Loose-leaf Links: 27 Feb – 11 March 2016

Loose-leaf Links, Earl Grey Editing, loose-leaf tea, Australian sencha, sencha, green tea, Tea Centre

Loose-leaf Links is a feature where I gather together the interesting bits and pieces I’ve come across and share them with you over tea. These posts have been getting longer, so in an attempt to keep these manageable I’m having a go at running them fortnightly.

This month’s tea is Australian Sencha from the Tea Centre. This is currently my go-to tea for first thing in the morning and I look forward to it every time.

Follow Up

Artist Mila May has created a graphic novel snippet of KJ Charles’ Rag and Bone, which I reviewed last week.

If Monday’s review of Jennifer Fallon’s The Lyre Thief hasn’t talked you into picking up the book, perhaps this short story over at Harper Voyager will. Kiam Miar is an assassin and the step-brother to the High Prince of Hythria. He also happens to be one of my favourite characters. This is the story of his first kill.

Awards News

Voting for the Ditmar Awards is open until 18 March for all members of Contact 2016 (including supporting members) and members of Swancon 40 who were eligible to vote in the 2015 Awards.

Speaking of Swancon, nominations for the Tin Duck Awards have apparently been released, but I’m having trouble tracking them down. If you know where I can find them, please get in touch! In the meantime, congratulations to Amanda Bridgeman for being nominated twice over in the category of Best WA Professional Long Written Work for Aurora: Centralis (reviewed here) and Aurora: Eden (reviewed here). Also nominated in that category is Juliet Marillier’s Tower of Thorns (reviewed here).

The shortlist for the Norma K. Hemming Award has been announced. The award is for excellence in the exploration of themes of race, gender, class, sexuality or disability by an Australian writer.

On Equality

You Will Be Tokenised: Speaking Out About the State of Diversity in Publishing. This very long article includes anecdotes on diversity from fifty people involved in the publishing industry. It convinced me that “equality” is a better term than “diversity” for this segment of Loose-leaf Links.

Ambelin Kwaymullina and Zetta Elliott offer a thoughtful pair of articles on writing as women of colour.

Nisi Shawl has put together a crash course in the history of black science fiction.

Publishing house Simon & Schuster has created an imprint for Muslim-themed children’s books.

For Writers

Ticonderoga Publishing are open for a second round of submissions for their forthcoming anthology Welcome. They are looking for “Stories that explore the potential benefits of allowing refugees to establish a new, safer life. Stories of hope.” Submission close 30 May.

For those who love horror and the paranormal, author Alan Baxter is running a retreat at the Linaker Hotel, which was built in the grounds of an old asylum. The retreat runs for three days, beginning 1 April.

Joanne Harris has withdrawn from an unspecified literature festival, citing unreasonable terms. Authors are urged to pay attention to the terms of festival contracts.

Authors are also urged to be wary of A&M Publishing. Their recent author program charges writers $8000 for their vanity publishing services.

Balancing an editing business with my own writing is a bit of a challenge and I’ve been struggling to keep track of several unfinished stories. Peter Ball was kind enough to write a post on how he keeps track of his unfinished stories. Part Two looks at tracking your story submissions and rights.

Alis Franklin offers an interesting approach to getting those stories finished by writing on the move.

Indie writer M.C.A. Hogarth holds a frank discussion of her business plan as a writer and some recent adjustments she’s had to make.

The Financial Review takes a look at the relationship between authors and editors.

Mary Robinette Kowal gives a pep talk on Imposter Syndrome that was just what I needed.

The Book Smugglers hold a conversation with Haralambi Markov, Sunil Patel and S.L. Huang on transitioning from short stories to novels (or vice versa).

For Readers

Horror, romance and paranormal publisher Samhain Publishing has announced it is winding down. This is a sad loss for the reading and writing community (and for my Mt TBR).

This comes hot on the heels of the news last month that Momentum is also winding down and being folded back into Pan Macmillan Australia. Momentum was midway through releasing Amanda Bridgeman’s Aurora series (reviewed here), leaving Amanda to look for a new home for the last three books. I’ve enjoyed the series so far and wish her the best of luck.

Book Depository is stocking up on Australian books. Emily over at Loony Literate has some suggestions for Australian YA international readers might be interested in now that Book Depository is making them available.

Satalyte Publishing has announced it is releasing a collection of interviews by award-winning writer and critic Damien Broderick.

Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff unveil the cover of Gemina, the follow-up to their YA novel Illuminae.

FableCroft Publishing are bringing back the first two books of Tansy Rayner Roberts’ Mocklore Chronicles in a new omnibus edition.


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4 thoughts on “Loose-leaf Links: 27 Feb – 11 March 2016”

  1. Yes! Awesome Nisi Shawl is awesome 🙂 Will have to read the Ambelin Kwaymullina article. Personally diversity for me is a coopted state policy much like multiculturalism, but a lot of good stuff in the book blogging world is happening under that label and I guess baby steps. As long as woc writers aren’t only mentioned to “spice things up.”

    Hope you enjoy your cuppa! I’m currently drinking a surprisingly good chamomile/vanilla/honey mix cause I can’t drink a lot of black tea atm.

    1. Ooo… chamomile, vanilla and honey sounds like a fantastic combination!

      Diversity as a term definitely comes with baggage that isn’t always helpful. I’m also surprised to see how often its a term only applied to POCs rather than a wider variety of minorities.

  2. I started reading Nisi Shawl’s article and ended up following links to online stories and got totally sucked in. Thanks for the recommendation.

    1. My pleasure! That article added a lot to my wish list, too.

      Thanks for stopping by, Heather.

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