The Great Australian Booklist

Good ol' Chuck McKenzie has been at it again, stirring that brain of his and finding within it this bloody brilliant idea. And thanks to his cohorts (Gillian and Nyssa), the idea has become a reality:

So you're after a book that's published in the US or UK, but which is unavailable to purchase in Australia due to parallel importation restrictions? Maybe your local bookseller isn't stocking the desired range of exciting Aussie small press publications? Or perhaps that novel you've been looking for is long out of print? What can you, as an Australian reader, do to get your hands on the books you want to read?

Readers may use the Great Australian Booklist to nominate 'wish lists' of overseas, local small press and out of print publications, which will then be made available to Australian publishers, distributors and booksellers, to be taken into consideration when purchasing copyright, choosing titles to republish, or stocking shelves.

With this register, book-buyers and the Great Australian Public will benefit by having their say in our industry. Simply nominate all the books you wish you could get hold of, but that your bookshop doesn’t stock, or if it's already up there, use your voting powers. Share your idea on facebook or twitter, and get others to vote for it.

Support the Australian bookselling industry: nominate here today!

Novel Progress: 809 Jacob Street

I thought it might be worthwhile keeping a regularly updated record of this journey from finished novel to published novel, for my own sanity, and in case it helps others on this mad and hectic road to publication (I doubt that it will, so let's just go with saving my sanity).

So where are we up to? Well, I have a shiny manuscript all ready to go - a supernatural thriller of approximately 96,000 words.

This manuscript has been through the wash half a dozen times, been pulled apart by Paula, and slowly put back together again by me. The end result (final edit completed on the 6th of March, 2010 - boy did I have a scotch of two on that day!) is something I'm immensely proud of. It's a far, far better novel than when I first wrote 'The End.' Or even the second time I wrote 'The End.' Or the third time, the fourth, fifth......

My favourite character is still the old homeless bluesman, Joey Blue. Him and his pesky fly thoughts... He's such a poor chap, but he's the one who keeps feeding his demons, no one else. And not even I knew he had that song in him when this journey began:
Barstool eyes, in a dark-lit bar,
Juked-up wails of a jukebox cries,
to drown the despair that seeps from his soul....

But that's Joe for you.

So what's next, then? Well, I have just finished the second draft of my synopsis after Paula tore the first draft to shreds (thanks again, Paula :). She is going over it, no doubt with fangs and claws ready... But that's good, 'cos I want this to shine. Writing a synopsis is hard work. How the heck do you condense a whole novel, all ~96,000 words, into a couple of pages?? With a lot of groaning, that's how.

There are a lot of useful resources out there though, offering tips on writing a synopsis. Check out the following:
How to Write a Synopsis (Nathan Bransford - Literary Agent)

The Synopsis (BookEnds, LLC - A Literary Agent)

How to Write a Synopsis (Writing-World.com - Mark Gilks)

Writing a Novel Synopsis (Fiction Writer's Connection)

Writing a Synopsis from the Ground Up (Writing-World.com - Dee-Ann Latona LeBlanc)

Once the synopsis is done, I still have to write the cover letter. Boy oh boy, I'm beginning to think that writing the blasted novel was the easy step!
 
Meanwhile, the research into suitable US Agents continues... This is vitally important, as I want to make sure my novel reaches the right agent.
 
I tells ya, when I submit 809 Jacob Street that first time, even if I get a rejection, that's going to be a huge thrill - although I imagine that by the 20th rejection, the thrill would have probably faded...

Masters of Horror, here I come!

Awesome, the cover art for the MoH anthology has been revealed and I gotta say, it looks damn cool!

You'll find my story 'Fireflies of the Bushfire' nestled neatly inside. Publication date is scheduled for about April... more details soon.

In other news, I'm about 1/3 of the way through the copy edits of my novel and boy oh boy am I sick of this...... but hang in there Marty, nearly done. Just gotta add that final polish and then it's off to US agents we go.

A big THANK YOU to Paula, my editor extraordinaire, who has made this book so damn amazing. Hope those sunny Californian skies are looking after you well :)

Onwards and upwards Paula!

Being Scared...

So have you been scared lately..?

I don't mean scared for your life in the real world, cos that just sucks, really. I lived in Canberra (in one of the worst hit suburbs) when those bushfires ripped through the place and I was pretty damn scared then. The fire front reached the house accross the small cul-de-sac road from me before the wind turned it away (my short story Fireflies of the Bushfire, to be published this year, is based on that experience). Absolutely terrifying. This lil' ol' kiwi had never experienced anything remotely like an Aussie bushfire before that.

But I'm talkin' about the fun kind of scared! Y'know, that 'HOLY JESUS!' moment where you're just freaking the hell out and LOVING IT!

I used to have 3 crazy dreams on a semi-regular basis when I was growing up, one was about zombies chasing me, the next about T-Rex coming after me, and the last about Jason from Friday the 13th hot on my heels. All were pretty much unstoppable, and I used to wake up terrified. Not fun. Man, I'd be a psychiatrist's wet dream...

But no, that's not really the fun scared I'm talking about, either.

I reckon the most fun scared I've been was during Paranormal Activity--especially that scene where the lady's leg is-- well, I'd best not spoil it. But crap, that movie did a major number on me. Blair Witch frightened the heck outta me too, but PA was so much better. I saw this a few weeks ago and I reckon it's the spookiest movie I've ever watched.

Maybe I'm just a wimp.

How about in a book? That's much harder, although The Monkey's Paw by WW Jacobs was pretty damn terrifying. Novels? Hmm.....

There was a novel by Richard Laymon that freaked me out - can't remember what it was called but it was about this sicko who broke into this family's house and killed the parents, then went after the kids. That got me, but only because shit like that happens in our fucked up world. Goddamn people. My money's on the sharks.



(and don't even try with your flying tanks - they'll run out of fuel eventually and then where will you be? Yeah, you know it, punk)

Welcome (belatedly) to the future!

So it's 2010.

I thought we'd all have those hover skateboards by now. You know the ones from Back to the Future? I've been looking forward to them for a while--well ever since I saw that flick.

But no. Not even a jetpack. I've got an iPhone but that hardly helps me to fly.

Boy, this future sucks. It's so much like the past. Only the date has changed. Where are the aliens? The wormholes leading to another universe? The wonderful revelations? I've been looking forward to so much but it's just taking too damn long to get here.

(And by the sounds of things, it's all gonna end in 2012, so my blasted jetpack had better hurry up or I won't have time to enjoy it! Huh? I hear you saying... Check out "2012: The Good, the Bad, and the Apocalyptic" by Dr. Amy H. Sturgis)

So anyway, what of this new year, 2010? I guess I should write some more stories seeing as how I have no completed ones left (I submitted 4 stories in the past year; 3 have been published/accepted for publication, and 1 is sitting on a shortlist. That's a good return). I also need to get my novel off to an agent or two, now that it's been through the cleaners and has come out shiny. Time to pull my finger out, stop pouting about my lack of a jetpack, and do some bloody work.

My muse has finally returned from his holiday too, the blasted shifty sideshow freak. God alone knows where he went--and I'm too scared to ask. He's got this look about him, a sparkle to his eye that wasn't there before. Maybe he got laid. Dunno. Don't want to know. But it means trouble for me 'cos he's been circling lately. Moving in closer like a Goddamn shark. He has sights to show me and I can see his fingers itching to peel back the curtain.....

Ah crap, here he is now.....