I'm a writer and a reader. I love words. As a nine year I used to sit on the floor with the enormous Webster's Dictionary open in front of me (because the book was so big and heavy I couldn't lift it) and read - for pleasure. I love the way words can make something come alive or explain something.Above all I like the clarity of words - that each has a specific meaning and function.
So, as you can imagine, I hate it when words are abused - and one thing that is certain about an election campaign is that they will be abused. We have entered the world of pre-election spin here in Australia where the vacuous and illogical slogans emerge, designed not to inform but blur. Some are, if you bother to look at them, simply insulting to the electorate. There is another abuse of language too that seems unique to politicians. This is, once you've pinned down your slogan you repeat it at least twice because all voters are so stupid that they don't get it the first time. I'm not talking about repetition for emphasis here. This is just repetition for its own sake. You know the kind that shouts at you, 'Look at me. I've thought up this really cool phrase. It's so cool I'm going to say it again. See. Isn't that cool?'. So I begin my list of these absurdities now - in alphabetical order and with no interest in which party is responsible. I'm sure you can think of many more.
'Dead, buried and cremated.' Doesn't even make sense, does it? As far as I know if you're buried you're buried and if you're cremated and a burial is planned it comes after the cremation.
'Great big new tax.' What is this tax? Is this a new tax replacing an old one? Does it mean that this is a bad tax? If so why not say it is and explain why?
'Moving forward.' From what? To where?
'Working families.' Who are these families? Those where both parents go out to work full time? Those where one works at home - caring for children or an ageing family member? Those where both work in the home caring for children and in the workforce part time? The retirees who voluntarily work for a charity? Retirees with adult children with disabilities who need on-going care not provided for by the government? Retirees with adult children still living at home?
Feel free to tell me your personal favourites.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Just a Few Books
There's one thing about being convalescent. You get to do a lot of reading - and I spent a lot of time this year convalescing.
So I thought I'd make a list of the novels, collections and anthologies I've read so far this year. They are by no means all speculative fiction as you will see but it does tend to predominate. Some time in the future I might list the non-fiction books read in the same period - but not today
First the novels in alphabetical order by author which was not necessarily the order in which they were read.
Joe Abercrombie:
The Blade Itself
Before They Are Hanged
K.E. Bedford:
Time Machines Repaired While-U-Wait This is a reread that will be read again.
Marion Zimmer Bradley:
The Mists of Avalon
Trudy Canavan:
The Magician's Apprentice
The Magicians' Guild
The Novice
The High Lord
C. J. Cherryh: Three old favourites
Fortress in the Eye of Time
Fortress of Eagles
Fortress of Dragons
Robin Hobb:
The Dragon Keeper
Dragon Haven
P.D. James:
The Lighthouse
Margo Lanagan:
Tender Morsels Another reread that I keep going back to.
Justine Larbalestier:
Liar
Glenda Larke:
The Last Stormlord A reread while I was waiting for
Stormlord Rising
The Aware Another reread
Gilfeather and another reread
The Tainted as was this
Stieg Larsson's Millenium Trilogy:
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,
The Girl who Played With Fire
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest
Bevan McGuiness:
The First Weapon
Fiona McIntosh:
Bridge of Souls
Juliet Marillier:
Hearts Blood
Heir to Sevenwaters
K. E. Mills:
Witches Incorporated
Wizard Squared
Audrey Niffenegger:
The Time Traveller's Wife
Ruth Rendell:
The Monster in the Box
Alice Sebold:
The Lovely Bones
Then there are the novellas:
Peter M. Ball: Horn
Robert Shearman/Tansy Rayner Roberts: Roadkill/Siren Beat which are two novellas by different authors in the same book.
Finally the anthologies and collections:
Belong ed. Russell B. Farr
Book of Endings by Deborah Biancotti
Dreaming Again ed. Jack Dann
The New Space Opera ed. Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan
Scary Kisses ed. Liz Grzyb
The Starry Rift ed Jonathan Strahan
So I thought I'd make a list of the novels, collections and anthologies I've read so far this year. They are by no means all speculative fiction as you will see but it does tend to predominate. Some time in the future I might list the non-fiction books read in the same period - but not today
First the novels in alphabetical order by author which was not necessarily the order in which they were read.
Joe Abercrombie:
The Blade Itself
Before They Are Hanged
K.E. Bedford:
Time Machines Repaired While-U-Wait This is a reread that will be read again.
Marion Zimmer Bradley:
The Mists of Avalon
Trudy Canavan:
The Magician's Apprentice
The Magicians' Guild
The Novice
The High Lord
C. J. Cherryh: Three old favourites
Fortress in the Eye of Time
Fortress of Eagles
Fortress of Dragons
Robin Hobb:
The Dragon Keeper
Dragon Haven
P.D. James:
The Lighthouse
Margo Lanagan:
Tender Morsels Another reread that I keep going back to.
Justine Larbalestier:
Liar
Glenda Larke:
The Last Stormlord A reread while I was waiting for
Stormlord Rising
The Aware Another reread
Gilfeather and another reread
The Tainted as was this
Stieg Larsson's Millenium Trilogy:
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,
The Girl who Played With Fire
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest
Bevan McGuiness:
The First Weapon
Fiona McIntosh:
Bridge of Souls
Juliet Marillier:
Hearts Blood
Heir to Sevenwaters
K. E. Mills:
Witches Incorporated
Wizard Squared
Audrey Niffenegger:
The Time Traveller's Wife
Ruth Rendell:
The Monster in the Box
Alice Sebold:
The Lovely Bones
Then there are the novellas:
Peter M. Ball: Horn
Robert Shearman/Tansy Rayner Roberts: Roadkill/Siren Beat which are two novellas by different authors in the same book.
Finally the anthologies and collections:
Belong ed. Russell B. Farr
Book of Endings by Deborah Biancotti
Dreaming Again ed. Jack Dann
The New Space Opera ed. Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan
Scary Kisses ed. Liz Grzyb
The Starry Rift ed Jonathan Strahan
Thursday, July 08, 2010
Karrinyup Writers Club Inc. 25th Anniversary Writing Competition
Well now that's a nice surprise. I was notified recently that I have been awarded third prize in the short story section of the Karrinyup Writers Club Inc. 25th Anniversary Writing Competition. I was delighted to find the names of so many people I know on the winners list. I'm proud to be among them. Congratulations to all the winners but especially Joanne Mills, the multi talented Pamela Blackburn, Marlene Fulcher and Pat Fletcher.
Poetry Section
First prize: Kevin Gillam (WA)
Second prize: Joanne Mills (WA)
Third prize: Pamela Blackburn (WA)
Commended: Lorraine White for two poems (NSW), Janeen Samuel (Vic) and Marlene Fulcher (WA)
Short Story Section
First prize: Pamela Blackburn (WA)
Second prize: Pat Fletcher (WA)
Third prize: Helen Venn (WA)
Poetry Section
First prize: Kevin Gillam (WA)
Second prize: Joanne Mills (WA)
Third prize: Pamela Blackburn (WA)
Commended: Lorraine White for two poems (NSW), Janeen Samuel (Vic) and Marlene Fulcher (WA)
Short Story Section
First prize: Pamela Blackburn (WA)
Second prize: Pat Fletcher (WA)
Third prize: Helen Venn (WA)
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Julia Gillard, Australia's New Prime Minister
With startling speed the Labor Party has removed its previous leader, Kevin Rudd, replacing him with Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard. Politics being what they are - all about pragmatism and winning elections - it's not surprising that they decided he had to go but it is an extraordinary event in Australian political history for several reasons.
Firstly, Prime Ministers do not usually get dumped in their first term. It's an indication of how far Rudd was perceived to be out of favour with the electorate. It's easy to see why his popularity had declined. He came to office promising reforms and, in fact, had delivered on many. For example under his government Australia weathered the financial crisis far better than most other countries. However he fell down on communicating his government's achievements to the voters. Then he failed to deliver on two big issues - the emissions trading scheme and the very emotive issue of taking Japan to the International Court over its so-called scientific whaling program. Added to this the badly planned home insulation program, which was good in theory but, due to inadequate preparation and supervision, resulted in a number of deaths, the rise in illegal asylum seekers (for reasons quite external to Australia and out of the government's control), the mining super tax and a perception (fostered by his wordy, obscure use of language) that the Prime Minister was unwilling to compromise all led to a questioning of his leadership. With the increasing popularity of Tony Abbott in the news polls, the ALP power brokers decided they had to act. The interesting question, from an outside observer's perspective, is if Rudd had shown some of the emotion and sincerity he did in his final press conference would he have retained the support of the party and the electorate? We'll never know, of course, and now we have a new Prime Minister.
This change is an historic one. In Julia Gillard, Australia has its first female Prime Minister. Since Australia was one of the first places to grant women the vote it is astonishing that we have had so few women in political positions of power. There have been a few women State Premiers and the Australian Democrats had several women as their party leader but these have the exceptions. Until the appointment of Quentin Bryce we had never had a female governor General either. There have been women Cabinet ministers in both major parties but they have been a definite minority (although there has been a slow increase in both those and the number of women entering Parliament). With the last election both parties opted for women as their deputy leaders, in itself a step forward, although now we have a female Prime Minister with a male deputy, which makes for a nice change.
Alarmingly, I notice that there is already the usual silly focus on appearance in some of the media. In Friday's edition of The West Australian a photo of the Governor General, Quentin Bryce, and newly appointed Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, sitting opposite one another after her swearing in had the fatuous headline 'Australia's top women get off on the right foot'. Reporter Yuko Narushima followed this by 'Two pairs of black stilettos pointed towards each other under the desk where history was made at Government House in Canberra yesterday'. If it had been two men facing each other would we have told 'two pairs of shiny black dress shoes pointed towards each other'? I don't think so.
As a woman I am delighted to see an intelligent, competent woman as our Prime Minister. I do not care if she has red or blonde hair, whether she wears stilettos or flat shoes, whether she has or doesn't have children. In short, while I'm pleased to see the majority group in the population finally in positions of authority - and think it long overdue - what I want from my Prime Minister is the ability to do the job. Let's hope this silly obsession with a woman's appearance disappears and instead the media focusses instead on what is important whatever the gender of the leader of the country.
Firstly, Prime Ministers do not usually get dumped in their first term. It's an indication of how far Rudd was perceived to be out of favour with the electorate. It's easy to see why his popularity had declined. He came to office promising reforms and, in fact, had delivered on many. For example under his government Australia weathered the financial crisis far better than most other countries. However he fell down on communicating his government's achievements to the voters. Then he failed to deliver on two big issues - the emissions trading scheme and the very emotive issue of taking Japan to the International Court over its so-called scientific whaling program. Added to this the badly planned home insulation program, which was good in theory but, due to inadequate preparation and supervision, resulted in a number of deaths, the rise in illegal asylum seekers (for reasons quite external to Australia and out of the government's control), the mining super tax and a perception (fostered by his wordy, obscure use of language) that the Prime Minister was unwilling to compromise all led to a questioning of his leadership. With the increasing popularity of Tony Abbott in the news polls, the ALP power brokers decided they had to act. The interesting question, from an outside observer's perspective, is if Rudd had shown some of the emotion and sincerity he did in his final press conference would he have retained the support of the party and the electorate? We'll never know, of course, and now we have a new Prime Minister.
This change is an historic one. In Julia Gillard, Australia has its first female Prime Minister. Since Australia was one of the first places to grant women the vote it is astonishing that we have had so few women in political positions of power. There have been a few women State Premiers and the Australian Democrats had several women as their party leader but these have the exceptions. Until the appointment of Quentin Bryce we had never had a female governor General either. There have been women Cabinet ministers in both major parties but they have been a definite minority (although there has been a slow increase in both those and the number of women entering Parliament). With the last election both parties opted for women as their deputy leaders, in itself a step forward, although now we have a female Prime Minister with a male deputy, which makes for a nice change.
Alarmingly, I notice that there is already the usual silly focus on appearance in some of the media. In Friday's edition of The West Australian a photo of the Governor General, Quentin Bryce, and newly appointed Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, sitting opposite one another after her swearing in had the fatuous headline 'Australia's top women get off on the right foot'. Reporter Yuko Narushima followed this by 'Two pairs of black stilettos pointed towards each other under the desk where history was made at Government House in Canberra yesterday'. If it had been two men facing each other would we have told 'two pairs of shiny black dress shoes pointed towards each other'? I don't think so.
As a woman I am delighted to see an intelligent, competent woman as our Prime Minister. I do not care if she has red or blonde hair, whether she wears stilettos or flat shoes, whether she has or doesn't have children. In short, while I'm pleased to see the majority group in the population finally in positions of authority - and think it long overdue - what I want from my Prime Minister is the ability to do the job. Let's hope this silly obsession with a woman's appearance disappears and instead the media focusses instead on what is important whatever the gender of the leader of the country.
Friday, June 18, 2010
What was he thinking?
Posting has been pretty sparse, hasn't it, but I do have a good excuse in surgery with the inevitable messed with brain post anaesthetic. But it's all good now.
At least I had an excuse unlike Representative Joe L. Barton, who, during the US Senate hearing into the disastrous BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, apologised to BP, describing the establishment of the $20 billion BP liability fund as a 'shakedown' to the horror of all including his own party. He has back pedalled but really - what was he thinking? Go here for more details.
At least I had an excuse unlike Representative Joe L. Barton, who, during the US Senate hearing into the disastrous BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, apologised to BP, describing the establishment of the $20 billion BP liability fund as a 'shakedown' to the horror of all including his own party. He has back pedalled but really - what was he thinking? Go here for more details.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Bring Peter Watts to AussieCon
Cat Sparks has set up a campaign to bring Peter Watts to AussieCon in September. Her post is reposted below with her permission.
the bring peter watts to aussiecon campaign
Many of you will be familiar with this story already but for anyone who isn’t:
Last year Canadian marine biologist and science fiction writer Dr Peter Watts underwent a terrifying ordeal at the hands of over zealous border crossing guards in Port Huron, USA. While leaving the United States on December 8, 2009, he was subject to an exit search, then beaten, maced and arrested when he tried to find out what was going on.
A full account of the incident and what was to follow is up on Tor.com
Or hear him interviewed about his experience, podcast at Starship Sofa
Even though all he did was fail to promptly comply with border guards’ instructions, he narrowly escaped a prison sentence and is now officially a convicted felon and therefore no longer able to attend US conventions.
Peter’s short story ‘The Island’ from The New Space Opera 2, edited by Gardner Dozois and our own Jonathan Strahan has been nominated for a Hugo award. What with Worldcon being on Aussie soil in September this year, I thought it would be a good thing if he could fly out here for both the Hugos and Aussiecon itself.
To that end, with Peter’s permission, I’m conducting a raffle to raise money for his airfare and accommodation. First prize is tuckerisation in his next novel State of Grace. Peter says:
“make sure that all entrants realize that their namesakes will most likely come to a really painful and unpleasant end. And they may not be especially cuddly as characters before then…”
The Aussiecon committee has very kindly donated Peter’s membership. The rest is up to us. If you think the guy deserves a break, how about taking part in the raffle or making a donation?
I’ve never met Peter face-to-face but we’ve been email buddies since I sent him a gushing fan letter after reading his first novel Starfish some years back.
He is well known as an excellent value panelist and would be a fantastic asset to the ‘hard science fiction’ end of the con’s literary stream. He has also consented to participating in Dudcon where he will hand out the Ditmars and generally partake of other silliness as required.
To participate in the State of Grace tuckerisation raffle send AUS $10 via Paypal to watts2aussiecon@gmail.com
Email me privately if you’d prefer to buy a ticket via some other medium: cat at catsparks.net
If you’re not into tuckerisation but would like to sling a few bucks into the pot, that’s awesome too.
Any funds raised surplus to requirements will be donated to a reputable charity of Peter’s choice.
Feel free to re-post this message on your own blog if you consider this to be a worthy project
Thank you!
the bring peter watts to aussiecon campaign
Many of you will be familiar with this story already but for anyone who isn’t:
Last year Canadian marine biologist and science fiction writer Dr Peter Watts underwent a terrifying ordeal at the hands of over zealous border crossing guards in Port Huron, USA. While leaving the United States on December 8, 2009, he was subject to an exit search, then beaten, maced and arrested when he tried to find out what was going on.
A full account of the incident and what was to follow is up on Tor.com
Or hear him interviewed about his experience, podcast at Starship Sofa
Even though all he did was fail to promptly comply with border guards’ instructions, he narrowly escaped a prison sentence and is now officially a convicted felon and therefore no longer able to attend US conventions.
Peter’s short story ‘The Island’ from The New Space Opera 2, edited by Gardner Dozois and our own Jonathan Strahan has been nominated for a Hugo award. What with Worldcon being on Aussie soil in September this year, I thought it would be a good thing if he could fly out here for both the Hugos and Aussiecon itself.
To that end, with Peter’s permission, I’m conducting a raffle to raise money for his airfare and accommodation. First prize is tuckerisation in his next novel State of Grace. Peter says:
“make sure that all entrants realize that their namesakes will most likely come to a really painful and unpleasant end. And they may not be especially cuddly as characters before then…”
The Aussiecon committee has very kindly donated Peter’s membership. The rest is up to us. If you think the guy deserves a break, how about taking part in the raffle or making a donation?
I’ve never met Peter face-to-face but we’ve been email buddies since I sent him a gushing fan letter after reading his first novel Starfish some years back.
He is well known as an excellent value panelist and would be a fantastic asset to the ‘hard science fiction’ end of the con’s literary stream. He has also consented to participating in Dudcon where he will hand out the Ditmars and generally partake of other silliness as required.
To participate in the State of Grace tuckerisation raffle send AUS $10 via Paypal to watts2aussiecon@gmail.com
Email me privately if you’d prefer to buy a ticket via some other medium: cat at catsparks.net
If you’re not into tuckerisation but would like to sling a few bucks into the pot, that’s awesome too.
Any funds raised surplus to requirements will be donated to a reputable charity of Peter’s choice.
Feel free to re-post this message on your own blog if you consider this to be a worthy project
Thank you!
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Peter Watts
Via cassiphone's Velvet Threads LJ . Many of you will have heard of the run in Canadian writer, Peter Watts, had with border control officials when trying to leave the US to return to Canada resulting in his being maced and arrested among other things. If not you can hear Watts describing the experience on this Sofanauts podcast. Towards the end Watts raises some interesting points about the reactions of the public to his arrest that I certainly found thought provoking.
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