Narrelle M. Harris's Blog, page 52

Worldcon – September 2010

For anyone coming to Aussiecon, the Australian Worldcon being held 2-6 September here in my hometown, I'll be in several panels during the con. I've also been given a slot to do a reading and signing!

The confirmed spots are:

Saturday 4th September:
10am -  Rm 217: Science fiction and the theatre
Science fiction and the theatre don't seem to be the most obvious bedfellows, but science fiction has and continues to be presented on the stage from time to time. Every medium brings its own benefits a...

Where's the pound of flesh?

Writer and food historian, Gillian Pollack, has sent me some recipes for Election Cake in honour of the Australian election being held this weekend. I was joking that we needed cakes full of nuts to represent our conservatives, or a hollow cake in honour of the policy-free zone that has led up to polling. She sent me three recipes, none of which include the requisite pound of flesh, though one of the recipes did include wine and brandy, which I would have thought were pre-requisites for...

I think I know why old people get grumpy

Apart from the aches and pains that increase with age, which obviously would make anyone grumpy. But Tim and I have noticed something in recent months – that things we thought that everyone knew aren't actually as obvious as we thought.

I mean, I'm used to the fact that not everyone knows the frequently strange and obscure things I have learned in my travels, and I'm never surprised when something even *I* think is odd knowledge isn't recognised. But there are some things which, for people of ...

Fly by Night and Sacrifice now on Kindle

I mentioned a post or two ago that my novella Fly By Night was now available on Kindle. Today I can announce that its companion novella, Sacrifice, is also available

If you have a Kindle, or the Kindle application for your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch (or if it's available on other devices) you can now go straight to the Kindle store and buy one or both novellas. Just follow the links! The novellas cost US$2.99 each (around AUD$5 or £2.20)

Jeff Popple's review of Fly By Night appeared in The...

A half hour of genius

My partner and I have been rewatching 'Blackadder Goes Forth', prompted by reading John O'Farrell's comic history of Britain and Stephen Fry's recent event here in Melbourne.

'Blackadder Goes Forth' has all the trademark humour of the preceding series, and all the writers' penchants for including historically accurate jokes. It all leads to this final half hour – perhaps the best written, best acted 30 minutes of television ever made.

I say this because the comedy remains very funny, but...

2 announcements!

The first is that I am holding a new competition on my Facebook page! In honour of the current Federal election in Australia, I want people to post pictures of politicans who have been turned into vampires! Here is a vamped up pic of Liberal leader, Tony Abbott, made using the Vampire Transformer iPhone app.

You can also just draw on a newspaper image, photograph it and submit the pic (or email it to me for submission)

Prizes consist of a copy of The Opposite of Life and Buffy the Vampire...

Real life hyperlinks

On Saturday 30 July I was lucky enough to be in the audience at the Regent Theatre in Melbourne for one of Stephen Fry's two talks. Someone on JJJ remarked that the event was like spending two hours in conversation with one's favourite disreputable uncle, which I think sums it up nicely.

Fry, with nothing but a microphone and his native charm, strolled back and forth across a bare stage talking about his life. He did brilliant impersonations of people he has known, was charmingly impolite and ...

Review: The Girl's Guide to Vampires by Barb Karg

The Girl's Guide to Vampires

This book offers a great overview to the history of the vampire, from folklore and the novels of the 19th century, through the films of each decade leading to television and the 21st Century.

The writer, Barb Karg, occasionally hints at the way the vampire is used as a metaphor for social and political issues in each era, but rarely does more than touch lightly on these. I would have loved to have read more about how the vampire's role in stories reflects changing s...

GaryView: Sherlock Holmes – "The Last Vampyre" (starring Jeremy Brett)

Gary: That's not how I remember the original story.

Lissa: It's nothing much like 'The Sussex Vampire" at all, is it?

Gary: Conan Doyle wouldn't be impressed. Holmes wouldn't be impressed.

Lissa: You're clearly not impressed.

Gary: No. I'm not.

Lissa: It's a shame, because I really liked Jeremy Brett as Holmes. I watched some of those early episodes with Nanna, and I liked them so much she bought me a collection of the original stories for Christmas. I hardly spoke to anyone all Christmas Day...

Review: Liar by Justine Larbalestier

Justine Larbalestier delivers another fresh, unexpected tale with this story of Micah, a habitual liar. It's difficult to comment without giving away major plot points, but the nub of it is that Micah's friend Zach has been murdered, and this book is her attempt to peel away the layers of lies which she tells to uncover the truth.

The story is told in three parts. The first is her story of what happened, both before and after Zach's death. It's full of her confessions of the lies she's told, ...