Alan Baxter's Blog, page 85

On episodic storytelling – A Game Of Thrones

I've been thinking a lot lately about different styles of storytelling. This was triggered mostly by watching the incredible TV adaptation of George R R Martin's A Song Of Ice And Fire. The TV show is named after the first volume in Martin's masterful epic, A Game Of Thrones. When it comes to epic fantasy, nothing comes close to A Song Of Ice And Fire (ASOIAF). There are many reasons for that. Mainly it's Martin's superb ability as a writer, but it's his ideas and characters as well. Of course, any good story can be spoiled by a bad writer and any good writer can make a decent job of a bad story. All the really good books out there are the ones that combine great writing with original ideas and well realised characters. By those criteria, ASOIAF stands head and shoulders above so much other epic fantasy storytelling.

Of course, your mileage may vary. I've even come across people that don't like ASOIAF at all. I can only imagine they also hate puppies. There are some very weird folk out there. Others may think that ASOIAF is good, but they have other favourites. Regardless, the majority view is that it's brilliant. The majority are right.

The HBO television adaptation is a no-expense-spared homage to the books. After three episodes it's clear they're not cutting corners and I'm enjoying seeing a visual interpretation of the books more than I thought I might. They've got some details wrong, they're missing stuff here and there, but it's an adaptation, not a facsimile. But it's not a patch on the books.

Rarely is the TV or film version of a story better than the written one. You can draw some examples where the film is better, the most obvious to me being Blade Runner, the greatest film of all time. It's based on the Philip K Dick novel, Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep. I prefer the movie to the book, but they're actually vastly different things. The influence and inspiration is obvious, but Ridley Scott did very different things with the film than PKD did with the book.

Even so, to return to ASOIAF, a ten episode television adaptation of an 800 page novel should move at a pace and be enthralling and intense. It should grip the viewer, make us desperate to see the next part. Certainly it should have a faster pace than a novel that could prop up a table with three legs. Now while the television series is brilliant, it's not as compelling as the book for me. And I couldn't figure out why.

I know the story, so reading the book was new while watching the show isn't. That's certainly part of it. No matter how detailed and carefully made the television show is, it can't possibly contain the detail and characterisation of the book. And here we start to see the issue at hand. Martin's massive story – and it does almost redefine the term epic – is not one of those long, meandering big fat fantasies. It's a fast, powerful big fat fantasy. And it's like that because of the method Martin employs in his storytelling.

It's episodic, just like a ten part television series. Except each part is very short. In ASOIAF every chapter is titled with a character name. We know immediately that the chapter in question is going to be told from the point of view (POV) of that character. By doing this Martin manages to tell his story with a huge cast of characters. Every POV chapter contains numerous other players, all important to the plot. But Martin is able to focus each of those sections through the eyes of the chapter character in question. We then quickly develop favourites – Tyrion, Jaime, Brienne, Arya to name a few of mine – and we desperately want to get to the next chapter told through their eyes.

This turns an 800 page novel into a huge collection of 10 page (or so) interlinked short stories. And Martin writes them that way. Each chapter is almost self-contained, like a good short story, while being an integral part of the whole.

I love short stories. I love reading them and I love writing them. I particularly like selling them. And most other people like short stories too. Even people that don't really think they like short stories, because they want a bigger narrative with less left untold, can still appreciate a good short yarn. Just some people read very few of them and prefer to immerse themselves in a novel with their reading time. George R R Martin makes ASOIAF so compelling because he gives us that massive, epic story, told in hundreds of short stories. Faster and more intense than episodes of a television show. Deeper and more detailed than a television show could ever be. He tells stories within stories and takes us on a journey of intrigue and politics that would bore us silly in an historical textbook. And he does it with tight, episodic storytelling.

Because we switch POV with every chapter, the story never slows down. We know that once this chapter ends, we're going somewhere else. Sometimes Martin cheats – for example, he'll have a Jaime chapter and Cersei will be involved. Then he'll immediately follow it with a Cersei chapter, then maybe another Jaime one. He's just managed to stay in one place for three chapters with only two POV changes between two characters. Clever stuff. But he very rarely does that.

By having a key character POV in each of his theatres of action, we keep track of what's going on. We might not remember all the names of all the players, especially when there's a long gap between visits to certain characters or scenarios, but that lynchpin character holds us in place and we can follow along. And each of those chapters is a little self-contained slice of a far, far bigger tale. You can tell by the way the chapters start. I'll give a few random examples from the first book in the series:

"It's the Hand's tourney that's they cause of all the trouble, my lords," the Commander of the City Watch complained to the king's council.

Through the high narrow windows of the Red Keep's cavernous throne room, the light of sunset spilled across the floor, laying dark red stripes upon the walls where the heads of dragons had once hung.

The Karstarks came in on a cold windy morning, bringing three hundred horsemen and near two thousand foot from their castle at Karhold.

Each of those is quite random – I just leafed through A Game Of Thrones and picked the opening line of three different chapters. Two of them are even the same character POV. But any one of those sentences could be the start of a novel or a short story. There's no reference to the previous chapter because we've shifted from those events to somewhere new. There's no presupposition of place or situation until we're several paragraphs in and discover where we are and what thread we're picking up. And even then, it could be hours, days or weeks since we were last in the company of this particular POV character.

Any good book will keep you turning the pages, even a massive, fat fantasy in multiple volumes. But no one does it so well or so consistently as Martin does in ASOIAF.

Honestly, Martin is a genius, a proven master with what he's achieved with ASOIAF. The next volume is due out in July and I believe there are two more volumes after that slated to wrap up the whole thing. The TV show is going to have one series for each volume. So Martin had better keep writing so the actors don't outgrow the story before he's finished. Regardless, whatever he does, the books will always be more powerful and more compelling than the television series. And not just because we get more in the books – more characters, more detail, more history – but because of the way Martin has chosen to tell that story. The method that so often had me bleary of a morning because the night before I sat there reading saying, "Oh, just one chapter before bed." Then it was another Tyrion chapter. Then an Arya chapter. And then… and then…

There's a lot that makes Martin's masterpiece so good, but it's the way he tells the story that makes it so addictive.

What do you think? Is this why you love it too? Or why you hate it?

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Win a copy of Dead Red Heart

You'll remember I've mentioned a couple of times that my short story, Punishment Of The Sun, is in the new anthology of Australian vampire stories, Dead Red Heart, from Ticonderoga Publications. Talking to the publisher recently, I asked if they'd be interested in giving a copy away to a lucky reader here. They said yes.

So if you're interested in reading a fantastic tome packed with 33 stories about vampires in Australia, it's as easy as this: Leave me a comment, telling me something interesting about vampires, and the one I find the most interesting by the end of the week will win the book. Hint: your interesting "facts" about vampires don't have to be true. They can be, but I'm open to anything, so get commenting.

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Swancon 36, Natcon 50 follow-up post

I was going to post more stuff from Swancon, including a roundup of a few of the panels I attended and the things discussed. The truth is, my brain is a blur from all the awesomeness of the con and I don't really have the time or inclination to discuss all the panels in detail. Suffice to say that it was all great and you should really check out a con if you haven't before.

I have come across a couple more photos though, which I'd like to share. I've already mentioned Cat Sparks' Flickr set, and there are enough photos in there to keep you occupied for ages. There's also this Flickr set from Tom Bicknell, which is well worth a look. I'll put a couple of his shots below that are personal favourites (for obvious reasons!)

Firstly, here's a shot of the Oh zombie, my zombie panel. From left to right are Rob Hood, myself, Jason Nahrung and Grant Watson:

I mentioned in the previous Swancon post about the Ticonderoga Publications fifteenth birthday party, and associated launch of Dead Red Heart and More Scary Kisses. Here's a shot of part of the signing at the launch. Nearest the camera is Pete Kempshall, then myself, then Joanne Anderton who is neatly masking Martin Livings and Carol Ryles at the end:

And finally, purely for the self-congratulatory nature of it, here's Pete Kempshall enjoying a damn good book:

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Source Code – movie review

Hopscotch Films were kind enough to send me a double pass for a pre-screening of the new sci-fi thriller Source Code. So I hooked up a good mate and we went along last night. Source Code opens with Jake Gyllenhaal snapping awake in a train carriage, clearly unaware of where he is and what's happening. The girl opposite seems to know him well and he's the only one confused by the situation. After a few minutes of running around the train in a state of anxiety, a massive explosion rips through everything, killing everybody. Pretty powerful opening. Gyllenhaal awakens in a pod and we discover that he's Captain Colter Stevens, a military helicopter pilot, whose last memory is flying in Afghanistan. He's told through a screen to go back and find the bomber. He fails again and is blown up again. So they tell him he's wasting time and has to find the bomb, the bomber, or something they can use. They send him back again. That's right – it's Groundhog Day On A Train, with extra explosions.

But it's way better than that.

I'm going to review this film with as little spoilerage as possible, but it's one of those films that is hard to explain without some exposition. To be honest, if I wanted to give nothing away, that first paragraph would be all I could post! I'll describe the overall premise very briefly here and then go on to a review after the next picture. I really won't give too much away anywhere here, but if you want to know nothing about this film, skip to the other side of the next image.

The basic premise is this: When someone dies their brain retains a latent glow of information, like a light bulb filament after you turn it off. That "glow" lasts for eight minutes. A certain compatible brain type, with the help of Dr Rutledge's incredible science, employing quantum mechanics and some stuff or something and a clever machine, allows this military team to send a person back into the source code – essentially a program generated by the latent brain image of the dead. But every time a person goes back, they only have that eight minute window to work in.

Clear? No, not really. Turns out that Jake Gyllenhaal's character, Captain Colter Stevens, is an air force captain and he's in the machine, being sent back into the source code memory of a victim of a terrorist attack. A train was blown up on its way to Chicago and more attacks are imminent. If Stevens and the team can go back into the source code often enough for him to find the bomber and/or any information about the bomb, the military could conceiveably prevent the next attacks by catching the people responsible. They can't do anything about what has already happened, because it's just a program, just Source Code, but they can learn things to act on future attacks.

Source Code is a slick, classy movie. It's directed by Duncan Jones, the man who brought us Moon, so you know it's in good hands, and written by Ben Ripley. The performances are all excellent, particularly Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, who plays Christina Warren, and Vera Farmiga, who plays Colleen Goodwin. I thought Goodwin was a particularly powerful character.

The science in this sci-fi thriller is very much on the lite side. If you read the paragraphs above you'll realise that it's not clearly defined. I wasn't vague about it because I wasn't paying attention. I was vague because the film is vague on the science. Something about quantumm mechanics, a clever kind of machine thing and a smarmy, self-important doctor. But the science isn't really the relevant part. If you want that properly explained, you'll be diappointed. If you have a solid grasp on quantum mechanics and the like, you'll probably cringe at the liberties this film takes with those ideas. But I didn't let that bother me. It's a strong action thriller and should be enjoyed as such. The premise and development of that idea are really well done and the film is powerful for its focus on subjects like fate, duty and the meaning of life.

This film is in a similar vein to Inception and I'm really pleased to see these films being made. There's a distinct return, most evident in Source Code and Inception recently, to intelligent, challenging storytelling. In Source Code they play with time (but it's not really time travel) and the whole plot plays with your mind as you try to unravel it along with the characters. I did see most of the little twists coming and I imagine most people with even a simple familiarity with sci-fi would anticipate them too. But none of them were forced and they all worked well.

Immediately on leaving the theatre my friend and I began chattering in earnest about the ending and how it happened. The film made us think while we watched and kept us thinking. We figured out a timeline that seemed contradictory but actually isn't and is really very clever (quantum mechanic liberties aside). Source Code is a mind-bender. It'll keep people interested long after the film is finished and won't just leave people with the old adage, "Well, it looked good. Amazing effects!" Sure, the effects were really good and very convincing, but you know what? They were only used to advance the story. Imagine that! There was me thinking Hollywood had forgotten about that.

The film takes its ideas from a number of sources. I mentioned earlier that it has a distinct Groundhog Day feel to it. It also has clear influence from a number of other sources, including most notably the premise of Quantum Leap. As an aside, there's a clever Scott Bakula cameo (he played the main character in Quantum Leap). Don't cheat, but I bet you a hundred bucks* you don't spot his cameo appearance. Watch the credits afterwards to get the answer.

* Not a real bet. I don't have a hundred bucks!

This is a film that's well worth your time and money. It's clever, brilliantly shot and constructed, neatly avoiding a lot of potential paradoxes even if it is light on the science, and exciting from start to finish. It grips just as a thriller should and will challenge your thinking all the way through. As a last note, when you do watch this film, spare a thought for poor old Sean Fentress. When you've seen the film, take a minute to think about that and you'll see what I mean.

Have you seen it? What did you think? Did the potential problems with the science bother you? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

(NB: Source Code opens nationally (Australia) on 5th May 2011)

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2011 Hugo Award nominees

I'm still busily catching up after Swancon, so apologies for the quick posts, but I wanted to note this one. The Hugo Award nominees were announced over the weekend, and I've copied the list below:

Novel

Blackout/All Clear by Connie Willis (Ballantine Spectra)

Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold (Baen)

The Dervish House by Ian McDonald (Gollancz; Pyr)

Feed by Mira Grant (Orbit)

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin (Orbit)

Novella

"The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers Beneath the Queen's Window" by Rachel Swirsky (Subterranean Magazine, Summer 2010)

"The Lifecycle of Software Objects" by Ted Chiang (Subterranean)

"The Maiden Flight of McCauley's Bellerophon" by Elizabeth Hand (Stories: All New Tales, William Morrow)

"The Sultan of the Clouds" by Geoffrey A. Landis (Asimov's, September 2010)

"Troika" by Alastair Reynolds (Godlike Machines, Science Fiction Book Club)

Novelette

"Eight Miles" by Sean McMullen (Analog, September 2010)

"The Emperor of Mars" by Allen M. Steele (Asimov's, June 2010)

"The Jaguar House, in Shadow" by Aliette de Bodard (Asimov's, July 2010)

"Plus or Minus" by James Patrick Kelly (Asimov's, December 2010)

"That Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast Made" by Eric James Stone (Analog, September 2010)

Short Story

"Amaryllis" by Carrie Vaughn (Lightspeed, June 2010)

"For Want of a Nail" by Mary Robinette Kowal (Asimov's, September 2010)

"Ponies" by Kij Johnson (Tor.com, November 17, 2010)

"The Things" by Peter Watts (Clarkesworld, January 2010)

Related Work

Bearings: Reviews 1997-2001, by Gary K. Wolfe (Beccon)

"The Business of Science Fiction: Two Insiders Discuss Writing and Publishing," by Mike Resnick and Barry N. Malzberg (McFarland)

Chicks Dig Time Lords: A Celebration of Doctor Who by the Women Who Love It, edited by Lynne M. Thomas and Tara O'Shea (Mad Norwegian)

Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue with His Century, Volume 1: (1907–1948): Learning Curve, by William H. Patterson, Jr. (Tor)

Writing Excuses, Season 4, by Brandon Sanderson, Jordan Sanderson, Howard Tayler, Dan Wells

Graphic Story

"Fables: Witches," written by Bill Willingham; illustrated by Mark Buckingham (Vertigo)

"Girl Genius, Volume 10: Agatha Heterodyne and the Guardian Muse," written by Phil and Kaja Foglio; art by Phil Foglio; colors by Cheyenne Wright (Airship Entertainment)

"Grandville Mon Amour," by Bryan Talbot (Dark Horse)

"Schlock Mercenary: Massively Parallel," written and illustrated by Howard Tayler; colors by Howard Tayler and Travis Walton (Hypernode)

"The Unwritten, Volume 2: Inside Man," written by Mike Carey; illustrated by Peter Gross (Vertigo)

Dramatic Presentation, Long Form

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, screenplay by Steve Kloves; directed by David Yates (Warner)

How to Train Your Dragon screenplay by William Davies, Dean DeBlois & Chris Sanders; directed by Dean DeBlois & Chris Sanders (DreamWorks)

Inception, written and directed by Christopher Nolan (Warner)

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, screenplay by Michael Bacall & Edgar Wright; directed by Edgar Wright (Universal)

Toy Story 3, screenplay by Michael Arndt; story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton & Lee Unkrich; directed by Lee Unkrich (Pixar/Disney)

Dramatic Presentation, Short Form

"Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol," written by Steven Moffat; directed by Toby Haynes (BBC Wales)

"Doctor Who: The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang," written by Steven Moffat; directed by Toby Haynes (BBC Wales)

"Doctor Who: Vincent and the Doctor," written by Richard Curtis; directed by Jonny Campbell (BBC Wales)

"… Me, Ray Bradbury," written by Rachel Bloom; directed by Paul Briganti

"The Lost Thing," written by Shaun Tan; directed by Andrew Ruhemann and Shaun Tan (Passion Pictures)

Editor, Short Form

John Joseph Adams

Stanley Schmidt

Jonathan Strahan

Gordon Van Gelder

Sheila Williams

Editor, Long Form

Lou Anders

Ginjer Buchanan

Moshe Feder

Liz Gorinsky

Nick Mamatas

Beth Meacham

Juliet Ulman

Professional Artist

Daniel Dos Santos

Bob Eggleton

Stephan Martiniere

John Picacio

Shaun Tan

Semiprozine

Clarkesworld, edited by Neil Clarke, Cheryl Morgan, Sean Wallace; podcast directed by Kate Baker

Interzone, edited by Andy Cox

Lightspeed, edited by John Joseph Adams

Locus, edited by Liza Groen Trombi and Kirsten Gong-Wong

Weird Tales, edited by Ann VanderMeer and Stephen H. Segal

Fanzine

Banana Wings, edited by Claire Brialey and Mark Plummer

Challenger, edited by Guy H. Lillian III

The Drink Tank, edited by Christopher J Garcia and James Bacon

File 770, edited by Mike Glyer

StarShipSofa, edited by Tony C. Smith

Fan Writer

James Bacon

Claire Brialey

Christopher J Garcia

James Nicoll

Steven H Silver

Fan Artist

Brad W. Foster

Randall Munroe

Maurine Starkey

Steve Stiles

Taral Wayne

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

Award for the best new professional science fiction or fantasy writer of 2009 or 2010, sponsored by Dell Magazines (not a Hugo Award). All Campbell finalists are in their second year of eligibility.

Saladin Ahmed

Lauren Beukes

Larry Correia

Lev Grossman

Dan Wells

Great to see some Aussies on that list. Congratulations to all the nominees!

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Weird subscriber email

If you subscribe to this blog and you just got an email titled Latest From The Word, as you'd usually expect, but it listed loads of old posts from 2007, I can only apologise!

I have no idea why this happened, but I'm looking into it and hope it doesn't happen again.

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Swancon 36, Natcon 50 – the report

Cons are a bit like dreams – they're hectic, often surreal affairs, that fade from the mind on waking, like mist in a stiff breeze. Then, over days or weeks, bits and pieces come back to you. Photographs crop up that remind you of things previously lost in a drunken haze and so on. However, I will attempt to post here a roughly accurate report of Swancon 36, which was Natcon 50. Forgive me if I miss any events or people that I should include.

It was a great con – there was a really happy vibe about the thing and loads of people having a good time. The bar was a big round place right in the middle, which made it prefect for distracting a person on their way to a panel. Sadly I missed several panels I was keen to see, purely because good friends, new friends and interesting people distracted me on the way. But that's kinda what cons are all about.

Thursday:

I flew into Perth late Thursday afternoon and, once I'd checked in to my hotel, went to the con and immediately found several friends in various states of sobriety. I joined them, drank, registered and then attended the opening ceremony. The main event there was a comedian, I believe his name was Brent, who was, quite frankly, fucking hectic. He openly admitted his act was largely based on his ADHD ("Don't hate us, we probably invented fire.") He did a crazy pastiche of comedy based around impressions, regularly referencing back to Star Wars. It was… interesting. After that we retired en masse to the bar. There were several panels and things happening, but the bar seemed to have a kind of magnetic effect on me and there were too many good friends and interesting people around.

Friday:

I wagged a couple of hours on Friday morning. Having never been to Perth before – in fact, it was my first time in WA – I took the opportunity to have a mooch about. I walked through the CBD and up to King's Park, around a few bush trails there and then back along the river. The river has jellyfish! I took a few photos.

Perth from King's Park (photo by me)

King's Park (photo by me)

Jellyfish! (photo by me)

Before long I found myself back at the bar. I was told my panel, SF & The Social Network, had been cancelled, so I stayed in the bar till I got a phone call asking where I was. It turned out that no one else had been told the panel was cancelled and a bunch of people were waiting for me. Thankfully Amanda Pillar was among those waiting and she had my number – thanks Amanda! I ran downstairs and we had an impromptu and casual discussion about social networks that turned out to be really interesting.

Following that were two awesome panels. Dead Eyes: Dolls and Simulcra in Horror was first and, as the name suggests, it was creepy as hell. Horror luminaries Stephen Dedman, Jason Nahrung, Kaaron Warren and Robert Hood were on the panel and talked about the uncanny and disturbing nature of those things and what makes them so horrible.

Following that was a panel called Darkness Beyond Borders, with more horror luminaries – Kaaron Warren, Kirstyn McDermott, Ellen Datlow and Paul Haines. This was a discussion of just what horror really is and what scares us and why. Fascinating stuff.

Darkness Beyond Borders, l to r: Ellen Datlow, Kirstyn McDermott, Paul Haines, Kaaron Warren. (photo by me)

After dinner, myself, Peter M Ball, Cat Sparks and Dirk Flinthart took part in some true lunacy. Before a roomful of people we took on the personalities of the Gentleman's Entomological Society. This is basically a live role-playing game before an audience where cards are drawn detailing some strange bug and a philosophical idea. One person has to spin the yarn of how they travelled somewhere and discovered said bug, in true 19th Century fashion, and weave into that story the philosophical idea. Meanwhile the other players try to trip up that story with challenges. It's basically making shit up on the fly, which four writers are eminently qualified for. Plus wine. It was a bloody good laugh and somehow I won.

The Gentlemen's Entomological Society, l to r: Dirk Flinhart, Cat Sparks, Peter M Ball, Alan Baxter. (photo by Rob Hood)

From there we went to a screening of "A Positive", a short film of Kaaron Warren's short story of the same name. Creepy and very powerful, I'm very glad I saw it. I recommend anyone that likes powerful psychological horror to check it out.

Then there was a room party. We never talk about room parties.

Saturday:

I had a slow start Saturday. Not surprising if you've just read Friday above. But at 10.30 I was on a panel called Oh zombie, my zombie, all about the rise of this originally very small sub-culture into serious mainstream consciousness. On the panel were myself, Rob Hood, Jason Nahrung and Grant Watson. It was a great discussion of all things zombie, with the Undead Grandmaster himself, Rob Hood, ensuring every idea was well detailed with examples.

After lunch I went along to an interview panel, which was Ellen Datlow being interviewed by Kaaron Warren. If you don't know who these people are, get thee to Google and find out. Amazing ladies, both. The discussion was fascinating and I learned a lot. I also discovered a whole bunch of new stories I need to read and, with the help of Google and an iPhone, we managed to all learn new things about one of Ellen's all-time favourite stories.

The bar swallowed me again after that, and then it was the ball, with Sean Williams and David Cake tearing it up, 80s style. Then a room party. Which we don't talk about.

Sunday:

Sunday dawned far too early, especially given everything that had gone before. I was booked in for a Wellness Session at 8.30, teaching a Tai Chi class. Only two people turned up, but we all felt much better than everyone else at the con because of it. Except, maybe, everyone else that stayed in bed. Who knows.

Following that was my two hour Write The Fight Right workshop. A good crowd turned up for that and we had a good time. Well, I certainly did, crapping on about two of my favourite things – writing and fighting. I think people got a lot out of it, and had some fun.

Write The Fight Right workshop. In this photo it would appear that I'm trying to teach people how to drink. (photo by Daniel I Russell)

After lunch there was the launch of Paul Haines' new collection The Last Days of Kali Yuga, from Brimstone Press. It's a beautiful book, full of the darkest work of Haines. Paul read from an original story and the whole event was incredibly emotional. I can't wait to read the book, and I'm also dreading it. Paul's darkness and powerful meta-fiction is some of the best stuff out there, from this or any other generation. I strongly recommend that you brace yourself and read some Haines if you haven't before.

Paul Haines signing at the launch of The Last Days Of Kali Yuga. (photo by me)

After that was the Ticonderoga Publications 15th birthday bash, which included the official launch of their two latest anthologies, Dead Red Heart and More Scary Kisses. Russell B Farr, editor at Ticonderoga, spoke first to a packed room, talking about the birth and development of the press. Then others spoke about their involvement in it – Grant Stone, Jonathan Strahan, Sean Williams, Angela Slatter, Lisa L Hannett. You can see from the list of names there just how influential and respected Ticonderoga is. Then the books launched, with a number of the authors present signing copies. As I have a story in Dead Red Heart, it was an honour to sit among those authors, signing for people.

As if that wasn't a big enough day, in the evening was the official Orbit/Gollancz Natcon Fifty Awards Ceremony, hosted by Grant Stone, awarding the local WA Tin Duck Awards and the national Ditmar Awards. If you're interested in the results, get to Google.

Then there was a room party. We don't… yeah, you know the score.

Monday:

I woke up close to dead. What a fantastic weekend. There were more panels in the morning and a closing ceremony, but my flight home was at 1pm. A bunch of us met for coffee and then we did the last rounds of the bar area saying our farewells, before Paul Haines and I shared a cab to the airport.

It was a tremendous convention and I'm glad to have been a part of it. Roll on the next thing. Meanwhile, I think I'll sleep for a week.

I highly recommend you check out Cat Sparks' Flickr album of the event to see some great shots of people and activities. You can find that here. I'm sure I've missed stuff – the hours wandering the Dealer's Room, panels here and there that my mind has blanked out or drowned in expensive hotel beer, that sort of thing. Forgive me. Hopefully this has given you a decent idea of the con. I'll post more photos and updates over the next couple of days as things come in.

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Swancon 36, Natcon 50 – Initiate!

It's convention time again – that place where you see the SF fan in its natural habitat. Where SF creators mix and mingle, drowning their rejection sorrows at whatever chosen bar they've decended upon. There are panels of expert import and workshops of interesting stuff. There are dealers selling books, oh, so many books (and other stuff)! There are movie screenings and masquerade balls, cosplay contests and somewhere, guaranteed, there will be at least one Jedi. Most likely there will be many.

There's nothing quite like a con and nothing quite like a Natcon, or National Convention. This year the Natcon is Swancon 36 in Perth, WA. I'm getting ready to fly over there on tomorrow for five days of CONtentment. See what I did there? I'm excited not only for the con and the chance to catch up with so many friends, but because it'll be my first time in Perth as well.

Here are the details:

Swancon Thirty Six | Natcon Fifty

21-25 April 2011

Hyatt Hotel, Adelaide Tce, Perth

I've got a few commitments for this con:

On Friday night I'll be joining in with The Gentlemens Entomology Club – a kind of role-playing, storytelling piece of nonsense, where a bunch of us will be making up tall tales on the spot in front of an audience. Should be quite a laugh.

Tai Chi Wellness Session

Sunday, 24 April

8:30 AM

Ballroom North

This is simply a group Tai Chi class I'll be teaching for an hour, wearing my "day job" hat. It's nice that the con is putting on a variety of things like this. I just hope I'm in a fit state to teach at 8.30 on a Sunday. Must remember to retire early from the bar on Saturday. (Ha! As if!)

Write The Fight Right

Sunday, 24 April

10:30 AM

Ballroom North

This is my two hour workshop on writing good fight scenes. I really enjoy this every time I do it, and now I even have the book to back it up with.

I'll be sitting at the Ticonderoga Publications table in dealer's room at some point, doing a signing. I'll be signing my novels as well as the Ticonderoga book, Dead Red Heart, which features my story, Punishment Of The Sun, along with loads of other awesome yarns. I'm happy to sign pretty much anything you want, so drop by and say hello. With that in mind, I'll also be attending the launch of the Dead Red Heart anthology and the Ticonderoga party at 5pm on Sunday.

There are still a last couple of things being ironed out, including talk of a Zombie panel. I'm not sure if that's a panel of zombies or about zombies – I'm game either way.

Other times I'll be generally milling around the place, enjoying the con. Come and say hi. I'll be tweeting the whole thing, as much as time and available signal allows, so follow me on Twitter, @AlanBaxter, and follow @natcon50 too. Watch the #swancon hashtag for updates.

Hope to see you there!

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Doctor Who actress Elisabeth Sladen – Sarah Jane Smith – dies

I was checking in on the news over breakfast this morning and came across this terrible story. Actress Elisabeth Sladen, who played Sarah Jane Smith in Doctor Who and had her own Sarah Jane Adventures series more recently, died last night aged only 63. She'd been fighting cancer for some time, apparently. This news makes me incredibly sad.

I can honestly say that Doctor Who is the show responsible for my love of sci-fi. I first experienced Doctor Who as Job Pertwee, with Sarah Jane Smith at his side. I was mesmerised. Jon Pertwee regenerated into Tom Baker and I was blown away. Tom Baker and Sarah Jane Smith are still my all-time favourite Doctor and companion (closely followed by the more recent David Tennant and Billie Piper pairing).

I also remember Sarah Jane as being one of my first crushes when I was too young to even know what a crush was. The picture above makes me feel seven years old again, and every age since when I've rewatched and re-loved Doctor Who.

Doctor Who writer and creator of The Sarah Jane Adventures, Russell T Davies, says it best: "I absolutely loved Lis. She was funny and cheeky and clever and just simply wonderful. The universe was lucky to have Sarah Jane Smith, the world was lucky to have Lis."

RIP Elisabeth Sladen – we've lost a legend today.

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Year's Best Fantasy & Horror Volume 1, including me!

I am totally psyched to announce that my story, The King's Accord, originally in the Flesh & Bone: Rise Of The Necromancers anthology from Pill Hill Press, is going to be reprinted in Ticonderoga Publications inaugural Year's Best Australian Fantasy and Horror anthology. This is my first ever Year's Best reprint and I couldn't be happier. Also, how freaking sweet is that cover? It looks fantastic. And the Table of Contents is just phenomenal – I can't believe I have a story included among this kind of company.

From the Ticonderoga press release yeaterday:

Ticonderoga Publications is walking on sunshine to announce the contents for its inaugural Year's Best Australian Fantasy and Horror anthology.

Editors Liz Grzyb and Talie Helene have produced a list of 33 excellent tales by some of Australia's biggest names as well as some emerging writers.

The anthology collects 150,000 words of the best stories published last year from the Antipodes

The stories are (alphabetically by writer):

* RJ Astruc: "Johnny and Babushka"

* Peter M Ball: "L'esprit de L'escalier"

* Alan Baxter: "The King's Accord"

* Jenny Blackford: "Mirror"

* Gitte Christensen: "A Sweet Story"

* Matthew Chrulew: "Schubert By Candlelight"

* Bill Congreve: "Ghia Likes Food"

* Rjurik Davidson: "Lovers In Caeli-Amur"

* Felicity Dowker: "After the Jump"

* Dale Elvy: "Night Shift"

* Jason Fischer: "The School Bus"

* Dirk Flinthart: "Walker"

* Bob Franklin: "Children's Story"

* Christopher Green: "Where We Go To Be Made Lighter"

* Paul Haines: "High Tide At Hot Water Beach"

* L.L. Hannett: "Soil From My Fingers"

* Stephen Irwin: "Hive"

* Gary Kemble: "Feast Or Famine"

* Pete Kempshall: "Brave Face"

* Tessa Kum: "Acception"

* Martin Livings: "Home"

* Maxine McArthur: "A Pearling Tale"

* Kirstyn McDermott: "She Said"

* Andrew McKiernan: "The Memory Of Water"

* Ben Peek: "White Crocodile Jazz"

* Simon Petrie: "Dark Rendezvous"

* Lezli Robyn: "Anne-droid of Green Gables"

* Angela Rega: "Slow Cookin' "

* Angela Slatter: "The Bone Mother"

* Angela Slatter & LL Hannett: "The February Dragon"

* Grant Stone: "Wood"

* Kaaron Warren: "That Girl"

* Janeen Webb: "Manifest Destiny"

In addition to the above incredible tales, the volume will include a review of 2010 and a list of recommended stories.

The anthology is scheduled for publication in June 2011. The anthology will be available in hardcover, ebook and trade editions and can be pre-ordered at http://indiebooksonline.com.

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