Ramblings of an Australian Writer

More about What's Up Wednesdays here.

WHAT I'M READING.

Nearly half way through The Genome by Sergey Lukyanenko, finally! I had books from the library so I kept putting this back until those were read. Anyhoo, I think Lukyanenko is the bees knees when it comes to urban fantasy/paranormal, his Night Watch series are up there in my top ten all time favourite books. So when I got a notif from Amazon that there was now an English translation of The Genome, that was the one I bought with a gift certificate at Christmas.

I only have one problem with this one: the translation isn't as good as it is for the NW books. But having said that, this is terrific book. It's hard sci-fi but doesn't have so much sci-fi!science that my brain wants to melt; in fact, I actually understand what's going on, so I count that as a big win. For another thing, it's very obvious that Lukyanenko likes to poke the bear that is the Russian government (he's Kazak and lives/writes in Russia/Russian.), so his main characters in this book are a black woman who is a doctor, an executioner and a linguist; a gay man who is the best at what he does in the sector; a teenage girl who has been genetically altered to be an assassin; a Frenchman who has an uncanny ability with weaponary; and the captain, also genetically altered to be a specialist pilot. The captain, the teenage girl and the co-pilot are all Russian. There are issues of prejudice between the crew and their new passengers, while the crew themselves meld together into a tight knit unit akin to a family. Who just happen to be on board a discus shaped space ship with high tech weapons and internals.

It's fast paced, it's interesting, it's got me gripped. The characters are all awesome, especially Janet, the black woman, who is a tough, strong, no-nonsense character who also is the most empathic, alongside Alex, the captain. Actually, I like all the characters so far, but I bet that'll change! In short, another fantastic book from Lukyanenko, and I hope there's more English translations of his work done soon.

WHAT I'M WRITING (+ A WRITING GOAL).

Promo things for my new release, A Shot in the Dark, which is available in eBook and paperback.

I've done a bit more on the paranormal, but that's going slowly right now as suddenly, things have happened, much earlier than I expected and I'm suddenly running around like a chook with its head chopped off. (Read: VERY busy). Also have made a start of fixing up and synopsising the sci-fi, but that's also slow going because of aforementioned running around.

WHAT WORKS FOR ME.

Sleep. Ye gods and little fishes, sleep is so marvellous and wonderful and my bed is awesome and it must never leave me. Also, reading helps jiggle the old brainmeats, which is why we should do it. And because we enjoy it. And I'm so gripped and confused and impressed with the TV series Fortitude, which is confounding, wonderful, horrifying and brilliant. If I could write something that intense and maintain the suspense, not giving anything away, I would be delighted.

WHAT ELSE IS NEW.

More bullet points!

Epilepsy diagnosed. That's okay, I'd expected that, but laws regarding driving mean that getting my license has been set back by a few years, so that's annoyed me greatly. Oh well. C'est la vie.

My niece's wedding is in 6 weeks and I am so not ready!!

Planning a trip to the gorgeous Flinders Ranges for the near future sometime with mum, because she's never been and I'm of the opinion that everyone should visit at least once in their lives. This'll be my fourth trip up there.

Fortitude. I cannot get enough of this brilliant show. Stanley Tucci is amazing. The rest of the cast are too.

The music of Ólafur Arnalds (he does the soundtrack for Broadchurch) is perfect to write to.

The new poster for the next James Bond movie, Spectre, is out and sweet mercy me. Daniel Craig. 'Nuff said.

Mum's had a few more falls, which is worrying, but her GP is on the case and I'm hopeful that the new plan will be a good one.

L-R: The Spectre poster; our first spring onions, fresh from the garden. They smelled amazing; my new release, A Shot in the Dark; the cat hiding under a stool in the bath... as they do; some of the cast of Fortitude.

I can't be the only foodie here - I know I'm not, actually, looking at meredith_shayne, vayshti, corellian_sugar and angharad_gam to name a few of you! So, after watching tonight's episode of Australian Masterchef, here's a challenge!

Okay, we're not in a spiffy, hi-tech kitchen, and you don't have 45 minutes to prepare a dish to ~wow~ me (although wouldn't it be awesome if we were? I think so!), but tonight's elimination challenge got me thinking, and that's always dangerous. I thought, I wonder what my foodie flist would do with this, and what I would do this, so here is the resulting post.

The list below are your ingredients. You also have, in this theoretical Masterchef kitchen, olive oil, water, salt and pepper. All of these together make Gary Mehigan's amazing looking lamb tagine. (Although, I'll take mine without the okra and the fennel. Okra tastes like snot, to me. And fennel is just ick. Yuck.) However, you, intrepid foodies, must follow the following:

1. You can only use five ingredients from the items below. (Remember you have olive oil, water, salt and black pepper).
2. Pick those five, then tell me what you'd make.
3. Method of cooking what you'd make would be awesome, but this isn't the real Masterchef, obvs, so don't feel you have to!

Oh, and coriander is cilantro in the USA.

The list:

coriander seeds
cumin seeds
caraway seeds
fresh coriander
onion
garlic
preserved lemon quarters
olive oil
lamb
sumac
cinnamon sticks
saffron threads
sea salt flakes
chicken stock
blanched almonds
medjool dates, pitted
mace
okra
broad beans
yoghurt
fennel
pistachios
bay leaves
green olives
carraway seeds

What I would pick and make:

Fresh coriander
garlic
lamb
broad beans
yoghurt

Because I have olive oil, salt and pepper, I take cubes of lamb and season them with the salt and pepper then cook them until browned in the olive oil. At the same time, I cook the beans in water with a pinch of salt, half the bunch of fresh coriander, half a head of garlic, cloves peeled and left whole. When the beans are cooked through, I drain them, reserving the water, and add them to the pan with the meat, to cook and get a bit crispy. I also add another 3 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed. (I like garlic, okay? :D)

With the water, I take a quarter of a cup, making sure I get all the garlic and coriander, blitz it up in the food processor, then add it to the pan with the meat and beans. Simmer for twenty minutes on a low heat to reduce the liquid, then stir in the yoghurt, cook for another five minutes.

Remove from heat and serve with a few sprigs of fresh corriander. Ta-da! Lamb and Beans a la Star!

Now, your turn!

Thirteen things I have done today.

Now, this probably doesn't seem like a Big Deal to most people, but when you're like me and have two bung knees and one bung wrist, this is a Herculean effort and I'm bloody chuffed with myself. (Plus a really sore face and jaw, thanks to yesterday's dental stuffs, but only two more to go and on December 1st, my mouth reno will FINALLY be complete. OMG I can't wait.)

The cat, however, is wandering around the living room, all wide-eyed, like I've just altered his entire universe. And thinking the gap on top of the entertainment unit means that it is a new space for HIM to sit his furry little arse. Uh, no, Castiel. You are not a telly. Don't even think about it.

1. Threw out a BIG box and garbage bag full of paper.
2. From the recliner armchair, upon which had collected the entire paper production of a small saw mill, it seems.
3. Shifted said recliner to next to the armchair.
4. Shifted the airconditioner into the spot vacated by the recliner. Which, now it's there, I should have done in the first place, when I got the sofa three years ago. Now the living room looks a whole lot bigger.
5. Cooked and ate a magnificent lasagna.
6. Had a wee lie down.
7. Shifted a very heavy wooden trunk full of medieval garb into the bedroom. This trunk is heavy enough empty that a Strong Male Friend (tm) had to carry it for me when I bought it, some twelve years ago. So how did I move it? I pushed it along the floor.
8. Washed some dishes.
9. Changed the cat litter. Castiel still thinks he has to tunnel to China when he uses the litter tray.
10. Put out the non-working dvd player that is something like seven years old for hard rubbish. That was six hours ago; I went outside and it's now gone. As I knew it would be. Hard rubbish around here rarely ends up going to the tip.
11. Dusted. ACHOO!
12. Read twitter, LJ and the rest of the things I read on the interwebs daily.
13. Spoke on the telling bone to mum. (Which reminds me I need to look for a new phone because this old landline thing is slowly dying.)

All of this? In honour of a new telly arriving tomorrow morning, for which I am terribly excite. My current one is analog, twelve years old, dying and the digital set top box is five years old and dying. The new telly will be awesome.

13 TV Shows. In no particular order.

It's still Thursday somewhere in the world, right? :)

This is thirteen TV shows I love. It isn't all of them, because I can think of several others that didn't make the cut, simply because I didn't think of them while typing out the list! Those include 'True Blood,' 'Battlestar Galactica (2003)', 'Doctor Who,' and more.

1. Babylon 5

B5 was, is and always will be my number one. A novel on telly, is the best way to describe it. Sci-fi mixed with fantasy mixed with politics and containing same sex romance as well as heterosexual romance. Plus stunning music and amazing writing and I love it. JMS created magic when he created this show. (Biased? Me? Nevar! :D) The show premiered in 1993, and had a series spin off ("Crusade" - also awesome) and several TV movies.

Summary: The story is set in the 23rd century on "Babylon 5" — a five-mile-long, 2.5 million-ton rotating colony designed as a gathering place for the sentient species of the galaxy, in order to foster peace through diplomacy, trade, and cooperation. Instead, acting as a center of political intrigue and conflict, the station becomes the linchpin of a massive interstellar war. This is reflected in the opening monologue of each episode, which includes the words "last, best hope for peace" in season one, changing to "last, best hope for victory" by season three.

The series consists of a coherent five-year story arc taking place over five seasons of 22 episodes each. Unlike most television shows at the time, Babylon 5 was conceived as a "novel for television", with a defined beginning, middle, and end; in essence, each episode would be a single "chapter" of this "novel". Many of the tie-in novels, comic books, and short stories were also developed to play a significant canonical part in the overall story.

2. Blake's 7

B7 ran for only four years of 13 episodes per season, but boy howdy did it break ground in TV Sci-fi. Because the budget was so tiny, the show relied heavily on character-driven plots and was set in a dystopian future where humanity had expanded out into space. Concieved and written by Terry Nation for the BBC, this show influenced a lot of others, including 'Doctor Who,' 'Babylon 5,' 'LEXX,' 'Battlestar Galactica,' 'Firefly,' and 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.' It also influenced 'Cold Lazarus,' Dennis Potter's final play. It ran from 1978 - 1981. Readers of Manna Francis' brilliant "The Administration" series will recognise the homage paid to the show and Manna states on her site, "The inspiration for the Administration series of stories is a maxim of Chris Boucher, script editor of Blakes 7—There are no bad guys. There are no good guys. There are only better guys, and worse guys." [Ref.]

Summary: Set in the "third century of the second calendar", and at least 700 years in the future, Blake's 7 follows the exploits of revolutionary Roj Blake as he leads his band of rebels against the forces of the totalitarian Terran Federation which rules the Earth and many of the planets of the galaxy. The Federation controls its citizens using mass surveillance, brainwashing and pacification with drugged food, water and air. Sentenced to deportation to a penal colony on a remote planet, Blake escapes with the help of his fellow prisoners and gains control of the Liberator, an alien spacecraft far in advance of anything the Federation possesses. The craft has superior speed and weaponry and a teleport system that allows crew members to be transported to the surface of a planet without having to land the ship. Blake and his crew then attempt to disrupt and damage the Federation.

While Blake is an idealistic freedom fighter, his associates are petty crooks, smugglers and killers. Notably, Kerr Avon is a technical genius more interested in self-preservation and seeking personal wealth than engaging in rebellion.

3. Supernatural

I travelled half way across the world to go to a convention for this show. The above two and the next show are the only other ones I'd do that for! Two brothers hunting Bad Things, including ghosts, succubi, demons, monsters and ultimately Lucifer. Seasons one through five are stellar; season six fell flat and was pretty hit and miss. The finale particularly was dreadful in its final moments of jumping not just the shark but the entire bloody ocean. But I still watch it because I'm like that. Tenacious. Yes.

Summary: The series follows the brothers as they hunt demons and other figures of the supernatural.

4. Spartacus

Both of them - 'Blood and Sand' and 'Gods of the Arena'. I am so saddened by the death of Andy Whitfield this week. The show is gory and violent and sexy... much like ancient Rome. I am constantly awed by the dedication to detail in the set dressing and the dialogue. I can't remember where I read it now, but the dialogue is structured in such a way as to follow the conversational structure of Latin, a la Cicero, et al. So the show is shot in New Zealand and stars a lot of Aussies and Kiwis - it just reinforces my firm belief that the ancient world was populated by us and that Latin should be spoken with an Australian accent. XD

Summary: The series is inspired by the historical figure of Spartacus (played by Andy Whitfield), a Thracian gladiator who from 73 to 71 BC led a major slave uprising against the Roman Republic. Executive producers Steven S. DeKnight and Robert Tapert focused on structuring the events of Spartacus' obscure early life leading up to the beginning of historical records.

5. Game of Thrones

Never have I seen such a fabulously made adaptation of a novel series as this one. I shall try not to spoil anything here in my gushing praise, suffice to say that all my expectations were exceeded and the only thing I didn't like so much was the way the show dealt with the gay romance (In the books, it's far more a relationship of equals who genuinely love and care for each other, in the show, it's presented much more as a means of manipulation of one by the other. (Loras manipulating Renly.)) and the beginning of Dany's marriage to Drogo. Other than that? Absolutely amazingly brilliant. The opening theme is one of the best pieces of music I've ever heard. (And I know I'm in a minority, but I love Dany, Drogo, Tyrion, Jaime, Brienne, The Hound, Bran and Jon. And Bronn.) The novels are loosely based on the Hundred Years War.

Summary: The series takes place on the fictional continent of Westeros and chronicles the violent power struggles between the noble families as they fight for control of the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms.

6. Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Clever, witty, dark, touching, funny, sad and eminently watchable. Although I always did and still do loathe Xander and Dawn. I didn't mind Riley after a while, he grew on me. But Xander and Dawn never did. Or Anya, actually.

Summary: The series narrative follows Buffy Summers, the latest in a line of young women known as "Vampire Slayers" or simply "Slayers". In the story, Slayers are "called" (chosen by fate) to battle against vampires, demons, and other forces of darkness. Like previous Slayers, Buffy is aided by a Watcher, who guides, teaches, and trains her. Unlike her predecessors, Buffy surrounds herself with a circle of loyal friends who become known as the "Scooby Gang".

7. Oz

One of the grittier shows I enjoy. Set in a fictional prison, in a fictional program called 'Emerald City', "Oz" chronicles the lives of the inmates and their relationships. It also contains one of the most realistic and well-explored love stories, that of prisoners Beecher and Keller. Beecher comes from an upper-class background and is in Oz for drunk driving, Keller for driving under the influence of drugs and armed robbery. They start of as cell mates and their relationship - with betrayals and all - grows from there. It began in 1997 and ran for six seasons.

Summary: Oz chronicles the attempts of McManus to keep control over the inmates of Em City. There are many groups of inmates during the run of the show and not everybody within each group makes it out alive. There are the African American Homeboys (Adebisi, Wangler, Redding, Poet, Keene, Supreme Allah) and Muslims (Said, Arif, Hamid Khan), the Wiseguys (Pancamo, Nappa, Schibetta), the Aryans (Schillinger, Robson, Mark Mack), the Latinos (Alvarez, Morales, Guerra, Hernandez), the Irish (the O'Reily brothers), the gays (Hanlon, Cramer), the bikers (Hoyt), and a number of others (Rebadow, Keller, Stanislofsky). In contrast to the dangerous criminals, regular character Tobias Beecher gives a look at a normal man who made one fatal drunk-driving mistake. The episodes are narrated and held together by inmate Augustus Hill, who provides the show with some context, some sense of humor, etc.

8. Dark Skies

Anyone remember this short-lived, 18 episode series? It was awesome and I was sadfacing that it got cancelled.

Summary: 20th century history as people know it is a lie. Aliens have been among humans since the late 1940s, but a government cover-up has protected the public from such knowledge. As the series progresses, viewers follow John Loengard and Kim Sayers through the 1960s as they attempt to foil the plots of the alien Hive. The Hive is an alien race that planned to invade Earth through a manipulation of historical events and famous figures, including most notably the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. In addition, the pair must stay one step ahead of Majestic 12, a covert government agency that has mixed motives.

9. The Tudors

Okay, so it bears only a passing resemblence to history, but I love it. HBO did a great job with this show and I watch it more as an alternate universe, fantasy storytelling of The Tudors rather than a historically accurate dramatisation. Which is probably why I can watch it without raging at the historical inaccuracies. Mind you, I can't flip that switch for every history based show or movie, I've found. My brain is funny that way.

Summary: The series, named after the Tudor dynasty, is loosely based upon the reign of King Henry VIII of England.

10. Cities of the Underworld

A documentary series! This is a series that looks at what lies beneath our own cities, the remnants of civilisations long gone and what they can tell us about our history. Also? It's awesome.

Summary: The program explored the subterranean environment and culture beneath various civilizations. The series was hosted and narrated by Eric Geller for a short time in season one with Don Wildman taking over for the rest of the series.

The show employed a quick-paced editing and shooting style along with extensive use of 3D computer graphics.

11. Forever Knight

Oh so cheesey awesome Canadian series about a vampire with a conscience, Nick Knight, who works as a Toronto detective on the night shift and his relationships with his peers - Natalie, the forensic specialist who knows what he is, Schanke, his partner, who doesn't know what he is, his maker, LaCroix and his ex-lover, Jeanette. The episodes contain flash-backs, generally from Nick's point of view, which gives the viewer insight into his past and the things he's done and experienced and his tumultuous relationship with both LaCroix and Jeanette.

Summary: Nick Knight, an 800-year-old vampire working as a police detective in modern day Toronto. Wracked with guilt for centuries of killing others, he seeks redemption by working as a cop on the night shift while struggling to find a way to become human again. The series premiered on May 5, 1992 and concluded with the third season finale on May 17, 1996.

12. Primeval

From vampires to dinosaurs! Every single season, "Primeval" has ended with a cliffhanger, usually something that very, very few people saw coming. The writing is tight and intelligent, the casting is great, the dinosaur/creature effects are fantastic and the science is believable. If you like plotty, gritty, SF shows with dinosaurs and great writing, you'll love this. I am desperately hoping they make a season six as season five ended with another cliffhanger, argh! XD

Summary: Primeval is a British science fiction television programme produced for ITV by Impossible Pictures. Created by Adrian Hodges and Tim Haines, who previously created the Walking with... documentary series. Primeval follows a team of scientists tasked with investigating the appearance of temporal anomalies across Great Britain through which prehistoric and futuristic creatures enter the present.

13. Firefly

Oh, "Firefly," I love you so, you short-lived, quirky show. Thanks to you, I know of the beauty that is Moreena Baccarin and the awesome that is Nathan Fillion.

Summary: The series is set in the year 2517, after the arrival of humans in a new star system, and follows the adventures of the renegade crew of Serenity, a "Firefly-class" spaceship. The ensemble cast portrays the nine characters who live on Serenity. Whedon pitched the show as "nine people looking into the blackness of space and seeing nine different things". The show explores the lives of some people who fought on the losing side of a civil war and others who now make a living on the outskirts of society, as part of the pioneer culture that exists on the fringes of their star system. In addition, it is a future where the only two surviving superpowers, the United States and China, fused to form the central federal government, called the Alliance, resulting in the fusion of the two cultures as well. According to Whedon's vision, "nothing will change in the future: technology will advance, but we will still have the same political, moral, and ethical problems as today."

Once again, I am doing Nano. I find the Nano experience to be particularly helpful as I am, I'm ashamed to admit, a procrastinator. The spirit and camaraderie of Nano and the word count updates on a daily basis do help me stay focused and work. This year, I have come up with a daily routine that I think might actually be the one. That is to say, the one that works for *me*.

With a few minor setbacks due to other issues that happen to us all, my writing and everything else, actually, was interupted for two days. I got a bit done, but not a lot and certainly not the amount I'd hoped. However, today I was back at it, back with my routine and as long as Front 242's latest CD took to play, I'd written 1500 words thereabouts.

So what is my routine? I've broken my day up into three pieces. Mornings are for writing. I write to music. Cav once told me that a scientist (and I wish I could remember who this scientist is because I'd like to send him/her a fruit basket for being right,) said that certain kinds of music encourage frequencies that enhance creativity in the brain. Chris, her partner, elaborated to say that these genres of music include things with a persitant beat, ie, dance/techno/darwave styles, or those that followed certain strict timing and key change patters within the piece, ie, classical/opera. I experimented a bit after this fascinating conversation several years ago and found that - for me, at least - they and Mr./Ms. Scientist were right.

I write while listening to dance or darkwave music: Front 242, Prodigy, Orbital, Orgy, etc. I edit to heavier bands and artists, such as Tool, Shinedown, Avenged Sevenfold, Stone Sour, etc. Oddly, I find that artists like the Smashing Pumpkins are good music for both the writing and the editing process. I've tried writing to classical, like Beethoven, because I have a big soft spot for Beethoven, and that's worked too but I always find myself coming back to the electronic over the classical.

So that's my mornings. Write to music. Lose myself in words on the screen and the rythym in my ears. Then I have lunch because food is good. After lunch, it's time to relax, chat with friends, often about the writing process, but about other things too, catch up with LJ, Twitter, Facebook, etc, eye off those chain maille bookmarks on Ebay, that sort of thing. Then it's time for dinner, again because food is good. After dinner, I watch the news, then let the TV drone on as I play around with my iPod playlists for the next day or write a few things that are more in the nature of drabbles, etc. Finally, I go and read. I read until I'm ready to fall asleep and I generally - weather and health permitting, of course - sleep the sleep of the dead. Wake up, start all over again.

My day also includes consumption of Coke and chocolate because these things are essential snacks for the living of the life of me. In between, I make sure Castiel, my cat, isn't planning on redecorating my flat with toilet paper as he is wont to do, or howling too loudly and scaring the neighbors who aren't prepared for a cat to holler, "HELLO," at them as they pass at the top of his lungs. Right now, he sleeps on the back of the sofa, no doubt planning tomorrow's decorative inspirations and how best to make the neighbors jump simply by miaowing.

I'm watching Jennifer Byrne Presents - Blockbusters And Bestsellers on ABC1 right now and it's going to be repeated on ABC2 on 6:30pm Sunday, May 16. I highly recommend watching it if you have HDTV. The show blurb is here, text beneath the cut for the link-phobic.

( ........... )

Very well worth watching, particularly for the portion of the show when the authors talk about critics, reviews and feedback, including Matthew Reilly talking about an email he recieved saying he should be lowered into a wood-chipper hands first so he "never wrote a page of that drivel again."

I don't know if it's on YouTube for everyone outside Australia to see, but if it is, check it out.