alan

Today is Friday the 13th. Ooooh, cue Twilight Zone music. Of course, it’s all superstitious bollocks, like being afraid to walk under a ladder or thinking a political agitator died two thousand years ago for your sins. I mean, really? Get over yourself. But why is Friday 13th considered unlucky? Folklore and superstition is...
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You may recall that a week or so ago I was talking about the hype surrounding The Hunger Games, reading YA fiction and my disappointment with aspects of the book. The comments on that post led me to reconsider going to see the film. As did many of the comments on Facebook, surrounding the...
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Tuesday Toot is a semi-regular feature here at The Word. An invite-only series of short posts where writers, editors, booksellers and other creatives have been asked to share their stuff and toot their own horn. It’s hard to be seen in the digital morass and hopefully this occasional segment will help some of the...
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I’m very pleased to present here an interview with Jodi Cleghorn and Adam Byatt. Jodi and Adam are embarking on a very interesting literary experiment. Post Marked: Piper’s Reach is “an ambitious organic narrative collaborative project”, with Jodi and Adam “traversing an odd path between old and new forms of communication, differing modalities of...
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Just a quick reminder to anyone in the Perth area that Damnation and Dames will be launching at Swancon this Friday. Sadly, I won’t be attending Swancon this year, but if you’re in the Perth area you should really give it a go. Damnation and Dames is a collection of ‘paranormal noir’ stories from...
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Tuesday Toot is a semi-regular feature here at The Word. An invite-only series of short posts where writers, editors, booksellers and other creatives have been asked to share their stuff and toot their own horn. It’s hard to be seen in the digital morass and hopefully this occasional segment will help some of the...
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Like so many people, I’ve just read The Hunger Games. I read it because I wanted to know what all the hype was about. The books on their own were a big success, then big budget movie moguls took them on and the production company engaged in a massive online hype campaign. Also, a...
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I’m very pleased to announce that my short story, “The Goodbye Message”, is now published and free to read online at the wonderful ticon4 e-zine. ticon4 is part of independent publisher Ticonderoga Publications, and publishes excellent fiction for free, through donations and book sales, as well as reviews, interviews and other bits and pieces....
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This is such a great story. You’ll know I have a bit a of a predilection for Real Life Superhero stories if you’ve been reading this blog for long. One of the greatest posts ever ended up with actual Real Life Super Heroes (RLSH) arguing in the comments, which subsequently had to be closed....
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Submitting work for publication is a complete lottery. But it’s a lottery we can stack in our favour. The simple fact is that publication comes from a variety of efforts. I wrote a piece before about what I considered the essential factors in success. It basically boils down to dreams, talent, determination, friends and...
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Tuesday Toot is a semi-regular feature here at The Word. An invite-only series of short posts where writers, editors, booksellers and other creatives have been asked to share their stuff and toot their own horn. It’s hard to be seen in the digital morass and hopefully this occasional segment will help some of the...
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My dark fairy story, The Everywhere And The Always, was recently published in the Mythic Resonance anthology. One of the other contributing authors, Sue Bursztynski, has been having a series of guest posts about it on her blog. My post is up now, wherein I talk about mythology, folklore and the beauty of storytelling....
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I’m really excited about this, so excuse me while I Snoppy Dance. My novella, The Darkest Shade Of Grey, is now available as an ebook, from Amazon and Smashwords. It’ll soon populate out through the Smashwords Premium catalogue to iBooks and all the other good places for ebooks. David Johanssen’s drinking problem goes beyond...
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Ever wanted to write a novel but can’t find the time? Feel like you’re on your own and have no support or encouragement? I’m here to help. I’m actually quite honoured, since The Australian Writers’ Marketplace have asked me to get involved with the latest Year Of The Novel project as facilitator. This course...
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SpecFaction NSW, organisers of the 2010 and 2011 Aurealis Awards, have announced the finalists for the 2011 Aurealis Awards. Congratulations to all the nominees! FANTASY NOVEL The Undivided by Jennifer Fallon (HarperVoyager) Ember and Ash by Pamela Freeman (Hachette) Stormlord’s Exile by Glenda Larke (HarperVoyager) Debris by Jo Anderton (Angry Robot) The Shattered City...
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