One of the earlier Australian SF anthologies, and a fairly reasonable one in general.
Zeitgeist Machine : The Inheritors - G. M. Glaskin
Zeitgeist Machine : Spaceman - Lee Harding
Zeitgeist Machine : The Kitten - Stephen Cook
Zeitgeist Machine : Incubation - John Romeril and Damien Broderick
Zeitgeist Machine : Illumination - Michael Wilding
Zeitgeist Machine : The Wonderfully Intelligent Sheep-Dog - Dal Stivens
Zeitgeist Machine : Let It Ring - John Foyster
Zeitgeist Machine : The Mountain Movers - A. Bertram Chandler
Zeitgeist Machine : Growing Up - Damien Broderick
Zeitgeist Machine : Conversations with Unicorns - Peter Carey
Zeitgeist Machine : Point of Departure - Cherry Wilder
Bloody lambing.
3.5 out of 5
Not everyone can do the flying rejuve thing.
3.5 out of 5
Fish Out Of Water.
3 out of 5
Egg Seeking Earth Death.
3.5 out of 5
Weak ghost.
3 out of 5
Tartan animal business.
3.5 out of 5
Strine rich Federation.
3.5 out of 5
A Waltzing Spaceshipa goes The Rock.
4.5 out of 5
Darkstar continuum.
3 out of 5
Pointy headed shootees.
2.5 out of 5
Metal new guys.
3 out of 5
3.5 out of 5
Friday, November 27, 2009
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
How To Be A Good Citizen - Aidan Doyle
Abduction consolation.
3 out of 5
http://reflectionsedge.com/index.php/2007/10/how-to-be-a-good-citizen/
3 out of 5
http://reflectionsedge.com/index.php/2007/10/how-to-be-a-good-citizen/
Reading the Text - Joel Shepherd
"Could you take a minute and explain what your Cassandra Kresnov series happens to be about?
The Cassandra Kresnov series is about an artificial person, Cassandra (or Sandy), constructed to be the most lethal ever soldier in an interstellar war, who decides she’d rather be a normal person instead. But of course, the powers that shaped her creation on all sides don’t make it that easy for her. So it’s a lot about choices and individual rights and the like, as well as all the way-cool action stuff."
3.5 out of 5
http://grindingtovalhalla.wordpress.com/2009/09/14/reading-the-text-joel-shepherd/
The Cassandra Kresnov series is about an artificial person, Cassandra (or Sandy), constructed to be the most lethal ever soldier in an interstellar war, who decides she’d rather be a normal person instead. But of course, the powers that shaped her creation on all sides don’t make it that easy for her. So it’s a lot about choices and individual rights and the like, as well as all the way-cool action stuff."
3.5 out of 5
http://grindingtovalhalla.wordpress.com/2009/09/14/reading-the-text-joel-shepherd/
SF Revu Interview - Joel Shepherd
"SFRevu: Sandy's much vaunted edge over the other artificial soldiers is her ability to think "laterally," and come up with creative solutions to problems. Do you really think combat is that complex a puzzle to solve? I mean, if AIs can currently beat chess masters, shouldn't we expect grunt AI bots to be able to beat humans?
Joel: Ah, big question, big answer.
Modern warfare makes chess look like a child's game, and the more technology advances, the more complex it will become. The most serious advances regard situational awareness. I've never been in combat, but I've read accounts, and most of the time, they've got no clue what's happening. So combat is reduced to luck, and what separates veterans from rookies is risk-assessment. The veteran can make educated guesses about risk and tend to fare much better.
But in the future, you're going to have all units supported by a computer intel that knows enemy and friendly positions and movements and creates real-time situational awareness for everyone on the battlefield. In the Cassandra Kresnov series, I call this system tac-net. As a side effect of this, infantry tactics will become infinitely more complex, because soldiers will have a much better idea of exactly what's going on, and their options will change from fuzzy options to precise options."
4 out of 5
http://sfrevu.com/Review-id.php?id=4595
Joel: Ah, big question, big answer.
Modern warfare makes chess look like a child's game, and the more technology advances, the more complex it will become. The most serious advances regard situational awareness. I've never been in combat, but I've read accounts, and most of the time, they've got no clue what's happening. So combat is reduced to luck, and what separates veterans from rookies is risk-assessment. The veteran can make educated guesses about risk and tend to fare much better.
But in the future, you're going to have all units supported by a computer intel that knows enemy and friendly positions and movements and creates real-time situational awareness for everyone on the battlefield. In the Cassandra Kresnov series, I call this system tac-net. As a side effect of this, infantry tactics will become infinitely more complex, because soldiers will have a much better idea of exactly what's going on, and their options will change from fuzzy options to precise options."
4 out of 5
http://sfrevu.com/Review-id.php?id=4595
Ticonderoga Online Interview - Marianne de Pierres
"The setting for the Parrish Plessis trilogy shows aspects of a mutated Australia. Is the Australian landscape important to all of your writing?
Hugely. It's me. My writing identity. I love having its flavour in my books. I've spent as much time in the country as the city so I feel like I understand most aspects of it ‚ or at least my relationship with it physical and emotional landscape. The challenging thing is to try and capture it in different ways. I have a series of short stories set on Stradbroke Island that have a totally different tone to the Australia in the Parrish novels. The Gin Jackson story (although a Parrish-like character) in Agog!, is a world influenced by my time in the Pilbara.
Reading Terry Dowling opened my mind to so many possibilities. His writing is genius."
4 out of 5
http://ticonderogaonline.com/006TOL/interview006a.html
Hugely. It's me. My writing identity. I love having its flavour in my books. I've spent as much time in the country as the city so I feel like I understand most aspects of it ‚ or at least my relationship with it physical and emotional landscape. The challenging thing is to try and capture it in different ways. I have a series of short stories set on Stradbroke Island that have a totally different tone to the Australia in the Parrish novels. The Gin Jackson story (although a Parrish-like character) in Agog!, is a world influenced by my time in the Pilbara.
Reading Terry Dowling opened my mind to so many possibilities. His writing is genius."
4 out of 5
http://ticonderogaonline.com/006TOL/interview006a.html
Walker Of Worlds Interview - Marianne de Pierres
"With the change of sub-genre with the Sentients of Orion series, how much of a difference is there writing space opera? Any pros or cons?
Sentients of Orion has given me a chance to be a whole lot of different people and visit some exotic and weird places - better than a holiday really. Much as I love Parrish, her world was tawdry and downright loathsome at times. Writing Sentients has been like growing wings. With Space Opera you can go anywhere, be anyone. I love that but it’s also meant juggling a number of balls over a number of books and I’d be lying if I didn’t say how demanding that is. One the greatest pleasures in writing this series has been weaving the character’s storylines so that they fall in and out of each others lives. Manipulating fate is unbelievably cool."
4 out of 5
http://walkerofworlds.blogspot.com/2008/12/interview-with-marianne-de-pierres.html
Sentients of Orion has given me a chance to be a whole lot of different people and visit some exotic and weird places - better than a holiday really. Much as I love Parrish, her world was tawdry and downright loathsome at times. Writing Sentients has been like growing wings. With Space Opera you can go anywhere, be anyone. I love that but it’s also meant juggling a number of balls over a number of books and I’d be lying if I didn’t say how demanding that is. One the greatest pleasures in writing this series has been weaving the character’s storylines so that they fall in and out of each others lives. Manipulating fate is unbelievably cool."
4 out of 5
http://walkerofworlds.blogspot.com/2008/12/interview-with-marianne-de-pierres.html
SFF World Interview - Marianne de Pierres
"Background first. Let’s start with a biggie. You were born and brought up in Western Australia. I’m a big believer myself in the idea that our experiences in our formative years affect our futures (and in the case of writers, their need to write as well as their writing!) Would you say that Western Australia was an influence on you in that way?
Marianne: Without a doubt. I grew up on a wheat and sheep farm in the central wheatbelt area of the state. Then I spent my twenties in an outback mining town in the far north of Western Australia. After that I have a couple of years on a sub-tropical island. I have a very strong connection with the physical landscape of Australia. In the Parrish series it is very definitely another character. In Dark Space the mining planet of Araldis is a direct extrapolation of my time living in the iron ore mining town, Paraburdoo (Place of the White Cockatoo). "
4 out of 5
http://www.sffworld.com/interview/233p0.html
Marianne: Without a doubt. I grew up on a wheat and sheep farm in the central wheatbelt area of the state. Then I spent my twenties in an outback mining town in the far north of Western Australia. After that I have a couple of years on a sub-tropical island. I have a very strong connection with the physical landscape of Australia. In the Parrish series it is very definitely another character. In Dark Space the mining planet of Araldis is a direct extrapolation of my time living in the iron ore mining town, Paraburdoo (Place of the White Cockatoo). "
4 out of 5
http://www.sffworld.com/interview/233p0.html
Dragon Page Cover to Cover - Marianne de Pierres
"Interview: Michael, Summer and Michael talk with Australian author Marianne de Pierres about her latest book, Dark Space, the first book in her new series “The Sentients of Orion”. She’s created a new universe, different from the world in her Parrish Plessis series, one where the races are in a technological race to talk with God, who was discovered in deep space after an ship on a mining exploration run suffers a navigational failure and drifts off course."
3.5 out of 5
http://www.dragonpage.com/2007/08/06/cover-to-cover-274a/
3.5 out of 5
http://www.dragonpage.com/2007/08/06/cover-to-cover-274a/
Falcata Times Interview - Marianne de Pierres
"Mad Max meets Tank Girl."
4 out of 5
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=129548115&blogID=419987228&Mytoken=35EC52BF-5D8C-4F01-BD9091A3EC303CCA191882684
4 out of 5
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=129548115&blogID=419987228&Mytoken=35EC52BF-5D8C-4F01-BD9091A3EC303CCA191882684
An Interview with the Creator of Parrish Plessis - Marianne de Pierres
"Will you ever return to The Tert?
I have one more story to tell in the Tert. Book 3 finishes as the Tert and Viva are on the brink of war. I’m pretty keen myself to find out what Parrish will do during *major civil unrest*. Could get ugly.
So, yes."
3.5 out of 5
http://writing-genre-fiction.suite101.com/article.cfm/sf_author_marianne_de_pierres
I have one more story to tell in the Tert. Book 3 finishes as the Tert and Viva are on the brink of war. I’m pretty keen myself to find out what Parrish will do during *major civil unrest*. Could get ugly.
So, yes."
3.5 out of 5
http://writing-genre-fiction.suite101.com/article.cfm/sf_author_marianne_de_pierres
SFF World Interview - Joel Shepherd
"Q: What was the spark that generated the idea which drove you to write CROSSOVER and the Cassandra Kresnov series in the first place?
I'd had an idea for a super-warrior in my head for a long time, I've long been fascinated by the concept of great power, and the morality plays entailed in deciding how to use such power. Not in superheroes so much, because so few of the great American superheroes actually kill anyone, which seems to me the true essence of great power -- the power of life and death. Comic book superheroes always seemed to me to be dodging the issue -- the villain threatens to kill entire nations, and Superman responds by punching him in the jaw... no. That's a false moral choice, because Superman gets off cheap -- he never has to make the truly hard choices, the choice of whether or not to take life... and possibly a lot of life... and as such, he never acquires much depth for me as a character. Sandy's dilemma is much deeper, because all of her power is derived from lethal force, and she's the kind of person who'd much rather be loving life than taking it.
But it never occurred to me to make her fully artificial until one day I was reading the manga of 'Ghost in the Shell' by Masamune Shirow, and some characters were talking about how in that world, cyborgs with human brains have souls, and wholly artificial minds do not. It seemed a strangely metaphysical and possibly indefensible notion... and what if you were artificial, and quite certain you had a soul, and deserved all the same rights as cyborgs or straight humans, but no one believed you? And then it occurred to me that this could be the super-warrior concept I'd had before, and the proverbial light flashed on in my head -- her ethical dilemmas, her struggle for a purpose in life, the discrimination against her, the fear she generated, the broader politics of her creation... etc. And I knew I had to write a book about her. Possibly several books."
4 out of 5
http://www.sffworld.com/interview/209p1.html
I'd had an idea for a super-warrior in my head for a long time, I've long been fascinated by the concept of great power, and the morality plays entailed in deciding how to use such power. Not in superheroes so much, because so few of the great American superheroes actually kill anyone, which seems to me the true essence of great power -- the power of life and death. Comic book superheroes always seemed to me to be dodging the issue -- the villain threatens to kill entire nations, and Superman responds by punching him in the jaw... no. That's a false moral choice, because Superman gets off cheap -- he never has to make the truly hard choices, the choice of whether or not to take life... and possibly a lot of life... and as such, he never acquires much depth for me as a character. Sandy's dilemma is much deeper, because all of her power is derived from lethal force, and she's the kind of person who'd much rather be loving life than taking it.
But it never occurred to me to make her fully artificial until one day I was reading the manga of 'Ghost in the Shell' by Masamune Shirow, and some characters were talking about how in that world, cyborgs with human brains have souls, and wholly artificial minds do not. It seemed a strangely metaphysical and possibly indefensible notion... and what if you were artificial, and quite certain you had a soul, and deserved all the same rights as cyborgs or straight humans, but no one believed you? And then it occurred to me that this could be the super-warrior concept I'd had before, and the proverbial light flashed on in my head -- her ethical dilemmas, her struggle for a purpose in life, the discrimination against her, the fear she generated, the broader politics of her creation... etc. And I knew I had to write a book about her. Possibly several books."
4 out of 5
http://www.sffworld.com/interview/209p1.html
Fantasy Book Critic Interview - Joel Shepherd
"Q: In other interviews you mentioned how you wanted to play around with certain stereotypes in the Kresnov books, such as the ‘android cliché’, making your leads female, and I also liked how the futuristic setting was utopian rather than the much more common dystopian backdrop and how you made Cassandra accountable for her actions. Were there any other tropes that you were trying to break down in the series?
Joel: Not really. Though I’m not sure I’d describe the series as utopian, more just as not dystopian. I think the trend of human progress has been generally to the positive, with some nasty hiccups, and I don’t expect that to change. I also think some of the attraction of dystopian worlds is that a lot of writers either aren’t interested in politics, or can’t see a way to use it excitingly in their plots. Dystopian worlds usually preclude politics as we understand it...so it’s a bit of a cop out."
4 out of 5
http://fantasybookcritic.blogspot.com/2007/11/interview-with-joel-shepherd.html
Joel: Not really. Though I’m not sure I’d describe the series as utopian, more just as not dystopian. I think the trend of human progress has been generally to the positive, with some nasty hiccups, and I don’t expect that to change. I also think some of the attraction of dystopian worlds is that a lot of writers either aren’t interested in politics, or can’t see a way to use it excitingly in their plots. Dystopian worlds usually preclude politics as we understand it...so it’s a bit of a cop out."
4 out of 5
http://fantasybookcritic.blogspot.com/2007/11/interview-with-joel-shepherd.html
Tobias Buckell Interview - Joel Shepherd
"-Last, but not least, if zombies were spreading throughout the land
by infectious bite what would be your 5 point response?
One: Kill all the zombies.
Two: Have a lie down.
Thereby making the final three points redundant. Cunning, huh?"
3.5 out of 5
http://www.tobiasbuckell.com/2007/03/08/joel-shepherd-interview-2/
by infectious bite what would be your 5 point response?
One: Kill all the zombies.
Two: Have a lie down.
Thereby making the final three points redundant. Cunning, huh?"
3.5 out of 5
http://www.tobiasbuckell.com/2007/03/08/joel-shepherd-interview-2/
Bibliophile Stalker Interview - K.J. Bishop
"I suspect a taste for the sensational is part of it. It might be that fantastical elements help me to organise my thoughts, by acting as archetypal or mythical magnets around which emotional and cognitive material can accrue. There's also the surreal factor. The mind is a strange place, and I like to express that strangeness directly, which produces oddness in my writing -- like taking my brain out of my head and making a sort of potato-print with it on the paper."
4 out of 5
http://charles-tan.blogspot.com/2009/11/interview-kj-bishop.html
4 out of 5
http://charles-tan.blogspot.com/2009/11/interview-kj-bishop.html
Monday, November 23, 2009
A Brief History Of Tanusha - Joel Shepherd
"Following on from my world-building piece about ‘Sasha’, I thought I’d do something similar for the ‘Cassandra Kresnov Series’."
4 out of 5
http://www.joelshepherd.com/2009/11/following-on-from-my-world-building.html
4 out of 5
http://www.joelshepherd.com/2009/11/following-on-from-my-world-building.html
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Terror Australis - Leigh Blackmore
The first mass market Australian horror anthology. From the 1980s, so that shows how backward we were/are.
The introduction details this and a brief history of Australian horror all the way from 19th century writers like Guy Boothby up to Greg Egan and beyond.
An interesting book, and reasonable quality at 3.31.
Terror Australis : Catalyst - Leanne Frahm
Terror Australis : The Daemon Street Ghost-Trap - Terry Dowling
Terror Australis : The Wolves Are Running - Paul Lindsey
Terror Australis : Chameleon - Sharon A. Hansen
Terror Australis : Hantu-Rimba - Dr John Hugoe-Matthews
Terror Australis : Losing Faith - Louise M. Steer
Terror Australis : Openings - Robert Hood
Terror Australis : Remorseless Vengeance - Guy Boothby
Terror Australis : A Gift from Gehenna - B. J. Stevens
Terror Australis : Johnny Twofeller - Kendall Hoffman
Terror Australis : In the Light of the Lamp - Steven Paulsen
Terror Australis : Feeling Empty - Christopher Sequeira
Terror Australis : The Nicholas Vine - Ann C. Whitehead
Terror Australis : The Keeper - Geoff O'Callaghan
Terror Australis : Out of the Storm - Rick Kennett
Terror Australis : Twist of the Knife - Sean Williams
Terror Australis : The Hut - Sheila Hatherley
Terror Australis : The Hourglass - Leigh Blackmore
Terror Australis : A Dangerous Thing - Michael Bryant
Terror Australis : Makeover - Sue Isle
Terror Australis : Dear Reader - Dirk Strasser
Terror Australis : The Vivisector - Eddie Van Helden
Terror Australis : Anzac Day - Cherry Wilder
Terror Australis : Red Ambrosia - Bill Congreve
Terror Australis : Heir of the Wolf - Stephen Dedman
Terror Australis : Neighbourhood Watch - Greg Egan
Terror Australis : Denials - Bill Fewer
Mabuza's Plum - Eddie Van Helden
Middle aged women slash, too.
3.5 out of 5
Son's a sucker for spooks.
4 out of 5
Mutant cannibal son cull.
3.5 out of 5
That's not Curly.
3.5 out of 5
Ghost tiger.
3 out of 5
Double hanging haunting.
3 out of 5
Lying pixie.
3 out of 5
Leave the hanging to the dead people, bro.
3.5 out of 5
Multple penis dinner.
3.5 out of 5
Wombi snake bi-location.
3 out of 5
A couple go to meet their dealer to score some weed, but he isn't there, and they end up buying a lamp from a strange show. Lovecraftian vistas await.
3.5 out of 5
Eel inside-outside.
3 out of 5
Thorny dead problem.
3 out of 5
Paintball crypt crucified.
3.5 out of 5
Corvette crewlost hag vision.
3.5 out of 5
GUTS plan, bro.
3 out of 5
Dropout scary poetry book.
3.5 out of 5
Hourglass figure, hourglass sex fetish. Add skull goblets and magic, you have an incantation for death.
3.5 out of 5
Demon summoning lack of communication.
3.5 out of 5
Body transfer Time.
3.5 out of 5
Dark infection.
3 out of 5
Slices of life.
3 out of 5
Mum hack.
3 out of 5
Rapist woman bloodsucker suicide wait.
3.5 out of 5
Prefer human well done.
3.5 out of 5
A group of local residents make a deal with a monster to keep the local area crime free. Crime not done by them, anyway. You know what those deals with the devil are like.
4 out of 5
With killings, paperboy.
2.5 out of 5
Skinny bits.
3 out of 5
3.5 out of 5
The introduction details this and a brief history of Australian horror all the way from 19th century writers like Guy Boothby up to Greg Egan and beyond.
An interesting book, and reasonable quality at 3.31.
Terror Australis : Catalyst - Leanne Frahm
Terror Australis : The Daemon Street Ghost-Trap - Terry Dowling
Terror Australis : The Wolves Are Running - Paul Lindsey
Terror Australis : Chameleon - Sharon A. Hansen
Terror Australis : Hantu-Rimba - Dr John Hugoe-Matthews
Terror Australis : Losing Faith - Louise M. Steer
Terror Australis : Openings - Robert Hood
Terror Australis : Remorseless Vengeance - Guy Boothby
Terror Australis : A Gift from Gehenna - B. J. Stevens
Terror Australis : Johnny Twofeller - Kendall Hoffman
Terror Australis : In the Light of the Lamp - Steven Paulsen
Terror Australis : Feeling Empty - Christopher Sequeira
Terror Australis : The Nicholas Vine - Ann C. Whitehead
Terror Australis : The Keeper - Geoff O'Callaghan
Terror Australis : Out of the Storm - Rick Kennett
Terror Australis : Twist of the Knife - Sean Williams
Terror Australis : The Hut - Sheila Hatherley
Terror Australis : The Hourglass - Leigh Blackmore
Terror Australis : A Dangerous Thing - Michael Bryant
Terror Australis : Makeover - Sue Isle
Terror Australis : Dear Reader - Dirk Strasser
Terror Australis : The Vivisector - Eddie Van Helden
Terror Australis : Anzac Day - Cherry Wilder
Terror Australis : Red Ambrosia - Bill Congreve
Terror Australis : Heir of the Wolf - Stephen Dedman
Terror Australis : Neighbourhood Watch - Greg Egan
Terror Australis : Denials - Bill Fewer
Mabuza's Plum - Eddie Van Helden
Middle aged women slash, too.
3.5 out of 5
Son's a sucker for spooks.
4 out of 5
Mutant cannibal son cull.
3.5 out of 5
That's not Curly.
3.5 out of 5
Ghost tiger.
3 out of 5
Double hanging haunting.
3 out of 5
Lying pixie.
3 out of 5
Leave the hanging to the dead people, bro.
3.5 out of 5
Multple penis dinner.
3.5 out of 5
Wombi snake bi-location.
3 out of 5
A couple go to meet their dealer to score some weed, but he isn't there, and they end up buying a lamp from a strange show. Lovecraftian vistas await.
3.5 out of 5
Eel inside-outside.
3 out of 5
Thorny dead problem.
3 out of 5
Paintball crypt crucified.
3.5 out of 5
Corvette crewlost hag vision.
3.5 out of 5
GUTS plan, bro.
3 out of 5
Dropout scary poetry book.
3.5 out of 5
Hourglass figure, hourglass sex fetish. Add skull goblets and magic, you have an incantation for death.
3.5 out of 5
Demon summoning lack of communication.
3.5 out of 5
Body transfer Time.
3.5 out of 5
Dark infection.
3 out of 5
Slices of life.
3 out of 5
Mum hack.
3 out of 5
Rapist woman bloodsucker suicide wait.
3.5 out of 5
Prefer human well done.
3.5 out of 5
A group of local residents make a deal with a monster to keep the local area crime free. Crime not done by them, anyway. You know what those deals with the devil are like.
4 out of 5
With killings, paperboy.
2.5 out of 5
Skinny bits.
3 out of 5
3.5 out of 5
Friday, November 20, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Friday, November 13, 2009
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Sensitive New Age Spy - Geoffrey McGeachin
Romp, is what you have to call this.
If you are familiar with Shane Maloney's Murray Whelan mysteries, there is a similar tone. Has similarly colorful friends, too, just some of them are spies, soldiers and sleuths.
However, our hero Alby is very much the confident man of violence, being head bloke of a small spook agency that no-one has ever heard of. Also has plenty of cash and eats at all the restaurants he likes. Good at drawing attention while the highly competent women around him work things out for him. Including the octogenarian Scottish neighbour that lives in the building he owns, his surfing spook offsider Jules, and even the odd amazon lesbian bikie journalist friend.
Interestingly, the author has deliberately done the very bad thing of giving the whole spy agency basically a photojournalism cover.
Very tongue and cheek, and refreshingly very Australian, and definitely funny enough to make you chortle in places with this misplaced ship missing nuke dodgy priests, choirboys and save the whalers asbsurd plot.
If people trying to parody Australians actually wanted it to have some resemblance to reality, reading these wouldn't be a bad plan, and apparently there is an earlier novel.
Book is one of those heaps of whitespace big print things that looks like it could be for kids, so a bit annoying to read and a waste of paper as far as that goes.
Lots of fun, though.
4 out of 5
If you are familiar with Shane Maloney's Murray Whelan mysteries, there is a similar tone. Has similarly colorful friends, too, just some of them are spies, soldiers and sleuths.
However, our hero Alby is very much the confident man of violence, being head bloke of a small spook agency that no-one has ever heard of. Also has plenty of cash and eats at all the restaurants he likes. Good at drawing attention while the highly competent women around him work things out for him. Including the octogenarian Scottish neighbour that lives in the building he owns, his surfing spook offsider Jules, and even the odd amazon lesbian bikie journalist friend.
Interestingly, the author has deliberately done the very bad thing of giving the whole spy agency basically a photojournalism cover.
Very tongue and cheek, and refreshingly very Australian, and definitely funny enough to make you chortle in places with this misplaced ship missing nuke dodgy priests, choirboys and save the whalers asbsurd plot.
If people trying to parody Australians actually wanted it to have some resemblance to reality, reading these wouldn't be a bad plan, and apparently there is an earlier novel.
Book is one of those heaps of whitespace big print things that looks like it could be for kids, so a bit annoying to read and a waste of paper as far as that goes.
Lots of fun, though.
4 out of 5
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Sunday, November 1, 2009
A Brief History Of Lenayin - Joel Shepherd
On some of the background for his Trial Of Blood and Steel quartet.
4 out of 5
http://www.joelshepherd.com/2009/10/brief-history-of-lenayin.html
4 out of 5
http://www.joelshepherd.com/2009/10/brief-history-of-lenayin.html
Saturday, October 31, 2009
The Big Interview - Greg Egan
"People with no interest in science are very well catered for in science fiction; 99% of SF is written for them. I make no apology for contributing to the 1% that treats science as something of interest in its own right."
4.5 out of 5
http://www.keepingthedoor.com/2009/10/30/greg-egan-the-big-interview/
4.5 out of 5
http://www.keepingthedoor.com/2009/10/30/greg-egan-the-big-interview/
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
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