I've spotted one on Lonsdale street opposite JB Hi Fi (I think near the corner of Elizabeth from memory) but have never been game to go in because the other half of the store is dedicated to romance!
I tend to buy all my genre stuff in mainstream bookstores and get anything obscure or hard to get from Galaxy.
Hi Rocket S!Originally Posted by Rocket Sheep
But what was the size of a shoebox? I'm looking back over posts trying to work it out. A note from Martin? - wrong size. A bookshop? - even wronger size. A sex scene? - metaphyiscally mind-blowing!
I hope you aren't going to side with Martin Smythe against an honorable hard-working author! Donna Devile does look like Cat Sparks - but of course far far more sophisticated!
Cheers
R
Sorry, the shop was the size of a shoebox (pythonism) and I think it was in Lonsdale St near Elizabeth because that would be my stagger route. Sex scene? You've been down those Chinatown alleys after all, haven't you?
Oh yes, Donna is more sophisticated than Cat. I've seen her answers and some of them don't even contain a swear word... and I always side with hard-working authors... honorable or not. Mind you, I just got introduced at a contest/booklaunch/promo as a "world famous author" so honorable is out the door for me.
Hi Richard - I'm playing catch up as usual - I can't keep up with Rocket Sheep's enthusiastic recruitment, but I'm all for the antipodean flavour of these fora - welcome! I'll look out for your books, but alas, I do almost all my reading on the train - will I get away with it?
Ah, what a terrible childhood those poor shop-owners must have had (pythonism).
I don't know whether Donna doesn't want to put swear words into her answers or whether she just doesn't know how to spell them.
It must be very difficult being a world-famous author with a surname like 'Sheep'. Do you think it limits your potential market?
Cheers
R
Hi Alison!
I know the publisher's warning says don't read The Black Crusade on public transport, but I think you can use a little common sense. For example, it would be ok to read in an empty carriage, or you could duck down low on the floor, or arrange a towel to cover both your head and the book (you'd need a torch too). But if the worst comes to the worst - I didn't give you this advice and won't be held responsible.
Cheers
richard
You are a world famous author. You're an author, I know you, and I'm on the other side of the world, so ergo...
Oh, look, sheep are in... Green Sheep just got a CBC award, you know.
Here's me struggling with my greatest work, tentatively titled "Zeep, Zeep, the Zorbing Sheep" and someone goes and whips the fleece out from under my feet, dyes it green and wins a prize!
Wow! I have a new fan. Radthorne makes two. Yep. I had one already. He's Dutch. Amazing, huh? (Actually, he may be a stalker but I'm trying to look on the bright side [pythonism]). Oh and once I got a really nice review in Locus. A whole paragraph! I wonder why all the locals who know me personally think I'm so ordinary?
But... back to the Black Crusade. I've been jumping into threads recommending the Black Crusade on this site for the last six months. Why hasn't anyone taken me seriously, and actually read it and are dying to discuss the details with the author?
You know there's some wild sex scenes in it. Okay... one. One wild sex scene.
Another one of these Ozzie writers, they seem to be sprouting up everywhere. Only this one's a bloke, for a change. Hi Richard. Welcome. 'S'me...
Sheepie is very good at this recruitment business. Think she ought to be a scout for ASIO, or something. Maybe she already is. (ASIO is the Oz CIA, for all you non Australian folk out there).
Ah, Black Crusade... It's one of those books you either adore or hate depending on what side of the insanity divide you are on. Definitely shouldn't be read on public transport.
Any luck with an overseas publisher yet, Richard?
Hi Glenda! Good to hear from you!
Ah, Sheepie, she's a recruiting rocket! I know she can't be working for ASIO or CIA because they wouldn't be so full of bumbling hopeless people if she was. (Maybe it's better that way.)
I've got some news - my latest novel, SASSYCAT has just come out from Omnibus/Scholastic, a month before I expected. It's very very different to The Black Crusade! (You may be relieved, Glenda?) About half the length for a start - and it’s an animal story! A good serious animal story, like Watership Down, seriously imagining experience from a cat's point of view. Humorous too, especially with the secondary animal characters, e.g. Lorenzo, the sleazy lizard with an eye for the ladies, Thaddeus the cantankerous old possum, Darlene the loud vulgar screechy cockatoo, Witzer the yappy little terrier, Bernie the big old softie labrador, the 4 rats who ‘have a dream’ of being taken in as pets (‘why not, we can be just as cuddlesome and cute as any other animal?’) Sassycat herself is the essence of all superior self-regarding catliness!
I've always wanted to write an animal story - and what made it happen was when I saw the possibility of also making it a supernatural story. (Cats and the supernatural ... an obvious combination!) The supernatural side is kind of original, with many new types of ghosts and entities, e.g. flat shadows that creep across floors and walls in the shape of human hands or arms or masklike faces; e.g black blister-like blobs that move along branches or rise up in the patterns of a carpet. Plus there’s a whole new mythology of how the supernatural originates and functions – I had great fun inventing that! The supernatural entities are attempting a major invasion of our world and only the animals can prevent their army from spreading out from a nearby cemetery. (Humans, as usual, don’t have a clue that they’re under threat.) It’s all quite dark and seriously frightening at times. In fact, the full title is SASSYCAT: THE NIGHT OF THE DEAD.
I think of it as being aimed in the first place at younger readers of, say 11 to 15, but it’s also suitable for all readers, and definitely all cat-lovers!
OK, end of blurb!
All the best
Richard
What about fish lovers?
I'll definitely grab that if I see it.
All the publishers say "no animal stories", but there you go again putting new twists on things and getting publishers to flex their guidelines.
Did you put an announcement in the local mag, PIO? Or I could, if you want.
Hi Rocket Sheep!
Fish lovers would love it to. There's definitely a page with a fish pond in it, which Sassycat passes by because she's got more important things to do than catch fish. So she's definitely a cat with her heart in the right place (even if her claws often get into the wrong places)
Do publishers say 'no animal stories'? Can't understand that - maybe it's a particular kind of animal story they see too much of - but animal stories can sell, there are plenty of examples to prove that. (Including that recent success I haven't yet read, "One for Sorrow, Two for Joy".)
Publishers also used to say 'no horror novels' - but now Lothian have started up a new series in adult horror. It's a world of fast-moving fashions out there. I don't try to follow 'em - just hope they'll come along and sweep me up.
No, I didn't put an announcement in PIO. Would be great if you could!
Cheers
Richard
I'm so glad the fish were spared. Some of my best friends are fish, you know.
Shall I take a part quote from what you have written above for PIO? Where can people purchase Sassycat?
Publishers hate the idea of talking animals or even humanistic-thinking animals, probably because it is so easy to do it badly or patronisingly, which you'd never do.
Maurice and his Amazing Rodents was another good cat story.
When I was in primary school, I wrote a story from a kitten's pov, it was abandoned in a Mongrel Mob gang house and had a long and painful death. It made my teacher cry. That was when I discovered that torturing small animals in stories was a good way to get to teachers. Unfortunately, my few highschool years were spent inventing Maori legends with morals attached or doing English by correspondence pack (teacher shortages) so I never got an A in English again.
Hi Rocket Sheep!
Yes, the fish were spared. (Though, shame to say, they never get to speak in the novel. They'd probably have some harsh things to say about cats.)
Sure, use what I said above about "Sassycat" for PIO. It's not exactly a blurb, but better for being more personal. If you wanted to squeeze in a bit of a recommendation, I just received a photocopy of a review in "Good Reading" from my publicist yesterday. Last paragraph reads:
'Here is a reveting, humorous and entertaining read. The animals are the stars throughout—a perfect choice of main characters. The storyline is fantastic and both the dialogue and language are impressive. Make time to finish it in one sitting, for you won’t be able to put it down.
***** five stars
That's the sort of review I like (come to think of it, I've almost always done well in reviews - except for The Age's review of The Black Crusade!)
I'll take your word for it about publishers and animal stories. I guess animal stories have a particular potential for sentimentality. But animal stories (even when painfully sentimental) seem to do v well at the movies.
(Memo to self: must see Wallace and Grommit ...)
Strange why the death of an animal is so moving, more simply moving than a human death. Must be because of the helplessness, the innocence.
I agree with you about Maurice and his Amazing Rodents. But then, is there anything that Terry Pratchett CAN'T turn his hand to?
Cheers
Richard
Raunchy sex thru cage bars and love vampires?
Great stuff! A good review in "Good Reading"! Altho did they really call it reveting? Perhaps they had to go to the vet a couple of times afterwards.
Sassycat will be in PIO, under New Publications, next Monday.
I get a lot of hits on my site from Sally Murphy's Aussie Reviews so maybe a review copy her way would be useful. www.aussiereviews.com
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks