CATEGORIES

Many years ago there was a book called Stagefright. It was about a group of high school kids putting on a musical version of Shakespear’s Richard the Third. It was the first novel from a then unknown author named Carole Wilkinson. Carole has since gone on to find success with her Dragonkeeper and Ramose novels, [...]

There were three books in Scott Westerfeld’s awesome YA steampunk series — Leviathan, Behemoth and Goliath. I loved these books and was very sorry to see the story end. So there was much joy when I discovered The Manual of Aeronautics. Let me start off by saying that what I loved most about the Leviathan [...]

Each year, Melbourne plays host to a speculative fiction / pop culture convention called Continuum. This year’s convention, Conintuum 9, will take place on 7–10 June at the Ether conference venue in the Melbourne CBD. You should all come along! Let me tell you why. Continuum is rather unique. There’s nothing else quite like it [...]

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban — I read it quite a number of years ago. So it’s been really interesting revisiting it, along with the other books in the series. But this time I also got to see it through the eyes of my ten-year-old daughter. Last year, I started to read the [...]

It seems that Awards Season is upon us! Everywhere you look there are prizes and honours up for grabs in the writing world — from the individual state awards to Australia-wide honours; from the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards to the Speech Pathology Awards. There are way too many of them for me to list here, so [...]

Dark Star, the third and final book in The Rosie Black Chronicles by Lara Morgan, came out last year. I read it then and have been avoiding the review ever since. I hate it when a book fails to meet my expectations, especially when it is still a good book. It leaves me floundering when [...]

Superheros, pop culture references and a fast-paced story combine to make an exciting and easy reading experience. What am I talking about? Goldrush — the first instalment in Steven Lochran’s Vanguard Prime series of teen novels. Sam Lee was an ordinary teenager until he suddenly developed super powers. Now he finds himself recruited by the [...]

Combine some adorably cute animal photos with some lovely, heartfelt, poetic text. What do you get? Corinne Fenton’s new picture book, Hey Baby!. Actually, it came out late last year… I’m just a little behind the times. My review copy arrived last year and I immediately read the book to my then three-year-old daughter (now [...]

Let me begin by saying that I am a devoted fan of the old fashioned, hard-copy book made from the remains of dead trees. I love the feel of them. I love the whole tactile experience of holding them. And yes, I love the smell of them (both the musty old book smell and the [...]

On Saturday I went to Richmond Library for the launch of a rather amazing new picture book, Gracie and Josh. It was a launch that had everything — lots of people, a fabulous book, a chocolate cake and even Hazel Edwards. What more could you want? Gracie and Josh is written by Susanne Gervay and [...]

Emma Jacks is a schoolgirl. She’s also a special agent in the Under 12s division of the super-secret organisation called SHINE. Codename — EJ12. Mission —stop the evil plans of the nefarious organisation known as SHADOW. EJ12: Girl Hero is a series of kids’ books by Susannah McFarlane. My nine-year-old daughter Nykita loves these books. [...]

Robert Smith? — the man with the question mark in his name. He’s an academic, he’s an author, he’s an editor and he’s a Doctor Who fan. His books include Braaaiiinnnsss: From Academics to Zombies, Modelling Disease Ecology with Mathematics and Who Is The Doctor (co-written with Graeme Burk). And most recently, he’s edited the [...]

I may have already mentioned that 2013 is the 50th anniversary of a little TV show called Doctor Who. Every year there seems to be more and more books related to the series being published, and this year is seeing a Doctor Who publishing explosion. In addition to all the official licensed books, there are [...]

My youngest daughter just got given a copy of Neil Gaiman’s new picture book, Chu’s Day, for her birthday. I loved it so much, that I had to write about it immediately. Neil Gaiman is no stranger to books in which text and graphics combine to tell a story. After all, he made his name [...]

A really interesting picture book made its way onto my review pile recently. It combines a simple story with the cultural heritage of the Papua New Guinea tribes. The Lost Tail is written by Patricia Bernard and illustrated by Tricia Oktober. This picture book is set against the backdrop of the Goroka Show, a yearly [...]

In my last post, I wrote about The Diary of a Dr Who Addict by Paul Margs. In that book, the protagonist, David, mentions that his favourite of the Doctor Who novelisations (indeed, he says “Best book ever. No contest.”) is Doctor Who and the Daemons. So, of course, I had to re-read it… and [...]

How could I possibly come across a book called The Diary of a Dr Who Addict and not want to read it immediately? After all, I was, am and will always be, a Doctor Who addict. So, a novel about a kid with a similar obsession just had to be read. The fact that it [...]

It’s been a long time coming, but it’s finally here. Well, actually, it was here in June last year. I’ve just been a little slow in getting around to writing about it.  Walking Shadows, the sequel to Narrelle M Harris’s 2007 vampire novel, The Opposite of Life, was released in June last year. It has [...]

Alison Goodman. It’s a name you hear often, usually in conjunction with phrases like “award winning” and “best selling”. She is, of course, the author of Eon, Eona and the newly released A New Kind of Death. A few months ago, I read her novel Eon, and I can certainly understand what all the fuss [...]

It’s nine days into the new year and about time for me to look back at the year that was 2012. It was a good year for me — lots of great books read and lots of stuff written. Let me tell you about it all. Well, as much as will fit into this post! [...]

Today I realised I can no longer see my alarm clock over the stacks of books on my bedside table; from any angle, from any height. It never used to be this way. I was always a monogamous, one book at a time reader from the age of six. Novel series might have come out [...]

“The Next Big Thing” — Have you all heard about it? It’s a chain blog post that’s doing the rounds at the moment. Actually, it’s been around quite a while and is still going strong. It’s ten questions that are an opportunity for writers to tell people about their next project — a completed book [...]

Ah, Christmas! I love this time of year — presents, tree decorating, food (especially Christmas Pudding), parties, family, friends and BOOKS! One of my favourite things about Christmas is getting to just lie around and catch up on some reading. I thought that Christmas reading plans would make an interesting topic for a blog post. [...]

Yesterday I wrote about favourite science fiction books. Authors Michael Pryor and Simon Haynes got to put their two cents worth in. (see “Favourite SF books – Pryor & Haynes“) Today I am joined by author Paul Collins, who will be telling us about his favourite science fiction book. Paul is no stranger to science [...]

I’m a science fiction fan. I have been since primary school. As a kid I used to almost exclusively read science fiction. These days I read of mix of things — but, no matter how far my literary interests may wander, I still find myself being drawn back to science fiction. The book that started [...]

Isobelle Carmody’s Greylands is back! Originally published in 1997, this YA novel has been out of print for a number of years. But a new revised edition has now hit the bookshelves. Never having read it the first time around, I was delighted to be able to pick it up and finally give this highly [...]

The YABBAs have been announced! The winners have been hailed for their brilliance and popularity. And I’m going to tell you all about it. There are lots of awards around in children’s publishing, but the YABBAs are special. The Young Australian Best Book Awards are entirely nominated and voted on by young people. These awards [...]

Destiny Road is a new YA novel from first-time author Melissa Wray. I’ve invited Melissa to tell us about her (destiny) road to publication. My Road to publication By Melissa Wray I have always loved reading and grew up 600m from the local library. I studied children’s literature at university while completing my Bachelor of [...]

Last post I showed you some of the videos available from the National Year of Reading (NYR12) website and YouTube channel (see: “NYR12 vids”). But there are lots more videos out there. NYR12 has not only promoted the joy of books and reading, it has also encouraged others to do so. And so many people [...]

Time for some videos. Specifically, some videos dealing with the National Year of Reading (NYR12). “I want Australia to be many things: a prosperous nation, an innovative nation, but I certainly want us to be a reading nation… I want every Australian to know the joy and pleasure that comes from books and reading.” Julia [...]

I’m sticking with the small press theme of my last post. From Felicity Dowker’s book, Bread and Circuses, we go to Narrelle M Harris’s Showtime. From Ticonderoga Publications we go to Twelfth Planet Press. As well as anthologies, collections, novellas and novels, Twelfth Planet Press is publishing a series of mini-collections by some of Australia’s [...]

If you’re a regular reader of my blog, then you’ll know that I love Aussie small press. One of my favourite small press publishers is Ticonderoga Publications. They consistently produce exceptional genre books, and it’s one of those that I’m going to write about today. Earlier this year I attended a spec fic convention in [...]

A few months ago I reviewed Carole Wilkinson’s new Dragonkeeper novel, Blood Brothers (see: “New Dragonkeeper”). Now I get to follow that up by throwing a few questions at Carole. Here’s the interview… It has been a few years between Dragonkeeper books. Why did you wait so long? Actually, I had no intentions of writing [...]

Crime. Violence. Nasty things. Could there be anything more appealing to kids? Crime Time by Sue Bursztynski has it all… and here’s your chance to win a copy. Crime Time is a who’s who of Australian crime. From infamous past criminals such as Ned Kelly, to more current underworld figures such as Tony Mokbel, there [...]

Last week I ran a giveaway for my latest book, Life, Death and Detention. There are only two copies to give away, but some great answers… making it rather difficult to decide on the winners. But, of course, I have to force myself to pick some. So here goes… Entrants simply had to tell me [...]

A pretty girl on a horse in a field — a rather idyllic sort of image. But at the bottom of the image are the words: “Sometimes, the bad memories are all you’ve got.” An intriguing juxtaposition. And it is this combination of words and image that made me pick up Michelle Heeter’s debut novel, [...]

Want a free book? Yes? Excellent — ‘cause I’m giving away two copies of my newly released YA short story collection, Life, Death and Detention. To win a copy simply go down to the comments section at the end of this post and tell me why I should give you one. The two responses I [...]

Originally published in 2010, The Rain Train is clackerty-clacking back onto bookshop shelves. Written by Elena de Roo and illustrated by Brian Lovelock, this delightful picture book is published by Walker Books. The Rain Train is a simple story about a train trip in the rain — but it is told with wonderful words and [...]

If you ever manage to get someone famous to say nice things about your book… for goodness sake, get a record of it. I wish I had thought to do that at the launch of Gamers’ Quest, back in 2009. Carole Wilkinson, author of the Dragonkeeper novels (Blood Brothers being the latest) gave a lovely [...]

Apparently, there are many ways to tick off a writer. I should know… after all, I am a writer. But today, you get a reprieve from my rantings. Instead we have a guest post from Michelle Heeter, author of the recently released YA novel Riggs Crossing. I’ll leave it to her to fill you in [...]