The Shirley Jackson Awards were announced this week – congrats to all winners, but especially to Kaaron Warren who became the first Australian to win one of these for her novella “Sky” from her collection Through Splintered Walls from Twelfth Planet Press.
Speaking of TPP, my new crime novel A Trifle Dead is currently at a super cheap ebook price this week only to celebrate our yummy new book trailer. It’s also available for a sale price over at Wizard’s Tower Books.
Meanwhile, Alisa, Alex and I participated in the latest SF MindMeld: talking Road Trips with a bunch of other cool people.
There’s been a lot of chatter this week about JK Rowling and her new crime-writing pen name Robert Galbraith. This open letter to new and would-be writers puts the early selling numbers of Galbraith’s novel into some perspective.
I’m really excited that Annie Wu, the young comic artist responsible for some fun, retro Valentine’s Day guest work on the Matt Fraction & David Aja run on Hawkeye, is not only about to embark on some more regular work on that title (following Kate Bishop in her own storyline) but is also responsible for the art on a new mini-arc of the digital only comic Batman Beyond – BATGIRL BEYOND! I read the first issue and really enjoyed it – grab this comic. It not only has a futuristic, stompy new take on Batgirl but also features an elderly Commissioner Barbara Gordon. Promising stuff, and lovely to see such an interesting new artist getting to play with cool projects.
Another upcoming comics project I’m a bit excited about is the reclamation of Harley Quinn – Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti, who are famous in comics circles for their excellent run on Power Girl, combining cheeky and self-aware art with great humour and respect for one of my favourite superheroes. Harley, once a fun and cheeky character herself, was given one of the yuckier and more pornographic costume/image reboots of the New 52 so it’s really nice to see a light at the end of the tunnel.
No Award, a new Australian blog with the subtitle: “social justice, media, fandom, drop bears,” has kicked off with several pieces looking at Pacific Rim. I found Stephanie’s piece about the portrayal of Australians in the movie (and particularly the overwhelming whiteness of Australia going by the depiction of our culture in film and TV) especially interesting, but it’s all good stuff so far!
Rebecca Fitzgibbon looks at violence and masculinity in Australian film, and the “Dark Side of Heroic Mateship.”
Renay has written a fantastic piece on Strange Horizons about science fiction communities and gender, and what a culture shock the general SF & fantasy literary community is after the more female-friendly online fandom communities.
Nicola Griffith talks about her wonderful experience as a Guest of Honor at Westercon, and the concept of Radical Hospitality at the heart of that convention.
Kim Wilkins’ speech in the Plotters v. Pantsers debate was one of the highlights of Genrecon last year – I’m delighted to see that she has put it up on her blog for all to see!
A Lost Egyptian City has been discovered beneath the sea. Underwater hieroglyphs, people!
Batman is a hoarder.