Ok. People actually asked for whining and stuff. I don’t get it. Still. Last week was an insanely busy time at Casa del Madness. Jessica and Sophie were both involved in a particularly full-on dance recital, which ran for two nights with an enormous audience. Sophie had one performance, dressed as a little clown girl, and Jessica had two, one as a bear and the other as a rain girl. It was incredibly cute. This is one of the rare photos their terrible parents. We have video, but you *don’t* want to be downloading that

A lot of people are giving Peter Watt’s new novel Blindsight the nod as best SF novel of 2006. I’ve not read it yet, but you can. It’s available under a Creative Commons license here for free. Go read it and, if you like it, pick up a dead-tree version for yourself or a friend.

I like a good blog post as much as the next person, which is why I’ve not been inflicting any of the one’s I’ve drafted over the past week or so on you to read. There are the whiney ones (I’m sick, I’m sick, I’ve got the flu/virus), the complaining ones (I’m too busy, too busy etc), the boring to anyone but me ones (my kids were so cute at their dance recital thing), and the possibly ill-advised ones (I’ve actually done a complete set of Coode Street Awards, but I’m not sure if it’s a good idea), and so on.

So, what did I do instead? Memes. Pfeh on memes. I’ve sold two new books. This is cool. One is one that you expected, but I didn’t. After a very rocky genesis, I’m about to start sending out contracts for the fourth volume in the SF Book Club Best Short Novels anthology series. I’d really, really thought this one wasn’t going to happen, but it is, which is good. So, major thanks to Andy, Howard, and Sean for getting behind the book, and to Charles for his determination that it should happen.   The other book is also for Andy at the Book Club. I’m editing an anthology of six original science fiction novellas, tentatively called Godlike Machines, on the theme of ‘big dumb objects’. I think this one should be a lot of fun to do, and am about to send out invitations to writers. Should be fun. I’m also going to get clearance to announce the other project I’ve got going on. All good stuff.

A couple others, including Ben Peek, have ‘memed’ the ABC’s My Favourite Album. The usual drill is you bold it if you liked it, strikethrough if you hated it, and italic if you don’t care. I’ve judged these as albums, so if there’s only one or two good tracks on the album, I’m italicising it.

The Top 100
1–10

1. Pink Floyd — The Dark Side Of The Moon [First bought this at newsagent kiosk in 1975 on cassette. I’ve never completely ‘got’ it. I think you needed a quadrophonic stereo and bong to persuade yourself that it was intelligent]
2. Jeff Buckley — Grace [Whiney whining by a dead whiner. Pfeh]
3. Radiohead — Ok Computer [Whiney whining by a living whiner.]
4. The Beatles — Abbey Road [Some great tracks, but uneven.]
5. The Beatles — Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band [ibid. See the filler. If this had been recorded in 2000, it would have been a triple cd, with a novelty dvd and a game. Gah.]
6. Nirvana — Nevermind [I’m pretty much the wrong generation for this one. Still, it completely kicks. Written by a whiney whiner, it’s still spectacular rock/pop]
7. Led Zeppelin — Led Zeppelin 4 [Best heavy metal album ever.]
8. Red Hot Chili Peppers — Blood Sugar Sex Magik [This one made no impact at all. I remember “Under the Bridge”, but otherwise, pfeh].
9. Meat Loaf — Bat Out Of Hell [I bought this when I was thirteen years old. As kitch testerone fuelled teen rock opera, it was perfect. I think if I’d first heard it four or five years later it would have been unlistenable, but it’s on the other side of that critical divide. I don’t listen to it much, but I do like it.]
10. U2 — The Joshua Tree [They’re very serious, aren’t they? I mean, really? Thank goodness for the Pet Shop Boys]
Continue reading Australia’s Favourite Album – The Top 100 →

The story of this weekend has been the weird virus I’ve had. I’m all sore joints, aching muscles, headaches and such. Lots of fun. Apologies to one and all for emails not returned, phone calls not made etc. I’ll try to catch up soon-ish. I’ve read nothing this weekend, tried to watch a couple videos, but abandoned them both. Had a project fall through, which is mildly disappointing. It wasn’t a major one – just me helping with editing something – but it would have been nice. A couple others are moving towards announcement time, which is nice.

In amongst that, the cricket. The POMS have played much, much better. How will the Aussies turn this around. Punter, as always, is the key.