The comic anthology will be available at Supanova Pop Culture Expo Brisbane & Melbourne this coming April for $10. 100% of the proceeds raised will be donated.
It was an honour to be asked to contribute a 1 page script to the “Tides of Hope” anthology and a challenge to write something within those narrow confines. I did a bunch of my growing up in the bush in flood and fire country and the theme touches on stuff ingrained into my psyche – from endless water to the wonderful and somewhat dangerous playground that is a creek latticed by hundreds of stacked up fallen trees. I haven’t seen the art for my story yet but I found one of the gorgeous pages that will be in it.
I meant to grab a photo of the cast, but in the heady atmosphere I forgot both nights. Damn! If anyone has any photos or video from the play I would love love love to see it. Anyhow it was grand to see Maxima Vrugleplex live and I’m excited to see where it will go. There is nothing quite like seeing your own words performed by a plethora of brilliant voices. Life is full of adventures.
There have been some interesting discussions about Speculative Fiction in recent times Cat Valente as always wrote some interesting thought provoking stuff. The Ferret posted a poll… and from that this blog post was born. Trying to articulate what Spec Fic means to me. I don’t expect people to feel obliged to take on my values and labeling systems. But I wanted to share why I find this term inspiring and empowering.
I love the phrase Speculative Fiction, it doesn’t seem to be a very cool term right now, but I love it to the core of my being. I love how broad the sweep is, I love how if you squint you can cram almost anything into it (if you’re prepared to squint for it why the hell not?). I love the challenge it lays down. To speculate, to think, question and pose possible solutions. …
I wanted to find image of exploding excitement, but I could not. But this explodes with cuteness... baby bunny not even a week old... BABY BUNNY.
I got to listen a sneak preview of some of a little bit of Maxima Vrugleplex yesterday. I am so full of excited meats I may explode! I may have teared up a to hear a tiny fragment of it come to life.
My beauty is premiering This Friday and closing This Saturday (Jan 28-Jan 29 book your tickets here) in Portland. Hope to see some of you there.
How can you resist a time-travel web-help-forum apocalyptic comedy?
I think I’ve learned more writing this monster than any other single work of fiction. It’s a monster, a giant, a thing of limitless potential that I am continually daunted by. I can now almost see the full shape of it. Aspects of the third act are getting clearer, spaces that had ‘political shenanigans’ are getting faces and details, events that were imposed externally are now generated internally.
I recently printed out the full work for the first time (that’s the digital age for you). It took me a ream of paper. I then grouped each section with paper clips and then stacked sections into different piles depending on the work they did. That way I could feel the weight of each point of view, see each aspect on its on and touch it with my hands. It feels a little like an archaeological dig site, moving papers from space to space to see what else I’ve hidden in them. I am something of a kinesthetic writer and touching my words, shuffling them around into different physical piles helped me bust through a lethargy I had just after 80,000.
I went to bed after achieving my 90,000 words and for the first time found myself thinking about my next novel. Despite my efforts to keep my whirring brain on my current novel I found myself captivated by the new novel… it’ll be so much easier to do, the plot clear and crisp like fresh linen… and I’ve done all this learning now. I shan’t succumb to the temptation to abandon this story for another, even though part of me whispers that a break will give me perspective. I am far too aware that I am in a danger zone where it could all melt into a puddle of could have been. I shall harness my enthusiasm for a new tale into finishing this one.
Now I must get back to fondling my papers, the words demand it.
Warning, close reading of the white board could give you spoilers... or a squint as you look at a lot of hectic scribbles. Although I consult my scribbles the physical act of making them is more important. Followed only by the power of rubbing them out when I feel my work is done and I can clear that mental/physical space.
I’ve updated my MEGA archive of DOOM with reflections from the class of 2010 Dallas Taylor, Gregory Norman Bossert, John Chu and Tom Undeberg.
My dear writer friends, applications for Clarion Writers’ Workshop opened in December 1st 2010 and will stay open until March 1st.
It’s held at UC San Diego June 26 – August 6, 2011. Instructors are Nina Kiriki Hoffman, John Scalzi, Elizabeth Bear, David Anthony Durham, John Kessel and Kij Johnson.
Meeting up with one of my instructors Robert Crais at a book signing - January 2011
In 2009 I went. And it’s still paying dividends. Parts of the experience still make me squee with joy. When I know I’m going to see one of my classmates or instructors I start grinning like a maniac and clapping my hands. I’ve seen a new group come through 2010 taking away our baby graduate status (now I guess we’re toddlers) and the 2010 grads I’ve met are a rockin’ bunch of people. It’s exciting to be part of a new generation of writers, our generation of writers all amorphous in age, but trying to find a place in a world packed full of so much STUFF. You don’t have to go to Clarion to be part of that cohort, but I know it sure as hell helped me grow as a writer and it’s a great way to get to know more of your community.
This morning I realized/remembered this morning, that I first met Garth Nix around 15 years ago. Probably.
I knew an author had come to my school and talked about his book and career and publishing, but I only just pieced together that it was probably Garth Nix. Author Man had come to my school to talk about his book and about being a writer. Some of my class mates seemed terribly excited about this Author Man, but I did not recognize his name.
They said he was a fantasy writer, but I had not read him in Aurealis, so I figured he was probably not very good. He was probably a nobody, who wouldn’t go anywhere. Ah the mild mannered opinions of youth. Aurealis was my bible, my window and hope and geography in the world of speculative fiction. Around this time I was also convinced that this Shaun Tan guy was some hyped up 19 year old and the editorial raving about him in Aurealis was crap. It was the only time I remember disagreeing strongly with Aurealis. Like _that_ guy would go anywhere, what nonsense! A little green eyed perhaps? Perhaps a lot.
I was deeply suspicious of Author Man, for the sin of not having read him in Aurealis and perhaps because some of my class mates loved and adored him and I had not read any of him. I had just come from a vigorously alternative high school to one of the more conservative high schools in the region. To mess with that conservatism I was the sort of student that for a week sat on top of the lockers in a frozen gargoyle pose, tracking people with my eyes.
Daily Science Fiction has bought a second story from me “A Study in Flesh and Mind”. I am quite pleased, quite pleased indeed. I updated my bio just for them:
Liz’s work has been published in a range of journals and anthologies including The Pedestal Magazine, Meanjin and Daily Science Fiction. In 2011 stories by Liz will appear in Coer Du Lion’s Anywhere But Earth anthology, Strange Horizons and on the stage as part of Pulp Diction.
Liz has been an Artists’ Model at least once (often a lot more) every year since 1998. She’s now a freelance writer, but her previous incarnations have included circus manager, refuge worker and research officer for the Order of Australia Awards. She’s a lapsed fire-twirler, has accidentally started a revolution or two and appeared naked in The Canberra Times to support the Parisian Life Models strike of 2009. She has a predilection for trouble and minor injuries.
And if they did bio photos I’d be tempted to send them this one, given it’s a story about a life model. Photo hidden below the cut as it might not be safe for work… although it is a level of nudity acceptable in a general distribution print newspaper.
I woke up strangely early on 1/1/11 with some new ideas for the novel. Here’s the first paragraph I wrote in the New Year. It’s a work in progress (of course). This is in the middle of Act II but I don’t think it contains any spoilers.
