Rhonda Roberts has a PhD and worked as an academic specialising in the sociology of knowledge systems in different cultures and historical periods. She trained in Aikido in Japan and now learns Tai Chi near her home in the Illawarra.

1. Your book completely leapt out at me when I saw it on the shelves a few months ago – an Australian series about time travel and Ancient Rome is a marvellous combination! What was it about Ancient Rome that made you want to use it as the backdrop of your first novel?

Years ago I tutored in a university course on the rise and fall of female-centred religions. The one that came closest to taking over the modern world was the Egyptian Isis cult, which spread like a glorious virus throughout the Roman Empire. For a few centuries it was uncertain as to whether the Isiacs or the Christians would win the fight for dominance.

Talk about a great ‘what if’…

My series is about a time travelling detective operating in an alternate past and present. I wanted to explore (among other things) what it’d be like if Isis worship hadn’t been stamped out but just gone underground and then risen again to challenge Christianity in the modern era.

Well that’s one of the reasons anyway… J Ancient Rome is such a rich treasure chest for any writer to raid.

2. Gladiatrix is the first in a series – Kannon Dupree Timestalker – when can we expect the further installments in the series, and what time periods are Kannon heading to next?

Hoodwink, the second book, is set in Hollywood in 1939. It’s finished and I’m now writing the third one. HarperCollins is adjusting the release date for Hoodwink and I’ll post it and more details of the book on my website asap.

3. If you could travel in time just once, which period would you choose, and what would you take on your trip?

I’m torn between wanting to meet specific people in history and wondering about cultures that were more entwined with their habitat.

Sure I’d love to talk to the Oracle of Delphi, Buddha, Christ, and Helen Keller about the meaning of life but I’d also love to visit both the great Sioux nation and the Dharawal people of the Illawarra (where I live) before colonization.

In the end I’d have to choose the future – and I’d take a list of questions. What new solutions do you have? What has hindsight shown we could’ve done better? Are shoulder pads back in fashion…and why?

4. Which Australian writers or work have you most enjoyed reading this year?

This is always a toughie. The spec fiction community here is so diverse and so heavily stocked with talent… and I’m always finding new stuff that impresses. The gold mine of writers at www.ripping-ozzie-reads.com has produced some stunning work this last year and Sean Williams is always amazing…

5. Are you planning to go to Aussiecon 4 in September? If so, what are you most looking forward to?

Oh definitely. (Barring acts of God of course!) The world spec fiction community is knocking on our front door – why would you want to miss that?

What am I looking forward to? The diversity, the unexpected, the flavour, the chats over good coffee, the sudden inspiration about my own work while listening to a great writer talk about theirs… How long have you got?

———————

Previously in Snapshot: Marianne De Pierres, Richard Harland, Karen Miller, Margo Lanagan, Ben Peek, Narelle Harris, Paul Collins, Damien Broderick, Shane Jiraiya Cummings, Angela Slatter, Dion Hamill, Garth Nix, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Trudi Canavan, Thoraiya Dyer, Keith Stevenson, Juliet Marillier, Gillian Polack, Jason Fischer, Alisa Krasnostein, Tehani Wessely, Amanda Rainey, Justine Larbalestier, Rowena Cory Daniells, Glenda Larke, Adrian (K.A.) Bedford, Kaaron Warren, Nicole Murphy, D.M. Cornish, Deborah Kalin, Jonathan Strahan, Alan Baxter, Gary Kemble, Lezli Robyn, Kate Eltham, Robert Hoge, Will Elliott, Trent Jamieson, Felicity Dowker, Jack Dann, Lee Battersby, Peter M Ball, Nyssa Pascoe, Lucy Sussex, Andrew McKiernan, Amanda Pillar, Deborah Biancotti, Kim Falconer, Gabrielle Wang, Kim Wilkins, Paul Haines, Karen Healey, Stephanie Campisi, Stuart Mayne, Christopher Lynch, Simon Petrie, Alison Goodman, Russell Blackford

Snapshot interviews will be blogged from Monday 15th until Sunday 22nd Feb.

To read them hot off the press, check these blogs daily:
http://random-alex.livejournal.com/
http://girliejones.livejournal.com/
http://kathrynlinge.livejournal.com/
http://www.mechanicalcat.net/rachel
http://tansyrr.com/
http://editormum.livejournal.com/

Will we beat 83 this time? If you know of someone involved in the Scene with something to plug, then send us an email at 2010snapshot@gmail.com.

Karen Healey is a New Zealander living in Australia doing a PhD on American superhero comics. Her debut novel, Guardian of the Dead, a YA contemporary fantasy set in New Zealand, comes out in April.

1. Your book already has lots of people buzzing – the blurbs on your website include enthusiastic recommendations from Holly Black, Libba Bray, Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan! I was particularly interested to learn that your teen girl protagonist is neither slim nor conventionally attractive – still a rarity in current YA – and that your magic system is influenced by Maori mythology, which must come with a whole lot of cultural baggage attached to it. Were you ever worried that these factors might hold your book back from publication? That Guardian of the Dead might be too unusual to make it this far? How difficult (or indeed, easy) has your road to publication been?

No, not really, which in retrospect might have been naive, but it all worked out, so perhaps not? I do feel that the premise turned some people off – I got one rejection that thought the book was “too New Zealandy”, which made me laugh – but that’s fine. Editors have so many great manuscripts on submission, they’re answerable to their bosses, and they do have to be really picky about what they feel they can sell and what fits into their catalogues. I’m really happy with both Allen and Unwin and my American publishers, Little, Brown. My editors there like what they feel is the originality of the work, including Ellie’s weight and looks and what I’ve done with Maori mythology.

My biggest fear wasn’t that no one would want the book because it was too unusual, but that I would poorly present Ellie’s experience of being large, misrepresent Maori heritage, or cause harm to potential Maori readers through cultural appropriation (since I’m average-sized and Pakeha). I tried my best to avoid being a jerk through various methods, including a lot of research and cultural consultation, but I’m not really the best judge of whether I managed it, so we’ll see!

My path to publication was actually fairly easy, though it was of course horribly nervewracking! Holly Black saw the first chapters at a workshop and recommended I query her agent, Bary Goldblatt. I did, he signed me up as a client, and then sent the manuscript out, where it collected its fair share of rejections before getting some offers from some great houses. I had to make a few hard decisions, but I’m happy with the results of my choices.

2. I read that you’re doing a PhD on gender issues in comic books, which made me squee just a little bit, because it sounds like a thesis that really needs to be written. What do you want most from a comic, as a woman and a reader? Also, who are your favourite superheroes and why?

I actually am not! I am doing a PhD on superhero comics and fan culture, which tangentially touches upon gender issues and utilizes some feminist theory and a great deal of fan theory from women. I agree that a thesis on gender issues in comics totally does need to be written though! I think a couple of people are working on it.

What I want most from a comic as a reader is a great story and compelling characters, and as a woman, that includes not being insulted or jolted out of the narrative by awful depictions of women, either textually or in the art. There’s nothing to shock you out of an interesting story of blowing stuff up like a female superhero apparently delivering all her dialogue from her ass, and it is just so, so dispiriting and boring to see “she was raped!” as motivation for a female character, good or bad, doing anything. It’s so lazy.

My favourite superheroes are Misty Knight, Barbara Gordon, Connor Hawke, Emma Frost, and Jean Grey – all smart, competent, complex characters with long histories and some great storylines. But my favourite of all time is probably Jaime Reyes, AKA Blue Beetle III, AKA the best person in the entire DC Universe.

3. I’m sure it’s hard to see past that April publication date, but what’s next for you, writingwise? What are you working on right now? Do you see yourself writing works set in Australia now that you live here, or is your heart always going to be in New Zealand?

My second book, currently called SUMMERTON, has sold to Allen and Unwin and Little, Brown. It’s again set in New Zealand, this time in a small, far-too-perfect, West Coast town where three teenagers try to find the real reasons behind their older brothers’ apparent suicides. Besides revising SUMMERTON, I’m working on a few things right now – researching one book (set in Europe), writing another, planning a sequel to GUARDIAN – those two are both NZ-based.

I love Australia, too, though, especially Melbourne, which I think is my favourite city ever! I actually have ideas for a YA sci-fi not-too-distant future story set in Melbourne – I think the city’s environmental challenges and diversity are fertile ground for considering the possibilities of the next century.

4. Which Australian (ha, I should say Antipodean, shouldn’t I) writers or work would you like to see nominated for awards this year? What have you most enjoyed reading?

I’m going to be completely partisan and talk about my friends’ work, so, you know, fair warning of bias.

I think that Deborah Kalin’s SHADOW QUEEN is totally brilliant – a fascinating and often painful investigation of Stockholm syndrome romance in the middle of a court intrigue/adventure story in a quasi-European fantasy setting unlike anything I’ve ever read before. Justine Larbalestier’s LIAR is an amazing work which I can’t really talk about because anything I will say is laden with spoilers, but it’s a psychological thriller set in contemporary New York told from the first person narration of a compulsive liar. If you’re into complex characterisation and unreliable narrators, I recommend both very much.

5. Are you planning to go to Aussiecon 4 in September? If so, what are you most looking forward to?

I am! And I am looking forward to the cocktails. Isn’t everyone?

———————

Previously in Snapshot: Marianne De Pierres, Richard Harland, Karen Miller, Margo Lanagan, Ben Peek, Narelle Harris, Paul Collins, Damien Broderick, Shane Jiraiya Cummings, Angela Slatter, Dion Hamill, Garth Nix, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Trudi Canavan, Thoraiya Dyer, Keith Stevenson, Juliet Marillier, Gillian Polack, Jason Fischer, Alisa Krasnostein, Tehani Wessely, Amanda Rainey, Justine Larbalestier, Rowena Cory Daniells, Glenda Larke, Adrian (K.A.) Bedford, Kaaron Warren, Nicole Murphy, D.M. Cornish, Deborah Kalin, Jonathan Strahan, Alan Baxter, Gary Kemble, Lezli Robyn, Kate Eltham, Robert Hoge, Will Elliott, Trent Jamieson, Felicity Dowker, Jack Dann, Lee Battersby, Peter M Ball, Nyssa Pascoe, Lucy Sussex, Andrew McKiernan, Amanda Pillar, Deborah Biancotti, Kim Falconer, Gabrielle Wang, Kim Wilkins, Paul Haines

Snapshot interviews will be blogged from Monday 15th until Sunday 22nd Feb.

To read them hot off the press, check these blogs daily:
http://random-alex.livejournal.com/
http://girliejones.livejournal.com/
http://kathrynlinge.livejournal.com/
http://www.mechanicalcat.net/rachel
http://tansyrr.com/
http://editormum.livejournal.com/

Will we beat 83 this time? If you know of someone involved in the Scene with something to plug, then send us an email at 2010snapshot@gmail.com.

Deborah Biancotti’s first short story won an Aurealis Award in 2001, and her first collection, A BOOK OF ENDINGS, was shortlisted for the William L. Crawford Award 2010. She is now working on her first novel, working title BROKEN, and has new fiction launching at WorldCon in September.

1. A Book of Endings has been building steam, with many people locally and overseas singling it out as a great collection. Did you achieve everything you hoped to with this book? What did you learn from the experience of putting the collection together with Twelfth Planet Press?

I learned to write under pressure and to forever put aside any hopes I had of being one of those ‘precious’ writers. Editors and friends will just not let me get away with it.

The book-delivery process was incredibly bloody useful, actually, and transformative. I went in a lot more fearful than I’ve come out. I no longer fear deadlines, for example. Though I may occasionally still screw them up. But if I’d had any outstanding issues with the idea of myself as a working writer, those are settled now.

Not sure I achieved everything I hoped to. The world domination still seems a ways off. Editor & publisher Alisa Krasnostein suggested I see the book as a bridge between the writing I’ve done & the writing I want to do next, & for me the book definitely achieves that. There’s a bit of experimentation in the collection, in an attempt to see what would happen if I put some of my more out-there stuff in front of people. The response has been mostly pretty positive, or at least not negative enough that I’ve noticed.

2. Your short stories have always leaned towards the experimental, and you could certainly find an audience among mainstream literary readers – what is it about speculative fiction that draws you in? What does genre have to offer you as a writer?

Well, I hate being bored. That’s really what keeps me reading & writing in genre. I don’t think I’ve ever even really considered working in the mainstream, & my few early forays into mainstream lit (either by reading books from award lists, or joining a non-genre workshop/writing group, or going to poetry readings, etc) all left me feeling like I had a sharp attack of dry-mouth. Maybe I accidentally kept bumping into the pointy, pretentious end of mainstream & missed finding the soft, gooey centre that I’m sure exists.

Nowdays I’m actually reading a lot of crime & thriller writing, & LOVING it! But there’ll always be something genre-like about my writing. The world is too weird NOT to write weirdly about it.

3. You’ve been working on The Novel for some time – how are you finding the transition between writing short and writing long? Are novels where you see your future? What can you tell us about the novel you are working on?

The Novel is 3 years & 1 month old! It’s a near-future psychological thriller – if you’re a mainstream reader. If you’re a genre reader it’s a good ol’ parallel universe urban fantasy — with a Minotaur. It’s getting close to done now, too. This draft is as much fun as the first one was, & a heck of a lot more fun than some of the drafts in-between were.

The transition is tough as hell and advice from novelists is conflicting if it exists at all. Every author has to learn the process for themselves, what works, what doesn’t. It’s bloody hard & you wish there was just one right way to do it so you could get on with the writing.

The best thing I did was stop reading novels I thought I should be reading & start reading novels I enjoy. ‘Cos if you’re going to spend 3 years & a month writing a novel, it really should be one you enjoy reading, right? Right.

It’s so obvious in hindsight.

Yes, I’d love to keep doing novels. They are a bunch of fun! It’s like having invisible friends. You can make up an entire world and live there for a while. Who wouldn’t want that?

I also plan to get faster at it.

4. Which Australian writers or work would you like to see on the Hugo shortlists this year?

All of them!

5. Are you planning to go to Aussiecon 4 in September? If so, what are you most looking forward to?

If I mention ‘the bar’ again people will think I’m an alcoholic. I’m one of the babes born of the 1999 WorldCon in Melbourne, so for me this’ll be a bit of a coming of age. I think what I’m looking forward to is going in as an adult this time, with a bunch of achievements I can point to as ‘this is what I’ve been doing since then’, rather than that really difficult full-of-hope-but-otherwise-untested state pre-published writers have to endure as a first step. Maybe it’s time to do some paying forward.

———————

Previously in Snapshot: Marianne De Pierres, Richard Harland, Karen Miller, Margo Lanagan, Ben Peek, Narelle Harris, Paul Collins, Damien Broderick, Shane Jiraiya Cummings, Angela Slatter, Dion Hamill, Garth Nix, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Trudi Canavan, Thoraiya Dyer, Keith Stevenson, Juliet Marillier, Gillian Polack, Jason Fischer, Alisa Krasnostein, Tehani Wessely, Amanda Rainey, Justine Larbalestier, Rowena Cory Daniells, Glenda Larke, Adrian (K.A.) Bedford, Kaaron Warren, Nicole Murphy, D.M. Cornish, Deborah Kalin, Jonathan Strahan, Alan Baxter, Gary Kemble, Lezli Robyn, Kate Eltham, Robert Hoge, Will Elliott, Trent Jamieson, Felicity Dowker, Jack Dann, Lee Battersby, Peter M Ball, Nyssa Pascoe, Lucy Sussex, Andrew McKiernan, Amanda Pillar

Snapshot interviews will be blogged from Monday 15th until Sunday 22nd Feb.

To read them hot off the press, check these blogs daily:
http://random-alex.livejournal.com/
http://girliejones.livejournal.com/
http://kathrynlinge.livejournal.com/
http://www.mechanicalcat.net/rachel
http://tansyrr.com/
http://editormum.livejournal.com/

Will we beat 83 this time? If you know of someone involved in the Scene with something to plug, then send us an email at 2010snapshot@gmail.com.

Peter M. Ball is a Brisbane writer who attended Clarion South in 2007. His novella, Horn, was published by Twelfth Planet Press in 2009 and his most recent short stories have appeared in Strange Horizons, Apex Magazine, Shimmer, and the Interfictions II anthology. He can be found online at www.petermball.com.

1. Horn has had such great feedback, from reviewers and readers. How
are you following it up, and are we going to see Miriam Aster in full-length novels someday?

The impetus for Horn was essentially a dare that raged out of control, so the question of what comes next has been looming ever since I started talking to Twelfth Planet Press about the possibility of doing more with Aster. Right now I’m working on a second novella that Twelfth Planet has scheduled for release later this year, and there’s a half-finished draft of a third novella floating around my computer as well. My goal is to use the three books to create a kind of triptych of the relationship Aster has with the faerie and the queen-in-exile Anya Titan, making connections for the people who want them to be there while keeping each as a stand-alone story.

An Aster novel may come one day, but there’s an economy to the novella that suits the Hardboiled Detective genre elements I’m playing with in her stories. This means I’d either be writing a very short novel – the kind that publishers tend to shy away from – or I’d need to find another angle on the character that’d give me the scope to expand.

2. Over the last year or two you have regularly appeared in overseas genre magazines such as Strange Horizons and Fantasy, and several high profile anthologies. What advice would you give to Australian writers who want to break into the overseas markets?

Don’t overcomplicate it. I wrote stories, I submitted them to overseas markets, and I repeated the process with dogged persistence until editors started saying yes. It’s exactly the same thing you do when submitting to Australian markets, except the overseas markets have slightly larger slush piles and tend to be in a position to pay a little better.

Befriend some Americans. You’ll need them to send you stamps if you want to submit to several of the more recognised print markets, since they’ll require a SSAE with your submission and International Reply Paid Coupons are generally more trouble than they’re worth.

Duotrope and Ralan are useful, but they’ll take time away from your writing if you let them. Actually, hell, lets be honest: Duotrope will eat your soul if you’re the type to start agonising over response times. Don’t let it. Distract yourself by writing a new story instead of wondering what it means that an editor has held your story for 70 days when the market average if 68. It’ll work out better for everyone involved.

3. What’s next for Peter M. Ball? What have you been working on, writingwise, and what are your goals for the next couple of years?

I’ve got stories coming up in Weird Tales, Electric Velocipede and a few other magazines, plus some projects with Twelfth Planet press that includes the novellas mentioned above. I’m also working on a novel, Black Candy, that I’m hoping to get finished in the first half of 2010.

Beyond that, the plan is basically write, write some more, and keep writing until someone takes the keyboard away and tells me I have to stop.

4. Which Australian writers or work would you like to see on the Hugo shortlists this year?

A bunch of friends have been recommending Australian writers for the Campbell award and I’m surprised by the fact that Angela Slatter wasn’t on their lists. I suspect folks are assuming she’s not eligible for various reasons, but she is (I checked) and she really deserves to be there – the fact she’ll have two separate short-story collections available by the end of 2010 is testament to the quality of her writing. Seeing friends like Chris Green, Jason Fischer, and Lisa Hannett on the Campbell list would bring me similar glee, and Lisa’s story In the Lot and In the Air was one of the stories from 2009 that really seemed like it should get more attention than it did. Rob Hood gets my vote for Best Fan Writer thanks to the Undead Backbrain, and I’d like to see any number of the Australian editors on the list – possibly too many, at this point – so I’ll go with the obvious in Jonathan Strahan and Alisa Krasnostein. I could go on, possibly indefinitely, so I’m going to stop myself there and acknowledge that seeing any Australian on the Hugo listings will bring me joy. Even as I type this I’m getting little pangs of regret about some the names that aren’t on my list (Paul Haines! Sean Williams! Karen Miller!), so it isn’t like we have a shortage of talented folks who deserve it.

5. Are you planning to go to Aussiecon 4 in September? If so, what are you most looking forward to?

Yep, I’ll be there. I’m primarily looking forward to the various launches that have been announced, finding a comfortable spot to chat with old friends who wouldn’t have gathered if the worldcon wasn’t happening, and generally indulging my inner geek for a few days. The usual con stuff, I guess, but since it’s my first worldcon I’m not entirely sure what else to expect.

—————————————–
Previously in Snapshot: Marianne De Pierres, Richard Harland, Karen Miller, Margo Lanagan, Ben Peek, Narelle Harris, Paul Collins, Damien Broderick, Shane Jiraiya Cummings, Angela Slatter, Dion Hamill, Garth Nix, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Trudi Canavan, Thoraiya Dyer, Keith Stevenson, Juliet Marillier, Gillian Polack, Jason Fischer, Alisa Krasnostein, Tehani Wessely, Amanda Rainey, Justine Larbalestier, Rowena Cory Daniells, Glenda Larke, Adrian (K.A.) Bedford, Kaaron Warren, Nicole Murphy, D.M. Cornish, Deborah Kalin, Jonathan Strahan, Alan Baxter, Gary Kemble, Lezli Robyn, Kate Eltham, Robert Hoge, Will Elliott, Trent Jamieson, Felicity Dowker, Jack Dann, Lee Battersby

Snapshot interviews will be blogged from Monday 15th until Sunday 22nd Feb.

To read them hot off the press, check these blogs daily:
http://random-alex.livejournal.com/
http://girliejones.livejournal.com/
http://kathrynlinge.livejournal.com/
http://www.mechanicalcat.net/rachel
http://tansyrr.com/
http://editormum.livejournal.com/

Will we beat 83 this time? If you know of someone involved in the Scene with something to plug, then send us an email at 2010snapshot@gmail.com.

Trent Jamieson lives in Brisbane with his wife, Diana. His first novel Death Most Definite is due out from Orbit in August 2010.

1. Death Most Definite is due out soon! How would you describe the novel to someone who has never heard of it?

It’s a love story about Death set in Brisbane. There is mystery and murder and explosions, and it’s a retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice tale, but with talking knives and zombies. It’s the most fun I’ve ever had writing anything and I hope people enjoy it. Oh, and because I’m terrible at blurbs and synopses here is what Orbit had to say about it:

Steven de Selby has a hangover. Bright lights, loud noise, and lots of exercise are the last thing he wants. But that’s exactly what he gets when someone starts shooting at him.

Mr. D’s gone missing and with no one in charge, the dead start to rise, the living are hunted, and the whole city teeters on the brink of a regional apocalypse-unless Steven can shake his hangover, not fall for the dead girl, and find out what happened to his boss- that is, Death himself.

2. The books are being released in the US and UK as well as Australia – obviously this is insanely exciting, but what have the other effects been? Is there a different editing process for o/s books?

Well, I don’t actually have any point of reference so I don’t know if I can say.

These are my first books, and they’ve been edited in Australia, and they’ve really not asked me to change anything much in relation to an international audience. I’ve got a reference to Chiko Rolls in there, though I do explain what they are, and I even ate one recently – just to help create that sense or verisimilitude required in any book.

These books are very Australian, in setting, and the characters’ experience, but I think they’re accessible. Hearts beat, and things explode pretty much the same in any hemisphere.

3. You’re contracted for three books – where are you in the writing/editing/publishing stage with each of them? Would you like to continue the series beyond three books, or are you already planning your next project?

Book One is done. Book Two is just about through the Structural Edits – in fact I should be doing that now. Book Three is a bunch of scribbled notes and scenes, but I should have a draft by the end of April early May.

If these three books do well I already have some plans for new ones, though there is a arc for the first three, there’s plenty of room to move. Hasn’t stopped me working on new things, or a few old ones too. I’m hoping to get some short stories written this year too.

4. Which Australian writers or work would you like to see on the Hugo shortlists this year?

Marianne de Pierres for Mirror Space

Karron Warren for Slights

Paul Haines for “Wives”

Peter M Ball for Horn

And a certain Tansy Rayner Roberts for “Siren Beat”. Oh, and pretty much anything else written by the above last year.

I also think Alisa Krasnostein deserves a nod for all the work she has done with Twelfth Planet Press. So much exciting fiction has come from there in the last couple of years.

Oh, and Keith Stevenson for X6, but I’m biased there. Hell, I’m biased with most of these.

And Jonathan Strahan, who may get overlooked just because he’s been doing such wonderful stuff for so long. The same could be said for Margo Lanagan, and Sean Williams. I’d be happy to see any of these lot in the shortlists, and I’m sure some will be.

5. Are you planning to go to Aussiecon 4 in September? If so, what are you most looking forward to?

I’m looking forward to catching up with old friends. Seeing who wins a Hugo, and enjoying having a book out! I never get to enough cons, hoping this one will start reversing that trend. There are so many wonderful friends I have made in this scene that I hardly ever get the chance to see. Whatever the excuses, Aussiecon 4 is going to be a hell of a lot of fun.

—————————————–
Previously in Snapshot: Marianne De Pierres, Richard Harland, Karen Miller, Margo Lanagan, Ben Peek, Narelle Harris, Paul Collins, Damien Broderick, Shane Jiraiya Cummings, Angela Slatter, Dion Hamill, Garth Nix, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Trudi Canavan, Thoraiya Dyer, Keith Stevenson, Juliet Marillier, Gillian Polack, Jason Fischer, Alisa Krasnostein, Tehani Wessely, Amanda Rainey, Justine Larbalestier, Rowena Cory Daniells, Glenda Larke, Adrian (K.A.) Bedford, Kaaron Warren, Nicole Murphy, D.M. Cornish, Deborah Kalin, Jonathan Strahan, Alan Baxter, Gary Kemble, Lezli Robyn, Kate Eltham, Robert Hoge, Will Elliott

Snapshot interviews will be blogged from Monday 15th until Sunday 22nd Feb.

To read them hot off the press, check these blogs daily:
http://random-alex.livejournal.com/
http://girliejones.livejournal.com/
http://kathrynlinge.livejournal.com/
http://www.mechanicalcat.net/rachel
http://tansyrr.com/
http://editormum.livejournal.com/

Will we beat 83 this time? If you know of someone involved in the Scene with something to plug, then send us an email at 2010snapshot@gmail.com.

Lezli Robyn is an Australian writer who wrote and sold her first couple of stories to Clarkesworld and Jim Baen’s Universe in the closing months of 2008. In the year since then she has made 15 further story sales, selling to markets such as Asimov’s, Analog, Tor’s 50th Anniversary Twilight Zone Anthology, Hadley Rille Books’ Origins anthology (celebrating the 150th Anniversary of Darwin’s “Origins of the Species”), and other science fiction markets as distant as China, Russia, Poland, Italy, Greece, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria – alone or in collaboration with Mike Resnick.

1. You’ve recently burst on to the stage of professional science fiction short stories with a series of collaborative work with veteran writer Mike Resnick. How did this writing partnership come about, and what process do you use?

How did my writing partnership with Mike Resnick come about?

I bought my collaborator off ebay.

Yes. Truly.

I had wanted to buy my first signed Anne McCaffrey book for years (after spending my childhood growing up with her stories) and discovered a limited edition of The Coelura on ebay one day. I only paid for the one book, but it turned out to be the best $50 I have ever spent.

You see, when I sent a “Thank You” email after the safe arrival of my book, the seller told me about the first time he met Anne McCaffrey in 1969 – and I discovered I was talking to Mike Resnick. I informed him that I had never read his books before. Mike replied “Well, we can’t have that!” and promptly sent me a selection of his Hugo winning and nominated stories.

I critiqued them.

He sent me more.

Then all of a sudden we were corresponding regularly, discussing the various elements that make stories work – or not work, if that was the case. After a few months of this he strongly suggested (when I didn’t respond to his not-so-subtle hints) that perhaps I should try writing a story; I might find that my ability to analyze other peoples’ stories could translate into me being able to successfully compose some of my own. We could even do a collaboration together, something he’d done with many a novice writer before.

And so after meeting at the 2008 Worldcon in Denver, we sat down and wrote our first collaboration “Idle Roomer”, which quickly sold to Clarkesworld. This was the first piece of fiction I had ever written, and since then we have written and sold six stories together (including “Soulmates” which was a finalist for the science fiction short story Aurealis Award).

As to our collaborating process, we write one continuous draft, passing the story back and forth between us until the story is finished. Before we write we talk about what we want to achieve by the end of the story, and the specific focus of each of the scenes, but for the most part the details of the scenes are determined by the person writing each specific one. As a result there is always an element of improvisation in our story creating, which is a refreshing challenge for me. When it’s my turn to write, I read the new scene that Mike has added (and he could have stopped mid-dialogue if he felt like it), work out from there what is best for the next scene, and then set about continuing the story in the same “voice”. Then I hand it back to my collaborator, usually without any explanation about what I’ve done, as the scene should speak for itself if I’ve written it correctly.

This system has worked very well for us so far. Neither of us have had to scrap any of our scenes, and we’ve been told that our writing is near impossible to tell apart; the desired result of any collaboration.

2. What is is about science fiction that appeals to you as a genre? Why do you think science fiction is still seen as a field more associated with male writers?

I think that the science fiction genre is still primarily seen as more associated with male writers because when most people hear “science fiction” they automatically think of robots and starships (and other like tropes), which – like computers and cars – are seen as boy’s gadgets. There also appears to be a lot of military science fiction on the market at the moment – a lot of which is written by male writers.

The reason the science fiction genre appeals to me as a writer however, is because it enables me to tell a more poignant story concerning matters of the heart or human conscience by using science fiction devices to help frame it. Take the novelette “Soulmates” (my collaboration with Mike Resnick) as an example: While our lead character – a human – is teaching the robot what it is to truly be considered alive, the robot’s responses and observations lead the human to realise he’s barely existing himself, and their unique relationship helps him rediscover life. So ironically, using a mechanical robot as a main character helped us tell an emotive human story.

3. What’s next for Lezli Robyn? What have you been working on, and what are we likely to see from you over the next year or two?

At the moment I’m in the early stages of creating a unique novel that will cover several genres (mainstream, paranormal and possibly even steampunk), which will be represented by agent Eleanor Woods, and I’m currently writing a bittersweet sf short story for a yet-to-be-revealed American market. I also have two solo story assignments to complete this year for a couple of anthologies, and Mike Resnick and I also have numerous collaboration commitments; a YA fantasy trilogy to outline and start, as well as a novelette to write for Asimov’s, a short story to complete for Irish magazine Albedo One, and at least three other stories commissioned for anthologies.

Mike and I also have a couple of new stories appearing in print this year (with more to be added to the list soon). “Report From The Field” will appear in the Is Anybody Out There? anthology by DAW BOOKS in June, and “The Close Shave” will appear in Kevin J. Anderson’s Blood Lite 2 anthology, making its debut on Halloween.

4. Which Australian writers or work would you like to see on the Hugo shortlists this year?

2009 marked my first full year of writing fiction while working often working in two stores, so I have to confess I didn’t do much reading, unless it was research. Certainly not enough to be able to give an accurate perception of what truly deserves to be nominated for the Hugo Award – Australian born or not.

Some Aussie names I have heard amazing things about, however, are Angela Slatter, Peter M. Ball, Paul Haines and Jonathan Strahan. (And I was impressed by Peter M. Ball’s Aurealis Award winning story ‘”Clockwork, Patchwork and Ravens”.)

5. Are you planning to go to Aussiecon 4 in September? If so, what are you most looking forward to?

I am definitely going to Aussiecon 4, and I have already bought my membership so I can nominate for the Hugo Awards. I’m most looking forward to being able to meet more Australians within the writing industry – an experience I didn’t have at my previous two Worldcons overseas. I will also love celebrating my birthday with my new sf family (it’s on September the 4th), and if I can score a shortlisting for the Campbell Award, it will be the icing on my birthday cake!

—————————————–
Previously in Snapshot: Marianne De Pierres, Richard Harland, Karen Miller, Margo Lanagan, Ben Peek, Narelle Harris, Paul Collins, Damien Broderick, Shane Jiraiya Cummings, Angela Slatter, Dion Hamill, Garth Nix, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Trudi Canavan, Thoraiya Dyer, Keith Stevenson, Juliet Marillier, Gillian Polack, Jason Fischer, Alisa Krasnostein, Tehani Wessely, Amanda Rainey, Justine Larbalestier, Rowena Cory Daniells, Glenda Larke, Adrian (K.A.) Bedford, Kaaron Warren, Nicole Murphy, D.M. Cornish, Deborah Kalin, Jonathan Strahan, Alan Baxter, Gary Kemble

Snapshot interviews will be blogged from Monday 15th until Sunday 22nd Feb.

To read them hot off the press, check these blogs daily:
http://random-alex.livejournal.com/
http://girliejones.livejournal.com/
http://kathrynlinge.livejournal.com/
http://www.mechanicalcat.net/rachel
http://tansyrr.com/
http://editormum.livejournal.com/

Will we beat 83 this time? If you know of someone involved in the Scene with something to plug, then send us an email at 2010snapshot@gmail.com.

Glenda Larke is an Australian living in Malaysia, author of nine fantasy novels with the tenth coming out this year, published both in Australia, abroad and in translation. She had been shortlisted for the Aurealis Awards five times. When not writing, she works in rainforest conservation, particularly of avifauna.

1. What can you tell us about your new trilogy, the Watergivers?

It’s an epic about an arid world and two young people who find themselves the target of power hungry men because they have the ability to command water. It’s also the story of an armsman and a scholar who are caught up in some nasty politics and a war over rain, only to find themselves enslaved in a place where some very weird things start happening. There are palaces and whorehouses and desert camps and salt mines. There are characters from every walk of life.There are battles and defeats, savagery and nobility, warriors and lovers, painters of magic and stormbringers of rain. There are desert animals and insect weapons. It’s a big canvas, a detailed background – but I aimed to keep the story intimate. I hope the reader can feel the heat and the grit of dust and smell the rain on the wind. But I also hope they can weep and laugh with the characters.

Because it is an arid world, I had to work very hard not to make it sound like Dune; I hope I succeeded. It’s more Australia than Arrakis, but there are bits of Algeria and Iran and bits that are all mine. And in Book One, The Last Stormlord, it’s already a world beginning to fall apart… The reception it has been getting in Oz and overseas has been amazing and I am completely bowled over.You are looking at one very, very happy Oz author at the moment.

2. The Last Stormlord is being considered for the David Gemmell Legend Award for Fantasy. Is this something you would like to win? In what ways do you think The Last Stormlord reflects the type of fantasy that David Gemmell wrote?

Winning any award is icing on the cake. To have one that commemorates a much-loved author and his writing would be special indeed. I think what people should look for when they vote for the Gemmell Legend Award is a book that has a protagonist (or protagonists) who stands for certain nobility of ideals – courage, loyalty, redeeming oneself – in spite of heavy odds. Victories always carry a cost in a Gemmell book, and villains are complex. That seems to me to be the essence of Gemmell’s work and I think that’s where The Last Stormlord matches up. Other aspects of Gemmell’s work and mine? Perhaps not so much.

3. This is your third fantasy trilogy now for HarperCollins Voyager. What is it you like most about that format for storytelling? Do you think trilogies get a bad rap?

I fell into trilogies by accident – I was told to make the book I submitted into the first of a trilogy. That was the deal.

When people talk about my work, they often mention the worldbuilding. If I had to confine myself to a shorter single work, the world building would be the poorer. I have done it: my first published book was a standalone and the world was unique, but it was also limited, not as detailed. By contrast, when a reader finishes a trilogy, I hope they can close their eyes and see, smell, hear and taste the place, it’s that real. A trilogy also allows a larger story – more characters, looking at those characters over a longer period of time.

Having said that, a trilogy also has built in disadvantages: waiting for books 2 and 3, for example. Authors who don’t finish the darn things on time. (Calliope et al, please help me meet this Book 3 deadline…) Authors who have ten-book trilogies and a problem with maths. And they are dreadfully hard to write – the story arc in the Watergivers reaches through half a million words. Help.

4. Which Australian writers or work would you like to see on the Hugo shortlists this year?

Well, The Last Stormlord, of course. No wait a moment. That is actually a scary thought, especially when I look back at past Hugo nominees, I can’t imagine that any work of mine deserves to be up there with them. Although that losers’ party sounds wild…
To be serious for a moment: We have an advantage this year because the Worldcon is in our own backyard. I would love to see Australians nominate Australian works, just to draw attention to the slew of wonderful writers we have. So, they might not win and maybe they shouldn’t. That doesn’t matter. What’s important is that the best of them are at least read and therefore walk for a moment on a world stage. I have seen a lot said about our short fiction writers and their works recently, but very little about our novelists. So think about some of the great fantasy and SF novelists we have, read their works for last year, and nominate your favourite(s)!

5. Are you planning to go to Aussiecon in September? If so, what are you most looking forward to?

Would I miss it? Absolutely not! What am I most looking forward to? Mixing with other writers. Meeting readers. Meeting my editors. Meeting bloggers and reviewers. Conversations about books, writing, books, writing, publishing, books, writing. You get the picture. Meeting new people. Talking fantasy and SF and ebooks and trends and stories. Panels and kaffeeklatches and readings and the dealer’s room… See you there. Yes, YOU.

—————————————–
Previously in Snapshot: Marianne De Pierres, Richard Harland, Karen Miller, Margo Lanagan, Ben Peek, Narelle Harris, Paul Collins, Damien Broderick, Shane Jiraiya Cummings, Angela Slatter, Dion Hamill, Garth Nix, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Trudi Canavan, Thoraiya Dyer, Keith Stevenson, Juliet Marillier, Gillian Polack, Jason Fischer, Alisa Krasnostein, Tehani Wessely, Amanda Rainey

Snapshot interviews will be blogged from Monday 15th until Sunday 22nd Feb.

To read them hot off the press, check these blogs daily:
http://random-alex.livejournal.com/
http://girliejones.livejournal.com/
http://kathrynlinge.livejournal.com/
http://www.mechanicalcat.net/rachel
http://tansyrr.com/
http://editormum.livejournal.com/

Will we beat 83 this time? If you know of someone involved in the Scene with something to plug, then send us an email at 2010snapshot@gmail.com.

Rowena Cory Daniells writes for both children and adults. Her new Fantasy series ‘King Rolen’s Kin’ will be published by SOLARIS in 2010.

http://ripping-ozzie-reads.blogspot.com/

1. King Rolen’s Kin will be released From Solaris in July, August and September this year. What can you tell us about these books?

This is the kind of series that you read on a Saturday afternoon after you’ve worked hard all week and you just want to be swept away to another world!

2. Since the last Snapshot, you have completed an MA in creative writing. What did you get out of the experience? Are you glad that you did it?

Turns out it was a Masters in Arts Research. I met a great bunch of fellow writers, wrote a book and discovered that I hate academic writing. Two out of three isn’t bad.

3. What’s next for Rowena Cory Daniells? What are you working on now, and what are your career goals for the next five years?

I have the first books of 4 new series with my agent. I’m a ‘serial lover’ — I fall in love with each book series as I write it, love it, love the world and the characters passionately then I send them off to my agent and, rather than pine for them, I start another series, which I fall in love with. Ideally, I’d like to know that those series have a publisher to call home and a readership looking forward to reading them, as much as I look forward to writing them!

4. Which Australian writers or work would you like to see on the Hugo shortlists this year?

I’m a big fan of Glenda Larke’s work. I don’t think she gets the recognition she deserves. I’d call her the Thinking Fantasy reader’s writer, just as I’d call Marianne de Pierres the thinking SF reader’s writer.

5. Are you planning to go to Aussiecon 4 in September? If so, what are you most looking forward to?

I wouldn’t miss AussieCon 4. I plan to catch up with old friends and make lots of new friends.

—————————————–
Previously in Snapshot: Marianne De Pierres, Richard Harland, Karen Miller, Margo Lanagan, Ben Peek, Narelle Harris, Paul Collins, Damien Broderick, Shane Jiraiya Cummings, Angela Slatter, Dion Hamill, Garth Nix

Snapshot interviews will be blogged from Monday 15th until Sunday 22nd Feb.

To read them hot off the press, check these blogs daily:
http://random-alex.livejournal.com/
http://girliejones.livejournal.com/
http://kathrynlinge.livejournal.com/
http://www.mechanicalcat.net/rachel
http://tansyrr.com/
http://editormum.livejournal.com/

Will we beat 83 this time? If you know of someone involved in the Scene with something to plug, then send us an email at 2010snapshot@gmail.com.

Justine Larbalestier is a writer.

1. What most pleased and most disappointed you about last year’s release of Liar, and the public response to it?

The response to Liar has been very intense. It is the most loved (and hated) of my books to date. Some of the letters teens have been writing me about Liar have made me cry. Especially the ones from readers who identify so strongly with Micah and her isolation. It’s been a very moving experience and I’m thrilled the book has been so important for those readers.

2. You’re co-editing the high profile anthology Zombies vs. Unicorns which will be released later this year. What was it about this book that excited you most, and why are you so committed to Team Zombie?

Ah, yes, the book that began as a joke. Zombies versus Unicorns started with me saying mean things about unicorns to tease my friend Diana Peterfreund who had a wonderful book, Rampant, coming out about killer unicorns. Then Holly leapt to the defence of unicorns in the comment thread of my blog: http://justinelarbalestier.com/blog/2007/02/15/blurbs, asking me what I had against unicorns. Holly is a passionate unicorn lover. I countered by demanding to know what she has against zombies. (Because I knew she hated them.) And it grew from there. Before long lots of bloggers were joining the debate (and there were a million suggestions of zombie-unicorns. Yawn.) So I suggested the idea of an antho to Holly and we went from there. The truth was that when all this began I didn’t have a particularly strong opinion about either. I definitely preferred zombie movies to unicorn ones and was a Romero fan but that was about it. Of course, now that I am head of Team Zombie I am completely devoted to zombies and against the dread scourge of unicorns.

And look you can vote for which you prefer: http://promo.simonandschuster.com/zombiesvsunicorns/

3. What’s next for Justine Larbalestier? What writing project is top priority right now?

I am writing an epic fantasy set in the 1930s in New York City. There is lindy hopping in it. I am also working on a Top Sekrit project.

4. Which Australian writers or work would you like to see on the Hugo shortlists this year?

You know if I answer this question I’m just going to get in trouble cause I’ll forget the work of someone wonderful who’s a good friend and they’ll kill me.

5. Are you planning to go to Aussiecon 4 in September? If so, what are you most looking forward to?

I’m hoping to be able to get there but right now the odds are not with me.

—————————————–
Also interviewed today: Marianne De Pierres, Richard Harland, Karen Miller, Margo Lanagan, Ben Peek, Narelle Harris, Paul Collins, Damien Broderick, Shane Jiraiya Cummings, Angela Slatter, Dion Hamill

Snapshot interviews will be blogged from Monday 15th until Sunday 22nd Feb.

To read them hot off the press, check these blogs daily:
http://random-alex.livejournal.com/
http://girliejones.livejournal.com/
http://kathrynlinge.livejournal.com/
http://www.mechanicalcat.net/rachel
http://tansyrr.com/
http://editormum.livejournal.com/

Will we beat 83 this time? If you know of someone involved in the Scene with something to plug, then send us an email at 2010snapshot@gmail.com.

Margo Lanagan has won three World Fantasy Awards, four Aurealis Awards and four Ditmars, and been shortlisted for many other awards, including a Hugo, a Nebula, the James Tiptree Jr (twice), a Bram Stoker, a Theodore Sturgeon, a BSFA and an International Horror Guild Award. She is the author of the novel Tender Morsels, and three speculative fiction short story collections, White Time, Black Juice and Red Spikes.

1. The new Australian edition of Tender Morsels has an awesome Shaun Tan cover – are you excited about the novel being repackaged? Was there a reason (other than woot, Shaun Tan) for the cover change?

Well, it’s being repackaged not once, but three times, so I’m excited three times over, which is not a pretty sight, let me tell you. A Vintage (UK) paperback is coming out, the cover based on the adult UK cover (but different colours and with the words ‘A WORK OF GENIUS’ emblazoned across it), and Knopf put out a gorgeous paperback on 9 February, and now on 1 March the Shaun Tan cover from Allen & Unwin will hit Australian shops.

The reason for the Australian cover change is that this is a Young Adult edition, whereas the first edition was aimed at adults. So, new cover and the words YOUNG ADULT printed on the back. Contents exactly the same, except printed slightly smaller (because YAs have such wonderfully sharp eyes).

2. What have been the best and worst things about the reception and reader responses to Tender Morsels?

The worst thing was how willing people were to jump in and deliver an opinion based on what they were told, either by squeamish friends or by lazy journalists, about the book, without just going to it, reading (more than the first 20 pages of) it and forming their own opinion. People’s willingness to fling unsubstantiated judgments around was pretty disappointing, if also kind of hilarious.

The best thing was that the people who liked the book REALLY liked it, and passed it around, and pressed copies on their friends. Reading reviews by people who understand what you were on about is a great relief after a slew of articles accusing you of having perverse tastes and corrupting minors. You only need a couple of the former to be able to give the latter the finger and move on.

3. You’re currently working on a selkie novel, based on your novella “Sea-hearts” from the X6 anthology – what can you tell us about it? When will we be able to read it?

Oh, I could go on and on, at this stage; I’m more than two-thirds of the way through the first draft, and full to the brim with this story. Or at least, to the tear-ducts; this is one saaaad tale. The novel is called THE BRIDES OF ROLLROCK ISLAND. The X6 novella makes up the last third; for those who’ve read that, the first third is from the POV of Messkeletha, the witch in that story, and the middle third is from Daniel’s father’s POV.

The story is based on various selkie stories from Scotland and Scandinavia – nothing obscure, nothing you can’t find with a bit of light Googling. (Selkies being seals that transform into humans on land, for those wondering what this is all about.) It’s about an entire island that succumbs to the mysterious magical beauty of the selkie women, and traps them on land, for romantic and reproductive purposes, by hiding their seal-skins from them so that they can’t return to the sea. If you like having your heart pulled out through your chest wall, this is the story for you.

Deals are being hammered out as we speak, but I would expect BRIDES to be released in 2011, early or late depending on which country you’re in, and either preceded or closely followed by a collection of reprinted short stories, called YELLOWCAKE. Probably both books will be marketed as YA; but, you know, that doesn’t mean a whole lot these days. Everyone over 15 should like it, and perhaps some under. There are a couple of racy sex scenes associated with this novel, but they are being issued separately as short stories; I’m doing a podcast of one of them with Keith Stevenson at the end of March.

4. Which Australian writers or work would you like to see on the Hugo shortlists this year?

Kaaron Warren for anything she’s written, Deb Biancotti for A Book of Endings, Paul Haines for ‘Wives’, Jonathan Strahan for anything he’s edited. I reckon you and I should get a look-in, too, Tansy. Yes, a Hugo shortlist stacked with mates would please me greatly!

5. Are you planning to go to Aussiecon 4 in September? If so, what are you most looking forward to?

It’s all a bit up in the air – I’ve got a son doing his HSC this year, and I’m not sure whether he’ll need a mum around at that time of year or won’t care one way or another. If the latter, I’ll be there!

Having never been to a Worldcon, I’m not entirely sure what I should be looking forward to, but I imagine the Hugos (after-) party would be a goodie, and seeing which northern hemisphere friends take their lives in their hands and fly all the way around here for this will be interesting. And the panel Kyla’s got me pencilled in for in the horror stream (The Eternal Border: Are there taboos in dark fantasy? At what point does the fantasy stop and the psychosis begin?) sounds like one we’ll have a lot of fun with. My ears prick up and my nostrils quiver in the proximity of a good taboo.

—————————————–
Also interviewed today: Marianne De Pierres, Richard Harland, Karen Miller, Ben Peek, Narelle Harris, Paul Collins, Damien Broderick, Justine Larbalestier, Shane Jiraiya Cummings, Angela Slatter, Dion Hamill

Snapshot interviews will be blogged from Monday 15th until Sunday 22nd Feb.

To read them hot off the press, check these blogs daily:
http://random-alex.livejournal.com/
http://girliejones.livejournal.com/
http://kathrynlinge.livejournal.com/
http://www.mechanicalcat.net/rachel
http://tansyrr.com/
http://editormum.livejournal.com/

Will we beat 83 this time? If you know of someone involved in the Scene with something to plug, then send us an email at 2010snapshot@gmail.com.