(no subject)

Today is a vey mixed day. Some very good stuff, some pretty ordinary stuff, some rather worrying stuff, and one moment of extreme frustration. I think half the trouble is this virus just won't go and this virus has made my asthma worse and I had my third asthma attack in a week on the way to a consultation.

Anyhow, I'm taking 2 hours off, to get myself more cheerful and then I shall proceed to victimise the universe with this month's Australian Speculative Fiction Blog Carnival. I still have about 500 posts to check and really, I need time out, so it will be up tonight .... sometime.

Australian Speculative Fiction Blog Carnival

Welcome to the whateverth edition of the Carnival. All the news and views of Australian speccy fic bloggers over the last month. Except that I couldn't find the news this month. Actually, that should read "I can't find most of the news." There's one rather good announcement about Clarion South.

A bunch of Aussies descended on the World Fantasy Convention. Everyone survived. Several managed some alcohol. For more, check out these reports:
Firstly, from Cat.
Yummy pictures. The trick is to spot the Aussies.
Where Cat Sparks is tempted by Judaism (if the food will do the trick, she can come to Canberra in a few weeks and eat latkes for Chanukah – the increased waistline will solve the "Maybe the world is telling me to be Jewish" problem).
Where Kaaron Proves that she is Undoubtedly a Bad Influence.
Where Margo Eats Cheese.
The Great Australian Room Party (if all the Aussies there ate at once, would it have been called the Great Australian Bite?).
I've no idea what to say about this link, but here it is anyway.

There were reports from two other Cons (apart from Bittercon, which I can extract if Bittercon feels neglected. I didn't put Bittercon in because Bittercon is supposed to be neglected. It was a *good* Bittercon, however, and everyone who was busy at World Fantasy ought to be in tears about what they missed. So there :).)
The other Cons were Night's Edge and Supanova. For Supanova we have Marianne's thoughts and Jenny's thoughts. I'll spare you mine, because I'm feeling kindly, and besides, I no longer have a David Tennant poster to gloat with. What interests me is that both Marianne and Jenny took time out from signing books to get pictures of famous folk from TVland. Just shows that the various speculative fiction communities comunicate well (and photograph better). You want the post after the one I linked to here for Jenny's picture of Nicholas Brendon showing Jenny his sexy look.

Now for some stuff worth celebrating (there's more than this, but I'm alone this month with the Carnival and feeling decidedly sorry for myself, so if I've left any important post out, please feel free to put a link to it in the comments, so we can all share - and I'll continue the whinge below and let you get on with the joys of life).

You need some surprises, otherwise this wouldn't be a Carnival. I'll just link to the amazing announcements and you can click to find out what they are. There's one from Talking Squid and one from Horrorscope and one from Bookslut and another from Horrorscope and one from Scott (I'm still collecting surnames for evil purposes, but if not knowing who someone is gets too much for you, you can click on the site and be pleasantly surprised or you can ask in the comments).

We can has interview?

Writing tips and thoughts for this month:
Where Kaaron Warren gets her ideas from (but it doesn't explain how she turns them into nightmares for other people).
On cultural appropriation.
Fallon's infallible six rules of characterisation.
On research.
On expressing respect and scorn.
The 'history' part of historical fantasy.
Jenny talks about getting published and about rejection slips.

Justine on publishing-the-industry and someone else who really should not link back to her own posts on writing for young adults.

No, I'm not reporting on Aussie writers doing NaNo WriMo – I'll wait to see how it ends, first. Maybe it will never end and NaNoWriMoers will descend into some sort of scribal half-life and drift slowly towards the Twilight Zone.

And now I need some more grumble-time.

Firstly, if your favourite post wasn't here, you may want to think about why this is so. Maybe it's because no-one sent any links in this month.

I wasn't entirely by myself. I am being kept company by my virus and by people sending me upset emails about this and that. Taking all this into account, I was impressed at how few jokes I made in this Carnival post. Unless everyone else has the same virus and is just not in a joking mood?

For irregular readers (just here for the Carnival) I'm much nicer usually. Really I am. Or less grumpy, at least. I just have the virus-that-won't-go-away and the deadlines-that-won't-go-away. And I was just hanging out for an excuse to whinge in public and to share the pain*, because I'm nice like that.

May your next Australian Speculative Fiction Carnival be hosted by someone nicer, healthier and less of a stirrer! Mind you, if no-one volunteers, you'll be stuck with me, since I was filling in for someone this month and next month is technically my turn.

* actually, it's not pain, it's nausea.

(no subject)

Because you can never have too many posts. Or too many links. Also, there's an election in a few days. http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=3754