This week's challenge is to write from the perspective of an inanimate object... It has been nearly three years since I came to live in this place. A dull if not particularly strenuous existence in a room of stainless steel and laminex and timber. There is a window, beyond which the flowing tendrils of spring … Continue reading What am I?
After a short break from travel posts, here's another from my recent trip. Today I want to tell you all about Exeter, the historical administrative capital of Devon which I took a particular shine to. Exeter is a city with a strong connection to the past. Its position on the River Exe made it a … Continue reading The many things I like about Exeter
It's always exciting to attend book launches, especially when the author is a member of one's writing group and an all-round nice guy. So it was with a spring in my step that I trekked north to the inner Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy yesterday evening to attend the launch of Andrew Macrae's debut novel, Trucksong, … Continue reading Trucksong launch party
I can't remember who recommended it, or where I heard about it, but I recently read Nicola Griffith's Slow River, republished as part of Hachette's SF Masterworks series (it won the 1996 Nebula Award and Lambda Literary Award). Set in the not-too-distant future in a city that might be in England, Slow River is about … Continue reading Book Review: Slow River
It's remarkable how quickly one can fall out of the habit of writing every day. It's been almost two months since I worked on my current novel -- mainly due to travel and stuff -- and it would be very easy to drift along past Christmas without delving back into it. But with so many … Continue reading Right, now where was I?
Did I mention I was travelling for at least part of the time with nearly my whole Dungeons & Dragons contingent? Perhaps I didn't. Well, I was. Five out of the six of us were all crammed into a holiday unit in Cornwall for a week, and we happened to take our dice and character … Continue reading D&D Chronicles: A dodgy bargain with the enemy
I was going to write a post called 'Ode to my iPhone'. Because I really gave my 4S phone a workout over the past month while travelling. More than a workout... It completed an endurance event. Like an ultra-marathon. Navigator. Blogging tool. Camera. Social media interface. Hotel finder. Tourist information centre. Even occasionally a phone. … Continue reading After a mega all-round effort my iPhone screams ‘no more!’
So, last weekend was the World Fantasy Convention in Brighton, UK. My second, following the San Diego WFC in 2011. Once again, I had an excellent time, my activities largely divided between the official program and socialising, er, networking, in the bar. New friends were made and insights obtained... All very satisfying and definitely inspirational. … Continue reading World Fantasy Convention 2013 – a wrapup
After spending a couple of weeks in Cornwall and Devon, I have had many random and wonderful experiences. So in this post I'm covering a miscellany of adventures not hitherto covered in recent posts. Cream Teas One can't come to this part of the world and not fall in love with cream teas -- otherwise … Continue reading A miscellany of adventures in SW England
Dartmoor. A sprawling wild expanse of sphagnum moss and heather and sheep and rocky tors and babbling brooks. Of mist and mud and ancient monuments. Remarkably, it's the product of man, who cleared it of trees, mined it for metals and minerals, built bronze-age villages on it, and grazed animals upon its slopes. Without the … Continue reading Dartmoor: wild and wonderful
Ellen Gregory 