Graham Joyce’s, The Year of the Ladybird, mentioned in this Coode Street podcast was released in Australian around the 9th of July. Joyce’s other works have also borne the scrutiny of the Writer and the Critic podcast.
I hesitate to say I am a fan of Joyce only because I haven’t read more than a chapter. Odd, I know but I couldn’t and still can’t afford the time to read purely for pleasure (gives Ziggurat of review books a weary stare). That being said, I thought the writing was good enough to purchase everything with his name on it.
Its only available in hardback at the moment but if that’s too pricey Booktopia have some of his other work at a decent price here.
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:
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.
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.
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:
In this episode they cover Kate Forsyth’s Bitter Greens (which I reviewed here) and Lavie Tidhar’s Osama, along with the usual banter that we have come to love them for.
You can play direct below or you can download it here.
They also give us a heads up on the ebooks they are going to be covering for the Writer and Critic eBook Extravaganza.
For detailed show notes go to the podbean site.
PS I also get a mention for the interview I did with Kate Forsyth so this episode comes with bonus Bookonaut.
So I am playing around again on Appsgeyser which allows you to create simple Android Apps. I have collected 4 of Australia’s Speculative Fiction Podcast feeds and placed them into the app generator. The end result is an android app that you can download so that you can easily access the feeds of the following podcasts.
Think of it like a uber-bookmark that allows you to switch between webpages via tabs rather than having to save each as a separate book mark and go to their respective webpages.
You can download via this link or scan the QR code below.
Cool if you listen to podcasts via a wifi enabled tablet or smartphone.
Let me know how you go.
So I have signed up to attend Lisa L Hannett’s short story workshop being run through the SA Writer’s Centre. It’s a two day course split over two Saturdays, a fortnight apart.
Week 1 we’ll be looking at craft and week 2 we’ll be looking at each other’s work. So I figure this will put me under some pressure to pull my finger out. Hoping fear of failure and potential social embarrassment will motivate me.
Lisa L Hannett is an Adelaide resident hailing original from our Commonwealth cousin Canada. She's been published in Clarkesworld Magazine, Fantasy Magazine, Weird Tales, ChiZine, Shimmer, Steampunk II: Steampunk Reloaded and the Year's Best Australian Fantasy and Horror 2010, among other places.
She has won three Aurealis Awards, including Best Collection 2011 for her first book, Bluegrass Symphony (Ticonderoga). She’s currently working on her first novel Familiar and is about to release Midnight and Moonshine, co-authored with Angela Slatter(pronounced slay-ter).
Lisa is a graduate of that hothouse of talent - Clarion South.
You can hear Lisa and Angela Slatter talk on Writer and the Critic Episode 22
South Aussie peeps can still book by contacting the SA Writers centre via their website.
…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 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.
You can stream below or download it here
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
I am sure they are throwing down a challenge with this cast.
The books were
But enough of my prattle.
or play below:
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:
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.
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:
1. Not a big fan, like vegetable gardening but hate mowing lawns↩
2.Taking one for the team↩
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.
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
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.
Or
Play in the doovalacky below:
The show notes:
As we observed last year, the day after Christmas is a special one, dedicated to winding down after a day of feasting and gift giving, laughter and merriment. Things slow down – unless you have a taste for the mega-discount sales – and people tend to relax with family.
This morning, Perth time, at least, a bunch of participants in Australian podcasting joined together to record The Second Annual Boxing Day Super Mega Podcast. Participating were:
Alex, Alisa, and Tansy from Galactic Suburbia;
Ian and Kirstyn from The Writer and the Critic; and
Gary and I from The Coode St Podcast.
Sadly, Grant from Bad Film Diaries couldn’t make.
You can download it here or play it below
The regulars Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond team up with writer and podcaster John Richards.
Check out there show notes here
or stream direct (take a chance).
Regular readers will already be subscribed to these wonderful podcasts(and if they aren’t they should go and give themselves a very good talking to).
Warning: Contains Nuts
The Book Nut is the brainchild of Fablecroft proprietor Tehani Wessely it covers fiction for children and young adults with a focus on Australian material. Tehani’s a teacher librarian, publisher and literary awards judge.
This weeks podcast is a discussion with Australian speculative fiction author Tansy Rayner Roberts. They cover speculative fiction for children and young adults the reason why speculative fiction should feature in any library or family collection.
You can stream it using the embedded player below or download it directly here.
Duelling Banjo’s
This month’s Writer and the Critic covers Lisa Hannett’s newly released Bluegrass Symphony and Rob Shearman’s, Everyone’s just so so special. These two have possibly the best podcast chemistry going in Australia at the moment well worth a listen just for their on air interactions.
You can stream it using the embedded player below or download it directly here
I have finally got my own podcast site up and running. The first post links to my interview with Kelley Armstrong for Galactic Chat. I do, however, have some interviews lined up that will be forming part of The Bookonaut Podcast proper.
You can find the link in the navigation bar above or subscribe to the show here
