Tansy Rayner Roberts's Blog, page 157

On Mothering and Days Off

So I wrote the end of the last of the short stories I needed to write last night, and while it still needs some work, I'm pretty much done with that commitment – my plan was to enjoy one blissful day of baby cuddling and domestic catch up before I plunge into finishing that pesky third novel once and for all.

Ha, guess what happened? Yep, one sick child home from school.

In practice it hasn't been too bad – I have reformatted a story, sorted some doll business and parcels, and otherwise am...

Death in a Chainmail Bikini [Xena Rewatch 1.21-1.24]

1.21 – The Greater Good

We're getting to the pointy end of the season now, and it's clear that the year has had a powerful effect on both Xena and Gabrielle. This episode answers the question of how far Gabrielle has come under her mentor's tutelage, and whether she could actually replace Xena. A poison dart weakens Xena, and eventually kills her, and Gabrielle has to literally don her armour to pretend to be Xena, to save a village from warlord attack. This leads to a very cute riff on...

What My Daughter Wore (for Footy Day)

It's the AFL Grand Final tonight. Under normal circumstances I would be blissfully unaware of this fact, but my daughter's school considers this an annual event worthy of note – and they gave all the kids a free dress day, so they could wear their team colours.

In my defence, she totally dressed herself.

Box of Delights

As I tweeted earlier in the week, is there anything better than getting a box of books from Aqueduct Press? I can't think of any other publisher from whom I order books by the case. I haven't even opened it yet, I am saving that pleasure for when my day needs a bit of a lift. Also in the post I received Zombies vs. Unicorns, the concept anthology of the year, and thanks to the gorgeous, clever cover, have already been sucked into reading two of the stories. As someone resolutely not on...

Fury Happy Dance

The exciting news for this week is that I got an Australia Council grant for $30,000 to write my next novel. Obviously this has me bouncing off walls, for many reasons. It's basically a year's income, which is a huge deal. And of course one of the expenses it can cover is baby daycare – TIME, PRECIOUS TIME TO WRITE. It's also the most (so far) I have ever earned for a single title, and this before I have actually sold the book to a publisher. Or, you know, written it.

It's also exciting...

Really Trying Quite Hard

Jonathan talks here about trying to come up with a suitably dramatic but inoffensive term for those of us who work from comfy armchairs trying to suddenly do quite a lot MORE than we usually do.

That's pretty much what I've been doing. I have been trying to work on several short stories at once this month, which is surprisingly effective as compared to just trying to work on one – if one stalls, you move to the next, and so on – but is also a real drain on the creative energy. The thing...

Swashbuckle and Shams [Xena Rewatch 1.17-1.20]

1.17 – A Royal Couple of Thieves

If you love Bruce Campbell, and you have never seen his Autolycus, you are seriously missing out. His King of Thieves, a character that originated in Hercules, is a pleasure to watch – he flirts and steals his way through life like a dark version of Errol Flynn and while he is fun in Hercules, he takes on a new dimension when performing opposite Lucy Lawless. Their interactions are so sexy and fun, and her tolerance for his foibles is far more entertaining...

Galactic Suburbia Episode 16 Show Notes

The new episode is available from www.galacticsuburbia.com as well as on iTunes.

EPISODE SIXTEEN SHOW NOTES

In which we have apparently learned the art of conversational restraint! Clocking in at a miraculously tidy 45 minutes, the Galactic Suburbia crew discuss publishing news, a bunch of great new books, and read some feedback.

News
Strange Horizons Fundraising Drive
Tehani's post on open short story markets in Australia
Aqueduct Press now releasing several of their titles as ebooks
Ticonderoga...

Happy Birthday Agatha Christie

This month would have marked the 120th birthday of legendary crime writer Agatha Christie. Even more cool, Jane Asher has designed a death-by-cake in honour of the anniversary.

I have a lot of time for Mrs Christie – one of the most iconic working writers of the 20th century. Her books are short, smart and great fun, and I read many of them as a child. I was also strongly influenced by the Joan Hickson Miss Marple telemovies in the late eighties, which had fantastic casts though I do much p...

Relentless Adaptations and Seamonsters and Vampires and a Latte Please

@Fangbooks tweeted today: bloggers… would love to see an opinion piece on whether the trend towards rewriting/adding to 'classic' works is good art or lazy writing

As it happens, I have very strong opinions on this topic, and my answer is: yes.

Of course it's good art. Of course it's lazy writing. Of course some of the works that have emerged from this trend are cynical, shallow texts. And of course some of them are pure brilliance. This is what books do, that is, EVERYTHING.

I wrote the...