Book Review – nothing here needs fixing by Maxine Beneba Clarke

I first came across Clarke’s work listening to her read  the short story, Harlem Jones, on the Overland Podcast.  She’s a previous Australian Slam Poetry champion.  She won the Victorian Premier’s Award for an unpublished manuscript in 2013.  The manuscript, a collection of short stories, will be published this year by Hachette, under the title Foreign Soil.

But, nothing here needs fixing ?

I have to admit I am finding I have more of a connection with spoken word poetry even when I am just reading it, when I haven’t heard the poet perform it. I am also thoroughly enjoying all the works I have purchased from Picaro Press.  Clarke’s collection is no exception.  At the risk of sounding cliché, it’s real, it feels raw and honest and takes me on a journey that as a middle class white male I won’t probably experience otherwise.

There’s something to be said for puzzling out avant-guard and post-modern works, to applying a close reading to really dense works.  But there’s also much to be said for works that can get you thinking while lighting a fire under your arse.

I love Clarke’s play with language, cadence and sound in the collection opener in karikatur austerlich duetsch, the longest poem in the book.  It is I assume, biographical.  It’s both an affirming, thumbing of one’s nose at all the people that sought to disempower a schmal braun frau, and a criticism of the racist society we subject(ed) non-white Australians to.

This battling as a single black mother against banks, school community and welfare is one of the stronger themes in the book. The titular poem, nothing here needs fixing, speaks of the importance of love and care over money.  That we are not the labels, not the designation we might be given in a sociological assessment.

broken home/nuh uh

there is nothing here/ needs fixing

 

Don’t think that it’s all angry and up in your face though, there is anger but there’s also a call to think beyond your own settled and sheltered lives, such as in Somewhere on your street:

somewhere on your street
there is a mother
who kept her children home from school
tuesday of last week
who couldn/t scratch the dollar fifty / each
to send with them
to the stall
who paid a day of education
to erase their shame [read more]

Clarke’s work is equal parts anger and loss, loneliness and joy, momentary defeat and battles won toward victory.  In pointing out the faults in the system there’s also a healthy introspection – particularly in the closing poem, being alice walker’s daughter.

Nothing here needs fixing is another of those collections that I recommend without reservation.  Accessible, beautifully written poetry with rhythm and while it may throw some clever and stinging punches it also gets under you guard in subtler ways in works like thin air.

it is three thirty pm
primary school pick-up time
& you
have looked all over the schoolyard
for your five-year-old child
the teacher looks at you
clipboard shaking
eyes open wide
& it is then you realise
this morning
your child
did not
arrive

[read more]

You’ll only be able to buy it through Picaro Press or really groovy independents I suspect. But like Ali Cobby Eckermann’s little bit long time this is a collection I will cherish.

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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..

Stats for Australian Women Writers 2013

If you are interested in this project that I and many Australians have been involved in over the last 2 years please take a look at the end of year reporting on the achievements of the Australian Women Writers Challenge.

Big Increase in Reviews for Australian Women Writers!

In 2013 Australian women writers received a large increase in online reviews. The number of reviews entered in the Australian Women Writers’ Challenge increased by nearly twenty percent compared to 2012.

In its second year the Challenge demonstrates that the groundswell of enthusiasm for books written by Australian women is increasing. This is a trend that traditional literary publications need to adjust to. Readers expect to see as many reviews of books by women as they do of men. All genders are equally capable of quality writing. All genders write about a wide variety of interesting topics.

 

[read on]

If you’d like to join the challenge, all you need to do is sign up.  You don’t even have to be an Aussie, just read Australian Women Writers.  You don’t even have to review, though we’d love it if you did.  Please check out this page to find out more.

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Giveaway – The Old School

Australian author has a giveaway running on Goodreads for The Old School. So what’s it about?

'Two things you want to remember about the good old days, Ned. They weren't that good and they're not that old.'

Detective Nhu 'Ned' Kelly is in way over her head. Not every member of the New South Wales police force has welcomed the young, half-Vietnamese woman into a job where the old school still makes the rules. When two bodies are discovered in the footings of an old Bankstown building, Ned catches the case. As she works to uncover the truth, she is drawn into Sydney's dirty past - and the murky history of her own family.

Bit by bit she gains ground on the murderer, just as he's gaining ground on her. Familiar faces begin to look suspicious. How close to home will she have to look? It's time for Ned to decide who is on her side - and who wants her dead.

This one is on my list to read this year for the Australian Women Writers Challenge 2014. And I have been reliably informed that there’s a sequel on the way as well.  So you can enter the Goodreads giveaway here (sorry Aussies only).

Or if you simply can’t wait Booktopia has it for $21 here.

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Australian Women Writers Challenge 2014

This is my entry post for the challenge above. This is a continuation of my efforts to combat gender bias in reviewing, because of the nature of the book business and subconscious cultural bias I think a systematic and directed approach is needed. 

I completed 2013’s challenge here.  And for 2014 I created the Franklin Plus personal challenge of 15 books read and reviewed. For more information about the challenge go here. But for a quick overview:

The 2014 Australian Women Writers Challenge was set up to help overcome gender bias in the reviewing of books by Australian women. The challenge encourages avid readers and book bloggers, male and female, Australian and non-Australian, to read and review books by Australian women throughout the year. You don’t have to be a writer to sign up. You can choose to read and review, or read only. (Suggestions for what makes a good review can be found here.)

The challenge will run from Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2014. You can sign up at any time.

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This review is part of the Australian Women Writers Challenge 2013.  Please check out this page for more great writing from Australian women..

Peacemaker Cover Reveal

Long time readers of the blog will remember the Peacemaker graphic novel launched by Marianne de Pierres in mid 2011.

Marianne has been hard at work crafting that tale into two novels that will published by Angry Robot in 2014 and 2015.  Peacemaker (Book 1) is due for release by Angry Robot books in early May 2014.

So until that time you will just have to console yourself with the cover art by Joey Hi Fi, which was partly inspired by the graphic novel which illustrated by Brigitte Sutherland and created by Marianne.

More details about the book can be found on this page.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Book Review – King Breaker by Rowena Cory Daniells

The Chronicles of King Rolen’s Kin was my first introduction to Rowena Cory Daniells and as such holds a special place, because I think Rowena is one of Australia’s best writers of adventure/grimdark fantasy and I have thoroughly enjoyed having the chance to read this and her later series, The Outcast Chronicles.

King Breaker rounds out a chronicle of four novels, plus a novella.  The chronicle is a tale of the fortunes of the royal family of Rolencia after their parents and the heir to the throne are murdered and the crown usurped. 

In King Breaker, Byren, the remaining heir has managed to defeat the invading army and is betrothed to the Myrofinian Queen, the 15 year old Isolt.  So technically he is now king-in-waiting to the country that invaded his own; while the bastard, Cobalt the Usurper, sits on the throne of Rolencia.  The Merofynian nobles, like all self centred aristocracy resent him and when he has to leave his younger brother Fyn (who has developed feelings for Isolt )as Lord Protector, the scene is set for some opportunistic politicking and potential family feuding. Piro the youngest, continues her adventures as the Mage’s apprentice and manages to almost shake her reputation for putting her foot in it.  We also see the return of Garzik, Orrade’s brother, who struggles with loyalty to Rolencia or the Utland raiders.

I felt more keenly than ever, the tension in the interpersonal relationships in this novel.  Indeed much of the fighting, much of what would usually be set battles is glossed over fairly quickly. That’s not to say there isn’t action, but that of the three or four large battles that took place, most were quickly resolved or happened off page.  One of Daniells’ strengths though, is making you care about the characters and she is equally well versed in placing them in physical or emotional danger, so don’t think a lack of gutsy battles is going to give you an easy ride.

If I had to find fault, I did feel in a couple of places that Daniells may have had to cut material too sharply.  King Breaker is the largest book in the series, coming in at 774 pages and there were two distinct points that I felt that Daniells’ usual style felt a bit truncated i.e. she had to cut harshly to get the page count down. 

I  would suggest that King Breaker could have been two(if we ignore the realities of publishing) or maybe three books.  I certainly think there were enough subplots to continue without padding the tale out.  But that’s a minor quibble and to be fair I think Daniells has done a brilliant job of wrangling the material down into the one tome to round off the tale. 

King Breaker has all the qualities that I have come to expect of the series – excellent pacing, interesting interpersonal relationships and a good portrayal of a gay character in Byren’s companion Orrade.  The King Rolen’s Kin chronicle is a nice introduction to Daniells’ work and when you have recovered from the rollercoaster ride I suggest you take up the Outcast Chronicles which I think is grittier and better paced than Game of Thrones.

Note: The King’s Man novella is only available as an ebook, and while not necessary to read before embarking on King Breaker, it will enhance your enjoyment.  It’s also one of the best novella’s I have read over the past two years – see my review here.

This book was provided by the author.

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Australian’s can purchase the entire series through Booktopia and if you use the following code ( EARLY) midnight Saturday(November 9) you can get free shipping.

The King’s Bastard

The Uncrowned King

The Usurper

King Breaker

To purchase the ebook novella The King’s Man you will have to look online at Amazon, Kobo, or Rebellion

 

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This review is part of the Australian Women Writers Challenge 2013.  Please check out this page for more great writing from Australian women..

 

 

 

 

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Galactic Chat 37 Patty Jansen

Such a busy weekend I forgot to tell you all about the latest Galactic Chat:

This week Sean chats to Australian Speculative Fiction novelist Patty Jansen.  Patty  is a member of SFWA and winner of the second quarter of the Writers of the Future contest. She has published fiction in various magazines such as Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Aurealis, Redstone SF and the Universe Annex of the Grantville Gazette. She has also successfully self  published a number of novellas and novels. 

In this chat they talk about Patty's newest novel, Ambassador,  to be published by Australian Press Ticonderoga, the importance of diversification for any writer and current issues in the field, such as sexism and diversity

.

 DOWNLOAD

Patty's Website

Patty on Twitter

Purchase Options for Ambassador - here

Credits

Interviewer: Sean Wright

Guest: Patty Jansen

Music & Intro: Tansy Rayner Roberts

Post-production: Sean Wright

Feedback:

Twitter: @galactichat

Email: galactichat at gmail dot com

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Galactic Chat 36 Devin Madson

I reviewed Devin’s first book here.  Earlier in the week we sat down and chatted for a Galactic Chat interview.  Please enjoy the episode posted below:

 

This week Sean talks with author/publisher Devin Madson who has recently released her debut novel.  They talk about overcoming the self publishing stigma, the highs and lows of funding your project through crowd sourcing sites such as Pozible and sourcing publishing professionals when you don't have the commercial weight of traditional publishing behind you.

 

  You can download here.

Devin's website www.devinmadson.com

Devin on Twitter

Devin on Facebook

Credits

Interviewer: Sean Wright

Guest: Devin Madson

Music & Intro: Tansy Rayner Roberts

Post-production: Sean Wright

Feedback:

Twitter: @galactichat

Email: galactichat at gmail dot com

Good news for Anderton Fans

Fablecroft announced this week that they would be publishing Unbound, the final book in the veiled worlds series by Jo Anderton.  The first two, Debris(see my review) and Suited were published under a two book deal with the UK’s Angry Robot.

Fablecroft have been a supporter of Jo, having previously published her short story collection The Bone Chime Song and Other Stories.

You can check out further news at the Fablecroft page

 

 

 

 

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eBook Review – The Year of Ancient Ghosts by Kim Wilkins

How not to sound like a raving fanboy?

Hmm… probably not going to happen.

How often does a collection of novellas cause you to go and borrow every book you can by the author?  For you see, that’s what I did before I’d finished reading The Year of Ancient Ghosts. That was before the Lark and the River, the final novella in the collection left me blinking away the tears, left me so immersed that I had to remind myself that it was fiction.

Not many writers do that to me anymore.  It is a battle – skill and talent versus my familiarity with literature and story.  Most of the novellas within the collection were excellent, a couple superb.

The titular novella, The Year of Ancient Ghosts, had me in mind of a dramatisation of MR James’ A View from a Hill – foreboding and menace found in small things, the frisson when the everyday is cleverly juxtaposed with the weird.

“Strange wee boy. Full of stories. Full of mystery. Folk around here used to say, he’s not for this world, that lad. Not for this world.” Then, checking himself, realising he might be stirring my sadness, he cleared his throat. “I’m glad you’re both here. I think you made the right choice.”

Jenny the wife of a famous novelist returns to the place of his youth – the Orkney Islands. She takes their young daughter, as they had planned, to meet the people that raised him.  Straight away Wilkins situates the reader in the aftermath of a tragedy, we are immediately sympathetic and on edge, fearing what strangeness is in store for our two bereaved souls far from home.  Wild weather, strange noises and bad dreams draw out the tension as we wait to cross the threshold from unsettling normality to horror.

The Crown of Rowan, is a reprint and one of the superb stories in this collection.  Set in the kingdom of Thyrsland, Wilkins’ version of  Anglo-Saxon England, it is a tantalising glimpse into what I think would be a great full length novel or series. Wilkins alludes to such a novel in her afterword (which also struck me as a beautiful piece of writing) hoping that she has captured the spare and elegiac mood of the original Old English literature.

There are seven kings in Thyrsland. My father is one of them, and my husband is another. In my belly, perhaps, I carry a third.

It is blood month, and outside my bower window I hear fear-moaning cattle on their way to slaughter. Every night this week, I have smelled blood on the wind: faint but unmistakable, worming under the shutters. And I’ve turned my face to my pillow and held tight to avoid retching.

Unmistakably elegiac from the get go I think. A beginning that could launch a thousand (well I said raving fanboy) books but I’d settle for just the one.   I must admit I am a fan of the Anglo-Saxon era, the poetry, the mystery, the fall of Rome till the Norman conquest.  Similar to England, Thyrsland is experiencing a time of change – different models of kingship, different religions, conflicts political, military and personal.  I got the sense that an epic prose edda (yeah I know not quite Anglo Saxon) was to unfold alongside the personal story of our protagonist Rose.  In The Crown of Rowan you have earthy magic, love, mystery and a hint of battle.  Wilkins has sold me on the novel and any following set in this particular world.

Dindrana’s Lover is a reworking of Wilkins’, The Death of Pamela, and is the tale of Percival’s sister, left behind at the residence of Saint Triscula as he and Galahad go off on an adventure.  It’s a reworking of Arthurian legend and I like its commentary on attitudes to desire and virginity.  I am sure I am not the only reader that sincerely hoped Galahad would meet with a riding accident in this piece.  The story is dark, sensuous and immersive.

He turned his gaze to her. “Virginity, Dindrana, is a woman’s only treasure. His hands, then, shall I remove them both?”

“You shall not touch him,” she said, imbuing her voice with more force than she actually felt. “Let him leave. You shall not act contrary to my wishes when you are the guest of my father.”

Galahad, courteous to a fault, put his sword away. “Go,” he said to Gabriel. “I shall be telling Dindrana’s father of this, so you’d best go for good. You will be unwelcome anywhere in Margris from this moment on.”

Gabriel stood uncertainly, reached for Dindrana. Instantly the sword was free again, swinging down and stopping a mere inch from Gabriel’s hand. “You will lose it,” Galahad threatened.

The passage made me want to kneecap Galahad with war hammer.

With Wild dreams of Blood we are treated to some Viking infused urban fantasy.  It was reminiscent of The Almighty Johnsons in some ways and highlights Wilkins’ facility in being able to write across subgenres.  It’s hard to swing a hammer without hitting Viking mythology these days and I thought Wilkins did a fantastic job of grounding this story in the modern and everyday to differentiate it.

My greatest praise though falls on the final story The Lark and the River.  This one nearly broke me.  It’s historical fiction with a touch of magic, indeed if it weren’t in a speculative fiction collection you could get away with sliding it into historical magical realism.  The setting is England after the Norman conquest (another period of great change) there’s tension between the displaced Anglo-Saxons and their Norman lords, between the old gods and the new one. As with some of the previous stories the background conflict is mirrored by family and personal conflicts.  This is a time of upheaval in which love blossoms despite the odds and… well I’ll let you read it. 

Have the tissues handy though.

New stone churches were going up all over England. For years, we’d done what we ought and travelled to the chapel-at-ease, four miles away at Lissford, as good Christians are meant to do. Or sometimes we forgot to travel or forgot to pray or forgot about God all together, because he wasn’t as tied to our days and seasons as we needed him to be, and instead we went to the spear-stone, or the well, or the ancient yew tree, to leave offerings and tie ribbons for wishes. Our community’s faith was fluid and self-serving, and we enjoyed the freedom even as we knew the creep of containment was coming in the wake of William’s invasion.

Wilkins combines great craft with solid knowledge and understanding of the core material.  We have a mix of subgenres and their attendant historical underpinnings(influences) in this collection and Wilkins’ skill is demonstrated in not being overt about it but letting her historical knowledge sit under the motivations and actions of the characters.

On reflection everyone of these stories displays strong female characters, where “strong” is demonstrated in a variety of ways.  For male writers who can’t understand how to write a diverse array of female characters I’d urge you to take a look at Wilkins.  For international readers just beginning to appreciate the likes of Daniells, Lanagan and Warren.  Please add Wilkins to your list, I think she’s one of our best. 

 

This book was provided by the crew at Ticonderoga Publishing.

Note: Australian readers - If you are interested in purchasing and would like to do so before Sunday the 15th use this link and put READING in the coupon code area to get free shipping.

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This review is part of the Australian Women Writers Challenge 2013.  Please check out this page for more great writing from Australian women.

 

 

 

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Book Review – Black Sun Light My Way by Jo Spurrier

Black Sun Light My Way is Jo Spurrier’s second novel and the follow up to Winter Be My Shield (reviewed here).  It’s book two of what I suspect will be a trilogy, though it’s ending surprised me – it didn’t feel like the traditional middle of a trilogy.  I like to be surprised and I am eager to see what Spurrier does in the final book.  I thought I had a handle on where she was going, now I am not so sure.

At the end of Winter Be My Shield, Sierra having managed to learn some control of her powers lets herself be caught by Akharian slavers in an attempt to get closer to Isidro and the potential treasure hidden at Demon Spire.  An uneasy alliance is formed between Rasten, Isidro and Sierra as they manage to manipulate the Akharian’s and gain access to Vasant’s treasure trove of Ricalani magic.

Much of what I thought to be the goals of the major characters seemed to be resolved by midway through the story.  It turned out to be a decoy by Spurrier an easy victory before she really tightened the screws on the characters.  Much of the tension achieved in this novel comes from the testing and twisting of bonds between those characters.  Much of the physical danger and tension comes again from isolating the characters from their allies and from each other.

Rape as a threat to characters and bystanders features heavily in Black Sun Light My Way.  Spurrier, as she did in Winter be My Shield, didn’t restrict the threat or act to female characters.  I like( appreciate maybe is a better word) that she takes this realistic approach ( modern fantasy seems to skirt around the use of rape in conflict as a weapon used against all genders) but the prevalence of it as a way to manipulate the readers emotions came close to being overused for my reading.

There was some anachronistic dialogue that jarred with me much as it did with book one, phrases or figures of speech that sound out of place because they are modern.  But then we are reading fantasy; who says fantasy needs to be written in with an equally unrealistic 19th century English vocabulary?

What continued to impress me was Spurrier’s research and her use of it in bringing the Wild alive as a very visceral setting. Pregnancy as a plot device was an interesting and realistic addition to the story and adds another layer of emotional connection between characters that I am sure Spurrier will use against the reader in book three. 

Despite the points mentioned above Spurrier has an engaging style.  This was an easy book to slip into but very hard to get out of -  I read from midway to the end in one setting.  If you are a fan of Trudi Canavan’s work and are prepared for the adult content then I heartily recommend Black Sun Light My Way and Winter Be My Shield.

This book was provided by the publisher.

An interview that I conducted with Jo for Galactic Chat can be found here.

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This review is part of the Australian Women Writers Challenge 2013.  Please check out this page for more great writing from Australian women..

 

 

 

 

 

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eBook Review–Aurora: Darwin by Amanda Bridgeman

Aurora: Darwin is the debut novel from Perth author Amanda Bridgeman.  The folks at Momentum publishing have done a great job with the cover art (reminiscent to my mind of the Astropolis covers that Orbit did for Sean Williams) and associated extras. They can be found here.  Not entirely necessary for your enjoyment but good art can shape your perceptions.
Bridgeman is a fan of sci-fi thrillers and that shows in Aurora: Darwin. If you are a fan of Aliens 2 and other Sci-Fi films of that era then you’ll like the mix of action and suspense that Bridgman delivers. 

A distress signal on the edge of inhabited space. A mission that is far outside normal parameters. Two very different people with one common goal survival.

A group of soldiers are sent to investigate a comms error on a classified military station near the asteroid belt.  Three women are added to the all male crew as part of some PR exercise.  There’s tension between the crew, between the Captain and Command and information on the situation is almost non existent.
There’s some interesting comment here on the treatment of women in the military that seems to be more about current problems that women have to face. Though I must admit I am not sure if its unrealistic to think that attitudes won’t have changed in the future or that its a case of (as with a large amount of science fiction) science fiction commenting on the issues and culture at its time of writing through the lense of the future.
If you are looking for a solid scientific underpinning and the lack of such ruins your enjoyment then perhaps Aurora: Darwin isn’t for you.  If you are just here for the thrill and the tension then, well it’s worth it.
The above point aside, Aurora: Darwin was not without its problems for me and I think this can be put down to it being a first novel.  The beginning was a little slow and I think there was an over use of narrative summary, a focussing on detail that was largely irrelevant to the story.  I am a pretty tolerant reader and I read widely. I am not sure that other readers would stay as long as I did.
But…
I did and the middle 50% of the book is nail-biting edge of the seat action and suspense that I expect from much more seasoned writers.  The tension that Bridgeman maintained here was brilliant. 
The story is nothing new (and I mean this as no slight against Bridgeman) but there’s skill in taking a trope or a well used scenario and making it seem exciting and fresh.  The reader knows what’s likely to happen and it’s the way in which the author sustains the tension, between that knowledge and the characters edging closer to danger, that makes this part of the novel and ultimately carries the rest of it.
The ending seemed a little off the pace for me, there was renewed tension but I found the team’s last obstacle a bit of an anti-climax, the action and tension was highest at the end  of the second act.
While Aurora: Darwin feels a little unbalanced structurally, on the middle part of this book alone, I will read Bridgeman again. I dare say she’s got a bright future ahead of her writing Military/Space Opera thrillers.

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This review is part of the Australian Women Writers Challenge 2013.  Please check out this page for more great writing from Australian women.

Galactic Chat with Jo Spurrier

It’s that time of the week again and this week it’s my dulcet tones interviewing Jo Spurrier author of the Children of the Black Sun series.  You will find the show notes below but here’s the player and the download link if you prefer.

Podcast Powered By Podbean

 

Show notes:

In this episode Sean interviews Australian Fantasy novelist Jo Spurrier. Jo's debut novel Winter be My Shield was nominated for an Aurealis and Norma K Hemming Award. In this interview they talk about why someone with a background in the sciences decides to write epic fantasy, the decision to write about a disabled character and where the Children of the Black Sun series sits in relation to the grim works of Martin and Abercrombie.

Jo's books can be found at:

Amazon (for internationals)

Booktopia (Australia)

Author Website: Jo's Facebook Author Page

Credits:

Interviewer: Sean Wright

Guest: Jo Spurrier

Music & Intro: Tansy Rayner Roberts

Post-production: Sean Wright

Feedback:

Twitter: @galactichat

Email: galactichat at gmail dot com

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Galactic Chat 22 Kirstyn McDermott

David McDonald returns this week with another interview from Continuum 9.  In this episode he talks to Kirstyn McDermott, award winning author of Perfections and the recently released  Caution: Contains Small Parts, and co-host of the Writer and the Critic Podcast (fear not, this is a Mondy free zone).

In this episode they discuss the challenges of transitioning between short and long fiction, and the comeback of the novella. Kirstyn shares her thoughts on the changing face of the publishing industry and discusses her experiences with the ebook only release of Perfections. And, we hear Kirstyn’s tips on how you go about reviewing the work of people you know.

Play below or download here

 

Podcast Powered By Podbean

You can purchase Perfections from Xoum, Amazon or Kobo

Caution: Contains Small Parts will be available from Twelfth Planet Press

Author Website: http://kirstynmcdermott.com/

Author Twitter: @fearofemeralds

Credits:

Interviewer: David McDonald

Guest: Kirstyn McDermott

Music & Intro: Tansy Rayner Roberts

Post-production: Sean Wright

Feedback:

Twitter: @galactichat

Email: galactichat at gmail dot com

 

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A Trifle Dead Book Trailer plus ebook on Sale

The trailer below was produced by Curtain University Students

You can purchase the paperback book from Twelfth Planet Press but if you want to pick up a cheaper ebook version to test the waters see their sale page here.

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Galactic Chat 20 starring Margo Lanagan

Well everything seems to have gone smoothly with the scheduled post and we now have the first in our regular season of the all new mostly weekly Galactic Chat.

Welcome back to the relaunched Galactic Chat.  In this episode Sean chats with Australian Award winning Fantasy and science fiction author Margo Lanagan.  They talk about her nomination for the inaugural Stella Award and what that nomination meant for her and perhaps the speculative fiction genre in Australia.

They also delve into Margo's fascination with folktale and its consistent popularity for authors and readers alike. Sean admits that Margo has the ability to break him and make him cry with the emotional gravity of her work and finally they talk gritty fantasy and why women don't share that podium with George RR Martin or Joe Abercrombie.

You can go to the Podbean site and subscribe.  You can search for us on the iTunes directory and give us some stars or you can play in the player below or you can download here.

 

Podcast Powered By Podbean

 

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Book Review – Winter be My shield by Jo Spurrier

Winter be My Shield is the debut novel from South Australian fantasy writer Jo Spurrier.  It was released last year and the second in the series, Black Sun Light My Way was launched on the first of June this year.

It was one of my personal reads for the year, a non review copy that I obtained at Supanova in 2012. Like many reviewers I have books that I should be reading and those which I purchase and want to read.  The later, has books in it stretching back to 2011.  Winter be My Shield was plucked from the leaning to-be-read-pile by virtue of the buzz it seemed to be generating without significant spruiking by the author.  It was blurbed by Robin Hobb, Trudi Canavan had mentioned it favorably and folks in my twitter stream seemed to keep mentioning it.  If I wasn’t a scientific skeptic I might have said the universe was telling me something.

So did it live up to the buzz?  The short answer is yes.

For me, the tone of Winter be My Shield sits somewhere between the gateway genre works of Trudi Canavan and Rowena Cory Daniells’ Outcast Chronicles. There’s violence and torture but its pitched at a level that won’t be shock to anyone that’s coming to the genre cold.

Mentioning the cold, Winter be My Shield shares similarities with one of Daniells’ other works, The King Rolen’s Kin trilogy, in that it occurs in a snow bound landscape and both tales are shaped by the environment rather than it being just an element thrown in for flavour.  When an author goes to the trouble of considering how weather affects landscape and armies and thereby plot it rounds the tale out, makes it more three dimensional.

But enough of comparing Spurrier to other epic fantasy writers.  What does she offer the reader?  Stylistically there’s nothing in the writing that draws too much attention to itself, I did wonder at some anachronistic word choices in dialogue, but apart from that Spurrier’s writing is pretty transparent delivering  a well paced and entertaining story.  After having abandoned some other debut novels in my reviewing list, Winter be My Shield made the act of reading pleasurable again.

Though pop culture is now becoming saturated with a winter that is always coming, Spurrier’s choice of war in the frozen North still has enough wiggle room to deliver an original tale.  I did perhaps think that she may have been riffing off events surrounding the Varian Disaster but being somewhat of a history nerd that endeared me to the story whether it was the case or not.  Whether its the Wolf Clan versus the Akharian Empire or the Germans versus the Romans everyone loves an underdog and everyone likes to see the pompous getting taken down a peg or two.

The magic was delightfully loose in its description, logical enough for the author to place constraints on it for the purpose of narrative but free enough to give the reader a visual spectacle.  I am not terribly enamoured of magical systems that sound like they are derived from old school D&D and as such the rather elemental magic delivered here, is right up my alley.

The scale is epic, but there's also a nicely developing story of relationships – both romantic and platonic between the main characters.  The stakes are high not only for a people but also for distinct individuals. 

I eagerly await finding the time to read Black Sun Light My Way.

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This review is part of the Australian Women Writers Challenge 2013.  Please check out this page for more great writing from Australian women..

 

 

 

 

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Covey Candy – King Breaker

You’ll see below the newly released cover for King Breaker, the fifth and concluding book in The Chronicles of King Rolen’s Kin.  Clint Langley has outdone himself on the artwork again. Checkout Rowena’s site for further updates.

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Book Review - River of Bones by Jodi Cleghorn

River of Bones was previously published by the Australian Review of Fiction under the title of Elyora, the name of the town featured in the novella.  I read it back in January and by a stroke of good fortune happened to read Dr Lisa L Hannett’s article, Wide Open Fear: Australian Horror and Gothic Fiction at the same time.  Hannett introduced me to the concept of unheimlich, a term that roughly translates to an object, situation or place that has a quality of being familiar yet foreign at the same time.

The term describes River of Bones perfectly.  The setting is familiar, yet strange and Cleghorn presents a story that straddles the borderline between the everyday, the mundane and the disturbing.  She presents an Australian landscape and characters that I know and manages to embed a “wrongness”, a fractured reality that builds until the true horror is revealed.

Australia is the sort of country where a wrong turn can kill you, either the people, the animals or the environment.  The initial opening of the tale ( a short prologue was added with the new edition) starts off with a band in their combi-van traveling an outback road to a gig.  Most Australian’s have that experience of the road trip, of turning off into towns bypassed by the highway, of taking shortcuts that turnout to be long-ways-around.  Elyora could be anyone of a hundred once-were-towns in my state.

 

Jo, Benny and Hal, members of the band Faunabate, have no idea what they’re in for when their car suddenly breaks down on the way to their first gig.
Their nearest town? Elyora. Upon arrival it quickly becomes clear that this is not your normal town. Why are all the magazines dated at 1974?
Why have all of their clocks stopped? And where exactly have all the people gone?There are some towns you don't ever want to visit.

And Elyora is one of them.

I have become a fan of Stephen King in recent years, more so for the emotional weight he embeds in his focus on character -I was more torn up over the love story in 22.11.63 than the Kennedy story. Though he does take a long time getting there.  With River of Bones Cleghorn somehow manages to deliver that same weight, that same investment in character that I feel with King, but without such a long run-up.  I would have been fine with just the emotional interplay, the tragedy in this novella, but Cleghorn delivered a double punch of emotional and very deftly placed, visceral horror.  The ending was particularly gutting with respect to both.

Cleghorn’s rendering of Elyora and its inhabitants is so vivid that I see possibilities for it as an independent horror film in much the same vein as Wolf Creek. Hannett did not quote River of Bones as being part of the tradition of Australian Gothic ( she probably hadn’t read it at the time) but it strikes me as one of the better recent examples.

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Cover Candy–Asymmetry by Thoraiya Dyer

Another beautifully understated cover by the talented Amanda Rainey and another wonderful collection from one of Australia’s talented crop of female writers.

I still don’t have a release date for it but it’s out sometime this year, coming in as volume 8 of the Twelve Planets Series.

Synopsis:

An Australian Air Force base patrolled by werewolves. A planet where wages are paid in luck. A future where copies are made of criminals to interpret their dark dreams. A medieval cavalry of mothers who are only permitted to take as many lives as they have created.

In every world, an imbalance of power. Something terribly askew between women and men, humans and wolves, citizens and constructs, light and dark.

In every world, asymmetry.

The TOC:

 

• Introduction -Nancy Kress

• After Hours
• Zadie, Scythe of the West
• Wish Me Luck
• Seven Days in Paris

You will be able to purchase this volume from Twelfth Planet Press shortly, but if you are interested in the concept of 12 volumes of speculative fiction from as selection Australia’s top female speculative fiction writers, go here.

It’s worth noting that Thoraiya is eligible for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

H/T David McDonald

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