Angela Slatter's Blog, page 54

E.G. Wilson: 12-36

E.G. Wilson cut her authorial teeth writing Sherlock fanfiction at uni when she should really have been studying. She fell into writing science fiction after being inspired by Star Wars, Firefly, and Tolkien’s Legendarium, and has since won NaNoWriMo every year since 2012. She lives in South Canterbury, New Zealand; she loves mountains, hates broad beans, and never wears matching socks. Today she talks about her At the Edge story “12-36”.

1. What inspired your story?

The short answer is: Joss Whedon’s Firefly.

The longer answer is Firefly, and Terry Pratchett, and the fact that I am very much in love with my tiny home country at the bottom of the world.

Truth is, I was in the middle of Camp NaNoWriMo when I saw the call for submissions. Sir Pterry had passed away only a week or two beforehand, and the news was fresh in my mind. I put my WIP on hold and wrote 12-36 in two days, and then went back and finished the WIP. Guess it’s true what they say: a writer in motion will stay in motion unless they have to go to their day job.

Many of the elements evolved naturally as I wrote it, but the core three remained. For Firefly there was Tsione, who spoke a Firefly-influenced dialect and could hold her own against Captain Malcolm Reynolds any day. For New Zealand: Rerenga, barefoot and brown-skinned, innocent as a sunrise over the Pacific and wild as a rainstorm in the Catlins. And for the late Sir Terry Pratchett: Port Pratchett, a certain Scots phrase, and at least one tautologous simile.

2. What appealed to you about this project?

Two main things: the fact that it was a collaboration of New Zealand (and Australian) speculative fiction authors, and the chance to earn some money from my writing, which would shut the naysayers up for at least five minutes.

And of course the chance to work with Lee and Dan.

3. What do you love about short stories?

I wrote a haiku about this once. It even referred to 12-36.

this story is the

birth and death of an idea

in five thousand words

(and I am grieved)

4. Can you remember the first thing you ever read that made you want to write?

I can’t. But the thing that will always and forever make me fall in love with writing all over again is Tolkien’s Legendarium. I read The Hobbit as a child; graduated to The Lord Of The Rings as a teenager (I have to admit, the Jackson movies helped there); and I appreciate The Silmarillion so much more as an adult. The Professor’s command of language is masterful.

It gives me such hope as an author to know that even one of the literary greats like Tolkien can be surprised by his characters. As he put it in a letter to his son Christopher, “A new character has come on the scene (I am sure I did not invent him, I did not even want him, though I like him, but there he came walking into the woods of Ithilien): Faramir, the brother of Boromir.” (Letter 66, 6th May 1944).

5. What’s next for you?

Among other drafts and manuscripts, I’ve written a science fiction duology set in my hometown of Timaru, or, to give it its Maori name which I’ve used in the books, Te Maru. An American publisher is interested; I signed the contract this morning. The Kickstarter for the Voiceless Duology should be live in August or September sometime.

Connect with E.G. Wilson on:

Facebook: facebook.com/wilson.eg.writer

Wordpress: egwilsonwriter.wordpress.com

Pinterest: pinterest.com/egwilsonwriter

UK Tour!

Or bits of the UK anyway.

Woohoo!

A Feast of Sorrows available for pre-order

Yes, as per the heading, my first ever US collection A Feast of Sorrows: Stories is available for pre-order.

While it’s mostly a reprint collection of fairy tales and Sourdough/Bitterwood world stories, the important thing to note is that the last three stories in it form the introductory suite to The Tallow-Wife and Other Tales, a Sourdough world collection that will be out next year (all fair winds prevailing). So: the new material is “The Tallow-Wife” novella and a long short story called “What Shines Brightest Burns Most Fiercely”.

And it has a delightful Introduction by Theodora Goss!

A Feast of Shadows available for pre-order

Yes, as per the heading, my first ever US collection A Feast of Sorrows: Stories is available for pre-order.

While it’s mostly a reprint collection of fairy tales and Sourdough/Bitterwood world stories, the important thing to note is that the last three stories in it form the introductory suite to The Tallow-Wife and Other Tales, a Sourdough world collection that will be out next year (all fair winds prevailing). So: the new material is “The Tallow-Wife” novella and a long short story called “What Shines Brightest Burns Most Fiercely”.

And it has a delightful Introduction by Theodora Goss!

Ellen Datlow’s Honourable Mentions

Yes, it’s that time of year again when I struggle with whether I spell “honourable” in the fashion of my ancestors or like an American. Yet again, my ancestors have won.

But I’m delighted and honoured to have made Ellen Datlow’s HM List for 2015 stories. Mine are:

Slatter, Angela “Bearskin,” The Dark #7.

Slatter, Angela “Lavinia’s Wood,” She Walks in Shadows.

Slatter, Angela “Ripper,” (novella) Horrorology.

And I’m equally delighted to see so many friends on the list too! Lisa L. Hannett, Aaron Sterns, Robert Shearman, Damien Angelica Walters (whose “Sing Me Your Scars” still gives me chills), Molly Tanzer and loads more!

David Stevens: Crop Rotation

David Stevens  lives in Sydney, Australia, with his wife and children. He has worked in criminal law for 25 years, including a year spent in The Hague recently working with an international tribunal. His fiction has appeared in Crossed Genres, Aurealis, Three-LobedBurning Eye, Pseudopod, Cafe Irreal, the anthology Love Hurts, and elsewhere.  He blogs irregularly at davidstevens.info.

1. What inspired your At the Edge story?

Inspiration, hmm. The original title for my story was ‘Cane Toads’, which will mean something to Australians. They can’t be resisted, they will replace all the fauna, they will consume all. As well, a lot of my horror stories start as jokes. Here, I re-imagined an old pulp cover or movie poster, removing the young nubile pneumatic blonde in the picture who is held by an alien, and replacing her with a middle-aged overweight Australian male.

2. What appealed to you about this project?

The project involved a book! Not just a digital presence, but a physical aretfact. It turned into something more for me as well. Having a look at all the pies Lee and Dan have their fingers in, their larger community of writers and publishers and oh so many projects and such activity, has been an insight for someone like me who tends to dwell on the periphery (definitely on the edge).

3. What do you love about short stories?

I have several half or quarter written novels that I will get back to one day. I always had the idea that novels mattered, because they have heft, because they can take up space in a bookshop, and because I can get lost in them. With a demanding profession and four children, I have not had the concentration or time to finish them. Two of my daughters have a chronic illness. Most of my published short stories were written in the gaps around caring for them. I worked part time for a year so all of the burden did not fall on my wife. It was a time when I definitely needed something to call my own. A short story can be drafted (though not necessarily polished) in a short time, and you can keep the idea in your head the whole time. Completing them in that environment became precious to me. And attending a presentation by Cat Sparks and Angela Slattery and Lisa Hannett at the Sydney Writers Centre where they kept repeating: finish and submit … and submit overseas … then re-submit … well, I did, and now I have 14 stories published or due to be published soon.

4. Can you remember the first thing you ever read that made you want to write?

I can’t remember! I have always read, and always thought I was going to be a writer, it just took me a long time to be published. I wrote many first chapters of books inspired by my favourite tv shows – Time Tunnel, Planet of the Apes – when I was young, what would now be called fan fiction (my 16 year old writes fan fiction and has hundreds of followers, she outdoes me in every way).

5. What’s next for you?

Next for me: I have a list of ten stories I want to write. I also want to get back t o finishing a novel. I had a lovely, lovely rejection for a short story which said, this is really the origin story for a novel, and they were right, I was compressing (out of cowardice?) the first two or three chapters of a novel which I now have to write. There, I’ve said it out loud.

 

 

Goodreads Giveaway: Vigil – USA only

Dear USians,

Since Vigil currently has no release date for the US (don’t blame me, we’re waiting for a US publisher to pick up the rights – write to your publisher! Your congressperson! The President!), I’m giving away two copies of Vigil just for you folks.

So, go here and do the clicky-entry thing.

Good luck!

And so there was a launch!

We officially launched Vigil on Tuesday 19th July at the  Brisbane Square Library and a great night was had by all! About ninety people came along and listened to me chat with Dr Kim Wilkins, then they bought books and I signed them, and we all ate wonderful cupcakes from Cupcakes by K.

Thanks to everyone who came along and special thanks to my family (and sister who did my hair at the last minute), to David to helped with set up, to the library staff who were superb, and to Ron and Leanne from Pulp Fiction Booksellers. And mega thanks to my beloved Brain, Lisa Hannett, who fly in from Adelaide for about 36 hours just to attend the launch! And! Vigil got a mention on The Book Club on the very night we launch! Auspicious! Or suspicious. Whatever – I’ll take it!

Photo by Sophie Overett

Also, the are still some launch goody bags at Pulp Fiction Booksellers for those who buy the book!

The library has copies of Vigil to borrow.

Cupcakes by K.

Cupcakes by K, highly recommended!

Jan Goldie: Little Thunder

Jan Goldie writes books and short stories. Her latest creation is a children’s fantasy adventure about a boy called Brave and a girl named True. The book features a magical world, strange creatures and months of travel without a bath. Jan loves coffee, champagne and raspberries so she wouldn’t last long on that journey. You can find out more about Jan and Brave’s Journey by visiting her website www.jangoldie.com.

1. What inspired your At the Edge story?

My story was inspired by award winning writers Lee Murray (Co-editor of At the Edge) and Piper Mejia’s Shortcuts novella Mika, also published by Paper Road Press. I loved the feel of that story and how quintessentially New Zealand and M?ori values, symbols and objects were threaded through the narrative and voice. I wanted to write something with that same timbre. I also really wanted to give my character a kind of badass off world law enforcement vibe all her own. Hoping I achieved that!

2. What appealed to you about this project?

The fact that these were Kiwi and Australian takes on speculative fiction. I loved the fact we were joining forces across the ditch to create and imagine and I salute the editors for pulling it all together. Plus, I relished the opportunity to have another go at horror. I’d written a fairly placid, dystopian type story for the horror collection: Baby Teeth: Bite Sized Tales of Terror. This time I wanted to introduce a more defined horror element because I find writing horror really personally challenging. Essentially used to writing glass half full YA tales, it pushed my comfort zone a bit closer to the edge. And that’s a good thing.

3. What do you love about short stories?

I like the element of self-delusion at the beginning of the process. Oh, you say to yourself, this is a short story. It won’t take long. Just 3000 efficient, sparkly, enticing words. So compact. So simple. And that’s when the hard times begin. Rethinking ideas, revisiting characters, pacing them through action scenes because if they fall that way, it’s not going to work. How did you even think that would work? Hair is pulled. Doors are slammed. Words are said. Sanity unravels and you don’t know what you were thinking to even attempt this bloody awful, terrifying, torturous piece of utter… but then you think up a cool ending and your character says something so snarky it makes you laugh. And before you know it, the short story has become a creature in its own right. That’s when you compartmentalise all your anguish and say ‘Yep, I wrote that. Boom!’ as if it was the easiest thing on earth to do.

4. Can you remember the first thing you ever read that made you want to write?

Go Dog Go by P.D. Eastman. Hello again! Hello! Do you like my hat?  I do not like your hat. Goodbye again. Goodbye.

5. What’s next for you?

I’m about to return to working on a futuristic web series with two other writers. It’s called “Re-levelution” and it’s a fictional story about New Zealanders confronting extreme global climate change. Set in a climate-damaged coastal NZ town, the country’s largest port becomes a target for eco-terrorists following a political assassination. The story aims to focus on the human effects of climate change from a New Zealand perspective. I’m also writing a middle grade fantasy story but it’s stalled!

 

Beyond the Woods!

In the mail!