Jason Franks's Blog, page 25

Female Leads

I’m back from Conflux–my first big scale speculative fiction literary conference–and it was great. I’m not going to give  a full rundown of it here, because that would basically consist of me listing a the names of all of the new and established Aussie spec fic writers that I met and trying to find adjectives to describe them that mean ‘awesome’ and ‘friendly’.

On Saturday I participated in a panel discussion on the topic of female leads in speculative fiction and the final question that moderator Sean Williams asked was for us to name our favourite books featuring female protagonists. For some reason my brain was stuck in the world of superhero comics (I had earlier attended a panel on that topic) and all I could manage was “whatever Gail Simone writes”. Mainstream comics, it must be said, offers a disappointingly sparse selection and my delivery was a bit gloomy, I fear. But as soon as the next panellist began to speak a variety of prose works came to mind and I thought I would share a few of them here.

William Gibson’s Blue Ant Trilogy offers two of my favourites: Cayce Pollard, the brand-allergic consultant from the first novel, and Hollis Henry, the rockstar-turned-journalist protagonist of the second two books (I’m sure this latter comes as no surprise to readers of mine.) Supporting character Heidi Hyde–the drummer in Hollis’ defunct band–is just as good a character, I think.  These characters are strong and vulnerable and surprising and smart and utterly believable.

Lissa, the librarian hero in Narrelle Harris’ vampire anti-romance The Opposite of Life, is a great example of writing against the genre tropes. Lissa is a normal girl, a bit geeky, a bit nosey, trying to cope with underemployment and a series of family tragedies. When the guy she’s interested in is murdered she is drawn into the mystery by Gary, a socially retarded engineering student-turned vampire. Lissa isn’t waiting for some dark prince to turn her into a supermodel action hero; she just wants to live her life in a world were her friends are not randomly murdered. Lissa is a smart, active protagonist with a wry sense of humour. You’d swear you knew her.

US Marshal Karen Sisko from Elmore Leonard’s Miami crime novel, Out of Sight is another favourite of mine. I did enjoy the J. Lo/Clooney movie (I believe there was also a short-lived TV series) but the book version is the best. Sisko is tough, funny, loyal and ultimately unforgiving. To my mind makes her one of the most interesting characters in crime fiction–period.

Anaplian, from Iain M. Banks’ Matter, is another great female lead. Anaplian is a princess from a backwater planet who becomes a highly-trained espionage agent for a greater galactic civilization, the Culture. When her father, the king, dies, Anaplian returns home to pay her respects–but the intrigues over the succession are only a small part of a conspiracy that spans the galaxy. There’s a wonderful moment where Anaplian looks the society that marginalized her and realizes that, with her training and enhanced physiology, she can defeat any warrior in the kingdom. She could raise an army and take it for her own… and it wouldn’t even be difficult for her. But that’s not how the Culture operates.

Jason Fischer’s first novel, Quiver, features an excellent female protagonist in Tamsyn Webb. A headstrong, resourceful, sarcastic heroine who is very handy with a bow and arrows, now matter how crazy her adventures across the zombie-infested planet, Tamsyn is a very convincing portrayal of a teenage girl. She makes mistakes that cost the lives of more than just her friends, but she tries to do what’s right and she keeps on going, despite the unrelenting horror and loss.

Conflux Bound

Ladies and Gents,

I’m back from two helter-skelter weekends of Supanova and they have been the two best, if most-exhausting, con experiences of my life. I hung out with my friends, I met new readers and reconnected with old ones, I did an interview for TV. I met an amazing crew of comics creators and authors for the first time, including Jason Fischer, Gail Simone, Dave Gibbons, Stephen Ormsby, KJ Taylor, Kylie Chan, and R.C. Daniells.

Tomorrow I am bound for Canberra, where I will be participating in Conflux 9 all weekend long.

I will be speaking on the following panels:

Thursday 25 April 3pm-3.55pm

Instantaneous Gratification with Digital Books

With Amanda Bridgeman, David Versace and Felicity Bloomfield

Saturday 27 April 12.30-1.25pm

Female Leads

With Lucy Sussex, Sean Williams, Tracey O’Hara and Keri Arthur

Saturday 27 April 4.30pm

Signing

I’m not sure how this works but I believe that I will be given space at this event to sign (and presumably sell) copies of Bloody Waters. The reason for my uncertainty here should be plain from the partial list of participants below.

With Kevin J Anderson, Rebecca Moesta, Graham Joyce, Jonathan Strahan, Simon Brown, Garth Nix, Kaaron Warren, Donna Maree Hanson, Sean Williams, Trudi Canavan, Karen Miller, Richard Harland, Russell Kirkpatrick, Jack Dann, Maxine McArthur, Melaina Faranda, KS Nikakis, Cat Sparks, Rob Hood, Keri Arthur, Jason Nahrung, Anita Bell, Jane Routley, KJ Taylor, Michelle Marquardt.

Sunday 28 April 2.30pm-3.25pm

Newly Published Writers Showcase

If you can’t find me I will be hiding in my room, taking shelter from all of the concentrated awesome.

Peace, love and head explodsions, baby,

– JF

Chillin’ Like a Villain

Back from Gold Coast Supanova, back-to-back with the Melbourne show. It has been incredible and massive thank you to everyone who came by to show their support. Lots of news to follow, I hope… but for right now I am fried.

In the meantime, here is a link to a radio spot I did for the Sonja Souter’s excellent Sci Fi and Squeam radio show. I am joined on the show by Scarlette Baccini and Dr Emma and we discuss one of my absolute favourite topics: villains in genre fiction.

http://joy.org.au/scifiandsqueam/2013/04/episode-157-villians-in-genre/

Live wrong and prosper!

– JF

Nerd Culture Review of Bloody Waters

The Nerd Culture Podcast put Bloody Waters under the microscope. Then they interview me. (And then Ander Louis).

Clicky on through to hear what they have to say; it’s well worth your time. (Warning: spoilers.)

http://nerdculturepodcast.com/2013/04...

Ungenred now available

Howdy folks,

Ungenred, my new collection of mainstream comic short stories, is now available for purchase online from blackboox.net.

For those who came in late, this is a collection of ‘mainstream’ stories from the start of my career to the present. Many of them are reprints, but there are plenty that have never been seen before, and some that were created especially for this collection. An extraordinarily-talented crew of artists from around the world made this whole book possible, from J. Marc Schmidt to Bruce Mutard, Ed Siemienkowicz, Jan Scherpenhuizen, Renan L’Hopsum, Joe Pimienta, Nic Hunter and Greg Vondruska… all wrapped in a glorious cover by the one and only Rhys James.

A massive thank you for my perennial besties at Black House Comics for collecting this up for me–I’ve been wanting to collect this material for many years.

That link again: http://www.blackboox.net/ungenred/

Blood in the Water

Well, folks, it’s official. I have stock for Supanova.

Twenty bucks a pop–and, unlike the ebook, I can actually sign these.

If you can show me proof that you purchased a copy of the eBook I’ll give you a $5 discount and  big sloppy kiss.

If you can’t make it to Supanova or you can’t wait til Saturday you can, of course, buy copies from various outlets all over the web.

 

COME GET SOME

Bloody Waters is now available in print from amazon.com.

I don’t have any copies yet, myself, but I hope to have some in time for Supanova this weekend. If you can’t make it to the show, amazon is your best bet.

The print edition retails for $19.99. The ebook is of course still available, and still priced at $4.99.

I don’t have any word on when the book will be available in bookstores, or to what extent, but you can of course special order them in any retailer that deals in new books.

COME GET SOME. 

 

There and Back Again

As everybody knows, writers are small creatures that live underground, like hobbits with broadband instead of fancy crockery. Or perhaps that’s dwarves, spending their time trying to prise precious things from beneath the weight of the mountain that is pop culture. If you are feeling less generous you might liken us to trolls who sit around with little better to do than prey upon those who think the internet should be a place of peace and love and porn; a cornucopia from which art, literature and music are freely available in unlimited quantities.

But like most of Tolkein’s archetypal races, there are certain events that will drive us from our caves and into the world of men. Some of these are nigh upon us.

I shall be a guest of the Supanova convention in Melbourne next weekend and at the Gold Coast the week after, along with many other fine comics creators from Australia and the world–including, but not limited to: Dave Gibbons, Gail Simone, Terry and Rachel Dodson, Nicola Scott,  Tom Taylor, Colin Wilson, T-Rex Jones, Christopher Sequeira, Paul Mason, Jan Scherpenhuizen, W. Chew Chan, Cassandra James and Dean Rankine. Plenty of excellent novelists will be in attendance as well, including Tad Williams, KJ Taylor, Kylie Chan and Jason Fischer. (Oh, and some guy named David Hasslehoff).

April 13 &14 at the Melbourne Showgrounds and April 20 and 21 at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Center. Look for me–there will be a sign with my name on it somewhere. I will have copies of The Sixsmiths and McBlack for sale. I will definitely have copies of Bloody Waters for sale at Gold Coast, but hopefully I will have them in time for the Melbourne show, too.

Immediately following Gold Coast Supanova I will be attending Conflux in Canberra, all through the ANZAC Day weekend. I have never been to this event before and I am not exhibiting in the dealer room, but you will find me floating around the event all day. I don’t know which, if any panels I will be participating in at this point but I will let you know as soon as I do. If you can’t find me in any of the events, look for me in the bar.

Conflux will be held at Rydges Capital Hill from April 25th to 28th.

In May I will be signing at All Star Comics for Free Comics Day. My slot is not confirmed but I expect it will be late in the day.  This will take place on the 4th of May in Hardware Lane, Melbourne CBD.

I shall see you abroad, you warriors and rangers; you wizards and thieves. Come armed, but don’t forget to bring some bags of gold: the fate of Middle Earth depends upon it.

So What?

So.

So, last week was quite an exciting one. The printer’s proof of Bloody Waters arriving the day before the book received an Aurealis award nomination. I have been receiving a lot of questions about both of these events, so let me answer them here.

The easy one first: Bloody Waters will be available in print in April. Maybe as early as next week. I will tell you how and where as soon as I know, BELIEVE ME.

Now, as for the award nomination…

False modesty aside, I was utterly surprised to have been nominated. I didn’t even know that the shortlist was due to be announced. I knew that the Australian Shadows list was due the following day, but Aurealis completely blindsided me. I didn’t really think I’d get a look-in: the list of eligible works was full of really strong books by much better-established writers with big time publishers. I did not believe that my little ebook would be a contender. 

But of course, three of the four books on the list were ebooks. None of them are by big name publishers. If you look at some of the other categories, you’ll notice a number of self-published works are up for awards, too.  We’ve been hearing a lot about the changing world of publishing over the last couple of years and I think that this year’s short-list is proof of that.

This is wonderful and terrifying. As a horror writer, I approve.

What do I think my chances are? 25%. Jason Nahrung, who has two books nominated, has a 50% chance. There’s a 75% chance that someone named Jason will take the shard. I’m an engineer,  okay? I can play numbers all day. The book that I thought would be favourite-to-win didn’t make it onto the shortlist, so that should tell you how much my opinion is worth.

The competition: as I mentioned, Bloody Waters is up against two books by Jason Nahrung, Salvage and Blood And Dust, and  Perfections, by Kirstyn McDermott. I haven’t read any of these books yet, but two of the books were in my to-read pile even before the shortlist was announced.

I was privileged enough to meet both Kirstyn and Jason at Oz Horror Con earlier this year and I found them to be friendly, generous, passionate and intelligent. Prior to that, I knew them only by their short fiction, which is intimidatingly good.

What would an award mean to my career? Well, I don’t know. Publicity for the book, which will hopefully lead to some sales and some new readers. Fame and fortune? dude, I’m already famous. I have an internet blog and everything.

Let me leave you with a recommendation: go buy the other books and decide for yourself which is the best of the four books. Jason and Kirstyn both deserve it.

So…

So.

So, last week was quite an exciting one. The printer’s proof of Bloody Waters arriving the day before the book received an Aurealis award nomination. I have been receiving a lot of questions about both of these events, so let me answer them here.

The easy one first: Bloody Waters will be available in print in April. Maybe as early as next week. I will tell you how and where as soon as I know, BELIEVE ME.

Now, as for the award nomination…

False modesty aside, I was utterly surprised to have been nominated. I didn’t even know that the shortlist was due to be announced. I knew that the Australian Shadows list was due the following day, but Aurealis completely blindsided me. I didn’t really think I’d get a look-in: the list of eligible works was full of really strong books by much better-established writers with big time publishers. I did not believe that my little ebook would be a contender. 

But of course, three of the four books on the list were ebooks. None of them are by big name publishers. If you look at some of the other categories, you’ll notice a number of self-published works are up for awards, too.  We’ve been hearing a lot about the changing world of publishing over the last couple of years and I think that this year’s short-list is proof of that.

This is wonderful and terrifying. As a horror writer, I approve.

What do I think my chances are? 25%. Jason Nahrung, who has two books nominated, has a 50% chance. There’s a 75% chance that someone named Jason will take the shard. I’m an engineer,  okay? I can play numbers all day. The book that I thought would be favourite-to-win didn’t make it onto the shortlist, so that should tell you how much my opinion is worth.

The competition: as I mentioned, Bloody Waters is up against two books by Jason Nahrung, Salvage and Blood And Dust, and  Perfections, by Kirstyn McDermott. I haven’t read any of these books yet, but two of the books were in my to-read pile even before the shortlist was announced.

I was privileged enough to meet both Kirstyn and Jason at Oz Horror Con earlier this year and I found them to be friendly, generous, passionate and intelligent. Prior to that, I knew them only by their short fiction, which is intimidatingly good.

What would an award mean to my career? Well, I don’t know. Publicity for the book, which will hopefully lead to some sales and some new readers. Fame and fortune? dude, I’m already famous. I have an internet blog and everything.

Let me leave you with a recommendation: go buy the other books and decide for yourself which is the best of the four books. Jason and Kirstyn both deserve it.