Monthly Archives: June 2010

It was a dark and stormy gerbil: Writing a love scene or How not to

Courtesy of my friend and colleague, Aimee, the latest Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest for bad writing. I had been contemplating a post on writing love scenes badly, but I think this takes the biscuit:

“For the first month of Ricardo and Felicity’s affair, they greeted one another at every stolen rendezvous with a kiss – a lengthy, ravenous kiss, Ricardo lapping and sucking
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Catherynne Valente – Rules for Editing

Via the Bibliophile Stalker, this from Catherynne Valente (she of Palimpsest fame)  made me laugh and nod … this is my favourite line, but I’d suggest reading the whole damned thing:

I cannot begin to understand the logic that says: BORING STUFF UP FRONT, AWESOME TO THE BACK.

http://yuki-onna.livejournal.com/590003.html

Today's Drive-By: Kirstyn McDermott, Duchess of Darkness

Kirstyn McDermott’s work has won Aurealis Awards, Ditmars, been anthologised in Best Of collections and garnered Honorable Mentions from the likes of Ellen Datlow. Her first book, Madigan Mine, is out very, very soon. It should be purchased and read as soon as possible. She recently wed the
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Ditmar Voting

(snurched from Jason Fischer)

Looks like it’s time for Ditmar voting again. As this is the year of AussieCon4, it’s a great chance to showcase some antipodean talent.

Tehani Wessely is compiling a list, checking it twice, for eligible Aussies – it lives here https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AhAUWipZqrNWdFljalBZWmJwSnc1cTJVT2s0ZnlMLVE&hl=en_GB#gid=0

It also seems I have four stories eligible:

Frozen
Light as Mist, Heavy as Hope
Words
The Girl with No Hands

Other awesome
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Tiny Drops

Here’s something I’m very happy to post: the new Midnight Echo is out, guest edited by Lee Battersby … and containing a creepy story I lurve. L L Hannett’s Tiny Drops is seeing the light of day … the kicking the proverbial out of the light of day and stealing its wallet.

This story started out at Clarion South in 09
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Madigan Mine – Trailery Goodness

Pretty and creepy: two thumbs up! And several toes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8k6JarMwtB4

There is nothing that cannot be improved by the addition of bacon …

Thank you, ThinkGeek.com, thank you. 

http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/41/squeez-bacon.html

Varuna – New Opps for Short Story Writers

Varuna the Writers’ House has partnered with Scribe to offer the following:

Varuna Announces Two New Opportunities for Short Story Writers

Varuna is proud to partner Scribe Publications in two new programs aimed at presenting, exploring and extending the range of short story writing in Australia.

The programs are open to writers resident in Australia. Writers are invited to apply for one or
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I still hate e-readers …

… but even I must admit this is kewl: The Moleskin Kindle Cover.

http://mhpbooks.com/mobylives/?p=16060

This Week's Drive-by: Karen Miller

Karen Miller is a best-selling Australian fantasy author. She brought back the duopoly (take that trilogies!) … then she wrote some trilogies, too, and they were awesome (take that, duopolies!). Her work includes the Kingmaker, Kingbreaker duopoly, the Godspeaker Trilogy, two Stargate SG1 tie-ins, three Star Wars novels (including Stealth, which has just gone for a third printing), and, as
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