Angela Slatter's Blog, page 65

Katharine Susannah Prichard Residency

Well, I guess I can announce this now: I’ve been selected as the Established Writer-in-Residence at KSP for 2016!

I’m pretty excited about this – two weeks in Perth from 25 June to 10 July.

Details are here.

In which accidental art causes happiness … and a book

Yesterday Kathleen Jennings and I had a work day out at UQ in Wordies cafe (trying a new venue for ease of travel for both of us without cars).

There was much talking and planning but not much actual work-work, yet it was still a Very Useful Day in terms of organisation and scheduling, synching our calendars for new and continuing projects.

One of the thing we did discuss was a new storybook, in a similar vein as Flight. So, Skin is next on the board. Kathleen’s first assay (above left) at a selkie came out as a glorious mix of a seal, the Lorax and Cookie Monster. I love her, but she’s Not Quite Right.

But then last night I noticed on Facebook that Kathleen was experimenting with some new paints … and this was one of those experiments … and she is Perfect.

She is the selkie lady of Skin.

I was sixteen when he plucked me from the sea.

Caught in his fisherman’s net, I thought I would drown until he lifted me into the too-small boat and began to hack at the rough fibres to release me. I should have known then how soft his heart was, to see him ruining a net so, but I was terrified. In his haste he cut me, split the skin down by my tail a good eight inches and saw the two fine-boned ankles lying within. He sat back, astonished, and I fought my way free of the pelt until I was naked and shivering in my human skin, huddled at the bottom of that little, little boat.

His family told him to throw me back, to return my other skin and send me home. He refused.

More as both project and year progress.

2015 Rundown and highlights

Well, this post is only about six weeks late. Not too shabby. Not too shabby at all. I’ll mix the WFC post with a 2015 rundown post, methinks, and get it all out of the way in one fell swoop.

So, 2015: stuff happened.

My publishing output was quite low, with three short stories in English (“Bluebeard’s Daughter” in SQ Magazine; “Bearskin” in The Dark; and “Lavinia’s Wood” in She Walks in Shadows), one short story in Japanese (“The Heart is a Mirror for Sinners” in Night Land Quarterly) and two novellas (Of Sorrow and Such, one of the Tor.com inaugural new series; and Ripper in Stephen Jones’ Horrorology, with cover and internal art by Clive Barker). There were also eleven reprinted stories in a variety of domestic and international anthologies.

But: in April this year I signed a three book deal with Jo Fletcher Books (an imprint of Hachette International), brokered by my delightful International Literary Agent of Mystery, Ian Drury of Sheil Land. This means I am able to eat for three years and I get to work with an editor I’ve admired for a long while, Jo Fletcher herself. The first two books are Vigil and Corpselight, which follow my wise-cracking, cake-addicted heroine Verity Fassbinder as she tries to keep Brisbane safe from wayward Weyrd, murderous Normals, and all manner of strange occurrences. The third book might be Restoration, but in all honestly we’ll have to wait and see how well the series does (there’ll be a new post on that called “The Three Book Problem”, appearing next week, about the practicalities and challenges of surviving publishing).

Art by Greg Ruth

I sold an original novelette to Ellen Datlow for Tor.com, called “Finnegan’s Field”, which will be out in January 2016 (oh, hey, wait, tomorrow is January 2016). I’ve sold two short story collections to appear in 2016, one in the US and one in the UK, both mostly reprints but with a couple of new stories to spice things up. Official announcements when I’m allowed.

Kathleen Jennings and I turned in our story book for grown-ups, Flight, which should be out in February 2016 via Tiny Owl Workshop.

Photo by Lisa

In April I was fortunate enough to win three Aurealis Awards (Best Fantasy Short Story for “St Dymphna’s School for Poison Girls”, Best Horror Short for “Home and Hearth”, and Best Collection with Lisa L. Hannett for our Twelve Planets instalment, The Female Factory). That was nice, and we had a great trip to Canberra (one night only!) and got to catch up with friends, however briefly.

At BWF in September, I got to interview Kelly Link, and then to moderate a panel on folklore with her, Holly Black and Sjón Sigurðsson, which was excellent. Also I went to Adelaide in early October for the launch of Lisa’s debut novel, Lament for the Afterlife, and bonding with Garth Nix over doing dishes. In late October, Lisa came over here for GenreCon = big fun.

Photo by JS Breukelaar

My major trip this year was to World Fantasy in Saratoga Springs, NY. I was lucky (unlike poor Lisa — her tale of woe can be read here) and my flights from Bris-LA, the LA-NYC went smoothly. The long and tedious ride in the shared taxi was long and tedious (but at least not 20 hours unexpected stopover in Abu Dhabi tedious, so I no complain). I arrived at the hotel about 9pm on 3 November, ate much of the mini-bar for dinner and went to sleep. I spent pretty much all of 4 November asleep, then finally rose as the sun set (vampire-like) and set off for Times Square, where I met up with Dan Braum. The kind man got me coffee and dinner, then we headed to NYC’s only haunted house experience, The Kill Bar, just down the street from Times Square. It’s a great venue and a big thanks to Matt Kressel who stepped in to read with me as Lisa was still stuck in transit hell. The reading went really well, I met some lovely folk, and a big YAY to home-girl Jennifer Breukelaar, who was in NYC and came along, and to Alp Beck who took some great photos of the event.

Photo by Lisa

I’d been able to get a late checkout at the hotel and my travel agent at home changed our train tickets from the morning to the afternoon trip (no extra charge! Thanks, Ben!). An exhausted and bedraggled Brain turned about 10.30 the next morning (5 November), had a shower and then we walked around the corner to the French patisserie, which served good coffee and ever better pastries (and would become our breakfast home for the four days we returned to NYC after the con), and had a catch-up. In the afternoon we headed to Penn Station, armed with knowledge from Kathleen Jennings (who always goes before and sends helpful tips back) about the usefulness of Redcaps in guiding one to the train, and sat around for a bit waiting for our train. And yes, I was a wee bit disappointed to find that the Redcaps were not gnomes with actual red caps, but probably for the best that your luggage isn’t taken by a murderous goblin.

With the Sisters Marshall

Train trip was uneventful, although as we chugged into the mists coming off the Hudson, Lisa observed that we were either going into Tír na nÓg or a Stephen King novel. On arrival at our hotel in Saratoga Springs we found Haralambi Markov! Huzzah! A meeting in person at long last. And Nicole Korhner-Stace! And later on Cat Valente! And Helen and Laura Marshall and Chris Roberts and Garth Nix and Jonathan Strahan and Ellen Datlow and Gemma Files and Irene Gallo and Lee Harris and Kelly Link and Gavin Grant and John HS Stevens and Martin Cahill and Alyx Dellamonica and Kelly Robson and Michael Kelly and Marianne De Pierres and Delia Sherman and Ellen Kushner and Usman Tanveer Malik and Jeffrey Ford and Janeen Webb, and and and … a whirlwind of most excellent humans … and if I’ve forgotten you, I’m sorry, but I do love you!

What they want you to think happened

I won’t go into great detail about the next four days, mainly because it’s all a blur at this point, but Lisa’s post gives you some idea. I did a panel about ghosts with Helen Marshall, Sandra Kasturi, Stephanie Feldman and Kit Reed. I did a reading from Of Sorrow and Such, its first outing, which seemed to go well. Went to dinner with the lovely folk from Tor.com; collected Tremontaine cakes and went to buy a new suitcase with Kelly Robson; went to the Tremontaine launch party (plum brandy fountain! cakes!); had dinner with the lovely Jo Fletcher, Ian Drury, Lisa Hannett and Robert Jackson Bennett. Looked longingly at art, which I could not afford, bought books, talked until my throat was hoarse, caught up with friends, made new ones, ate food that didn’t come from mini-bars.

What really happened

The Big Thing was winning a World Fantasy Award for Best Collection for The Bitterwood  Bible and Other Recountings. The really excellent thing was sharing the award with the fabulous Helen Marshall and her amazing collection Gifts for the One Who Comes After (you should go and buy it, really you should). It was a lovely surprise and a shock and an honour; then it got even better going out to dinner at an excellent Mexican restaurant with the Sisters Marshall, Lisa, Chris and friends!

Photo by Lisa

The next day it was back to NYC for more good coffee, pastries, hotdogs, pretzels, and culture! Over the next few days we went to the Tor.com offices in the Flatiron Building and recorded an interview, had lunch with the adorable Katharine Duckett, Mordicai Knode, and Lee Harris (and ran into Harry Markov, too!). We wandered along 5th Avenue (a heart-breaking juxtaposition of the homeless and the lost propped up against the ridiculous richness of shops like Prada and Versace and Apple) to Bill Shunn’s launch of The Accidental Terrorist. We raced around the Guggenheim in 25mins before it closed, we meandered through Central Park and then found the Met where we stuck our noses against the glass of the Medieval collections cases. We went out to The Cloisters for a morning and mourned that there was not more Cloisters (we loved The Cloisters, we want more Cloisters — although, having read John Connolly’s The Killing Kind, I couldn’t help but imagine Mickey Shine’s head on one of the candelabrum in a corner).

And on our last night in NYC we went to dinner at the amazing apartment of the amazing Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman. Gorgeous dinner, fabulous company, and we brought NZ wine (coz the Oz selection was shite) and French macarons. We left with heads spinning and hearts overflowing.

And then it was done. I went to the airport and got home without incident. Lisa had a few more hours to kill and did so at the Met once more. I got the great, big, ugly Howie head through security; I did get pulled aside in both JFK and LAX airports, but security staff were pretty impressed when they saw the damned thing and let me through with no further incidents.

I had two days at home then David and I flew off to New Zealand for our first proper holiday in two years. Which was awesome! We love NZ. We saw stuff, drank wine, visited Hobbiton and the Weta Workshop coz, nerds. And then home. And back to edits on Vigil. And now I am madly trying to hit all of my March deadlines, all the while making noises like a boiling teakettle.

Those are pretty much the highlights.

So, 2016 for me looks like this on the publishing side:

1 x novel, Vigil

2 x short story collections

4 x original short stories in various anthologies

And writing-wise:

Deliver 1 x novel, Corpselight

Write 1x novel of some description

Write 1 x book of film crit on Hammer Horror’s Karnstein Trilogy

Write and deliver 7 original short stories

Deliver 1 x edited novella to Spectral Press

I’ll be at Contact 2016 (NatCon and Aurealis Awards) in March in Brisbane (which is highly convenient), but am not sure about my other travelling arrangements for this year. Probably no WFC for me as the cost is just huge coming from Australia. I’ve got a two week residency gig, but details aren’t yet available so let’s just pretend I didn’t say anything.

Have a Happy New Year, folks, stay safe.

Coming in January 2016 …

Art by Greg Ruth

… which is very, very close! “Finnegan’s Field” will be available soon – my horror novelette edited by the redoubtable Ellen Datlow for Tor.com.

Most excellent and disturbing cover by the mucho talented Greg Ruth.

You can pre-order it here.

In Irish lore, when children go under the hill they don’t come out again.

Ever.

When children go under the hill, they stay where they’re put.

Forever.

When children go under the hill, parents, though they pray and search, don’t truly think to see them anymore.

Never.

And Then interviews: Tansy Rayner Roberts

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 our final And Then interview is with the delightful Tansy Rayner Roberts.

What inspired your tale?

I’d been reading about the history of the circus, and there’s something about the community of misfits with crazy, unreal talents that sparked the part of my brain that also loves superhero stories. And dragons. I had this very clear idea about two assassins who are trying to escape their former life by creating new, civilian identities… but actual normal life isn’t going to be something they can manage. Moving into a dragon circus and protecting it from its enemies, though, that’s something they can do.

What appealed to you about this project?

The idea of stories revolving around pairs of heroes clicked immediately for me because I already had this circus idea burning a hole in my Scrivener file. I knew the story fit the concept, I knew it was going to be longer than a short story and crucially, the project gave me a deadline  to make sure I got the story finished. 2015 has been a year of self-generated deadlines for me, so having an external date and someone waiting gave me the impetus I needed to dig in and write this particular novelette from beginning to end.

What advantages does a long-short form offer?

Oh I’m completely in love with the long-short form right now. I’ve always struggled to write at the short story length, and I’ve just come off writing the longest novel of my career – a book so long I had to divide it into two volumes. The story and character ideas I’ve been having lately are coming in character-rich scenarios that need at least 8-10 thousand words to explore and may well need multiple stories that connect to each other. And for getting published, there are a lot more opportunities at this length now (because of e-publishing) than there ever used to be. You get more character development in at the novelette-novella range, but without the need for a massive, all-encompassing plot structure. I’m actually starting a new podcast next year to publish serialised long-short stories (sometimes multiple stories with the same characters) because I like the form so much!

The future of short fiction is …

There’s always going to be a place for the anthology but I think more and more, the longer short story as an individual title (published electronically) is going to be key to authors building a reputation for themselves.

What’s next for you?

I’m launching my new podcast around February, I have a Victorian fairy novel to finish writing, and I am waiting to hear if my Musketeer Space novel (now two novels) finds A Publisher other than my blog. I also have the next in my murder mystery series coming out from Twelfth Planet Press later next year: Keep Calm and Kill the Chef.

 

Tansy Rayner Roberts is the author of the Creature Court trilogy, Ink Black Magic and Love & Romanpunk, among many other SFF books. She is a Hugo-award winning blogger and podcaster, living in Tasmania with her family. You can find Tansy at her blog http://tansyrr.com/ and on Twitter @tansyrr. Tansy also writes cozy culinary murder mysteries under the name Livia Day.

In the afternoon mail …

… came this lovely thing: my contributor’s copy of The Night Land Quarterly, Volume 3.

Among other things, it contains my tale “The Heart is a Mirror for Sinner” in Japanese – the first time the story has ever appeared anywhere!

Seeing stories in translation never gets old for me – even if it’s languages I cannot read.

And Then interviews: Lucy Sussex

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.

Today, And Then author Lucy Sussex talks about “Batgirl in Borneo”.

What inspired “Batgirl in Borneo”?

Going to Borneo for a very inter-cultural wedding, and finding a fascinating diversity, of fauna, flora and people. And then missing an encounter with Islamic terrorists

by just two days.

What appealed to you about this project?



Rewriting the discourse of Borneo by writers like Agnes Keith, into

something that reflected the changes in the place, its complexity, and

its uncertain future.

What advantages does a long-short form offer?



Space, and narrative progression without a mass of wordage threatening

to collapse upon the reader.

The future of short fiction is …



Eternal.

What’s next for you?



Examining the hidden discourse of gay men around the time of the Oscar

Wilde trial.

 

Lucy Sussex was born in New Zealand. She has edited four anthologies, including She’s Fantastical (1995), shortlisted for the World Fantasy Award. Her award-winning fiction includes books for younger readers; and the novel, The Scarlet Rider (1996; reprinted 2015). She has five short story collections, My Lady Tongue, A Tour Guide in Utopia, Absolute Uncertainty, Matilda Told Such Dreadful Lies (a best of), and Thief of Lives. Her latest book is Blockbuster: Fergus Hume and The Mystery of a Hansom Cab (Text, 2015). It won the history section of the Victorian Community History Awards on Monday.

 

 

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.