Ben Peek

Watchmen

2008-07-18T01:25:54Z

That's the official trailer for Watchmen. It has a Smashing Pumpkins song.

Personally, there's not much to say about it: it's a mash up of images that has the same feel as 300 did, and that film was pretty goddamn awful, not to mention racist. I notice that Asian people are being blown apart and killed. Sure, it's in the original text, but I'm just planting seeds, planting seeds. What it does bring to mind, however, is just how poorly previous Alan Moore written projects have been turned into films. V for Vendetta missed the point, From Hell was a shadow of its intelligence, and The League of Extradordinary Gentlemen was a shadow of a film.

Maybe I'm just cool if none of this stuff becomes a film.

A Softer World

2008-07-17T05:55:18Z

Link.

Rashomon

2008-07-16T11:42:12Z

Last night I sat round and watched Rashomon, Akira Kurosawa's ninety fifty film based off the short story, 'In a Bamboo Grove' by Ryunosuke Akutagawa, and staring Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura, both of who would star in a number of Kurosawa's films throughout the years.

The film concerns itself with the murder of a husband (Masayuki Mori) and the stories that are told, in court by the bandit (Mifune), the wife (Machiko Kyo), and the husband's spirit through a medium (a very creepy Fumiko Honma). Narrated from each point of view, the film unfolds in misdirects and misinformation, leaving you to pick your way through to the truth, where, at the end, the woodsman, Shimura, reveals that he saw the entire incident upon the road.

The film suffers from being a touch heavy handed, in that it wants, through the woodsman and priest, to make a statement about the quality of human beings, and its final scenes don't ring true with what the rest of the film has laid out: why would such a poor man, who is reduced to stealing a pearl inlaid dagger after witnessing the murder, suddenly take the child into his care? Perhaps it's selfless, perhaps it shows how affected he has been after witnessing the mismatched stories, but the final steps of the film, where Kurosawa wants to make a happy statement about the quality of human beings, simply doesn't ring true in my admittedly cynical opinion. Outside that moment, however, the rest of it is done well, and the film unfolds nicely, giving enough screen time to the bandit, wife, and dead husband to create the mystery and sustain it for each part to provide a surprising twist or addition, without relying on shock or stupidity.

The true attraction of watching Rashomon is the joy in how this is done. Truthfully, I probably I enjoy other Kurosawa films more: Seven Samurai is one of my favourite epics, and Yojimbo, and even it's sequel, Sanjuro, show a more amusing, charismatic Mifune. But none of them have the layering technique that Rashomon does. It's an interesting trick to watch--one that I can watch over and over again, in fact--to see a narrative laid out in false moves, but to yet keep the viewer there, and to create, through the characters, a sense of expectation that when the final story is revealed, it will resonate the strongest out of the three while still providing an element of surprise and satisfaction. There a films in which the technique doesn't work. Take the Usual Suspects, for example. The end of that film is telegraphed very early on--so early, in fact, that you'd have to be both blind and deaf not to figure out that disabled Kevin Spacey was in fact the great crime lord in disguise. The mistake in the narrative is by making Spacey's character important to the criminals at the centre of it. Since, given the characters limitations, and the very unnecessary way he contributes to the crime that unfolds, he can only occupy a twist space: an empty narrative space that the audience will, if given the time, question the importance of right until the final reveal is given, and that space is shown to occupy the villain or hero. Kurosawa's film, in comparison, neatly avoids this by giving each character an important space to occupy within the narrative from the beginning, which allows for the characters and the story to evolve out of their roles, rather than to have the role dropped onto them at the end.

Anyhow, enough of that. It's a cool film, and if you've never seen it, do yourself a favour and find it. Here's the original trailer, courtesy of youtube:

A Field Guide to Surreal Botany

2008-07-15T01:29:14Z

Contents & Contributors

* Susan Fedynak: (Floating) Armor of the Dark Blue Heart, Armorea Navum
* Alexandra O'Neal: Attercopp Plant, Chelicereae Telacaulum
* Andrew Nicolle: Avian Trumpetflower, Trochilium avifructus
* Jay Lake: Baby Cabbage, also regionally referred to as The Leaf, Squallroot or Mother's Little Helper, Cruciferae Brassica homogenesis
* Elizabeth Langford: Big Yellow Flower of Unnecessarily Obvious Information, Explanatum obviosis
* Steve Himmer: Bitter Mortar, Cucurbitaceae Marah
* Eric J. Millar: Bone Garden, otherwise known as Adam's Ribcage, Aloe skelaphalia
* John Bowker: Burning Bush Fungus, Encephalitozoon Elysium
* Ann Leckie: Clickweed, Everricula Pilolaqueus
* James Trimarco: Cloud Anemone, Bromeliaceae Tillandsia nebularia
* Jonathan Wonham: Couch Kelp, Siturfatarscea velvetorleva monthlypaymentis
* John Black: Devil's Pork, Tuberaceae Tuber
* Jon Hansen: Dream Melons, Melo somnio
* Steve Berman: Esemtep, Unclassified
* Lucy A. Snyder: Fairy Apple, Timewarp Lemon, Atlantis Mandrake, Podophyllum sidhe
* Francesca Forrest: Firefly Bellflower, Tintinnabulum photuris
* Matthew Baugh: Flame Lily, Nymphaeaceae-flammiferum
* Elaine Clift: Forget-Me-Bastard, Myosovictimis uncertae sedis
* Patricia L. Havis: Giant Cloud Lily, Liliaceae Lilium
* Mark Teppo: Haunt Vine (also known as Ghostroot and Spirit Creeper), Ipomoea Umbris
* Mary E. Lowd: Kitty Willow, Salix ambulara
* H.F. Gibbard: Kvetching aspen, Populus kvetchis
* Brendan Carson: Lautokan Ear-blossom Plant (Tautau e vata), Auriculula cosmetales
* Adam Nakama: Leonidas' Bloom, Campanula lacedaemia
* Merrie Haskell: Library Plum, Bibloteca prunus
* Kris Dikeman: Nightmare Lotus, Nymphae somnium maledictus
* Cassandra Phillips-Sears: Ozymandias-Plant, Lamiaceae (Genus unknown)
* Shveta Thakrar: Padmamukhi (the Lotus-Mouthed), Nelumbonaceae nelumbo
* Victoria Elisabeth Garcia: Poliphila, or "Shriner Vine," Unclassified
* Eric Schaller: Queen Victoria's Bloomers, Monkey Ho, Caligula homocopulus
* Yvonne Pronovost: Screaming Mimi, Datura clamo
* Darja Malcolm-Clarke: Shade's Globe (also: Sibylwort), Umberia medianus
* David Kelly: Singing Grass, Unclassified
* January Mortimer: Stag-Eye Nettle, Urtica aboculus
* Suzanne Palmer: Swift River Hopping Pitcher Plant, Pseudosarracenia verdeverminus
* Livia Llewellyn : Teslated Salishan Evergreen, Cupressuceaohm salishan nikola
* Philip J. Lees: The Faerie Hogweed, Heracleum ignotum
* Stephanie Campisi and Ben Peek: The Nabokov, Unclassified
* Toiya Kristen Finley: The Poseur Nosehairs, Animaceae Sominus
* Matthew Kressel: The Sembla, Spasmodicus plasticosa
* Catherine Gunson: Thuringian Shade-tree, Umbropsida noctalus
* Christopher M. Cevasco: Time Cactus, Chronocactus hematophageis
* Vera Nazarian: Twilight Luon-Sibir, Russica spectrata
* Tom Pendergrass: Ugly Tree, Medusa's Hairbrush, Acer horrendoturpis
* Erik Amundsen: Waterbaby Cress, Nasturtium Charleskingsleni
* Shweta Narayan: Whistle tree, Catalpa musicalis
* Alex Chambers: Wild Homilywort (var. Speechtree), Quercus loquatium
* Dave Coulter: Wind melon, Saturn melon, God's Eyes, Cucumis melo helioaero

Link.

Above is the cover and table of contents for A Field Guide to Surreal Botany, and it contains the piece that Steph Campisi and I wrote, called 'the Nabokov', which is of course, related to Vladimir Nabokov. It continues my trend of naming stories after real life people (I only just realised it was a trend) and starts the new trend of making authors more talented than I do all the work while I take large portions of the credit (always a plan, difficult to execute).

The book promises to be one of those groovy little indie projects that will, I suspect, sell quite quickly. It's being illustrated by Janet Chui, and having seen the work done on the piece Steph and I wrote, I reckon it's going to be quite a lavish project. Something to keep an eye out for and snag early on, I'd say.

The 65 Day Old Chicken and the Still Beating Heart of a Snake in its Own Blood

2008-07-14T03:47:40Z

On Saturday night I went out to dinner with Cat Sparks (catsparx), who I convinced to eat 65 day old chicken. As anyone who has grown up round the stories of salmonella poisoning, she was naturally resistant to the idea, but I wouldn't be turned away. If I'm to die, let it be because I ate the wrong food.

Turns out Chicken 65 (as it was called) was quite nice, and made me think about just how you can have sixty five day old chicken. I mean, if you freeze it, it's not so much of a challenge, right? I reckon I have sixty five day old chicken in my freezer right now. Also, I think I'd be disappointed if that's how it went. I have this whole image of chicken left out in a special room, turning green, then black. No one can enter the room, for it smells that bad, but the chef, in a sealed suit, braves it once a week to find the choicest cut of 65 day old chicken. He used to make whiskey, this chef, so he knows that time is a factor no money can buy. Also, he's drunk, because that explains most of this passage.

Years ago, I saw a cooking show in which the host of it drunk the still beating heart of a snake. Since then, I've always used that as my bar for people and their food: if you turn down the chance to drink the still beating heart of a snake, I feel as if you haven't properly embraced life to its fullest, since if I found myself in that position, I'd do it.

In fact, here's a vid of someone doing that:

As you can see by the look of his face at the end, it promises to be tasty.

I Bet You Missed Me

2008-07-10T06:20:37Z

Finished the novel last night, and have been kicking back ignoring things since. Going to give it one more read through, clean up tonight and tomorrow, then off to the agent it goes.

At the end, I reckon it's come out alright, this book. The fold back I wanted with the end, where essentially it loops back to the beginning, works well, I think. I even like the final line, which I thought of months ago, and I kept tacked at the bottom of the file until I got there. Hopefully the editors who want it are going to think the same thing, and shower me with wealth, because that would be just super, thanks. Likely, I'll be able to lower my expectations to a print run and appearing in bookstores, but I'd hate to give in to easily, especially when there are midgets with bowls of cocaine roaming around to be had as well. That, incidentally, is an image that has stuck in my head from an old Queen documentary I saw years ago, in which the band members were talking about things they had reportedly done. "A party where midgets with bowls of cocaine on their heads walked around," said one of them (I forget who). "I wish we'd done it."

Well, he might not have said that final bit. But still.

In other news, Bill Congreve and Michelle Marquardt have picked up my story 'John Wayne' to be reprinted in The Year's Best Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy, Volume Four. Sweet, hey?

Thomas Disch

2008-07-07T02:59:06Z

From Ellen Datlow (ellen_datlow):

I've just found out that Tom Disch committed suicide in his apartment on July 4th. He was found by a friend who lives a few blocks away.

I'm shocked, saddened, but not very surprised. Tom had been depressed for several years and was especially hit by the death of his longtime partner Charles Naylor. He also was very worried about being evicted from the rent controlled apartment he lived in for decades.

I last visited with him about a month ago, when I ran into him shopping at the Greenmarket across the street from where he lived (he rarely went out because he had trouble walking). He invited me up for cheese and bread which we bought together at the market and I visited for an hour or two. He seemed more optimistic about his work than he'd been for at least a year as he had three books/novellas coming out over the next year.

Tom wrote wonderful stories (I only read one or two of his novels but kept meaning to read more) and if you haven't ever read the collections Getting into Death or Fundamental Disch you need to find and read them.

The Quiet

2008-07-02T04:10:26Z

This'll be my last post till sometime next week or so, just as this is the last day or work for that time.

Here's a thought to end on, though:

A couple of days ago A was talking to me about publications with audiences, and just yesterday, T told me I was on my way to becoming a writer's writer. For some reason, the two have combined in my head, and I can't shake off the belief that being a writer's writer is code for a writer without a very big audience, and thus without a lot of cash, and thus, without a Lamborghini. I think we'll all be in agreement that I deserve a shiny Lamborghini, and that most authors do, if only so they can appear on Top Gear and do that racing contest they have. But still, it got me thinking that, really, at a certain point in the 'career' of a writer, it stops being about whether you're a good writer or you're not, and instead becomes a question of what kind of audience you have. Do you have the kind that follows you just because it's a genre thing, do you have one that follows you to the point that they have an interest in your evolution as an artist, do you have a big audience that allows risks, do you have a small, but dedicated one, do you have any, do you have none, is it just your friends. The answer to all those is one each writer (or musicians, or artist, or whatever) has to give to his or herself, but there comes a point where the author has to look around at the publishers and books that they appear in and work with, and decide if these are going to help them grow the audience that they want. The work that you put out is essentially a product, after all, and you have to be able to put it in the right place for the right consumer, to use such disgusting retail terms.

The thing about this thought is, I find, that it doesn't influence the creation side of writing, but what you do with it once your finished. It can be a bit of a hassle--in fact, I know it is, especially if you feel your work is becoming more and more difficult to fit the markets you were previously interested in, which is sometimes shown by people who call you 'hard to classify'--but it's how you get the best mileage and how you grow.

I dunno, thoughts for the day. Me, I'm quite happy with the audience I have, though if you want to bring your friends with you, I won't object, because the truth is, that's the area of growth for me. But it's my concern, and no one elses, and time will tell if I can get it right.

In other news, if I may say so, BBQ Beef Fantastic Noodles are really kind of awful. Stick to the chicken or vaguely racist 'oriental' flavour while writing your blog posts.

Okay, I'm out.

For the Week

2008-06-30T03:05:08Z

"This is my novel. I found it in the street outside my house. It had been out drinking again."

My novel doesn't look like that, but I think I do.

I'm near the end now and, in a desperate attempt to be free of it, I've taken advantage of the upcoming school holidays and made what will be a week and a half off to finish the fucking thing. Come Thursday, the blog will probably shut down till it's done, and if you see me replying to email, talking to you, or playing video games at any time that isn't one am in the morning when I'm brain dead, some gentle abuse will not be appreciated, but likely needed.

After four novels, I can now say this the hate I feel now is the normal course of events, as will the sadness I feel once it's finished and I have a big empty hole in my life where a book once was.

Weird, hey?

(The above sad, but very amusing photo comes from Andy Macrae (andrewmacrae).)

Bono is a Dick

2008-06-27T01:53:27Z

After my last post, I followed a few links and ended up at a shoddy video of Arcade Fire and U2 doing a version of Joy Divisions' 'Love Will Tear Us Apart'. Now, I like the first band quite a lot, and think the second band sucks in equal amount, but even I'll admit that U2 can do a passable song when needed, but fuck me if this isn't just awful.

However, this comment by Enrieby, some random poster on youtube, just make me laugh and made it all alright:

Now we know the reason Ian Curtis killed himself, after writing and performing one of the best songs ever, he looked into the future and imagined a day like this when a total dick like bono would do this to one of his songs.

Wheatland Press Offer

2008-06-27T01:46:11Z

From Deborah Layne (wheatland_press):

From now until July 4 (at midnight Pacific Time), if you buy any two Wheatland Press titles at the regular price, you'll get one copy of any volume of Polyphony free.

Just order as usual using Paypal and in the comment box of the order form for the second title, indicate which volume of Polyphony you would like to receive.

Of course, I love Wheatland Press, and endorse such a sale.

The disclaimer is, of course, that Wheatland Press is the publisher of my short novel, 26Lies, and you could, conceivably buy it as one of your two books, but even if you're not into that, one of the reasons to try any of the other books published here is that Deb Layne likes to do books that push the boundaries. Polyphony, the collection I recently sold a story to, and which will be in its seventh volume, has made its name on pushing the boundaries on literary speculative fiction, and the kind of work that appears there is always questioning the lines of genre boundaries, forcing you to look outside the simple and mainstream interpretations. There were five volumes doing this way before I managed to sneak into the last volume, and you can find authors such as Bruce Holland Rogers, Lucius Shepard, Robert Freeman Wexler, Ray Vukcevich, Leslie What, Diana Sherman, Jeff Ford, and more throughout the volumes, all doing this.

Do you need more incentive?

Well, how about this: it was Deb Layne who introduced me to Nouvelle Vague, the band below:

How could you doubt any publisher with fine music tastes?

Link.

Meme: Global Blogosphere Amnesty Week (for Apologies)

2008-06-26T02:41:06Z

1) I'm sorry for all the people I've pissed off.
2) I'm sorry this apology is not personalised, but there are so many of you, and my time is limited.
3) I'm sorry this apology is not attempting to be sincere, but I don't really care about you, and I suspect I'll do it again.

Via Cat Sparks (catsparx)

Nowhere Near Savannah

2008-06-25T01:26:52Z

Schapelle Corby Doco

2008-06-24T16:22:50Z

Lynda Hawryluk (lyndahawryluk) is writing about the documentary about Schapelle Corby, and while I haven't seen the film, her write up makes it sound like fascinating stuff:

This week has seen the premiere of Schapelle Corby: The Hidden Truth, a documentary detailing the incarceration and trial of one Schapelle Leigh Corby, a woman defended and derided in equal measure in Australia and abroad.

The documentary uses undercover footage from inside Kerobokan Prison, Bali, where Schapelle has been since being found guilty of drug trafficking in 2005, as well as behind-the-scenes interviews and glimpses of the legal team and her family. Schapelle Corby: The Hidden Truth will probably be described as 'warts and all' but the truth is far more complex and so much less aesthetically pleasing.

The guilt or otherwise of Schapelle aside, the documentary gives us an inside glimpse of a family out of their depth and mired in their own vortex of self-induced hopelessness. The Corbys are apparently described in the promotional material for the series in the US as 'a family who couldn't find their way to the beach, much less around the Balinese legal system' and that's about the most polite thing you could say about them.

...

Schapelle's father Michael is another larger than life and excruciating to watch character, that kind of bombastic bogan who decided early in life the best way to make people listen was to enunciate each word like it hurt to say it. He glares menacingly into the camera and declares 'weeee nevah fucken saaaaaaw the baaaaag. No-one fucken tooooouched iiiiit' in the most exagerated way possible. I'm thinking if this is the tactic he took in interrogation rooms it's no wonder he gets busted every time he takes a wrong step.

His wild-eyed hoarse rants are cut short only once by a self-conscious Mercedes who makes the very canny decision to ask the camera crew to stop filming: it's the last we see of Michael, who passed away earlier this year and the image we're left with is a self-described ratbag who has probably been described as far worse by associates and family, and deservedly so. His appearance in the documentary wouldn't help change the minds of the growing number of Australian re-forming their opinions about Schapelle Corby's guilt.

Early on he admits being the carefree type who often 'went out for milk and didn't come back for two weeks'; watching him and the rest of the Corbys you realise what Schapelle's been up against from the start.

Me, I've never really been into the Corby case. It seemed to me that she was either incredibly stupid or incredibly guilty, and perhaps both. Personally, I think any jail sentence slapped on you for the possession of pot is a little on the harsh side, but at the same time, there was something about Schapelle and her family that just stopped me from having any sympathy for her (or them). Sympathy translates to interest for me, since, if I don't like something, I tend to just skip it. In reading Lynda's write up, however, I had a sudden realisation of knowing that, yeah, it was the site of her family that led me to disinterest: their denial of legitimate help and instead turning to Crazy Ron's mobile phone guy just seemed to strike me as an almost admittance to guilt, and the whole thing just had the look of a train wreck happening, and which would end up in tragedy. Which, ultimately, it has--by the time 2024 rolls around, a lot of life will be done, and you don't get those years back.

Anyhow, what you want to do is follow the link and read Lynda's piece on it, for it is both insightful and funny, and explains why you should be reading her blog if you're not.

Link.

Paul Anka's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'

2008-06-24T02:49:23Z

You know, I don't think I've ever given Paul Anka the props he deserves:

A lot of people seem to hate this version, but me, I kind've like it. In part it's because I would never have imagined that you could turn 'Smells like Teen Spirit' into this tune, and in part because by doing so, Anka has taken an angry song and made it, well, happy. There's something in the part when he sings out 'Entertain us!' that conjures up the opening of some kind of freak festival, where down from the ceiling are going to come conjoined midgets, women without legs, men whose heads have been attached to mechanical spider legs, and so on and so forth.

Plus, I like seeing sacred things trashed and completely reworked into something new.

I'm that kind of guy.

Aurealis Award from Sunny Britain

2008-06-24T02:32:34Z

A few days ago I said I'd convince Martin Lewis (ninebelow) to post his views on some past winners of the Aurealis Awards, just to give you an idea of how the scene is viewed outside the country.

Well, here it is:

One problem is that the pool of Australian fiction is simply not large enough to credibly support such an award. There is no shame in this. There is shame, however, in falsely praising minor works, a process which merely serves to undermine the reputations of all involved. There are two issues involved here. Firstly, the major fan and juried awards of the much bigger markets of Britain and the United States are not closed to entrants from outside those countries (although, of course, native entries often win.) It is an understandable fear that such an open borders policy in Australian awards would leave little, if any, Australian fiction on the shortlists. Perhaps, though, only lauding that rare fiction that can compete on the international stage is preferable to the current situation. Secondly, and more troubling, is the fact that the award is split into five categories - science fiction, fantasy, horror, young adult and children – further reducing the amount of fiction available. Even if the award is restricted to Australian fiction (and there is a clear case for this, especially given how liberally the judges interpret “Australian”) there can be no reason to sub-divide so excessively. Something has to give: together these two facts make the awards simply unsustainable.

Link.

Polyphony Seven Table of Contents

2008-06-23T01:42:37Z

Polyphony 7
Ed. by Deborah Layne and Forrest Aguirre

The Bravest Girl I Ever Knew by Howard Waldrop
Dr. Black at the Red Demon Temple by Brendan Connell
The Snow Queen by Chris Clarke
Strange Mammals by Jason Erik Lundberg
The Afterlife of Sorrow by Mikal Trimm
Breaker of Thresholds by George Zebrowski
The Seven Deadly Hotels by Bruce Holland Rogers
The Monster in the Field by Steve Rasnic Tem
There is Something So Quiet and Empty Inside of You that it Must be Precious by Ben Peek
A Problem in Five Clocks by Stephen Bush
Bear in Contradictory Landscape by David J. Schwartz
Automata by Eric Schaller
The Klepsydra by Micheala Roessner
Captain Kid by Kristin Livdahl
Loose Ends by Jerry Oltion
The Possibility of Love by Stephanie Campisi
Grief-Stepping to the Widower’s Waltz by Ken Scholes
A Sip From the Cup of Enlightenment by Sarah Totton
The Dust and the Red by Darin C. Bradley
A Joy Forever by Celia Marsh
The Heart of the Rail by Mark Teppo
Mirages by Eric M. Witchey
Avoiding the Cold War by Josh Rountree

Publication date: November 1, 2008.
Preorder information coming soon: watch the WP website (http://www.wheatlandpress.com).

Obviously, the bigger the title, the better the story.

The Small Press Debate

2008-06-20T01:50:38Z

In my previous post about the Aurealis Awards, I purposefully left off making any commentary about the plan, once again, to make publishers shoulder the cost of submitting to the awards by cutting out email submissions (though the get out of jail free card of any "individuals or small/independent publishers who face difficulties in supplying hard copies of nominated works should contact the Awards Coordinator for assistance," was added.)

Of course, the only people such a ruling has any influence on are those in the independent press, and in the days since then, Alisa Krasnostein (girliejones) and Jonathan Strahan have weighed into the debate with the cost of sending work from their various projects to what could be anywhere between twenty to thirty-five judges. Of interest to me are not the posts themselves, but the replies that each have been getting, and the debate within that. There is, at the start, some amusement in noting the different tones between Kate Eltham (electricalphabt) on both blogs, where on the latter, she says, "Jonathan, I encourage you to contact the Awards Coordinator at coordinator@aurealisawards.com to discuss your needs. As with last year, we can arrange for copies to be shared among judging panels (especially if you submit well before the deadline) and Ron can also assist with copying and distributing individual story print outs," and while on the former, she posts:

That's exactly what is said, right on the home page: "However, individuals or small/independent publishers who face difficulties in supplying hard copies of nominated works should contact the Awards Coordinator for assistance."

And on the Rules & Conditions page: "...when multiple printed copies of the work/s are difficult or expensive to obtain, nominators (particularly individual authors or small presses who face financial hardship) are encouraged to contact the Awards Coordinator to discuss. We endeavour to do all we can to assist the nomination process. Contact the Awards Coordinator at coordinator@aurealisawards.com."

And on the How to Enter page: "Electronic Magazines and Publications
Works published in electronic form are eligible. However, hard copy versions of the nominated works must be submitted to judges for consideration. One copy of each work must be sent to EACH of the judges on the relevant panel/s. In the case of multimedia or mixed media works, please contact the Awards Coordinator to discuss your requirements.

When multiple printed copies of the work/s are difficult or expensive to obtain, nominators (particularly individual authors or small presses who face financial hardship) are encouraged to contact the Awards Coordinator to discuss. We endeavour to do all we can to assist the nomination process. Contact the Awards Coordinator at coordinator@aurealisawards.com."

Picking up on one sentence in the entire website (ie. about the Coordinator exercising discretion in the sharing of works between judges) and choosing to ignore all these other messages mentioned in multiple places on multiple pages makes it a straw man argument, Alisa.

I wonder why her tone is so different?

In case you're wondering who Eltham is, and why she has an opinion worth quoting, she's listed as 'the conjure chair' at Fantastic Queensland, who are responsible for the Aurealis Awards, as well as other things such as Clarion. I could be wrong, but I assume that conjure chair is a way of saying that she's the person in charge, as much as anyone is in charge at these kind of places. Other members of Fantastic Queensland inlcude her partner Robert Hoge (roberthoge), who appears on Krasnostein's blog to tell her that, "if awards are what tips a small press into the red, then it sounds like it may be a marginal enterprise to start with," thus suggesting that you ought not be putting out books in the first place.

Which is nice, of course, and very community related of Hoge to say. I was further impressed by the argument that both he and Eltham put forward that they do not see, in this case, Krasnostein complaining about the cost of having to submit to the World Fantasy Awards, of which Hoge himself is one of five. Yes, that's five judges, rather than the forty five who are involved in the Aurealis Awards, but why would you make such a point out of the numbers difference when you're making a point that people don't complain about?

Returning to my original point about the cost, however, it strikes me as strange that Fantastic Queensland and the Aurealis Awards are not actively trying to support and promote the independent scene here in Australia, which has run for years on the budget of elastic bands and matches. I don't need to link to a publisher discussing the fact that you will not make a profit in being in the independent press: that fact is of such common knowledge that it is the first thing that dozens of people will tell any person thinking of starting up their own press. You are considered doing well if you are breaking even in this industry, which makes it strange that unnecessary costs such as submitting books to judges who have email is being pushed forward and defended on such a public scale.

Still, if you were to make a stab at what motivates Fantastic Queensland, you could perhaps argue that it was the attempt to grab professionalism. The reference to the World Fantasy Award is, on their part, an attempt to brand the two together in importance, which is somewhat amusing since the World Fantasy Awards has a certain reputation that, if we were to reverse the comparisons around, the Aurealis Awards does not have. The World Fantasy Award does not, year in and year out become the cause of laughter or derisive comments when fine graphic novels such as Shaun Tan's the Arrival win a short story award, or when half the country's established authors are ignored by the award because the judges did not go out and look for new material, or did not know about what was then the top paying market for short fiction in spec fic. I could go on, but it will only be the equivalent of kicking a puppy to make the comparisons between the Aurealis Awards and the World Fantasy Award, though perhaps I'll allow such reviewers as Martin Lewis (ninebelow) to share his scathing opinion of the Aurealis novel winners in previous years, and ask him what the cultural weight of the AAs have over there, in sunny Britain. But, to return to the original start of this paragraph, it is clear that a certain professionalism is being attempted, though why of course that professionalism needs to toss an unnecessary cost to the independent press is a question that you might well ask, considering that it is there that the interest and involvement in the community is born.

I'm not quite sure why I felt the urge to post on the topic. My response to Eltham and Hoge would simply be to laugh and then boycott the award. If you could organise the rest of the independent scene to do the same, it would make a mockery out of the short story divisions, since it is in the independent press that such work is primarily produced, but that's me, and I don't have much interest in the award so my responses involve burning it down and living in a utopia.

I do, however, want to see a strong independent scene and that is the cause of my interest. It is here that the interesting projects take place, here that the boundaries are pushed. At the moment, the scene here is known more for being a place in which authors start their career, a place where you can watch them learn their skills, which more often than not, they take outside the country or into novels. But outside the small spec fic scene, interesting books are being done. I did a review for Overland recently in which I got to sample the collection Sleepers, the novels put out by Black Pepper, and a few others, and while there were flaws--Sleepers, for example, is a rip off of McSweeneys--I liked the fact that I was seeing different things, seeing people pushing the edges, and that could be seen in a production such as Cock. Such opinions that are given out by Hoge and Eltham do not, to me, encourage people to become involved with the scene, does not support them, does not draw the interesting and different projects out of people, and ignores the fact that, as everyone who has been round an independent scene for five minutes will know, such projects are done at a considerable personal cost.

AFI Lists

2008-06-19T05:00:57Z

For some reason, I've found myself reading the AFI top ten films in ten genres. I usually try to stay away from such lists because, well, they're usually ridiculous.

It's no different this time out. You know you're reading something idiotic when the very forgettable comedy Caddyshack is listed at number seven in the top ten sports films, and Rocky is number two, beneath Raging Bull. Now, I know a lot of people like Rocky, but frankly, it's own made reasonable by the sheer insanity of including Caddyshack which is not by any stretch of the imagination a film about sports. You could probably argue that it's not really a film. Likewise, the animation section, which basically features Disney films, is a laugh, too--Walt Disney's frozen head must be sending out cheques to people who made that list. The Western section doesn't make mention of Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man, the sci-fi section reveals why science fiction is pretty much for children, and on and on...

But the thing that struck me is that here, in this list, are the top ten American films. Taste is subjective, but taste reveals a certain insight about a culture, and what is it that you can say about a society that would list Ben Hur, Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan, and The Ten Commandments? Well, if you were like me, you might argue that there is a certain conservatism in these tastes, a certain Christian, straight, nuclear family morality that, while more than apparently in the Jesus flicks referenced, strings itself across into the Searchers--where, to a degree, it is subverted--and into It's a Wonderful Life, Miracle of 34th Street and even, though it may seem impossible that I am reference two minor Bill Murray flicks, Groundhog Day, which is about a man becoming a good person and winning the heart of a girl to find true happiness and love and kindness and all of that rubbish.

Which means that the AFI list is showing you everything that's wrong with American cinema and why it's so fucking boring these days.

Score.

Link.

Quiet

2008-06-18T01:37:44Z

This book better finish itself soon.

I've gotten to the point where I forget things, where my diet has become nothing but quick and disposable, where I'm suppose to start teaching at four thirty but I leave at four thirty, having completely messed up the times, and thus losing work. In short, it's a bitch, and if anyone isn't superbly polite and amusing, I want nothing to do with them.

Link.

Self Sufficient

2008-06-17T01:35:01Z

Link.

The Sweet Smell of 'I Told You it Was Stupid A Long Time Ago'

2008-06-16T03:05:41Z

It has been a while since i talked about Australian spec fic, but for old times, I thought I'd take a little moment to step back into the old flame war topics.

Of course, I'm talking about the Aurealis Awards, the award that is often said to be the premier award of Australian speculative fiction. Since it's up against the Ditmar (block voting/popularity contest) and the Shadows Award (for horror only and with a scantily naked chick statue for the winner), it doesn't have much contest, so any idea that the award has credibility should be taken into account of the fact that the other awards it competes against have a minus number in credibility. At any rate, for a while there I thought it would be interesting to begin a body of critical work on the local market by focusing on this award, which resulted in me having to read what was considered the best of the local work, and offering up opinions a lot of people disliked. In short, the work was lacking in originality, craft, and so on and so forth, and I said what I thought. If you're new to the blog, you've missed the days where I was called an asshole, a cancer, and said that I hate new writers, that I'm not considerate, and that my image as a big bad loner is nothing but a pose. I don't do anything to enrich the local scene was also tossed up. Good times, good times--yet, strangely, no Xmas cards except for Cat Sparks (catsparx). Oh well. I did a larger piece the next year that got me more of the same. From what I understood then, people generally believed I didn't know what the fuck I was talking about, that I had no background in literature, was perhaps illiterate, and needed to be drowned in a sack and could be put into the same category as Robert Stephenson, whose reputation has never been too high (but who has have a youtube channel preaching Christianity to people, which might be my future, hey?). At any rate, the short of it is that having opinion about the work caught me a lot of flak, but if you've been reading this blog for a while, you'll remember those days, and you'll sit back and have a nostalgic moment with me, and wonder why I ever drifted away from those days?

Anyway.

One of the things that I enjoyed making fun of was the Golden Aurealis, which was the award given to the best of division winners. A best of the best award, basically. I nicknamed it the Golden Shower, because it did, essentially, make all the divisions pointless, and was kind've like pissing on everyone's head. Why, I asked myself, was it necessary to have any divisional winners when you were going to turn around and giving one trophy to the best novel and short story in that year anyway? The answer was, of course, trophies, because if there's anything that people in the speculative industry around the world love, it's trophies. If they don't come with money, they love that even more. Not that they turn down the cash--the Aurealis Awards have gotten some backing in the last year (or two?) that give it a bit of cash, though I was under the impression it was just for the Golden Shower, so who knows if it's still there, given that this announcement has been made:

Golden Aurealis Awards no more. To accommodate the new divisions, the Golden Aurealis Awards will no longer be presented. Based on feedback from previous judges and the Australian speculative fiction community, we have withdrawn these "best of" awards in favour of new categories which respond to growth and change within speculative fiction publishing.

The two new divisions are of best collected work and best illustrated book graphic novel, which given last year's amusement of watching Shaun Tan's wordless graphic novel win the short story division, is hardly surprising, but the important thing to note here is that the Golden Aurealis has been removed.

Is that my laughter you hear?

Is that an 'I Told You So' coming from my mouth?

I do believe it is.

Link.

Polyphony Seven

2008-06-12T01:22:30Z

Deborah Layne (wheatland_press) and Forrest Aguirre (experimeditor) have purchased my story 'There is Something So Quiet and Empty Inside You that it Must Be Precious' for Polyphony Seven, to be published by Wheatland Press at the end of the year.

Obviously, I think the longer the title, the better it is.

The Mail

2008-06-11T04:09:05Z

Lately, I've been getting some fairly amusing things in the mail, mostly due to one ultra cool person who shall remain nameless. Today, however, I got some mail by my agent, Kris O'Higgens, which I knew to be the piece that John Kilma (gumboeditor) worked up for Wiscon. I wasn't quite prepared for it to be framed and such, but it was, and I have to say, it looked pretty cool, and made me wish that I could have seen the lot of them together in the room.

What also arrived in the same box was a calender from Carnicerias Guanajuato, a familia silva, that promotes itself on servicio, higiene, and calidad. Words cannot truly explain the calender to you, so I took a photo of it:

Perhaps you can see the Jesus statue there, in the corner?

At any rate, there is subtext to this calender, and I'm sure we can all see it, for it isn't that subtle. A calender in the mail says, finish the book, time is going by, a Spanish calender says, finish the book, go to Mexico, a calender with a Jesus reference says, finish the book, meet Jesus later, and a Spanish calender with a Jesus reference says, finish the book, take Spanish lessons, and get a job translating for Jesus on tour through Mexico.

I have no idea why the girl is there, though. Everyone knows writers don't get them, even with Jesus' help.

Music Videos

2008-06-10T04:55:17Z

After yesterday's post, I got to thinking about how I really dig a good music video, and how a good one will, in many ways, make up for a very normal song.

However, the same applies in reverse: a song that I like can be ruined by a bad film clip, because the image just sticks in my head, and I can't escape it. Take, for example, the video for Radiohead's 'Karma Police', a song I quite liked when I first heard it (as did a lot of other people, from what I understand). The film clip, however, is awful:

I don't know if it's just the fact that I spent three minutes watching a man run along a street, or that Thom Yorke's bored facial expression mirrors that nicest thoughts I had, or that dumb ass final where the man drops the mat on the leaking petrol makes me want to groan, but this is one of the worse videos I can remember off the top of my head. In fact, whenever I think of bad film clips, this is the song that comes straight to my mind. It came close to doing in the song for me, and I think that, in truth, I did like the song a little less after it. Likewise, I've yet to see any kind of music video involving the Flaming Lips that made me want to watch their music.

'Flight Test' from Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots is a prime example:

Yes, fighting bugs, fighting bogans, and Wayne Coyne in a silly hat.

I bet you can't wait to rush out and buy this album, yes?

The clip for 'Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots' is marginally more appealing, but for a song involving a Japanese girl who fights robots, I can't help but feel that the clip seems to miss its mark:

I suppose the problem I have with the clips from the Flaming Lips is that they never seem to capture the colour, the weirdness, and the cool of the band, especially on what I consider their best album, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. The clip for 'Do You Realise', which has men in giant bunny rabbit suits, and close ups on faces, as well as an elephant, is probably the best I've seen of theirs, but still, there's nothing in it that would sell me on the band, nothing that would key me into the slightly off centre sensibility that is at the heart of the band. Perhaps someone will disagree with me, giving the rabbit suits and the pig suit, but still, I maintain my position that the clips are rather tame.

In fact, you could perhaps argue that I'm just not a fan of music videos in which the band appears. It's not that I dislike them, It's just that I figure they were done to death in the eighties and nineties, and clips where the band appears no belong to that special, special sub genre of pop/cock rock--

--or teenie pop--

--wherein the main attraction is just how attractive the band/singer can be.

In both cases, artistic mileage is very limited, but then, y'know, not everything is about art.

As an aside, I love to watch the clip for 'Don't Cha' and think of all the most dirty and disgusting things I can. I'm an imaginative guy. I make a list, then I run it down and ask myself how many of these things the girls in the band would do. I always figure they'll say no to the horse. But in this case, I reckon Busta Rhymes would go it.

...

Actually, I think I'll just end this post right here, since I can't top that line. Next post I'll track down some clips I liked.

For, y'know, the artistic merit.