Mark Webb's Blog, page 20

Redshirts by John Scalzi – review

Redshirtsby John Scalzi is a science fiction piece riffing on the fate of the infamousStar Trek “redshirts” – those hapless crew members that beam down to the planet with main cast members and always seem to die. The book starts by looking at the situation from the crew member’s perspective, as a group of new recruits begin to realise that their superior officers seem to be miraculously surviving while all around them anonymous crew are slaughtered week after week. The rest of the crew has de...

Galactic Chat interview – Keith Stevenson

Well, my first interview for the Galactic Chat podcast is now up. I interviewed speculative fiction all-rounded Keith Stevenson. Keith is a publisher (Coeur de Lion Publishing), a writer, an editor and is in the early stages of producing a new magazine – Dimension 6.

I had a great time talking with Keith. He has some really interesting perspectives on the speculative fiction scene, and I loved his “try anything” attitude. His passion for learning new skills and using those skills to look at th...

A Madness of Angels by Kate Griffin – review

A Madness of Angelsby Kate Griffin came to my attention when listening to one of my favourite podcasts,The Writer and the Critic (episode 29 if you’re interested). The book was recommended byguestN.K. Jemisinand sounded very interesting. Besides, the author’s real last name is Webb. Can’t go past a book by another Webb.

So, a basic rundown of the plot. Matthew Swift is an urban sorcerer, someone who uses the rhythms and movements of the city to create magic. He has also been dead for the last...

Have you been keeping up with Galactic Chat?

I’ve been a bit slack posting lately, and the well oiled machine thatis theGalactic Chatpodcast has been moving forward like the unstoppable juggernaut it is. If you haven’t been paying attention, you’ve missing some excellent interviews including:

Episode 21 – Cat Sparks
Episode 22 – Kirstyn McDermott
Episode 23 – Jo Spurrier
Episode 24 – Kathleen Jennings (brand new episode posted in the last day or two!)

I’ve done two interviews now, which are both in post production and will be coming up over...

Suited by Jo Anderton – review

This review forms part of my contribution to theAustralian Women Writers 2013 Reading Challenge. All my 2013 AWWC reviews can be found.

Suitedby Jo Anderton is the second in the Veiled World series of books (see my previous review of the first book in the series, Debris, ).

Suitedfollows the continuing adventures of Tanyana, former elite manipulator of pions, now reduced to cleaning the magical debris left over from their use. Having taken the side of the Keeper (the mostly invisible ma...

Galactic Chat update

Well, the newly revamped Galactic Chatpodcast is up and running with the first two interviews of the new regime (1) released. The pre-launch episode was a corker, with David McDonald interviewing NK Jemisin, guest of honour at the recent Continuum convention in Melbourne.

The second interview, released in the last day or so, has our intrepid leader interrogating Margo Lanagan on all manner of things literary.

It’s been an interesting experience getting involved with an existing podcast. I’ll be...

Angel Rising by Dirk Flinthart – review

I recently read, enjoyed and , a collection of short stories set in the shared world of New Ceres. In a future where humanity has reached the stars, one planet choses to limit themselves to 18th century technology. I liked the collection, and have been keeping an eye out for further work set in the same world.

Angel Risingby Dirk Flinthart is a novella set in New Ceres, focusing on one of the shared characters, George Gordon. Gordon is one of the few people allowed to...

The Corpse-Rat King by Lee Battersby – review

The Corpse-Rat Kingis Lee Battersby‘s first novel. Battersby has a fine pedigree as a short fiction writer and while I haven’t read as much of his stuff as I’d like, he comes very highly recommended by people whose taste I trust.The Corpse-Rat King was nominated this year for the Australian Shadows Awards (Best Novel) and the Ditmars (Best Novel).

And very well deserved those nominations were too.

First up I have to say that I found the characters very engaging. I particularly loved the charact...

Asymmetry by Thoraiya Dyer – review

This review forms part of my contribution to theAustralian Women Writers 2013 Reading Challenge. All my 2013 AWWC reviews can be found.

Asymmetryby Thoraiya Dyer is the latest in the excellent Twelve Planets series from Twelfth Planet Press. It is one of the shorter books in the series, and includes the following stories:

After Hours
Zadie, Scythe of the West
Wish Me Luck
Seven Days in Paris

Dyer has been winning a lot of awards over the last few years (e.g. recently won the Aurealis Award for...

All quiet on the eastern front

I haven’t been posting much lately – a little bit of non-speculative fiction life demanding some attention, a little bit of creative blockage, a little bit of laziness (never a factor to be under-estimated). So, let me bring you up to speed on what has been going on:

Ion Newcombe over at Antipodean SF accepted one of my very short stories (97 words long in fact). The story is calledHindsight is a Bitch and was originally written for one of the launch events for theIn Fabula Divino anthology th...