Just in case Coode Streeters think I have any kind of impulse-control at all, I mentioned in a post on Monday that I’d just received a copy of Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett. This was around 4pm on Monday, I think. I finished reading it at around 1pm on Tuesday. The only reason it took that long is my superhuman powers of self-control, which allowed me to put it down at around 12.30am and go to sleep. Were it not for that I would have consumed the entire book in a single sitting.
What did I think of it? It was terrific: smart, moving, and occasionally funny. I think whether you’ll enjoy the book depends on whether you like Pratchett’s writing voice (I do) and whether you like Tiffany Aching (I do). Many thanks to Jack and everyone at Harper who arranged the copy. I’ll try to run a proper review here, and maybe even in Locus (the sound you just heard was either CHARLES falling over or laughing his ass off, one or the other). In the meantime, pre-order!
I don’t pay much attention to the announcements from the good folk at Clarion South. Not because I don’t respect what they do, but because I am unlikely to ever attend any writers workshop, never mind Clarion itself. That’s how I explain missing the announcement that Gardner Dozois and Kelly Link will be coming down to Australia to be tutors at the 2007 Clarion South in January/February 2007. If you’re interested in writing, this could be the place to be.
The galley of Terry Pratchett’s new Tiffany Aching adventure, Wintersmith, showed up in the mail today. Oh frabjous day! I’m dropping what I’m reading and going to recharge the batteries with a good dose of Pratchett. After that, everything will go smoother. It always does.
The Nebula results have been announced. It’s hard not to wear your heart on your sleeve a little at awards time. Suffice it to say, I couldn’t be happier to see Kelly win her two awards, and to see Holly win the Not-the-Emperor award. Yay.
I was saddened to hear the news this morning that Grant McLennan, singer and songwriter for Australian band The Go-Betweens, died yesterday. I was mostly oblivious to the band during their first incarnation, when they took the UK by storm and were hailed as one of the finest bands to come out of this country. In April of 1999 McLennan toured Australia with fellow Go-Betweens leader Robert Forster as Forster & McLennan. On the 28th of April Russell Farr dragged me along to a show they were putting on at the Greenwich, a tiny and rather seedy bar located in the basement of His Majesty’s Theatre in downtown Perth. The duo ran through a string of Go-Betweens classics like “Head Full of Steam”, “Cattle and Cane”, “Spring Rain”, and the sublime “Streets of Your Town”. It was powerful, funny, moving stuff, and one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to. I’ve followed them through the three reunion albums which peaked with last years wonderful Oceans Apart, and have come to love their music. Six years seems to have slipped by in no time at all. Vale.
