Tuesday Toot… on a Wednesday*
Alan Baxter, warrior scribe, invited me over to his website to participate in his ‘Tuesday Toot’ series, which he describes as: 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.
So I blithely headed on over to The Word and chatted about Bluegrass Symphony, the Weird West, Midnight & Moonshine and, of course, Le Novel.
Visit Al’s site to read the whole trumpety thing.
*I tried to share this yesterday, but the internetz weren’t playing nice… Thanks for inviting me, Al!
Clarkesworld interview!
Recently, the most excellent Jeremy L. C. Jones interviewed me for the February issue of Clarkesworld magazine — and it’s now live!
In ‘Wendigo, Waistcoat, Spyglass and Other Words’ Jeremy and I chat about style, the short form, and “the human side of even the nastiest creatures.” Jeremy asked such fantastic questions — it was an absolute pleasure answering them.
Why the short form? What is it that you love about the short story?
Initially, I started writing short stories because I was also working on my PhD, which is a long and often tedious process. I wanted to write something brief, immediate, with a clear end in sight. Also, I had loads of ideas for stories, and no matter how much I tried to ignore them, more kept cropping up. I’d be reading all sorts of dry academic articles or translating passages from the Icelandic sagas while my back-brain was jumping up and down, shouting “There’s a crow stuck in a mechanical carnival! What’re you going to do about it?” or “She’s got to sing while eating corpses! How’s she going to do that without a voice?” Things like that are hard to ignore.
Read the whole interview here.
An Introduction to Australian Horror
In honour of Australia Day, I was asked to write an article about Australian horror for This Is Horror in the UK — and it’s now up! The article surveys some of the standout horror published in the past two years by Australian independent presses: so much to talk about, so much incredible talent!
Australia is a land of extremes. One minute the country is ravaged by drought and bushfires, the next it’s drowning in devastating floods. The continent is a combination of enormous red deserts meeting sprawling metropolises meeting ancient tropical rainforests meeting endless coastlines. Some of the largest — and tiniest — deadly predators on the planet are hidden out in the wilds, but are also unearthed in suburban backyards. Over it all, the harsh Australian sun beats down. Casting the longest, darkest shadows.
And right there — right where the glaring light gives way to shade — a population of Australian horror writers thrives. It’s a great position to be in. Looking at stories published by independent presses in the past two years, we find that Australian horror can plunge wholly into the black, even more tragic and disturbing by contrast to the brightness left behind; it can be light-hearted but nuanced, love and joy limned in darkness; or it can tread both worlds, supernatural and terrifying and endearing all at once…
Read the rest here — and enjoy!
And another one…
Who knew it was possible to get TEN (I had to count them, and yes, there were TEN) stars??
Scary Minds has posted their review of Bluegrass Symphony, and, well. I’m gobsmacked. “Glowing” doesn’t quite cover it… It’s more like “incandescent”. ‘From the Teeth of Strange Children’, ‘Depot to Depot’ and ‘Forever, Miss Tapekwa County’ are singled out as particular favourites, but the reviewer has great things to say about the book as a whole:
Hannett throws down the gauntlet to erstwhile readers with a collection of twelve stories that aren’t quite what you would expect from a dark genre collection. The author has her own voice, isn’t afraid to let it sing, and delivers a collection that is remarkably striking…
Full recommendation, Hannett reminds us that the dark gothic short story is still an art form.
Lisa L. Hannett has arrived kicking and screaming on the scene. ScaryMinds has another favourite Author.
Read the rest of the review here.
Wow. I think I should go into the oubliette more frequently. Was offline for three days and came back to three fantastic reviews. I wonder what would happen if I went offline for a week?
(Not that we’ll never know: I’m way too attached to the internet to test that theory…)
“Like reading memoirs of the damned…”
Another fantastic review of Bluegrass Symphony comes hot on the heels of the one I posted about yesterday! Wow!
Marc Nocerino has written a thoughtful and well-considered review of the collection for the most excellent She Never Slept — from which the title of this post is taken. Seriously, how cool is it to have your stories described as akin to “memoirs of the damned”? This is, honestly, an incredible compliment! (Thanks, Marc!)
Some other highlights:
The where is easy enough to pin down, but it is more difficult to put a finger on the when of this book, as Hannett expertly writes of these people and places in shadowy sepia tones that could be anywhere between the turn of last century and some near tomorrow. I enjoyed that ambiguity immensely, especially in the story “From The Teeth Of Strange Children”, where I had felt certain that it took place in the early 1900s until the characters get into an SUV with leather seats and “controls” for the windows...
Hannett’s stories themselves are some of the weirdest I’ve read in a while…
One thing that I enjoyed tremendously about this book is that Hannett’s horror is very personal. From the very first, these tales focus not only on the terrible things that are happening in her stories, but how they are affecting the lives and emotions of her protagonists. There is a hollow sadness suffusing these pages that made me feel like I was reading the memoirs of the damned.
Read the rest here.
Bluegrass Symphony has been Bibliophile Stalked!
Today has been awesome! Finished writing another chapter of The Familiar, and then when I bemoaned my lack of pancakes on Twitter this morning (it seems like *everyone* eats and then tweets about pancakes on Sunday!) the lovely Charles Tan offered me something MUCH sweeter: a link to the fabulous review he wrote of Bluegrass Symphony over on his website.
Here’s a snippet:
When we talk about an author’s style, it’s usually a quality that’s refined and polished over years. Hannett is one of those rare writers who can write using a variety of voices — and does so wonderfully. It’s not simply having an ear for dialog, but possessing the ability to translate what’s spoken into the written word and using it to convey to readers the mindset, upbringing, and culture of her characters…
Also wonderful is how Charles says: Bluegrass Symphony is one of those collections that feels more like an anthology due to the author’s wide range. This is easily a must-read book of 2011, doubly so since most of the stories aren’t reprints.
How cool!
Read the rest here.
Business cards: Or, On How I am Spoiled Rotten
I’ve reached that stage in my writing career where business cards come in handy. Going to cons, sending contracts, mailing in hard copies of subs — these are but a few of the opportunities we have to share our professional details. So I put some together a few months ago, simple things that were meant to look like the pages of a book, but when they came back from the printer’s I was disappointed. They just weren’t quite what I’d had in mind… so I ditched them, because, well, ew.
Enter: Best Friend of the Highest Order (played by Angela Slatter)
Designer Extraordinare (played by David Pollitt)
Artist of Wondrous Wonders (played by Kathleen Jennings)
Plot: BF conspires with DE and AWW to secretly create a set of fabulous business cards the likes of which I could not imagine. Deals were struck, magic was worked, and beauty was brought to my mailbox in card form.
And behold! CLOCKWORK OWLS!!! Fonts fashioned out of twigs!!! Quotes from mine own stories!!!
Artwork (c) Kathleen Jennings
A treeful of mechanical owls graces the front of each card, and there are also various quotes from my stories (collect them all!) on each card. On the back, the awesome barn owl is featured.
Thank you, thank you thank, dear Brain, Badger, and La Belle Artiste!
xxxx
Top 2011 Stories: Not if You Were the Last Short Story on Earth
In all the end-of-year hoopla, I completely forgot to mention that the readers over at Not if You Were the Last Short Story on Earth rock! Bluegrass Symphony got much love on their Top 2011 Stories lists:
‘Carousel’ gets a nod from Alisa;
Mondy also picked ‘Carousel’ as well as ‘Fur and Feathers’, ‘To Snuff a Flame’, ‘Forever, Miss Tapekwa County’, and ‘The Short Go: A Future in Eight Seconds’;
And Sarah highlighted ‘Unlocking the God’ — which isn’t a Bluegrass story, but was published in a whopping double-issue of Electric Velocipede.
So many excellent authors, so many amazing stories! Thanks so much, LSS! This is so cool!
Here’s looking at you, 2011
Last day of the year… so like many of you I’m feeling the urge to commit a bit of retrospective bloggery.
2011 sucked. Then it was awesome. Then it sucked again. Then it got better than ever… And so on. This was the rollercoaster year to beat all others, and it often felt like I was the poster child for the proverbial Chinese curse of “living in interesting times…”
At this time last year, I was staring down the barrel of writing the final three chapters of my PhD thesis. I had January to do it, so I became a hermit and wrote and wrote and wrote. After six years, endless hours of agony, a good dollop of joy, and the hardest work I’d ever done, I finished the draft. HUGE YAY! And then I discovered a Danish scholar’s brand new body of work on a topic that was unnervingly close to mine — so my head exploded. Rewriting ensued, as did tears, frustration, more tears — aka HUGE LOW. But as we know it all worked out, so I’ll move on.
At the same time, I was finishing my first collection of short stories, Bluegrass Symphony. Edits, writing, rewriting all happened while I was freaking out about my thesis… and while my lovely sister and her boyfriend were visiting from Canada (HUUUUGE YAY!!!) It all got done — with time to spare! — and suddenly I found myself with a complete thesis AND a complete book! (YAY!)
Thus armed, I applied for my dream academic job (in English and Creative Writing) — but didn’t get an interview (BOO!). But then discovered that nobody had gotten an interview, and so they would readvertise in a few months (YAY!) and so I still had a chance.
Along with my dear Brain, Angela Slatter, I signed a contract for a second collection of stories, Midnight and Moonshine — which we’re co-authoring (HUUUUGE YAY! We had so much fun collaborating on ‘The February Dragon’!)
I was nominated for three Ditmar awards (YAY! and I had a ball at Swancon) and Angela and I won the Aurealis Award for ‘Best Fantasy Story 2010′ for ‘The February Dragon’ (HUGE YAY!)
Had a massive teaching workload this year — four topics, over 200 students, marking marking marking until I thought my eyes would bleed. Even so, teaching was a bit YAY (because I had some wonderful students!) and a lot BOO (see: marking, eyes bleeding).
The dream academic job was readvertised (YAY!) I applied and had an incredibly strong application (YAY!) but failed to get an interview because of a technicality (not going into details, sorry). Saying ‘HUGE BOO’ here would actually diminish how much this experience affected me. This all happened in June right after I submitted my thesis for examination. So after that great high (thesis finished!!) the whole Job Debacle of 2011 was without a doubt the nadir of my year.
What do they say about reaching rock bottom? The only way is up? Well, that’s pretty much what happened in the second half of 2011. Bluegrass Symphony was published to great reviews and was launched by the ever-fantastic Sean Williams (YAAAAAAAAAAAAY!). My PhD thesis passed with two As, so I didn’t have to change a word (although I did change an accent on one of my Icelandic translations) YAAAAAAAAAAAY!
Then another job-related BOO: I quit my non-teaching job after working there happily for 4 years. Again, not going into detail here, but needless to say, it sucked.
But then another HUGE YAAAAAAAAAAY: writing time! And I got the Arts SA grant I applied for, so that writing time continues on, uninterrupted, well into 2012!
Up, down, up, down, up, down… Here’s hoping 2012 is a bit more even-keeled!
To sum up, in terms of dayjobbery, this year has blown. In terms of writing, however, this has been the most awesome year yet:
Bluegrass Symphony (Ticonderoga Publications, 2011)
Carousel
Down the Hollow
Them Little Shinin’ Things
Fur and Feathers
From the Teeth of Strange Children
The Wager and the Hourglass
The Short Go: A Future in Eight Seconds
To Snuff a Flame
Depot to Depot
Commonplace Sacrifices (first published in On Spec 2009/2010)
Wires Uncrossed
Forever, Miss Tapekwa County
‘Gutted’, Shimmer, Issue 13, April 2011
‘White and Red in the Black’, Dead Red Heart, ed. Russell B. Farr (Ticonderoga Publications) 2011
NEW STORIES SOLD
Midnight and Moonshine, co-authored with Angela Slatter (Ticonderoga Publications, collection of original stories) Forthcoming November 2012
‘Smoke Billows, Soot Falls’ (Chapbook), ed. Simon Marshall-Jones (Spectral Press) Forthcoming
‘Snowglobes’, Chilling Tales 2: In Words, Alas, Drown I, ed. Michael Kelly (EDGE Publishing) Forthcoming
‘A Girl of Feather and Music’, Postscripts (PS Publishing, UK) Forthcoming
‘Rapacis X. Loco Signa’, Bestiary, ed. Ann & Jeff VanderMeer, Forthcoming
STORIES REPRINTED
‘Tiny Drops’, Midnight Echo, Issue 4, 2010 — REPRINTED IN ChiZine, May 2011
‘Soil From My Fingers’, Tesseracts 14, ed. Brett Alexander Savory & John Robert Colombo (ChiZine Press), 2010 — REPRINTED IN The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy & Horror 2010, ed. Liz Grzyb and Talie Helene (Ticonderoga Publications, 2011)
‘The February Dragon’, co-written with Angela Slatter, Scary Kisses, ed. Liz Grzyb (Ticonderoga Publications), 2010 — REPRINTED IN The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy & Horror 2010, ed. Liz Grzyb and Talie Helene (Ticonderoga Publications, 2011)
BLOGGING
I started the Tuesday Therapy series here, which I’m enjoying immensely;
Brain and I have concocted the Lair of the Evil Drs Brain, which kicks off in January with an interview we recently did with China Miéville;
2 guest posts for the Shimmer blog which you can read here and here;
A guest post for Lee Battersby‘s ‘Treacherous Carrots” art series, which you can read here;
An essay on the weird illustrations of Beardsley, Niffenegger and Gorey for Weird Fiction Review, which you can read here;
And a brief piece on the Weird West in fiction for Random House’s Suvudu site, which you can read here.
Bring on 2012.
Happy New Year, all!
The Weird West in Fiction
This week, a feature post I wrote about the Weird West in fiction is up on suduvu.com — Random House’s site about all things science fiction and fantasy (books, movies, games, comics, manga — yeah, pretty much everything).
Thinking of the American mid-West conjures up images of cowboys and desperadoes, dusty plains and wild mountain ranges, Stetsons and sheriffs and shoot-outs. Usually, calling a story a ‘Western’ leads our imaginations back to the past: we visualise the O.K. Corral, the Alamo, and Billy the Kid. But call it a ‘Weird Western’ and this picture changes… Read the rest here.
They wanted to hear about Bluegrass Symphony, which was awesome. And there are so many other cool Weird West books, stories, films I could’ve talked about (such as PS Publishing’s new anthology, Gutshot)… but, alas, had to keep it brief this time.
Ann VanderMeer’s Introduction to Bluegrass Symphony
Ann VanderMeer’s wonderful introduction to Bluegrass Symphony is now up at Ecstatic Days!
Jeff kicks things off with a little stroll down memory lane…
I first met Lisa L. Hannett when I taught at Clarion South in 2009, and I was impressed with her originality and her prose. (She also looked like she could kick my ass, although that’s neither here nor there.)
Flash-forward just a couple of years and she has several short story sales and a collection, Bluegrass Symphonyout. The collection is just the opening salvo in what promises to be a great career. As I said in my blurb for the book, she “shows a stylistic flair and depth of story…Her fiction is smart, confident, and in her own voice.”
Publishers Weekly wrote: “Hannett’s first collection shows off her fondness for lush imagery, unsettling concepts, indirect prose, and multilayered plots…a collection for fans of weirdness, wonder, and oft-disturbing twists.” (There’s more info on the publisher’s page for the book.)
The rest be here. Go! Read! Enjoy.
Magic 4 Terri Windling auction
Russell B. Farr has offered a limited edition of Bluegrass Symphony (stories by me, intro by Ann VanderMeer) to the Magic4Terri auction. Please go here to bid: http://magick4terri.livejournal.com/94795.html
What’s the cause?
Beloved editor, artist and writer Terri Windling is in need, and we are asking for your help in a fundraising auction to assist her. This auction will combine donations from professionals and fans in an online sale to help Terri through a serious financial crisis.
Terri is the creator of groundbreaking fantasy and mythic art and literature over the past several decades, ranging from the influential urban fantasy series Bordertown to the online Journal of Mythic Arts. With co-editor Ellen Datlow, she changed the face of contemporary short fiction with The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror and other award-winning anthologies, including Silver Birch, Blood Moon and The Green Man: Tales from the Mythic Forest. Her remarkable Endicott Studio blog continues to bring music, poetry, art and inspiration to people all over the world.
Terri Windling and her family have been coping with health and legal issues that have drained her financial resources at a critical time. Due to the serious nature of these issues, and privacy concerns for individual family members, we can’t be more specific than that, but Terri is in need of our support. As a friend, a colleague and an inspiration, Terri has touched many, many lives over the years. She has been supremely generous in donating her own work and art to support friends and colleagues in crisis. Now, Terri is in need of some serious help from her community. Who better than her colleagues and fans to rise up to make some magick for her?
Bidding starts at only $20: http://magick4terri.livejournal.com/94795.html
Five star review for Bluegrass Symphony!
The wonderful Mary Victoria (author of Oracle’s Fire, Samiha’s Song, and Tymon’s Flight) has read and reviewed Bluegrass Symphony — and gave it five stars!
This book tickled me in so many ways. It’s imaginative, well-written, fearless. Yes, fearless – this is a book which doesn’t give a hillbilly rat’s tail dipped in bourbon whether you like it or not. It’s too cool for that! Don’t appreciate the dialects? Go pick a daisy. Don’t like the lush imagery? Go back to your middle grade reader. The rest of you, take the plunge and let these stories enchant you. You’ll love this collection based in an old-South-that-never-was…
Read the rest of this fantastic review here.
Thanks, Mary!
Bluegrass Symphony — radio review!
Somehow it seems so fitting to have Bluegrass Symphony reviewed on the good old-fashioned radio. I haven’t heard the broadcast on Radio Adelaide’s “Writers Radio” programme, but Gillian Dooley’s transcript can be read in full here.
And so many wonderful things are said in this short review! Here’s a snippet:
Self-sacrifice is a frequent theme. In ‘Down the Hollow’ there is a new and bizarre take on the virgin sacrifice, instigated by one of the sinister ‘Reverends’ who figure in several stories. Slightly less harrowing is ‘Commonplace Sacrifices’, narrated by a strange little creature who in his (or perhaps her) devotion cheerfully dismembers himself – a finger here, an ear there – to provide practical support for a wife who is suffering the loss of her husband’s love. You’ll have to read the story to understand how this works, but it is a good example of how the stories are grounded in deeply perceptive emotional intelligence. The fantastic elements are not gimmicks: they serve the emotional logic of the stories, in every case.
Huzzah!!
The Writer & The Critic, Episode 12
OMG the pod has been cast!
This month’s episode of The Writer and the Critic, hosted by the ever-awesome Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond, features Bluegrass Symphony and Rob Shearman’s fantastic collection, Everyone’s Just So So Special.
I haven’t yet mustered up the nerve to listen to the podcast — though rumour has it that Kirstyn and Ian say wonderful things about my book (THANK YOU!!!), and Ian may or may not have believed that Angela has been calling me “Brian” all this time, instead of Brain. (Which is just as hilarious as when a dear friend of mine confessed that she thought I was talking to myself every time I mentioned writing with “Brain”. Because, she said, that sort of behaviour would suit my weird world… LOL!)
So, yes. The pod has been cast.
It’s all very exciting.
Have I mentioned that they say wonderful things about my book?
Head on over to the W&TC website and listen to Episode 12, or download it on iTunes.
And, yes, I will listen to it.
Probably.
‘In Conversation’ over at the Speakeasy blog
In the lead-up to the reading I did last week at Speakeasy, the lovely Alicia Carter and I chatted about my writing process, inspiration, and all things Bluegrass Symphony. Thanks for the awesome questions, Alicia — and for tough ones like this:
This is such a hard question to answer because there are so many! Gah! In terms of style, I’m perpetually inspired by Margaret Atwood (i.e. I am blindingly passionate about her turns of phrase, in everything she’s written – apart from Year of the Flood); ditto Virginia Woolf; ditto Michael Cunningham; ditto David Malouf; ditto Robert Shearman (particularly Tiny Deaths). In terms of characterisation, I constantly think about Flaubert’s Madame Bovary; Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell; Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay; Patricia Highsmith’s Talented Mr Ripley; Jeff VanderMeer’s Finch. In terms of setting and atmosphere, Shirley Jackson, E. Annie Proulx, Timothy Findley…
You can read the whole interview over at the Speakeasy blog.
Bluegrass Symphony: “Future Collector’s Item”
How did I miss this?
Last month, the fabulous YetiStomper selected Bluegrass Symphony for the list of August picks! In the same list as such utterly awesome works as The Magician King by Lev Grossman and Kitty’s Greatest Hits by Carrie Vaughn! WOW.
Stomping on Yeti's Books for August
Bluegrass Symphony - Lisa Hannett
Short Fiction Collection - You might call Lisa Hannett’s first collection “hard to find.” I’d call it “a future collector’s item.” Published by Ticonderoga one hemisphere over and another down, Bluegrass Symphony highlights one of Australia’s up-and-comers with 12 strange stories that will delight and disturb. (August 1 from Ticonderoga Publications)
Read the post in all its glory here.
Ooooh, the scarexcitement!
Happy, exciting, scary news!
The happy: Episode 11 of The Writer and the Critic podcast went live yesterday. The freshly-pressed ep is now sitting patiently in my iPod, waiting for me to listen to it and, inevitably, embarrass myself by giggling like a maniac while doing so. There should be a warning label that says something along the lines of “Do not listen while on public transport. Kirstyn McDermott‘s pointy stick + Ian Mond = guffaw”. Or something.
TW&TC gives me the happies. Which is why, when I discovered yesterday that Episode 12 will feature the following two books, I got a serious case of SCAREXCITEMENT:
The excitement: Bluegrass is being reviewed on TW&TC next to Rob Shearman’s wonderful new collection, Everyone’s Just So So Special!!
The scary: Bluegrass is being reviewed on TW&TC next to Rob Shearman’s wonderful new collection, Everyone’s Just So So Special!!
Rob’s writing is AMAZING. Full stop. If you haven’t read any of his short stories yet — actually, that’s too horrible to contemplate. Click on the cover, click on the link, do whatever you have to do to buy yourself a copy of this book. And also Tiny Deaths, which is one of my Top 5 favourite books of all time. And also Love Songs for the Shy and Cynical. Trust me.
Tune in next month for Episode 12 of TW&TC, and imagine the flutter of scarexcitement I’ll be experiencing (if I can bring myself to listen to it!!) while Kirstyn and Ian chat about Rob’s brilliance and my poor country folk.
This is SO COOL.
Reading, Writing, Drinking. Behold the glory that is Speakeasy.
If you’re kicking around Adelaide on the evening of September 21st, drop by the Wheatsheaf Hotel. I’m honoured to be headlining the Speakeasy Creative Readings event — I’ll be reading from Bluegrass Symphony and possibly enjoying a nice glass of red. Come one, come all! It’s going to be a great night.
(And how cool is this poster? Three cheers for the artiste who put it together!)
Bluegrass Symphony launch: In Which I Gush and Share Photos
Sometimes I feel soooooooo lucky, and last night was definitely one of those times.
It’s actually hard to describe how awesome everthing was at the Bluegrass Symphony launch. Jude at the SA Writers Centre was incredibly lovely, and helped to make sure the atrium was ready for the event to kick off at 7pm — and what a space! We are so fortunate to have such a gorgeous Writers Centre here in Adelaide, with such a great venue for book launches. Thanks to Dr Chad, Brain and Badger, the wine flowed all evening, the sushi platters were never empty, and the festivities were photographed for posterity — if it hadn’t been for these three, I would’ve been a giant ball of stress all night. Instead, I was a butterfly, flitting from group to group, chatting, laughing, and feeling so special. (Thank you so much, Angela, Chad, and David!!)
Russ came all the way from Perth to sell books (thanks again, Russ!!) and the wonderful crowd kept him busy all evening — by the end of the night he’d sold all the hardcovers he’d shlepped to Adelaide, plus most of the paperbacks he’d mailed ahead of time. SO COOL! And between sales, Russ acted as MC. He got the proceedings under way by giving a lovely speech before introducing the incredible Sean Williams, who launched the book. And when I say launched the book, what I really mean is gave the most unbelievably thoughtful, generous, flattering, mind-blowingly perfect speech ever in the history of book launches. Ever. From now on, any time I feel like my writing is crap, I’m going to relive all the perfect moments from Sean’s speech… And I keep saying perfect because, frankly, it was. Sean captured the essence of Bluegrass Symphony so beautifully in his descriptions, and this was nowhere clearer than when he compared the ‘vibe’ of the stories in my collection to Johnny Cash’s song, ‘The Long Black Veil’ (the lyrics of which he read out, like a poem, and I had goosebumps the whole time!):
Ten years ago on a cold dark night,
someone was killed ‘neath the town hall lights.
There were few at the scene, but they all agreed,
that the man who ran looked a lot like me.
Chorus ~ She walks these hills, in a long black veil.
She visits my grave, when the night winds wail.
Nobody knows, nobody sees, nobody knows, but me
The Judge said son, what is your alibi,
if you were somewhere else, then you won’t have to die.
I spoke not a word, though it meant my life,
for i’d been in the arms of my best friends wife.
Chorus*
Now the scaffold is high, and eternity’s near.
She stood in the crowd, and shed not a tear.
But some times at night, when the cold wind moans
In a long black veil, she cries over my bones
Chorus ~ She walks these hills, in a long black veil.
When the cold winds blow, and the night winds wail.
No body knows, no body sees.
No body knows, but me.
Oooooooh, reading the lyrics again just now gives me shivers! Thanks so much, Sean! (and Johnny!)
So, I was gobsmacked after hearing Sean speak — so much so that I pretty much lost the ability to string coherent thoughts together — which meant that my list of ‘Thank yous’ was somewhat abbreviated… Really, I wanted to thank everyone, and I did thank them all (you all) in a rambling sort of way… but by the time I got up to the lectern, I was just so overwhelmed and happy that I managed about half a dozen official thank yous before I went into general ‘gush’ mode. Even so, I somehow managed to maintain my composure long enough to read the opening of ‘The Short Go: A Future in Eight Seconds’ (which you can listen to here) and then basically spent the rest of the evening, smiling, hugging dear friends, having great wine, and signing books.
I think I can safely say that last night wins the prize for Most Awesome First Book Launch EVER.
Without further ado, photographic evidence of the awesomeness that was:
Beauty shot: Bluegrass display (photo by David Pollitt)
Russ selling books... (Photo by David Pollitt)
...and doing introductions. (Photo by Alex Hender)
Sean speaks brilliantly... (Photo by Alex Hender)
...while the crowd looks on. (Photo by Alex Hender)
Signing! (Photo by David Pollitt)
More signing (and pretty hairband!) (Photo by Tully Barnett)
Gloating with Jason and Brain! First ones to receive our contributors' copies to the Year's Best 2010! (Photo by David Pollitt)
Bluegrass Symphony launch is tomorrow…
… and I am excited!!!
That is all.
"Here's one I prepared earlier..."
Writers and Their Worlds
This morning I woke feeling a bit glum. Not anything major, and not for any specific reason. I just found myself weighed down by that general “things are just so freaking busybusybusybusybusybusy” malaise that comes with the beginning of a new semester, new classes, new schedules, and cramming twelve thousand new tasks into each week.*
But by one o’clock this afternoon, my spirits were (and are still) completely lifted.
At noon today I spent a delightful hour away from the madness, reading from Bluegrass Symphony and talking about writing. I’d been invited to speak at the ‘Writers and Their Worlds’ session at Flinders here in Adelaide, an excellent initiative that brings professional authors to the university to share their experiences with undergrad students, postgrads, and staff interested in creative writing and creative industries. And I had such a fantastic time! For starters, there was a great crowd (and there were indeed enough people in the audience to warrant the term ‘crowd’, which was awesome), with some familiar faces and some new ones, all of whom were warm and friendly. They laughed at my jokes (always a good sign), and asked plenty of great questions at the end. Insightful, interesting questions – thankfully there was not a single, ‘Where do you get your ideas from?’ to be heard!
After a general discussion about how I got started writing, my philosophies on publishing, and the catalyst for Bluegrass Symphony, I read the beginning of ‘Carousel’. This is the first story in the collection, and one that I’ve never ‘performed’ before, so I was stoked that it went down really well! I always find it hard to gauge people’s reactions while I’m in the process of reading in public: I’m concentrating on enunciating clearly; keeping an eye on the clock to make sure I don’t get carried away and read for too long; trying to look at the page while also looking at the clock and also at the people in the audience without stumbling or losing my place… So when the audience is quiet, I’m not always sure if they’re rapt or falling asleep. (The generous applause and feedback I received suggests, in this case, that it was the former. Phewf!)
Doing public readings like this, though, confirms how important it is for me (and all authors, really) to get out there and share their work face-to-face. The atmosphere in the room was inspiring, and engaging in discussion with other writers (aspiring and established) is really what it’s all about.
And many of us carried the conversation on afterwards over coffee, which was also a treat.
Thanks for providing a writerly oasis at the end of an insane week, Writers and Their Worlds!
*OK, I’ll admit. Twelve thousand might be a slight exaggeration. Let’s call it an even ten thou.
Shades of Sentience review!
Katharine Stubbs has written a fabulous review of Bluegrass Symphony over at Shades of Sentience, which goes a little something like this:
The imagery in this collection will force you to pick up this book and keep reading. Even if you didn’t think you enjoyed reading of people who say ‘ain’t’ and ‘gots’ and drop a few letters off the start or end of a word – this collection will change your mind. It transports you so immediately within the story you can’t help but care for the character and feel how they’re feeling every step of the way.
And that’s just for starters! Wow!
Head on over to Shades of Sentience and read the rest of the review here.
