New Release Vigil by Angela Slatter

I don't know how I could have missed this one, but one of my fave writers of the weird has a new book out. Her first novel after a gazillion short stories and some excellent mosaic collaborations and short story collections.

I suspect you might be able to get it on Amazon now but Booktopia has a release date for the paperback set for next Tuesday.

You can pre-order it here.

Cover Reveal - The Female Factory

Another awesome cover for what I am confident will be another great book in the Twelve Planets Series.  Congrats to Twelfth Planet Press for securing the artistic talent of Amanda Rainey and the writerly talents of Hannett & Slatter.

What is The Female Factory?

In The Female Factory, procreation is big business. Children are a commodity few women can afford.

Hopeful mothers-to-be try everything. Fertility clinics. Pills. Wombs for hire. Babies are no longer made in bedrooms, but engineered in boardrooms. A quirk of genetics allows lucky surrogates to carry multiple eggs, to control when they are fertilised, and by whom—but corporations market and sell the offspring. The souls of lost embryos are never wasted; captured in software, they give electronics their voice. Spirits born into the wrong bodies can brave the charged waters of a hidden billabong, and change their fate. Industrious orphans learn to manipulate scientific advances, creating mothers of their own choosing.

From Australia’s near-future all the way back in time to its convict past, these stories spin and sever the ties between parents and children.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Vox
• Baggage
• All the Other Revivals
• The Female Factory

You can check out publication and order details here.

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eBook Review – The Bitterwood Bible and Other Recountings by Angela Slatter

Angela Slatter has, along with her regular partner in fiction Lisa L Hannett, been one of those authors I have collected yet never really got around to reading due to the reviewing pile taking precedence over the personal reading pile.  Sure, I have read single stories on occasion, enough to know that the money I have put down on her other collections is well spent. The Bitterwood Bible and Other Recountings from Tartarus, is then the first collection that I have read in its entirety. It’s also possibly the first mosaic novel that I have read. 

It works well, both as a collection of separate stories and as collected narrative.  One of things that is hard to do within in a short story and which our best writers often achieve, is creating that sense of a wider realised secondary world within a small word count. 

What I think the mosaic format allows Slatter to do is give herself some wiggle room for story and style and let the layering effect of drip fed world details in each separate tale slowly envelope the reader to give us that realised world  That isn’t to say that Slatter isn’t doing a grand job of combining style, story and detail within each tale but that structurally the envelope of the mosaic helps in some cases to accentuate the impact of certain stories, while at the same time containing deviations is form and style in others.

In Terrible as an Army with Banners, Slatter crafts an effective piece of epistolary fiction. It’s distinct from many of the stories in the collection in terms of tone and style but works equally well in maintaining a sense of increasing dread and darkness.  Likewise The Maiden in the Ice meshed together horror elements that reminded me of The Ring with a a clever riff on a well known folktale.

 

For a while she tries to keep her eyes firmly fixed on her destination, on the silver-ash clump of sedge not so far—yet so very far—away. But the panic she’s tamped down hard gets the better of her, and she looks to the sparkling, treacherous ground upon which she moves, seeking the cracks, the veins, the fissures that are surely forming there.

But what she sees is something entirely different.

An oval face; skin sallow—in the sun it will become olive; dark-flecked, large eyes; thick straight brows; an unbalanced mouth, the top lip thin, the bottom full; and hair as black as Rikke has ever seen. Black as nightmares, black as a cunning woman’s cat, black as the water she is trying to escape. Older than Rikke, caught between girl and woman, and suspended in the solid lake as if she’s a statue, standing; head titled back, one arm reaching up, the other pointing downward.

from The Maiden in the Ice.

The Bitterwood Bible is a neat package that has allowed Slatter to explore, examine and re-imagine the fairy/folktale milieu.  There’s a balance achieved here too;  I never felt that I needed to rush through the stories to the larger resolution.  I was able to enjoy each of the tales as a separate entity and I suspect that were I to reread it as Lisa Hannett suggests in the afterword and focus more on the connections between each story, I would have another equally pleasant and slightly different experience.

I am left feeling the beneficiary of sumptuous and stylish storytelling, Slatter, I suspect is at her best here.

This book was supplied by Tartarus Press.

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Disclaimer:  I am a Judge for this years Aurealis Awards and some of the stories contained in this volume are eligible. Hence my review only comments on those not eligible and on how the collection works as a mosaic novel.

 

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This review is part of the Australian Women Writers Challenge 2014.  Please check out this page for more great writing from Australian women.

 

 

 

 

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Limited Edition Angela Slatter Available for Order

Ticonderoga are bringing out a delicious Hardcover edition of Angela Slatter’s Black-Winged Angels.  If that cover looks familiar its because it’s by Kathleen Jennings. If you need no further encouragement to by the limited hardcover at $45, go here.

If you are not convinced I will let Russ & Liz convince you:

Black-Winged Angels is a collection of 10 incredible contemporary retellings of fairy tales, and will be available in a limited hardcover edition illustrated by the multiple World Fantasy Award nominated Kathleen Jennings.

The collection will feature an introduction by the multiple award-winning Juliet Marillier and be published in August 2014.

Black-Winged Angels comprises ten reworked/reloaded fairytales for adult readers, several available for the first time in Australia.

The book will appeal to fans of Angela Carter ("The Company of Wolves") and Emma Donoghue ("Kissing the Witch").

Angela Slatter's previous Ticonderoga collection, The Girl With No Hands and Other Tales, won the Aurealis Award while her co-authoredMidnight and Moonshine collection (with Lisa L. Hannett) made the Locus Recommended Reading List for 2012.

"I’m so delighted to be working with Ticonderoga Publications again to give these stories a very special second life," says Angela Slatter. "Being able to have Juliet Marillier introduce the collection and Kathleen Jennings to illustrate it is the best gift a writer can get!"

Black-Winged Angels will be published as a limited hardcover edition of 250 copies signed by all contributors.

 

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Twelfth Planet Press News

I am reliably informed that Cat Sparks, previously slated to bring us one of the Twelve Planets tomes, had to step away from the project – *le sigh*

but there is a silver lining…

the Evil Dr’s Brain i.e. Lisa Hannett and Angela Slatter have combined once again to give us something that will no doubt be delightfully good in their collection to be called Baggage.

And I notice that we have a name for Deb Kalin’s collection too - THE APPORTIONERS.

Livia Day fans will already be aware that the sequel to A Trifle Dead has been announced – you can fins out the details on DROWNED VANILLA here.

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Midnight and Moonshine -The Otherworld Launch

 

 

A good number of writerly and readerly folk braved what could only be described as hellish weather to attend the Otherworld launch of Midnight & Moonshine by authors Angela Slatter and Lisa L Hannett.  Adelaide turned on 40 degree heat and about 5 mm of rain to make it positively tropical.

 

Where are the Norse gods when you need them eh?

Audience and dignitaries soldiered on though and Russ was able to ramble without being lynched.

 

 

After Russ said nice things about almost everyone in the room and thanked us all for supporting independent press and awesome aussie authors it was over to Kirstyn and Mondy Jason who did a wonderful job of introducing the writers and the text and finally launching the book.

 

 

 

Dr Slatter gave us a reading from near the beginning of the book, braving the trying conditions and keeping us all wrapt and envious of the characters in the icy Nordic
paradise.

The Dr Hannett gave us a reading set 1000 years in the future.  An interesting piece that to my ear seemed to tie in nicely with Dr Slatter’s, perhaps foreshadowing an intricately woven series of connected tales.

CAKE!!

Damn fine chocolate cake with the beautiful cover image by Kathleen Jennings

And before I forget a never before seen picture of the evil Dr Brain?  Not penned by Kathleen Jennings but nevertheless a lovely piece of comic art.

It was a wonderful night and when refrigerated aircon was discovered in the restaurant on the ground floor the group absconded to Brunelli’s for some great pizza. 

I rounded off the night with dinner companions my wife Alison, Jason Nahrung, Kirstyn McDermott and a groovy hat wearing Sean Williams.  Much bookish chat was had

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Midnight & Moonshine Launch–Adelaide

Just a reminder folks that Drs Slatter and Hannett will be launching their book Midnight and Moonshine in Adelaide on the 14th of December.  I shall be going of course to get my hands on a signed copy and to chat with some fine folk of speculative fiction disposition.

The details:

14 December
6pm for a 6.30pm start
South Australian Writers Centre
2nd Floor, 187 Rundle Street

Note: If you can’t make it you can still get a personalised copy if you order at indiebooksonline before 8 December (UTC)the book will ship 17 December and should reach most of Australia in time for Christmas. (International orders welcome, though sadly they can't guarantee a shipping or receiving date for overseas orders).

Order here

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Angela Slatter on The Drawing Room

The British Fantasy Award winning author Dr Angela Slatter (pronounced Slayter) recently featured on Radio National Drive talking about writing fantasy.

Go here for the link to the specific segment

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Angela Slatter first Aussie to win a BFA

A belated congratulations to Brisbane author Dr Angela Slatter (pronounced Slayter) for winning a British Fantasy Award for her short fiction The Coffin-Maker's Daughter.

You can find the story in Stephen Jones’ anthology, A book of Horrors.

Dr Slatter was overjoyed at the win, resorting to womble-esque dancing to celebrate.  And why wouldn’t one considering the calibre of previous winners, notably Neil Gaiman and Stephen King.

Regular readers will remember that Dr Slatter has a co-written work with Dr Lisa Hannett called Midnight & Moonshine coming out from Ticonderoga next month.

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Midnight and Moonshine - Adelaide Launch

As there are two authors Angela Slatter and Lisa L. Hannett it’s only fitting that there should be two launches, they aforementioned Brisbane Launch and the better one, which will be in Adelaide (better because I will be there of course).

Time und Date:

Friday, December 14, 2012 at 6pm.

Location:

SA Writers’ Centre, 2nd floor, 187 Rundle Street, Adelaide, South Australia

Honoured Guests and Ceremonial Launchers:

Kirstyn McDermott and Jason Nahrung.

RSVP 

editor@ticonderogapublications.com by December 3.

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Midnight and Moonshine Launch

Listen up you Brisbane peeps, Angela Slatter and Lisa L Hannett will be launching their book Midnight and Moonshine published by Ticonderoga in your town on the eve of Friday 30th November at the wonderful Avid Reader in West End - 193 Boundary Street,  West End QLD 4101

Launching will be the wonderful Kate Eltham, Brisbane Writers Festival CEO.

Go over to Angela’s blog for the details.  And be prepared to book early.

 

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Podcasts coming out my ears

…which is a good thing of course.  And I couldn’t even complain if I wanted to, as I do contribute to the problem field.

So coming up in the next week or so, depending on the team’s work commitments will be a Galactic Chat with the talented Tor Roxburgh, author of The Light Heart of Stone, which I reviewed here.

So keep your ears open or perhaps go and subscribe to the podcast and work your way through the back catalogue.

But wait there’s more.

Mondy Ditmar and Chronos award wining Ian Mond of Writer & The Critic/Shooting the Poo Podcast and Hugo Nominated Jonathan Strahan of Coode Street have teamed up for an audio version of the Last Short Story Project (yes, the audiophile Mr Mond graced us,skype podcasting community, with his presence).  You can check out and subscribe to their new podcast here.

Author Kirstyn McDermott and winner of more awards than Ian Mond ¹  has released the latest Writer & the Critic featuring the writing team of Angela Slatter and Lisa L. Hannett as they discuss Michael Crummey’s Galore and Alan Moore’s Voice of the Fire. 

You can stream below or download it here

Podcast Powered By Podbean

 

 

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^{1. A joke that Ditmar Awards night attendees might remember↩}

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Pre-Orders on Midnight and Moonshine are go!

The Doctors Brain (Lisa L. Hannett and Angela Slatter) teamed up to deliver Midnight and Moonshine.

Lisa and Angela have each won Aurealis awards for their separate collections and a little birdy tells me that the equally award winning Kathleen Jennings will be doing the cover art for this collection.  As if I couldn’t tell from the distinctive cover art ---->

Here’s the copy:

The gods are dead, but will not be forgotten.
When Mymnir flees Ragnarok, she hopes to escape all that bound her to Ásgarðr — a heedless pantheon, a domineering brother, and her neglectful father-master, Óðinn. But the white raven, a being of memory and magic, should know that the past is not so easily left behind. No matter how far she flies, she cannot evade her family…

From fire giants to whispering halls, disappearing children to evening-wolves, fairy hills to bewitched cypress trees, and talking heads to moonshiners of a special sort, Midnight and Moonshine takes readers on a journey from ninth century Vinland to America’s Deep South in the present day.

The collection will be released as both a Limited hardcover signed by all contributors (100 numbered copies) and a Trade paperback.

In related news, that I tweeted yesterday, Lisa L. Hannett's debut collection, Bluegrass Symphony, is a nominee for the World Fantasy Awards! 

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“It's as if I've taken [festival] heroin, and now I can't ever have it again.”

 

Such is my feeling towards the Adelaide Festival.  I was able to take one day off work and take a 6 hour round trip in travel time, to get to hear one of my favourite authors and Queen of the Festival, Margo Lanagan talk. 

I could have stayed the entire week (indeed I am contemplating doing that next year).  I very briefly entertained the thought of camping in the park.  Such is the power that being around writers and book loving folk.

Kudos to the organisers who set up the sound stages at the Pioneer Women's Park, there were two stages, not 100 metres apart going all day and no feedback or interference whatsoever. 

My only other recent experience of author talks was at Brisbane Supanova where authors were tucked away in an alcove under the main hall, it had the acoustics of a concrete car park.

Some photo’s taken of the festival by the multi talented Cat Sparks. Thankfully without me in them.

Coffee and the best day ever

So my morning began having coffee with the soon to be famous Cat Sparks¹ who kindly bought me coffee and who just so happened to be sharing a table in the park with Margo Lanagan, and Kelly Link.  So for about the first 10 minutes I was having an internal dialogue with myself that went something akin to:

Sean: “Hey it’s Cat Sparks, Margo Lanagan and Kelly Link”

Sean2: “Shut up I am trying to listen to the conversation and sound intelligent”

Sean: ”But It's OMG! CAT SPARKS, MARGO LANAGAN and KELLY LINK”

and then I got over myself and enjoyed the conversation.  Thank you Margo and Cat.

Cat had to leave to catch a flight home, but before she did she introduced me quickly to Kate Eltham of the Queensland Writers Centre (who doesn’t look as blue as her Twitter avatar) and a tired English chap who had been kept awake by a snoring Ian Mond. Rob was his name.  Such a gentleman, very concerned about the fact that I might be perspiring and about to faint - I was wearing a jumper (it was mild day but by English standards, probably close to the temperature of the surface of the sun).

Halfway through the conversation I realised I was talking to Rob Shearman of Dalek fame.  I had missed out hearing he and Ian Mond talk at the sold out Dr Who talk. So I was stoked to have a quick chat.

Mid morning we learned of the passing of Paul Haines, a wonderful man, a superlative writer, a human being, that from all accounts was taken too soon.²

With Margo’s talk set for the afternoon I listened in to the various “literary” authors speaking before chuffing off to the city for some lunch.

Ushered

Upon my return I was ushered by a usher for standing in the isle – apparently blocking peoples exit.  But as Michael Cathcart finished talking to Alan Hollinghurst I ploughed through the crowd to steal a chair in the centre.

And who should be behind me but Jason Nahrung and Kirstyn McDermott.  So after a blinder of a talk by Margo Lanagan and Michael Crummey (you should get his latest book : Galore) I enjoyed bookish talk with some other authors who I admire.  We passed through the book tent whereupon our wallets and purses got lighter and our book laden arms got heavier.

And now, I know it’s a writers festival and it’s not that far fetched to expect to bump into writers, but upon exiting the tent we bumped into the Dr’s Brain or more commonly known as Dr Angela Slatter and Dr Lisa Hannett. 

A very entertaining mauling of the Twilight series was begun with some improvised hand puppeteering by Kelly Link’s husband.  Unfortunately all good things must come to an end and I had to rush off and secure some flights to England before I could hear the end of it.

I bumped into the lovely Kelly Link, later on King WIlliam Street and she very kindly signed the Steampunk anthology she had edited³ . Authors are the coolest people.

It was an absolute blast of a day.  A big thank you to the authors I met who shared their time and thoughts with me.  I have some treasured memories. I feel honoured and privileged to have shared your company.

Regards

Sean

Post Festival Rehab

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^{1. Well she’s famous to us in the specific community but going by her awards alone she deserves to be known more widely – check out her bio here ↩}

^{2. Paul had been suffering cancer. ↩}

^{3. Somehow I missed the entire table devoted to her novels ↩}

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Dreaming Again–Quality Aussie Short Fiction

I managed to borrow Dreaming Again Edited by Jack Dann through interlibrary loan. 

I probably won’t get through all the stories before I have to return it but just wanted to say that I am somewhat blown away by the collection.  I have just been randomly dipping into stories before I go to bed of a night and I can’t say I have come across a story that I have felt “Meh!” about.

The collection was published in 2008 and was  a follow up to the earlier (and now hard to find) Dreaming Down Under duology that received critical acclaim.

I will be hunting for the book in Brisbane when I travel up for Supanova, so if any readers know of good second hand stores in Brisbane that specialise in Speculative fiction, let me know.

(Edit: As I was checking out the amazon links for the books mentioned above I noticed that Amazon have slashed the price on Dreaming Again – picked it up for $13.00 Aud delivered – click here to purchase)

Stories read so far:

Nightship by Kim Westwood – On the recommendation of Ian Mond from Writer and the Critic.  A bleak future Australia, with some interesting twists on culture and gender. 

The Last Great House of Isla Tortuga by Peter M. Ball – Gothic horror meets Pirates of the Caribbean.  While I am a fan of Peter’s Twelfth Planet Press releases, the writing in this short blew me out of the water.

The Jacaranda Wife by Angela Slatter - An Australian fairy tale.  It’s Australian colonial with echoes of the myths and legends of the old country.

Smoking, Waiting for the Dawn by Jason Nahrung – Brilliant hunting story that mixes very Australian tradition of Commissions to eradicate certain feral species with vampires.

The Fifth Star in the Southern Cross by Margo Lanagan – Just started this one and like most Lanagan short stories, it’s disturbing me (but in a good way).

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