It’s fair to say that I’ve been a hermit since the Year of the Grant began. January and February have flown by in a whirl of words, chapters, stories… and very little else. Sure, I’ve emerged from the oubliette once or twice — for provisions, say, or to reassure my friends that I’m still alive — but I think I’ve been storing up my energy all these months, stockpiling my non-writing time, so that I could spend it all in one massive exciting hit this week. My computer has grown mighty lonely since Adelaide’s festival season began, and this is why…

Last Friday, we spent the evening outside in Elder Park with Ennio Morricone and the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. The show started right before sunset (see pic on the left) and because I’d booked the tickets about six months ago, we had excellent seats. The weather was glorious — in fact, the breeze was in tune with Morricone’s outstanding music: early on in the concert, when the orchestra was thrilling us with pieces from The Untouchables and Once Upon a Time in America, the wind would gust just as the violins crescendoed, catching the ladies’ hair and tossing it about dramatically in time with the chorus. At least, that’s how it seemed…

Night fell slowly, dropping a luminous navy curtain behind the stage in increments, the clouds hanging low and beautiful above the white dome. Morricone led the orchestra through pieces from Cinema Paradiso, Once Upon a Time in the West, A Fistful of Dynamite, and when the first breathy notes from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly sounded, the audience broke convention, whooping and clapping long before the end of the set. It’s mean of me to say that you had to be there to appreciate how magical the night was, how perfect the setting, how memorable and moving the performance… How, when ‘Gabriel’s Oboe’ from The Mission began playing, people wept. But there you have it.

Saturday morning kicked off Adelaide Writers Week, which ran until Thursday, and I can honestly say that this was the best Writers Week we’ve seen in years. The program was under new direction this year, and it showed: the tents in the Pioneer Women’s Garden were new, the venue’s layout updated, and the guests included a healthy smattering of genre authors — Kelly Link, Robert Shearman, Margo Lanagan (to whom the entire week was dedicated), Garth Nix, not to mention authors of crime fiction, such as Jo Nesbø and Megan Abbott.

And since there was such an attractive program, lots of awesome authors from around the country came down to Adelaide Town to take part in the fun. The Brains were reunited when Angela arrived on Saturday morning — and we were prompty whisked away to the Garden, where we caught up with so many fun friends, it was like a mini-con designed just for us. It was so nice catching up with Rob again, finally meeting Kelly and Gavin, having dinners and lunches and long chats over coffee with everyone; going to Ian and Rob’s Doctor Who event on Sunday; getting to see Margo chat with Michael Crummey (highlight of the week’s sessions!), whose novel Galore has been one of my favourites ever since reading it back in 2010. (In fact, you may recall me gushing like a schoolgirl when I talked about it here soon after I’d finished reading it…)

Most of the crew had returned home by Wednesday evening (wah!) so I spent Thursday attending sessions, seeing Sean and Garth chat about YA fantasy, sneaking off for the best tofu burger ever with Dr Nick, and then being moved to tears by Robert Dessaix’s closing lecture. Thank god I was wearing sunglasses because, honestly, his passionate, erudite, articulate, incredibly sad and wonderfully performed lecture completely messed up my mascara… (If you’re interested in reading Dessaix’s lecture, it will be published in next month’s ABR.)

Thanks to Cat Sparks, ubiquitous photographer, for snapping a lot of great photos during the week, including the two I’ve posted here: a bunch of us eagerly awaiting Kelly Link’s session on Day 2, and Rob S signing autographs for masses of Dr Who fans at the Picadilly theatre on Sunday evening. You can see the whole set on Cat’s Flickr stream.

On Friday, I managed to get some work done for the first time in almost a week, so I rewarded myself by heading to the Garden of Unearthly Delights that night. (One day of work offsets seven days of fun, doesn’t it? Yeah, that’s what I thought.) We had tickets for an incredible performance of Soap: The Show so we headed down to the Garden early, soaked up the atmosphere, then were wowed for over an hour by wonderful feats of acrobatics — in bathtubs. OMG.

I have drooled over acrobats on this website before, and I will continue to drool over them as long as they continue to come to the Fringe Festival. I can’t resist beautiful people balancing their beautifully sculpted bodies in beautiful and bizarre feats of strength. And this time they did so with water… I dare you not to be captivated:

And for those of you who can’t get tickets (either because you’re not in Adelaide, or because you’re in Adelaide and you’ve realised that every performance is sold out — which is, unfortunately, the case) here’s a clip of one of the acts in the show (not from Adelaide, alas, since our acrobat was the guy they’ve used in the promo clip I posted above, and something about his performance was more compelling than this young guy’s… But still. Water. Acrobats. Music by Tool. Not too much to complain about…)

And now it’s a long weekend. Phewf! I think I need it, after all that fun and relaxation…

As readers of this column know, we regularly and without thought of consequences, kidnap our guests by means of a malfunctioning vortex manipulator. The problem with doing this to people who write Star Wars novels is that they tend to have their own working lightsabres. So we simply chose to politely ask Karen Miller and Sean Williams to chat with us.

We gave them cups of hot chocolate, made sure their lightsabres were safely put in the hallway cupboard, and talked to them about the fractal nature of the Star Wars universe, killing off imaginary races that aren’t pulling their weight, why writing Star Wars is like writing non-fiction, and the fun of a good communal geek-out. Warning: the phrase ‘Star Wars’ occurs more times in this interview than the term ‘camera phone’ occurred in A Scandal in Belgravia – we know and we’re sorry.

An important point to note: they write more than Star Wars. They’re both much published and awarded authors in their own rights, with Karen’s Rogue Agent, Innocent Mage, and Riven Kingdom series, and Sean’s Books of the Change, Books of the Cataclysm, Astropolis, TroubleTwisters (with Garth Nix), The Fixers and The Broken Land series all being best sellers (note: this list is not exhaustive, merely exhausting for those of us who manage maybe 1000 words per day).

Dr Angela: So, the obvious first question: how did you end up writing for the Star Wars franchise?

Karen: Sheer brazen effrontery. I’ve been a Star Wars fan since I was 16, when I sat in the George St cinemas and saw Star Wars (the actual first, original version in which Han Shot First). Fell in love with the story then and there, and I’ve been in love with it ever since. I knew there were Star Wars novels, and I knew that until I was professionally published I didn’t have a hope in hell of writing one … but as soon as I was a published novelist, back in 2005, I contacted the Del Rey editor responsible for the Star Wars fiction line and said, ‘Hey, I’m a huge fan, if ever you’re in the market for a new author I’d love to be considered.’ And eventually, that’s what happened … not the least because Karen Traviss put in a good word for me, bless her!

Sean: Now I feel old! I was 10 in 1977 and the first movie blew me away. I read a ton of the tie–ins back then, and they were among several critical influences that encouraged me to write my own space opera later in life. When Shane Dix and I sold our Evergence series (explicitly intended as a mash-up between Star Wars and Blake’s 7) our agent began nagging Del Rey to give us a gig working in the franchise. It took a while, but he got there. I’ll never forget the surreal wonder of that 4am phone call telling me we’d scored a trilogy in the New Jedi Order series. That’s how Force Heretic was born.

Dr Lisa: Part of the joy of writing fiction is building new worlds and inventing new characters – people and places we’re curious about and want to explore further. Bearing that in mind, what’s it like to run with existing worlds and existing characters? How do you manage to write in a world as beloved as Star Wars without trampling all over the things fans love most?

Karen: Well, first and foremost, when you’re playing in someone else’s sandbox I believe you absolutely must love their toys … especially when so many many other people love them. You have to play with them respectfully. [SEAN: Yes!] But, by the same token, no two fans ever experience the same story in quite the same way. We all bring our own personal and unique baggage and filters to a story. So it means walking a tightrope – be respectful of the source material, but honour what the story says to you. It means you must accept that you won’t please all of the fans all of the time. And with a passionate fandom, it also means you’ll likely raise hackles and be subjected to some hostile reviews. That’s part of the reality of writing for an established franchise – so if you’re not prepared to be lambasted as well as loved, stick to writing your own stories!

As far as writing established characters, well, I think it comes down to knowing them really well. And that’s true whether you’ve invented your own characters or you’re writing characters created by someone else. It’s no different to being a staff scriptwriter, in that respect. It’s your job to know those people and capture them on the page.

Sean: What Karen said. But don’t forget that the Star Wars universe is amazingly enormous now – far, far larger than what we saw on the big screen – and it’s become so fractal around the edges that there’s tons of room to invent and elaborate within the confines of your story. Some stories are more confined than others: the first Force Unleashed book left me very little room to make stuff up, for instance, since it’s set in the Dark Times between Episodes III and IV and there’s so much we need to keep ambiguous in there (by mandate from above). But all my other books are full of new characters, races, cultures and places that sprang entirely (or at least largely) from my own brain.

One of my favourite pastimes working in this universe is finding loose ends and tying them up – usually by clarifying details that were left vague by the previous authors, or connecting them to other loose ends elsewhere. I particularly loved working in the New Jedi Order series, because all the death and mayhem in that story gave me opportunities to wipe out whole races that were taking up space in the canon, not doing anything. (If you were a fan of the Yevethans and the Ssi-Ruuk, I apologise.)

Dr Angela: What is your first memory of entering the Star Wars universe – i.e. seeing the movie for the first time?

Karen: Well, I think like many many people, the double barrel whammy of the opening sequence still remains a powerful memory: the rebel ship passing overhead – amazing, shocking, wonderful, like nothing you’ve ever seen before – followed a couple of moments later by the stupendous image of the Empire Star Destroyer following. That was when I knew I was in for the ride of my life.

My other really vivid memory is when we got to the Mos Eisley cantina, and met Han Solo. I leaned over to the person I was with and whispered, ‘Hey, he’s a bit of all right!’  Thus did my love affair with Han Solo begin.

Sean: I can’t remember the first time I saw the movie. Don’t know why, since the second time is intensely vivid. Maybe my young brain was completely overloaded. What I remember most clearly is the peripheral material: the soundtrack, the novelisation, the tie-ins, even the jigsaw puzzles. Maybe that’s because that’s how I engaged with the story over the following years. It wasn’t watchable any other way, since video was a few years off, and there were only so many times I could see it at the cinema (ten, I think) before it left the screens. So while I don’t remember my first entry into the universe, I do remember returning to it over and over again, later.

Dr Lisa: Is there a character in the Star Wars universe that you wish you could hang out with for a while? Or a place you really wish you could visit?

Karen: Alderaan looked absolutely beautiful. I’d go there in a shot. As for the characters … young Obi-Wan was a hoot. And I loved Qui-Gon, too. So wise and at the same time unpretentious. I love his maverick streak.

Sean: I’m an Obi-Wan fan, too. I’d love to write something about his life during the Dark Times (I think we all would). Tatooine reminds me a lot of home – flat, dry and very hot – so I guess I gravitate towards that setting by instinct.

Dr Angela: Is there another franchise you’d like/be willing to write for?

Karen: Well, I’ve written for Stargate, and that was another dream come true. Other than that, I’d have to say no. There are many, many stories that I love to bits, but the urge to write stories for them strikes very rarely.

Sean: And I’ve written (in a very small way) for Doctor Who, for which my obsession is at a whole other level. Since writing for Star Wars I’ve had offers to write in or pitch for other franchises that I wasn’t completely in love with (Transformers, Terminator) and others I do love (Halo, Green Lantern) but simply couldn’t fit into the schedule, and then there are franchises I’ve totally gone for but just missed out on (Battlestar Galactica, Firefly). So yes, I’m absolutely willing, if the right one comes along and the timing pans out. I grew up reading tie-ins; I find the form utterly thrilling and attractive.

Dr Lisa: Wookieepedia has quoted Karen as saying, “I’ve always thought that tie-in novels were professionally produced fanfic – and if they’re not, there’s something wrong.” Is this still your position?

Karen: Yes, it is, because I think to do the story justice you have to be a fan. Now, as a professional writer you might bring a level of skill to the task that isn’t generally found in regular fanfic, a professional writer might have some craft tools and skills that non-professional writers haven’t yet developed or acquired, but for me, tie-in novels are epic fail when the writers don’t love the stories that they’re based on. No matter how well they’re technically executed. I think that’s the common denominator between fanfic and tie-ins – love for the source material. After that it’s a question of polish and skill. I do get a bit stroppy when professionals want to look down their noses at writers of fanfic. Yes, there’s some bad fanfic in the wild. There are also some very poorly written published novels. And some fanfic writers are enormously talented. At the end of the day, a good story well told is a good story well told. And that’s all I care about.

Sean: I have nothing to add except that I have nothing to add. Karen said it best!

Dr Angela: What’s the best thing about writing Star Wars novels?

Karen: The sheer delight of doing it. The pinch-me-ness of realising that you’re contributing to the enormous tapestry that is the Star Wars universe. The giggling hysteria that comes with putting words in those characters’ mouths. It’s beyond awesome. And somehow, in a small way, sharing my love of the story with a bunch of other people who love it too.

Sean: Yeah, I love that feeling of community you get while writing the novel, knowing that tens of thousands of people out there will be geeking out on your words in the same way that you’re geeking out on them now. Because it’s a franchise it’s easier to step away from the material and be a fan. That’s one of the great things about working in this field. Original fiction is so damned serious most of the time. And of course we should take it seriously, even when it’s supposed to be fun, because it’s such a large part of who we are. But with Star Wars the happy-dances come much more easily. That’s what keeps us sane through the crushing deadlines (there’s always a downside).

Dr Lisa: What kind of research do you have to do before writing a Star Wars novel? Do you read all the other books in the franchise or are you given a ‘cheat sheet’ that summarises major characters, places, plot points? Do you watch the movies a million times, then drop by to see George at Skywalker Ranch?

Karen: Well, I was focused on the Clone Wars era, and there wasn’t a huge amount written about that. Karen (Traviss) and I were kind of starting in a new area of the story. Plus our books were set specifically within the parameters of the Clone Wars cartoon series, season 1. So I read the scripts and then I rewatched the 3 prequel movies many times, taking notes, and let the ideas percolate from there. I also got my hands on the excellent Star Wars reference books and kept them by my side, so I could get the technical stuff right. Alas, no Skywalker Ranch.

Sean: Wookieepedia is my friend. (I’ve reference it several times already while answering these questions.) It’s impossible to read all the novels now, unless you’re working in a very tightly defined period of history – and even then there are books or other media that will touch on your story in various ways. So I read what I can, dig deep into the fan archives and official encyclopaedias, ask lots of questions of my co-creators (which can include other authors but always comes back to Leland Chee, chief continuity guru at Lucasfilm) and let my mind wander.

Jonathan Strahan pointed out something very important to me while I was struggling with the first page of my first Star Wars book. “You’re not writing fiction,” he said. “You’re writing non-fiction.” That might sound silly, but in terms of mindset and how best to approach the existing material, it’s utterly true. Once I got into my head that I was filling in the gaps between events that, for the purposes of the exercise, had actually happened and were therefore relatively easy to elucidate, the words started to flow.

Dr Angela: What’s the greatest challenge in writing Star Wars novels?

Karen: Simultaneously being aware of fandom’s expectations, while at the same time not allowing yourself to become paralysed by them. Knowing that no matter how hard you try, how well you write, how much blood, sweat and tears you spill in the telling of your story, some people are going to hate it and hate you for writing it. Making peace with that, and telling the story you want to tell in the way you want to tell it anyway. Not letting the fact that it’s Star Wars send you howling into the night. And honouring the legacy that is this amazing, lifechanging story.

Sean: All that, and doing it while groaning under ridiculous deadlines. Maybe I’ve just been unlucky but it always seems to fall out that there’s four weeks to write an entire book, and that’s just hard work, even for someone who likes to write quickly. I’m not implying that this is anyone’s fault; it’s just how things fall out in an organization that has lots of employees and conflicting timelines, and sometimes works with other organizations who endure the same problems. My last three Star Wars novels were computer game tie-ins (the two Force Unleashed novels and the first Old Republic novel, Fatal Alliance) and that produces a whole raft of new complications. There’s an unimaginable (and highly addictive) adrenaline rush to writing four thousand words a day in a genre you love, but it’s also freaking hard work. Maintaining a sense of perspective can be very hard under that kind of stress. Maintaining your health, ditto.

Dr Lisa: Star Wars fans are incredibly enthusiastic at conventions – attending panels, film screenings, and participating in cosplay – so I can only imagine they’d be keen to attend your sessions at cons. What are some of the highlights of interacting with the fans? Any favourite experiences or anecdotes?

Karen: Sadly, I have to say no. I really don’t do many cons. The most fan interaction I have is via mail from readers, and that’s pretty wonderful. I always knew I wouldn’t be writing a typical Star Wars novel. For me, the least interesting aspects of the Star Wars galaxy are the space battles and the fights and all that stuff. My passion is the characters, and their lives and relationships, and the human cost of what happens to them on their journey. I always knew that if I wrote for Star Wars, I’d be writing stories that focused on that, all the while keeping my fingers crossed that I’m not the only one who responds to Star Wars like that. And it turns out I’m not, for which I am profoundly grateful. Which isn’t to say that stories with the battles and space stuff are no good – they are. But let me put it this way – every time I rewatch Phantom Menace, I fast forward through the podrace, and rewind the great moments between the characters.

Sean: I love conventions and have had some really wonderful experiences with fans. Too many to single out any one in particular – although Comic-Con in 2010 was pretty amazing. Like Karen – like every writer of tie-in fiction, I guess – I also feel that I approach the franchise from my own perspective, one that some people will love and others will hate. I like conflicted characters, characters who could go either way given the slightest incentive, and I tend to veer away from those whose stories are absolutely known. Like Luke and Leia, for instance, or even historical figures like Darth Vader (although I do love him as a secondary player in the Force Unleashed books). I love a good romance, and I do love a stupendous space battle. I love opposites coming together, multiple viewpoints and complex plots. In that sense, I think Fatal Alliance is the best Star Wars novel I’ve ever written, and I’m delighted that the fans have reacted so positively to it. Meeting people who tell me stuff like that is always a joy, but so is hanging out with people who love the franchise as much as I do. Ultimately I don’t care if they like my books or not. Star Wars unites us, even if we can never agree on which movie is our favourite.

Design by fotografik

In other news, Nicole Murphy is running a fantastic series of interviews on her website, in which she has asked a slew of authors about their writing habits and processes. There have already been such a wonderful responses, from the likes of Sean Williams, Angela Slatter, Joanne Anderton, Kate Forsyth, Justina Robson — and so many more! You can find the complete list to-date here.

There are two posts per writer: one focusing on habits, the other on processes. This week, it’s my turn to give my two cents — and my first post, in which I reveal what an anal-retent I am, is now live. Thanks, Nicole!

Travel, writing, marking essays, launching Midnight and Moonshine, editing, applying for jobs… Any and all of these things explain my general lack of updatery lately. That’s no excuse, you say? True. True. So I shall endeavour to fill you all in on the events of the past month in a short series of Mega-Catchup Posts — beginning with this one.

Wonderful dinner, great conversations, excellent company! Pictured: Kathleen Jennings, Liz Hand, Karin Tidbeck & friend, Jeff and Ann VanderMeer, John Clute, and me.

Basically, the World Fantasy Convention was awesome. It was the first one I’d attended — thanks, in large part, to a Professional Development grant I’d received from Arts SA (thank you, Arts SA!!) — and I still can’t believe what an amazing time I had in Toronto. For some reason, I imagined that I’d arrive at the con, not knowing too many people (a few, luckily!) and that all of the other, more established authors would have their other, more established circles of friends and that I’d wind up like a wallflower at the school dance, watching all the cool kids have fun while I scoped out the nearest exit. Well, that was SO NOT THE CASE.

Everyone was incredibly friendly, warm, and amazingly welcoming — honestly, this post is going to be filled with nothing but gush — and I was so happy to hang out with the lot of them for four days. Hurricane Sandy might have put a damper on the weather, but luckily the hotel bar had heat aplenty: fiery conversations, drinks, and the friction of elbows rubbing.

It’s so hard to pinpoint only a few highlights of the convention, but I’ll do my best.

1) READINGS and SESSIONS

It was fantastic getting to hear so many authors read their own works; to see the Guests of Honour in their sessions; and to get the chance to do a reading myself, from Bluegrass Symphony. Particular favourites were: Rob Shearman (pictured left. If you ever get a chance to see Rob perform one of his stories, take it. He is, hands down, the BEST at live readings. I’ve used the word “perform” intentionally: Rob seems to have memorised every word he’s written, and he acts the stories out. Pure gold.), Cat Rambo, Garth Nix, Julie Czerneda, Simon Strantzas and Kathleen Jennings (pictured right). I loved Jeff VanderMeer’s interview/discussion session with Guest of Honour, Liz Hand; also loved the relaxed session Charles de Lint, Mary Ann Harris, and Charles Vess did — including spontaneous jam session by Charles D and Mary Ann! And inspiration struck for a new story while listening to Sean Williams, Holly Black and Graham Joyce talk about changelings…

Charles Vess, Charles de Lint, Mary Ann Harris. Please excuse the crap quality of the photos!

2) THE BAR and DINNERS

At the WFA: me and Lavie. Photo by Rani Graff

Not for the quality of the drinks or the service, which were meh, but for the company. CAVEAT: This is the part of the post where I’m going to sound like a pretentious wanker, name-dropping. But I can’t avoid mentioning people by name, unless you want to play a guessing game about who I’m referring to: “You know, the Canadian guy with the long beard? Or that British author with the book?” So, yes. Names galore! I LOVED getting to catch up with lovely Rob again; meeting all of the everyone from and/or related to ChiZine: Brett, Sandra, Helen, Laura, Simon, Michael, OMG I’M FORGETTING PEOPLE! Sorry!; also loved getting to FINALLY meet Ann VanderMeer in person, and to see Jeff again, and to have a most wonderful dinner on Saturday night with them and Karin Tidbeck, her lovely friend (whose name I’ve forgotten, but who told some very saucy stories on the way to the restaurant!), Kathleen, Liz Hand and John Clute (pictured far above)); loved meeting John Berlyne, Lavie Tidhar, Aliette de Bodard, Cat Rambo, and OMG Amal El-Mohtar, Claire S.E. Cooney (gorgeous Preraphaelites!), Doselle Young; also loved getting to spend some time with Sean, Alisa, Jonathan, Garth, Isobelle, Emily — the small, but awesome, Australian contingent…

I’m sure I’m forgetting people. And the point of all this wankery is not to show off, but to emphasise how great it was to meet people at this convention. Not just “see” them on Facebook, but actually get the chance to have face-to-face, 3D, LIVE WITH ALCOHOL conversations. If it wasn’t for all of these awesome people, then I’d have had a really drab time.

3) THE AWARDS

Sure, I didn’t win ‘Best Collection’. But I honestly don’t care. THE FIRST BOOK I HAVE PUBLISHED WAS NOMINATED. This, to me, is an award in itself. I lost out to TIM FREAKING POWERS. GAWD, what more could you ask for?! I got a little miniature Lovecraft head to wear on my name badge all week, even though I didn’t get the big ugly one to put on my bookshelf. I got to get all dolled up and have a lovely banquet lunch with excellent company. I got to see Ann and Jeff win for The Weird. And got to see Lavie give the shortest acceptance speech of all time while winning Best Novel for Osama. Joy, all around.

4) THE BOOKS

I got so many, I had to ship 3 boxes home. Need I say more? (Will post pics when the boxes arrive!)

Well, it’s official: Lament for the Afterlife and Twinmaker: Fall have been launched in Adelaide!

Saturday night was such a blast. If you ever find yourself in a position to have a joint book launch and celebration with one of your most excellent friends, do it. It was so much fun launching Sean’s book and having him launch mine (his speech was a billion times better than mine, which should come as no surprise — the lad’s got a way with words, after all!) Since there were two of us, we were able to keep the speeches short (which is ideal when there is champagne waiting to be had!) and we both gave a little taste of our stories before calling the formalities to a close. The SA Writers Centre was a lovely venue, as always, and lucky for us the weather was cool(ish) that day so the atrium didn’t get too hot — until people hit the dance floor, of course, at which point it was smoking. Obviously.

Garth Nix was a brilliant, generous MC — and also the most well-dressed glassy in Australia! — and I’m so grateful he came to Adelaide and kept proceedings moving along. Thank you, Garth!

I’m also massively grateful to my dear Brain, Angela Slatter, for coming down for the weekend as well. Not only was it amazing to see her again (our last reunion was at the Aurealis Awards!) Angela helped with the catering — and provided an army of Haigh’s chocolate frogs! — and with the set-up, and washed dozens and dozens of dishes throughout the night… Without Angela and Garth on deck, I swear we’d still be at the SAWC cleaning up! PLUS, Angela spoiled me with a pampering session at the spa beforehand, and also gave me the most awesome necklace (of Pinocchio trapped inside the whale’s belly) which — in a wonderful moment of serendipity — looked like it was made specifically for my dress! (I got as many compliments on the gorgeous necklace as I got on my novel, and I was more than happy to take both!) Thank you, thank you, thank you, Angela!

We had a delightful crowd of friends to share the evening with us — loads of smiling faces throughout the night, which lifted the spirits and filled the room with such happiness. Thanks, everyone, for coming!

Also super-cool: there were wine and champagne bottles printed with special labels featuring the covers of our new books (see pic above) and an awesome playlist of awesome 80s and 90s songs perfect for dancing (thanks, DJ Sean, for the tunes!) And thanks to Collins Booksellers (Edwardstown) we had plenty of stock there for sale, not to mention very friendly booksellers to help match readers with books!

All in all, it was a fabulous night! Thank you so much, Sean, for sharing the launch with me! I couldn’t have imagined a better way to introduce Lament to our hometown. *raises glass*

This is probably the last and latest “post-Natcon” post to show its face on the interwebs — considering it’s now, what, a whole week after the convention ended? — but better late than never, I say.

Angela and Ben Aaronovich

I had a grand time at Contact 2016, which kicked off on the Thursday evening with a completely fun “in conversation” session with Angela and Natcon Guest of Honour, Ben Aaronovich, held at the State Library of Queensland. Ben was full of hilarious anecdotes, tangents, wry advice, and general good humour — just what you want in a GoH — and the audience repaid his great answers with bucketloads of laughter, applause, and cheek-aching smiles.

Friday was the first day of the convention proper, which consisted of many panels (of course), including a great one about speculative fiction illustrations chaired by Kathleen Jennings, and general swanning around until it was time to get ready for the Aurealis Awards that night. (You can see a bunch of great pics from the Awards over on Cat Sparks’ flickr stream; as always, Cat captured the sparkle and spirit of the celebrations). I was delighted to be able to present the award for ‘Best Science Fiction Short Story’ to my dear friend Sean Williams (I assume I was supposed to maintain a neutral expression while looking at the winner’s name in the envelope, but I was grinning ear to ear!) and to have spent the night celebrating Australian speculative fiction in fine style. And, really, any excuse to get dolled up is a-okay with me.

Juliet, Kate, Kim, and me

On Saturday, FableCroft launched Kate Forsyth’s The Rebirth of Rapunzel, a fantastic work derived from Kate’s doctoral exegesis — and with champagne, sweets, and lovely (not to mention concise) speeches, the launch was perfect.

Afterwards, I had the complete joy of moderating/participating in the ‘Real Fantasy’ panel with Kate, Kim Wilkins, and Juliet Marillier, in which we chatted about researching for fantasy novels — and, in all honesty, it was the most fun I’ve ever had chairing a session. The time flew like whoa and before we knew it, we were getting the “5 mins to go” signal. We had a great (packed) audience, and every time I looked up they were smiling, nodding, and sending wonderful happy vibes our way, for which I was very grateful! My only regret is that we didn’t have another hour or so to continue the conversation!

Swanky for the banquet!

The rest of the afternoon flew by in a blur of lunch fun with the ladies, panels, and then more getting dolled up for the Natcon banquet. (You’ll note a theme for this whole convention: namely, getting fancy with friends! Banqueting! Celebrating! All of which was a feat considering it was Easter weekend, and, apparently, this is the only time it’s difficult to source booze in Australia, a nation of unbeatable drinking prowess.)

Day three started early: at the near-crack-of-dawn (in convention terms, anyway) I was on a panel with Kirstyn McDermott, Juliet Marillier, and Thoraiya Dyer, in which we talked about “the story I never wrote”. That is, other people’s books / stories we wished we had written — and I’ll admit, I was unsure how this panel was going to go. I’ll also admit, I was a total doofus for questioning it because this was a fantastic panel.

Juliet, Thoraiya, Kirstyn, and me

Thoraiya was a brilliant moderator, and she and the other panellists so completely sold me on the various books they loved/wished they’d written that now my To Be Read pile is substantially bigger. Again, the time seemed to fly and I was left wishing we’d had more of it to keep talking (and gushing about) books.

(For the record: Juliet chose a book called Gingerbread by Robert Dinsdale, Thoraiya chose The Swan Book by Alexis Wright, Kirstyn chose House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski, and I chose The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood — amongst others. These books kicked off a much larger discussion.)

The rest of the afternoon was spent — surprise, surprise — going to panels. And then getting dolled up. (Actually, small aside: this is the first convention I’ve gone to in, well, ever, that I’ve attended so many panel sessions. And not just because the bar was closed sometimes because of Easter.)

MC Lisa! (Photo by Liz McEwin)

The Ditmar Awards were on Sunday night, and they were particularly memorable this year for a few reasons.

First, I was asked to MC the ceremony this time around, and (very much thanks to Catherine Moller, who prepared much of the material for me to present / aka made sure I didn’t sound like a complete dork) I had a wonderful time fulfilling this role.

Second, I won my first ever Ditmar Award! Lament for the Afterlife got the gong for ‘Best Novel’ — and I was (and still am) so completely chuffed to have received this award — and such a swanky piece of glasswork it is, too!

Third, Angela won ‘Best Novella’, which added to the happy-happy glow of the evening — but also, I was so stoked for the winners for all of the categories!

And last but not least, champagne flowed throughout and afterwards, and it’s my firm belief that all awards shows should be viewed through a glass fizzing with bubbles.

By the time Monday rolled around, I was pretty wiped (aren’t we all by Day Four?) but really enjoyed the ‘Ask Me Anything’ session with all of this year’s Guests of Honour (Ben Aaronovich, Keri Arthur, and Jill Pantozzi). In between all of these sessions, it was such great fun catching up with friends throughout the convention, chatting with Ron from Pulp Fiction Books, and also buying a marvellous little plague doctor “Doctor Bird” statue from K.J. Bishop (whose work is amazing, and you should all be tempted to buy her pieces as quickly and easily as many of us at the convention were; my “Doctor Bird” is the figure on the left up on her website’s header, seen here. Also, she has an Etsy shop. Just saying.)

So it was with much pleasure, and a great sigh of relaxation, that Angela and I escaped on a writing retreat after the convention was over. We drove up to a peaceful cabin in Eumarella, which is somewhere close to Noosa (I’m horrible with directions, not from Brisbane, and also have I mentioned my bad sense of direction?) so that’s about as specific as I can get. BUT, I can say that it was in the middle of a forest, on a lake, with kangaroos hopping across our yard (sometimes at night, which, I gotta say, was a bit unsettling until I realised it was roos and not, say, Jason from Friday the 13th skulking outside my window after dark), and where we had nothing to do but write, edit, watch episodes of Adventure Time, go for runs in the ridiculous humidity, write more, edit more, and, of course, drink champagne. (See pics of the lovely surrounds below.)

Finally, last night after a loooooooong drive home (because of an accident on the Bruce Hwy that turned our 2 hr drive into a 6.5 hr drive) I spent one final evening in the company of Brisbane friends, sharing stories and delicious pizza with Kathleen, Pete, Angela, and David — and possibly falling in love with a schnauzer named Boston. A wonderful end to a wonderful, whirlwind time away!

I’m delighted to be on the program for the SA Writers Centre’s upcoming Speculative Fiction and Fantasy Festival, which is happening next weekend (7-8 May). This is going to be such a blast — as you can no doubt see from the list of featured guests:

Gillian Rubinstein (aka Lian Hearn), Sean Williams, Lisa L Hannett, Ben Chandler, Jason Fischer, DM Cornish,  Tony Shillitoe, Jo Spurrier and Tehani Wessely.

This two day premium event will include exclusive writing classes, plus networking events, industry panels, and a very special reading performance by award winning local and interstate writers Saturday evening.There is will also be a workshop run by a publisher on tips for pitching your work!

Suitable for all writers interested in speculative fiction, including fantasy, science fiction, horror, and other worlds.

Head on over here for information about the program and how to register for this event. Hope to see you there!

In addition to the panel sessions and workshops, SAWC is hosting a “Quick & Dirty” reading event on the Saturday night at the Beer Garden at Producers Hotel, where many of the folks listed above (including yours truly) will be doing short readings of weird, fantastical, and amazing fiction! RSVPs for this early evening event are appreciated, and details can be found here.

Don’t know how I missed this, but The Dragons of the Night, volume 36/37 of PS Publishing’s Postscripts series, is out! In gorgeous hardback (as always!) and LOOK! My name is there on the cover!

This volume contains my story, ‘Surfacing’ — perhaps one of the saddest I’ve written (IMHO). By way of introducing this piece, I wrote this little blurb:

The idea for this story sparked while I was listening to Sean Williams give an hour-long talk about matter transmitters, in which he discussed some of the moral and philosophical implications of being ‘beamed up’ — fascinating concepts that far surpassed anything I’d ever thought of while watching Star Trek. While ‘Surfacing’ is, ultimately, not a matter transmitter story, it explores some of problems this form of transport highlights: what happens to the ‘real us’ when people dematerialise? What is lost each time we come apart? What remains?

• Robert Freeman Wexler  Darkness, and Darkness
• James Cooper  S.K.
• Allen Ashley  A Reverie of Time
• Robert Guffey The Wedding Photographer
• Andrew Jury  Machinists
• John Grant  The Second Runner
• Lisa L. Hannett  Surfacing
• Robert Reed  In Passing
• Darrell Schweitzer  The Dragons of the Night
• Robert Edric  Last Post
• James Cooper  Texas
• John Gribbin  Untanglement: The Leaving of the Quantum Cats
• Paul Di Filippo  Karen Coxswain, or, Death as She is Truly Lived
• Keith Brooke  Rewrites
• John Grant  Everything Finishes
• Andrew Hook  The Day My Heart Stood Still
• Gary Fry  Madam, I’m Adam
• Cate Gardner  In the Macabre Theatre of Nightshade Place
• Stephen Bacon  Happy Sands
• Scott Edelman  The Man Without the Blue Balloon and the Woman Who Had Smiles Only for Him
• Bruce Golden  Blesséd
• Darrell Schweitzer   The Hutchison Boy
• Brian Aldiss  Abundances Above
• Lavie Tidhar  The Beachcomber

This year’s Australian Short Story Festival is being held here in Adelaide, and it’s a great pleasure to be participating in the program (which you can access in full here). The festival starts tomorrow and runs through the weekend; you can catch me chatting about speculative fiction with Sean Williams and Helen Dinmore on Saturday morning, and on Sunday afternoon I’ll be discussing the stranger things short fiction can do with Simone Corletto and Caroline Reid.

All of the panel sessions are being held in the Hawke Building of the UniSA Campus at 55 North Terrace, and there are a few extracurricular activities being held in conjunction with the festival, too — so make sure to check these out as well! Hope to see some of you there on the weekend.