Alan Baxter's Blog, page 115

Continuum 6: Future Tense

It's convention time again. This weekend I'll be at Continuum 6: Future Tense. Continuum is a Melbourne con that has a cool, intimate vibe. There's always good people and interesting things going on.

For my part, other than hanging out with friends and hopefully making some new friends, I'll be on a couple of panels and doing a reading.

Friday arvo I'll be interviewed with Paul Haines by Radio National for their Book Show program. I must admit, that's a very exciting turn of events! I'm not...

All 90 Australian SpecFic Snapshots 2010

You may remember this post about the Snapshot of me done as part of the 2010 Australian SpecFic Snapshots. It's basically 5 questions answered by as many of us as the people behind it could find. Mad fools that they are, they managed to find 90 people to interview this year. A truly sterling effort.

You can find all 90 Snapshots linked here, including many far more interesting people than I. Visit Tansy's site for the links, but below is a list of who you'll find there:

The Australian SpecFic...

Rules for writing fiction from various authors

Thanks to Adrian for this one. A couple of articles in the Guardian (UK) about writing fiction. Various authors give their rules for writing well and there's a lot to be learned from the places several authors cross over in their advice. The article is in two parts:

Part the first.

Part the second.

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Damn Wolfman movie ripping off Twilight

Yes, you read that right. One of the mailing groups I'm on was shocked by this recently, so I thought I'd share. A young Twilight fan wrote a letter to the website latinoreview.com. I had no idea there was a Latino Review site, but there you go.

This letter writer does nothing for the reputation of "young folk today". She's a die-hard Taylor Lautner fan and quite, quite dumb. Who the fuck is Taylor Lautner? Yeah, I wondered that too. Turns out he's the guy that plays the werewolf in Twilight. ...

RealmShift and MageSign acquired by Gryphonwood Press

I am extremely pleased to announce that my dark fantasy thriller novels, RealmShift and MageSign, have been acquired by Gryphonwood Press in the US. This marks a move from the books being indie published through my own press to being "traditionally" published by a small press in the US that is really going places. They have some great authors and books available, so check them out.

Apart from joining a great stable of authors, I'll also be eligible to apply for membership of the International...

Twitter sci fi geekery

I love Twitter. The things that happen there are great, especially when the big stars show themselves up to be geeks like the rest of us. A conversation between Simon Pegg and Nathan Fillion this morning cracked me up. For those not versed in geekery, Simon Pegg is the British comic genius behind TV shows like Spaced and movies like Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz. He was most recently in Star Trek, playing Scottie.

Nathan Fillion has been in numerous TV and movie roles, currently in Castle...

2010 Snapshot

I've been Snapshotted. Snapshat? There's a Snapshot of me. Whatever.

You can find it here.

Basically, it's an interview that was conducted as part of the 2010 Snapshot of Australian Speculative Fiction, blogging interviews with Aussie spec fic writers from Monday 15th February to Sunday 22nd February. They'll all be archived at ASif!: Australian SpecFic in Focus. You can read interviews throughout the week at:

http://random-alex.livejournal.com/
http://girliejones.livejournal.com/
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And you think spec fic nerds are weird

I followed this car into a car park the other day. It had two stickers on the back window. On the passanger side was this:

Likes as in "likes"? And on the driver's side was this one:

Weird, slightly religious train spotting nerds? Hornby model train nerds? Bizarre, whatever the truth. Makes Star Trek tragics seem relatively normal.

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Batman and Obama silliness

(Thanks to Lynn Viehl.) Batman and Robin have an age-old writerly argument, and I take on the Obama style of expressing how I feel.

From Batman Comic Generator and Obama Me.

So what, I'm in a silly mood. Normal service may resume at some point.

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Interview with Kate Forsyth

Kate Forsyth's new young adult fantasy novel, The Puzzle Ring, is a story rich in faerie lore, set in the wilds of Scotland. You can read my review of the book here. As part of her blog tour, I talked to Kate about the book, the process of writing it and her hopes for it.

AB – Hi Kate. Thanks for dropping by to talk about The Puzzle Ring.

KF – Hi, Alan. Thank you so much for having me!

AB – Firstly, the descriptions of Scotland are very vivid. I've spent a lot of time there myself and was...