Dear [supernatural-deity-of-personal-preference], it's almost that time of year again. NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, when people all over the world park their lives for thirty days to try and write a novel. I posted about this last year, but for those of you who need a reminder, this is the process: Sign up with the …
Beware of white bulls
I've just finished reading Moniza Alvi's Europa. It was a Poetry Book Society Choice for summer last year, and has been sitting in my (disturbingly large) TBR pile since I got it. Wow. What a collection! I know I go on about the virtues of poetry collections having some sort of unity, but oh, this …
DIY Pimping for the New Author
(Slightly risky using the p-word in a blog title, but hey, it might actually snag me some new readers.) I was sent this link to a painfully funny article from The New Yorker, spoofing the whole “authors must be proactive in promoting their books!” thing. At least, I think it's a spoof … Actually, as much …
Christchurch Arts Festival – [who] go[es] here
And keeping on with the theme of bringing you doom and gloom news, I read in this morning's Christchurch Press that the Christchurch Arts Festival is in serious trouble. A quote: The festival has evolved within a relatively short time from a $640,000 operation in 1995 to a $3.96 million enterprise in 2007. To date …
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Science Fiction (denial) is alive and well
I was sent a link to an interesting article about science fiction's position with the literary mainstream:Why science fiction authors just can't win. Posted using ShareThis I'd never really thought about how to classify books like The Handmaid's Tale and 1984, other than as “distopian” (which tends to acquire the suffix “fantasy” by default). (And …
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A Dark Feathered Art 