AIDEN’S BIRTHDAY

It had to happen: the A-Boy turned 15 on Saturday, and for his present, we acceded to his desire to invite a whole bunch of friends to go paint-balling. A whole bunch of his friends, and his brother. A whole bunch of his friends, his brother, and me.

Fat men in all-over protective suits and heavy plastic face masks sweat. And puff. And get carpet burns from throwing themselves behind giant plastic barriers while teams of rampaging teenagers try to shoot the fat man’s nads off.

5 days later I’ve still got the bruises where the paint balls hit. Those bastards sting!

But it was a hell of a lot of fun :)

Happy birthday, Aidey-baby.

STUDIES IN AUSTRALIAN WEIRD FICTION

Ever-groovy Ben Szunskyj has announced the arrival of SIAWF Volume 1, and let me tells ya, the contents list is a doozy! To whit:

Essays --
"Lionel Sparrow (1867–1936): An Unknown Australian Writer of Gothic Horror" by James Doig
"The Weird Verse of Christopher Brennan" by Phillip A. Ellis
"Wandering Child: The Fantasies of Vernon Knowles" by Mark Valentine
"An Afternoon with Elizabeth Jolley, author of The Well" by Benjamin Szumskyj
"Shadows & Sexuality: The Horror Stories of Stephen Dedman" by Benjamin Szumskyj
"'Tim Winton's Take on the Weird: In the Winter Dark as Cross-Genre Fiction" by Phillip A. Ellis "A Bibliography of Australian Fantastic Literature to c.1960" by James Doig
"Brett McBean: An Appreciation" by Tim Kroenert
"Thrills and Excitement, Adventure and Action: Don Boyd, an Endless 'Myth-Cycle' Unto Himself" by Charles Lovecraft & Margaret Lovecraft

Interviews --
"Pater Horrere Familas: An Interview with Lee Battersby"
"The Terror From Australis: An Interview Leigh Blackmore"
"The Weird Talesman: An Interview with Terry Dowling"
"Harvesting Wild Grapes: An Interview with Phillip A. Ellis"
"Home is Where the Horror Is: An Interview with Steve Gerlach"
"Laughter From the Dark: An Interview with Richard Harland"
"Horror From the Outback: An Interview with Rick Kennett"
"Darkness Be My Scribe: An Interview with Marty Young"

Ongoing Columnist --
"The Ossuary" by Robert Hood. First article entitled "Ghosts, Monsters and Chainsaws"

Symposiums --
"Joan Lindsay's Picnic at Hanging Rock: A Fortieth Anniversary Retrospect" discussed by James Doig, Patrick Lee and Brett McKenzie
"Crosses & Shadows: Australian Christians Discuss the Horror Genre" discussed by Nathan Hobby, Tim Kroenert, Amanda Robertson, Lyn Battersby and Benjamin Szumskyj

It’s available now, so get the heck over to the site and order a copy of what’s shaping up as an important critical journal.

THE GREEN LANTERN IS NOW BURNING

I know you’ve been waiting: head over to Strange Horizons now, and you’ll find my poem I’ll Keep a Green Lantern Burning. Ta-daaaaaa!

TIN DUCKS AND DITMARS

Swancon, this year, is the National SF Convention. Which means that, apart from being eligible to vote for the Western Australian SF ‘Tin Duck’ Awards, members of the convention can also nominate and vote fro the Ditmar Awards.

So should it interest you to know, the Battlist of eligible works for 2007:

Beached: Daikaiju III
The Time Eater: Dr Who- Destination Prague
Father Muerte & The Joy of Warfare: Aurealis 37
Born of Woman: Daikaiju II (Lyn)


BUT, BUT, BUT……

Year 1 already? When did Erin get so big?

And how cute was it to see her bound out of her room at 6am on Monday morning, fully dressed in uniform and hat, with her backpack on her back, ready to go? Poor thing: the longest 2 and a half hours of her life…..