Home Again

I didn't mean to take such a long break from posting but internet access proved less accessible than I had hoped during my wanderings during the last few weeks. I'll blog about some of my adventures later but for now I'll just say that Tasmania is amazing to visit. Beautiful and historic - and we could easily have spent another couple of weeks there and still not have seen everything.

But let me start with Aussiecon 4. What an experience. I enjoyed every moment. It was brilliant to catch up with so many friends I see rarely due to distance and to have a chance to be in a space where everyone has similar interests. It was tiring (exhausting might be more accurate), crowded and noisy - and so stimulating. I have pages of notes on panels to transcribe. As Worldcons go this was relatively small and I'm not at all sure I'd enjoy something much bigger so I'm glad I was able to attend this one. If I have a complaint it is that there were so many interesting panels, guest speeches, kaffeeklatsches and readings that I generally found myself torn between at least two - more often three - choices every time. Even my own panels clashed with others I would have liked to have gone to. I was lucky though that they were both on the first afternoon and so left me with time to enjoy the rest of the con without having to juggle that as well.

I have to say to anyone considering it, if you ever get the chance to go to a Worldcon take it. I learned so much, met such interesting people - several of my fellow reviewers from The Specusphere I hadn't met face to face before for example - and came home with far too many books - dealers' rooms are a temptation and so are book launches - and the pre Hugo Orbit party was a blast.

Catching up with so many of my Clarion South 2007 classmates and others was an added bonus as was the opportunity to hear about their achievements which were added to when Peter M. Ball was awarded Best New Talent in the Ditmars and tutor Robert Hood was named Best Fan Writer for his blog Undead Backbrain.

All in all a great five days.

Karrinyup Writers Club Inc. 25th Anniversary

Karrinyup Writers club celebrated its 25th anniversary today. Not bad for a club which has met once a week for all that time except for a brief annual summer break.

To mark the occasion the club held a combined luncheon, readings from the judges' reports and some of the prize winning entries as well as the launch of their latest anthology. I was delighted to catch up with old friends, some of whom I haven't seen for several
years. Among those present were past and present Karrinyup members, the judges - Maureen Helen and Shane Macauley, as well as Chris Oakley and Mardi May from the Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers Centre and Helen Iles, Claire Grosse and Frances Richardson from the Society of Women Writers WA. It was lovely to see people from other parts of the writing world supporting us on this special day. I'm sorry that time and the sheer volume of people present made it impossible for me to talk to everyone. I certainly would have liked to.

Karrinyup Writers Club has a talented membership and a record to be proud of as it has helped many Perth writers to hone their craft over the years since Pam Steenbergen put an advertisement in the local paper and Dorothy Thompson answered it. They put together a list of aims that still forms the basis of the club constitution. We all owe them and the many who followed them a vote of thanks.

Happy birthday KWC and may there be many more of them.

Worldcon Here I Come

I'm even on two panels. See.

Thurs 1500 Rm 216: Spoiler alert: reviewing plot-driven fiction without
giving the story away. Ian Mond, Helen Venn, Jenny Blackford, Crisetta MacLeod


Thu 1600 Rm 213: Motherhood in science fiction and fantasy. Helen Merrick, Helen Venn, Marianne de Pierres, Tansy Rayner Roberts

Do bear in mind that details may change so, if you're coming, check on the actual program at the con.

Hung Parliament?

So the possibility of a Federal hung parliament looms over us. What do I make out of this? Neither party convinced the electorate that they were worthy of government. The government of Australia rests now basically with the independents and from what I've heard from them so far they seem to be taking the responsibility seriously - which is as it should be. However impatient the leaders of the major parties are to take control they are going to have to wait while these men weigh up the situation and decide on what course they will take. As they are independent, they will have to negotiate an arrangement whereby (whoever they choose to support) they will vote with the government on Supply bills and no confidence motions while either negotiating concessions in return for support of their own policies or voting according to their conscience. It remains to be seen whether this can be agreed and between whom or Australia faces the prospect of another election very soon. If that's the case I hope it's more impressive on the part of the major parties than the election campaign we have just endured.

The Builders - Final Report

So yesterday I opened the curtains to see a dove land on the building site only to realise that overnight the anchors had been dislodged. The pathetic remnants were strewn over the veranda. They obviously hadn't secured them properly and now have abandoned the site. Looking at the bits of twig it's easy to see that it would never have withstood even a slight gust. We've had a number of doves build successful nests here and I have to say I've never seen anything less suitable as building material. They seem to have given up now so maybe I should have helped them. As it is they haven't enough time to build before she will have to lay so I doubt the babies will survive. Yes, they are feral and shouldn't be here but they don't do any damage unlike the gorgeous rainbow lorikeets which are multiplying very quickly and literally pushing out the native parrots by climbing into the hollows that both like to breed in and and throwing out eggs and babies.

Birds Again.

The doves are still working on the anchors. While I'm all for their making the nest secure, this is ridiculous. I suspect they are a very young and inexperienced pair. I want to get up there and give them a helping hand but that would only make things worse. Another update tomorrow.

More Bird Talk

This pair of doves have to be the slowest nest builders in the world. On the other hand the chances of this nest being blown off is remote because they have so many anchors in place. Of course they have done nothing else towards the rest of the nest and they are still discussing every new placement but the nest - if it ever eventuates - will be incredibly stable.