Z Australia
Fun story about a private eye in a world that has an ever increasing number of superbeings – so much so they have formed their own virtual international nation. Including his ex-wife. He’s just a normal guy with a camera, a car and a gun in a very specialised investigatory niche. Especially as he is [...]
The not quite dead ones, servant. 4 out of 5
Continue reading about The Cutting Room – Shane Jiraiya Cummings
A big alien virus quarantine. 3.5 out of 5 http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/peek_12_11/
An excellent original anthology of tightly put together stories in this shared world of deliberately reduced technology level. Which of course leads to lots of skullduggery. New Ceres Nights : Smuggler’s Moon – Lee Battersby New Ceres Nights : Murder in Laochan – Aliette de Bodard New Ceres Nights : Fair Trade – Stephen Dedman [...]
Longevity and datacrystal blackmail. 3.5 out of 5
Continue reading about The Piece Of Ice In Miss Windermere’s Heart – Angela Slatter
Reverend shooting and smuggling. 3.5 out of 5
Dead bull. Really big marsupial. 3.5 out of 5
Doing something about the reactionaries, in whichever body. 3.5 out of 5
Continue reading about Prosperine When It Sizzles – Tansy Rayner Roberts
For the premise – cities being overrun by nasties, it is a bit on the bland side. Not breezy enough for light adventure fantasy with airships and not enough horror for the weird. Stuck in the middle with endothermic ammunition. Points for the actual gear of the place there. Not zero imagination brass and clockwork [...]
If you crossed Roger Zelazny with the bastard drunken night’s lovechild of Simon R. Green and Michael Moorcock that lost a drinking contest with Robert Reed you would get something like this. A young Australian finds out that his family is very strange and in fact rather powerful. Strange dead bodies keep getting retrieved from [...]
The cop and the Feminoid. 3.5 out of 5
Continue reading about Blessed Are The Dead That The Rain Falls Upon – Martin Livings
Mary Benet story. 3 out of 5
An ok for original anthology bunch of stories for kids at 3.25. Life On Mars : Attlee and the Long Walk – Kage Baker Life On Mars : The Old Man and the Martian Sea – Alastair Reynolds Life On Mars : Wahala – Nnedi Okorafor Life On Mars : On Chryse Plain – Stephen [...]
A fund raising anthology of higher quality than expected for a quick whipup, with a good variety of stories and subgenres. After the Rain : From the dry heart to the sea – Joanne Anderton After the Rain : Powerplant – Dave Luckett After the Rain : Daughters of the deluge – Lyn Battersby After [...]
Continue reading about After the Rain: after the floods edition – Tehani Wessely
Morticia jacking. 3.5 out of 5
Need for young. 3 out of 5
Continue reading about The Birth of Water Cities – Angela Rega
Hitler Youth find. 3 out of 5
Continue reading about Europe After the Rain – Lee Battersby
Innkeeper pray. 3 out of 5
Continue reading about When the Bone Men Come – Peter Cooper
Animal stories. 3 out of 5
Little dolphin time. 3.5 out of 5
Continue reading about Fruit Of The Pipal Tree – Thoraiya Dyer
Crashlanded dreams of electric sheep. 3.5 out of 5
Various types of women. 3 out of 5
Too many bad stories and nothing of any note in this 2.79 original anthology. Eclipse 4 : Slow as a Bullet – Andy Duncan Eclipse 4 : Tidal Forces – Caitlin R. Kiernan Eclipse 4 : The Beancounter’s Cat – Damien Broderick Eclipse 4 : Story Kit – Kij Johnson Eclipse 4 : The Man [...]
Dragon, Doc. 3 out of 5
It must be noted that Australian publishing houses make money by distributing or publishing foreign-originated titles. Though doing so does not make as much money as originating titles, neither does it require as much investment on the part of the publishing houses. In a sense, publishing houses are competing against themselves. As new authors take [...]
Continue reading about No Future? The Lack of Science Fiction Published in Australia – David Golding
Colony population kid kill control allowance. 3.5 out of 5 http://www.electricvelocipede.com/2011/08/08/a-taste-for-flowers/
100AU Starfish message. 3.5 out of 5 http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/mellor_09_11/
Shiggeloth Sprawle. 3 out of 5
Dead, with scarecrows. 3.5 out of 5
Continue reading about The Shadow On The City Of My Sky – Robert Hoge
Life stuff bits. 2.5 out of 5
The old wife trade, with hug-juice, captain. 3.5 out of 5
Continue reading about A Troublesome Day For Jacky Midnight – Matthew Farrer
God, it’s a bit wet around this Noah thing. Lilith. 3.5 out of 5
Continue reading about Daughters of the Deluge – Lyn Battersby
Thrall finish. 3 out of 5
Continue reading about The Spark A Romance In Four Acts – Sean Williams
In space coffee. 3.5 out of 5
Old Roe horror movie. 3.5 out of 5
Shaper of. 3 out of 5 http://www.webscription.net/chapters/9781597803113/9781597803113___5.htm
Continue reading about The Beancounter’s Cat – Damien Broderick
Giant invisible Kaiju? 3.5 out of 5
A daughter. 3 out of 5
Surviving the Dead Pool gets the lot if you can do it. 3.5 out of 5
Seeking with a fondness for goats. 2.5 out of 5
Raven issues. 3 out of 5
Continue reading about Twixt Firelight And Water – Juliet Marillier
Guild magic fighting. 2.5 out of 5
Basic Town defense failure lifting. 3.5 out of 5
Continue reading about From the Dry Heart To the Sea – Joanne Anderton
“But, outside that, and for myself personally, I have always loved the idea of a society fractured between those living in the sky and those on the ground. There’s lots of examples out there of it, but I think I first saw the idea in an Aliens Vs Predator comic, written by Chris Claremont, an [...]
Secret Agents need a favorite drink? “Surfing culture is big down here. There are folks bobbing up and down in search of waves no matter how fierce the weather. We used to live in a unit full of young guys who surfed and smoked pot endlessly and it occurred to me one day that they’d [...]
“Stories can come out of writing-related work. I was editing a Lonely Planet book on Madagascar, and got so fascinated by the detail that I asked the author if I could use it fictionally. He said yes, and that is how ‘Sagittaire’ (the new story in Matilda) came about” 3 out of 5 http://kaaronwarren.wordpress.com/2011/08/11/sparks-lucy-sussex/
“The Crooked Letter became my Silmarillion, the odd-shaped missing piece that sits between the Books of the Change and the Books of the Cataclysm, and my Broken Land books for kids as well. I think it’s my least successful book, but that hasn’t stopped people liking it (and I’m very grateful for that). It has [...]
A good anthology of flaming big lizard stories at 3.44 with serveral standouts by McCaffrey, Bear, Murphy, Lynn, Dickson, Shepard and Reed. Wings of Fire : The Rule of Names – Ursula K. Le Guin Wings of Fire : The Ice Dragon – George R. R. Martin Wings of Fire : Sobek – Holly Black [...]
“1. The idea for The Tide came from … and how did you convince the participants? “The Tide” came about the usual way story ideas tend to come about. Two completely separate subjects somehow got smooshed together in my mind, in this case immigration (and, more to the point, the Australian mass media’s xenophobic and [...]
Continue reading about The Livings Drive-by I presume – Martin Livings
“So what lies in her own future? ”I’ve had numerous inquiries about turning Parrish Plessis into a movie but none that has got over the line yet, though we have developed it into a role-playing game, similar to Dungeons and Dragons. ”I’m also developing a web comic, which will be on my website around August. [...]
Continue reading about Space opera supremo – Marianne de Pierres
Now quite a few people find clowns creepy. Those that do not may find the idea of a book centred around a man that has intense coulrophobia – fear of clowns, and also other assorted masks and odd things – as rather silly. Maybe eye-rollingly so when the man is a writer of books, too. [...]
Continue reading about Clowns at Midnight: A Tale of Appropriate Fear – Terry Dowling
Alien core planet buster delusion. 3.5 out of 5 http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/4484/full
The Clockwork Rocket is about a species living in a universe where different colours of light move at different speeds. The particular species in question on the planet that is the initial setting also have a very different biology. They can morph their bodies to gain extra limbs, or to use their skin as notepads [...]
Romance tourism Proctor setup. 3.5 out of 5
Naked man candles and stolen Caesium. 3.5 out of 5
Continue reading about The Widow’s Seven Candles – Thoraiya Dyer
A daughter’s arrival is in the middle of an attempted coup by dropship. 3.5 out of 5
Postapocalyptic inconsistency, goodbye old crush on to surfing and beer. 4 out of 5
Continue reading about All The Love In The World – Cat Sparks
“Tell us about your alter ego Marianne Delacourt. Marianne Delacourt is the person who writes the Tara Sharp series. The 2 books that I have out are called Sharp Shooter and Sharp Turn and the 2 upcoming novels are Too Sharp! and Sharp Edge. Having an alter ego has allowed me to write in a [...]
Continue reading about Exclusive interview with awarded science-fiction writer – Marianne de Pierres
An omnicollection containing these books :- To the Galactic Rim : The Road to the Rim – A. Bertram Chandler To the Galactic Rim : To Prime the Pump – A. Bertram Chandler To the Galactic Rim : The Hard Way Up – A. Bertram Chandler To the Galactic Rim : The Broken Cycle – [...]
Continue reading about To the Galactic Rim – A. Bertram Chandler
“Why do you need a berg”? 3.5 out of 5 http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/4338/full
“The Glitter Rose quartet is set against the stunning background of Carmine Island where a decade ago spores from deep in the ocean blew in by a freak of nature and settled there. Their strange phosphorescence brings a glitter rose dusk at certain tides. Colourless at first, the sandy beaches rapidly become carpets of tiny, [...]
Continue reading about The Carmine Island stories from Glitter Rose by Marianne de Pierres – Marg
Novella Number of words : 18000 Percent of complex words : 12.1 Average syllables per word : 1.5 Average words per sentence : 19.7 READABILITY INDICES Fog : 12.7 Flesch : 58.0 Flesch-Kincaid : 10.1 PEOPLE Robert Stoney A professor of mathematics. Peter Quint A spook, and one of Stoney’s captors. Franza Kafka Not a [...]
Vignette Number of words : 750 Percent of complex words : 18.1 Average syllables per word : 1.7 Average words per sentence : 28.9 READABILITY INDICES Fog : 18.8 Flesch : 31.3 Flesch-Kincaid : 16.1 PEOPLE E.M. Forster A writer. Kusnanto Sarumpaet Javanese mathematician. Author of six papers on general relativity and QGT. Found a [...]
A reporter on a junket to an orbital hotel gets to cover the story of an accident at an accelerator facility smashing monopoles together. Strange things happen. 4 out of 5
A family of multiversal traders looking for Logic get a big scare when they uncover what may be the pure product. 4 out of 5
Short Story Number of words : 5200 Percent of complex words : 12.2 Average syllables per word : 1.6 Average words per sentence : 12.9 READABILITY INDICES Fog : 10.0 Flesch : 62.2 Flesch-Kincaid : 7.8 PEOPLE Elena A multiversal trader. Khali Elena’s thirteen year old child. Robert Chalmer A multiversal trader who found a [...]
Short Story Number of words : 4200 Percent of complex words : 11.9 Average syllables per word : 1.5 Average words per sentence : 17.3 READABILITY INDICES Fog : 11.6 Flesch : 59.9 Flesch-Kincaid : 9.2 PEOPLE Lawyer Works at Matheson and Singh’s on refugee work. Ranjit Brings a lot of work in to Matheson [...]
Short Story Number of words : 5500 Percent of complex words : 12.4 Average syllables per word : 1.5 Average words per sentence : 17.4 READABILITY INDICES Fog : 11.9 Flesch : 60.3 Flesch-Kincaid : 9.2 PEOPLE John Halbright Head of Applied Neural Mapping. Michael Underwood Creative music consultant to The Inspiration Factory. Has identified [...]
Short Story Number of words : 5400 Percent of complex words : 10.8 Average syllables per word : 1.5 Average words per sentence : 11.8 READABILITY INDICES Fog : 9.0 Flesch : 65.7 Flesch-Kincaid : 7.0 PEOPLE Martin A reporter on SciNet assignment at the Hotel Tereshkova. Zoe A medic at the Hotel Tereshkova. Has [...]
Novella Number of words : 20000 Percent of complex words : 9.5 Average syllables per word : 1.5 Average words per sentence : 14.1 READABILITY INDICES Fog : 9.4 Flesch : 66.6 Flesch-Kincaid : 7.5 PEOPLE Martin A young Covenant man that is religiously uncomfortable. Daniel Martin’s brother. Ma Martin’s mother. Fa Martin’s father. Carol [...]
Short Story Number of words : 5900 Percent of complex words : 6.1 Average syllables per word : 1.4 Average words per sentence : 10.1 READABILITY INDICES Fog : 6.5 Flesch : 79.1 Flesch-Kincaid : 4.7 PEOPLE Monster Has a contract to protect the local neighbourhood, in return for certain killing ground rights. David Leader [...]
Short Story Number of words : 5800 Percent of complex words : 13.6 Average syllables per word : 1.6 Average words per sentence : 16.7 READABILITY INDICES Fog : 12.1 Flesch : 56.8 Flesch-Kincaid : 9.5 PEOPLE Matthew Shawcross A religious fundamentalist media baron. John Shawcross His son, a religious fundamentalist virus producer with a [...]
“FX: Are the showrunners building towards an endgame? “When I was hired to do this JJ Abrams said to me it’s a six-year story arc if we can keep going. Just talking to [showrunners] Jeff Pinkner and Joel Wyman they could do more, because the material’s so rich they could go anywhere. They could also [...]
Novelette Number of words : 8900 Percent of complex words : 15.0 Average syllables per word : 1.6 Average words per sentence : 17.0 READABILITY INDICES Fog : 12.8 Flesch : 50.9 Flesch-Kincaid : 10.4 PEOPLE Paul A physicist and Lena’s boyfriend. Lena A communications engineer. Francis Bacon A writer. Cousin Andre One of the [...]
Short Story Number of words : 6300 Percent of complex words : 8.9 Average syllables per word : 1.5 Average words per sentence : 13.2 READABILITY INDICES Fog : 8.9 Flesch : 67.2 Flesch-Kincaid : 7.2 PEOPLE Alex A disturbed user of a new patch. Tran A tech guy and a fence. Mira Alex’s girlfriend. [...]
Short Story Number of words : 2600 Percent of complex words : 8.4 Average syllables per word : 1.5 Average words per sentence : 14.1 READABILITY INDICES Fog : 9.0 Flesch : 69.5 Flesch-Kincaid : 7.8 PEOPLE Vampire slayer Disturbed dreamer. Called in by the Headmistress. Headmistress Calls him in when she begins menstruating again [...]
Novelette Number of words : 10800 Percent of complex words : 8.3 Average syllables per word : 1.4 Average words per sentence : 13.5 READABILITY INDICES Fog : 8.7 Flesch : 72.0 Flesch-Kincaid : 6.6 PEOPLE Ali A young man in trouble in Khurosan. Ends up in another world as refugee inmate 3739. Uncle Ali’s [...]
Short Story Number of words : 5900 Percent of complex words : 11.4 Average syllables per word : 1.6 Average words per sentence : 15.7 READABILITY INDICES Fog : 10.8 Flesch : 57.7 Flesch-Kincaid : 9.1 PEOPLE Worrier A man who stresses about the philosophy and reality of having his own brain and self replaced [...]
Short Story Number of words : 5800 Percent of complex words : 11.8 Average syllables per word : 1.5 Average words per sentence : 18.0 READABILITY INDICES Fog : 11.9 Flesch : 58.2 Flesch-Kincaid : 9.6 PEOPLE David A man whose wife refuses to be scanned so she can be uploaded on dying. Sells digital [...]
Novelette Number of words : 7300 Percent of complex words : 9.6 Average syllables per word : 1.5 Average words per sentence : 16.8 READABILITY INDICES Fog : 10.5 Flesch : 62.4 Flesch-Kincaid : 8.7 PEOPLE John Nately High-school science teacher and on his eleventh call as a volunteer Intake Runner. Angelo John’s driver this [...]
Short Story Number of words : 5900 Percent of complex words : 10.8 Average syllables per word : 1.5 Average words per sentence : 16.7 READABILITY INDICES Fog : 11.0 Flesch : 60.9 Flesch-Kincaid : 8.9 PEOPLE Assassin Tasked with eliminating the producers of S drug-induced whirlpool effects throughout universes. Blue-haired woman Offers the assassin [...]
I finally got around to recreating this after the blogger arseclownery. It is now here. The collection/anthology part I haven’t put together again as yet. http://freesf.strandedinoz.com/australialist.html
Whipped boiled dragon rejection not so tasty. 3.5 out of 5
Killing different varieties. 2.5 out of 5 http://dailysciencefiction.com/story/peter-m-ball/the-birdcage-heart
“Antony Funnell: Dr Kevin Grazier, an interplanetary scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a former science adviser for the TV series Battlestar Galactica and also a certified science fiction nut. No offence of course. Also in today’s program, Annalee Newitz from the sci-fi blog i09 and British science fiction writer, Charlie Stross. Now we’d love [...]
Continue reading about Future Tense: Future Sci-Fi – Antony Funnell
A multi-point of view discussion of science fiction and Australia. Includes Jonathan Strahan as one of the participants. From ABC radio, a transcript and podcast. “Antony Funnell: And just a final question: as somebody who focuses very much on Australian science fiction, is it a common theme? Is there a thing that you can point [...]
Continue reading about Future Tense : Sci-Fi The Return – Anthony Funnell
“This morning, Perth time, at least, a bunch of participants in Australian podcasting joined together to record a Boxing Day Super Mega Podcast. Participating were: Alex, Alisa, and Tansy from Galactic Suburbia; Grant from Bad Film Diaries; Ian from The Writer and the Critic; and Gary and I from The Coode St Podcast.” 4 out [...]
Continue reading about Boxing Day Super Mega Podcast – Jonathan Strahan
Armageddon quantum tour guide. 3.5 out of 5 http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/4093/full
Cheerful Misogynist Minotaur Worlds. 3 out of 5 http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/43525
Continue reading about The House of Nameless – Jason Fischer
Killer advertising earworms. 3.5 out of 5
“Baen books has followed their electronic collections of the John Grimes (Rim Worlds) tales and is set to release several print versions starting this month. the John Grimes ‘Horatio Hornblower of Space’ tales are not Chandler’s only works that take place in the Rim Worlds universe. In fact, there are a LOT of other tales [...]
Continue reading about Rim Worlds Grid & History – Steve Davidson
From the late nineties “Do you approach writing short stories differently to the way you write novels? I don’t think so. What I found with Winter, for example, was that it was obviously an idea that was too big for a short story or a novella, which is how it began. I didn’t have the [...]
Continue reading about An Eidolon Interview With – Simon Brown
Ballot time climb end. 3.5 out of 5 http://a1018.g.akamai.net/f/1018/19022/1d/randomhouse1.download.akamai.com/19022/pdf/Lawson.pdf
A mini-collection of decent fantasy. Cracks and Other Deaths : Cracks – Trent Jamieson Cracks and Other Deaths : Looking Back – Trent Jamieson Cracks and Other Deaths : Small Change – Trent Jamieson Hungry huskling grave. 3 out of 5 Death Hell bargain basement deal. 3.5 out of 5 Charon’s cash, of course it [...]
Continue reading about Cracks and Other Deaths – Trent Jamieson
Death Hell bargain basement deal. 3.5 out of 5 http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/34525
Charon’s cash, of course it is in a secret room behind the bookcase. 3.5 out of 5 http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/34525
Hungry huskling grave. 3 out of 5 http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/34525
Hub the other Becker. 3 out of 5
Turtle Tinas toasted Monkey interference, piggy. 3.5 out of 5
Worms gonna get there. 3 out of 5
Continue reading about Sleepless In The House Of Ye – Ian McHugh
