My recent interview of writer and reviewer jennyblackford is up online at Specusphere: An Interview with Jenny Blackford and a Preview of 'The Priestess and the Slave'

Set in Ancient Greece during the days of a plague that crippled an empire, 'The Priestess and the Slave' is compelling reading. Chapter One and Two can be read at: Hadley Rille Books

I just read Vedran, a wonderful short story by Jonathan Carroll. It is a great reflection on love, loss and grief. About the power of objects to hold and recreate memories.

An excerpt of my story "Crown of Thorns" is up online in the Writers of the Future Herald.

The full story is available now in Writers of the Future XXIV from Galaxy Press, and will hit bookstores in mid March. The anthology contains twelve other short fantasy, science fiction and horror stories by talented new writers whom I'm proud to call friends. It also has some great articles on the craft of writing in it.

Meanwhile, the Writers of the Future Herald also has an interesting article on "The Basics of Writing" by anthology editor, Algis Budrys. Happy reading.

Photos of some of the panels from the KSP MiniCon.... featuring guest writers, editors, and KSP members.

"Crown of Thorns" got its first reading from the thick pages of the pre-release Writers of the Future, Volume XXIV, at the KSP MiniCon a couple of weekends ago. It was fun, despite my very croaky voice. Do not say husky!



And for specky - here's the WOTF XXIV book trailer from You Tube... you'll get a glimpse of the high quality illustrations in this year's anthology.



I could be accused of bias, but William Ruhlig's illustration really IS the best in the edition. It doesn't matter that it is of MY story ;) One of the most moving events of the Writers of the Future workshop week for me was meeting William, and being given a beautiful framed illustration of "Crown of Thorns". It (the illustration not William) now lives on my living room wall. Joshua is given the most emotive face, and the crown is *just* as I imagined it. Well done, Will.

William can be found at: http://pikkewynman.deviantart.com

If you're in Perth and love spec fic, don't miss out on the KSP MiniCon... lots of creative talent (writers and editors) will be up at the Katherine Susannah Prichard Writers Centre on Greenmount Hill this Sunday. Discussion panels, readings, food, city views and lots of laughs. What more could you want on a Sunday in Spring? My speculative fiction group has worked hard to organise this. Special thanks go to Satima and Helen. Fingers crossed, I will be doing my first reading of Crown of Thorns from the specky pre-released anthology Writers of the Future xxiv.

http://satimaflavell.livejournal.com

http://nellievee.livejournal.com

The Program:

10.00 am Panel "How to Handle Rejections":
Adrian Bedford, Russell Farr, Simon Haynes and Bevan McGuiness
followed by
Readings from
Sonia Helbig and Helen Venn

11.00 am Panel "Clarions; gains and losses":
Lee Battersby, Lyn Battersby, Carol Ryles, Helen Venn and Jessica Vivien
followed by
Readings from
Jo Mills and Elaine Kemp

12.00 noon Panel "What's Hot and What's Not - trends in Speculative Fiction":
Elaine Kemp, Alisa Krasnostein, Ian Nichols and Grant Stone
followed by
Readings from
Juliet Marillier and Ian Nichols

1.00 pm Panel "Lies, Damned Lies and Research":
Dave Luckett, Hal Colebatch, Satima Flavell and Juliet Marillier
followed by
Readings from
Hal Colebatch and Dave Luckett

2.00 pm Panel "Hooks and Sinkers - writing a killer first line"
Adrian Bedford, Stephen Dedman, Russell Kerr and Bevan McGuiness
followed by
Readings from
Adrian Bedford and Stephen Dedman

3.00 pm Panel "Steampunk"
Toby Coulstock; John Parker; Carol Ryles and Grant Stone
followed by
Readings from
Deb Ratcliffe and Carol Ryles

4.00 pm Panel "How to get out of the Slushpile":
Lyn Battersby, Janet Blagg, Stephen Dedman; Alisa Krasnostein; Tehani Wessely
followed by
Q&A and wind-up.

It’s been many months since I last posted in any depth, but I promise to catch you up on the important things... Like my trip to LA for the Writers of the Future workshop and awards ceremony last month. And, the international Society of Childrens Book Writers and Illustrators recent conference. Also, some stuff I've been reading...

So, today I read a great little YA short story online over at Coyote Wild Mag, by Laura Bradley Rede, called Smacking Back. I love stories like this one that push us to look at the heights school-bullying might get to in a future part-virtual world. Laura downloads us right into her main character’s world in an instant, and I couldn’t stop reading from start to finish. I was fascinated by the new lingo she used to set up her world & characters. I don't want to say too much, or I'll spoil it. Oh parents, beware the day where such crimes are possible in school! And just hope your kids are made of strong enough stuff to hold their own, not with their bodies, but inside their own heads... Pieces like this insist we ask not only who the criminals are, but who created them.

Apparently this is the first time a cover of a Writers of the Future anthology has been released prior to the awards ceremony. It's online at Amazon where the anthology is available for pre-order.

It's a great cover, and I can't wait to meet all my co-writers at the workshops, not to mention the attending judges and guest authors ;) It is going to be an awesome week starting Sunday.

I was very happy with my postie (Aussie slang for postman/woman) this month. He dropped off The School Magazine's letter of acceptance for my feature article "Furry Terrors", along with a nice cheque. "Furry Terrors" will be printed in The School Magazine: Touchdown sometime this year.


The School Magazine

My review of Matt Ottley's Requiem for a Beast is now up at Specusphere.

This book is awesome. I rate it alongside my all-time favorite Dirt Music by Tim Winton.

The Conference
The Perth SCBWI conference revived my writing soul. I've come back feeling tired in body, but excited in heart and mind. The guest editors made themselves available to chat and answer questions, and of course there were stacks of friendly writers, new and established. I was constantly reminded of what a fun group kid's writers and illustrators are. Especially Australian ones! I was especially pleased to meet Susanne Gervay, and Elaine Forrestal and get some lovely books signed. Many thanks to Dianne Wolfer and everyone else who organised it!

The Children's Editors
The children’s editors we were lucky to hear were: Laura Harris of Penguin Books , Belinda Bolliger of ABC Books, Sarah Foster of Walker Books , Cate Sutherland of Fremantle Press, plus international guest speaker Julie Romeis of Chronicle Books .

I learned some interesting things about life from the editors' perspectives:
(i) Most kid’s editors in Australia are happy to receive simultaneous submissions from new writers. (Many still teach this is a no-no)
(ii) Agents generally take away the nice editor-author relationship that can be had. They can cause trouble between editor and author. They can also solve trouble if it erupts. (I’d always seen agents as a way of getting you to publishers and getting authors more money!).
(iii) Most of the editors above don’t read the cover letter or the synopsis when they open a submission! They go straight to the work and let it speak for itself. Then they might go back to the cover letter and synopsis if they're interested.
(iv) Good books get rejected because the right editor hasn’t been matched with the project. Books editors want to accept get rejected because the bookseller doesn’t think it will sell. Editors don't enjoy rejecting work.
(v) Children’s novel series aren’t selling well in Australia but are in high demand internationally.

Matt Ottley & Requiem for a Beast
Last, but certainly not least, I felt very privileged to meet Matt Ottley at the conference. He has to one of the most talented creative forces around (writer/artist/muso). He’s completely humble about it and approachable too. An all round nice guy. I wasn't the only one blown away by Matt’s latest work Requiem for a Beast. How could we not be? The artwork behind the book is on display at the Fremantle Children’s Literature Centre and well worth a look if you live near Perth or Freo. Matt's artwork alone moved me to tears. Taken with the words and music, it is even more astounding. I'm not going to say anything about the story line or the music right now... go and read it! Go and listen!

My contributor's copy of The School Magazine: Blast Off, #1 Feb 2008, has arrived. It contains my article “A Lizard is a Kid’s Best Friend” and I’m really pleased with its lay out. Jade and Luke, my star interviewees, look fantastic with their pet cold-bloods. It was a fun article to write and research.

The School Magazine: Blast Off

I've been polishing up Jarri#1 and having fun adding in descriptions of creepy-but-amazing spider wasps! In Australia these orange-and-black creatures grow up to 4cm long. Some days I watch them dragging their prey across my garden and back to their ground nest... generally it's a big hairy huntsman spider, a feast fit for kings, or hatchlings. The wasps either suck its insides out or lay their eggs in them. What a treat for their young to feast upon when they emerge!

There are some awesome photos of spider wasps hunting over on bluemist57's gallery. Take a peek!

My prize money for winning 2nd place in the Writers of the Future 2007 4th Quarter has arrived! I've never held a bigger writing cheque in my life. The first thing I did was check out XE.com to do the $US to $Australian currency conversion so I knew how much I had in Aussie dollars... the mind boggled. Then I reminded myself money wasn't what I entered the competition for. Remember the week workshop, the pals, the networking and the publication credit you stupid girl?!

Now, what am I going to spend it on?

I was very pleased to get my first writing cheque in the mail yesterday for my lit fiction story 'Surviving Garnet Street'. It came inside a beautiful glossy copy of the summer edition of Island. What's more, my married name, Sonia Timms, is one of many on the back cover! My story was accepted in about March 2007.

Island's editor, Gina Mercer, does a fantastic job of producing this quality Aussie lit journal.

I'm thrilled, and a little daunted, to see I'm listed in HorrorScope's Editorial: Horror in 2007 as an Australian Author to watch in 2008!

The notable names are on that list are: Lyn Battersby, Nathan Burrage, David Conyers, Shane Jiraiya Cummings, Dirk Flinthart, Penelope Love, Cat Sparks, Anna Tambour and David Witteveen.

Again, I want to say thanks to the Australian Horror Writers Association for their mentorship program, and to my mentor stephen_dedman, without whom I couldn't have made my 2nd place winning story (in the Writers of the Future competition) what it was.

Hopefully I will have more stories to tell you about as 2008 progresses!

My hands are shaking. Lips smiling. Mind reeling...

This is big. Too big to grasp.

My science fiction short story 'Crown of Thorns' won 2nd place in the Writers of the Future competition (4th quarter of 2007) and is going to be published in their book next year!

Congratulations to the other place winners: 1st therinth and 3rd j_cheney

I can't wait to read their stories.

I also want to say a big thanks to everyone who read Crown of Thorns for me in its various drafts. Especially Stephen Dedman stephen_dedman my mentor and the thirty or so Critters who kindly pointed out the Australianisms that made absolutely no sense to US readers!

How am I meant to get my article written with my head buzzing like this?!

I'm still buzzing about seeing my name on the Writers and Illustrators of the Future Blog as one of the 2007 fourth quarter competition finalists! I'm indebted to the Australian Horror Writers Association's mentorship program and to my mentor Stephen Dedman for critting and encouraging me during the polishing of the story I entered in WotF.