Well, today is a big day at our house. Jessica starts at her new school, Noranda Primary School, this afternoon, while Sophie starts there tomorrow. Jessica is doing the final year of pre-primary, while Sophie is starting kindergarten. What makes this such a big deal is that, not only is it the start of a new school year, it is Jessica’s first day in a mainstream school. Up till now she’s been outside the mainstream, so…fingers crossed it all goes well. A big day.

I’ve just received the following from Robert N. Stephenson of Altair Books. It definitely looks like a worthwhile cause, and one deserving of our support.

A fund to raise money to publish Kurt Von Trojan’s last book
Long-time supporter and writer/author in the speculative field in Australia, Kurt von Trojan, has been struck down with kidney and bone cancer. The long-term prognosis is that he has only a few short months to live…

Continue reading A worthwhile cause →

The 125th issue of Cheryl Morgan’s Emerald City is now online. It features a Jeff VanderMeer essay, a year in review overview and all kinds of other reviewy goodness.

We started work on it back in October. I spent time discussing it in Oakland, in Madison, on plane flights, in airports, and by long distance from here in Perth. We end up living with the Locus Recommended Reading list for months, but it’s finally complete, published and available online. Go check it out, and then subscribe to get the full coverage in the February issue. It’s very cool.

Via Charlie Stross, the shortlist for the Arthur C. Clarke Award has been announced, and it’s another kick-ass list:

• Kazuo Ishiguro – Never Let Me Go
• Ken MacLeod – Learning the World
• Alastair Reynolds – Pushing Ice
• Geoff Ryman – Air
• Charles Stross – Accelerando
• Liz Williams – Banner of Souls

I can’t pick a winner from the bunch, but there are some mighty fine books there, and I look forward to Adam Roberts annual overview when it comes out.