Keith Stevenson's Blog, page 22

Failure

Well I've been thinking about the reception and 'impact' of Anywhere but Earth which I published via coeur de lion publishing in November last year. And I have to admit that despite loving that book and having three stories shortlisted in the Aurealis Awards for SF short story (one of which won - thanks Rob!), ABE has been a bit of a failure. Of course I didn't expect to make money out of the book, so I wasn't particularly looking for commercial success. But critically, I think it's...

Superficial too

Redrafting stories is an essential part of writing. 'The Superficial Contact of Two Bodies' is a short story I've been redrafting periodically since 2004. I think I've finally cracked it. It's a cliche that authors have to kill there darlings. But the underlying truth of that is that as writers our skills develop and improve and what we considered as our own good writing one or two years ago looks cringeworthy on later re-read. I still believed in the narrative of Superficial but it...

Unconscious writing

I’m a big fan of my brain. Well, not just my brain, but the writer’s brain – you know, the one that throws up the plot twist or thematic link that you’ve needed and wanted for so long, and does so when you least expect it?
Yesterday, while ironing a shirt, my brain laid out the key piece of dramatic and thematic tension for the (as yet unwritten) third Kresh book. It came, not from nowhere, but from that unconscious problem-solving part of the brain that knows so much more than my consciousnes...

What the Hemming!

The Norma K Hemming award was set up to acknowledge excellence in the exploration of themes of race, gender, sexuality, class and disability in Australian speculative fiction writing . It sounded like a great idea and I submitted two brilliant stories from X6 (the World Fantasy Award winning 'Sea-Hearts' by Margo Lanagan and the Aurealis Award winning 'Wives' from Paul Haines) for the inaugural award in 2010. Both stories were amazingly written and tackled head on just the sort of issues that...

Bread

My mother was notoriously bad at cutting a loaf straight. She'd start off okay but by about halfway through the cut face would be raked at a 30 to 40 degree angle. Even block loaves would start to resemble sections of the Sydney Opera House. Likewise I am not good at straight bread cutting. I believed it was some genetic disposition, a legacy from my mother, something to do with the alignment of wrist and palm. Maybe it is. But I discovered on the weekend that if you line up the bread knife p...

To the winners

Somewhat serendipitously given my last post, Christopher Priest has let loose on a group of hopeful winners of this year's Arthur C Clarke Award. The full post is here and it's convinced me that sometimes it's actually good not to be shortlisted. Here are a few of Mr Priest's choicest comments:

On Charles Stross for Rule 43 - 'It is indefensible that a novel like Charles Stross's Rule 34 (Orbit) should be given apparent credibility by an appearance in the Clarke shortlist. Stross writes like...

To the losers

To you who do and make, but who never win anything, know this.


Your work is seen and enjoyed and talked about and remembered. It enriches others in experiencing it. And it enriches you in the making of it.

Ditmars

Ditmar time rolls around again. Normally the eligible list includes stuff that I've edited - and that's true this year too, with the 29 science fiction stories that graced Anywhere but Earth. This year, however I'm listed for a piece of my own original fiction. 'A Mirror, Darkly' is a piece of urban horror that appeared in Andromeda Spaceways #51. It's not often I find time to finish something of my own and get it published. If you liked the story, and you're eligible to vote, don't be tardy!...

Endings and beginnings

I've finished transcribing the handwritten scrawl that's brought me to the final battle in the two-book Kresh saga. At 172,000 words so far, that's a decent two books and doesn't count the secondary protagonist intertwiney story bit and the final bloodfest with bells, whistles and the odd extradimensional piece of space tearing ships apart. It's a good place to be. And a good place to stop right now because Pyrotechnicon beckons.

Adam has finished his draft in response to my structural edit a...

Paul

Paul Haines died today. A good friend, a very warm and loving human being and a great writer. He will be sorely missed.