Click on book covers for reviews, previews and purchase options.
RealmShift
A race against time and the Devil
"RealmShift is phenomenal. If it’s not already on your bookshelf it should be."
MageSign
Believe in the blood 
"a gritty tale of blood rituals, mystery, and mysticism… grabs hold of the reader and doesn’t let go"
The Darkest Shade Of Grey
You can tell the story.
"...stunning supernatural noir..."
Ghost Of The Black
"Everything about it is bang on"
Write The Fight Right
“The best way for a writer to learn what’s really involved in brawling, short of going down the pub and starting something.”
Episode18 of the podcast I host with David Wood is now up. In this episode we talk about what it takes to get noticed as a writer. We discuss short fiction as a means of promotion as well as a means of creativity in itself. We talk about the difference between having a large...
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Cities across Australia and the world are meeting points today for thousands of people who plan to take part in a SlutWalk. There have been many walks already and many more are planned. The idea was born when one Canadian policeman said women needed to take responsibility in the prevention of sexual assaults by...
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The Emerging Writers’ Festival is an independent arts organisation based in Melbourne’s Wheeler Centre for Books, Writing and Ideas, that exists in order to promote the interests of emerging writers – to improve their opportunities for professional development as well as their engagement with the broader public. Each year the Emerging Writers’ Festival brings...
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Are you reading this? Then I’m talking to you. You’re a reader and you have a new responsibility. I’m including myself in this. I’m a writer, but I’m a reader too. Any writer worth his or her salt should be a voracious reader, and we’ve got a new responsibility as well. We’re all the...
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Last night I attended the Aurealis Awards presentation, held for the first time in Sydney. Now I’m very tired and recovering from a hangover, so this won’t be a long post. It was great to catch up with so many friends again and celebrate the strength of speculative fiction in Australia. I’ll post a...
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I was watching on Twitter while Charles A Tan (of Bibliophile Stalker fame) chatted with all sorts of people about short story collections. Not anthologies, with multiple authors, but single author collections. I’m a fan of short stories, I love writing and reading them, but I read most of my short fiction in magazines...
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When something drops out of the news cycle it’s easy to forget about it. But just because the purveyors of sensationalised pictures have got bored with an event, it doesn’t mean people aren’t still suffering. The devastating floods in Queensland might seem like a long time ago to most of us, but they’re still...
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The May edition of the Australian Speculative Fiction Blog Carnival has been posted to NecroScope. Take a peek, and find out what’s been happening in your community this past month. http://zombiefictionreview.blogspot.com/2011/05/news-australian-speculative-fiction.html There’s some good stuff, so make yourself a cuppa and have a browse. .
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Twitter (which gives me so many great links) led me to this article in The Guardian by Iain M Banks. In it he addresses the crossover of literary writers into SF. He uses a great example of a writer coming up with a fantastic new idea – basically, a murder mystery where the crazy...
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This makes me a bit sad. I’ve always had an affinity for typewriters, since I wrote my first ever stories on my mum’s old Remington when I was about seven years old. I’ve used a typewriter as my website logo for a while now. They’ve always fascinated me as these things that can make...
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Please excuse this post – I’ve been having trouble with crossposting to LiveJournal. I mean, let’s face it, LiveJournal is deader than MySpace really, but I know lots of people that still use it, like folks desperately cycling along the freeway as cars blitz past at twenty times their speed. But anyway, I’m just...
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It’s often said that there are two types people, for many different situations. There are glass half-full and glass half-empty people. There are extroverts and introverts. There are artists and academics. None of these are entirely accurate. (In truth, there are people who believe there are two types of people and people who don’t.)...
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a writer goes on a journey is a great review site and official news site of the Australian Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association, or ASFFWA. (Which we like to pronounce AsssFWA!) They recently reviewed RealmShift and interviewed me as part of Aussie Author Month. There are some nice comments in the review, such...
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I read this post on S F Signal, which links to this post on Warren Ellis’s website. Both are essential reading for writers. In the S F Signal post, China Mieville talks about worldbuilding and references the M John Harrison quote that Warren Ellis posted. I’m going to repost that quote here, because it...
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Usually when I’m writing, my best mate is snoozing beside me. I often wonder if I sometimes channel his dreams. Certainly not for the darker and nastier stuff I write, because Penry is about the gentlest and most pacifistic dog I’ve ever known, but perhaps the more whimsical things come from his sleeping mind....
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Welcome to the website of author Alan Baxter.
I write dark fantasy, sci fi and horror, ride a motorcycle and love my dog. I also teach Kung Fu, hence the Warrior Scribe tag above. A friend once referred to me that way and I liked it, so it stuck. Learn all about me and my work by clicking About Alan just below the header.
Our world is built on language and storytelling. Without stories, we are nothing.
The Word is a place to learn more about me, my stories and the words of others. Click the links along the top for all kinds of stuff, search the sidebars for loads of other stuff, click on book covers for reviews and previews, enjoy the blog and don't be shy to share your words, in comments or send me an email:
alan [at]alanbaxteronline[dot]com
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