Alan Baxter's Blog, page 58
November 12, 2012
Awesome friends are awesome
A unexpected parcel arrived in the post today and it turned out to be a generous gift from a caring friend. When something has helped a talented friend and that friend shares it in the hope it helps you, that’s some damned touching stuff right there.
I won’t embarrass my friend by naming them, but you know who you are. Thanks!
Give books, because it makes you awesome. This is what I got:
November 8, 2012
My work is recommended reading
Look at that lovely cover. That’s the latest Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror (2011) from Ticonderoga Publications. It’s a lovely book with 32 awesome stories in it. Sadly, none of mine made the book this year. My story The King’s Accord was reprinted in last year’s Year’s Best, which I’m still very chuffed about. But I have just discovered that no less than five of my stories published in 2011 made the Recommended Reading List in this latest edition. Five of ‘em! Fuck me, can’t complain about that.
So, as they’re recommended reading, I thought I’d help people find them, in order to read them. As recommended. They were published in a variety of anthologies, a podcast (now in print too) and one in a magazine, but you can still find them all easily enough. So here they are:
Dream Shadow – This is an urban horror story, first published in the Winds Of Change anthology from CSfG Publications. You can get a copy of that book here (use the Contact Us page to order a copy).
The Seven Garages Of Kevin Simpson – This was a podcast original, on Pseudopod, episode 242. You can still listen to it there for free. It was also just reprinted in Dark Places 2, the e-anthology from Gryphonwood Press, and you can get that for just 99c right here.
Duty And Sacrifice – This is a fantasy story I wrote for the Hope anthology, published by Kayelle Press. This is a really important book, with lots of great stories and information about suicide and suicide awareness. All profits of the book go to relevant charities. I wrote a big post all about that stuff here. You can get this great anthology here.
Mirrorwalk – This is a dark urban fantasy/horror story that was originally published in issue 16 of Murky Depths magazine. You can still get a copy of that from here.
Punishment of the Sun – This is a vampire horror story, written for the Australian vampire anthology Dead Red Heart, from Ticongeroga Publications. This story also made the recommended reading list in Ellen Datlow’s Year’s Best Horror 4. Dead Red Heart is a great big book of vampire yarns, with some real crackers among them. You can get your copy of that book here.
Of course, all these great books and magazines are also available from Amazon, B&N, etc. or you can order them through your local bookstore or library. So hopefully that will help you find some stuff that editors extraordinaire Talie Helene and Liz Grzyb recommend. And you know what else is recommended reading? The whole Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror 2011. Go get it here. Seriously.
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Urban Fantasy, or is it?
I’ve got this guest post up at S F Signal at the moment:
Genre definitions are always very slippery things. I was recently asked by the wonderful folks here at SF Signal to take part in a Mind Meld. It was a pleasure, as I’ve always enjoyed reading those thought-provoking posts. The subject we discussed was The Intersection Between Gothic Horror and Urban Fantasy and the subsequent answers really gave me pause for thought.
The concept of the question, based on this year’s World Fantasy Convention theme of “Northern Gothic and Urban Fantasy”, is that Urban Fantasy represents the new Gothic; castles and haunted locations have been replaced by the Modern City. There was a lot of variation in the responses and I realised it was largely due to the definition of urban fantasy being considered. Many people didn’t think there was a connection between gothic and urban fantasy, which really surprised me. Among those who thought urban fantasy might well be born from gothic horror, there was an implication that it’s somehow lighter in tone, or that it needs to have a romantic element or female lead to be urban fantasy. Are any of those things true?
It’s not news to anyone that urban fantasy is regularly used to refer to that branch of modern paranormal romance where there’s not necessarily a happy ending (whereas, to be a romance, the lead couple have to get together in the end). I’ll explore the romance aspects below. But to me, especially in the context of the Mind Meld question posed, urban fantasy is a far broader term. It’s in the broader context of the genre definition that I answered the Mind Meld, as did many others, but it still raised problems with just what urban fantasy is…
Read the rest of the post here at S F Signal.
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November 5, 2012
GenreCon a great success
I’m very glad I got to go to GenreCon after all last weekend. Thanks to the AHWA for that. It really was a tremendous event, bringing writers of all genres (sci-fi, fantasy, horror, romance, crime and more) all together. The streams of panels were excellent, the venue was great and the organisation was simply top notch. Well done to convenor Peter Ball, and to Meg Vann and the team, for such a well organised and well executed con.
The international guests were also brilliant. Joe Abercrombie is an interesting and funny guy, who had time for everyone and always entertained on his panels. Ginger Clark, agent extraordinaire with Curtis Brown, gave a very inspiring and fascinating talk on what an agent does these days, which is a lot more than they used to. If all agents are like Ginger, we writers will be well looked after into the future. And Sarah Wendell, of Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, gave a tremendous presentation on social media and “author platform”. This is a subject very familiar to me and I’ve given similar presentations myself. Sarah was clear, open and funny and she gave me a lot to think about. Most of her presentation went over things I already know, but even then she gave me new ways to look at them. And a handful of things new to me made the event really worthwhile.
Of course, the local Australian author guests were all very friendly and open, as was everyone at the con. I attended several really good panels.
Martin Livings launched his collection, Living with the Dead, as part of an Australian Horror Writers Association presentation, which I was very proud to be a part of. Seriously, Martin is a bloody great writer and you really should get hold of that collection.
The great debate, Plotters vs Pantsers, at the end of the con was hilarious, and Meg Vann announced that GenreCon 2 was confirmed for Brisbane next year. Bring it on!
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November 1, 2012
Bloodstones anthology is out, featuring me!
The Bloodstones anthology from Ticonderoga Publications, edited by the amazing Amanda Pillar, is now out. It’s ” loaded with stories of dark urban fantasy imbued with mythology; seventeen fantastic tales of monsters, gods, magic and so much more.” Alphabetically, here’s what’s in it:
You can buy it here now in trade paperback. Or you can get a shiny hardcover here. It’ll be available on Amazon any day now. Go get some!
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RealmShift and MageSign both now available as audiobooks
I’m very pleased to announce that my dark fantasy thriller duology, RealmShift and MageSign, are now both available in full-length audiobook from audible.com. Within the next few days they’ll be available on iTunes and Amazon as well, or you can get them directly from audible now. At only $7.49 each, they’re a steal. I don’t know how long they’ll stay at that price.
My publisher, Gryphonwood Press, negotiated a deal with voice artist Matt ‘Bentley’ Allegre, to record both books. RealmShift has been out for a while, and now MageSign is out too. Bentley does a great job – he has a good voice for the style of the books. It’s strange to hear my stuff with an American accent, but I expect more people would find it strange if it were in my mongrel British-Australia-WTF accent, so there you go.
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October 31, 2012
GenreCon this weekend, Nov 2 – 4
I wasn’t originally going to be able to attend GenreCon this weekend, but now I can, so firstly I want to thank the Australian Horror Writers’ Association for making that happen. I’ll be there as an official representative of the AHWA for the Sunday afternoon shenanigans. I won’t be able to make the Friday night part of the con, but I’ll be there all day Saturday and Sunday. What is GenreCon? Here, from the website:
GenreCon is a three-day convention for Australian fans and professionals working within the fields of romance, mystery, science fiction, crime, fantasy, horror, thrillers, and more. One part party, one part celebration, one part professional development: GenreCon is the place to be if you’re an aspiring or established writer with a penchant for the types of fiction that get relegated to their own corner of the bookstore.
Sounds pretty sweet, huh? There’s all kinds of stuff going on, which you can find from the Program page on the website. My official duties will be on Sunday from 3 – 4 pm when the AHWA will host afternoon tea and, as part of the festivities, we’ll be launching Martin Livings’ new collection, Living With The Dead. So don’t miss out!
Come and find me and say hello. I’m looking forward to catching up with old friends and making new friends this weekend. All the details here.
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The Intersection Between Gothic Horror and Urban Fantasy – S F Signal Mind Meld
I’ve always enjoyed the frequent Mind Meld posts over at the S F Signal blog, so it was quite an honour to be asked to participate in one. The subject was The Intersection Between Gothic Horror and Urban Fantasy based on the theme of this year’s World Fantasy Convention: “Northern Gothic and Urban Fantasy”. We were asked to comment on the idea that Urban Fantasy now represents the new Gothic; that castles and haunted locations have been replaced by the Modern City. It seems that my ideas on the subject are in the minority compared to most of the respondents, but I think that’s largely due to differing ideas of just what urban fantasy is. I think the idea of urban fantasy as purely an extension of paranormal romance does an incredible disservice to the scope and variety of what makes up urban fantasy today.
Sure, there’s the stuff that draws on the paranormal romance model, but there’s so much more than that. Certainly, my own work has nothing to do with romance and everything to do with dark fantasy and horror in urban (and other) environments.
Anyway, the various responses still make for interesting reading. The people involved include Anton Strout, Carrie Cuinn, Carrie Vaughn, Damien Walters Grintalis, David Annandale, J.A. Pitts, Mindy Klasky, Nick Mamatas, Stina Leicht, Teresa Frohock and myself. You can find the post here.
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October 30, 2012
Dark Places 2, free for Halloween only
Remember I posted last week about a new anthology from Gryphonwood Press called Dark Places 2? It’s the second volume of Halloween short fiction from Gryphonwood Press authors. It features short fiction from Justin R. Macumber, Terry W. Ervin II, John E. Bailor, David Wood and myself. My contribution is The Seven Garages Of Kevin Simpson, a creepy story about a daughter who discovers, after her father’s death, that he had seven garages the family knew nothing about.
For today, Halloween, only, the anthology is free here at Smashwords with the following coupon code: VY29G
Go get some!
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October 29, 2012
Dredd – movie review
Dredd is the second attempt to make a movie from the incredibly enduring 2000AD comic strip, Judge Dredd. The last attempt, with Sylvester Stallone in the title role, was such a smouldering pile of crap that I refuse to say any more about it. Does the new version make up for that? Actually, yes it does.
Dredd is the story of a future Earth where nuclear holocaust has reduced the vast majority of the planet to radioactive wastelands full of mutants, generally referred to as The Cursed Earth. The surviving, unaffected members of humanity live in massive, sprawling cities that cover thousands of square miles, called Mega-Cities. The biggest of these, covering the vast majority of the east coast of the US and home to some 800 million people, is Mega-City One. Most people live in Blocks, mega structures of some 200 stories each. As you can imagine, people crammed in those kind of numbers into that kind of space means crime and violence are everyday dangers. The only line between the people and utter chaos are the men and women of the Hall of Justice, known as Judges. They are judge, jury and executioner, dispensing justice and sentence wherever they go. Of all the Judges, Judge Dredd is the Judgiest. An absolute law man, with a perfect working knowledge of every aspect of Mega-City One’s fascist and brutal justice code and a black and white eye for resolution.
This is a world and a society that has grown incredible detail over the decades, so to tackle the subject in a single 90 minute film is daunting, to say the least. The makers of this film, however, were smart and, after some opening sequences through Mega-City One, they locked two judges in one block and the rest of the film played out there. It’s the story of one particular crime boss, known as Ma Ma, and her control of the new drug Slo-Mo. When you take Slo-Mo, you perceive the world as passing at 1% its normal speed, which gives the filmmakers an excuse for some awesome and beautiful super slo-mo sequences. Also some truly brutal ones, but we’ll get to that.
Judge Dredd is saddled with a new rookie judge, Anderson. The rookie failed her test to become a judge, but only just. She does, however, have a pretty powerful psychic ability and the Chief Judge tasks Dredd with taking her out for a day’s assessment to see if the slight fail can be ignored if Anderson’s psychic abilities prove her to be a good judge on the streets. On investigating a triple homicide in Peach Trees Block, they find themselves trapped in Ma Ma’s web and the crime boss seals off the block with war protocols and orders everyone inside to find and kill the judges. Thus begins a Die Hard-esque fight for survival while Dredd and Anderson try to stay alive and dispense justice.
Seeing as I’ve been a fan of Judge Dredd since before my age hit double figures, I was scared about how faithful to the comics this film would be…
Read the rest of my review at Thirteen O’Clock by clicking here.
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