(This post needs a title...)

Hello hello, hello! Still here, still kicking about, avoiding the blank page and all that.

A favourite truism of mine (heard as a sample on Ride's "Going Blank Again") goes, "even a stuffed clock tells the right time twice a day." So in that spirit I am blogging again after an extended hiatus.

First, I have an interview for your perusal over at fellow author, Greg Mitchell's page.
A caution for those of a less religious bent that one of the answers gets pretty religious, so bare with me.

Well, I have some questions to answer, I will have a crack at one:

The glorious Justine H. asks: "... How exactly did you come up with the idea for leers? Are leers able to fall in love?And where on the Half-Continent did you come up with such an epicly amazing character as Sebastipole (and his amazingly epic name?!)?!?!"

Well, I think it came first with seeing something that made me think it would be "cool" to put a large box right on someone's face but then have it that instead of impeding their senses it heightened them.

Leers are just people who have soaked their eyes in chemicals to see things not normally possible and are trained in the use of a sthenicon and olphactologue, so as to falling in love, I suppose that is as variable for them as it is for any other soul. I can add, however, that being in relationship with a falseman might be awkward at best or downright frustrating/terrifying as they could always tell if you were speaking the truth or not, so fob-off answers like "Nothing," to the question "What's the matter?" would not work so well.

Sebastipole is actually a misspelling of the Ukrainian city of Sevastopol, made known to me through reading on the Crimean War. I have since figured however that as far as the Half-Continent goes, his name actually comes from the fact that his mother is Baste from Sebastian and his father a Pollard from Pollux (a bit odd to name your child thus, but Sebastipole's upbringing was a cold thing and it is the Half-Continent after all...)

Both Ken and Amanda were asking after the availability of my books in the necessary e-formats, and whether I am all down with it.

Firstly, I believe each publisher in each region (North America, UK, Australia/NZ, each of the European nations etc...) is figuring out how best to provide those formats and what the royalty rates ought to be. So it is happening, but the publishing industry is in a massive bit of flux at the moment as it transforms into the digital.

Am I down with it? Bring it on I say! I am, however, getting rather ticked with "torrent-ing" and otherwise illegal digital thieving of such formats. Sure, I could look at it as free advertising, but consider that if I can't make a living from these tales then I am not going to be able to write any more of them. Grrrr....

And here is a *SMILEY FACE* just to end on a happier note.

(Mr Bryddia, I shall get to questins soon(ish))

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Yet Another Interview...

A small but excellent set of questions answered over at Ouroborusbooks.

Thank you Mitchell Tierney for asking them.

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KAT VON D

iam sure that everybody here knows kat von d, right ?
here is an intereseting german interview with the LA ink lady

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Housekeeping

Another interview, this time a transcript of a live recorded interview I did with the wondrous and warm Bec Stafford whilst attending Aussie Con 4/World Con 38 in Melbourne early in September.

(THE FOLLOWING IS AN ANNOUNCEMENT FOR ADELAIDE RESIDENTS ONLY I'M AFRAID, sorry everyone else...)

This Sunday 21st November at Dymocks, Rundle Mall, from about 2:15pm-ish onwards, myself and a collection of South Aussie YA authors & illustrators will be out in public. The attending authorial and draworial types include:

Robyn Opie
Malcolm Walker
Claire Richards
Greg Holdfeld
Rosanne Hawke
Ruth Starke
Jane Jolly
Don Henderson
Janeen Brian
Katrina Germein
Dan McGuinness
Ben Chandler
Allayne Webster
Robert Moore
Elizabeth Hutchins
Sally Heinrich
Sean Williams
Rebecca Burton
Lauren Fuge

Hope to see some Monster Blog locals there... :)

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On and on I go...

First, I want to point you to an interview (yes, another one!) with Drew Bittner over at SFRevu for your perusal. There is also a glowing review at selfsame site also written by Mister Bittner, (WARNING: this is a little spoilery, so, if you have NOT read Factotum head over there at you own peril.)

Now, the following was caused by but has only some connection with the comments previous about art being work or reaction. On I go...

Dare I admit I actually have very little truck for the whole post-modern, "It's all the the eye of the beholder/ reader interpretation is supreme" thing.

Reader reaction/participation is vital: I write very much to create a particular set of reactions in you all - of brand new vistas, of wonder, of adventure on an adult scale, of (I hope and strive) some small portion of the life-changing wonder I had when first reading LotR as a 12 year old.
As an illustrator it always struck me that the intent of the creator and the reaction they are looking to provoke was/is the primary point. Heck, half the time I was just filling the requirements of a brief, but then would have folks insisting to me all these wondrous "artistic" notions in my work that I never meant, nor knowingly put in.

The counter to this is, obviously, the "Freudian" one, that I could not help put deeper elements into my work. While this may be - and is probably - true, the alchemy of my "stuff" with theirs seems to also bring about an element of fiction within my viewers reaction too, an attributing to me things not necessarily so. Yet who am I to deny such response?! Without the reader/viewer what is the point? What is MBT without your participation? A bunch of ideas rolling about my head. For years I tried to show people H-c stuff, to which the common response was bemusement or boredom. Though i might have been making stuff up for the fun of it - for myself - I was clearly looking for an audience, for participation, reaction, validation.

So I suppose we find ourselves with a synthesis. Creations are made to be participated in, reader/viewer response is vital (unavoidable, indeed, sought after!), yet the creator's intent surely has a place, surely what I wanted to make deserves some respect, some consideration?

Oftentimes I have not (and I quote from Amazon):

"that was the worst book i have ever read. dm cornish is a hack. never read this book. " (the author's punctuation/capitalisation)

OR

"Someone please tell me how anyone (ANYONE!) can get past the truly awful title. And after you achieve that monumental goal, how can you navigate the vinegar seas and bleeble blabble names that are intended to justify this as a truly unique creation and world? I, for one, couldn't manage the feat."

So who is right here?

The post-modern response would go something along the lines of, "well, for these readers that is what MBT is..." i.e. rubbish. But IS MBT rubbish just because they say it is. Again, p-m thought will assert that for these too folk it is. Indeed, my stories are not perfect (despite the flarings of my ego insisting otherwise) and I can understand how they might not be everyone's cup o' tea, but surely my intent in penning rates some contemplation and even merit from even the harshest critic?

So who is right?

There seems to me to be another factor at play here, one very hard to fix down, even dangerous to do so: the notion of something having merit in and of itself regardless of opinion. Yet what/who(!) arbitrates such a reckoning? Are not humans the deciders of such things? Yet - for example - as we see with the Amazon quotes, there are those who revile MBT, though many of you here think it worthy. Who is correct? Is it the majority voice? Is it that if we get enough saying it is "good" then it is, and the few who did/do not like it are free to their opinion? In a way this works, but what if the majority say that something bad is good, as in the citizens of the Haacobin empire holding all monsters as bad? There are only a few who dare to acknowledge otherwise, yet we find that the majority are not in line with what is actually the case, but the minority.

So what happens then?

Our majority model has collapsed.

Who arbitrates what is so here?

The issue maybe, in the end, is that we in this age of pluralism, dare not say another's sentiment or notion is wrong for genuine fear that we ourselves might be subject to such a charge; that in some close held idea, we too might be wrong, and this is intolerable (I sure don't like holding the thought for too long!). So rather than let this dread event occur we say instead everyone is right, formulate theories to maintain the same, and remain in our cocoon of "rightness"...

There seems to me something going on here that is beyond neat theories.

My word I bake my own noodle sometimes... :\
(I have probably made no sense at all... ACK!)

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An Interview to tide you all over.

We are getting closer and closer to Monster Blood Tattoo Book 3/The Foundling's Tale Book 3 Factotum getting into your hands, but until then I hope this interview at The Enchanted Inkpot will tide folks over (just a little). Thanks to Ellen and her comrades for such great questions.

Oh, and I hope you all will be happy to note that the next Half-Continent book is slowly forming even now...

... and there is a new poll, at last! (just over on the right)

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Romanian Edition of Foundling

Shauki from Romania has sent me this add for the up-coming Romanian edition and I could not help but have a little show off of it. Very pleased too that Corint Junior (my Romanina publisher) have gone with the original cover. Not a big deal in the scheme of things, but I am very excited. Thank you Shauki!

Speaking of gratitude, Drew has handed in his review and interview to SFRevu so they are now officially "up" - for those of you who do not want to have even a brief outline of the plot of Lamplighter told to you, I would recommend you restricting yourself to the interview only. Cheers very muchly Drew and the SFRevu!

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SA Great 2007 Rising Stars

Not too long ago I was honoured with an inclusion in the SA (South Australia) Great 2007 Rising Stars program. It included a whole range of younger folks: business people, scienticians, athletes, teachers, inventors and other clever clogs all from this home state of mine. It was truly an honour to be included, though I felt inferior to the rest - but whatever.

They produced a magazine to go with the award and here is my interview therein - just for those who might be interested. The kinds of questions asked made for slightly different answers from some of the other interviews already linked. Check it out if you dare.

On an unusual note, there was a birthdate cutoff to be eligible to be a Rising Star and this little duck only made it by about two weeks. Phew! Not as young as I look it seems.

Probably a bit too much of my-own-trumpet-tooting going on here - I will get to Lawrence's question soon... honest!

Speaking of which, please keep the answers to these questions coming - I cannot enthuse enough about how great the answers have been . (If you want to read other people's most excellent ideas, for now check the comments here, here and here. Should I stop this project now? Am I flogging it too much perhaps?)

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Quack! (of Interviews, Illustrators & Gazeteers)

Just a quick post to say that there is an interview with Miss Erin over on her blog. Thank you to her for the opportunity!

Also, it was Coz I believe who asked me a little while ago about illustrators in the Half-Continent. Sometimes they are called imagineers or fabulists (a name they happen to share with artists and sleight-of-hand men) but typically they are called simply illustrators. As it might be for some in our own lands, they consider themselves distinct from artists in the

Some of the more famous currently are Pill and Berthezene (who was the etcher of the plate of the Slothog Rossamünd reads of in his pamphlet early in Foundling) and the near legendary Gouche. My own favourite is a relative obscure fellow, Economous Musgrove (originally of Fayelillian but now residing in Brandenbrass) - who studied under the master Frabritis - and struggles to find enough work to keep he and his wife "in biscuits". His most constant source of work is for a radical periodical called Quack! (a word whose closest equivalent in our world would be "blah, blah").

With a wide yet secret readership, Quack! spends most of its articles railing against the government and the Empire and the borish attitudes of the mass. All too frequently this vaguely monthly publication finds its self being shut down by local authorities under (dubious) Imperial direction; its gazeteers and emenders are served brief stints in gaol and all those who rely on its patronage (such as Economous) now looking for other work. As the "game" goes, almost as soon as they are released the gazeteer and emenders find some new secreted location to set up new presses (the old ones having usually been confiscated or destroyed), call in all the old "gang", reconnect with the ghostly crowd of their many mysterious distributors and begin to publish once more ... until they are once again raided and shut down. They are able to carry on so because of the patronage of some figure of great substance and circumstance who remains unknown to the authorities and even the gazeteer themselves.

Ok, I am done now.

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Answers to Questions.

And now to answer the back-log of questions and get on track - for the moment any way. I have answered these in no especial order, just as they came out. Before we go on might I let you know that there is a fairly comprehensive interview over at the BookClub - so head on over or read on: it is wall to wall MBT! Either way, let us get cracking.

Steve said “Hi, I was wondering when the halfcontinent.com site would be online? I just reviewed Foundling and in the comments it's come up that a click and zoom function for that map would be great :-)”
Thank you for the review Steve (!!!) This “world-building geek” greatly greatly appreciated your insights and positive words (and for getting the length / proportion of the back matter correct). I shall now have to read Vance. In the past I have made the rather obvious mistake of getting too much into reviews for MBT – it is a rather rarified atmosphere with all the highs and lows – so I these days I tend to be a little less egocentric and just let those that come my way be enough. A bad review can be crushing (though probably it should not) and a good review (as with Steve’s) so very encouraging, emboldening even. And thank you too, sir, for the heads up regarding a zoomable map (aka http://www.halfcontinent.com/ ) – as stated somewhere in a previous post the project is on the way and is “in the pipe 5 by 5” (10 points for anyone who can tell what movie that quote came from…)

madbomber asks: “I'd like to try and stump you with a word, but it seems impossible. So I'm interested in the gods of the half continent. Who or what do people believe in? It seems that science plays a large part in many of the professions.”
Hmmm, that hoary old chestnut. Mate, Mr. Bomber, you have a knack for the tough questions! I have to frank and say that religion is probably the least developed area of the HC and the lands beyond; it is probably the most complex and perhaps touchy subject. Certainly as you have astutely deduced science or habilistics is a most prevalent point of belief – that man’s knowledge and learning and application of the same will conquer, will fix all ills. This is equivalent of “humanism” I suppose, sometimes referred to as “universalism” or coingnosis (said "CO-in-no-sis") or prosaics (coming from prosagologia – the idea that reason conquers all) Then there are those who seek to raise the false-gods (those anciently man-made abominations) – who might be thought of as worshipers of the same, the fichtärs, cultists eagerly seeking the return of their chosen “lord”. With these there are those are in thrall to the less friendly kind of monster and those who do not hate monsters quite so much and think there might be “good” monsters too – enter those accused as sedorner. Some folk trust to Providence – the idea that there is a God and He will provide – others trust their track to the paths of the Signal Stars – all fairly common stuff. Other ideas not ready for publishing bubble away too, just as they have always done ever since I started notebook 1. The Half-Continent and the world it is in still continues to form and grow – it is no fixed thing and it will take a goodly long time to get my notes into a solid coherent form (of which the Explicariums only tell a part) As for a black and red “football” team, Mr. Madbomber – how about the Bombazines? The Artillerists? The Sappers?

Jimmy Trinket said some encouraging things (!!!) and then asked: “… what advice would you give to a budding illustrator??? I recently gave up a rather stressful job to follow my dream of drawing doodles all day, heh heh. I'm at that point where I have a portfolio and no idea... I'm just not sure where to go or what to do.”
Advice is such a tricky thing and my journey has been so long and meandering its hard to know what to say: certainly persistence is essential. I went through a period of about 4 years doing part time work I hated whilst waiting for illustration work to build up, and it was only the Providential intervention of a television show requiring an illustrator that rescued me from more years of toil. Being an illustrator is very rewarding, but until MBT came along (a decade later! – I might add), not very fiscally rewarding. I don’t think the obstacles to a creative life are “put” there deliberately, but it does sort out those who really want to do it from those who "kinda" want to do it. Get your folio – your “book” – looking slick, get a business card or some such of same quality, get an online folio, get yourself about: advertising, publishing, editorial (by which I mean magazines and newspapers), find an agent (though be choosey who you go with – if at all possible, get advice from those who have worked with them), pray if you dare. Be determined but also have some patience: I finished Unit in 1993 and its only been 14 years later that things have reached this stage. I am not sure this helps much, email me if you need more advice.

John asks: “Speaking of detail, even in the blow-ups in the back of the book, many of the words on the map of the Half-Continent were too small to make out. Any chance of a fold-out map in the next book? Or a separate poster?” and Mr. Missfitt agrees “I also think the separate map is a great idea go talk to the publishers about it!”
A great request – yet my publishers are sitting on a printed map for now. We’ve argued about releasing a map sooner rather than later, but they want to wait for a bit. Distributing such a map is not as straightforward as I thought it might be. Ah well, on with the online map I say which I hope will be coming sooner rather than later… and thank you John for your enthusiasm for the non-standard setting of the Hc, I am glad to have “hit the nail on the head” for you, as it were.

random missfitt enquires: “Is the hardcover edition coming out as well or do we have to wait? – because I hate it when your favorite book falls apart on your 15th read of it (so do I! – DM). The Explicarium better be long as well, I’ve read that more times than the book.”
That warms the cockles of me heart, Mr. Missfitt – I have to say the Explicariums are my favourite part of the books too. So chuffed you like ‘em too. As to your questions: hard cover will be coming out first then paperback and I am afraid the Explicarium for Lamplighter may well be shorter – I am told it is a cost thing, that the story of Lamplighter itself being longer impacts on the length of the end matter. But you never know: with the drastic re-write required of Lamplighter as it stands currently, more room for the Explicarium may only be a few deletions of a chapter away.

Daisy Girl says: “I recently did a few days work experience at Omnibus Books and Dyan eagerly showed me your book and told me to read it (which I'm still doing)... it's interesting the changes that different countries made to the cover art and title. Do you have a favourite?”
How can I choose between them all? Each time the publisher has done their utmost to make a beautiful book. I like them all yet as it happens I do have a “favourite” (and I hope this does not ruffle too many feathers) It is quite naturally the ANZ edition – the one made first, right here in Oz-land: it is actually just how I wanted it to look. Being a trained designer has its advantages when you’re an author, and I was graciously allowed to have a major contribution to the whole look and feel of the book – even down to the cloth-like feel of the cover and the two ribbons – one to mark your place in the story and one to mark your place in the Explicarium (non-Australian readers – other than those wonder folk from Germany - will not know what I am talking about, but if you get a chance to obtain an ANZ edition I highly recommend it, it is the closet to my “vision” of how the book should be – see image)

For me writing a book is not just about the text, it is also the process of illustrating and designing the cover, of the character studies and the density of information at the back, of painstakingly constructing maps from a blank page. Speaking of which I can say that there will be (the Lord and publishers willing) a layout of Winstermill in Book 2.

An a nonny mouse viewer asked for a preview of Book 2 – I shall see what can be done. That’s the kind of things publishers get first and last say in I am afraid. Stay tuned …and thanks to another a nonny mouse for the rework of the white stripes number, that's rather snazzy.

... and when you have a chance get along to Inside A Dog for more from me of the blogging kind.

As for breakfast today: I am as yet to have it - yes I am foregoing breakfast to get this out, you heard it first here!

And now: Half-Continent synonyms for real-world terms #008
Keep them challenges coming - it actually helps me make the Hc better.

positive exclamations = esteemed and wondrous come to mind, also blithe or blithely though this is more used for good things received from an urchin or nuglung, from the better kind of monster – though don’t tell them I said that else I be carried of to hang as a sedorner.

negative exclamations = blighted is probably the most common, often pre-fixed with such things as “twice” or “thrice”, blasted is another or filthy.
(Thank you, Winter, for both of these: I feel i have not done it full justice so i might revisit the problem some time soon...)

NOTE: MBT = Monster Blood Tattoo, Hc = Half-Continent

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