Lily Mulholland's Blog, page 4

A lovely bunch of coconuts

What a lovely bunch of coconuts we are! The Australian speculative fiction scene is so friendly, encouraging and supportive – I had a blast over the weekend catching up with writers and readers I knew and meeting lots of lovely new people at Conflux 8. Held at the Canberra Novotel over two days packed with panels and workshops, Conflux is the annual spec fiction conference held in Canberra. With special guests like mega-best-selling fantasy author Keri Arthur and Coeur de Lion publisher Keith Stevenson, there were lots of opportunities to ask all those questions you’d ever had about speculative fiction.

I was lucky enough to be invited to participate in two panels: The art of scene and mood setting in dark fantasy, with Alan Baxter and Tracey O’Hara, and Fantasy entities other than dragons, fairies, kings and queens, with K J Taylor and Tor Roxburgh. I had a great time talking about both topics from the perspective of a short story writer – the panels were great mixes of well established authors, novelists and short story writers and it was interesting to see different themes emerge from the different mediums.

YA fantasy author D L Richardson has a great post here on the ‘other entities’ panel.

It was great also to be able to interview writer, editor and publisher Jodi Cleghorn – my interview with her will appear on this website in the coming weeks.

I really enjoyed the weekend and came away inspired to find a way to fit some more writing into my crazy, over-partitioned life. A writer must write to be a writer, after all!

Here are some photos from Conflux

Point of view workshop with Kaaron Warren and Janeen Webb

Author readings with Janeen Webb and Jodi Cleghorn

Romance Writers of the Apocalypse – Tracey O’Hara, Nicole Murhpy and Jodi Cleghorn talking about romance and the apocalypse

Keri Arthur (right) interviewed by Tracey O’Hara

Thanks to Jane Virgo and the Conflux8 committee for another wonderful Conflux!

Conflux 8 is on this weekend in Canberra

I’m looking forward to the annual Conflux speculative fiction conference, which is being held at the Novotel hotel in Canberra this weekend, 29-30 Sep 12.

Some great local, national and international speakers will entertain writers, readers and fans of speculative fiction over the two days of the conference and I’m looking forward to hearing what they’re working on and latest thinking about how we can keep SF fresh and relevant.

The theme for Conflux 8 is On the Beach – an Australian Apocalypse. You can find the program on the Conflux website (if you read it closely you will see that I am featured on two panels this year!).

Are you coming to join us? See you there.

What would you miss in the apocalypse?

Adam Ward [CC-BY-SA-2.0]

I often hold something in my hand, gaze at it and wonder what I’ll do without it in the apocalypse. What, you too? Then head on over to Romance Writers of the Apocalypse, where they are crowd-sourcing a list: http://www.rwofthea.com/2012/08/what-would-you-miss-most-in-post.html

While you’re there you’ll see what I will miss most.

Conflux 9 – how can we make it more accessible?

That was not cool, WordPress! You just ate my post.

Here goes again…

Want to come to Conflux 9/NATCON 2013 but you’re worried it’s not going to have what you want? Are you concerned about accessibility issues? Well the Conflux committee is seeking your ideas and feedback on how we can make the conference accessible for all lovers of speculative fiction.

So head on over to the Conflux9/NATCON 2013 website and make your voice heard: http://confluxnatcon2013.wordpress.com/2012/07/29/help-make-conflux-as-inclusive-as-possible/

And while you’re there, don’t forget to sign up for a membership – Conflux 9/NATCON 2013 is going to be a con to remember – but if you’re not there you’ll miss out…they haven’t invented those little implantable memory chip thingamajigs yet, you know…

New Sun Rising published

I am a bit late to the party (where did June go???), but the charity anthology New Sun Rising: Stories for Japan is out now and available for download.

In it you will find my story The Brewer’s Son, which is about a family straining at the confines of their traditional culture, with added dashes of saki and snow. More than 60 contributors donated their tales, poetry and art for this very worthy project.

You can snaflle it for only $5.00 and all proceeds go to the Japanese Red Cross.

More information about the project is here. Cover art by Daniel Werneck.

Nothing But Flowers kindle promotion starts now!

It’s a Kindle promotion frenzy over at Amazon. Nothing But Flowers is yours for nix if you get in quick. Download it now: http://amzn.to/Lq4Mfp

BLURB

In a devastated world, a voice calls out through the darkness of space, a young woman embraces Darwin, a man lays flowers in a shattered doorway, a two-dimensional wedding feast awaits guests, a Dodge Challenger roars down the deserted highway…and that’s just the beginning.

Inspired by the Talking Heads’ song of the same name, Nothing but Flowers explores the complexities and challenges of love in a post-apocalyptic landscape; from a take-away coffee mug to a gun to the head, a fortune cookie to a guitar, the open road and beyond. Poignant, funny, horrifying and sensual, this collection of short fiction leaves an indelible mark on ideas of what it means to love and be loved.

Stories and Authors

Sound of Silence Laura Eno

Scarecrow Man Jodi Cleghorn

Daisy’s Cafe Sam Adamson

On the Corner of Clerk Street Rebecca Emin

Sophie Solitaire: Confessions of an End Time Girl Maria Kelly

Diana the Phoenix Christopher Chartrand

Headlines and Post-It Notes Adam Byatt

Escape from Paradise Rob Diaz

Nothing Else Matters Carrie Clevenger

Grey, Like Stone Lily Mulholland

I Dream of Cherry Pies Jen Brubacher

There But For Fortune Dale Challener Roe

Click Annie Evett

Two Fools in Love Graham Storrs

Golden Opportunity P.J. Kaiser

Warrior Rebecca Dobbie

Deux Sots Paul Servini

Alone Janette Dalgliesh

The Rose Garden Jim Bronyaur

Empty Shelves Benjamin Solah

The Gift Emma Newman

This was Paradise Icy Sedgwick

Absent Jason Coggins

Dinner in Paphos Susan May James

Driver and the Beautiful Highway Dan Powell

ABOUT LITERARY MIX TAPES

Inspired by the practice of recording music mix tapes, Literary Mix Tapes combines a love of music and short stories with a unique blend of creative crowd sourcing, collective submission and old-fashioned editorial grunt to create concept anthologies showcasing the freshest voices in speculative fiction.

ABOUT NOTHING BUT FLOWERS

Nothing But Flowers editor Jodi Cleghorn, despairing for musical inspiration for a Valentines Day anthology with a difference, had The Best of Talking Heads playing in the car at the end of a six-hour drive from country New South Wales to Brisbane in January 2011. Fifteen minutes from home ‘(Nothing But) Flowers’ came on and she seized upon the concept of a collection of post-apocalyptic love stories using the song as a starting point. Always intrigued by the idea of daisies reclaiming Pizza Huts and yearning for a lawn mower, Jodi gave authors free reign over how they used the song, rather than assigning lyrics as individual prompts.

The Song

YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZuuxcm513c&ob=av3n (hopefully ok for all regions!)

Talking Heads’ “(Nothing But) Flowers” appeared on the band’s final album Naked, released in 1988. Released as a single, accompanied by successful music video, the song features Kirsty MacColl and The Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr. It peaked at number 79 in the UK Singles Chart.

From Wikipedia: The lyrics describe a world where modern progress has been reverted to a more natural state, due either to a political movement or by a necessity, such as dealing with overpopulation. While the protagonist may have once been in favor of the transformation, he finds himself now missing the modern conveniences and culture of the industrialised age.

The History

Nothing But Flowers was released on Valentines Day, each story available free on the web for a period of 48 hours. In the 72 hours which spanned all stories being available, there were more than 3000 views of the stories, equivalent of selling around 60 books!

Three months later the paperback launched online with sister charity anthology 100 Stories for Queensland. Within hours of being released the anthology went to #1 in all four categories it was listed in on Amazon UK (Sci-Fi Anthology, Sci-Fi Short Stories, Fantasy Anthology, Fantasy Short Stories) and reached #13 in the general anthology charts there. It also reached #1 in Canada’s Amazon store (in its given categories) and as high as #13 in the US Amazon charts.

The anthology remained in the top 100 for a month in Sci-Fi and Fantasy Anthologies categories in both the UK and Canada.

The authors of Nothing But Flowers went on to provide the 26 song prompts for Literary Mix Tapes follow up anthology Eighty Nine.

Ten stories from the anthology, including mine, ‘Grey, Like Stone’, were chosen in March 2012 for adaptation to screen in eMergent Publishing’s first joint movie project, co-produced by Jodi Cleghorn and Devin Watson.

The promotion runs from Wednesday 23rd until Friday 25th, US (pacific) midnight to midnight, UK 9:00am – 9:00am, Australia 6:00pm – 6:00pm. It is a free download, and you don’t have to be signed up to any special program – you do need an Amazon account though. You also don’t need a dedicated Kindle eReader. The anthology can be read on a variety of devices using the Kindle App http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000493771 including smart phones, tablets and desk top computers.

New Sun Rising book trailer

New Sun Rising has its own book trailer! Once again I am amazed by the creative talent and generosity of the international writing community.

Not only do we have an excellent book trailer, but many contributors have given extra stories, which are currently being profiled on the New Sun Rising blog. You can read my story, ‘Across the Ocean’, here.

The anthology will be out soon.

Download The Yin and Yang Book for free

Yes, it’s time for me to pimp a fantastic anthology, The Yin and Yang Book, in which you will find my story ‘Double Talk’ (with it’s infamous opening line). And guess what? You can grab it for your Kindle for free from Amazon from 1800h (Australian time) today. You only have 24 hours, so get downloading! You don’t want to miss this book. Of course, you can always buy it on Friday if you miss out!

BOOK BLURB – Yin and Yang

7.30AM. THE INTERNATIONAL TERMINAL OF A MAJOR EUROPEAN AIRPORT IS POISED ON THE BRINK OF CHAOS.

7.35AM. PANGAEAN AIRLINES, EUROPE’S PREMIER CARRIER, IS PLACED INTO RECEIVERSHIP, CANCELLING ALL FLIGHTS AND IMPOUNDING THOUSANDS OF ITEMS OF LUGGAGE.

The Yin and Yang Book follows the complicated web of events stemming from a suitcase, a stolen van Gogh painting, one woman on the run from her employers and the consequences of her decision to stay or go.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Prologue Jodi Cleghorn (ed)

Three Monkeys Paul Servini

Three Rings Chris Chartrand

Dogs of War Tony Noland

This Be the Verse Dan Powell

Providence Dale Challener Roe

No Passengers Allowed J.M. Strother

Thirteen Feathers Rob Diaz II

One Behind the Eye Richard Jay Parker

Chase the Day Jason Coggins

Somewhere to Pray (Kurush)  Benjamin Solah

The Guilty One Emma Newman

Excess Baggage Carrie Clevenger

Where the Heart Is Tina Hunter

The Other Side of Limbo Claudia Osmond

Freedom Laura Eno

Cobalt Blue Jasmine Gallant

The Strangest Comfort Icy Sedgwick

Lost and Found Jen Brubacher

Kanyasulkam Annie Evett

Double Talk Lily Mulholland

Epilogue  Paul Anderson (Ed)

You can also pick up The Red Book, another Chinese Whisperings interlinked anthology for free during the Kindle Free day.

New Sun Rising…rises again

You may remember my jubliation last year when my story ‘The Brewer’s Son’ was selected for inclusion in the short story anthology, New Sun Rising: Stories for Japan. One hundred percent of the proceeds will go to the Red Cross in support of the ongoing relief effort in Japan.

While the project had quite a long hiatus, thanks to some dedicated contributors, it has become a phoenix and will be published soon. You can read the latest updates over on the New Sun Rising blog, where you will also find bonus stories showcasing the diversity of talent involved in the book.

I am thrilled to be part of this project – I couldn’t believe the scale of devastation in Japan – it was incredible and I just knew the reality on the ground would be far worse than what we could imagine in seeing the horrors on our small screens in our comfortable lounge rooms. I wanted to help, in any way I could, so I was very happy to donate my story. I am humbled to be in the company of some of the finest flash fiction writers around the world, whose works will also appear in this anthology.

I hope you will buy a copy, not only to support the Red Cross, but also to read some very good stories. There is also poetry and art, not to mention the satisfaction of supporting a very good cause.

Review: The Darkest Shade of Grey

This novella, from Australian author Alan Baxter and published by the Red Penny Papers, takes the reader to one of Australia’s seediest locales for a visceral and discombulating journey through the disintegration of one man’s personal and working life. I loved the descriptions of Kings Cross, which rang true for me and I enjoyed the skilful way in which Baxter wove in supernatural elements into this urban fantasy.

I did feel, however, that the point of view from which the story was told did not allow us enough insight into the sub-urban world created so compellingly here. It’s hard to say more without giving away the plot, but I think I would like to see Baxter expand this story idea into a full-blown novel told from the point of view of one of the homeless people in this world. I think Baxter could take us much deeper into this world and really blow us away.

Read this novella and perhaps you too might want to lobby Baxter for more. His take on supernatural noir is compelling and could be something rather fabulous. Go and buy it from Amazon or Smashwords now.