Sorry everyone for taking sooooooooo... long to post again, here I am at last!
Editing has me in its merciless grips; the first draft of Book 3 is far too long so cut cut cut, condense condense condense. One of my initial errors (which happened in Books 1 & 2 as well) is that I put in too much world detail - fascinating to me (and my mate Will) but not so great for a well flowing plot or more general reader interest. My second pass involves reducing this to something smoother and less thrombotic to read, some plot-extraneous matter being put into the back matter where it fits much better (thank you Lord for the Explicarium!) The balance for me is having enough detail to fully build in the experience of the Half-Continent whilst not over-indulging (well, too much anyway...)
To those who contend that MBT is self-indulgent and has too much world in it, I answer, what is the point of writing (not "righting" as I had carelessly had previously... you should see my drafts!!!) about a pretend world if it is only briefly touched upon and has no real impact on the story told? Having said that, I have still got to tell a good story - well, the best I can at least.
So, I suppose you could say, my contention has some merit for I learnt recently that Monster-Blood Tattoo Book 2, Lamplighter has made it into the 2009 CBCA Awards Book of the Year shortlist for Older Readers. Very very chuffed that it has been recognised in the same award that honoured Foundling two years ago. Brilliant!
The complete list is as follows:
EATON, Anthony Into White Silence
FRENCH, Jackie A Rose for the Anzac Boys
MARCHETTA, Melina Finnikin of the Rock
MOLONEY, James Kill the Possum
TAN, Shaun Tales from Outer Suburbia
CORNISH, D. M. Monster Blood Tattoo Book Two: Lamplighter
(Check me out with my egocentrically loooonnngggg book title... ;)
Brilliant for us all and all the Notable Books with us.
Showing posts with label awards. Show all posts
Showing posts with label awards. Show all posts
NSW Premier's Literary Awards 2009 Shortlist.
Delighted to be able to say that MBT 2, Lamplighter has been shortlisted in the 2009 NSW (meaning New South Wales for the uninitiated) Premier's Literary Award's The Ethel Turner Prize for a work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry written for young people of secondary school level. The list of us all goes a little like this:
Dianne Bates - Crossing the Line
Michelle Cooper - A Brief History of Montmaray
D.M Cornish - Monster Blood Tattoo Book Two: Lamplighter
Alison Goodman - The Two Pearls of Wisdom
Nette Hilton - Sprite Downberry
Joanne Horrniman - My Candlelight Novel
I feel like a bit of an upstart occupying a list with such luminaries. VERY VERY gratified to be recognised in one the countries big awards, thank you so much to those that put me there. With all this good news I just might explode with joy... if, of course, my stupid character flaws would just stop getting in the way and spoiling the glee...
For all the shortlistings for the entire gamut of the NSW Premier's Awards for this year go here!
Dianne Bates - Crossing the Line
Michelle Cooper - A Brief History of Montmaray
D.M Cornish - Monster Blood Tattoo Book Two: Lamplighter
Alison Goodman - The Two Pearls of Wisdom
Nette Hilton - Sprite Downberry
Joanne Horrniman - My Candlelight Novel
I feel like a bit of an upstart occupying a list with such luminaries. VERY VERY gratified to be recognised in one the countries big awards, thank you so much to those that put me there. With all this good news I just might explode with joy... if, of course, my stupid character flaws would just stop getting in the way and spoiling the glee...
For all the shortlistings for the entire gamut of the NSW Premier's Awards for this year go here!
Cybils Fantasy/SciFi Shortlist 2008
Well, it is near two weeks since the peep of the year and have you heard anything from me..?!
I am very chuffed to break silence (as it were), do as others have done and post up a shortlist from the up and coming Cybils Awards in my own chosen genre, Fantasy & Science Fiction:
Cabinet of Wonders written by Marie Rutkoski, Macmillan
Graveyard Book written by Neil Gaiman, HarperCollins
Magic Thief written by Sarah Prineas, HarperCollins
Savvy written by Ingrid Law, Penguin USA
Airman written by Eoin Colfer, Hyperion
Curse Dark as Gold written by Elizabeth C. Bunce, Scholastic
Explosionist written by Jenny Davidson, HarperCollins
Graceling written by Kristin Cashore, Harcourt
Hunger Games, The written by Suzanne Collins, Scholastic
Wake written by Lisa McMann, Simon & Schuster
... and (*drum roll*)
Lamplighter written by some weird fellow surrounded by notebooks in a darkened room, Penguin USA.
A true and dare I admit astonishing honour - (watch for my over-use of this word in Book 3... :( - to be included amongst such lights. Congrats to us all, to the judges for hour upon hour of reading to get to this list, to anyone who dares attempt to write a book - shortlisted, awarded or otherwise - and to you most excellent folk who read! Thank you R.J. Anderson for pointing my shortlisting out to me; thank you Laini Taylor-Di Bartolo for you great summary and to you all for your continuing support.
Only a couple of weeks away from the 2008 Aurealis Awards too.
My head is so swollen at the moment I am having trouble fitting through doors and cannot drive my car. Of course, ego takes a big hit when confronted by the daily struggle with the English language, which often feels a lot like...
English language & Plot not doing what it ought to: 1 - D.M.Cornish: nil.
Never-the-less, we are getting there folks!
Klesita (welcome to you!) was asking... "Is it true that Jim Henson Co has the rights of the series? Do you still retain some kind of rights over the script that will allow you some control over the final product? It would be a shame if the movie trashes this beautiful/fearful/incredible world and its inhabitants..."
Yes, the Henson company does indeed have the rights to MBT; no, I think they have to right to make the story what they want it to be, and if I get any say in how it turns out it will be purely on the condescension of the director etc. I too am nervous of what the final product my morph into; I reckon at this very moment the Henson Company are probably nervous how I actually end the story (and me along with them) - so nerves all round.
Ben Bryddia ponders... "Do they have land mines in the Haacobin Empire? You know, big ceramic or porcelain spheres full of mordants, just waiting for some hulking unterman to step on, and crack open? Which makes me wonder, are there any poisonous potives of the gas variety?"
Not in the way we have landmines, no. More like buried or hidden bombs with long fuses, and with or without potives. There are devices known as belchpots (amongst other names): large cauldron-shaped pots of cheap iron or clay with a metal base plate and filled with black powder (sometimes called cannon char) and lots and lots of langridge (or langrage, read: shrapnel). These pots are then buried into the soil, their mouths pointed in the desired direction of the blast, and when needed are set off with a long fuse. Variable and messy, but very cheap and relatively simple to produce.
Most repellents and the like work on a rapid expansion in air principle, so it that sense much of a skold/legermain's arsenal is somewhat gaseous, if not to start with, certainly once "deployed". There are a few pure gas potives, but they are rare due to difficulties of storage (usually in a tightly stitched animal bladder of some variety).
Breakfast today: Apricot Fruity Bix
I am very chuffed to break silence (as it were), do as others have done and post up a shortlist from the up and coming Cybils Awards in my own chosen genre, Fantasy & Science Fiction:
Cabinet of Wonders written by Marie Rutkoski, Macmillan
Graveyard Book written by Neil Gaiman, HarperCollins
Magic Thief written by Sarah Prineas, HarperCollins
Savvy written by Ingrid Law, Penguin USA
Airman written by Eoin Colfer, Hyperion
Curse Dark as Gold written by Elizabeth C. Bunce, Scholastic
Explosionist written by Jenny Davidson, HarperCollins
Graceling written by Kristin Cashore, Harcourt
Hunger Games, The written by Suzanne Collins, Scholastic
Wake written by Lisa McMann, Simon & Schuster
... and (*drum roll*)
Lamplighter written by some weird fellow surrounded by notebooks in a darkened room, Penguin USA.
A true and dare I admit astonishing honour - (watch for my over-use of this word in Book 3... :( - to be included amongst such lights. Congrats to us all, to the judges for hour upon hour of reading to get to this list, to anyone who dares attempt to write a book - shortlisted, awarded or otherwise - and to you most excellent folk who read! Thank you R.J. Anderson for pointing my shortlisting out to me; thank you Laini Taylor-Di Bartolo for you great summary and to you all for your continuing support.
Only a couple of weeks away from the 2008 Aurealis Awards too.
My head is so swollen at the moment I am having trouble fitting through doors and cannot drive my car. Of course, ego takes a big hit when confronted by the daily struggle with the English language, which often feels a lot like...
English language & Plot not doing what it ought to: 1 - D.M.Cornish: nil.
Never-the-less, we are getting there folks!
Klesita (welcome to you!) was asking... "Is it true that Jim Henson Co has the rights of the series? Do you still retain some kind of rights over the script that will allow you some control over the final product? It would be a shame if the movie trashes this beautiful/fearful/incredible world and its inhabitants..."
Yes, the Henson company does indeed have the rights to MBT; no, I think they have to right to make the story what they want it to be, and if I get any say in how it turns out it will be purely on the condescension of the director etc. I too am nervous of what the final product my morph into; I reckon at this very moment the Henson Company are probably nervous how I actually end the story (and me along with them) - so nerves all round.
Ben Bryddia ponders... "Do they have land mines in the Haacobin Empire? You know, big ceramic or porcelain spheres full of mordants, just waiting for some hulking unterman to step on, and crack open? Which makes me wonder, are there any poisonous potives of the gas variety?"
Not in the way we have landmines, no. More like buried or hidden bombs with long fuses, and with or without potives. There are devices known as belchpots (amongst other names): large cauldron-shaped pots of cheap iron or clay with a metal base plate and filled with black powder (sometimes called cannon char) and lots and lots of langridge (or langrage, read: shrapnel). These pots are then buried into the soil, their mouths pointed in the desired direction of the blast, and when needed are set off with a long fuse. Variable and messy, but very cheap and relatively simple to produce.
Most repellents and the like work on a rapid expansion in air principle, so it that sense much of a skold/legermain's arsenal is somewhat gaseous, if not to start with, certainly once "deployed". There are a few pure gas potives, but they are rare due to difficulties of storage (usually in a tightly stitched animal bladder of some variety).
Breakfast today: Apricot Fruity Bix
And the winner is...
... well not Monster-blood Tattoo anyway. The top dog in the Childrens' Literature section of the 2008 Festival Awards for Literature was actually (the roll of drums - or "flams and parradiddles" as Craumpalin would call them):
Don't Call Me Ishmael by Michael Bauer, published by Omnibus Books (my own publisher BTW)
CONGRATULATIONS!
Worthy worthy worthy.
It is a funny feeling when another gets the prize; certainly no bitterness or rage or any such thing, just a honest yet muted disappointment overborne by delight a/ just to have been shortlisted & b/ that someone has one - everyone likes a winner - in this case a someone I very much admire.
Truly it is just amazing to me that a 'fantasy' book (I used the term loosely) was even allowed to inhabit the shortlist of a literary prize, that not just you and I believe that the genre does not only have to be thin and/or derivative but can be done to a higher level.
It also struck me recently that it is a most Providential thing that I am a part of the YA scene where eyes and minds are wide open and hearts ready to receive what ever innovations authors care to cunjour. I do not think ol' MBT might have received quite the same attention had it been released through the more usual adult channels. How things can work out, even from the depths I found myself in during 2003 still amaze me. Halelujah! All those years of fuddling about with book after book of obscure little ideas only a very few understood, like some nerdy Jekyll suddenly, with the insight of one woman (Dyan Blacklock, Omnibis Books) I am propelled to bigger better things.
So to all of you, fellow Jekyll fuddlers, fuddle on - who knows where it will take us!
Don't Call Me Ishmael by Michael Bauer, published by Omnibus Books (my own publisher BTW)
CONGRATULATIONS!
Worthy worthy worthy.
It is a funny feeling when another gets the prize; certainly no bitterness or rage or any such thing, just a honest yet muted disappointment overborne by delight a/ just to have been shortlisted & b/ that someone has one - everyone likes a winner - in this case a someone I very much admire.
Truly it is just amazing to me that a 'fantasy' book (I used the term loosely) was even allowed to inhabit the shortlist of a literary prize, that not just you and I believe that the genre does not only have to be thin and/or derivative but can be done to a higher level.
It also struck me recently that it is a most Providential thing that I am a part of the YA scene where eyes and minds are wide open and hearts ready to receive what ever innovations authors care to cunjour. I do not think ol' MBT might have received quite the same attention had it been released through the more usual adult channels. How things can work out, even from the depths I found myself in during 2003 still amaze me. Halelujah! All those years of fuddling about with book after book of obscure little ideas only a very few understood, like some nerdy Jekyll suddenly, with the insight of one woman (Dyan Blacklock, Omnibis Books) I am propelled to bigger better things.
So to all of you, fellow Jekyll fuddlers, fuddle on - who knows where it will take us!
A refurbishing
A slight revamp of ol' Monster Blog Tattoo - as you can well see. What might have occasioned this you are probably NOT asking. Well, partly it is because I am a restless soul, but also I thought I might have a little graphical celebration at some good news.
Out of nowhere I recently learnt that MBT Book 1: Foundling has been short-listed for the 2008 Festival Awards for Literature (winner to be announced at Adelaide Writers’ Week in March). Huzzah!
Other titles in the Childrens Literature Shortlist include (from a total of 212 entries):
Out of nowhere I recently learnt that MBT Book 1: Foundling has been short-listed for the 2008 Festival Awards for Literature (winner to be announced at Adelaide Writers’ Week in March). Huzzah!
Other titles in the Childrens Literature Shortlist include (from a total of 212 entries):
- Home by Narelle Oliver (Omnibus Books)
- Don’t Call Me Ishmael by Michael Gerard Bauer (Omnibus Books)
- Macbeth and Son by Jackie French (Angus & Robertson)
- Danny Allen Was Here by Phil Cummings (Pan Macmillan)
- The Worry Tree by Marianne Musgrove (Random House)
Good news for us all and too for those authors making it in the other categories. It also means that my ANZ publisher Omnibus Books (my original publishers) have three of their authors in the short-list, so huzzah!s all round I reckon.
Also there is a MySpace now for MBT. It has been set up by my US publishers, Putnam. Being a novice to MySpace (dare I admit it) I am not sure yet what we'll do with it all but I hope I'll see you there sometime soon.
So things small and some what larger are afoot.
ALAN Review
The U.S. edition of MBT: Foundling has made it on to the cover of the ALAN Review, along with Laini Taylor's Faeries of Dreamdark: Blackbringer - she and I are stablemates at Penguin.Laini has an excellent site on the struggles of writing over at Not for Robots - I found myself agreeing and encouraged by almost all she says. Writing is hard - I certainly find it so, like pulling teeth without anaesthetic; so heck it out if you want a lift to your flagging authorly spirits - indeed for those who want advice on such things on getting published, I think Liana is a better source of advice than I.
As for the The ALAN Review, it is the ALAN's (the Assembly on
Literature for Adolescents of the National Council of Teachers of English) "peer-reviewed journal ... devoted solely to the field of literature for adolescents." (taken from "Instructions of Authors: About the ALAN Review" the ALAN Review Winter 2007, p2 - head over to the site for more if you want... or not)
This is a signal honour, thank you ALAN! There is apparently no actual review of MBT 1 in it though ... so there you go.
Half-Continent definitions for real words and more meaningful content will be coming soon; meanwhile you should still go and check out the marvellous images made by MBT readers in Spain.
Objectionable Book
Discovered this little gem not so long ago - found here and written by THE HON. DR GORDON MOYES.
'I knew Scholastic also had an Australian Book Club. I later found in some of their promotional material: “Welcome to Scholastic Book Clubs, where you’ll always find fabulous books, terrific value and wonderful resources! The most affordable books!” They were advocating the sale of “Harry Potter”, “Halloween” and “Monster Blood Tattoo” so I could expect to find the objectionable books with these if they had them.' (bold type added by me.) (I do not have any issue with the general content of the article - I am not that keen on wolves in sheep-clothing either.)
So if I read it right by the inference, I reckon I can say it is official: MBT is an objectionable book.
I wonder if the Honourable Mr Moyes formulated his opinion on a thorough reading of the text or rather by a cursory and shallow assumption based on the title alone? I fear it was probably not the former.
Either way, I feel like I've won something and do not know who to thank first.
'I knew Scholastic also had an Australian Book Club. I later found in some of their promotional material: “Welcome to Scholastic Book Clubs, where you’ll always find fabulous books, terrific value and wonderful resources! The most affordable books!” They were advocating the sale of “Harry Potter”, “Halloween” and “Monster Blood Tattoo” so I could expect to find the objectionable books with these if they had them.' (bold type added by me.) (I do not have any issue with the general content of the article - I am not that keen on wolves in sheep-clothing either.)
So if I read it right by the inference, I reckon I can say it is official: MBT is an objectionable book.
I wonder if the Honourable Mr Moyes formulated his opinion on a thorough reading of the text or rather by a cursory and shallow assumption based on the title alone? I fear it was probably not the former.
Either way, I feel like I've won something and do not know who to thank first.
Very Happy Indeed
I just wanted to happily and gratefully acknowledge the CBCA Junior Judges for also nominating MBT as an Honour Book. A double honour in the CBCA is so brilliantly encouraging (I know I use these words a lot but it just so true, what else can I say?). Thank you Junior Judges, I hope your Participation Certificates look snazzy on the wall.
This might be a good place to note that I am a tad disappointed with the meagre, near non-existent coverage the CBCA Awards receives here in the general OZ media (with a few excellent exceptions). It is almost as if outside of the community that is Childrens Publishing, we do not really exist - unless of course there is talk of DEAL$ Yet that is hardly a useful topic of discussion when what we are on about is children reading and adults acknowledging this as being important, indeed necessary. I do not recall caring much about DEAL$ when I was looking for books to read - indeed I still do not - I just wanted to know what was worth reading and what was not. Good thing for the electronical interweb, loads on kids lit and YA just there for the finding.
Back to more positive things I am offering belated congratulations to Omnibus (ahh dear precious Omnibus) & Scholastic Australia for their win in the 2007 Australian Book Industry Awards in the Australian Export Success Award 2007 catagory with my own wee tome (and the further books in the series - they have made a huge assumption there that there will be more books in the series - just jokes!!!) You can grab a .pdf of all the winners from the ABIA 2007 here, but only if you really want to of course.
BTW I would also like to say Happy Birthday Blogger - apparently it is its 8th birthday today! (... and now you know)
This might be a good place to note that I am a tad disappointed with the meagre, near non-existent coverage the CBCA Awards receives here in the general OZ media (with a few excellent exceptions). It is almost as if outside of the community that is Childrens Publishing, we do not really exist - unless of course there is talk of DEAL$ Yet that is hardly a useful topic of discussion when what we are on about is children reading and adults acknowledging this as being important, indeed necessary. I do not recall caring much about DEAL$ when I was looking for books to read - indeed I still do not - I just wanted to know what was worth reading and what was not. Good thing for the electronical interweb, loads on kids lit and YA just there for the finding.
Back to more positive things I am offering belated congratulations to Omnibus (ahh dear precious Omnibus) & Scholastic Australia for their win in the 2007 Australian Book Industry Awards in the Australian Export Success Award 2007 catagory with my own wee tome (and the further books in the series - they have made a huge assumption there that there will be more books in the series - just jokes!!!) You can grab a .pdf of all the winners from the ABIA 2007 here, but only if you really want to of course.
BTW I would also like to say Happy Birthday Blogger - apparently it is its 8th birthday today! (... and now you know)
Back from Melly.
For those who are not familiar with Australian parlance, "Melly" is short for Melbourne, and I have returned as the title of this blog suggests.
As to the CBCA Awards I am so very very pleased to declare that not only was MBT 1 short-listed, it actually managed to make it as an Honour Book - which means silver, 2nd place!
Woo-stinking-hoo!
Now the book will get little silver stickers on it (well here in Australia it will) My hearty congratulations to the deep and delightful Ursula Dubosarsky The Red Shoe, my follow honour book awardee and to the wonderful Margo Lanagan Red Spikes, which took out the top spot, and deservedly so (IMHO) - though it is a shame they can not award gold to more than one. Here is the complete list of the CBCA 2007 results.
Whilst there in Melly, my wife and I had a coffee with femina and she promptly informed me that my blogging-style of writing was not at all like my book-style of writing. I had this awful sensation like my underpants were showing or something. It was a good observation, and ties in with my own struggle with style and voice. The very text you are now reading is more how I talk, it is just written conversation - does that mean my words in the MBT's are too contrived? Would the books be better if I just wrote them like this? Then again, when preparing finished illustrations I don't just scribble the first thing that comes to me - I do roughs, I model and refine a drawing till I am satisfied. In the same way when writing I wrestle with the sound and feel of my words until I am satisfied. I can sit with my head down staring at the floor for a goodly long time just trying to compose one sentence.
If I ever get to write more that MBT, if I ever get to explore this life of writing further, how much will my style change I wonder: will my books become looser - more modern, or shall my blogs become more wordy?
Anyway, enough self-consciousness! Enough navel-gazing! (omphaloscepsis I believe this is called - this is a real word not a H-c word, though I am sure I will be adapting it to something: it is just too good not to use. Perhaps an Imperial think-tank, the omphalosceptics, who puzzle and nut things out for the Emperor, who live and work in the Scepticon... hmmm...)
As to Rossamünd’s face, madbomber expressed concern at it being revealed, and it may well be that in different countries different degrees of revelation occur. Does this mean I have copped-out, I sure hope not *looks worried*. As a writer I am stubborn and argumentative, as an illustrator I am more agreeable and it was as an illustrator solving a brief that led to the drawing of Rossamünd’s profile. We will just have to wait and see.
... and yes, Mr Bomber, bless you, Dyan is a spectacular person indeed. It was more than fate that brought our paths together and I am greatful to have met her and for the strange events that lead to that meeting. Lord willing we will be working together for a long time to come.
Oh, and for breakfast today I had AllBran [TM] Wheat Flakes Honey & Almond (how beautiful do almond trees look in late winter, such burstings of blossom - I can well imagine whole forests of them, autumnlands like the Autumn of Sleep, mystic places where the urchin-lords live.)
As to the CBCA Awards I am so very very pleased to declare that not only was MBT 1 short-listed, it actually managed to make it as an Honour Book - which means silver, 2nd place!
Woo-stinking-hoo!
Now the book will get little silver stickers on it (well here in Australia it will) My hearty congratulations to the deep and delightful Ursula Dubosarsky The Red Shoe, my follow honour book awardee and to the wonderful Margo Lanagan Red Spikes, which took out the top spot, and deservedly so (IMHO) - though it is a shame they can not award gold to more than one. Here is the complete list of the CBCA 2007 results.
Whilst there in Melly, my wife and I had a coffee with femina and she promptly informed me that my blogging-style of writing was not at all like my book-style of writing. I had this awful sensation like my underpants were showing or something. It was a good observation, and ties in with my own struggle with style and voice. The very text you are now reading is more how I talk, it is just written conversation - does that mean my words in the MBT's are too contrived? Would the books be better if I just wrote them like this? Then again, when preparing finished illustrations I don't just scribble the first thing that comes to me - I do roughs, I model and refine a drawing till I am satisfied. In the same way when writing I wrestle with the sound and feel of my words until I am satisfied. I can sit with my head down staring at the floor for a goodly long time just trying to compose one sentence.
If I ever get to write more that MBT, if I ever get to explore this life of writing further, how much will my style change I wonder: will my books become looser - more modern, or shall my blogs become more wordy?
Anyway, enough self-consciousness! Enough navel-gazing! (omphaloscepsis I believe this is called - this is a real word not a H-c word, though I am sure I will be adapting it to something: it is just too good not to use. Perhaps an Imperial think-tank, the omphalosceptics, who puzzle and nut things out for the Emperor, who live and work in the Scepticon... hmmm...)
As to Rossamünd’s face, madbomber expressed concern at it being revealed, and it may well be that in different countries different degrees of revelation occur. Does this mean I have copped-out, I sure hope not *looks worried*. As a writer I am stubborn and argumentative, as an illustrator I am more agreeable and it was as an illustrator solving a brief that led to the drawing of Rossamünd’s profile. We will just have to wait and see.
... and yes, Mr Bomber, bless you, Dyan is a spectacular person indeed. It was more than fate that brought our paths together and I am greatful to have met her and for the strange events that lead to that meeting. Lord willing we will be working together for a long time to come.
Oh, and for breakfast today I had AllBran [TM] Wheat Flakes Honey & Almond (how beautiful do almond trees look in late winter, such burstings of blossom - I can well imagine whole forests of them, autumnlands like the Autumn of Sleep, mystic places where the urchin-lords live.)
A Blogful Butterfly
A brief line to gratefully acknowledge Monster-Blood Tattoo: Foundling's inclusion in the ALA Best Books for Young Adults list for 2007! Sincerest delighted thanks to the 'judges' and congratulations to all the other works who were nominated and/or selected.
Also I just want to let folks know I am blogging over at Inside A Dog as their Writer in Residence for the month of February, so please, head over there for some more blogging fun. I have to be regular there so (as I said last post) it may just make me more regular here.
Editing with MBT 2 is at very very early stages, and the Explicarium for Book 2 is ticking along nicely and will (Lord willing) be done very shortly... and I haven't forgotten those questions still need answering.
Also I just want to let folks know I am blogging over at Inside A Dog as their Writer in Residence for the month of February, so please, head over there for some more blogging fun. I have to be regular there so (as I said last post) it may just make me more regular here.
Editing with MBT 2 is at very very early stages, and the Explicarium for Book 2 is ticking along nicely and will (Lord willing) be done very shortly... and I haven't forgotten those questions still need answering.
Aurealis Felicitas et Bonum
Well, first things: I have just returned from Brisbane where the 11th Annual Aurealis Awards were held. MBT had the great fortune to be nominated then short-listed in the ‘YA’ category for 2006. Thank you to the judges! So off we went, my wife and I, to Brisneyland (one of the many affectionate appellations we none Brisbane dwellers have for that – as it turns out – wonderful city) I have to confess that I had only passed through once before – a days work at an army barracks a long time ago – and had a southerners prejudice: well I was SOOOOOOO wrong. We loved it there! A salient lesson against mindlessness there.
Anyway…
Off we went with a posse of my close ones who have all moved up to Brisy very recently and came out in support of MBT and me. We had a great night. I finally met with the radiant Kim Wilkins, our host for the evening and the author of the Fantastica: Sunken Kingdom series , which I illustrated and was also nominated in the Awards in the ‘Children’s’ section. I talked with Will Elliot – author of The Pilo Family Circus, the winner of both the ‘Horror’ category and the Golden Aurealis! and Juliet Marillier (very briefly as she signed her novel for me) author of the ‘Fantasy’ category winner, Wildwood Dancing – which I am reading and enjoying at this very moment.
I also had a chance to chat with Dr Katherine Phelps who herself lectures on such things as world building to aspiring writers – amongst all her many other achievements and activities. I have to confess I was a little dazzled, but there you go – I suppose I can not expect too much in the good social skills department when I spend so much time closeted away making stuff up about a place that is only real inside my own head. Indeed, I am woefully ignorant of many of my fellow “genre” authors and contributors, and to them all I apologise.
Equally brilliant was the deep conversations with budding writers, and other newly arrived authors, the brief but deeply encouraging brush with the folks of Small Beer Press – so hello particularly to Kelly and Gavin … and to Melaina too, a fellow word-lover whose passion is contagious.
But most brilliant of all was the fact that MBT won the ‘YA’ category. Yep, that’s right – it took the trophy. It is a very strange thing to go from the profoundly personal process of writing, the privacy of editing with publisher (Dyan) and editor (Celia) then find myself squinting into bright stage lights and fumbling out a few awed words of gratitude. It is a strange thing, and as Dr Katherine said on the night, to be short-listed is to be a winner. I am very grateful either way, and pleased and amazed at the recognition to even be short listed.
So to Kate and Ron and all those who made the night and everything leading up to it happen – bleeding brilliant and thank you!
(How’s that for a whole bunch of name dropping…)
As for my ever-patient posters, I have not forgotten your questions - oh no! Not at all. I have gathered them over the long hiatus and printed them off and all… and shall get on to them in the next couple of days. Also, you might want to pop along to Inside A Dog for the next month or so, where I am to be the writer in residence and learn how to blog a darn sight more frequently than I do here. Only good things can result ... Lord willing.
My word! life is just getting busier… Here was me thinking it would become a little quieter after Book 2 was done.
Also: I have just started a dietary change around so be prepared for a thinner DM.
And now: Half-Continent synonyms for real-world terms #007
Thank you to two of my regular blog-buddies for yet more of a challege!
sweat = the dribbles, aquicrina or "the quicks" in its vernacular form, or schwess (if you are from Gottland).
biro = in terms of an equivalent it would be either stylus or quill, though if you handed a biro to a learned person from the Hc they might term it a plenatris (the vernacular being rendered perhaps to plint) or atrement. (And thank you, Mark, for being at Mawson Lakes and for the heads up re: the old illustrated herbals currently on display at the Museum of Economic Botany in the Botanic Gardens)
NOTE: MBT = Monster Blood Tattoo, Hc = Half-Continent
Anyway…
Off we went with a posse of my close ones who have all moved up to Brisy very recently and came out in support of MBT and me. We had a great night. I finally met with the radiant Kim Wilkins, our host for the evening and the author of the Fantastica: Sunken Kingdom series , which I illustrated and was also nominated in the Awards in the ‘Children’s’ section. I talked with Will Elliot – author of The Pilo Family Circus, the winner of both the ‘Horror’ category and the Golden Aurealis! and Juliet Marillier (very briefly as she signed her novel for me) author of the ‘Fantasy’ category winner, Wildwood Dancing – which I am reading and enjoying at this very moment.
I also had a chance to chat with Dr Katherine Phelps who herself lectures on such things as world building to aspiring writers – amongst all her many other achievements and activities. I have to confess I was a little dazzled, but there you go – I suppose I can not expect too much in the good social skills department when I spend so much time closeted away making stuff up about a place that is only real inside my own head. Indeed, I am woefully ignorant of many of my fellow “genre” authors and contributors, and to them all I apologise.
Equally brilliant was the deep conversations with budding writers, and other newly arrived authors, the brief but deeply encouraging brush with the folks of Small Beer Press – so hello particularly to Kelly and Gavin … and to Melaina too, a fellow word-lover whose passion is contagious.
But most brilliant of all was the fact that MBT won the ‘YA’ category. Yep, that’s right – it took the trophy. It is a very strange thing to go from the profoundly personal process of writing, the privacy of editing with publisher (Dyan) and editor (Celia) then find myself squinting into bright stage lights and fumbling out a few awed words of gratitude. It is a strange thing, and as Dr Katherine said on the night, to be short-listed is to be a winner. I am very grateful either way, and pleased and amazed at the recognition to even be short listed.
So to Kate and Ron and all those who made the night and everything leading up to it happen – bleeding brilliant and thank you!
(How’s that for a whole bunch of name dropping…)
As for my ever-patient posters, I have not forgotten your questions - oh no! Not at all. I have gathered them over the long hiatus and printed them off and all… and shall get on to them in the next couple of days. Also, you might want to pop along to Inside A Dog for the next month or so, where I am to be the writer in residence and learn how to blog a darn sight more frequently than I do here. Only good things can result ... Lord willing.
My word! life is just getting busier… Here was me thinking it would become a little quieter after Book 2 was done.
Also: I have just started a dietary change around so be prepared for a thinner DM.
And now: Half-Continent synonyms for real-world terms #007
Thank you to two of my regular blog-buddies for yet more of a challege!
sweat = the dribbles, aquicrina or "the quicks" in its vernacular form, or schwess (if you are from Gottland).
biro = in terms of an equivalent it would be either stylus or quill, though if you handed a biro to a learned person from the Hc they might term it a plenatris (the vernacular being rendered perhaps to plint) or atrement. (And thank you, Mark, for being at Mawson Lakes and for the heads up re: the old illustrated herbals currently on display at the Museum of Economic Botany in the Botanic Gardens)
NOTE: MBT = Monster Blood Tattoo, Hc = Half-Continent
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