CATEGORIES

We  both live in Australia but I end up interviewing Australian author Cameron Rogers on the other side of the world. We’re in Central Park, New York, where he is taking a break from working on his upcoming novel, Fateless. He wrote the bulk of it in Melbourne where he lived for the last decade, [...]

Indigenous Literacy Day is on this Wednesday, 1 September 2010.  Boomerang Books is a supporter of this fantastic program – this year we will be donating 40% of all takings (not profits or margin) to the cause.  You can help us to help indigenous readers by buying a book from Boomerang Books on Wednesday. For [...]

Hey Hourglass entrants! I was totally overwhelmed by the quantity and quality of the entries received for the Claudia Gray Hourglass giveaway. As a result I spent the weekend judging and agonising over ‘the longlist’, then ‘the shortlist’, and finally, I whittled the list down (with much more agonising and second-guessing my choices) to the [...]

Sean Williams has written over 20 novels, including the four-book Astropolis series and the Evergence trilogy co-authored with Shane Dix. In addition to all these original novels, he’s also written a number of Star Wars novels. I invited Sean to stop by Literary Clutter and answer a few questions about writing in the Star Wars [...]

There’s a persistent nugget of common sense that keeps floating around the web indicating that people who read ebooks read more books than those who read paper books.  It’s reared its adorable little head again on the WSJ this week, and I think it’s worth analysing it a bit deeper. Snip: A study of 1,200 [...]

Aussiecon 4, the 68th World Science Fiction Convention is now just round the corner. Five days of panel presentations, readings, signings, book launches and kaffeeklatsches (I’l explain the term later in the post), beginning on Thursday 2 September at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. I’m getting excited! Last week, an email arrived in my [...]

I’ve always thought of myself as a reasonably good writer, so it was a shock when I got my thesis draft back from my course coordinator with a huge “rewrite” on the cover. I had put in a lot of time and effort to making it both accessible and entertaining while still covering my topic [...]

He loves fairytales as much as I do. If you were one of the fortunates to tune in to SBS last night at 8:30 pm, your mind would’ve been blown – as mine was - by the Pumpkin Carriage amuse bouche, the Golden Egg entree, the Boar’s Head main encased in a book of Snow White; [...]

As a writer, I am in awe of Alison Reynolds and Sean Willmore for their ‘Decide Your Destiny’, Ranger in Danger Books. While some writers struggle to come up with one plot, Alison and Sean have to create a number of alternative plot directions for each book so that the action can be guided by [...]

Reviewed by Ann Skea (ann@skea.com). I am not A ‘Royal Watcher’ although I do enjoy the theatrical pomp and circumstance which Royalty provides. Nor am I usually a reader of Royal biographies. However, I knew Ted Hughes when he was British Poet Laureate and I knew that he got along especially well with Queen Elizabeth, [...]

Last time around Sandy Fussell told us a little about writing historical children’s novels, such as Jaguar Warrior. Today, she’s back for Part 2 of the interview… My favourite character in Jaguar Warrior is the old priest Ichtaca. I especially love the passage where he explains to Atl that “A powerful religion must put on [...]

Today, I’m pleased to welcome writer friend,  and author of more than twenty books, Alison Reynolds. Alison and  Sean Willmore (founder of  The Thin Green Line) are the authors of the very popular Ranger in Danger Series. Alison grew up and still lives in suburban Melbourne, but she says she often feels  like a ranger [...]

The 2010 Get Reading! Campaign is live!  Buy one of the ’50 books you can’t put down’ and you’ll receive one of two free books.  Check out the details here… Four Australian celebrities – Ray Martin, Judy Nunn, Anh Do and Matthew Hayden – have endorsed the campaign  and you will soon see these television [...]

Picture this: little Aimee B., fresh out of highschool, first year at Newcastle University (great uni, by the way). I was enrolled in a Bachelor of Arts degree wondering what on Earth I was good for. I couldn’t pick a major just yet, so I chose from the Liberal Arts faculty of subjects the way [...]

Australian-based IT and consumer electronics accessories company LASER Corporation has launched a new ebook reader, priced at $149.95. The company said ebook files and content on the EB101 ereader ‘can be shared with friends, rather than having to continuously download from the web’ because its Digital Rights Management (DRM) functionality ensured ‘access to supported content for [...]

I’m not normally one to weigh in on the e-book debate, partly because I think others can say it better than me, partly because I’m bored. I should explain that boredom with the background that I worked for the music industry on and off over the last 10 years as I put myself through uni. [...]

I have taken a few potshots at Twilight recently and have a confession to make. I may be firmly off Team Edward but I have felt -and still feel – the allure of a fictional man. Mr Rochester of Jane Eyre, Wesley from the Princess Bride and even Raistlin from Dragonlance have all warmed my [...]

Reviewed by Ann Skea (ann@skea.com). “London. Holloway Gaol, Tuesday 3 Feb. 1903“:  Two women are about to be hanged for baby killing and, in the frosty, early-morning darkness of one cell, warder, Celia Bannerman, prepares to awaken one of them for the 9 a.m. arrival of the hangman and his escort. Thirty years later, writer [...]

Random House Australia have released an exclusive Australian video for the upcoming, sure-to-be-controversial release of Tony Blair’s book, My Journey.

Today, Literary Clutter will be taking a trip into the past — into a time of slavery and blood sacrifice; a time of exciting adventure and thrilling dangers. Today, we go back in time to the Aztec civilisation with Sandy Fussell’s novel, Jaguar Warrior. Atl is a young slave boy in the Aztec city of [...]

I have just been reworking parts of my own novel in journal form so it seemed like a coincidence when I decided to read Conspiracy 365: August by Gabrielle Lord, which is written entirely as a journal. And even though it’s the eighth book in a twelve part series, I was hooked. The format of Conspiracy [...]

I realise it’s odd that I haven’t blogged about the three sessions at which I saw Bret Easton Ellis at the Byron Bay Writers Festival, especially given that he was one of the primary reasons for me forking out the cash for a ticket and hitting the road. The truth is, I haven’t completely grasped [...]

Image copyright Nick Gentry © On the eve of the election, two things I have read this week have combined in my head and I have not been able to stop thinking about them. The first thing is the excellent comment that Dave Freer left on my post earlier this week. The second is this [...]

Hundreds of them are published each year. You will find them in school classrooms and school libraries, and occasionally on the shelves of public libraries, but you won’t find them in your standard bookstore. They are read by more kids, and have a longer lifespan than the average children’s book bought in your local bookshop. [...]

When a story makes you cry, you know that it has touched you on a deep emotional level. Get A Grip, Cooper Jones, is Sue Whiting’s latest book for children and when I was reading it, I found myself both laughing and crying. Set in an isolated “surfie” town wedged between the sea and the [...]

The need to plan out, hand write, and tick off ‘to do’ lists is a pastime that I’ve furtively indulged in for as long as I have been able to write. I say furtively, because I’m only too aware of my OCD-ness and am acutely embarrassed should anyone discover the extent to which I keep [...]

* Please make sure to read the post in its entirety so you know you’re following the rules. Hey vampire-loving peeps! Do you feel lucky???? To celebrate author Claudia Gray’s trip to Oz this month we’re giving away copies of her latest book. Whoohoo! Thanks to the superheroes at HarperCollins, Boomerang Books is giving away [...]

The results of Orbit’s study of fantasy covers is in, and it’s official –  distressed damsels in high heels are out, and  kick-ass brunettes are very firmly in. They should know, as Orbit is one of the world’s largest publishers of Science Fiction and Fantasy.  Orbit UK’s authors include Iain M. Banks, Terry Brooks and [...]

Today I have a very special guest on Kid’s Book Capers. Sue Whiting is my wonderful editor at Walker Books – the person who patiently helped me shape Letters to Leonardo from a manuscript into a book. Sue is also the author of more than sixty books for children and is here to talk about [...]

You may not have heard, but the publishing industry is not doing all that well at the moment. The market is shrinking in lots of ways. It might bounce back, but it’s likely that there is a general trend towards publishers needing to seek new ways of making money from the written word. If not [...]

Occasionally when I pick up a book I look at the blurb and flick through a few pages and think “I could write this.” It seems relatively simple. Write a book. Get it published. Become the next Stephanie Meyers, only with less issues on sparkly ice-cold boyfriends. From there on in, it’s on to the [...]

I come from a family of readers so rapacious that I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve awoken in the middle of the night to have one of them ferreting through my bookshelves. Were I a cynic, I’d say that they were making noise to wake me, because upon noticing my open eyes, [...]

As I discussed at the end of Part 1, Enid Blyton isn’t the only author to blame for my literary food obsession. I also point the finger at Roald Dahl – he toyed with the hypothalamus part of my brain something chronic. I will admit that there may be a message in Charlie and the [...]

Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan is an awesome read! I loved every moment of this YA steampunk adventure. My only problem with it, is that the next book is not yet out. What I loved most about this novel, is the world that Westerfeld has created. It is an alternative version of our own world, where history [...]

DARE YOU Dare You is the powerful new YA novel from popular author, Sue Lawson. I was lucky enough to receive it in my mail box recently and I have to say that once I picked this book up I couldn’t put it down. Dare You is about three best friends, Ruby, Khaden and Sas [...]

While I was one of those studious types who, for the most part, enjoyed her time at school, I have in recent years come to realise an extra school bonus. That is that school potentially offers us that key, almost once-in-a-lifetime, opportunity to read some of the great books of our time. I’m talking about [...]

I have read up on Belize in my Rough Guide and been in the country for 6 hours and, as yet, no one has answered the most pressing question I have about the country. To whit, why is there a tarantula in the box next to the coffee machine? Like most people, I would normally [...]

Remember a couple of years back, when pink shirts became mainstream for blokes? It was a fashion revolution. Mainly because previous to that fateful day (when the Aussie ocker braved his mate’s bbq and they didn’t beat him to a pulp on sight), pink shirts were the avenue of metrosexuals and guys who didn’t know [...]

COMING TO AUSTRALIA IN SEPTEMBER, a sensational return for fallen angel Daniel and his mortal love, Lucinda, in this fabulous sequel to FALLEN by Lauren Kate. How many lives do you need to live before you find someone worth dying for?  In the aftermath of what happened at Sword & Cross, Luce has been hidden [...]

People often imagine writers to be rather hermit-like creatures, tucked away in quiet, darkened corners, chained to computers, furtively tapping away at their keyboards, rarely venturing out into the sunshine. Okay… I may be exaggerating a little. But there is often the perception that writers are rather solitary and often shy. That perception is, of [...]