Madeleine D'Este's Blog, page 15
April 11, 2017
Recent reads – The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
In the past few months, I’ve fallen in love with Shirley Jackson and her creepy weird normality. Today it’s The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, a classic haunted house story, first published in 1959.
Stephen King described The Haunting of Hill House as one of the most important horror books of the 20th century and inspired The Shining. It has also been the basis for two films. And today, a new ‘reimagining’ via Netflix was announced.
Dr Montague, a paranormal academic researcher,...
April 7, 2017
Guest posts round-up
I’ve been guest posting on various blogs to spread the word about Evangeline and the Spiritualist. Take a look at my posts below.
Where I talk about my challenges in writing Evangeline and the Spiritualist at Martin McConnell’s blog History of spiritualism in Melbourne at Icy Sedgwick’s blog How to keep a character fresh in a series (amongst other things) at Christina Hawthorne‘s blog.[image error]
April 6, 2017
Recent reads – Uprooted by Naomi Novik
This week, it’s fairytales with Naomi Novik’s Uprooted, first published by Del Ray in 2015.
Agnieska lives in a village deep in the Wood, where an ageless hermit Wizard called the Dragon lives in a white tower nearby. The Wood is no ordinary forest, twisted and enchanted it takes people, including the Queen who disappeared in the Wood twenty years earlier and over the years, the Wood has gobbled up entire villages.
The villagers depend on the Dragon to keep the Wood under control and once ev...
April 4, 2017
Someone ought to do something – Evangeline calling me a wuss
I realised something today. One of my main characters is influencing my life.
I write fiction. I make stuff. I make people up. My main character in The Antics of Evangeline series is Evangeline. She’s a busy-body feisty teen in an action-adventure series, solving mysteries and kicking derriere.
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In the process of writing an action-adventure story, I have to put Evangeline in the centre of the action all the time, otherwise it’s rather dull. No one wants to read about a character who sits back...
March 28, 2017
Recent reads – Geek Feminist Revolution by Kameron Hurley
Today I’m talking about Geek Feminist Revolution by Kameron Hurley, a collection of personal essays by science fiction author Kameron Hurley, published by Tor in 2016.
Hurley is an award winning author and her personal essays covers feminism, geek and internet culture, the perils of being a writer, health and rebellion. Hurley critiques and challenges in a raw and honest way, drawing on her own personal experiences and life story.
Coincidence is a funny thing. I picked up this book right afte...
March 27, 2017
Marty says you can ‘Finish the Damn Book!’
Apparently 80% of Americans want to be authors. Today I have a guest post from Martin McConnell. Marty is a writer and first-class motivator and he’s here to convince you (if you’re one of the 80%), that you can “Finish the Damn Book!” And if you read to the end, there’s a little treat for my blog reader.
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First of all, I want to thank Madeleine for allowing me to write this post. In case you haven’t engaged with her directly, she’s a terrific person, and someone any writer woul...
March 10, 2017
Madeleine’s Speculative Fiction review – podcast archive
Like you I love to read.
If you’d like to hear me talk about the books I love, check out my reviews on Art District radio. My show – Madeleine’s Speculative Fiction Review – is all about speculative fiction, where I bang on about science fiction, fantasy, steampunk, dystopia, horror, paranormal etc.
You can listen to the back catalogue of reviews as podcasts.
Happy listening and happy reading.
March 3, 2017
Evangeline and the Spiritualist – out NOW!
I’m thrilled to announce the launch of Evangeline and the Spiritualist – Episode 3 of The Antics of Evangeline. Available from today at Amazon.
A sarcophagus, séances and seed cake, Evangeline is back with another adventure.
Mrs Picklescott-Smythe’s mummy unwrapping soiree doesn’t quite go to plan, and for once it’s not Evangeline’s fault.
Evangeline is a seventeen-year-old ex-urchin and aspiring world-famous inventress, recently resettled in Marvellous Melbourne with her long lost father, th...
Recent reads – The Female Man by Joanna Russ
The Female Man by Joanna Russ, first published in 1975 by Bantam Books.
One of the main reasons why I like speculative fiction is how the genre allows the exploration of different ideas about science or culture or in the case today’s book, gender, by using made-up worlds.
While people might think it’s not about reality with all the aliens, spaceships, dragons and demons, but the truth is speculative fiction is a different way of examining our world by using these allegories.
This is definite...
February 21, 2017
Recent reads: Anno Dracula by Kim Newman
Today it’s one of my all time favourite books, Anno Dracula by Kim Newman, first published in 1992 by Simon and Schuster. Alternative history with vampires!
In the world of Anno Dracula, Van Helsing lost and Dracula triumphed, killing Jonathan Harker and taking Mina Harker into his harem of vampire brides.
Uncontested, Dracula continues to spread his vampire virus across Europe and a class of undead vampires emerges. Then Count Dracula takes the ultimate bride, the widowed Queen Victoria and...
