Category: General

Continuum 13

This long weekend, Australia’s Natcon is happening in Melbourne – Continuum 13. As well as Guests of Honour Seanan McGuire and Likhain, and authors and fans from all over the country, you’ll also be able to find me at the con. I’m going to be doing a reading on Sunday morning, I’ll be on a couple of panels, and I’ll be happy to sign any copies of Killing Gravity that come into my hands.

So, if you’re going to be there, please say hi. Don’t be shy, that’s my job.

 

My schedule:

Saturday 4pm
When Spec Fic Becomes Reality

Rachel Nightingale, Emma Osborne, Cat Sparks, Corey J. White, Ju

Science fiction has been known to predict the future, for instance Octavia Butler wrote about a zealot who promised to “make America great again” in Parable of Talents, and Synners by Pat Cadigan is so relevant today. We’re chatting about books that are far less fictional now than they were when written.

Saturday 6pm
Westworld

Kathryn Andersen, Robert New, Emma Osborne, Corey J. White, Nuke

The classic 1973 Hugo and Nebula nominated movie has been turned into a stunning HBO series. What was great about the original, what’s changed and been modernised for the series and is this our future?

Sunday 10am
Author Readings

I’ll be doing a reading, along with JS Bruekelaar and Michael Pryor.

Monday 9:30am
Communicating with Other Life Forms: Starting with Life on Earth

Never mind the aliens. Dolphins might have near-human intelligence, and octopi can use tools. How close are we to communication with animals, and how would society change if we achieved that? (Bonus points to any prospective panelists who can talk about seaQuest!)

Big, In-Depth Interview

Recently I was interviewed by Alasdair Stuart over at Tor.com. Alasdair is behind Escape Artists (the family of SFFH podcasts which includes Escape Pod, Pseudopod, Podcastle, and Cast of Wonders), and the magazine Mothership Zeta… in other words, he knows his science fiction well. This comes across in the interview, with Alasdair asking a number of great, in-depth questions that gave me a chance to delve into a lot of the stuff that was going on in the background while I was writing Killing Gravity.

AS: What sort of aesthetic do these books have in your head? Is everything high tech and advanced, or we talking crunchy switches and Logan’s Run? I get a little of everything.

CJW: It’s definitely varied within the world, depending on a character’s personal preference, the level of tech they can afford, and environmental factors. I kind of think of it in terms of mobile phones—back in the day I could walk down the street, tapping out a text message on physical buttons without looking at the screen and the message would come out perfect, but if you try the same thing today with a smart phone, you either end up with a gibberish message, or you end up walking into someone/something. So as much as people want the Minority Report-style holographic interface, for certain people and/or at certain times, you need physicality. After all, in Minority Report, the fancy display is useless without the wooden balls laser-etched with premonitions.

Read the whole thing here.

New Interviews

With the release of Killing Gravity (oh, yeah, that came out this week), I’ve had some new interviews come out.

First off, I was interviewed on the Start Writing podcast, which focuses on the craft of writing and other questions about marketing, publishing, and selling books both in traditional publishing and indie publishing. Check out the interview here. (NB: I took cold & flu tablets to try and minimise on audible sniffles, and kind of underestimated how jacked up I’d be between the meds and nerves… so if I talk WAY too fast, you know why.)

 

I was also interviewed by Paul Semel, largely about the influences that went into Killing Gravity and what’s in store for the future. Check that out here.

 

Also, here’s a thing that happened – my box of complimentary copies of Killing Gravity arrived (just in time to be boxed up with the rest of my books for my house move. Yes, it’s been a busy goddamn week.)

Civil Interview

This past week I was interviewed by Stefan over at Civilian Reader about Killing Gravity, my inspirations, and plenty more. Go check it out.

This was my first interview, and I’m keen to do more. I’m looking forward to being interviewed by someone who’s read Killing Gravity, and having a real conversation about it. But I guess that will probably have to wait until after its release.

Galleys arrive at the Tor.com offices.
Galleys arrive at the Tor.com offices.

Reading 2016

This year I set myself the goal of reading 52 books, where a ‘book’ is a novel, novella, story collection, or non-fiction book. Sadly, I have failed in my quest. Not by much, granted, but I doubt I’m going to finish 5 more books in the next 2 weeks.

I set a couple of rules this year, too. First was no re-reads, because I had so many books I wanted to read for the first time, and I knew re-reads would just slow me down. Second was an even split between books by men and books by women. Of course this second rule made me realise how white my reading was. And also, that binary split potentially allows plenty of non-binary authors to slip through the cracks. Which are two things that I’m going to address in my reading in 2017.

Below the jump, find the lists of all the books and comics I read. The stand-outs are marked in bold, and I’ve added some thoughts on some of them.

Continue reading Reading 2016

Pre-order Killing Gravity

I mentioned this just briefly last time, but just in case you missed it: did you know you can preorder Killing Gravity? It’s only early in the book’s push – we’ve revealed the cover, but not an excerpt yet, and I haven’t had a chance to do any interviews (and perhaps I won’t – I’m still a nobody after all). But trust me when I tell you, it’s a good book. If you like the telekinetic carnage of Akira, or if you want a space opera that’s focussed on one small group of people and not a huge fight for galactic control, or if you just really like Tommy Arnold’s cover art, then you can preorder it now. You can find it online at Barnes & Noble, Wordery, Amazon, and the Book Depository.

And, OF COURSE, you’ll be able to ask for it at your local independent bookseller. Any bookstore with a decent range of science-fiction and fantasy will be able to source it, and in fact Powell’s already has it on their site for preorder (Powell’s is an amazing store. Bibliophiles simply must check it out if they find themselves in Portland). For my fellow Australians, any store that carries books from Tor.com’s range will be able to order it in for you – like Readings for instance – but depending on the databases a store uses, they might not be able to find it.

So there you go, my very first proper shill. I’m immensely proud of this book, and I hope it does well… if only so enough people hang around and read the sequel that I’ve been wrestling with these past few weeks.