Kaaron Warren's Blog, page 18

Reviews and News

Paul at Travelling without Moving has posted a great review of Walking the Tree. He's got some very interesting books on his site. For those attending Readercon, I'll be talking about the process of writing Walking the Tree and would love to see lots of people in the audience.

I'll also be talking at the Otis Library (Norwich, CT) on July 13 as part of the Jim Lafayette series of Writers of Science Fiction and Fantasy, and appearing at the Bank Square bookshop (Mystic, CT). Am so looking forward to this side-quest. (Sorry, have been playing Fables: the Lost Chapters and am quest focussed!).

News is out: Slights will be published in Turkey! The translators are hard at work as we speak.

The SBS 6 part documentary Sex: an Unnatural History will start airing July 29. Sean Williams, Marianne De Pierres and I were interviewed for the Future Sex episode. Can't wait to see it!

Prizes and book plates sent to Adelaide, Burma, Ireland, ...

Prizes and book plates sent to Adelaide, Burma, Ireland, England, Malawi, New Zealand and North America. The crabby lady at the post office was actually impressed, I think.  A lot more than she was when I dared to take a photocopy of my wedding certificate in when renewing my passport.

Lots of countries still up for grabs! Come on, Canada! Come on, Panama, Thailand, Phillipines and Singapore!

To celebrate the appearance of Mistification, and because...

To celebrate the appearance of Mistification, and because we live in such a wonderfully connected world, I'm offering a small prize to the first person in each country to own a copy of the book!

Australia is already claimed, as is Burma! Lots more countries up for grabs.  Let me know here or on Twitter when you have your copy and I'll tell you if you're the first or not!

 

Dishpig

Marvo, in Mistification, has a lot of jobs. He learns all he knows from the stories people tell, so he moves around a lot, speaking to people in odd and ordinary places.

His work as a dishwasher reminds me of one of my favourite comic stories, written and drawn by the brilliant Anna Brown. She also did Ben Peek's Nowhere Near Savannah.

Dishpig is hilarious and brilliant. I've read it dozens of times since it first appeared in Northbourne and Glory Bound and it still makes me laugh. Anna has given me permission to reprint it here.

Mistification

The cover and sample chapters of novel number three, "Mistification" are up at the Angry Robot Site.

I'm really happy with the cover. It captures the nature of Marvo, the magician at the centre of the novel, beautifully.

In the sample chapter, you'll read about some books Marvo finds:

He flicked through the books. Each had a different coloured cover; purple, mauve, aqua, dark blue, red and green. He read them so he knew every word, every figure. He flicked through them for hours, trying to pick the one he knew the least. He flicked through them, wishing hard for something new, something exciting, he flicked through them and one changed colour. It was brown. Tan brown. It was a new book inside too. He didn't tell his grandmother. He put the books away and didn't look at them for a while. He thought he must have missed the brown one, thought there must have been seven from the start.

Re-reading this, I remember how long the image has been with me. When I was seven or eight, I was given a set of workbooks; maths, English, puzzles, that kind of thing. I'd filled them all out in a week or so; I loved those books. I was sitting on my bed on a rainy day, flicking through them, desperately wishing that I had a new one, that there was an empty book in the pile that I could fill in.

I flicked through them once more…and there was a new one. It was tan brown. I swear I never saw it before.

But inside; I'd already filled it in. I shut the book and looked again; it was just the light. It was the pale purple book after all.

I've never forgotten that moment of magic. When I really believed that I had wished a book into my hands.

I've tried to capture this absolute belief in magic in Mistification.

A Pot to Piss In

I think that's one of my favourite story titles ever! I wrote this story for the charity e-anthology 'Voices from the Past', now available from H&H Books.  Researching it and writing it creeped me out. It's one of those stories where I gathered snippets from all over, the last a small detail from my favourite magazine, Harper's Weekly.

The table of contents is stunning, and all money goes to the charity the Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Another Kind of Lightning by Alasdair Stewart
Ascension Day by Alastair Reynolds
The Lab Gang by Andrew Smith
Master of the Game by Bill Willingham
Just Do It by Cavan Scott
The Maharajah's Star by George Mann
Dr Wormhole by J. Robert King
He Loves Me Not by Jacqueline Rayner
The Screams Next Door by Jason Arnopp
Shuttle by Jasper Fforde
George V by Johnny Mains
Success by Joseph Lidster
The Wisdom of the Ages by Juliet E. McKenna
A Pot To Piss In by Kaaron Warren
Twisted by Lee Harris
Beauty Will Come by Mary Robinette Kowal
Mustn't Grumble by Maura McHugh
Receipt of Fern Seed by Maurice Broaddus
750,000 of Your Friends Like This by Mur Lafferty
A Map of Lychford by Paul Cornell
The Curious Package by Paul Magrs
The Runt by Robert Shearman
The Chaos Exhibition by Scott Harrison
The Victim by Scott Sigler
On The Road Again by Stuart Douglas
Never Go Back by Susan Murray
In Leon's Room by Thomas Fletcher
The God Confusion by Toby Hadoke

Year's Best Australian Fantasy and Horror

Here's a press release from Ticonderoga Publications:

CONTENTS ANNOUNCED FOR THE YEAR'S BEST AUSTRALIAN
FANTASY & HORROR

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Ticonderoga Publications is walking on sunshine to announce the contents for its inaugural The Year's Best Australian Fantasy and
Horror anthology.

Editors Liz Grzyb and Talie
Helene have produced a list of 33 excellent
tales by some of
Australia's biggest names as well as some emerging writers.

The
anthology collects 150,000 words of the best stories published last
year from the Antipodes.

"We're pleased with the number
of fabulous stories that were published
in 2010 that we had to
choose from," Liz Grzyb said.

"You could hold this
anthology up against any international collection -
Australians rock
for diverse voices, imagination, and compelling
writing," Talie
Helene added.

The stories are (alphabetically by writer):

RJ Astruc: "Johnny and Babushka"

Peter M Ball: "L'esprit de L'escalier"

Alan Baxter: "The King's Accord"

Jenny Blackford: "Mirror"

Gitte Christensen: "A Sweet Story"

Matthew Chrulew: "Schubert By Candlelight"

Bill Congreve: "Ghia Likes Food"

Rjurik Davidson: "Lovers In Caeli-Amur"

Felicity Dowker: "After the Jump"

Dale Elvy: "Night Shift"

Jason Fischer: "The School Bus"

Dirk Flinthart: "Walker"

Bob Franklin: "Children's Story"

Christopher Green: "Where We Go To Be Made Lighter"

Paul Haines: "High Tide At Hot Water Beach"

Lisa L. Hannett: "Soil From My Fingers"

Stephen Irwin: "Hive"

Gary Kemble: "Feast Or Famine"

Pete Kempshall: "Brave Face"

Tessa Kum: "Acception"

Martin Livings: "Home"

Maxine McArthur: "A Pearling Tale"

Kirstyn McDermott: "She Said"

Andrew McKiernan: "The Memory Of Water"

Ben Peek: "White Crocodile Jazz"

Simon Petrie: "Dark Rendezvous"

Lezli Robyn: "Anne-droid of Green Gables"

Angela Rega: "Slow Cookin' "

Angela Slatter: "The Bone Mother"

Angela Slatter & Lisa L Hannett: "The February Dragon"

Grant Stone: "Wood"

Kaaron Warren: "That Girl"

Janeen Webb: "Manifest Destiny"

In addition to the above
incredible tales, the volume will include a
review of 2010 and a
list of recommended stories.

The editors will shortly begin
reading for the second volume of The
Year's Best Fantasy and
Horror. Details are available from the
Ticonderoga Publications
website http://ticonderogapublications.com.

The anthology is scheduled for publication in June 2011. The
anthology
will be available in hardcover, ebook and trade editions
and may be
pre-ordered at http://indiebooksonline.com.

Swancon/Natcon

This time next week I'll be in Perth! Here's my schedule for Swancon/Natcon:

Thursday 9.30pm

Ballroom

Seeing Green – natural imagery in fantastic fiction

with Glenda Larke, Kaaron Warren

 

This is going to be an interesting panel. We'll be talking about how to manage the elements in your fiction, and ensure that they don't take over from the story. Amongst other things. Glenda is a fascinating woman with so much knowledge I'll probably sit and listen to her if I can!

 

 

 

Friday  3pm

Plaza 1

Darkness Beyond Borders

with Kaaron Warren, Kirstyn McDermott, Ellen Datlow and Paul Haines

 

Looking forward to tearing up the borders with these brilliant writers and editors.

 

 

 

Friday 4pm

Mosman Bay

Dead Eyes: Dolls and Simulcra in Horror

with Stephen Dedman, Jason Nahrung, Kaaron Warren, and Robert Hood

 

Creepy, creepy dolls and things coming to life. I'm having nightmares just preparing for this panel!

 

 

 

Friday 8.30 pm

Mosman Bay

"A Positive" Screening with Kaaron Warren

 

Really excited about this. "A Positive" is the short movie made by Bearcage Productions, based on my short story of the same name. I've seen it on a medium screen, and had a disastrous showing when the organizer forgot to set up speakers, so I'm so looking forward to seeing it at Swancon. If people are interested, afterwards I can talk about the process of taking it to the screen.

 

 

 

Saturday 9.30 am

Plaza 1

Romance Writers 2: Finishing The Story

with Kaaron Warren

 

This is a workshop where I'll talk about how to finish a story, as it states! I've got some tricks up my sleeve so if you have that story itching for an ending, come along.

 

 

 

Saturday 2pm

Plaza 3

Ellen Datlow Interviewed by Kaaron Warren

 

I know I keep saying I'm excited, but I am excited about talking to Ellen Datlow about some of my favourites stories Ellen has edited. I've loved her work for about 20 years, and we'll talk about five or six stories I will never, ever forget. There'll be time for audience questions afterwards.

 

 

 

Sunday 3pm

Plaza 3

Writing Abroad

with Glenda Larke, Kaaron Warren, Simon Brown and Cristy Burne

 

I've been back from Fiji for 18 months, but the experience will never leave me.

Early story sale

One of the first stories I sold was "Working for the God of the Love of Money". It was slated to appear in "Horror", a magazine edited by Stephen Studach. I still remember his letter to me (this was before email was boss!). He told me it was one of the best horror stories he'd read. This is the sort of thing you need to hear early in your career, and it stood me in good stead from then on. Those words helped me to believe that other people wanted to read my stories. I knew I wanted to write, and would do so regardless. But Stephen buying that story, and telling me how much he loved it, cemented for me that I wanted to write and be published.

Stephen has published a review at Chizine of "The Glass Woman", the US edition of my first short story collection. He still thinks I can write! In fact, he calls me the Kate Bush of Australian dark fantasy!

 

Tree Sale

The fabulous Angry Robot Books love a celebration and they've jumped on the news that 'Walking the Tree' is on the Best Novel shortlist of the Ditmar Awards.

They're running a three day sale, a quid (how much is that in Australian cents?) for an electronic copy!

It's nice to be loved.