Angela Slatter's Blog, page 65

And Then interviews: Tor Roxburgh

Clan Destine Press is bringing out a new anthology And Then, and you can read interviews with the authors here over the next few weeks. The indiegogo campaign might have ended, but you should still check out the authors and their stories.

Tor Roxburgh

Today’s And Then author is Tor Roxburgh.

What inspired “ The Boudicca Society”?

My older sister and my aunt inspired “The Boudicca Society”. I was looking for a real world scenario that was full or adventure and fun, searching for a time and a place to set my story. My aunt told me about the wild times she had when she was a teenager in Albury in the 1960s and my older sister told me about going jazz and folk clubbing in Melbourne in the early 60s.

At the time, my older sister worked at Norma Tullo, which was a very, very groovy fashion house. She and my aunt both had teased hair and wore shell pink lipstick, pale foundation and false eyelashes. I made one of my characters, Mags, look like that and gave her a passion for fashion.

But the 60s also had a 1950s shadow. I made my other character, Brownie, more outwardly prim, secretarial and serious.

Then I sent them on a real world adventure.

What appealed to you about this project?

The Clan Destine Press brief asked for an adventure story with two equal protagonists. I really liked that challenge. Not just the conceptual challenge of creating fictional equality but also the technical writing challenge in terms of point of view. I wrote my story in an all-seeing but not all-knowing point of view.

What advantages does a long-short form offer?

I’m in love the with long-short form. I’ve always been a long form writer and have only just awakened to the beauty and wonder of shorter forms. I’m working my way down from 150,000 words so the long-short from is a great starting place.

The future of short fiction is

I can only speak about myself. I’m a writer who used to make a living from writing before the digital revolution disrupted the world. I’m finding a new, post income way to write. It involves short fiction because I’m earning my money elsewhere and can no longer give years of solid thought to a single story.

You can lament that or follow it down a rabbit hole. I’m going to follow it down a rabbit hole.

What’s next for you?

I’m writing a short story about a violent death in my partner’s family history. Even though it’s short fiction, it’s taking me a long time. I’m thinking my way into another culture’s past and doing some historical research. I’m enjoying the process.

 

Tor Roxburgh is a writer and an arts and craftswoman.

Her non-fiction titles include Taking Control, one of the first successful Australian books about family violence, and The Book of Weeks, a tale of the complex story of the weeks of pregnancy. She was a senior writer and researcher on the National Inquiry into Youth Homelessness. She is also the author of 12 teen romances.

Tor’s latest book, The Light Heart of Stone, is an epic fantasy novel that explores many contemporary themes. The Australian Broadcasting Commission’s, Prue Bentley, calls it “very Australian”.

Tor’s arts and crafts practice includes upholstering, painting and sculpture. Her public sculpture is created in collaboration with Velislav Georgiev.

 

 

Over at Far Fetched Fables …

… my story “The Jacaranda Wife” has a new life as a podcast!

Sometimes, not very often, but sometimes when the winds blow right, the summer heat is kind, and the rain trickles down just-so, a woman is born of a jacaranda tree.

This tale originally appeared in the Jack Dann edited Dreaming Again, way back in 2008.

Go here to listen.

And Then interviews: Kelly Gardiner

Clan Destine Press is bringing out a new anthology And Then, and you can read interviews with the authors here over the next few weeks. The indiegogo campaign might have ended, but you should still check out the authors and their stories.

And Then’s Kelly Gardiner talks “Boots and the Bushranger”.

What inspired “Boots and the Bushranger”?

I love writing adventure stories featuring adventurous women, and I have always loved the idea of female bushrangers and highwaywomen. I also wanted to look at the ways in which different classes mingled on the goldfields during the Victorian gold rush of the 1860s, and the cross-class friendships and relationships that sprung up – in this case between two young women from very different backgrounds, living in this harsh and pretty wild environment. There was so much sudden wealth, and also so much desperation, and corruption. Everyone was out of their depth or exploring new parts of themselves. It’s a fabulous setting – like Deadwood, without the swearing.

Now I’ve written it, I hope to write more about “Boots and the Bushranger”. They were immensely entertaining – for me, anyway.

What appealed to you about this project?

It’s such a great idea to acknowledge the importance of adventure tales – ripping yarns – in story telling, and to do it in an anthology that crosses genre boundaries. I haven’t read any of the other stories, but the roll call of writers is so diverse, and with so much talent, it’s going to be fascinating.

What advantages does a long-short form offer?

It gives you the chance to focus on a moment – a change, a point of no return in someone’s life. We don’t know what happens next, or what came before, and that leaves everything open to the imagination. The moment can be subtle, or an adventure – an epiphany – that changes everything.

The form allows you to write very precisely – it has its own tight structure, its own traditions, if you like, especially the grand tradition of the short adventure tale.

The future of short fiction is …

So positive. In a pragmatic sense, people are rediscovering short fiction, and non-fiction for that matter, as a perfect reading experience in a busy life. But more broadly, writers are experimenting with the form, asking it to do all kinds of different things, and it’s very exciting.

What’s next for you?

I’m just finishing work on 1917, a novel for kids set in the First World War. It’s part of Scholastic’s Australia’s Great War series, and focuses on aviators on the Western Front and the conscription debates at home. Then, I’m off into historical fantasy land, working on another novel called Wildfall.

 

Kelly Gardiner’s books include Act of Faith and The Sultan’s Eyes, both of which were shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards. Her latest book is Goddess, a novel based on the life of the seventeenth century French swordswoman, cross-dresser and opera singer, Mademoiselle de Maupin.

 

And Then interviews: Dan Rabarts

Clan Destine Press is bringing out a new anthology And Then, and you can read interviews with the authors here over the next few weeks. There is also an Indiegogo campaign, to which y’all can contribute here.

Today, one of New Zealand’s finest, Dan Rabarts, talks about “Tipuna Tapu”.

What inspired “Tipuna Tapu”?



My iwi is Ngati Porou, and my father maintains our histories, our whakapapa, going back many generations. Over the years, he has been sharing these stories with me, among them the narratives that connect our family to our ancestral lands in the Coromandel. This has included discussions of how the remains of our ancestors were handled and stored, of the tapu, or respect, associated with the bones of the dead, and the sacredness of those places, and those remains. So it’s been brewing for a while, and it was only a matter of time before a story came out, mashed up with taniwha and motorbikes and nailguns.

What appealed to you about this project?



It was nice to have an opportunity to write something with a bit more room for development than a short story without committing to a novel. Plus, it was really nice to be invited, as a Kiwi, to contribute to an Australian anthology, and lend my voice as a New Zealander to the flavour of the collection. And really, when you get asked to write a story full of adventure and excitement to appear alongside a whole raft of other rip-snorting adventure stories, how could I refuse?

What advantages does a long-short form offer?



Writing novellas is a different sort of challenge to short fiction or completing a novel, because while there’s more leeway in terms of word count, you still need to hold together a solid story, maintain convincing characters, and carry the tension through to the end. There’s a risk of overwriting, or trying to do too much, so writing a novella from scratch presented itself both as a chance to stretch out a bit but also as an opportunity to test my own discipline. I’ve set out to write novellas in the past and ended up with incomplete, underdeveloped novel ideas, or really long short stories, but with “Tipuna Tapu” I acheived the balance I was hoping for.

The future of short fiction is …



Bright. I have to say that, I’m a short story writer. But in all honesty, I believe the short story is alive and well, especially that one I have locked up in my bottom drawer and which bangs against the sides at night when it tries to get out.

What’s next for you?



This year, I focused on completing several incomplete long-form writing projects, including a dark fantasy novel and an urban horror/crime SF novel in collaboration with Lee Murray, which is currently looking for a home. I plan to make sure these are comfortably out in the wild, doing their best to make me a novelist, so then I can look at writing some more short stories. Lee and I also have an anthology of dark speculative fiction from Australia and New Zealand, At The Edge, coming out in 2016 with Paper Road Press, so the first half of next year will be dedicated to promoting that ahead of the release. Really looking forward to the book launches, since we plan to hold one in New Zealand and then another in Aussie. Watch out Australia, here we come. Again.

 

Dan Rabarts is a writer of fantasy novels and speculative fiction, sometime narrator of podcasts (including stories for the Hugo award-winning StarShipSofa), occasional sailor of sailing things, and father of two wee miracles in a little house on a hill, under the southern sun. In 2014 he received the Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best New Talent. Baby Teeth – Bite-sized Tales of Terror (a horror anthology co-edited with Lee Murray) also won the SJV for Best Collected Work and the Australian Shadows Award for Best Edited Work. His short stories have appeared in venues such as Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Aurealis Magazine, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, and on the Parsec Award-winning steampunk podcast Tales from the Archives, among many others.

 

 

And Then interviews: Jason Franks

Clan Destine Press is bringing out a new anthology And Then, and you can read interviews with the authors here over the next few weeks. There is also an Indiegogo campaign, to which y’all can contribute here.

In And Then, Jason Franks, author of the excellent Bloody Water, talks “Exli and the Dragon” and the value of Pew-Pew lasers.

What inspired your story/novelette?

Most of the ideas in “Exli and the Dragon” came from brainstorming around Lindy’s brief: two-protagonist adventure stories in any genre. I decided to write an SF piece, because I haven’t written any SF for a few years, and most of the ideas propagated from there. I don’t think there are enough convincing aliens in popular fiction, so I decided to make the narrator a creature who is not even vaguely humanoid. (I guess you’d call Exli a cushion-oid).

I prefer to write characters who are criminals and monsters, so that led me to making the pair of them convicts. I also decided that I wanted a lot of action but not a lot of violence. Exli and the Dragon are not equipped for combat against the more durable species they come up against, and so they have to win their way to freedom with agility and guile. Having said that, I couldn’t resist putting in a bit of Pew-Pew! Space Lasers in Space!

In terms of direct inspiration, I had just read an Iain Banks’ last Culture novel when Guardians of the Galaxy came out at the cinemas and I couldn’t help but wish that he had written the movie, so that became a touchstone for the project as well. Hopefully the result is a drolly humorous jailbreak story set in a space prison.

What appealed to you about this project?

Firstly, the opportunity to work with Lindy Cameron at CDP was a big incentive. Secondly, the brief was really interesting–it’s a different experience to design a story for two protagonists because the way that they interact becomes the principal mechanic of the story. I love to write dialogue so this was the part of the process that I enjoyed the most: learning about these two characters as they went about the business of escaping from prison.

Lindy also suggested that these stories might become serials, and I love me some serial fiction. Most of my novel projects have grown out a desire to write a series of discrete short stories based around a particular character, so this was double the fun.

What advantages does a long-short form offer?

The novelette feels very natural to me these days–I’m not sure I’m still capable of writing anything shorter. I am very interested in exploring ways to compress a big story into a small number of words and many of my recent shorts have been experiments in compression. Perhaps not very successful experiments, it must be said: the most frequent criticism I hear from my writing group is that there’s too much going on for a short, and that I should unpack the story into a novella or a novel. If the story is complex enough there’s just no substitute for word count.

But there’s no trickery in “Exli and the Dragon”. It runs to 9000 words of banter and action. Even so, I only managed to tell half the story I pitched to Lindy. If there’s an opportunity to do another installment, Exli and the Dragon are still up to no good, and so am I.

The future of short fiction is …

… probably not a question I am well-positioned to answer. I don’t write much of it anymore, or if I do, it usually winds up being a comic.

There are a lot of new markets now and I hope that readership starts to grow again. New formats and publication models offer new opportunities, but I think it’s going to be a long time before short fiction has the same level of paying readership that it enjoyed in the 20th century.

What’s next for you?

I have a short horror/fantasy novel called Shadowmancy coming out very soon and I’m presently trying to get my next book, XDA Zai, ready for submission by the end of January. Also, more Left Hand Path comics, more McBlack comics, and…  maybe even a short story or two.

 

Jason Franks is the author of the occult rock’n’roll novel Bloody Waters and the writer of the Sixsmiths and Left Hand Path and comicbook series. His short fiction has been published in Aurealis, Midnight Echo, After the World, and other places. Franks’ work has twice been short-listed for an Aurealis Award. Find him online at www.jasonfranks.com.

 

 

And Then interviews: Michael Pryor

Clan Destine Press is bringing out a new anthology And Then, and you can read interviews with the authors here over the next few weeks. There is also an Indiegogo campaign, to which y’all can contribute here.

In today’s interview the delightful Michael Pryor chats about his And Then tale, “Cross Purposes”.

What inspired your story/novelette?

Sometimes my stories kick off with an idea for a character. Sometimes they grow out of a plot idea. But sometimes, it’s a location that gets me thinking. Early 2014, I visited Cooktown in Far North Queensland. The place appealed to me – its remoteness, its history, its sense of being an outpost …  When I got home I started researching, and so many gems popped up that I simply had to use. The railway to nowhere? Perfect!

What appealed to you about this project?

I loved the unabashed adventure story aspect of this project. Sadly, gripping, thrilling stories are seen as a bit passé, a bit naff, but I’ve always loved them. Derring-do, hair’s breadth escapes, noble sacrifices, this sort of thing is guaranteed to keep me reading, and so I couldn’t turn down an invitation to write in this mode.

What advantages does a long-short form offer?

I find that the long-short form is a great boon to pacing. No time to sag in the middle, gotta keep moving!

The future of short fiction is …

Robust. Online publishing offers a variety of niche opportunities that traditional print publishing can’t. Whereas hard copy publishers are reluctant to go with a short story collection, online’ s cheaper costs can make it viable.

What’s next for you? 

I’m working on a number of YA projects, with an urban fantasy due for release in 2017, from Allen and Unwin. And I’m still working on my first adult novel, one with plenty of derring-do, exotic locations, 1930s ambience and some crafty magic. Stay tuned.

 

Michael Pryor writes fantasy and science fiction, mostly for teenagers. He has published more than thirty novels and 50 something short stories. He is one of the co-publishers of Aurealis, Australia’s longest running Fantasy and SF magazine. He has been shortlisted for the Aurealis Award six times, and seven of his books have been CBCA Notable books. His website is www.michaelpryor.com.au.

And Then interviews: Amanda Pillar

Clan Destine Press is bringing out a new anthology And Then, and you can read interviews with the authors here over the next few weeks. There is also an Indiegogo campaign, to which y’all can contribute here.

Today author, editor, and archaeologist Amanda Pillar talks about her story “It”.

What inspired your story/novelette?

Funnily enough, this story was inspired by a dream I had years ago. I don’t remember a whole lot of it, but I do recall a scene set in an inn, the taproom filled with people, where a cup of water rippled (like on Jurassic Park). And then it was coming, but I wasn’t sure what it was, just that everyone had to get away…

What appealed to you about this project?

I loved the idea of an anthology dedicated to action stories. I want to read this collection! (And edit it – brain, why hadn’t you thought of this before?).

What advantages does a long-short form offer?

I think the long-short form provides a way for a ‘small’ idea to be explored in greater detail. It also allows for more characters and more comprehensive world-building. Some stories can be told quickly, poignantly, and expertly within 5,000 words. Other need more space to grow and develop. I really enjoyed watching this story emerge, inspired by my sleeping imagination!

The future of short fiction is …

I think it is exciting. Every year we see new anthologies, new stories, new authors emerging. It’s a place where talent can be discovered or where it can be honed. I love it!

What’s next for you?

I have a novella coming out in February 2016! It’s called Captive, and is the prequel to my novel Graced. I’m really excited to share more about the Graced world with readers!

 

Amanda Pillar is an award-winning editor and author who lives in Australia, with her husband and two cats. Amanda is the author of the novel Graced (2015), and the novella Captive. Amanda has had numerous short stories published and has co-edited six fiction anthologies and solo-edited two: Bloodstones and Bloodlines.  She works as an archaeologist.

 

 

And Then interviews: Sarah Evans

Clan Destine Press is bringing out a new anthology And Then, and you can read interviews with the authors here over the next few weeks. There is also an Indiegogo campaign, to which y’all can contribute here.

Sarah Evans talks “Plumbing the Depths” and the killing heat of Australian Christmases.

What inspired your story/novelette?

“Plumbing the Depths” kicked off because of homesickness as I suffered yet another Christmas in a hot climate. Being an ex-pat, I was feeling nostalgic about white Christmases and winter in general. Memories surfaced of snow and ice and tobogganing and feeling really, really cold while I sweated in my non-airconditioned study… Actually, I often write about wintery things in the depths of summer. It must be therapy.

I was also brought up o a healthy diet of horror flicks and stories and had long fancied writing a tale about a vegetarian-turned-vampire (this was years before the Twilight phenomenon). I wrote a thousand or so words and then life got in the way, as it often does.

Fast forward to Lindy and her invitation for And Then, and I was back into chilly winter and blood suckers and this time determined to get the story finished.

What appealed to you about this project?

The challenge! Lindy threw down the gauntlet to write a rollicking adventure story. The scope was massive. How could one resist?

What advantages does a long-short form offer?

Novellas are a good length for me. Like short stories, they are very doable in a chaotic life. I’ve written several romance novellas for My Weekly over the years. These are now published as large print books in the library system.

A novella gives one enough room to explore and expand the characters and is short enough to try out ideas which may not be meaty enough for a novel. And they don’t need as much head space as a novel. Novels do tend to sabotage the brain cells and take over your life.

So when Lindy issued the invitation, I jumped at it. It was an ideal project to resurrect my vampire slayers and have a play. It was soooo much fun.

The future of short fiction is …

Healthy, extremely so. People lead busy lives and short fiction is accessible. It can be shoe-horned in between the essentials. There’s the added bonus that you can read a story in one hit which maintains its continuity AND you don’t feel (too) guilty for spending too much time in a fictitious realm.

What’s next for you?

After all this talk about short fiction, I won’t be doing it!

My plan is to get cracking on the sequel to my rom-com crime novel Operation Paradise. It’s been bubbling on the back burner for some months now and I do really need to get it done and dusted. People keep hounding me to find out what happens next. I need to get them off my back :).

 

Sarah Evans, an English ex-pat journalist and home-schooling mum, is the author of a lifestyle/recipe book Seasons and Seasonings in a Teapot, romance and crime novels, short stories and poetry. She writes for the UK women’s magazine market and her stories have been broadcast on ABC Radio and published in crime and romance anthologies. She also writes songs with her singer-songwriter daughter.

Sarah teaches creative writing, edits for a children’s book publisher and is the convenor of Bridgetown’s Words in the Valley, a grassroots readers and writers festival.

Last year CDP published Sarah’s debut crime novel Operation Paradise and three short story ebook collections, Killing Kindness (crime), Call of the Wild (fantasy) and New Blood (horror). Her novella Plumbing the Depths is included in the And Then adventure anthology.

 

 

 

Goodreads Giveaway: She Walks in Shadows

Okay, I’m giving away a copy of the She Walks in Shadows anthology, edited by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Paula R. Stiles. This is an Australia only giveaway because the cost of postage elsewhere means I wouldn’t be able to eat for two weeks.

Go here to enter; the comp closes at midnight on 22 Dec 2015.

The ToC:

“Bitter Perfume” Laura Blackwell

“Violet is the Color of Your Energy” Nadia Bulkin

“Body to Body to Body” Selena Chambers

“Magna Mater” Arinn Dembo

“De Deabus Minoribus Exterioris Theomagicae” Jilly Dreadful

“Hairwork” Gemma Files

“The Head of T’la-yub” Nelly Geraldine García-Rosas (translated by Silvia Moreno-Garcia)

“Bring the Moon to Me” Amelia Gorman

“Chosen” Lyndsey Holder

“Eight Seconds” Pandora Hope

“Cthulhu of the Dead Sea” Inkeri Kontro

“Turn out the Light” Penelope Love

“The Adventurer’s Wife” Premee Mohamed

“Notes Found in a Decommissioned Asylum, December 1961? Sharon Mock

“The Eye of Juno” Eugenie Mora

“Ammutseba Rising” Ann K. Schwader

“Cypress God” Rodopi Sisamis

“Lavinia’s Wood” Angela Slatter

“The Opera Singer” Priya Sridhar

“Provenance” Benjanun Sriduangkaew

“The Thing in The Cheerleading Squad” Molly Tanzer

“Lockbox” E. Catherine Tobler

“When She Quickens” Mary Turzillo

“Shub-Niggurath’s Witnesses” Valerie Valdes

“Queen of a New America” Wendy N. Wagner

Of Sorrow and Such Giveaway – open to NZ

So I’ve opened the Goodreads giveaway of Of Sorrow and Such to New Zealand as well as Australia – enter here!