My Books – Where to Start Reading
Every time I’m guest at a Comic-Con or equivalent, someone will walk past my desk, see my array of cyberpunk books, and ask me where they should begin.
My short answer is always this: anywhere you like. They are …
Tag: 36 Streets
Two-for-One Sale – Multi-Award-Winning, Acclaimed Australian SF
This year, Ghost of the Neon God won both Best Science Fiction Novella at the Aurealis Awards, and Best Novella at the Ditmars. The Aurealis is a juried award, and genuinely features the best of Australian SF. The Ditmars is …
When a Character is a Weapon (Featuring Chrome Lin Vu)
I recently watched a thoughtful, interesting YouTube on ‘Writing Characters Who Are Weapons,’ by Tim Hickson. He’s a New Zealander who runs the channel HelloFutureMe, which deals with both writing as a craft and analysing pop culture. He’s got some …
BookTube Interview – Five Sci-Fi Novel Recommendations
I recently did an interview with Jonathan, an Australian BookTuber who runs a channel called Words in Time. He’s got some great content, so I recommend you go and check it out. I’ve embedded the interview in this article, …
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 …
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 …
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 …