Tabula Rasa lj

I read 2012 recently, an anthology of near future tales. As various reviews have already said, it's a good book, and to be recommended.

This isn't a review -- I guess I could talk about each of the stories, but not today. I just wanted to make a quick note about one aspect of the book, for conversational purposes.

There is an impassioned introduction from the editors (that would be girliejones and benpayne) about good fiction reflecting and shaping the spirit of its time, offering a warning and a call to action. Along with the highly specific time frame, this seems to impose an additional burden on the contents. Would this really happen by 2012, I asked myself more than once. Would this happen at all? If a story doesn't make me want to sign a petition, has it failed? (Or am I the one who has failed?)

It's a tricky thing, because I agree with the editors on many of the strengths of a good story, and you certainly have to say something in an Introduction. If it was an ideal, then I don't think it was reached, not consistently anyway. If it was a limitation, the stories broke free in all sorts of different directions, which seems a good thing to me.

Two more points about Rocky Horror, while I think of them:

I noticed last night that Rocky, the character, disappears somewhat in the final act. In the movie they get away with it when he grabs Frank and scales the tower, but on stage it seemed lop-sided. Oh well.

This is also an excuse to mention Summer of Secrets again. Not many people know that the director of the RHPS made a movie a year later in Australia, that is something of a thematic follow-up (not to be confused with Shock Treatment). Here is Kyla's review of the movie, for those who like tracking down such things.

The latest issue of The Crumpleton Experiments (gallery, review) is out. Check out the flier including a limited edition figurine of pure evil!

Comics folk in Melbourne, this will interest you. Bruce Mutard is talking about his new comic The Sacrifice on Wednesday evening.

Set in Melbourne in the shadow of WWII, this graphic novel deals with war, ideals, family and love. With a distinctive cast of characters and strong themes, this book will resonate with a broad audience.

Details are here

A short survey has been set up for fans, creators and, no doubt, interested on-lookers of Australia horror and dark fiction. You can even win stuff. Here are all the details, and here's the survey.

Alas, it turns out we won't be able to get to this year's A Night of Horror film festival, which started this week. You certainly cannot fault their ambition -- contrary to its name, there are about ten nights of movies, including a lot of full length ones making their Australian debut (Sunday sees the much loved Call of Cthulhu, just to single out the one I've already seen). So for Sydney-siders more mobile than us, get along.

(And if you do, we'd love to host a review on Tabula Rasa.)

I don't read web comics, it just doesn't happen. Last night I read a perfect little thing by Owen Heitman -- I wish I could share it with you all, but it's not on-line, and so I can't.

(Or perhaps won't, since I do have a scanner nearby.)

So I guess this becomes a plug for Tango #7: Love and Sedition instead. I would put Tango up with Dee Vee as our strongest local anthology comics of the last decade or two. Hopefully I'll have something more to say about it when I've read more than the first few pages.

The latest Australian Dark Fantasy and Horror edition is now available for pre-order from Brimstone Press. It has the best local horror stories of 2006, including Kyla's 'The Bat's Boudoir' and a lot more, so check it out.

Kyla's review of Gabriel is up.

We've just come back from the Gabriel. We liked it a lot. A proper review might be forthcoming, no doubt saying something about how good it looks despite having almost no budget. This may not be taken entirely as a recommendation, nor would it help to say it reminded me of a 90s RPG session (something Michael Hitchens would do, perhaps). But it does look good, and despite some dodgy bits, the writing comes together well. So yes, recommended.

In the meantime, I picked up my 30 Days of Night loot. Good stuff, but what does one do with a large signed poster and minimal space to put it?

(Both movie and prize pack were courtesy of Kings, I feel somewhat compelled to add.)

Our sedentary lifestyle has been shaken up a bit recently. Last week we went off to see episodes of the excellent Dexter at a cinema, plus interview with the star (courtesy of jack_ryder in fact). I was a bit taken aback by the apparent popularity of Michael C Hall, but then, we never got into Six Feet Under. And amused when literally half the audience left after the interview, having obviously already watched the second ep.

Last night it was back to Popcorn Taxi for the premier of Rogue, the follow-up to Wolf Creek -- this time with giant crocodile. It was good fun, with some good suspense and effects, if ultimately a bit underwhelming. This was also accompanied by an interview, with the director, producer and more. Greg McLean said he really didn't have anything against the Northern Territory tourism industry, and there was some interesting discussion about films made -- and funded -- in Australia.

Speaking of which, despite having watched the shorts a couple of times, I had completely failed to realise Gabriel is a no-budget Australian flick. We'll be angling to see that soonish. Apparently I have also won myself tickets to see 30 Days of Night (complete with t-shirt, soundtrack and novel(!)), so it's all happening.

Now, if we can only find somewhere where we can reliably eat...

Just read a cool pair of stories from artbroken, available in a little chapbook called Seven Down from Vignette Press. Not sure I could or should classify them, so you should just give them a go.

Just got back from jack_ryder's play Gone Bush, on at Newtown Theatre in town. It's about five women on a corporate retreat up to the Blue Mountains, with much chaos, sex, a panther, a dodgy journalist and possibly murder close behind.

It was great fun, and all the cast did well -- but special mention goes to Lauren Hamilton Neill who stole the show with her geek gone feral.

I know nothing of this, but for those in Brisbane it might be fun:

( Hollow Crossing )

I read Shiny #1. This could probably be classed as unexpected, since I didn't even know beforehand it was all about death. I can attest to the fact it is difficult to travel in the back-seat of a car with a full-sized scythe.

A quick note for Aussie comics people, my review of Paul Bedford's The List is up at ASif.

Black Sheep (the movie): not too bad.

Bill Congreve has the best answer to Q5 of of the Snapshot, so far. He provides some sensible commentary as well.

I've just seen a Sopranos spoiler. Bugger. And the DVDs aren't out till October...

Stephen King is rocking around Alice Springs.

I didn't remember Randle McMurphy wearing Moby Dick underwear... This is quite possibly because I haven't previously read One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest after all, and only studied sections in High School.

Tansy's interview with me is up, as part of the 2007 snapshot.

It has been a strange day or two for local genre news. Here's a round-up (we'll wait till the Black Sheep fiasco resolves itself, though the fact we won tickets to the movie is presumably unrelated).

Christian Read (the_christian) has just had his supplement for the Call of Cthulhu game published: Mythos Magic. Here's his note about it. The cover is by toniaw. Looks excellent.

We got an email from some nice person telling us about their comic: The List (a tale of primal rage, insanity, and violence). I don't know much more about it than that, as yet, but it looks interesting.

On similar subject and medium, I found this recently: The Canberra Heresy: The Arcane Legacy of Walter Burley Griffin. I haven't put it up in the gallery yet, because that's #2, and I'm trying to contact the author about #1. From what I've seen, it hasn't got the most coherent of narratives, but at least the title is catchy.

People in southern Sydney may be interested to know the Dymocks Miranda is setting itself up as a SF/Fantasy/comics specialist. They are taking proactive steps in that direction anyway, including reaching out to locals, imports, and no less than two MySpace pages. We must go visit and see how it stacks up.

Finally, if there's anyone in Perth or Melbourne who wants a signed Prismatic, book plates with all three signatures (quite a rarity, actually) are now available from Fantastic Planet and the Angus & Robertsons, Frankston.

This year's A Night of Horror film festival was great (here's our review, if you missed it). Now they've opened up to submissions for the next one:

( All the gory details )