In a week's time I'll be making a public appearance at a local library to talk on a panel about Dreaming Again, an anthology of Australian speculative fiction that was published recently. (Here's my post about it.) Jack Dann, Cecelia Dart-Thornton, Adam Browne and I will be talking about the anthology and our stories published within it. And most likely about life, the universe and writing.
Here are the details:
Jack Dann and Dreaming Again authors visit to Nunawading
Date and Time
Venue Nunawading Library
Bookings Phone 9873 5638 or online at http://summerread37.eventbrite.com
Program Panel of sc-fi and fantasy writers in conversation
Refreshments Light refreshments
Transport and Access
Melways ref. 48 G9
I read 'Dreaming Again' some weeks ago, but never commented on it... so here we go ;)
In general I had to realise that I’m not the major short stories fan, there were many stories I thought would have been interesting, but ended far to abrupt for me. But then again there were some that really captured me, were interesting and didn't give me the feeling to be rushed to an early end because they had to be short stories. Among those were:
Your ‚The Lost Property Room‘
‚The Lanes of Camberwell‘ by Cecilia Dart-Thornton
(since you two were the reason I bought the book in the first place that worked out great for me ;) )
‚The Constant Past‘ by Sean McMullen
‚The Forest‘ by Kim Wilkins
‚This Way to the Exit‘ by Sara Douglas
‚Troll’s Night out‘ by Jenny Blackford
‚Smoking, Waiting fort he Dawn‘ by Jason Nahrung
‚Twilight in Caeli-Amur‘ by Rjurik Davidson
‚The Last Great House of Isla Tortuga‘ by Peter M. Ball
‚Perchance to Dream‘ by Isobelle Carmody
I'll have to have a look at some of the many many books mentioned in the short introduction of each author, there were a lot sounding intresting.
Yes, I have to say I also missed the chance to comment on the last blog post about Dreaming Again. And the reason was that it took me so long to read at least the majority of the book. And I haven't finished it yet completely - which unfortunately is quite telling, as I normally don't have that problem with books.
To be fair I should add that I am generally not a big short-story fan for similar reasons as sonjakatharina. Plus Dreaming Again is quite diverse in the genres - I however simply cannot stand Zombie stories and such. So a part of my disappointment is also due to wrong expectations.
The Lost Property Room is easily one of the better stories, if not to say one of the few that I enjoyed reading at all - but that is hardly surprising given my obvious preferences. Of course it ended a bit too abrupt - but that is again my general problem with short stories. 8-)