I’ve just scrapped about three thousand words of aborted attempts at a post on Australian SF. I want to talk about some of the thoughts that the panel on Australian fantasy at World Fantasy stirred up, but they lead down long blind alleys. The kind of questions related to the state of the field in this country at the moment, what ‘Australianness’ might mean, the persistent view that there is a single ‘scene’ here in Australia (despite the obvious fact that writers like Douglass and Dowling have nothing in common), and so on and so forth. Looking back at the panel, I’m convinced that the quality of answers given (at least by me) wasn’t what it might be. These are questions that inspire all kinds of knee jerk responses. More to think on, when I can…

I’ve just scrapped about three thousand words of aborted attempts at a post on Australian SF. I want to talk about some of the thoughts that the panel on Australian fantasy at World Fantasy stirred up, but they lead down long blind alleys. The kind of questions related to the state of the field in this country at the moment, what ‘Australianness’ might mean, the persistent view that there is a single ‘scene’ here in Australia (despite the obvious fact that writers like Douglass and Dowling have nothing in common), and so on and so forth. Looking back at the panel, I’m convinced that the quality of answers given (at least by me) wasn’t what it might be. These are questions that inspire all kinds of knee jerk responses. More to think on, when I can…

Time magazine, you know the one, has put out its list of the best books of 2005. There are five fiction titles, and one of them is Kelly’s Magic for Beginners!! O mi god!

According to a post from Farah Mendlesohn, Wesleyan University Press is set to publish The Collected Stories of Joanna Russ. I don’t know what the schedule is, but I’d guess late 2006, if they’re in the midst of proofreading / copyediting. If so, a major book for next year.

And, for those interested, you can download all three volumes of Sufjan Stevens’ Hark! Songs for Christmas. Having really liked Come on Feel the Illinoise, I’m enjoying these.

The New Yorker has a good article, “Becoming Mary Poppins” about P.L Travers, her creation and the Disney movie. I only found out a couple years ago that Travers was Australian and am yet to read her novels (so I didn’t know things like Mary Poppins was a shapeshifter, not a nanny), but they sound interesting. I resist claiming her as some kind of beginning of Australian fantasy, or Australian YA literature, if only because she so firmly resisted being Australian. It seems disrespectful somehow.