘Dungeon Master’ as the position description on an employee contract just recently. It wasn’t a joke. The official position is dungeon master and yes, it is a real job. Once a week for the local community centre, I’m …
Cobra Kai: failure does not exist in this reboot, does it?
No Sensei!
Funnier, smarter, and way more fun that it had any right to be. Nostalgic and contemporary, clever in the way it deals with the past in the present: Cobra Kai is my streaming surprise of the year.
It …
Gardner Dozois (1947 – 2018)
Three of Gardner Dozois’ books in my house and I’d never heard of him. This is a few years back now, before I’d become foolhardy enough to take up the craft. After I’d started writing I became aware his presence; …
Fuck Flying (Seven Reasons)
“Hell is other people” – Jean Paul Sartre
Nothing brings into focus sharper the contemptible, claustrophobic press that is humanity than does air travel. Nothing makes the gorge rise so quickly, the bile duct pump so furiously, the …
Three Australian Noirs: Dancing Home, Gunshine State, The Rules of Backyard Cricket
Gunshine State
Fast-paced thriller Gunshine State, by Andrew Nette, opens with a heist gone wrong and heads downhill from there.
Gary Chance is a former soldier, sometime bouncer, and generally unsuccessful crook. Whether through back luck or bad choice …