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.”
Yog-Blogsoth is a website well worth your time. Thanks to Michael for pointing me in the direction of this one. From TheLovescraftMan.com: Michael Bukowski is admittedly obsessed with H.P. Lovecraft and has spent the last year posting drawings of Lovecraft creatures on his blog Yog-Blogsoth. (Side note: Don’t we Lovecraft bloggers come up with...
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At Worldcon last year, which was Aussiecon4, nearly 100 authors, illustrators, publishers and editors who were present signed a square of fabric. Each piece of fabric was worked into a quilt to celebrate the SF community. Click on the picture for a larger version. This is Conquilt. Now, Conquilt is being auctioned on eBay...
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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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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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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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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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Hopscotch Films were kind enough to send me a double pass for a pre-screening of the new sci-fi thriller Source Code. So I hooked up a good mate and we went along last night. Source Code opens with Jake Gyllenhaal snapping awake in a train carriage, clearly unaware of where he is and what’s...
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I was checking in on the news over breakfast this morning and came across this terrible story. Actress Elisabeth Sladen, who played Sarah Jane Smith in Doctor Who and had her own Sarah Jane Adventures series more recently, died last night aged only 63. She’d been fighting cancer for some time, apparently. This news...
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I’m really pleased to have a story coming out in this anthology from couer de lion publishing, edited by Keith Stevenson. It’s a science fiction anthology featuring 27 original stories of humanity’s adventures out there, anywhere but Earth. It’s a great theme and the full Table of Contents has been released now, along with...
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Possibly religious quote of the year. I simply could not let this one go by, for I nearly laughed my morning cereal out of my nose when I read this. To be honest, there’s a plethora of fantastic quotes in this story. The Reverend Avril Hannah-Jones of the Uniting Church in Romsey, north of...
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The title says it all. You just can’t. I won’t allow it. I hear it so often and I find it baffling. I know what it means to love books. I love books to a degree most would consider unhealthy. I’m a bibliophile of the highest order. The feel, the weight, the smell, the...
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Please excuse the post title. That’s probably one of the most overused cliche phrases ever, but I couldn’t help it. I’ve had a really good weekend of news regarding my short fiction. First off, something I’ve been pleased about for a while but not allowed to announce. As you can see from the image,...
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If you think you recognise the title Scenes From The Second Storey from previous posts, you’d be right. It’s been nominated for Best Anthology in the Aurealis Awards, Ditmar Awards and Australian Shadows Awards, and numerous stories from it have been nominated all over the place as well. It’s got a lot of attention...
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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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