Narrelle M. Harris's Blog, page 48

Now on Kindle!

One of the blessings of the new digital book age is that a writer's previous books, now out of print, can be dusted off, given a minor makeover and unleashed upon the world once more. So it was with my crime novellas, Fly By Night and Sacrifice, and thus it is again with my fantasy books, Witch Honour and Witch Faith.

Fly By Night and Sacrifice, featuring Frank and Milo, were released as a single novel in 2004 by Homosapien Books. Frank and Milo are musicians, and a couple, and they keep stumbling into trouble. In Fly By Night it's animal smuggling and murder; in Sacrifice it's a serial killer!

Witch Honour was originally short-listed for the George Turner Prize in 1998 as 'Witching Ways'. After the short-listing, I edited the tome into a trimmer version and wrote the sequel, Witch Faith, which was short-listed for the George Turner Prize in 1999. Finally, both books found a home with US publisher Five Star Science Fiction, an imprint of Thomson books, and they were published in hardcover editions in 2005 and 2007 respectively.Being in hardcover, and in the US, limited their availability somewhat.

The Witch books follow the adventures of a group of witches: Sylvia (who was inspired by my friend Yvon Hintz, who did the new covers), Leenan, Magda and Tephee. Magda is actually a qualified doctor from a technological civilisation who has ended up on this world with a strange past and a present where magic works. There are rogue witches, battles, dragons, love, betrayal, journeys, disappointments, joys and the occasional song!

Now the copyright for all of these books is back in my hands, and I've finally had the chance to format them all and get hold of some new covers. In due course, I will submit all four books to Smashwords for other e-book formats.

Follow the links to download the books from Kindle:

Witch Honour (The Witching Ways series.)
Witch Faith (The Witching Ways series.)
Fly By Night (Frank and Milo)
Sacrifice (Frank and Milo)

If you download the books, or have read them in their former lives as hard copy books, I'd be grateful if you wanted to leave a review on the Amazon site for them.

If you spot any errors that I've missed, let me know about those too. One nice thing about e-books is that you can make edits *after* the book has been published!

In the meantime, I hope that you all have a lovely time off over the next few days, if you're taking the Easter break. Me? I'll be working through my pile of paperbacks as a final effort to clear the physical book stash before I really start to work on the virtual book stash that is now growing in my new Kindle!

GaryView: Vampireology 2011 Calendar

Gary: Look what someone sent me!

Lissa: What who sent you?

Gary: This lady I know from Twitter. Dragonsally. She sent me a present. A calendar.

Lissa: Oh.

Gary: It's a vampire calendar, see?

Lissa: "Vampireology… The True History of the Fallen Ones." Well, it looks nicely made. It's got all these fold out bits, and things stuck on.

Gary: It's all nonsense of course. I mean, this bit about the Sword of Angels, and the stuff about shape-shifting.

Lissa: And all that stuff about 'The Ritual of Making'…

Gary: Most of it anyway.

Lissa: … Most of it?

Gary: Well, the vampire drinks your blood, you have to take in vampire blood…

Lissa: You have to drink vampire blood?

Gary: Kind of. Drink it or pour it into an open wound.

Lissa: Ew!

Gary: Tell me about it.

Lissa: Oh, sorry. Did it… I don't know. Did it… hurt?

Gary: For a while. But after that… mostly it felt weird.

Lissa: Oh.

Gary: Anyway, it's an nice calendar. I thought you'd like it. All the detail about the history and characteristics and stuff. Look, here's a page about talismans. And one on how to kill vampi…

Lissa: I don't need to know any of that. None of it's probably not right anyway.

Gary: Actually, everything there would be pretty effective if you could get close enough.

Lissa: Well, I don't plan to get close to any vampire except you, and I'm never going to attack you, not even with holy water, let alone a stake. I like you.

Gary: Thanks.

Lissa: What's this bit about vampires attracting victims by doing a jig to ragtime music?

Gary: Is that what it says?  I suppose it might work.

Lissa: Dazzlin' the kids with their wicked jazzy moves, eh?

Gary: Well, not me, obviously. I can't dance. At all.

Lissa: You can't be that bad.

Gary: Trust me, I can. I learned to waltz once. I kept stepping on my Mum's toes. She made Dad teach me in the end. He had tougher shoes.

Lissa: Modern dancing is easier. You just kind of… throw yourself around.

Gary: …

Lissa: Rhythmically.

Gary: I was around in the 60s, you know. It wasn't all square dancing and country balls. I'm just not very… rhythmic.

Lissa: You probably just lack confidence.

Gary: And rhythm.

Lissa: All right,  I'll take your word for it. But if you ever want to give it a whirl, I'll take you out.

Gary: If I ever do, make sure you wear steel-capped shoes.

Lissa: All right, it's a date!

Gary: Hang on, I didn't mean…

Lissa: You're a vampire. You can't be scared of dancing. Besides, according to this calendar, that is the best way for you to get your Satanic groove on.

Gary: I think we have already established that this calendar is not actually a reliable resource for vampire behaviour.

Lissa: True. It was nice of the dragon lady to send it to you.

Gary: Dragonsally. Yeah. It was nice of her.

Lissa: You're really not used to getting presents yet, are you?

Gary: After forty years, I'm kind of out of the habit.

Lissa: Well, don't forget to send her a thank you tweet. And now we have to pick a night to go dancing.

Gary: But…

Lissa: I've got a pair of Blundstones. I'll be right.

Gary: But…

Lissa: It'll be fun. Besides, I haven't told you my secret yet.

Gary: Which is?

Lissa: I'm not much of a dancer myself. It's just that I don't care.

Gary: Ah.

Lissa: So are we on for dancing?

Gary: Do I have a choice?

Lissa: Not really.

Gary: Then yes, we are.

***

You can get the Vampireology 2011 calendar at Calendar.net.au.

*For newcomers, the GaryView is a review of books/films/TV/entertainment carried out as a conversation between Lissa Wilson (librarian) and Gary Hooper (vampire) , characters from my book 'The Opposite of Life'. Visit my website for more information.

Oh, MONA.

A few weekends ago, Tim and I went to Hobart for the weekend to visit the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA). We have been anticipating the opening of the museum for some years, partly because of the MONA billboard on the Republic Tower on the corner of  LaTrobe and William Streets in Melbourne. For years now, odd and frequently disturbing images have appeared, several storeys high, at that intersection, a promise/warning about what we could expect when David Walsh finally finished building his private museum.

The gallery does not disappoint. We approached it by ferry from Hobart and climbed the stairs to the entrance. The gallery is set partially below ground, although one windowless wall faces the outside. The entrance is a building with a reflective surface and a tennis court, across which people stroll. A staff member says the tennis court was built there basically because Walsh likes to play tennis, and since he could build it, he did. It was at that point I realised that, in a fictional world, David Walsh would either be the eccentric billionaire who costumed up and fought crime by night, or he'd be the eccentric billionaire who will take over the world with his cunning technology unless James Bond can stop him in time. Not knowing the man, I figure he could go either way.

Whatever his superheroic/supervillainous tendencies might be, Walsh has an eye for the startling and fascinating in art. He has bought some of my favourite pieces seen either at galleries in Victoria or on my travels. Some pieces are shocking, some silly, some dull, some beautiful: and of course, how each piece falls into which category is totally in the eye of the beholder. That's one of my favourite things about art—the way it embodies that line of Shakespeares that "Nothing is good nor bad, but thinking makes it so."

MONA was purpose-built to showcase Walsh's collection, including the massive work by Sidney Nolan, "Snake".  MONA is unique for other reasons too. Walsh paid for the whole thing himself, then opened it up to the public for free. This means that no-one—no government body, no tabloid paper shrieking about wasting taxpayer's money, no unhappy customer—can tell him what to do with it or what to display. If you don't like it, leave. If you don't think your kids should see some of the pieces, the gallery guide highlights the sections where the more 'challenging' pieces can be found,. Everything else is up to your own discretion And it's not like you can demand your money back if you're displeased. This is a gallery where every adult is treated like a grown-up who can make their own decisions.

One of the other things I love about this gallery, besides the amazing selection of work, is the way information about each piece is presented. Instead of having tiny placquards on the wall telling you the title and perhaps a snippet from the artist or an art critic, each visitor gets a customised iTouch to carry around. The device tunes into wireless points throughout the gallery to display whichever pieces are nearby. You can tap on an image to find the title, artist and medium and then choose a number of further options.

Some pieces are accompanied by one or more audio tracks, often interviews with the artist. Other interactive options are labelled Artwank (serious essays from art critics), Ideas (snippets of ideas or comments from the artist, David Walsh or one of the other people involved in the gallery) and Gonzo (extracts from emails between the gallery and the artists, or between the David and other gallery folk, or just essays from David Walsh's sometimes skewed perspective.)

The genius of these elements is the way they provide several voices that offer ways of interpreting the art. You can go the serious approach, or you can find out that Walsh hated the piece when he first got it, or that he bought it on a whim and hates it now but the others won't let him get rid of it because they like the interview thatt goes with it. The commentator makes fun of art, or sees something unusual, or draws curious, personal conclusions from it. Every voice is different, and every voice tells you that it's okay to take it seriously, or not. It's okay to like it, or not. It's okay to have a different opinion, and to express it.

This makes MONA different from other galleries in other ways, too. It's not a muted space, full of hushed reverence for the art on display. In fact, it's full of quiet chatter as people talk about what they are seeing with their friends and even with strangers. By presenting the multiple voices through the iTouch, MONA breaks down the idea that only 'qualified' people can have a say.

Without going into detail, the gallery is full of pieces about sex and death, but more than that, it's full of art about living and life. It is full of ideas about being human, and sex and death are a significant part of that. I didn't like everything there, but I loved a lot of it. I was challenged, amused, moved—and sometimes completely unmoved.

The final thing for which I adore MONA was the ability to enter my email address into the iTouch so that the gallery could email a 'virtual tour' to me. Every item I tapped on and read about (and voted whether I LOVE or HATE) got tagged. A few days after I got home, MONA had sent me an email link to my tour. The link led to a page with every piece listed, accompanied by a photo and the Artwank, Ideas and Gonzo information. I can revisit my tour and pour again over my reactions to Claire Morgan's exquisite Tracing Time, or Jannis Kounellis's display of two goldfish in a white bowl of water containing a carving knife, which caused so many exclamations of pity for the fish, despite the fact they were in no danger at all.

The current exhibiton, Monanism, ends in July. I can't wait to get back to Hobart in the second half of the year to see what else David Walsh and MONA have in store.

A new competition! Help support Japan!

Art by Cagle Cartoons, allvoices.com

Some of you may know, from my recent tweets and Facebook updates, that my brother Bryce and his wife Megumi (and her parents) live in Japan. Their home in Saitama province, north of Tokyo, was not directly affected by the quake, tsunami or the ongoing worries with the nuclear power plant, but that does not mean they or their community are unaffected. A disaster of this magnitude naturally affects everyone profoundly.

Bryce works at a local school and I have already sent him some gifts for the kids and some black and white artwork provided by Yvon Hintz for the kids to colour in.

Bryce and I discussed how else I might support him, his family and his adopted countrymen and women, and we thought a competition that also aimed to encourage donation to organisations that would help with the relief and reconstruction effort.

The competition part.

In keeping with our shared black humour, Bryce has suggested that everyone should post their favourite post-apocalyptic film, with a link to something about the film – a youtube link, a picture, a funny essay, fanart, whatever you like. Bryce and I will judge the results based on… whim, I suspect.

Bryce is looking for a suitable prize around his area in Saitama. Whatever the prize ends up being, it will involve things from Japan and something Godzilla-related. This is another element of the coping-with-disaster through black humour, I guess. Stay tuned for more detail, but it will be something cool!

Part the second

Here is a selection of organisations and groups who are raising funds for Japan. If you like the sound of one, please consider donatingn something, however large or small. Or pick another fund raiser you know and like.

International Red Cross: Japan and Pacific Disaster Appeal 2011
Beats for Change: Stone Detectives/Sendai Selections – donate US$5, get a free album to download. That's a win/win scenario!
Medecin Sans Frontiers
Save the Children Australia: Japan Earthquake

I have made a donation to Red Cross International. There is no need to let me know whether or not you have donated, though we would of course be delighted to hear if you want to share that with us.

Not dead, but very tired.

Forgive me reader, for I have sinned. It's been more than a month since my last blog update. I'm afraid I was preoccupied with editing the second vampire novel (working title Walking Shadows, though I suspect that will eventually change) and now I'm editing a short story for the Twelfth Planet Press anthology. Other, more mundane, parts of life have also intruded, but nobody wants or needs to know about that.

Instead: exciting new things!

I have declared myself a supporter of the National Year of Reading 2012! I hope to be more involved in the campaign, but generally – folks who love to read should do more of it! And they should encourage the kids and adults in their lives to do more of it too! To that end, please feel free to comment with your suggestions of great books to get as gifts for people who seem reluctant to open a book for fear they will be bored to death. For example, to encourage my young male nephews to read I used to get them books by Roald Dahl. One was so leery of books I got him The Mole Who Knew It Was None of His Business, because how can any self-respecting child resist a funny picture book about poop?!

I'm very pleased to see that Mary Borsellino's The Wolf House is now available as a paperback at Amazon.com. Go and buy it, vampire-loving folks, because it's full of surprises, wonderfulness, horror, sadness and life.

In the app side of things, my app, Melbourne Literary, was recently updated. My husband, Tim Richards, also released his latest app, Melbourne Geta

ways – the perfect app for those in Melbourne looking for ideas for day and weekend trips out of Melbourne, or visitors to Melbourne wondering what happens outside the Melbourne metropolitan area.  He also updated his Melbourne Historical app, with more of the city's hidden historical secrets! The apps only cost about the same as a cup of decent Melbourne coffee and contain a wealth of personally-researched information. If you buy and like them, feel free to go and leave a review in the iTunes store, because we'd be thrilled if you did.

Tim has also released a new eboook -   We Have Here the Homicide: A Travel Writer's Strange Affair With Poland. It's a book of his published travel writing about Poland and is full of observations both witty and poignant about the country that is just about his home from home.

I hope to be back to a more regular blogging routine now that the edits are away. I have GaryViews to do, and rants about language, and all kinds of things, so I had better be!

GaryView: Dracula's Cabaret Restaurant

Snippets of conversation overheard during the evening…

Lissa: Thanks for coming with me tonight, Gary. You may have saved my life.

Gary: I thought you said it was just a work thing.

Lissa: It is. And I love my job, but I hate work functions. I never know what to talk about besides work.

Gary: … I know what you mean. I never even had a job to talk about.

Lissa: You and I always have lots to talk about.

Gary: I know. 

Lissa: Anyway, I thought you might enjoy checking Dracula's out.

Gary: I came here once before. In the 80s, to see what it was like.

Lissa: And what was it like?

Gary: Okay. I couldn't eat anything, and I didn't understand any of the jokes, and I was by myself so people kept giving me funny looks. But the decorations were really good.

Lissa: Well, we can keep each other company a bit this time.

***

Lissa: Gary, this is my boss, Beatrice.

Beatrice: So your Lissa's mysterious Gary!

Gary: Ah. Yes. (looks at Lissa) Am I mysterious?

Lissa: Not to me.

Beatrice: But all she ever says is "I'm seeing Gary this weekend" but she doesn't tell us anything about you.

Lissa: There's not much more to say, is there Gary?

Gary: No. We get together and watch TV mostly.

Lissa: And talk.

Beatrice: I'll bet there's more to it.

Lissa: Gary and I are just friends, Beatrice.

Beatrice: 'Friends' is good, but (c0nspiratorially to Gary) it sounds like more than friends when she talks about you.

Gary: (deadpan) That's because I'm really a vampire and somtimes Lissa and I sometimes get caught up in vampire business.

Beatrice: (roars with laughter and slaps Gary on the arm) I can see why you like him, Lissa! Good on you for getting in the mood, Gary!

Lissa: (trying to get the startled look off her face) Yeah, he's a hoot.

***

Lissa: Gary, stop telling me what's coming up in the ghost ride. It's supposed to be a surprise.

Gary: But I can see what's there.

Lissa: That's because you can see in the dark. But you're kind of spoiling the fun.

Gary: But you don't really think it's scary do you? It's just animatronics and a soundtrack and Oh!!

Lissa: (dies laughing) You got scared by the wind machine!!!

***

Gary: I don't get it.

Lissa: Well, I'm not going to explain it.

Gary: I mean, I know it's a joke about sex. I just don't know why it's supposed to be funny.

Lissa: I don't either, Gary. Never mind. They'll be singing again soon.

Gary: The singing's pretty good. Even though that's not about vampires either. I really thought there'd be more vampire stuff in the show.

Lissa: They did the song from True Blood. That was cool.

Gary: Yeah.

***

Gary: Is that a chocolate coffin?

Lissa: It is! It's delicious!

Gary: Smells good.

Lissa: You think it all smells good.

Gary: Yep.

Lissa: Tastes good too!

***

Beatrice: God, Gary, did you buy everything?

Gary: No. Just the programme. Lissa bought me the glass. See. It's a skull with vampire teeth.

Beatrice: I know! I got one for Jean too.

Gary: That's Mrs Beatrice, isn't it?'

LIssa: Gary!

Beatrice: (laughing) I know it's what you all call her, you know. It drives Jean nuts, but I kind of like it.

Jean: (grabs Beatrice by the hand) At my work, they call you Mrs Jean.

Beatrice: Oh, excellent. I like that too.

Gary: Nice to meet you both. Mrs Beatrice. Mrs Jean.

Beatrice: (roars with laughter) Seriously, Lissa, your friend's a hoot.

Lissa: Yep. (grins at Gary) He is.

***

Lissa: Did you have a good night?

Gary: I did. Thanks for asking me along.

Lissa: Thank you so much for coming. I had a good time too. And Beatrice thinks you're awesome.

Gary: That's because she thinks I'm joking when I'm not.

Lissa: Maybe. Still. I'm really glad you came.

Gary: Me too. Even if most of the jokes and music weren't about vampires.

Lissa: At least you got a vampire skull drinking cup out of it.

Gary: And it flashes! (turns on the light switch at the bottom of the cup. They watch the vampire skull glass flash multiple colours and admire its schlockiness for a while.)

***

Dracula's Cabaret Restaurant has been operating in Melbourne for over 30 years.

*For newcomers, the GaryView is a review of books/films/TV/entertainment carried out as a conversation between Lissa Wilson (librarian) and Gary Hooper (vampire) , characters from my book 'The Opposite of Life'. Visit my website for more information.

Chronos Awards: Some cool people you should nominate/vote for

Further to my earlier squeeing about the Chronos Awards, there are a lot of really amazing people who are eligible for the awards this year. You should nominate them. And you should vote for them. And if you you don't know who they are, you should find out!

This is by no means a comprehensive list, but it includes some of the Melbourne/Victorian people whose work I have enjoyed in 2010.

Best novel:

Foz Meadows' YA vampire novel, Solace and Grief, is eligible. So is Kirstyn McDermott's Madigan Mine, which I haven't read yet but by all accounts is a most excellent novel.

Best short story:

Lucy Sussex, Albert & Victoria/Slow Dreams (Baggage, Ed Gillian Polack)
Tessa Kum, Acception (Baggage, Ed Gillian Polack)
Paul Haines, Her Gallant Needs (Sprawl, Ed Alisa Krasnostein)
Felicity Dowker, Bread and Circuses (Scary Kisses, Ed Liz Grzyb)

Felicity has put a great list of all her eligible work on her blog, as well as suggestions for other people you should consider nominating,so so and check that out for other potential nominees.

Alisa Krasnostein has also provided a helpful list of potential nominees, including Alex Pierce for her work on the podcast, Galactic Suburbia!

If you know of any work that is eligible for the Chronos Awards, tell us about it here so we can read/view/nominate/vote at Continuum 7!!

And finally, if anyone is really keen to read The Truth About Brains without buying the whole book it's in, drop me a line and I'll sort something out…

Twelve Planets and Chronos Awards

I have already squeed about this on my Facebook page, but I am immensely delighted and proud to be part of the newly-announced Twelve Planets series, being published by Twelfth Planet Press.

Twelve Planets will be a series of 12 short collections of short stories by 12 Australian women writers, including the superb talents of Lucy Sussex, Tansy Rayner Roberts and Deborah Biancotti. I'm so excited at the prospect of being of their number, of working with Alisa Krasnostein and Twelfth Planet Press, who have been publishing such amazing anthologies and novellas over the last few years.

Although my four stories are yet to be finalised (I submitted five), one of them is my zombie tale, The Truth About Brains, which was published in 2010 in Best New Zombie Tales Volume 2.

As it happens, this story is eligible for nomination in this year's Chronos Awards, presented every year at the Continuum convention. If you have read it and consider it worthy of nomination, you can send your nomination in to the committee via email at awards@continuum.org.au or by leaving a comment on this Livejournal entry.

If you haven't read The Truth About Brains and would like to, you can buy a copy of Best New Zombie Tales Volume 2 in either Kindle or paperback from Amazon.com, or for $25 (inc postage in Australia) you can get it from me. Just email me at narrelle@iwriter.com.au to find how to arrange this. In any case, get in touch with me if you'd like to read it and I'll arrange it somehow!

Review: "Baggage" and "Sprawl"

The art of the short story seems to be enjoying a resurgence – although perhaps it's just that I've started reading more of it, encouraged by the many people I know who are publishing wonderful anthologies. (Oh, and recently being published in one. Always nice.)

Two of those wonderful anthologies are Baggage and Sprawl, both of which are collections of distinctive stories about being Australian.

Baggage, published by Eneit Press and edited by Gillian Polack, explores all the different kinds of baggage we carry. Some baggage is personal, some is cultural. Some of it is hard to unpack. This collection finds ways to come at our spcoa; baggage sideways, through the filters of specfic.

Curiously, for the Europeans who came to this country 200 years ago, this land has always been alien and a little frightening.  As a society, we (non-Indigenous Australians especially) have found the land alarming and strange. Depictions of the desert, the bush, the light, showed us as small and fragile against a harsh and indifferent environment. Recent natural disasters – floods at one end of the country, fires at the other – continue to put most of us at odds with the country we inhabit.

This uneasy relationship makes specfic the perfect medium to explore issues of migration, white settlement and societies pretty much creeped out by their home soil.

Every story has some unique and often disturbing take on the theme. Particular standouts for me are:

Kaaron Warren's story of a man haunted by a lost village, Hive of Glass is gentle and creepy but with a logical solution that might even pass for a happy ending.
Acception by Tessa Kum also resonates, with elements of its dystopian future (reached by a dark extension to attitudes towards ethnicity and Australianness) set in parts of Melbourne I know so well.
Laura E Goodwin's An Ear For Home taps into the longing for familiar things from home, which I experienced myself while living overseas. The evocation of homesickness, manifested through the very physical longings for the tastes and smells of home, is nicely handled.
Home Turf explores homelessness, freedom and a different idea of belonging. Writer Deborah Biancotti (she of the wonderful The Book of Endings ) shows, as always, a subtle and unsentimental human touch.
Kunmanara – Somebody Somebody is especially evocative, exploring as it does an Indigenous perspective of belonging and the weight of cultural baggage.Yaritji Green's portrait of grief and acceptance is touching.

Sprawl is inspired by many of the same drives that inform Baggage – alienation, strangeness, an uneasy alliance with a land that does not seem very friendly. While Baggage looks at the attitudes, sorrows and memories we carry with us, Sprawl uses the places we live as a framework. These suburbs, country towns, homes and even social groups we choose to live in are populated with horror -  and humour.

Sprawl opens with Tansy Raynor Roberts' funny and possibly subversive take on literary puritism in Relentless Adaptations, where fictional characters come to life to protest the constant reworking of their classic stories to include zombies and sea monsters. At the other end of the collection is Paul Haines' Her Gallant Needs, a powerful, disturbing and sad horror story.

In between those two gems are a wonderful selection of stories about the Australian experience. Particular favourites are:

How to Select a Durian at Footscray Markets, by Stephanie Campisi, with its view of Vietnamese Australia and a misunderstood fruit…
Peter M Ball's One Saturday Night, with Angel – I love his novellas and it was a treat to read some of his short fiction.
Cat Spark's strangely hopeful, post-apocalyptic All the Love in the World.
Well, and all the stories in between.

Australian publishing and Australian short fiction are both producing really powerful work at the moment. How fortunate are we to see the two coming together in these two great collections. You should read them. Right now!

Buy Baggage.

Buy Sprawl.

New competition! Win a vampire necklace!

I have started a new competition on my Facebook page! Just match a character from The Opposite of Life with a suitable Christmas song. Characters can include leads, supporting characters, goths, vampires, librarians, family members living or dead or someone you read about in passing who caught your fancy.

If you're not familiar with the book, you can download the first six chapters here as a PDF to get an idea! The competition closes on 31 January 2011.

If you've already entered the competition, you can always check out this article from The Age about the top 10 apps about Melbourne – including my own app, Melbourne Literary!