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Real Life Superheroes – the saga continues to continue
I’m sure you all remember the bizarre RLSH – Real Life Super Hero – thing that blew up here back at the end of 2008. If not, refresh your memory with this post (that I had to close after more than 150 comments, many from “super heroes” themselves). That saga continued with this post. Now, I’m happy to report, the saga continues to continue.
You know when you read something and you think those time honoured words, Only in America! Well, now we can’t apply that to the RLSH thing any more as Britain and Australia are getting involved. That’s right. We have our very own Real Life Super Hero. He’s called Captain Australia and this is him:
(Picture from www.bleedingcool.com)
Now seriously, how can that guy not strike fear into the hearts of villains everywhere? Although, by his costume, I think he’s actually Captain At. He probably deflects evildoers with his super belly. He patrols for crime around the Brisbane area apparently.
According to Captain At, “During one patrol, I stopped two sexual predators from taking advantage of a very drunk woman at a taxi rank. Unfortunately, I was unsure of my ability to conduct a citizen’s arrest and the two predators ran away before the police arrived. But I was able to prevent a near-certain sexual assault.”
You’d think a super hero would have some idea of the law regarding citizen’s arrests. You’d also think he’d just kick their arses, vigilante-style, but regardless he did do a good deed. So more power to Captain At!
Britain’s caped crusader is no less… well, less. Called The Statesman, but dubbed the Phan-Tum by the The Sun newspaper (that unquestionable paragon of quality news), he fights crime in Birmingham. Seriously, between Captain At and The Statesman, I’d take the Captain’s beat any day. The Statesman is one of at least 16 amateur crime fighters in Britain, according to researcher Tea Krulos, who is writing a book on the subject. Here’s The Statesman:
(Picture from www.bleedingcool.com)
The News of the World lists The Statesman’s crime fighting CV as “He helped three other superheores and Police Community Support Officers capture a drug dealer and managed to scare off burglars breaking into builder’s merchant.”
Along with people like Vague, Swift, Black Arrow, Lionheart and Terrorvision, The Statesman is keeping the streets of Britain clean. (Incidentally, what kind of super hero name is Vague? It’s a little… vague, isn’t it?)
When Krulos was told of the British heroes he said, “In America we have many, but they tend to seek publicity.
“In Britain it is a very secretive underground society. They do all they can to avoid publicity and communicate online. Whole forums are set up and often they operate in groups. I have spoken extensively to The Statesman, and he takes what he does very seriously.” (Source)
According to Krulos, “These are normal people wanting adventure and to improve communities. They achieve more than you’d think.”
I have to admit, I bloody love this whole thing. I just can’t leave it alone – it’s like picking at a scab. There’s a part of me that wants to laugh my arse off at these overweight comic book lovers running around the streets at night in costume. Then again, another part of me has a lot of respect for people that would run around the streets at night and put themselves in danger for the good of others, silly costumes or not. I love reading super hero comic books. I’ve been a regular Batman reader for decades. I’ve dreamed of what it would be like to fight crime, vigilante-style. But I’ve never followed through and done it.
I most certainly have stepped in on a few occasions when I’ve seen injustice done. I’ve got into fights before by getting involved when someone else was getting a beating, I’ve interrupted people that were clearly trying to break into a car and some other stuff like that. I’m also a career martial artist, so I’m probably less vulnerable than most in situations like these. But those were events I happened to stumble across. Going out and deliberately seeking this stuff is another matter entirely. And, let’s be honest, walking around the streets dressed like Captain At or The Stateman is the kind of thing that’s likely to attract a beating on its own.
I really hope these guys can stop a bit of crime and help some people. I hope they have adventure and a sense of fulfillment doing it. I really hope that more people will stand up for the oppressed when they see injustice instead of just walking by, and maybe one day we won’t need the super heroes that we don’t really have anyway. I just hope I don’t read about one of these guys eating a bullet or a blade in the meantime. We’ve all seen the movie Kick Ass. If you haven’t, you really should.
What do you think? Ever wanted to be a super hero? Do you think these guys are heroes or total fucking nutcases?
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Murky Depths #16, featuring me
I’m a big fan of Murky Depths magazine. It’s a classy publication and won the British Fantasy Awards – Best Magazine/Periodical 2010, so other people think it’s cool too. I was really pleased when they bought my story, Mirrorwalk, for publication. It comes out in Issue 16, which is due in April and is available for pre-order now. Man, I love to see my name on the cover of a magazine or book I really dig. I can’t see that ever getting old.
You can get all the details here.
There’s a lot that makes Murky Depths a great mag. There’s the obvious high quality fiction that it’s based around, but there’s also original art commissioned to accompany each story. Apparently my story is being illustrated by Rick Fairlamb, so I can’t wait to see what he’s come up with. Check out his site and you’ll see why I’m so excited about that – his artwork is superb. On top of that there are interviews, articles and book and movie reviews.
In issue 16 you’ll find:
Dead Girls – Act 2 Richard Calder [Art: Leonardo M Giron]
Valeria Ian R Faulkner [Ed Norden]
Mirrorwalk Alan Baxter [Rick Fairlamb]
Momentum Kevin Anderson [Lahlahlou]
Blood Not Boiling Andrew Roberts [Ciaran Collins]
All Smiles Mercurio D Rivera [Russell Morgan]
The Audition JS Watts [Anna Robertson]
Teamwork Jonathan Pinnock [Caroline Parkinson]
Mowing them Down Michael J DeLuca [David Migman]
I Dream Of Ants (1) Lavie Tidhar [Neil Struthers]
From The Back Of The Wardrobe Kevin Tucker
Interview with Neil Roberts
Spotlight Lahlahlou
Book & DVD Reviews by IE Lester
So pre-order your copy now, or better yet get yourself a subscription. I’m really proud of Mirrorwalk, so would love to hear your thoughts once you’ve had a chance to read it.
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Midnight Echo 5 available now
I’m a very proud member of the Australian Horror Writers Association and a big fan of the Association’s magazine, Midnight Echo. I’m really hoping that they’ll buy one of my stories one day. In the meantime, I always enjoy reading it. Issue 5, edited by AHWA President, Leigh Blackmore, is available now.
Midnight Echo 5 is jam-packed with dark fiction, poetry and art. It includes the winners of the AHWA’s 2010 Short Story competition and Flash Fiction Competition (stories by Christopher Green and Jason Fischer), with brand new stories by Terry Dowling, Chandler Kaiden, E. Albert Banstrom, Blair Kelly, Bryce J. Stevens, Mollie Burleson, Christopher Sequeira, Aaron Polson, Felicity Dowker, Rick Kennett, Juliet Bathory, George Ivanoff, Damien Giles, Robert Mammone and John Goodrich.
The issue includes horrific and weird verse by such poets as Kyla Ward, Richard L. Tierney, Fred Phillips, Charles Lovecraft, Michael Fantina, Rosa Christian, Ann K. Schwader, Phillip A. Ellis, Margi Curtis, Joyce Frohn, Mike Berger, Guy Belleranti, Adrienne J. Odasso, John Grey, Ron T. Wilkins and Terrie Leigh Relf.
Dark art by international artists include works by Carl Schaller, Martin Blanco (cover), Shane Ryan, Gaston Locanto, Wayne Palesado, and Tony Karnes.
As an added bonus, this issue features an eight-page graphic story by Mark Farrugia and Greg Chapman.
It’s a seriously beautiful magazine – I’ve got my copy already and it looks fantastic. You can get the PDF edition for $3 or the print edition for $11. AHWA members get the PDF for free. Get your copy here right now!
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Night-Mantled, an ebook briefly free
I mentioned a little while ago that Night-Mantled: The Best of Wily Writers (Volume 1) was available now. As part of Read An Ebook Week, the publisher has made the ebook edition free. After March 12th the price goes back up to $9.99, so this is a chance to score a great book for nothing. Not only is there a story by me, but there’s also the following:
* Alan Baxter: “Stand Off”
* Jennifer Brozek: “Honoring the Dead”
* SatyrPhil Brucato: “I Feel Lucky”
* Nathan Crowder: “Ink Calls to Ink”
* Richard E. Dansky: “Small Cold Thing”
* Seanan McGuire: “Julie Broise and the Devil”
* Lisa Morton:“Sane Reaction”
* Ripley Patton: “A Speck in the Universe”
* Grant Stone: “The Salt Line”
* Joel A. Sutherland: “The Death of Captain Eugene Bloodcake and the Fall of the Horrid Whore”
* Bruce Taylor: “The Prey”
* Mark W. Worthen: “The Minimart, the Ruger, and the Girl”
To get the book for free at Smashwords, add it to your cart and then use the code RE100 at checkout.
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New Historical Series due out in 2012 / 2013 from Felicity Young
In exciting news from WA, Felicity Young has just let us know that she has signed a new deal with HarperCollins to publish a new historical mystery series. The first book will be out in 2012, and the second in 2013.
More about the books as it comes to hand.. but in the meantime, congratulations Felicity.
The Game has a cover
My short story Running Wild With The Hunt will be published in The Game anthology from Seven Realms Publishing, due in the northern hemisphere summer. All the stories in the book are inspired by the classic Richard Connell story, The Most Dangerous Game. Most of the contributing writers are putting characters from their longer works into these short stories, so mine features Isiah from RealmShift and MageSign.
Seven Realms has released the cover of the book and I think it looks fantastic. Not least due to my fortunately alphabetical name. That’s a pretty solid list of names on there, so this should be a great book. I’ll let you all know when it’s available.
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Great fiction at The Red Penny Papers
I want to periodically post about places that publish quality speculative fiction that you may not have heard about. It’s fair to assume that any spec fic fans out there know all about the big names like Clarkesworld and Asimov’s and Fantasy & Science Fiction Magazine and so on. Although we all know what they say about assumptions, I’m going with it anyway. I want to point out some less well known places that are still worth your attention. Today that recommendation is the Red Penny Papers.
From their About page:
One rainy afternoon, I found my dear sister-in-law alone in the sitting room. To my shock and potential mortification, she had my collection of sensational literature out of its (obviously inadequate) hiding spot behind the leather-bound editions of Thackeray. She looked up from an eight-part adventure of Black Bess to say, “My dear Maggie! What is this rubbish?”
“Clara, my love, they’re adventures.”
“They’re those– those red pennies!”
“You mean penny bloods, my dear? Or perhaps penny dreadfuls?”
“Oh, yes. Perhaps I do.”
She looked from the lurid literature in her lap to me, and then back again several times. And then she finally said, “Have you any more?”
And so were born the Red Penny Papers
The Red Penny Papers publishes “Sensationalist and Fantastical Fiction” – novellas on a regular serial basis and short fiction quarterly. Issue 3 has just been released.
I have a novella to be published there at the start of next year, but don’t wait till then to have a look. They’ve been putting out some great stuff and are well worth your time.
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Read an ebook week
March 6th to 12th is Read An Ebook Week. You may or may not enjoy ebooks already and I’m not here to convert you. But, in celebration of the week, my publisher is making all their books half price on Smashwords. That includes my novels, RealmShift and MageSign.
To get into the spirit of the thing, I’ve also made my Ghost Of The Black novella free for the week. Yep, free. But wait, there’s more. My little publishing outfit has made its two anthologies – Souls Along The Meridian by Bill Congreve and Dark Pages 1 edited by Brenton Tomlinson – half price as well.
So that’s two great novels and two great collections all for $1.50 each and a noir sci-fi novella for nothing. This week only. It’s an ebook bonanza. All you need to do is go to the relevant page and purchase the book and then use the code RAE50 at checkout to apply the discounts. Direct links below. Go get ‘em:
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Chasing Odysseus
Sulari Gentill’s first book A Few Right Thinking Men recently made the regional shortlist in the category South East Asia and Pacific Best First Book for the 2011 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. This is a wonderful achievement for Sulari and a further sign – as if Peter Temple’s Truth winning a spate of awards in 2010 wasn’t enough – that the literary merits of crime fiction are being taken seriously.
But the über-talented Ms Gentill isn’t stopping at crime writing. Her second novel, due to be released 7 March 2011, reflects her first passion: ancient Greek myth.
Chasing Odysseus is a re-telling of Homer’s classic story The Odyssey through the eyes of four members of a family of Herdsmen, who from their homeland on Mount Ida supplied the Trojans with food during the ten year siege of the city by Odysseus and his Greek forces. The four young people — the brothers Machaon, Cadmus and Lycon and their sister Hero — were raised by the Herdsman Agelaus after being rejected by their Amazon mothers, the boys because the Amazons could not love sons, and Hero because her short-sightedness made her a liability for the war-like tribe of women.
When the walls of Troy are breached by the Greeks, the Herdsman are falsely accused by the Trojans of having betrayed them. Agelaus is killed and Machaon badly beaten. The only person who knows the truth behind how the Greeks managed to invade Troy is the Greek King Odysseus, who has set already sail for home.
Hell bent on proving the innocence of the Herdsmen and clearing their father’s name, Hero and her brothers chase Odysseus on his epic journey, aiming to extract the truth from him about what really happened in Troy.
Each chapter of Chasing Odysseus opens with an extract from The Odyssey. For those like me who’ve never read the original, these extracts provide the context for the re-telling by the Herdsmen and their sister as they travel in Odysseus’ wake. Many characters — specifically monsters — in the story are familiar, leaching as they do from ancient Greek myth into metaphors, idioms, popular culture. The Cyclops, the Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis — the original ‘rock and a hard place’. But even without the recognition, there is more than enough excitement and adventure to carry the reader along in a story that surges forward like the Phaeacian ship gifted to Hero and her brothers by the god Pan to aid them in their quest for justice.
Chasing Odysseus is a world away from 1930 Sydney, the setting for Sulari’s debut novel, though the strongest relationships in both books are among brothers. The relationship between Rowland Sinclair and his brother Wilfred in A Few Right Thinking Men is fraught but affectionate. In Chasing Odysseus, the brothers Mac, Cad and Ly love their sister even while making fun of her piety, but their loyalty to each other is passionate. As characters, they are impossible not to like.
Chasing Odysseus is a highly entertaining read aimed at a young adult market. But the more I read of the ‘young adult’ genre, the more I believe it is so-called to keep the delights of books like Chasing Odysseus a secret from us over-18s. The novel is a wonderful primer for those new to the ancient Greek myths and an imaginative new take for those who know the ropes. It is the first in the Hero Trilogy, the sequel to which the prolific Sulari already has in the pipeline, together with the second (and third) Rowland Sinclair novels.
Oh, and that’s not the actual cover in the above photo. I’m showing off the fact that I got an advance copy from Sulari last time we got together on a writers’ panel. Head on down to your local bookshop to see the final cover design for yourself. And buy the book. You won’t regret it.
This review has been submitted as part of the Aussie Author Challenge.
**Update 11 March 2011: This review has been cited in the Tumut and Adelong Times.**
Things that make me happy
This is an end of shelf display at Dymocks in Southland, Victoria. I’m stoked to be sharing bookstore shelf space with such tremendous company. Thanks to the manager there, Chuck McKenzie, for putting little folk like me in with the big names. Chuck is a legend for supporting quality dark fiction, whether it’s through the big six or through small press like mine. Seriously, you could do worse than owning a copy of every book in that display. If you like your dark fiction, go and get each of these.
Happy Dancing
One of the many joys of being a publisher - yay! that's me, now - is finding and snaffling incredibly talented people. And I'm not just talking writers - who are especially useful to a new publishing house; but also those other creative types who help make amazing books stand out on every shelf.
You see, there's no denying that sometimes you can judge a book by its cover. Too often, however, the artistic talent behind even a truly-remarkable cover illustration goes unnamed; or just written in really little type on the imprint page.
Well not at my joint. At Clan Destine Press everyone will get a mention; maybe even the editors. Woo, now there's a thing!
Our cover illustrator will definitely be named and celebrated. Why? Because it's so rare that an author and their editor and their publisher is so excited by a cover illo... that no changes, at all, whatsover are necessary.
The artworks - for this is what they are - for Out of the Black Land and Redback were done by one Ran Valerhon.
Ran is awesome. Ok, so he might be American - one who actually lives in America, I mean - which might be odd for an Australian genre fiction specialist, but ppfftt.
It was kismet that led me to Ran Valerhon... Okay, it was actually facebook serendipity; but find him I did.
And now I am thrilled right down to my little cotton socks to offer a preview of Ran's next illustration for Clan Destine Press.
It's just a sneaky look, just a section, just a hint of the cover for Medea, the first in the Delphic Women trilogy by Kerry Greenwood. Enjoy!
Amanda Hocking is the exception, not the rule
The web has been abuzz lately (for example) with stories of Amanda Hocking’s incredible self-publishing success (and similar success by other indies). In a nutshell, Hocking has nine self-published works available on Kindle (and other ebook stores) and is selling hundreds of thousands every month and making more money than most writers ever dream about. Well, we dream about it, of course, but never expect to actually see it. Hocking sold 450,000 books on Kindle in January alone. At a 70% royalty that’s some serious moolah. Traditional publishers won’t be picking her up because none of them can offer a deal that’s even close, let alone better than the one she’s managed on her own.
Naturally when a story like this comes along, everyone immediately starts shouting stuff about how the world has completely changed and publishers will no longer be required. People everywhere can self-publish on Kindle and make themselves a million dollars a second. Of course, it’s all bollocks.
Anyone that knows anything about me will know that I have no problem with quality indie or self-publishing. The keyword there is QUALITY, but that’s another post. I’m absolutely chuffed for Amanda Hocking. It’s fantastic to see the kind of success she’s had. But let’s get realistic for a moment. She’s an exception, not a new standard benchmark. Remember Dan Brown and J K Rowling? They’re phenomenally successful authors with traditional print deals. Did every other traditionally published author suddenly become a sales behemoth because they did? Of course not. The fact that it can happen doesn’t mean it will every time.
I blogged back in January 2008 about a Japanese girl that wrote a novel on her phone and ended up with a print deal and 400,000 sales. Did Japanese girls everywhere start making fortunes with mobile phone novels? No.
When it comes to Kindle self-publishing there are some people making huge money and selling massive numbers (like Hocking, or J A Konrath, who used his already high profile to take control of his own ebook sales). There are also some people making moderate to good sales, some making poor sales and some making none. I don’t have any figures, but I’ll bet you that the people making none or low sales outnumber those making high sales by a factor of hundreds of thousands. Just like in print publishing. The music industry is the same – for every Justin Bieber there’s a million wannabes struggling to get noticed. Just because massive success can and does happen occasionally, doesn’t mean it can and will happen to many.
Also, every overnight success is usually on the back of many years of hard work. Just because these people shot to fame and success in short timeframes doesn’t mean they spent no time getting there.
Hocking posted this on her blog a couple of weeks ago, which includes these salient points:
So much of what people are saying about me is, “Look what Amanda Hocking accomplished in a year,” when they really should be saying is, “Look what Amanda Hocking accomplished in twenty years.” Because that’s how long I’ve been writing, that’s how long I’ve been working towards this goal…
There is a common misconception that I published the first novel I ever wrote, and that is not true. The first book I ever published was My Blood Approves, and that was the eighth novel I’d written…
There are no tricks or schemes with self-publishing. It’s just about writing a good book, polishing it really well, getting a good cover, pricing it right, and putting it out there. There are no short cuts. If you want to be successful at this, you have to do the work.
You should really read the whole post, it’s very good. I would also point out that even if you do take Amanda’s advice (which every writer should) and write well, polish, edit, get good covers and layout and so on, you’re still not guaranteed success. You’re giving yourself the best shot, but becoming the next Amanda Hocking or J K Rowling is akin to winning the lottery. It happens very rarely in the grand scheme of things, to a very lucky few. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t chase that kind of success, it doesn’t mean it can’t happen to you and it doesn’t mean you don’t deserve it. We all deserve recognition for the hard work we do. The truth is, most of us get a lot less recognition for our hard work than we’d like. That’s life.
Work your arse off and aim for the stars, but don’t get lost in unrealistic expectations. With any luck your hard work and attention to detail and quality will pay off. Certainly we’re going to see more and more people achieving very satisfying success indie publishing their stuff. Things are changing, self-publishing is losing its stigma and new vistas of success are opening to all of us. But even so, success stories like Hocking’s are likely to remain the exception and not the rule.
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Brave or Crazy
People keep telling me I'm brave to start my own publishing company - at the moment.
Maybe I am, but I doubt there's ever a sensible time to do something this bold and adventurous. In fact crazy is a much better word for what I've embarked on; and not for the reasons those aforementioned people would think.
I mean seriously, who in their right mind would choose to be a publisher? The one person in the House who's in charge of everything; and therefore responsible for everything; and everyone. The book-voucher stops with me folks.
I'm responsible for: the commisioning editor, editor, proofreader, book designer, office manager, warehouse manager, book packer and sender-outer, publicity person, book-keeper, secretary, coffee-hound.
The fact that I am all of those people means that 'as Publisher' I have a lot of selves to wrangle; while also looking after a growing Clan of awesome authors and their precious books.
It's that very last point that sings to me though and tells me that I may well be crazy but starting Clan Destine Press is without doubt THE best decision I've ever made.
I may be responsible, but I'm not alone. I have Capital M Minions! I have the best and most supportive partner who will one day soon be able to retire and stay home with Me and the Minions. And I launched my wild and fabulous endeavour - in November last year - with THREE books: an historical novel by the incomparable Kerry Greenwood; a cat book by the charming David Greagg; and my own adventure thriller.
What's more I am utterly thrilled to already announce the next four books due out in June-July.
Fiction
Medea by Kerry Greenwood
Arrabella Candellarbra and the Questy Thing to End All Questy Things by A K Wrox
Scarlet Stiletto The Second Cut by winners of the annnual Scarlet Stiletto Short Story Comp run by Sisters in Crime Australia
True Crime
The Frankston Serial Killer by Vikki Petraitis.
And here endeth my first blog.
Lindy
A world-shaking idea, yours for 3 mill
Hat tip to my friend Cat Sparks for this one. She pointed me to this Bleeding Cool post on the subject. There’s an offer on ebay at the moment that must have film producers all over the world fighting each other to get the mouse click in first. Or maybe not. Seriously, this is more than hilarious. It’s actually a little bit sad, but it could also be a hoax, so I’m going to roll with it and rip the piss out of this bloke. It could be his internet 15 minutes of fame either way, but I really don’t think it’s going to be his retirement fund. Basically, this dude is offering an idea for sale. The bidding starts at $3 million with a Buy It Now option at $10 million. Yeah, you read that right. He’s trying to sell an idea.
According to him it’s:
a STORY to topple Star Wars, Harry Potter investment
At least, that’s the title of the ebay offer. We can see immediately why he hasn’t written this idea himself. He admits as much:
I am by no means a writer.
That’s right, folks – he’s an ideas man.
I am selling my story that I have been creating for 10+ years. (not constantly writing, but of piecing everything together in a cohesive manner) It can be compared to stories like Star Wars, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Matrix, Indiana Jones and other titles in those categories. This is a really great story I have. This story needs to be completed by a professional writer or Ghost Writer.
Firstly, what categories exactly? There’s a general genre vibe about it, but he’s clearly just looked up the highest grossing movies to force home his point. He’ll be kicking himself when he realises he left Avatar off the list.
I would rather not sell it at all and just find investors to help hire a celebrity Ghost Writer, which would cost 250,000. The company that hires these writers out, guarantee the book to be a New York best seller.
Apparently there’s a company (just one by the sound of it) that can hire out ghost writers, celebrities no less, and guarantee a best seller. Fuck me, I need to find out who this company is and send them a CV. Sounds like any idea can be ghost written into a best seller if you can just find this company. Maybe their office is on Atlantis or something.
This is a serious auction, I’m not looking to rip anyone off. If you win this auction and decide you don’t like the story, then you don’t have to pay, and you will be refunded fully.
So you basically need to have $10 million to hit the Buy It Now button, hear his idea and then say, “Nah, it’s shit. Don’t want it.” Then you get your 10 mill back. And if it is some world-shattering idea, you can go and write the book or make the movie anyway, given that there’s no copyright on an idea. After all, he’s no writer, hasn’t written anything down. Of course, this would be fairly unethical, but when have ethics ever had much sway in Hollywood?
This story will bring in endless fame and money to anyone who takes it.
Endless money? Guaranteed? But he’s willing to let it go for 3 mill. The man is clearly mad.
If it sounds like too much money then you are not the kind of buyer I’m looking for.
Actually, it sounds like too much stupid. But thanks for the entertainment.
You know, there are a million people out there with great ideas. I get people suggesting ideas to me all the time. They’re usually fairly lame. Or someone hears that I’m a writer and they say, “I have this great idea for a book. I wish I could find the time to write it!”
You know what? That’s what makes someone a writer – finding the time to write it. If you really aren’t a writer, you can learn, or you can collaborate with someone. You can pitch an idea to a film company. You can contact someone that is a writer and ask them if they’d be interested in developing your idea. (They almost certainly won’t be, but you could try.) You know what you don’t do? You don’t try to sell the idea on ebay.
It’s the treatment more than the idea that makes a blockbuster. Even a brilliant idea can be ruined by a crappy novelisation or script. On the other hand, a really lame and weak idea can be a blockbuster with the right treatment. Yes, I’m looking at you James Cameron. When you get the great idea combined with the great treatment, you land one of those rare and awesome gems.
Still, I’ll be watching this one closely. It’ll be interesting to see where it goes from here. The fact that so many of us online are mocking the poor bastard might backfire – if he gets enough press someone might pay to hear the idea. It might turn out to be the greatest idea anyone ever had. But I’ll bet you three million dollars it isn’t.
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Crime Writing Week with Marele Day 2011
Spend a week in residence with acclaimed crime writer Marele Day at Varuna, the Writers' House in Katoomba. Marele will be in residence for two separate weeks with eight selected writers - four writers for August 29 - September 4 and four writers for October 17-23. She will provide individual consultations and group sessions to assist crime writers in developing their manuscript to the next stage. Marele will also provide a Masterclass on Saturday October 22, which is an optional extra for those in residence, at a cost of $100 and will also be made available to a larger group.
MARELE DAY
Marele Day is the author of four crime novels, The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender, The Case of the Chinese Boxes, The Last Tango of Dolores Delgado, The Disappearances of Madalena Grimaldi, a collection of crime-comedy stories, Mavis Levack, PI, and editor of How to Write Crime. Other novels include the acclaimed Lambs of God, and Mrs Cook: The Real and Imagined Life of the Captain's Wife.
A highly experienced teacher, Marele is known as a generous mentor of emerging writers, and skilled facilitator of writing courses and masterclasses throughout Australia. She has won several awards including the Ned Kelly Lifetime Achievement, 2008. Her latest novel, released in 2009, is The Sea Bed.
Applications close on the 28th February. For more information visit www.varuna.com.au
Black Glass
I was fortunate to receive an advance copy of Black Glass in preparation for a panel I shared with its author Meg Mundell at the Writers at the Convent festival earlier this month. It arrived only a few days before our session but I had no trouble finishing in time. I read the last few chapters slowly over coffee at the Convent cafe, savouring the compelling story and Meg’s gorgeous prose.
Black Glass is a work of ‘speculative fiction’. I wasn’t even sure what that meant until I read it. The story is set in Melbourne in a possible future, neither too far away nor too hard to imagine. The city is divided into zones, its rivers choked with pollution. Those with full ID and clean papers work in the Civic and Commerce zones and live in gated communities in the suburbs. Beyond the city are The Regions. The ‘undocs’ hover in the margins, but not beyond the reach of surveillance and experiments in ‘positive re-calibration of the aggregate psyche, achieved via the artful finetuning of public space.’
Tally and Grace are sisters whose drug manufacturing father is killed in an explosion while they are hiding out in The Regions. Grace believes Tally has died with him and flees to Melbourne in a daze. Tally likewise heads to the city, knowing it’s where her sister will go. The plot is propelled by Tally’s search for her sister against what often seem like insurmountable odds, both girls resourceful but vulnerable.
I figure being an ‘outsider’ gave New Zealand-born Meg an edge when it came to writing about Melbourne and she agreed when we talked about it at Writers at the Convent. The city of Melbourne is one of the strongest characters in the novel. Meg depicts it vividly and without sentimentality.
A river slid through the casino district, but it was choked with plastic bottles and old coupons; its tea-brown depths merged with the oily harbour of the Docklands, where vacant high-rise towers and basement strip joints marked the dodgy part of town. Most of the fountains in the city grid were dry now, just drifting spots for dead leaves and fast-food litter. The fountains in the rich part of the city still ran clear, but they were monitored; thick-necked guards materialised like magic if you stopped. Tourists could throw coins in, but you weren’t allowed to drink. The city was already teaching her tricks: scoop and slurp, slip away, keep moving.
The story is harsh rather than bleak, a cautionary tale closer to The Lorax than The Road. It sparkles with unexpected humour. Public servants work for ‘Polbiz’ and speak ‘Beige’, media employees work in ‘Journotainment Units’, and the Docklands has become a ghetto. Like I say, a futuristic Melbourne not too hard to imagine. The only stretch is that in Black Glass the Southern Star actually works.
As a manuscript, Black Glass won the 2007 DJ O’Hearn Memorial Fellowship and was short-listed for the 2010 CAL Scribe Prize (my partner Andrew Nette was long-listed for the same award). Now in print and due to hit bookshops on 28 February 2011, I’m predicting Meg’s debut novel goes on to win a few more awards. It deserves to.
This review has been submitted as part of the Aussie Author Challenge.
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