Book Review – Caution: Contains Small Parts by Kirstyn McDermott

Glancing at my Goodreads stats, I began reading Caution well over a year ago.  It was going to be one of those quick personal reads you fit in before the review copy starts padding the walls of your cell library.

I may have let it languish longer were it not for the death of my ereader, which prompted the purchase of another ($65 Kobo Touch at Brisbane Airport).  I had bought Caution through Kobo and it downloaded as part of the setup process again.  The intervening year of not reading hadn’t dulled my memory but I embarked on reading the first 3 stories again.

It struck me on a second reading that this collection does really showcase McDermott’s versatility.  All the stories are a mix of dark/weird/horror/fantasy but McDermott gives us something fresh in each of the 4 tales.

Kij Johnson (whose work I also have in the personal reading pile) introduces the collection, outlining the reasons why I continue to enjoy Kirstyn’s work i.e. that Kirstyn isn’t afraid to drag the reader toward big messy uncomfortable themes and bind them together with good story.

 

What Amanda Wants kicks off the set and presents initially as a fairly straight psychological thriller before edging its way into the weird. Without giving too much away, I enjoyed being manipulated in this story, the build up of dread and the twist.

Horn was a very interesting bit of fun, a thick vein of cultural commentary wrapped up in a good horror story. If you like fluffy tales about unicorns…well ( why would you be reading McDermott) skip this one.

Caution: Contains Small Parts was another wonderful piece of manipulation, playing with genre expectations around possessed childhood toys.  I think this would work well as a short film.

The final novella is The Home for Broken Dolls where Kirstyn manages to blend genre tropes, criticism and adult dolls in the one story that should be given so much more critical analysis than this short recommendation will provide.  Out of all the stories this one impressed me the most.  Horn, What Amanda Wants and Caution are great stories, entertaining stories.  The Home for Broken Dolls though managed to really provoke some introspection on top of having the qualities of the stories previously mentioned.

This collection continues Twelfth Planet Press’ wonderful series of female talent. Caution and indeed the entire series should receive wider attention than the usual genre haunts.  I encourage readers especially those not fans or readers of genre to try Kirstyn’s collection, to sample what serious topics and themes can be packaged in horror and dark fantasy short story.

So a thumbs up from me.

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This review is part of the Australian Women Writers Challenge 2015.  Please check out this page for more great writing from Australian women.

 

 

 

 

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Perfections in print

Listeners to Galactic Suburbia will already have heard the news, however is you aren’t into podcasts you might be interested that Kirstyn McDermott’s Perfections, originally released by Xoum publishing as an ebook, has been acquired by Twelfth Planet Press for its first print run.

The new cover is by the talented Amanda Rainey.

Here is my review of the novel on first release:

If you liked Madigan Mine, you’ll still like Perfections but they don’t occupy quite the same space.

Ian Mond, Kirstyn’s co-host on the Writer and the Critic described it as more of a character piece.    Kirstyn herself has tentatively called it modern urban gothic, situating it at the subtler end of the horror continuum.

And I think Perfections is a subtler piece of work than Madigan Mine. I always had suspicions with what was going on with Kirstyn’s first novel, it had a stronger affinity with well known Horror tropes.

Don’t get me wrong though, Perfections is still gut wrenchingly nasty at times, enough to really unsettle you but I was hard pressed to figure out where the horror was going to emerge - which of course kept me slightly on edge.

Now you notice here I am avoiding telling you the story.  And I am not going to reveal …[read on]

If you are a fan of subtle, creeping horror I recommend picking this one up.

 

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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

 

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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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Cover Candy - Caution: Contains Small Parts

Twelfth Planet Press has released the cover of the next Twelve planets volume, Caution: Small Parts by Kirstyn McDermott.

The book is available for pre order here.

The cover artist Amanda Rainey has also done an interview with David McDonald which can be found here.

 

 

 

 

 

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Australian Shadows Award Winners

The Australian Shadows Awards are:

… the annual literary awards presented by the AHWA and judged on the overall effect - the skill, delivery, and lasting resonance - of horror fiction written or edited by an Australian. [source: Australian Horror Writers Association]

Here are the winners:

NOVEL

Perfections – Kirstyn McDermott

LONG FICTION

Sky – Kaaron Warren

SHORT FICTION

Birthday Suit – Martin Livings

EDITED PUBLICATION

Surviving the End – Craig Bezant

COLLECTION

Through Splintered Walls – Kaaron Warren

 

The list includes two writers that I have read recently.  And I am very happy to see them win, I don’t tend to read much horror,but those selected were certainly good writing.  Congrats to Kaaron, Kirstyn and the others, whose works I have yet to read.

Oh and isn’t the trophy delightfully macabre, it’s made by Nightshade Fx

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They’re back – Writer & the Critic Episode 27

And they have been away so long this is the first time I have typed a post about them on the new laptop.  This episode starts with acknowledgement that Mondy will be starring in an upcoming episode of Hoarders Australia called Burried in Books as he confess to the fact that he has a massive fire risk in his garage (1500 unread books).

No not really but hey I think I could watch a reality show with Mondy in it.

But seriously 1500 books.

Kirstyn has moved house to somewhere in the wilds of Ballaratia, consequently they had to break into Dave’s house (co-host on the much underrated Shooting the Poo podcast).

This week’s episode covers Infinite Jest and House of Leaves and is complemented by the wonderful personalities of aforementioned hosts.

Go and download this Ditmar Award winning  podcast. Or play from the player below:

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eBook Review–Perfections by Kirstyn McDermott

Perfections is McDermott’s second novel, released in digital format through Xoum publications.

I reviewed Kirstyn’s first novel Madigan Mine, released in both pbook and ebook fromm by Picador - here.

If you liked Madigan Mine, you’ll still like Perfections but they don’t occupy quite the same space. 

Ian Mond, Kirstyn’s co-host on the Writer and the Critic described it as more of a character piece.    Kirstyn herself has tentatively called it modern urban gothic, situating it at the subtler end of the horror continuum.

And I think Perfections is a subtler piece of work than Madigan Mine. I always had suspicions with what was going on with Kirstyn’s first novel, it had a stronger affinity with well known Horror tropes.

Don’t get me wrong though, Perfections is still gut wrenchingly nasty at times, enough to really unsettle you but I was hard pressed to figure out where the horror was going to emerge - which of course kept me slightly on edge.

Now you notice here I am avoiding telling you the story.  And I am not going to reveal anything about the plot, aside from the blurb:

Two sisters. One wish. Unimaginable consequences.

Not all fairytales are for children.

It’s best to dive into this one blind, trust the author to entertain you. It’s not one to give you nightmares but Kirstyn will make you love the characters and then let things unravel so that the horror, the tragedy hits you unawares.

If you enjoy King when he does well crafted characters in slightly off kilter realities then I think you’ll enjoy Kirstyn’s work here.  The horror, the suspense comes from or empathy with the characters she has crafted, and what she does to them.

The writing is smooth flowing prose that seems effortless but that I suspect was agonising to refine.

Even cushioned with anger it hurts to say the words, to hear them, and Antoinette knows with gut-sinking certainty that if Paul was standing here before her, if he had the balls to stay and plead his own case instead of sending Greta as proxy, then she would have little hope of resistance. Poised on the edge of her life here, Paul and their flat and the history that seeps from every wall, every photograph stuck careless to the fridge, every half-burned candle and guilty wine stain on the carpet, how easy it would be to close her eyes and jump, to allow herself the exhilaration of free-fall.

There is so much more I would love to talk about but it would give the game away.– the cover for instance and how well it suits the work. What makes it a smart bit of art amongst all the other “male gaze” cover art out there.

Horror has a bad reputation, possibly well deserved in some areas within the genre, where the grotesque comes to the fore, where violence and blood are thrown at the reader to make up for a lack of real substance.

McDermott, however, combines literary skill and a horror that focuses on the personal, on human desires and interactions, to give us a work of quality that should appeal to a broad audience.

Perfections was provided to me by the author.

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This review is part of the Australian Women Writers Challenge 2012.  Please check out this page for more great writing from Australian women.

 

 

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The Writer and the Critic Episode 26

The latest and the last for a little while as both of the hosts of the show are moving house, so it will be three long excruciating months before we get to hear Kirstyn’s insightful commentary and Ian singing 80-90s cover versions of Bon Jovi/Bryan Adams.

So Episode 26 is a non fiction episode where they tackle Gary K. Wolfe’s Evapourating Genres and James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon , a biography by Julie Phillips.

Now despite it being non-fiction centred, I found it to be one of their better episodes (not that they aren’t all pretty good).  Their discussion on first authors and criticism got me thinking.

And of course they do mention my new podcast Adventures of a Bookonaut so maybe I might be slightly biased.

The Sheldon biography sounds very interesting as well and I’m not really one for biographies.

Anyway go to the show notes here for some more detail.  You can download it as an mp3 here or stream from the player below.

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Book Release–Perfections by Kirstyn McDermott

Kirstyn McDermott has released her long anticipated second novel Perfections, from Xoum.

I reviewed Kirstyn’s award winning first novel Madigan Mine here.

So without having read Perfections I will give you a warning, Kirstyn is crafty, she sucks you in, gets you to love the characters and then rips their hearts out.

Expect something special, some thing especially nasty.

Two sisters. One wish. Unimaginable consequences.

Not all fairytales are for children.

Perfections is the chilling new novel from the author of Madigan Mine.

You can purchase it through Xoum or through Amazon (and other sites shortly).

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The Writer and the Critic: Episode 25

This episode sees our fearless readers Kirstyn and Mondy tackle the second half of the eBook extravaganza.  They critique The Black God’s War by Moses Siregar III, The Silence of Medair by Andrea K Höst  and Paintwork by Tim Maughan.

Apart from Paintwork our two hosts are fairly scathing. One theme that seems to come through quite strongly is the value of structural edits and an editor with experience in this area.

Enjoy,especially Mondy’s rendition of the Summer of ‘69.

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You can download the mp3 here.

 

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Cover Candy–Perfections by Kirstyn McDermott

Kirstyn has managed to write another “proper” book.  Here is the cover image for Perfections, to be released in early 2013.

Her publisher is Xoum.

Coincidently, they also will be publishing Jason Nahrung’s Blood and Dust.

 

 

 

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Der Autor und der Kritiker episode 24

That they would be able to review six books in one podcast was always going to be a tall order, so splitting their eBook extravaganza into a 2 part podcast was a good idea.

In this episode, which must bring them nearly to their second anniversary, Kirstyn and Mondy cover Angelfall by Susan Ee, Anticopernicus by Adam Roberts and The Dark Wife by Sarah Diemer.

Next podcast they will feature The Black God’s War by Moses Siregar III, The Silence of Medair by Andrea K Höst, Paintwork by Tim Maughan.

I would have liked them to take a good look at Tor Roxburgh’s Light Heart of Stone, because it’s a really inventive, Australian work that I think falls under the guidelines above (though perhaps because it’s also a print publication it doesn’t – still its published by it’s author).

I am sure they had mountains of recommendations anyway.

Enjoy the podcast.  Download it here or play below:

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Twelfth Planet Press at Melbourne Writers festival

Kerry Greenwood (author of the Phryne Fisher Mysteries) will be Launching the Twelve Planets Series this Sunday 26 August at the Yarra Building, Federation square, Melbourne. 

You’ll also get a chance to meet some of the Twelve Planets Series authors( lovely people all)

It’s free.  Yes free.

Check the postcard below:

 

H/T Kirstyn McDermott

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The Writer and The Critic Episode 21

perhaps current holder for the longest single  Australian Specfic Podcast coming in at a wonderful 02:16:53m.

Great if you do chores or mow the lawns while listening, like me

…I have a lot of lawn.

Anyway a number of things appear to contribute to the length of the podcast

• Guest and rambler extraordinaire Jonathan Strahan of Coode Street (who I would happily listen to for 3 hours alone talking about Scifi)
• Kirstyn and Mondy who I would happily listen for the same length of time because Kirstyn is genuinely and excitingly brilliant on gender and Mondy because he plays the wide eyed, innocent white male questioner perfectly
• They decided to do three books, yes three.

I am sure they are throwing down a challenge with this cast.

The books were

1. Galveston (Jonathan’s choice)
2. The Drowning Girl
3. Akata Witch

But enough of my prattle.

Download

or play below:

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The Writer & The Critic - Embiggen Edition

I had the great fortune to attend the recording of this particular podcast at Melbourne’s exclusive Science, Philosophy and Steampunkish bookstore - Embiggen Books.

It was a little disappointing to hear many of the locals who attended various events at Embiggen over the weekend say something akin to “This bookshop is great, I never knew it existed”.

It is by far the coolest damn bookshop I have ever been into, run by people that have put their money where their mouth is to bring their customers the best in Science,  Philosophy and Critical Thinking. Melbournians don’t know what they are missing.

But on with the show:

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One thing you don’t get to see obviously, is the facial expressions of the hosts, it being a podcast. The look on Mondy’s face at Deb Biancotti’s continued declarations of love was hilarious.

Enjoy, the Writer & The Critic talking with most of the Twelve Planet Authors at Embiggen Books.

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The Writer & The Critic Episode 18

Ah, the Kirstyn and Mondy show.  I could listen to these two talk about gardening¹ and I would be happy, such is their rapport. 

This episode starts with some interesting gender discussions prompted by listener Mark Webb.  Mondy plays the unwitting male perfectly ² ,asking those questions that some male listeners may be thinking but are too afraid to ask, for fear of looking stupid.

The discussion proper is on

You can download here or stream  below:

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^{1. Not a big fan, like vegetable gardening but hate mowing lawns↩}

^{2.Taking one for the team↩}

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Only one more day of me hassling you for funding

I have been nominated to run in this years fan fund for the National Science Fiction Convention to be held in Melbourne.

If you appreciate the work that I do in Australian Speculative Fiction Fandom and you have a spare $5, you can vote for me here and help send me to the National Conference.

Writer and The Critic: Episode 17 - The uncut version

Warning: Do not drink/eat and listen to this podcast at the same time – potential choking hazard.

In this instalment Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond invite UK author Robert Shearman (the guy who wrote Dalek).

They chat about his recent adventures at the Adelaide Writers’ Week (where I briefly met him) but discussion about Ian’s sleeping habits competes for the highlight of the show.
Once they get past Mondy’s legendary snoring, the books they discuss are Houses Without Doors by Peter Straub (Kirstyn’s choice), and Queenpin by Megan Abbott (Mondy’s)
Here’s the download link or you can play it in the flash player below

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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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The Writer and the Critic: Episode 16

Mondy and Kirstyn are back and unfortunately this week they are reviewing a book that I am on the cusp of reading – Kin Westwood’s The Courier's New Bicycle. 

Normally I don’t mind spoilers if the book they are covering has peripheral interest or whose likelihood reading is so low down my TBR list that I will forget what they have said.

I suppose since they have gone to the trouble of mentioning the times that spoilers may occur, I could half listen to it.

Any who and without further ado here is the podcast:

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and download link.

In this episode Kirstyn & Mondy discuss  The Silver Wind by Nina Allan at 35:30, and The Courier’s New Bicycle by Kim Westwood at 59:45. Final remarks begin at 01:43:00

[show notes]

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Final Writer and the Critic for 2011

Mondy and Kirstyn dish up their last show for the year.  Kirstyn refuses to get into a feminism 101 lecture and Mondy is reasonably well behaved (well so far, I'm only about 20 minutes in).

They cover The Tiger’s Wife and We Need to Talk About Kevin, both winners of the Orange Prize.

You can download here

Or

Play in the doovalacky below:

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