Hi anyone. If you stumble across this space, it’s not an actual blog yet, though it might be. I’m in the midst of experimenting, working out what I’m doing and so on. If you’re interested in the main blog, check out http://notesfromcoodestreet.blogspot.com, or just keep an eye out here for developments.

Hmm. Jeff’s done the ‘New Year’s Resolution‘ thing, which I continue to avoid, though I’ll probably give into to it shortly. His decision to buy fewer books and cds resonated. Last year I bought an enormous amount of new music and an iPod. I immediately ripped everything onto the iPod, set it on shuffle, and proceeded to not listen to an enormous amount of it. So, the idea of buying less music, but listening to what I do buy more sounds solid.

Just a quick service notice. Some of you may recall that I mentioned working on this site (and my general web presence) in the New Year. Well, that’s slowly happening. The first step, registering my own domain name, is done. You can now find a version of this blog at www.jonathanstrahan.com.au I’m going to try to keep two copies of it going for a few weeks, until I decide how to change/rebuild the whole thing.

I know I mentioned this earlier, but Russell Farr’s ticonderoga publications is ramping up its publishing programme after a lengthy hiatus. Back in the mid-90s Russell published some fine books by Sean Williams, Simon Brown, Stephen Dedman, Steven Utley and others, but ceased publication following the 1999 WorldCon in Melbourne.

Just over the past couple months, Russell has announced plans to publish two anthologies, The Worker’s Paradise and Fantastic Wonder Stories, and a short story collection. The collection, Simon Brown’s Troy, is one of the projects that somehow got lost towards the ends of the ’90s. Several publishers, including ticonderoga, discussed publishing the book*, but it never happened. Now, happily, Russell has announced that it will come out in April (I assume to be launched at Conjure).

Troy will collect twelve stories, several original to the collection, all of which retell stories from the Iliad. I read a number of the stories when they were first publised, and have long thought they were amongst Simon’s best work. Given that he’s improved as a writer since then, I’m particularly looking forward to the new stories in the book. It’s a book to keep your eye out for, come April. And, hopefully, Russell will offer up some pre-order information soon so you can get your names down for a copy.

* This post has been amended to correct an error. Three different small presses discussed publishing Troy, but only one made a commitment to do so. Ticonderoga was not that press.

The good folk at Conjure have started a blog where they can keep you all up to date with the latest on all things Conventional. Be sure to go check it out, make programming suggestions, and so on.