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Posts from the ‘Australian Women Writers’ Category

17
May

Aurealis Award Best Horror Novel 2017 short list

 

  1. Well, I’m still looking for horror!
  2. I read the winner of the
  3. Aurealis Award Best Horror Novel 2017
  4. Soon and was mildly impressed.
  5. Now I have decided to look further….on the short list.
  6. I found Aletheia by J.S. Breukelaar
  7. The name has potential….but is it horrific?
  8. I have never heard of the author but according to
  9. …some comment I saw this book is
  10. “a demanding story that will grip the reader and
  11. …hold them relentlessly until the end.“
  12. Does the book drip strangeness?
  13. I will put the book to the test!

 

Feedback:  response to comment by Tracy at  Bitter Tea and Mystery

Tracy, I was just like you…Horror, avoid at all costs.
Now I have found that horror is not only slasher narratives with blood dripping from chainsaws!
It is creating with language and imagery an unsettling tense feeling as to what is yet to come.
There are different sorts of horror gothic –Dracula-  and Supernatural –Aletheia- non-supernatural. This category includes frightening crime or mystery stories. I read Lemaitre’s –Alex- ..and was frightened to death by rats attacking a victim! Tracy, perhaps you are reading horror and didn’t realize it!

 

Title:  

  1. Aletheia is the Greek goddess of truth… Roman name Veritas.
  2. In this book Aletheia refers not so much to the truth.
  3. …but how you find it.”

 

Genre:  supernatural horror

  1. Breukelaar uses phrases that create a creepy unsettling air.
  2. Strong point being the imagery and personification of the lake.
  3. The one of the best ‘horror’ chapters was  ch 16 Dark Wind.
  4. Lee faces the supernatural unknown he feels on the lake.
  5. “What do you want?  And the lake doesn’t answer,
  6. …but somethig else does.”

 

Theme:  fear

  1. Find the blind spot…what they refuse to see is what they are afraid of.
  2. What do the men refuse to see? (Lee – Doc – Frankie)
  3. What must the women do?
  4. Thettie  must find room to ‘move in their blind spot’
  5. Bryce: blinded in one eye…yet she saw everyone’s fears.

 

  1. Motif – tongue  (reptilian, poisonous, death)
  2. – Vernon’s tongue-tip flicked out (ch1)
  3. – a black tongue of lake water (ch 5)
  4. – …licked the glass of the dream-window
  5. – the black dream tongue fading…(ch 9)
  6. – a tongue dragged itself along the steamy
  7. – inside of the window… (10)
  8. – black tongues of lake….lap hungrily at the side of the canoe (ch 16)
  9. This is a great horror effect!

 

  1. Motif  – triangle  (fate)
  2. I found one quote that perhaps is the idea behind the form:
  3. “…a triangulation that finally began to make sense.
  4. Geometry is fate.” (ch 13)
  5. Place names:
  6. Triangle Gully, Triangle Bridge, Triangle Creek Triangle Falls
  7. business triangles: Homer with a rifle – a dirt-colored shack – pails for the dogs
  8. love triangles – Archy – Bryce – Grif
  9. guilt triangles – Frankie – Thettie – Doc
  10. child/mother triangles –  Archy – Thettie – Grif
  11. This brings tension….someone will be left out
  12. …but who?

 

  1. Motif – eye    (evil eye?)
  2. Many references to eye – fish hook
  3. Bryce catches ‘baby’ – doll on fishing line —-fish hook in eye.
  4. Lee’s son draws a howling mutation (in lake?) and his
  5. mother crayon in a burning star in its dead eye.
  6. Bryce: one-eye water rat
  7. Lee began to move off, but the
  8. …amber slice in her (Bryce) eye held him in place.
  9. Bryce: wore an eye patch that “seemed to eat up the all the light”
  10. There are many more references
  11. …..try to find them!

 

HOOK:   What hooked me?

  1. I cannot pinpoint one specific moment in the first
  2. few chapters that I can say ‘hooked’ me.
  3. Of course the ‘shock and awe’ of the first sentence
  4. ….but there must be more. 
  5. I wasn’t interested in reading the book in the first place
  6. ….but wanted to investigate the shortlist
  7. …Aurealis Prize Best Horror Novel  2017.
  8. The fact that I kept reading
  9. ….because of the quality of the writing is the hook.
  10. If you can keep ME interested in a horror book
  11. …then you must be doing something right
  12. ….#Bravo  J.M. Breuklaar

 

Foreshadowing:

  1. J.S. Breukelaar is a master of foreshadowing.
  2. She made her plot clues subtle and for this reader
  3. ….apparent during a re-reading!
  4. The author wants to build suspense.
  5. I tried to read very carefully and the book is intricately plotted.
  6. I had to read 10 chapters…then re-read/skim them
  7. to pick up on what I had missed the first time around.
  8. Once I had a grasp of the basic conflicts
  9. ….reading was much smoother…and creepier!

 

Personification:

  1. Breukelaar personifies the lake
  2. ..whenever she can giving it a  horror-touch:
  3. …the lake jumped at her between the houses.
  4. …a black tongue of the lake licked her heel.
  5. …the lake winked between the trees.
  6. …crouched waiting for the unrisen sun.
  7. …shrank from a rascally moon.
  8. …(weed) the lake sucked it in.

 

Characters:

  1. Lee:  obsessed with the lake after his son was
  2. …killed and parts of body thrown in lake (horror)
  3. “Death is not the end, neither for the dead
  4. nor those they leave behind.” (ch14)
  5. Thettie: obsessed with guilt from the past
  6. “I got to make things right….” (ch 13)
  7. Bryce:  ….she is not what she seems!

 

Setting: 

  1. Breukelaar used a chewy setting
  2. …something she could set her teeth into!
  3. Breukelaar  uses personification 
  4. the lake jumped, winked,
  5. …licked at her heels.
  6. She used all the features of the lake
  7. the lake oozed and spread, cold, dark and indestructible
  8. ….black tongue of lake water licked her heel
  9. to increase the creepy unsettling  feelings in the story.
  10. What is the hungry nameless thing in the lake?
  11. I was fascinated by a lake…..that came to life!

 

Tone:  creepy

  1. Breukelaar created a very wierd 
  2. …creepy world in the Pennsylvania back country.
  3. “The lake flushed purple, bruised by its own loveliness
  4. ….leaves dripped bloody from the trees.
  5. Lee looks through shards of glass…
  6. …like seeing the world through alien tears (ch 6)
  7. Breukelaar shows ….does not tell.
  8. She uses the sense of smell (80x) to prickle the reader’s imagination.
  9. …the metallic smell of the lake, smell of burnt wiring, burned waffels,
  10. her breath smells like cocoa and some kind of vegetable,
  11. the smell of iodine-soaked bandage.

 

Tension:  …every page tingles with tension!

  1. I was mesmerized by the character’s
  2. …thoughts of obsessions and death wishes.
  3. For example:
  4. This is Lee’s obsession….to probe the lake until he finds his son.
  5. Lee’s death wish “…the only way to beat the monster
  6. …is to join it.” (ch 16)
  7. Throughout the book I kept wondering
  8. …will good triumph over evil…or NOT!

 

Conclusion:     Mainstream fiction or horror fiction?

  1. I was surprised to find in J.S. Breukelaar’s  horror novel
  2. superior writing and great emotional depth (example ch 11).
  3. My preconceptions that horror is
  4. …less than mainstream fiction are gone forever!
  5. The horror writer wants us to expand our imagination with images.
  6. Best image… was the island in the middle of the lake.
  7. I had to admire how creative Breukelaar is!
  8. “Island was a bugger sneezed out in nostril shape
  9. …with nose-hair foliage.” (ch 2)

Last Thoughts:

 

  1. With all due respect to  people who know how to judge literature…
  2. I would like to see the jury report of
  3. …Aurealis Awards Best Horror Novel 2017.
  4. I read the winner Soon by Lois Murphy and Aletheia short listed.
  5. As a reader J.S. Breukelaar’s novel should have won!
  6. #MustRead….really a must! 

 

What is the most important difference between Soon and Aletheia ?

  1. While reading Aletheia…
  2. I was constantly asking myself questions.…
  3. …which plot twist do I think is coming next?
  4. While reading Soon
  5. ….my imagination was not aroused
  6. ….nothing in the book
  7. spurred me on to think with the author.
  8. This is what I mean when I say that  Soon did not engage me
  9. …but Aletheia did!
  10. Wonderful reading experience….that you should not miss!
13
May

Aurealis Award Best YA Novel 2017 short list

 

Quickscan plot:

  1. Cat’s father is Dr. Lachlan Agatta.
  2. He is a legendary  geneticist who has been kidnapped
  3. by a shadowy  organization called Cartaxus.
  4. Cat  is left to survive the last two years on her own.
  5. She can no longer escape involvement with the Cartaxus.
  6. This is where it gets personal.
  7. Cole, a Cartaxus soldier, arrives with
  8. …news that her father has been killed.
  9. Cat’s instincts tell her it’s just another Cartaxus lie.
  10. But Cole also brings a message.
  11. Before Dr. Lachlan died…
  12. he managed to create a vaccine against the killing virus.
  13. Cole needs Cat’s  genius-hacker skills to
  14. …crack Cartaxus’ encrypted code and save the human race.

 

Conclusion:

  1. Classic hook:  the reader is in the middle of the action
  2. ….then chapter two begins with:
  3. “Two years earlier….”
  4. The characters are in a technological wonderland with
  5. a hellishly corporate backdrop (Cartaxus).
  6. “They want your brain, but don’t need your legs” (ch 2)
  7. Cat Agatta (hacker nickname: Bobcat)
  8. must use all her skills to decode her late father’s message.
  9. But is her father, Dr. Lalhan Agatta….really dead?
  10. There is a lot to digest in this book.
  11. The reader who loves…
  12. computers – files – servers – code – apps – databases
  13. …smash-and-grab hacking, Fibonacci search technique
  14. …ribbons of synthetic DNA
  15. …and swarms of drones…will love this book.
  16. If you are not tech-savvy…you may lose interest.
  17. The book tackles challenging issues:
  18. …a daughter trying to understand (break free of) her father
  19. ..a daughter mapping out
  20. …her boundaries in ethics (DNA) and in love.

 

Last thoughts:

  1. In YA books….the voice of the young includes
  2. …lots of swearing.
  3. Not in this book….just a few shit’s, batshit and shitloads.
  4. M.J. Ward in Psynode  cleverly avoided this problem of swearing
  5. …that might influence gatekeepers and not include the book
  6. …in school libraries.
  7. She used her urban-brand of swearing…fugg  and shiz!
  8. Of course YA would not be YA without
  9. …a love triangle Dax – Cat – Cole.
  10. blurring the boundary between romance/erotica.
  11. “We spent the week trying to ignore
  12. …the energy crackling between us,
  13. like two humming electrodes just waiting for a spark.”
  14. Hmmm… personally I prefer words like:
  15. “We’ll always have Paris.”  in a love scene.
  16. Not planning to read  Suvada’s #2 book in this series.
  17. …It is just “not my thing.”
  18. I am looking forward to Sally Abbott’s next SF book.
  19. Try reading Abbott’s  Closing Down
  20. ..and see if you agree with me! (score: 5 star)
11
May

Crime Fiction: Too Easy

 

Review:

STRONG POINT:  Stella is not perfect….she bends the law when it is necessary!

STRONG POINT: J.M. Green writes in the first person and that offers the reader all the internal wit, the wisecracks and asides that hard-boiled Stella Hardy dishes out! Now Stella can tell the reader what she REALLY thinks. Stella’s description of Felicity is a lively mental image:

INNER DIALOGUE: Felicity answers phone at Brophy’s art gallery  Stella: “Formal register, posh accent. Young. Voice had a whip-sting of condescension….the ‘transcendental’ model. My reptilian instincts licked the air.” Who did she think she was? We’re in a creative peak. The nerve of her. “…the room swam in red mist and my heart burned black!”

WEAK POINT: If I had any problem with this novel, it was very difficult to maintain my focus with so many subplots. I think a crime fiction book shines when it evokes a single emotional response…the feeling of suspense… pretty much non-stop.
Stella vs family – relationship with mother, sister, brother-in-law, brother and two nephews. The conflict about selling the Hardy farm stuck out like a sore thumb in a drug/gangster crime fiction novel! The scenes felt boring, flat, choppy and lacking spark. In my opinion this subplot could have been eliminated without affecting the plot!
Stella vs Felicity: girlfight – Stella is not standing by and let the ‘harpy’ (Felicity) take over his (boyfriend) life! “Game on, Felicity, I said to myself as I picked up a puri and cracked its head open.”

WEAK POINT: The author attempts some sort of contemporary realism with too many references to pop-culture ( movies, soundtracks, synth-band etc). USA folk punk band Voilent Femmes (ch 4-19), Karen Carpenter ‘Superstar’ (ch 19-50), The Big Lebowski (ch 15), Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings (ch 30) and movie Blood Diamond (ch 7-12-15-31-44), Cool Hand Luke (ch 41) Human League 1977 British synth-band (ch 34-35-48), soundtrack harmonica in Morricone riff (ch 31), music Amy Whitehouse (ch 44) movie Crouching Tiger, HIdden Dragon (ch 44). I’m sure she wanted to fill out the fictional details of Stella’s world in Melbourne but in the end it just became irritating. Less is more.

WEAK POINT:  55  chapters…is this really necessary in a crime fiction novel? There are many chapters with a long scene that could have been explained in a few sentences in the previous  chapter. Examples: Grocery shopping in exotic store and an impromtu telephone call from Afshan and Shahid  (in Australia on temporary protective visa) about bowling in “Funky Town” amusement parlour…it felt like ‘filler’.

 

Conclusion:

  1. I don’t read many crime fiction books so all
  2. the weak and strong points are
  3. based on my personal preferences.
  4. I started off thinking this could be a book I loved.
  5. J.M. Green’s her writing style drew me in immediately.
  6. As time went on, the story  seemed to slow down
  7. …veered off in to many subplots.
  8. I began to lose rather than gain interest.
  9. J.M. Green address social issues:
  10. Biker gang Corpse Flower’s gambit grooming children (literally)
  11. …as drug mules on the Burma/China border (Kengtung) and
  12. …selling the organs of homeless Melbourne street children.
  13. Theme: “The powerless seeking justice was a
  14. …time-consuming, soul-destroying business.”
  15. I did enjoy the book but it could have been shorter.
  16. I did learn some Australian slang….
  17. Last Thoughts;
  18. Loved this book for its sense of ‘Melbourne’. J.M. Green took me through the shadows and streets of Footscray, Thornbury, Sunshine, Kew East, Maribyrnong. Norlane, St Albans, Noble Park, Clayton, Hughesdale, Keysborough, Braybrook, Seddon, Caroline Springs.
    I learned that there is Australian whiskey Corio Five Star! I just found that there was too much going on in Stella’s life. If you read the book be prepared for a conclusion that left me thinking: “This reminds me of a ‘showdown at the OK-Corral…30 second shootout between the lawmen and members of a loosely organized group of outlaws!”

AUSTRALIAN SLANG: “…An evening of claptrap with this ditsy nong” (Felicity)  nong = a stupid or incompetent person.  “I dropped a lobster on the table.” AUS twenty-dollar note is sometimes called a “lobster” in reference to its distinctive pink colour. “As exits went it was rip, shit and bust. =  with extreme vigour and enthusiasm

AUSTRALIAN SLANG: “Grouse”  = word heard mostly in Australia’s 2nd largest city, Melbourne meaning something wonderful, amazing.

6
May

Victorian Premier’s Literary Award Drama 2011

  • Playwright: Patricia Cornelius  (1953)
  • Title: Do No Go Gentle (act 1, 11 scenes – act 2, 13 scenes)
  • Published: 2011
  • Trivia: Winner Victorian Premier’s Award Drama 2011

 

Who is Patricia Cornelius?

  1. Patricia Cornelius is one of Australia’s
  2. …most awarded and celebrated playwrights.
  3. It was difficult finding more about this woman!
  4. But here is a  quote from The Guardian
  5. that sums it up:
  6. “Cornelius writes plays that buck gentrified theatre trends.
  7. She is not fixated on romantic comedy or
  8. low-stakes middle-class angst about relationships
  9. …instead pursuing stories and characters needing a champion.
  10. She speaks out when few others would.

 

What is the play about?

  1. Cornelius uses an historical narrative Scott’s Polar Expedition (Act 1)
  2. and a group of Australian retirees in a nursing home (Act 2).
  3. Do Not Go Gentle is described by Cornelius as a survival story.
  4. Five explorers...watching the light fade as they realize ..the end in near.
  5. Five  80 year old elderly people
  6. …nearing the end of the journey that is their lives.

 

Metaphor:

  1. Cornelius uses the story of Scott’s expedition
  2. as a metaphor in act 1
  3. ….for living courageously in old age in act 2.
  4. The playwright interweaves parts of the poem
  5. …and Scott’s original diaries into the play.
  6. Rage , rage against the dying of the light
  7. ..is repeated by the character Evans (act 1).
  8. He represents the ‘wild man’ in Thomas’s poem.

 

Stage design:

Act 1

  1. Scott’s polar party: five men:
  2. Scott, Wilson, Oates, Bowers and Edgar Evans.
  3. Ice sheets of Antarctica with the actors bundled in
  4. …mittens, reindeer boots, fur hats
  5. …in sleeping bags.

Act 2

  1. Group of retirees in a nursing home
  2. ...some in their late 50’s others in their late 80’s.
  3. Labyrinth of crevasses and ice towers are
  4. represented by white curtains around sick beds
  5. …while some actors sit swaddled in sheets shivering in the cold
  6. …in sleeping bags  (beds in nursing home)
  7. Note: white drapes, resembling all at once bedclothes,
  8. …icy crevices, and the Terra Nova sails.
  9. Incredibly clever….P. Cornelius!

 

Who are the characters?    ….to keep track of who’s who!

  1. Act 1:
  2. Scott’s polar expedition party 1911-1912
  3. Five men , Scott, Wilson, Oates, Bowers and Edgar Evans.
  4. Scott (archetype hero) Scott was celebrated
  5. as a national hero, British ambition, courage and fortitude.
  6. Captain Oates (archetype victim) remains to this day
  7. the model of the secular martyr,
  8. ..sacrificing himself for the sake of his colleagues.
  9. Act 2:
  10. Characters:  multiple characters zigzag us through to the conclusion.
  11. (80’s ) Maria (dementia)
  12. (80’s ) Scott
  13. (80’s ) Wilson, Mary (married to Scot)…has her senior moments!
  14. (80’s ) Wilson Scot (married to Mary)
  15. (80’s ) Evans, Taffy
  16. (80’s ) Oates, Titus
  17. (50’s ) Bowers, Claudia (married to Alex) (dementia)
  18. (50’s ) Bowers, Alex,  (married to Claudia)
  19.  Creature ( = Peter howling like an animal…)
  20.  I didn’t understand this at all until…later  it is replaced by
  21. Peter (vision of shell-shocked Vietnam vet   (son to Oates)

 

Strong point:  juxtaposition

  1. Cornelius places these characters and their actions
  2.   in both acts side by side to
  3. ….develop comparisons and contrasts.
  4. Example:
  5. Scene act 1 scene 1
  6. ...members of polar party
  7. complain about the cold, can’t sleep,
  8. the place gives them the horrors
  9. while “leader of expedition Scott” gives them a pep talk.
  10. Compare with…
  11. Scene act 2 scene 2
  12. ...each retiree (in their 80’s and late 50’s)
  13. complains of their aches, pains,
  14. …operations, loss of blood, prostrate etc.
  15. while “leader of expedition  Scott” gives them a pep talk.

 

Theme:

  1. Characters are on a  journey.
  2. They play out the action in search of a quest.
  3. The restless nature of these older people reveal
  4. that they are trying to escape
  5. …the present or the inevitable. (death)
  6. The dedicated men of science in the expedition.
  7. They are trying do the impossible
  8. …be the first to reach the South Pole
  9. …and face perhaps failure …and death.

 

What did I learn by reading this play?

  1. Suspension of disbelief is en essential element in a play!
  2. I had just read a play filled with gritty realism The Drover’s Wife.
  3. When I read the stage directions to Do Not Go Gentle …I was confused.
  4. Maria in  elegant long white gown in bare feet standing on the ice
  5. …singing an aria from Verdi’s Nabucco  Va, Pensiero.
  6. What the fugg does this mean? …using my YA lingo :)
  7. But I  had to ignore the reality that was described in the stage directions
  8. and temporarily accept it as
  9. …theatrical reality in order to be entertained.
  10. Strong point:
  11. I was entertained and  AMAZED how  Patricia Cornelius
  12. incorporated these songs into her play
  13. …to emphasize the sufferings of
  14. Maria in her rapidly shrinking world of reality. (dementia)

 

Act 1  scene 1

  1. Maria  dresses in elegant full-length white gown standing
  2. …in her bare feet on the ice. (white tile floor of hospital)
  3. Va, Pensiero  (G. Verdi, from Nabucco)
  4. This is a great lament for a lost homeland.
  5. Maria  probably suffers from  dementia
  6. …yearns for lost memories.

Act 2 scene 1

  1. Maria in elegant dress (hospital gown) (suffers dementia)
  2. …her bare feet on the ice (white tile floor of hospital)
  3. Solveig’s Song  (E. Grieg, from Peer Gynt)
  4. Solveig sings of the  hope and the promise
  5. …that we will still be loved no matter
  6. …how dire circumstances may become.

Act 2 scene 12

  1. Maria  wandering alone on the ice  (white tile floor of hospital)
  2. …(suffers dementia)
  3. She sings:
  4. Teneste la Promessa (G. Verdi, from La Traviata)
  5. Violette sings ‘take care’, shakes her head  ‘too late’
  6. knowing she has a few more pages to sing
  7. …before she dies.

 

Conclusion:

  1. Reading a play is just like solving a puzzle.
  2. I start sorting out the title   Do Not Go Gentle.
  3. There must be something in the poem that will opo up im the play! Thomas’
  4. Before reading I listened to Thomas reading his poem…magnificent!
  5. Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night  (listen to the audio)
  6. Next I investigate the
  7. …characters, setting(s) and the structure (acts and scenes)
  8. Timeline between acts….giant leaps?
  9. …or close chronological timing?
  10. What is the point of view:
  11. one person or multiple narrators competing
  12. …with each other to tell the story.
  13. Then I skim through the play on Kindle and
  14. highlight just the stage directions.
  15. Entrances/exits …through door(s) or from a certain direction?
  16. What does the ‘off-stage’ area represent?
  17. After all that….I finally start reading!
  18. If you like puzzle….read a play!
  19. Patricia Cornelius  does NOT  disappoint!
  20. This is a heart-warming, thought-provoking, and
  21. …hilarious, with conflicting elements.
  22. The result in a very fine play…worthy of
  23. Victorian Premier’s Literary Award Drama 2011 !!
  24. #MustRead

 

Quickscan:  Historical narrative  Scott’s Expedition

  1. Scott’s polar party: five men , Scott, Wilson, Oates, Bowers and Edgar Evans.
  2. They have reached the South Pole only to discover they have been beaten to it.
  3. The Norwegian Roald Admundsen had got there three weeks earlier
  4. – on December 14, 1911.
  5. Instead of being first the British party found a little tent
  6. topped by a Norwegian flag.
  7. Scott planted a Union Jack and, as he records in his journal:
  8. “Well, we have turned back now on the goal of our ambition
  9. …and must face our 800 miles of solid dragging
  10. – and goodbye to most of the daydreams.
  11. ”Then they embarked on their final nightmare.

 

4
May

Aurealis Award Best YA Novel 2017 short list

 

Introduction:

  1. I have no idea what to expect from this book!
  2. I’m in the mood for strange.
  3. Jane Rawson  author of From the Wreck mentioned
  4. …this book on her reading list.
  5. Now, the title  is strange enough in itself.
  6. Psynode: ….not even a word!  But what is it?
  7. Psynode is  a secret facility operated by the megacorp Allnode.
  8. Leaving my comfort zone again!
  9.  But I have to keep discovering….because
  10. speculative fiction is creeping into the mainstream.

 

Setting:  

  1. Allnode Corp – head office
  2. Nodeplex – posh neighborhood
  3. Nodeville – industrial towers, housing, warehouses.
  4. Psynode – secret facility operated by the megacorp Allnode

 

Who is Mirii?

  1. Bruised-but-not broken girl who
  2. …has survived an industrial OrphanCorp. (OC)
  3. “..just one poor little chicky-face in a
  4. …Pacific-sized ocean of poor jerks…” (ch 2)
  5. Ch 4 reveals that Miriiyanan Mahoney is indigenous
  6. ….but no has felt no family traditions . (…was in OC)

 

What does Mirii do?

  1. “…I tattoo, stick and poke, though there’s not much biz
  2. coming my way with all the competition.
  3. I do some design stuff too, but
  4. I’m mostly down with tech repair.”  (tatt and repair) (Ch 1)

 

What is Mirii’s goal?

  1. She wants to find her friend Adeline Vu.
  2. Mirii found a note six month ago
  3. …and she feels Vu is in Psynode
  4. ….or as Mirii calls it Brainfuckers, Inc.
  5. Mirii applies for a job at Allnode Corp
  6. Trainee in Resource Location (distribution center)
  7. …to get closer to Vu.
  8. Mirii is ‘hell-bent on espionage and radness.”

 

Theme:  tradition and family are everything

  1. Tradition is important…
  2. Something there to hold on to,
  3. make you feel connected to the Earth,
  4. give you a past to feel part of.
  5. Mirii (ch 4):
  6. ” I just feel so …untethered.
  7. With no family sometimes I feel like
  8. I could just float up and
  9. off the world and no one would notice.” 

 

Tone:

  1. The book feels synthetic
  2. …crackling, electric and popping at the touch.
  3. YA fiction is a clever genre and fun to read.
  4. I was stunned when the
  5. …tone changed for just a few minutes.
  6. Chapter 4, scene 3….when I read
  7. ..the first moment of character reflection by Mirii.
  8. No hip-hop jingo…just pure emotion
  9. …of a struggling  young girl.
  10. I’ve developed my own strategy
  11. to  find the  narrative
  12. between all the urban chatter and tech slang.

 

Slang:

  1. Slang…it is just a part of the YA culture
  2. …but it did take awhile to get used to
  3. I had to keep the Urban Dictionary
  4. by my side while reading Psynode.

 

Words:  I need the Urban Dictionary!

  1. Awesome is used just 2 x.
  2. …that surprises me b/c it is used constantly in conversations.
  3. Cool is used only  5 x….again surprising.
  4. So what are the words Ward uses to replace awesome and cool?
  5. Now the word is  RAD !  “That’s so rad!”
  6. Never too late to teach an old dog new tricks!
  7. The book is filled with slang…for example
  8. Bru = Bro  ( “How’s it going, bro?”)
  9. Rad babes and brus.
  10. …I’m into tatt and repair (tattooing and tech repair)
  11. …and all that awful shiz  – nice way of saying shit
  12. …do not fugg this up – nice way of saying   fuck up
  13. …start my heavy mish into enemy territory. = mission
  14. I’m almost a hundy richer  ( =  100 procent)
  15. Hellvoid? = not in Urban dictionary…but I get the gist.
  16. I gotta jam.  = leave in haste
  17. No wuz, cuz = No worries, mate!
  18. Cheyeah, of course = obviously, you idiot!
  19. Note:  I thought Cheyeah was a new character!  Dùh!  :)
  20. Mirii asks stranger who is there to help her: ” How do you know me?”
  21. Response: “This is, like, under. Gadi.”
  22. Gadi = person who goes out of his way to help others.
  23. Sleep’s not coming even though it is stupid o’ clock.
  24. I fold my features into a caj look. = casual
  25. What a character description:
  26. “Lacey has this soft, practical vibe to her
  27. …keen but floaty.” (= someone who is slightly strange)
  28. You don’t read that in Jane Austen!

 

Conclusion:

  1. A sharp-edged semi-futuristic story  about Mirii  Mahoney
  2. …and her quest to rescue a her friend Adeline Vu
  3. …from the clutches of the sinister Allnode Corp.
  4. Mirii can’t do it alone
  5. …and meets some ‘true bros’ who help her!
  6. I am utterly impressed by Psynode by Marlee Jane Ward.
  7. I started the book expecting nothing in the form of
  8. a narrative that would capture my attention.
  9. How wrong I was! 

 

Structure:

  1. Marlee Jane Ward has written a well plotted book with a
  2. clever set-up…
  3. an inciting event that set the story in motion (kidnapping)
  4. ….and in one fluid motion the reader is
  5. …presented the first plot point in chapter 4. (end act 1)
  6. Tension is building and in chapter 5 is the second plot point. (end act 2)
  7. Mirii is ready to face the truth, feels empowered
  8. …and has achieved a victory. She has found
  9. an important person who agrees  to help her!

 

  1. I won’t comment more on the last 2 chapters (act 3 and resolution)
  2. ….you must read it yourself.
  3. If you are a 60+  (like me….)
  4. …who has never read a YA book
  5. .…this is one you can try!
  6. Just remember…
  7. …put the Webster’s Dictionary back on the bookshelf and
  8. …fire up the online Urban Dictionary.
  9. You will need it!

Last thoughts: 

  1. Good structure, 7 chapters, 7 days of the week.
  2. Engaging hook  (ch 1)
  3. Keep the writing tight and on focus (snappy urban lingo)
  4. The ending? …. satisfied this reader!
  5. #Bravo  Marlee Jane Ward

 

Just have a look at this cast of characters….all created by Marlee Jane Ward!

Characters:

Mrs Gupta – Una and Ildi (Pierce twins)- Xue Xiang (girl in dorm) – Elton – Mrs Poluski (landlady) – Zoya Safranek (manager HR Allnode)  – Mirii Mahoney (MC) – Missy Burkus – the man – old woman – Allnode recruiter Brandis – = Ms Wong ( another boardinghouse landlord..small woman) – Jools (girl in dorm) – Adeline Vu – ‘the old bag’ ( bag lady on street) – NewForce Guard – biker  on slick Kawasaki

Cam – Sticks (old friends from OrphanCorp…Verity House) – Elton (recruiter)  Adeline  Vu  (good friend of Mirii who is mentioned throughout the story) – portly old babe with grey hair – Vikkie the Wrangler (Allnode Resource center trainer) – guy lean and wiry (worker at Allnode) – Ngg (lost job at Allnode) – Mifsud (lost job at Allnode)  – Mrs P’s – Ms Wong’s – chicky across the way (in dorm) a giant of a girl with folded ears.

Rowe Hamilton-Singh (Dr. Singh’s daughter)  – newbie (worker at Allnode) – grizzled old dude pro (worker at Allnode)

Dr. Singh (Rowe’s father)– bug girl (sells locust skewers in marketstall)  – Tane the  tattoo’er (works nights as secruity guard Allnode) – Lacey (60+’er) (…member anti-cap group, anti capitalism in underground hideout) – Delilah (Lacey’s computer)

Dude from intake  at Allnode — Big dude with nose broken 10 x (guard at Allnode)  – new female unit manager  (nameless but ends up in girlfight with Mirii) – warehouse fuzz (Rentacop at Allnode)  – Tat..member anti-cap group (aka mohawk babe  or Ginger Buzzcut)

Yellow-hair nurse  at Allnode (no name) –  Steveo  (victim of Psynode) – Babe in a labcoat (no name) – Dude with ultra-blond dreadies.

 

3
May

Victorian Premier’s Award Drama 2017

Leah Purcell:  youngest of seven children born to an Aboriginal mother and caucasian father in the small Queensland town of Murgon (pop. 2000). Her work includes TV series and films. She has also had a formidable impact on the stage as actress, director and playwright. She has appeared in more than 20 productions.

So, I ask myself…why have I never heard of her?

It was time to discover some of the best that Australian literary world has to offer:  Henry Lawson’s story – The Drover’s Wife  adapted for the stage by playwright Leah Purcell

If I could get the opportunity to see Leah Purcell preform on stage I’d book tickets immediately! If you live in Australia…you are so lucky to have this talent on your doorstep!

 

Introduction:

  1. The Drover’s Wife is confronted by a threat in her yard, but now it’s a man.
  2. He’s bleeding, he’s got secrets, and he’s black.
  3. She knows there’s a fugitive wanted for killing whites,
  4. ….and the district is thick with troopers.
  5. But something’s holding the Drover’s Wife back from turning this fella in.

 

Setting:

  1. A two room shanty, in the dense scrub land of
  2. ….Alpine country of the Snowy Mountains.
  3. A chopping block sits in the middle of the stage.
  4. An axe buried deep in it.
  5. Timeline:  3 days

 

Theme: survival

  1. The woman (Drover’s wife) is trapped
  2. …in a world of male dominance.
  3. The man (Yadaka) is trapped
  4. ….in a world of racism.
  5. They both do what they have to do to survive.

 

  1. Scene 2: Drover’s wife:
  2. “Cross me and I’ll kill ya.
  3. I’ll shoot ya where ya stand and bury ya where ya fall.”
  4. Scene 7: Drover’s wife:
  5. “But fight for my life, my children’s, I will.
  6. Make no excuses for.”

 

  1. Scene 6: Yadaka
  2. “My only true charge, missus is ‘Existin’ whilst black’.
  3. But fight for  my life, I will, and make no excuses for it.“

What is the emotional power in the play?

  1. The emotional power in the play
  2. is the anticipation of the fate of  Yadaka.
  3. The shifts in the conditions of Yadaka and Molly Johnson
  4. at the shabby cabin….guide the direction of the dialogue.
  5. Another important emotional issue is the growing
  6. friendship between Yadaka and the Drover’s wife 
  7. …be it coded and sometimes implied in gestures not words.

 

Backround:

  1. Leah Purcell took some qualities she admired
  2. in her Aboriginal family members and
  3. infused them into Lawson’s orginal cast.
  4. Purcell  brought more characters on the stage and
  5. deepend the dramatic impact of the story.

 

Characters:

  1. The Drover’s Wife – full of fight and life – 40
  2. The main character is a women whose qualities in this play were inspired by the
  3. …people Leah Purcel has personally known:
  4. …generous, assertive, resilient women
  5. …who hold the world on their shoulders.
  6. Molly Johnson, the drover’s wife is a woman who is
  7. proud, works hard, plays hard and never gives up who she is.

  1. Yadaka (black) – 38
  2. Danny  (Drover’s wife’s son) – 14
  3. Thomas McNealy (swagman) – 60
  4. Douglas Merchant (peddler) – 35-40
  5. Spencer Leslie (trooper) – 35
  6. Robert Parsen (stockman) – 45
  7. John Mcpharlen (stockman) – 25

 

 Strong point:

  1. The dialogue is thick and fast.
  2. It  emerges from the character’s reaction to prior events.
  3. Yadaka’s  backstory, Drover’s wife… her marriage and children
  4. and the direct interaction between these
  5. …characters in the nine  scenes.

 

Strong point:

  1. Strong point: Henry Lawson provided a look at
  2. …bush life that appealed to his audience in the 19th C.
  3. Leah Purcell provides a look at bush life….that should
  4. …appeal to all in the 21st C.
  5. People who are now  seeking a change from the
  6. …stereotypes of  the colonial past
  7. …that were the basis of Australian life.

 

Stage design:

  1. Provides the atmosphere and environment
  2. …of a particular scene or piece of action.
  3. The Drover’s Wife  stage is minimalist:
  4. There is a piece of dead tree,
  5. chopping block with axe wedged deep into it
  6. …and a curtain.
  7. Stage decor reinforces the action and
  8. gives the action depth
  9. …and a realistic context.
  10. Props: rifle, axe, prisoner’s iron collar, small coffin
  11. …boots, set of clean clothes, wood-heap, tribal spear.

 

Conclusion:

  1. How does it feel to be a problem? (blacks)
  2. Yet being a problem is a strange experience
  3. …for one who has never been anything else.
  4. Leah Purcell is determined to change this situation.
  5. Classic Australian story adapted for the 21st C.
  6. …Leah Purcell has turned the plot upside down by re-imaging
  7. Henry Lawson’s classic story ‘The Drover’s Wife”.
  8. The black man is  not the menacing element
  9. … ironically it is the white man!
  10. Leah Purcell shows a  strong connection
  11. to her aboriginal culture and community.
  12. She has surprised the theatrical world with is  powerful play!
  13. I imagine a conversation between Henry Lawson and Leah Purcell.
  14. Lawson has just read The Drover’s Wife to Purcell.
  15. Her response:
  16. “Great story filled with action, grit and passion...
  17. but I think I will ‘reimagine’ your story
  18. just once….my way!”
  19. There is an unexpected….twist in the plot.
  20. #Bravo Leah Purcell!

 

1
May

Cardinal Pell

 

Review:

  1. The winner of the 2017 Walkley Book Award is Louise Milligan.
  2. This her explosive book about…. “Cardinal: The rise and fall of George Pell”.
  3. Louise Milligan’s book examines Australia’s
  4. …most senior Catholic through the lens of the child abuse saga
  5. …which has dogged the Catholic Church.
  6. She tells how George Pell rose from Ballarat boy to Oxford.
  7. He rose through the ranks to become the Vatican’s indispensable “treasurer”.
  8. Louise Milligan  is an excellent investigative journalist
  9. …who has followed the story doggedly
  10. She pieced together the story with sensitivity and care
  11. ….from thousands of pages of historical documents
  12. ….and interviews with hundreds of people.
  13. The book has had an enormous impact.
  14. Last thoughts:
  15. I discovered this book by accident:
  16. …winner of the Walkley Book of the Year Award 2017
  17. The investigation is ongoing….
  18. …Cardinal Pell will appear in court on 05 March 2018.
  19. This book is groundbreaking
  20. ….and nerve wracking for the Vatican.
  21. It is impossible to add anything else to this review.
  22. My mind is exhausted and I am stunned and speechless 
  23. …about  the cover-ups concerning  George Pell and child abuse by the
  24. …Catholic Church.
  25. #MustRead

 

 

 

 

30
Apr

Aurealis Award 2017 Best Horror Novel

 

 

Introduction:

  1. Soon is the story of the death of a haunted town.
  2. It centers on three main characters.
  3. These neighbors are the survivors who deify the haunting.
  4. Milly – unable to leave memory of her dead husband.
  5. Li – refuses to leave the farm she worked so hard to build up.
  6. Pete – has nowhere else to go, divorced and estranged from his daughter.
  7. I’m not revealing anything else about the narrative or its subplots.
  8. You must discover this yourself.

 

Strong point:  very likeable character Milly Pryor (graceful) retired schoolteacher. She has a  no-nonsense manner mixed with amused cynicism. Her clothes have limpness, her eyes radiate arthritic pain and she keeps a hip flask of brandy close by.

 

Strong point: I enjoyed the dogs in the story! Lois Murphy must own a dog(s) because she gave some great descriptions of these rascals …and life long companions. Gina, Pete’s dog, is an important character in the book!

 

Strong point: Murphy keeps the tension palpable. The characters are under constant pressure to return to their safe homes before sunset. In the darkness the deadly ghouls appear.

 

Strong point:  There is a lot of foreshadowing in the book…you just have to find it! In 6 of the 7 chapters there are dream scenes read them carefully. But the most cryptic clue lies tucked in chapter 3!

 

Weak point:  So where’s all the horror ?

The descriptions of the ghoulish chimera  in the mist weren’t that scary!   This book  did not leave me white-knuckled…scared out of my wits. There were a lot of snaking, uncurling, lassoing and winding tendrils. There was a convoy grey vehicles in town with anonymous dark-suited men who left no footprints. The mist spoke in whispered hissing, sinister crooning, mesmerising chants and muted shrieks of laughter.  There was a lot of  scratching and tapping on the windows while  terrible faces leered in  the house.  Now that is nothing that makes me recoil in fear.

 

Conclusion:

  • Leaving my comfort zone is not easy.
  • But I had no trouble reading this horror novel.
  • It is a well written story (60%)
  • and Murphy has interjected the narrative with
  • unsettling paranormal elements. (40%)
  • This is good news if you just want to dabble in this genre
  • …taking fear in small doses, one chapter at a time.
  • The law cannot cope with the supernatural.
  • Ghosts are often rooted in past events
  • …and they demand vengeance.
  • Sometimes…
  • bad things happen to good people,
  • circumstances are beyond our control,
  • somebody or something wants to take over.
  • #C’estLaVie
26
Apr

Rubik

 

Finished: 26.04.2018
Genre: 15 short stories
Rating: B
Review:

I read these stories in the train to Amsterdam.
I kept dozing off….but was not sure if
it was the writing or the fact that my alarm clock
got me out of bed at 04:30 AM.

I think it was the latter.

Weak point: The reader who is not digital savvy will
wonder what is Elisabeth Tan talking about?
“She Alt-Tabs to Indesign.
She toggles between serif and sans-serif body copy.
“Arch PDF’s the page …and sends it to Chris…”

Weak point: ironically many short stories are too, too long!

Strong point: These stories are filled with millennial’s
mischief and creativity. It is a sign of the times.
These stories offer the reader a new perspective in creative writing. The collection of interconnected narratives  mimics the shifting planes of a Rubik’s Cube. Characters appear and disappear. Clever….

Conclusion:
“Like when someone you know dies and several years
pass and technology advances.
It creates a new normal.”
Story: The Page Has Been Left Blank Intentionally
Are these stories an example of the new normal?

But I must in all fairness admit...The cover is a great visual that reflects the twisting/turning of events and characters in the stories.
It is quite an achievement to stay in control of the narrative and cast of characters (in different forms) as is done by Elisabeth Tan.

Last Thoughts:
This collection of short stories may appeal to others
but  personally I still prefer something more in a narrative.
Raymond Carver, William Trevor, Shirley Jackson give the reader a text
full of edges and silences, haunted by things not said,
not even to be guessed at.
#ReadTheBook by the new generation
…and decide for yourself.

 

17
Apr

Girl Reporter

 

Finished: 12.04.2018
Genre: Adult fiction (YA); Science Fiction
Rating: A+
Review:

  1. I just loved this novella
  2. ….perfect for commute in the train.
  3. I had to smile…
  4. while I looked around at all the millennials in the coupé.
  5. Tansy Roberts just nailed it with the ‘new vocabulary‘ for the
  6. networked, connected, vlogging, livestreaming, vid, twitter feed generation.
  7. Friday Valentina (#SuperheroSpill reporter) made me laugh:
  8. “There’s something beautiful about the perfect hashtag.
  9. Truly, the hashtag is the epic poem of the 21st C.”
  10. Have  some fun and enjoy Tina (mother), Friday Valentina
  11. Solar, Astra, The Dark and many more characters.
  12. This book is full of snark and satire!
  13. Strong point:  snappy dialogue
  14. Tansy Roberts’ dialogue:
  15. develops the plot
  16. reveals characters’ motivation,
  17. creates an cyberspace experience for reader
  18. makes an average story extraordinary.
  19. #MustRead
  20. #MustLaugh

 

 

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