Angela Slatter's Blog, page 61
March 23, 2016
In which there are things
Thing the first: tonight I am chatting to Ben Aaronovitch about The Rivers of London, Doctor Who, Blake’s 7, and writing stuff. Tickets are still available … but hurry!
Thing the second: the ARCs of Vigil have arrived in Australia. They are hanging out in Sydney at the Hachette offices, no doubt eating all the cake and drinking all the coffee, and proving a general embarrassment in the manner of tribbles.
Thing the third: Lisa is here! Huzzah – Brains reunion 2016! Shenanigans at the ready.
March 18, 2016
My Contact2016 Schedule
Well, the NatCon is just around the corner! It’s actually just waiting in the milkbar, filling up on thickshakes, until the curtains go up. I’ll be there and my schedule is below. Come up and say “hello”.
My Contact 2016 schedule:
Thursday 24 March
In Conversation with Ben Aaronovitch, He of Rivers of London Fame
6-8pm
State Library of Queensland – room to be advised
Friday 25 March
Free! Free! I’ll see you in the bar.
Saturday 26 March
2.30-3.30pm
Panel: Dead Ends and Red Herrings (M)
Ben Aaronovitch, Angela Slatter, Trent Jamieson (M), Marianne de Pierres
Sunday 27 March
2.30-3.30pm
Panel: The fall and rise of the short story. (M)
Angela Slatter, Tehani Wessely, (M), Simon Brown, Cat Sparks
Monday 28 March
9-10am
Panel: International markets – selling across the ditch (M)
Sean Williams, Keri Arthur, Kylie Chan (M), Angela Slatter
10-11am
Panel: Australian Gothic (M)
Liz McKewin (M), Robert Hood, Simon Brown, Angela Slatter
March 15, 2016
And over at Smash Dragons …
… the lovely Matthew Summers kindly asked me some excellent questions, which I have answered to the best of my limited and extremely flippant abilities! (Look at all these posts! Can you tell that (a) I finally finished Corpselight and (b) my website has been fixed?)
I talk about fairy tales, horror, managing (that’s a strong word) my writing day, my Tor.com novella Of Sorrow and Such, writing tips, building convincing characters, world peace in five words or fewer, 2016 appearances, and the favourite book in my library.
Hey Everyone!
I’m delighted to bring you yet another instalment in our ongoing interview series here at Smash Dragons. This week I had the amazing opportunity to chat with award-winning author Angela Slatter. Angela kindly took time out of her very busy schedule to stop by, so for that we are incredibly grateful. I hope you all enjoy it!
Be sure to check out all of her work as well… it’s amazing!
Angela Slatter, welcome to Smash Dragons!
First up, tell us a little bit about yourself.
I’m a Brisbane-based writer of dark fantasy and horror, most of my tales have their roots in fairy tales. I’ve been publishing since 2006. I’ve done a lot of jobs over the years in order to avoid being a writer ? university admin officer, articled clerk, check-out chick, research assistant, membership coordinator ? but ultimately I have failed to not be a writer. I have no cat.
The rest, she is here.
The Female Factory …
… also gained praise from the delightful Peter Tennant in Black Static #51 (and yes, you should still subscribe).
Peter says of the titular story, “The Female Factory”:
Finally we have title story ‘The Female Factory’, which is set in an institution that is home to criminals, some of them no more than young children, all under the draconian rule of Matron Welles. While the staff jockey for position and pursue their own obsessions, including the doctor who experiments on corpses, a group of children combine to create a mother figure to head up their new family. This is a fascinating story, one that in its imagery touches on the Frankenstein archetype, and with the ups and downs of fortune that the characters experience is thoroughly engrossing. The Bridewell institution is a singularly minatory environment, a prison camp of sorts with its own 
unique logic, with rules and regulations that it can be fatal to break, but at the bottom of it all, for the young inmates, there remains a smidgen of hope, a feeling that only the irrational can provide when all else fails. Ultimately, it seems to say, gender identity is what we wish it to be, something summoned forth by our own implacable yearning, and the mothers of our own devising will sometimes have more to offer than those inflicted on us by the tyranny of biology and social constraints.
In Black Static #51 …
… Peter Tennant says lovely things about Of Sorrow and Such!
Of Sorrow and Such is a superb work of fiction, one that contains within its pages a gripping story, but at the same time has much to tell us about sexual politics and gender identity, and the ways in which bad people behave, the warped logic they use to justify doing so, and I loved every word of it. Without doubt, Slatter is at the top of her game in this story and fast carving out a reputation for herself as one of the most original and rewarding writers on the genre scene.
You can (and should) subscribe to Black Static!
Over at Cultured Vultures …
… I talk Networking.
Specifically, I offer my top five tips for navigating the minefield that is networking as a writer.
“Networking” isn’t a dirty word. Unfortunately, sometimes it feels dirty. Some writers will tell you that the entire idea of networking dilutes or sullies your art ? that you should get back to starving in your garret, producing a masterpiece that people will magically know about when it’s done.
The word has most certainly received a bad rap courtesy of all those movies about high finance, serial killers, and people who compare the size of their business cards. But it needn’t be a word to set you all aquiver in a bad way. Let’s reframe it as a useful word, a helpful word, a word that doesn’t make you think of some wanker in an expensive suit ahead of you in the queue ordering a half-caf decaf vanilla mocha frappuccino with a light sprinkling of lemongrass. So, here are five ideas to get you thinking differently about networking and to help you identify networking opportunities.
March 9, 2016
Five Misunderstood Witches
Over at the Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog I talk about my picks for the Most Misunderstood Witches in Fantasy.
Molly Weasley, in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series
Don’t, whatever you do, be fooled by Molly Weasley’s exterior. Sure, the cardigans (oh dear, the cardigans), the shapeless dresses, the temper, the hair that looks as though it hasn’t seen a brush since Methuselah was a boy, the complete lack of any acquaintance with colour co-ordination, are all things to make you think she’s harmless. Plus she behaves like someone’s potty mother. But that’s just camouflage: Molly’s blending in, sneaking under the radar. Everyone judges her on those surface elements and that means she’s perfectly placed to wrong foot folk at important moments. Failing to take her seriously is a very bad mistake: just ask Bellatrix Lestrange. Oh, that’s right. You can’t.
The rest is here!
March 8, 2016
The Rivers of London: Talking to Ben Aaronovitch
Oh, my poor neglected blog. I’ve been finishing Corpselight – which is done. An ugly first draft, but done. Editing begins next week.
But the important thing is that Contact 2016 is coming up AND I get to host the In Conversation event with author of the best-selling Rivers of London series, Ben Aaronovitch.
Huzzah! Details are here.
February 25, 2016
Seriously: Contact2016
Go, buy your ticket now. Come to Brisneyland, where the heat probably won’t kill you (although it will try), but it’s okay because we’ll be in the airconditioned Hotel Jen!
Watching Ben Aaronovitch, Keri Arthur, Maria Lewis and other people of awesomeness talk about the nerdy-geeky stuff we love. Not to mention that the Ditmars and the Aurealis Awards will be decided in a series of violent and bloody cage matches … What? They won’t? Oh. *puts away Nacho Libre costume, sulks*
February 18, 2016
Women in Horror
Simon Dewar has been running a great series of interviews with women in horror for Women in Horror Month (surprise, surprise!).
Today, Lisa and I get the treatment.
Check his site for interviews with luminaries such as Ellen Datlow, Kirstyn McDermott, Mercedes Murdock Yardley, Sarah Reed, Kirsti DeMeester, Karen Runge, and many more!
