Jason Fischer's Blog, page 26
December 20, 2010
Because you GOTTA HAVE A MAP!
I had recent cause to pore through my story-trunk, which is almost always a cringe-worthy exercise, followed by the opportunity to have a good laugh at my past self. For those unfamiliar with the term, a story-trunk is the repository of one's failed writings, the term dating back to the time when the aspiring writer most likely had an actual chest or locker, stuffed full of bound manuscripts, rejection slips and gallons of tears. Sometimes this would be the bottom drawer, a tea chest in the shed, or a cobweb-wreathed filing cabinet. These days, the story-trunk is usually a folder on one's hard-drive, an innocuous icon hiding a multitude of writing sins.
Prior to my recent incarnation as a short-story writer, I had any number of practice novels under my belt. And ye GODS, these things are bloody awful. Sigh. Still, we all gotta start somewhere, and I was well on my way to "write a million words before you stop sucking" by about 2005 or so. I look fondly on these books, as if they were a dodgy uncle at a family BBQ – they're embarrassing, but at the end of the day they're still family. No regrets, dudes.
In amongst my newbie fantasy novels are a whole swag of maps, lovingly adorned with various details. Because if you're gonna suckle from Tolkien's teat, you may as well indulge in some amateur cartography. I've included some for your amusement:
Around about the time I discovered Terry Pratchett, I decided that humorous fantasy was definitely my thing. Hence, the Woven World, a Pratchett-esque world springing from the knitting needles of the oblivious Aunt Gladys, aka God. I remember the mystical kingdom of Strailyer, famous for its chain-mail wearing bogans, hurling boomerangs and beer-cans at their foes. Glorious. My main protagonist was Chronick the Teutonic, wielder of the disastrous Scheissenhammer.
Here's some more classics from ye olde story-trunk:
This is literally a trunk-story! Gaze upon the glorious world map for "Tusk", the novel where telepathic elephants have enslaved man-kind. Aka Planet of the Apes, Battlefield Earth, etc etc. I was lucky enough to get mentored by fantasy author Tony Shillitoe on an early draft of this, and his byline for this book was "Gladiator in Grey". I'm still really proud of how this map turned out, it's a shame I didn't spend more time on the writing itself. You can see an elephant beating a trio of sorry man-slaves, watched cautiously by one of the mammoths of the north, somewhere underneath all that highly improbably geography. I honestly can't even look at this book anymore, 18 months of my life given for something I simply can't fix. Argh. I'm still of the belief that a total re-write of "Tusk" is needed, though Peter M Ball will tell you a different story. Regardless, it hurts my everything.
One piece of advice I've been given is to never start a title with the words "Song of' the so-and-so". Note, this has not hurt George RR Martin. Anywho, I digress. I give you the world-map for "Song of the Woken Man", an early novel that seems to have blended elements of the Matrix, the Postman and many the postapocalyptic text. Many years after a nuclear holocaust, the Kaari, peaceful lizard-riding hunter-gatherer luddites, live cheek-by-jowl with the Mekaari, an advanced society that emerged from the bunkers with all their technological goodies.
A mysterious scientist from before the war awakens from suspended animation, the titular Woken Man. With crazy psychic powers, he gathers a small group of Kaari, embarking on a quest to unite the two separate societies to combat the EEEEVIL supercomputer Lucius – only to be obstructed by ANOTHER SCIENTIST! From the SAME BUNKER! The subtitle of this book could have been "CAN'T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG, DESPITE THIS DICKENSIAN BULLSHIT?"
Finally, I leave you with the map for my fantasy/alternate history "By the Dauphin's Will!" In this story, I posit that mysterious Outremer (Australia) has been settled by Gaul (France). I filled a notebook with background details, a potted history, a cast of thousands and an elaborate magic system. I had a French-speaking friend double-check my translated words, and disappeared down the rabbit-hole called Research for quite a few months. By the time I was ready to start, I absolutely hated the idea and scuttled it, two chapters in. Re-reading the idea, this decision was definitely in my best interests…
In summary: maps are fun, but I highly recommend Fiona McIntosh's method for fantasy cartography – scribble something down on a napkin, and just get on with telling your story 
December 15, 2010
Undead Camels Ate This Podcast
Heya folks,
I made a promise a while back that a couple of stocking stuffers were heading your way, courtesy of my good self. One of these fiction-related gifts is going live on Christmas Eve, but here's an early pressie for those who've been good (or bad, or aggressively neutral). Over at the Terra Incognita Speculative Fiction podcast, the annual Christmas special has been released. This year's offering contains my reading of the infamous "Undead Camels Ate Their Flesh", my first pro-sale from Jack Dann's Dreaming Again anthology. Even cooler, I share this aural offering with good friend and Clarion South tutor Lee Battersby, who reads "In From The Snow", his horror-licious tale from the same collection. It's a damn good tale, was a well-deserved Aurealis finalist, and blends with my tale of dromedary death like PB&J.
Prep your I-pods, and prepare for a pincer movement to the brain. It's story-time.
http://www.tisf.com.au/ (or via I-Tunes)
(Never have I gotten more mileage from a picture…courtesy of Jess Irwin)
December 12, 2010
Birthday boys
A belated birthday present from the good Mrs Fisch was a trip to see musician Jeff Martin (of Tea Party fame) doing a live set with Terepai Richmond (of the Whitlams and just about everyone else). It was AWESOME. We went to tea beforehand, and I walked in to see a whole bunch of my nearest and dearest assembled. They got me, and got me good, and if anyone can pull off a surprise party without their oblivious hubby figuring it out, it's my darling wife.
The girls got a bit messy towards the end of things, but somehow this was just right. A fantastic night of good food, good friends and damn good music.
And the next day, Toddler Fisch celebrated his 2nd birthday, and I realised I've got just about anything a guy could want Happy birthday my beaut little lad, may the next year bring you as much joy as you have bought us!
Online Book Launch – "An Eclectic Slice of Life"
Today marks the official launch of "An Eclectic Slice of Life", a new anthology which is the brain-child of Eclecticism E-Zine editor Craig Bezant. I'm pleased to say that I have two stories in this book, "Houndkin" (reprinted from the e-zine), and new story "The Ward of Hours", which is written in the same setting as my Writers of the Future winning story "The House of Nameless". I share space in this book with authors such as Simon Petrie, Alice Godwin, and award-winning British horror writer Joseph D'Lacey. Given the diasporic locations of the book's contributors, Dark Prints Press have decided to hold an online book launch, with all sorts of fun stuff popping up during the launch. I'll let them explain it:
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"Sunday marks the release date for Dark Prints Press's first publication, the anthology 'An Eclectic Slice of Life'. To mark the special occasion, we are hosting an online launch party. Since the fourteen contributors are scattered across the globe, this is the best way to get them together. You can read excerpts from each story in the anthology, and there will be fun links to many stories (such as crazy websites, videos, and flash games).
The online launch will be via the Dark Prints Press Facebook page, from 3-5pm this Sunday (12/12/2010), Perth, Western Australia time. That's GMT 0800, so if you are in the eastern states of Australia, it will be ~6pm (daylight savings), NZ ~8pm, UK ~7am, US 11pm (Sat – LA) to 2am (NY). The Dark Prints Press Facebook page is here: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Dark-Prints-Press/162390353801760
If you don't have access to Facebook, you can join in at this news blog, The Realm of Dark Prints Press: http://darkprintspress.blogspot.com You shouldn't need a blogger account to comment here, and I will try to respond to comments as often as possible. All posts will cross between the two sites.
Remember, this only goes for 2 hours, but you are welcome to visit later and drop a comment. Hurray, the anthology will finally be released!
**** AS A SPECIAL THANKS FOR DROPPING BY – FOR THE LAUNCH DAY ONLY, IF YOU ORDER YOUR COPY OF THE ANTHOLOGY, YOU WILL RECEIVE 30% OFF THE RRP; AND THEN FOR THE REST OF DECEMBER, THERE WILL BE 20% OFF. SWEET! ****"
December 10, 2010
Reagan Revival?
Whoops, that should be Ray Gun Revival. Every Day Publishing, the crew behind the Every Day Fiction e-zine, have just announced the resurrection of the zap-tastic Ray Gun Revival. Here's the skinny:
"Ray Gun Revival (RGR) is an online magazine dedicated to fun stories, grand escapism, and good old sensawunda. RGRl provides just that, a throwback publication that revisits space opera and golden age sci-fi. Their stories focus more on character development than hard science and sail all the wide-open waters between science fantasy and harder SF. Think of the original Star Wars stories, Doc Smith's Lensman series, the Warlord of Mars tales from Edgar Rice Burroughs. Think of everything from John Carter and Gully Foyle to Kimball Kinnison and Han Solo. They are bringing out the deepest elements of what has traditionally been rather superficial fiction and updating them for a new generation of fiction enthusiasts."
More info here, get onto it: http://www.raygunrevival.com/nov2010/index.html#submit
December 8, 2010
Goodreads
I've just discovered Goodreads, the website much beloved by fellow book-nerds everywhere. It's bloody fantastic, and I've even added myself to the website as an author (chiefly for Gravesend, but it has also linked to a bunch of anthologies that my stories have been in, that sort of thing). A very cool way of keeping track of the To-Be-Read pile, show your reading progress, and post brief reviews and ratings of books that you've read. I'm an instant convert! While I signed up for this as an author-promotional tool, I got a feeling I will be posting and reviewing and rating books just as much as anyone else. The reviewing mechanism seems to be a lot more reliable and honest than the classic "1 or 5″ scoring system on Amazon.
This is me: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2847548.Jason_Fischer
Why yes, I have been living under a rock Feel free to add me or what-have-you.
December 6, 2010
The Great Book Cull of 2010
Partially motivated by Toddler Fisch's habit of destroying books that he can reach, I've undergone my second big book cull, hoping to move everything onto the one bookcase that he can't get to. Now, I will admit to being a shocking book hoarder. At one stage, I hadn't thrown out a single book in about 10 years, and I'd been heavily reviewing novels and magazines for all and sundry, as well as buying books quicker than I could read them. It's not quite so respectable as the book hoardings of others, but with no special effort I filled up two tall bookcases, with plenty of overflow, and boxes full of books in the shed.
Someone whose name escapes me once mentioned the desire to completely declutter, and get their book collection below 300. In total. Including their own publications, and books published by friends, non-fiction books etc. At one stage this figure filled me with dread – how could I bear to part with everything I'd collected? Whole series of stuff, gifts from writer friends, collections that You Just Gotta Read, and a growing list of Aussie short SF. I've got every issue of Andromeda Spaceways, most of the Aurealis magazines (from their 20 year history), and all sorts of miscelleanous goodies I've picked up during my interest in genre fiction.
And now I'm writing fiction myself, and one little cube of our Ikea shelf thing is completely filled with anthologies, magazines, comics and other writings that I've put into print. Another section is filled with local anthologies, books written by friends, various how-to guides, and all of the writing ephemera that most folks seem to gather.
But I've nearly done it. At a quick guess, I'd now be around the 300 mark, in toto. I did cull my collection once (about a year ago) but I was brutally ruthless this time, hauling stuff out like I was in Fahrenheit 451 (a book I am keeping, BTW). "Am I EVER going to read this again?" I asked myself. "Is there ANY value to keeping this book, or am I just collecting these, Pokemon style?"
So now, I'm down to some classics, some stuff that was really hard to get hold of, a few authors who I've collected diligently, signed copies of stuff, my own books, the local gear that I think is worth keeping for reference, books written by friends, and a few other bits and pieces I couldn't make a decision on. There's a small pile of stuff I'm going to re-read once, and then dispose of.
The one point I've been wavering on is my Dennis Wheatley collection. It's…truly awful stuff. He would never get published now, and the writing is definitely dated. It's a bit like McDonalds for the mind, and I have collected just about everything he ever did. Some 1st editions, some with the original lurid dust-jackets. And he wrote 3-4 books a year, and lived to be 90 or whatever. That's a lot of dead tree. But I have made up my mind…tonight, the Wheatley stuff is GONE. I'm not likely to read it again. I will keep the Roger Brooke series, because it's full of Napoleonic goodness, but that is my sole concession to the jettison of junk.
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Gotta get me an e-reader
EDIT: Holy smokes. Apparently some of these first edition Dennis Wheatley books are worth quite a lot of moolah! Must investigate.
The top result is in perfect condition, with a signed letter from the author – asking price about $400. Mine isn't in perfect nick but it's still got the dust-jacket and everything. Hmm.
December 5, 2010
For the person who has everything…
STEAMPUNK LAPTOP!
Which is started by a chunky old key. I would be all over this like a cheap suit.
