Friday, 30th of April, 2004

Another late notice. I’m doing a cello + laptop set @ Candy’s Apartment(s) in Kings Cross this coming Tuesday night. Playing about 10:30 or so.

It’ll probably mostly live laptop manipulation, with some processed cello into the mix. Some beats going through the machines, some soundscapes, maybe even some melodies - you never know! Plus a few Raven hits :)
Here’s a nice flyer:

It’s the launch of a new experimental night called Shuffling in the AUDIOCLAVE. Bizarre. Should be a fun one!

Sunday, 25th of April, 2004

Two huge pieces of news in the science fiction world:
Gardner Dozois is stepping down as editor of Asimov’s magazine. As well as editing those enormous and wonderful Year’s Best collections, Gardner has helmed Asimov’s, for almost 20 years, as one of the two pre-eminent sf short story magazines in the world. Gardner is truly one of the best sf editors we’ve got. Hopefully Asimov’s’ll be just as great under Sheila Williams. The issue following the latest one I’ve received looks great.
Well, so…
…the other pre-eminent sf magazine is of course Interzone, and shortly before Gardner’s announcement, David Pringle, who’s edited it since its inception (some 22 years!), stepped down as its editor. Andy Cox of The Third Alternative is taking over, and this short list of confirmed up-coming stories looks strong. I’m looking forward to the new IZ, despite being quite shocked by the news. Hopefully it’ll keep to its schedule (unlike IZ for the last year or so, which eventually became officially bi-monthly).
Can’t wait for the new Interzone, #193, which is at press right now I believe, and has a new story by the excellent Mr Alastair Reynolds. To whom I must write as it now turns out Ange & I will be heading to Amsterdam for a couple of days in the middle of our 2 1/2 weeks together overseas (more about that in another post soonish…)

Wednesday, 14th of April, 2004

Chris, er, Kit Brash has a marvellous piece of “true crime”, as one might call it, posted up on his blog as a pdf. Check this link, but remember to right-click it and download it rather than clicking directly because Adobe’s Acrobat plugin still sucks so very much. Well, it’s up to you. That’s what I do.

(I’d put up a choice quote, but read Chris’s post for the choicest one, or better yet, just read the damn pdf! It’s hands down the funniest thing I have ever read. Ever. Today.)

Apparently I’m a Grammar God:
You are a GRAMMAR GOD!
If your mission in life is not already to preserve the English tongue, it should be.Congratulations and thank you!
How grammatically sound are you? brought to you by Quizilla

Probably not surprising, given my background, but it’s probably comforting considering my desire to be a book editor…

Was just thinking that if I want my reviews to be a useful repository of… something… then I probably ought to make them more accessible! My first step in doing so is to create two simple new index pages: the reading archive and the listening archive.

Since I started doing my radio show Utility Fog on FBi Radio (still waiting for the internet streaming to start happening; in the meantime, it’s Sydney-only, although with a big range), I’ve been very very lax in my music reviewing. The book reviews are only a few books behind what I’m reading now, and I’m trying to keep up to date. Of course, much music and reading material is mentioned in passing in standard blog entries too, so the search tool in the sidebar is worth using…
Anyway, I hope to put up a few more reviews of music I’m really getting into soon, but you can always check out the Utility Fog playlists, which have copious links and gradually more discussion of the music as well - and they go up in realtime during the show! What a glutton for punishment am I.

Tuesday, 13th of April, 2004

Just reported on his weblog, and presumably everywhere else too, Charlie Stross has been nominated for two Hugo awards in this year’s ballot. Singularity Sky for best novel, “Nightfall” for best novelette. Fantastic!

If you want to find out a bit about the guy, then other than reading his weblog you can ingest a huge interview conducted by the excellent Nick Gevers over @ scifi.com.
And by the by, his new “novel” (a hardcover collecting a previously-serialised novel and a novella) The Atrocity Archives, although still listed on the Forthcoming page, is now out. My review of its original form here.

Saturday, 3rd of April, 2004

Chris Lawson, Melbourne doctor and science fiction author, has a beautiful post about the Rwandan massacre, the tenth anniversary of which is this month. A horrendous and tragic piece of international history, in which a baleful finger seems to point at just about everyone, from the UN to the US to France… At some stage I really must steel myself to read Philip Gourevitch’s We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families.

Chris is working on his first novel, Proof of Concept, which promises (without wanting to pressure the man too much *grin*) to place him in the field with Greg Egan, Paul McAuley and others as a writer with a deep understanding of science who is also an eloquent defender of human rights and politics - as well as storytelling… McAuley’s recent thrillers (White Devils review in the works right now! Stay tuned) walk similar ground, and I can’t wait to see what Chris does with the concepts - for a brief hint of the themes look at his cute FAQ.
(Maybe he’ll need an enthusiastic beginner-editor somewhere along the way…)