Happy International Women’s Day!

So, one of those things you might not know about me, internet, is that back in the day when I spent part of my first ever professional book sale cheque on a Playstation 1 (that’s how long I’ve been in the writing biz!) the games I played most obsessively were: Spyro the Dragon, anything with ‘Discworld’ in the title, and Tomb Raider. We are so overdue for a new Discworld game it’s not funny, and the adorableness of Spyro has been utterly destroyed by the cynical and macho ‘Skylanders’ reboot. But Lara Croft as Tomb Raider is about to make her comeback…

And this time, she’s written by a woman. Rhianna Pratchett, heir to the Discworld IP and one of the most prominent female writers in the game industry, has been doing a bunch of media about her role as head writer on this new Tomb Raider prequel. It’s rare to hear a writer included so openly in the PR about a new game, especially when that writer is a woman, and Rhianna has some really interesting things to say about the creative choices made for this game, especially in a piece she wrote herself for the Telegraph (though she was quick to point out on Facebook that the awful title of the piece was NOT chosen by her). Don’t read the comments of this one, they will ruin your day.

Meanwhile, Gail Simone has been signed up to write for Red Sonja which immediately makes me interested in the character in a way I never have been before. A female warrior mostly portrayed as a male fantasy, now in the hands of a smart writer who does smart characterisation? BRING IT. Oh, and as an added bonus, while the regular artist is male, the covers will be handled by all female artists including HELL YEAH FIONA STAPLES, our own Aussie Nicola Scott, Jenny Frisson, Stephania Buscema and Colleen Doran.

Back to the book industry! The big dramatic discussion of the week was the terrible boilerplate contract offered by Random House Hydra, one of several new digital imprints of the Big Publisher. Scalzi and the SFWA Writer Beware blog had much to say about this contract, and its most problematic aspects – if a publisher is not paying advances AND charging the author for set up costs, then exactly what investment are they bringing to the table? A recent update on Writer Beware includes the response of Random House.

(more…)

Thanks to the wonderful editing skills of Erika (@hollygodarkly) we have put up a Verity!Extra! podcast this week – featuring a discussion on Doctor Who Companions and their Clothes.

We’ve all had those conversations, right? About the crazy Jo Grant Couture, Amy Pond’s tiny skirts, the adorable go-go boots worn by Polly and Liz Shaw, the alarmingly short shorts sported by Turlough in Planet of Fire, and OH what horrendous crimes against the human body did they force Nicola Bryant into for almost all of her run as Peri? Not to mention Ian’s obsession with Barbara’s combat cardigans, Tegan’s endless flight attendant uniform, Nyssa’s crushed velvet, the modern vs. classic companion attitude to high heels, and whether or not you could actually hunt a Sontaran while wearing Leela’s leathers.

(more…)

The new episode of Verity! is available for download: Episode 2 This One Goes To Eleven. Deb, Erika, Kat and I talk about the Eleventh Doctor’s era as represented by ONE (count them, three) episode. We also talk a bit about Delia Derbyshire who now has a Day of her own.

Check out the supporting linkfest post, Things We Like – Bow Ties Are Cool Edition in which several of us have listed a bunch of things on the internet about Eleventy that we, well, LIKE.

And if you haven’t joined the 1200+ people who have listened to our Episode One – The Snowmen, there is still time! Podcasts don’t run away, they wait for you. Sometimes down back alleys with snow and teeth and bustles, but they still wait for you.

Over at the MindMeld, I answer the question of ‘what books do people expect you to like but don’t?’ If nothing else, head over to hear my spirited rant about the sinister work of Beatrix Potter.

The Twelfth Planet Press website has been updated for the new shiny year! Head over, admire its shinyness, and while you’re there you might want to consider pre-ordering the upcoming 2013 titles from Livia Day, Andrew Macrae, and the next in the Twelve Planets series: Asymmetry by Thoraiya Dyer.

All this, and the first “real” episode of Verity! was published today! We review The Snowmen, talk about Clara’s frocks, the new credits sequence, Vastra and Jenny’s marriage, the return of Strax, kissing in Doctor Who, plus Liz gets to bounce about the Great Intelligence. We start as we mean to go on!

Check out Deborah Stanish’s post on how she got the band together. You can subscribe to us at iTunes (Doctor Who: Verity Podcast), like us at VerityPodcast on Facebook, follow us on Twitter as @VerityPodcast or even all three!

EDIT: I forgot the other thing I meant to add to this post! My award-winning short story “The Patrician” has been reprinted in Apex Magazine, which is a lovely way to ring in the new year!

It’s hard to imagine that there’s anything on the internet except the Aussie Spec Fic Snapshot right now – I’m so proud of the team for being prepared for once (more than a month’s solid work has gone into this year’s effort) and for providing space for so many different voices (all screaming out at once… no wait, that was a different movie). Hooray to Tehani & Kathryn for the organising, and all of our new interviewers. A special big HOORAY for the kind and thoughtful Ben Payne who twigged early on what element was missing from the Snapshot, and provided several-times-daily summaries of the 2012 Snapshot AS – IT – HAPPENED.

My own snapshot appears here on Random Alex’s blog. And incidentally a blast from the past turned up in my RSS feed, which threw up this old post of Alex’s talking about OMG OUR FIRST PODCAST. I haven’t dared follow the link to find the artefact itself. Dare you?

(more…)

Ian Mond is notable for being one of the last of the great Jewish podcasters (cf Josh Kinal, Alisa Krasnostein). His solo podcasts Writer and the Critic and Shooting The Poo not only demonstrate a breadth of knowledge on a vast array of subjects, but also an astonishing vocal flexibility – who knew that Kirstyn McDermott, Mitch and Dave Hoskin were just facets of Mond’s personality.

He also wrote a couple of Doctor Who and Bernice Summerfield short stories, but no-one talks about them much.

1. The Writer and the Critic has become an integral part of the Aussie spec fic scene very fast – and you don’t even talk about spec fic books all the time! What does podcasting offer you, as a social medium or a creative one?

Thanks, it’s nice to feel integral.

As a social medium podcasting provides me with an excuse to catch up with Kirstyn every month. Which I know sounds like I don’t make enough time for my friends – but, well, that’s actually the truth.

I’ve also enjoyed the twitter exchanges directly following a podcast, usually involving Cheryl Morgan, Charles Tan and Jonathan Strahan (in the case of Jonathan it’s usually bemoaning how long the podcast is). The chat on the twitters makes the podcast feel alive and organic and part of a real time dialogue between us and the people who listen.

(more…)

In which we celebrate the World Fantasy Awards, take on the Kickstarter phenomenon and why people like to support authors/artists directly, Alex is betrayed by Isobelle Carmody, Alisa still can’t finish Tansy’s novel, and we indulge in a feedback frenzy.

Hurry over to Podbean or iTunes now to get the new episode! Or just sit back, relax and read the show notes.

News

World Fantasy Awards!

Realms of Fantasy sinks for the third time

Graham Joyce calls BFS Extraordinary General meeting December 9th –

Authors kickstarting their own projects:
Matt Forbeck – 12 novels in 12 months.
Laura Anne Gilman’s novella
CE Murphy’s novella
(mentions also of self publishing projects of Tracy & Laura Hickman, and Liz Williams)
Catherynne Valente’s Omikuji project looking for subscribers in order to keep the project going.
And Tobias Buckell talks about how just because you’re self publishing doesn’t mean you have to be a …

What Culture Have we Consumed?

Alisa: Power and Majesty by Tansy Rayner Roberts, The Courier’s New Bicycle by Kim Westwood

Alex: the Stone Key and The Sending, Isobelle Carmody; I Shall Wear Midnight, Terry Pratchett; end of Life on Mars S2; This is Not a Game, Walter Jon Williams; Distress, Greg Egan

Tansy: Ally Condie, Matched; Lisa Goldstein, The Uncertain Places; Gail Simone, Secret Six: Six Degrees of Devastation; Geek Tragedy, Nev Fountain

Feedback: well overdue!

Please send feedback to us at galacticsuburbia@gmail.com, follow us on Twitter at @galacticsuburbs, check out Galactic Suburbia Podcast on Facebook and don’t forget to leave a review on iTunes if you love us!

Some delicious links for your consumption. It’s all about me!

Strange Horizons are offering my complete Creature Court trilogy as a special prize – you must donate to their fundraising drive today (or have done so before today) to be in the special draw. And don’t get too excited about the third book, which is still a few months away – the winner gets the first two now and a second parcel when the third book is printed.

Strange Horizons is a great publication that publishes some wonderful writing every week, and if it wasn’t for winning one of their many many prizes the first year I donated, I might never have discovered the wonderful prose of Sarah Monette. So donating to them is something I associate with that happy blurred feeling of discovering a brilliant new writer. I recommend it!

Also I was delighted to be invited as a guest to Tehani’s second episode of her Book Nut Podcast – of discussions about children’s and YA fiction, and the teachability and librarianisation of said books. I was a little skeptical when she told me the planned length of the episode, and I think we both considered it a win that we managed to keep it under 50 minutes.

Tehani has done exhaustive show notes but we cover my love of classic children’s books (E Nesbit, Edward Eager, Diana Wynne Jones), the inevitable (?) hypocrisy of parenthood when it comes to censoring books, Lewis Carroll and Enid Blyton, plus comics for kids, graphic novels for libraries (I am being invited back to discuss this at more length) with particular reference to Runaways and the Ultimate Spiderman, and a bunch of current YA favourites such as Karen Healey’s the Shattering and Sarah Rees Brennan, and Holly Black, and… and… and…

Can you believe Tehani and I will be living in the same state soon? We will podcast ALL THE TIME. Or, you know, just chat to ourselves and not let anyone else listen. So listen to us while you have the chance!

And, while you’re at it, don’t forget the new episode of Galactic Suburbia, covering such topics as the feminism of Fringe, crimes against superheroines in the DC Universe, the companions of Doctor Who, and why e-books can break an indie publisher’s brain.

For regular listeners/subscribers to Galactic Suburbia who listen through iTunes, this will make exactly no change at all (thank goodness!) but we’ve recently moved over to Podbean which allows us delicious crunchy stats, and also should make it easier for listeners who prefer to download directly. So check out our new Galactic Suburbia site! Kudos to our producer for spending a ridiculously long amount of time uploading every single episode to the new place and making it comfy for us. Still a few details to be ironed out, but it’s lovely to be there.

Meanwhile, I’ve been beetling around my blog, creating a Guide to the various series of posts I have published or have recently been publishing, because sometimes the tags system doesn’t quite cut it. I may have missed some out, but it’s a good start!

Also, though I feel a little embarrassed doing this again so soon, another feminist icon has been saying awesome things about my book Love & Romanpunk on the internet, and I would be remiss if I did not point you towards the stirring words of L. Timmel Duchamp of the fabulous Aqueduct Press. [and speaking of Aqueduct Press, does this not sound like the most intriguing and fun set of submission guidelines?]

Finally, in case you missed it, I guest posted on my Indie Press journey over at Tehani’s Fablecroft blog.

Episode 29 is up and it’s a doozy! Grab it from iTunes, by direct download or stream it on the site.

Then, if you can, come join us at Swancon on Easter Sunday for the live recording of EPISODE FREAKING THIRTY!

====

EPISODE 29

In which we rant about feminist issues and gender disparity (are you shocked?), Alisa proclaims the death of bookstores and publishing, we look at branding and internet dramah, plus a million zillion award shortlists, TANSY BEING A TIPTREE JUDGE, a Swancon preview, and… um. It’s a bit long. But full of crunchy Galactic Suburbian goodness.

News

Diana Wynne Jones passed away, many people said good things about her on the internet

Shaun Tan wins the Astrid Lindgren Award
Guardian coverage; Shaun’s personal take on the award

Carol Emshwiller’s 90th birthday celebrations

25 A&R franchises in Australia go indie
(apologies original link vanished)

Strange Horizons – dealing with the low numbers of female reviewers
Original post, counting up numbers of female reviewers and women’s books reviewed in SF markets

The Age on the poor numbers of women’s work being reviewed (in the literary “mainstream”)
and coverage of a panel on the gender disparity, again in literary mainstream

Prometheus Awards nominees, from the Libertarian Futurist Society:

Running Press, Tricia Telep and Jessica Verday

http://charles-tan.blogspot.com/2011/04/essay-clarifying-issue-of-wicked-pretty.html

http://blog.outeralliance.org/archives/791

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/print/20110404/46703-the-misinformation-age-what-happens-when-a-headline-goes-viral.html

TANSY BECOMES A TIPTREE JUDGE!!

Aurealis Awards: www.aurealisawards.com/finalists2010.pdf
Ditmars: http://2011.swancon.com.au/2011/03/natcon-fifty-ditmar-awards/
Tin Ducks: http://2011.swancon.com.au/tin-duck-awards/
Chronos Awards: http://arcadiagt5.livejournal.com/362522.html

Livejournal not so live this week – AK has existential crisis about blogging & identity.

Feedback
Aishwarya, Kaia, Adam

Competition winners!

Swancon Preview
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Our live panel is 9:30 am on the Easter Sunday, bring coffee!

Please send feedback to us at galacticsuburbia@gmail.com, follow us on Twitter at @galacticsuburbs, check out Galactic Suburbia Podcast on Facebook and don’t forget to leave a review on iTunes if you love us!