Tim Jones's Blog, page 56
February 21, 2010
An Interview With Bryan Walpert
Bryan Walpert is the author of a book of poetry, Etymology (Cinnamon Press), and a book of short stories, Ephraim's Eyes (Pewter Rose Press), both published in 2009. His poetry, fiction, and/or essays have been published in New Zealand, Australia, the UK, Canada and widely in his native United States. His poems have won a number of awards, including most recently both first and third-equal prizes in the 2007 NZ Poetry Society International Poetry Competition and the James Wright Poetry Award ...
February 17, 2010
Men Briefly Explained
Men Briefly Explained is the working title of the poetry collection I'm currently putting together - which, when published, will be my third collection, after Boat People (2001) and All Blacks' Kitchen Gardens (2007). The poems in it are all about men in some way, even those that aren't.
My long-haul task at the moment is to take the manuscript of the novel I completed drafting over the Christmas holidays and polish the rough edges off it so that it glows like a bridesmaid's dress. Though...
February 14, 2010
All Blacks' Kitchen Gardens Takes The New Zealand Reading Challenge
Book blogger and librarian Tosca (aka Catatonia, aka @catatonichic on Twitter) recently decided it was time she read more New Zealand books, and embarked on her New Zealand books resolution.
The third book on her list was my second poetry collection, All Blacks' Kitchen Gardens. I waited anxiously to see what she'd think of it - though I was cheered by the news that, as she read it on the bus home, a fellow passenger had started reading over her shoulder. But in the event, I needn't have...
February 10, 2010
Five Blogs I Like. Chapter 1: The First Five
A week or so ago, writer Debbie Cowens very kindly nominated me for a Prolific Blogger Award, as part of which, all the nominees are invited to nominate seven prolific bloggers of their own.
Although I decided not to go down the Prolific Blogger route (because I'm, like, a rebel), it did remind me that I'd fallen out of the habit of posting here about other blogs I enjoy reading, even if I don't catch up with them as often as I'd like. So I've decided to institute a semi-regular series...
February 7, 2010
Lost In Translation: New Zealand Stories
Waitangi Day, the 6th of February, is New Zealand's national day, commemorated by official ceremonies at Te Tii Marae and elsewhere.
In Wellington, it was the second and final day of the Wellington Sevens, an event which (apart from being a seven-a-side rugby tournament) doubles as Wellington's version of Mardi Gras; and also the day of the One Love music festival.
While all these good things were going on, a short story anthology with a new story by me was published. Called Lost in...
February 3, 2010
Poem From Voyagers Nominated For International Poetry Award
Meliors Simms' poem "Two Kinds of Time", first published in Voyagers: Science Fiction Poetry from New Zealand, which I co-edited with Mark Pirie, has been nominated for the Rhysling Awards, the international awards for speculative (science fiction, fantasy and horror) poetry. We thought that was well worth a press release, and here it is!
New Zealand poem nominated for international award
Meliors Simms' poem "Two Kinds of Time", first published in the acclaimed anthology "Voyagers: Science...
January 31, 2010
Rooms, Streets, Years
The pleasure and stability of dining rooms had always occurred against the catastrophic background of universal chaos. Groups of friends, rooms, streets, years, none of them would last. The illusion of stability was created by a...
January 24, 2010
Chat Show
Every month or so, this blog turns into a chat show: I interview an author, usually but not always a New Zealand author, about their inspirations for writing, their current work, the genre(s) they work in, or whatever else seems relevant and appropriate.
I will be posting my first interview for 2010 before too much longer, but in the meantime, here are the interviews I did in 2009. I think they make quite a worthwhile collection.
March
An Interview With Sue Emms
April
An Interview With Trevor...
January 17, 2010
Book Review: Galileo's Dream, by Kim Stanley Robinson
Kim Stanley Robinson is well known for his fictions about the near future in the face of climate change (the "Science in the Capital" series that begins with Forty Signs of Rain; Antarctica), and even better known for his Mars trilogy - Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars - which looks in dazzling detail at the near-future colonisation, terraforming, and coming to independence of the fourth planet from the sun.
But Kim Stanley Robinson has also had a long-standing interest in history and...
January 10, 2010
Sir Julius Vogel Award Nominations Open For 2009 Calendar Year
The Sir Julius Vogel Awards, New Zealand's equivalent of the Hugo Awards, have recently opened for nominations. Nominations close on 31 March 2010.
Grant Stone has listed some possible contenders for the Vogels on his blog, and I naturally endorse his selection of Voyagers: Science Fiction Poetry From New Zealand as one of the candidates! You can find SFFANZ's list of eligible novels on their site; I recently reviewed one of the listed novels, Lee Pletzers' The Last Church.
Short stories and...
