GenreCon 2023

The GenreCon 2023 program is now out! I’m very excited to take part in one of the panels at the 8th ‘GenreCon’ coming up on 18-20th February 2023!

GenreCon is hosted by Queensland Writers Centre and takes place at the State Library of Queensland (with some sessions available online).  The program is their usual fabulous mix across genres: sci-fi, fantasy, horror, historical fiction….

The panel I get to contribute to is on the topic ‘Putting the Sci in Sci-Fi’ and is on Saturday 19th February from 2.30 – 3.30 pm. Really looking forward to meeting many favourite authors at the event, including those on the panel: Bryn Smith, Garth Nix, and Jay Kristoff!!

‘Grey Nomad’ – early eBook release!

The paperback version of my sci-fi novel ‘Grey Nomad’ is due for release in early 2023, but you don’t have to wait that long — the publisher has released the eBook version ahead of schedule!

Here’s a taster….

‘There, turn left,’ she shouted. ‘Left!’

The caravan hit the side of the road in a grinding flurry of gravel, and grit strafed the windscreen. Bruce wrestled with the steering wheel to stop them rolling. With a jolt, Joyce’s head hit the rest as the car stopped. Dust swirled and only the clatter of her knitting needles falling to the floor rattled the sudden silence.

‘What the hell do you think you’re doing, shouting at me like that?’ he roared. ‘I don’t know what’s got into you lately.’

‘You missed the turn, that’s what,’ Joyce said tersely. ‘The sign was huge—“Viridian Spaceship” in letters as high as a house. How did you miss it?’

Even if you don’t usually read science fiction, I think you’ll enjoy reading this story of Joyce, a stalwart member of the Country Women’s Association, who at seventy years of age gets abducted by aliens and thrust into the middle of an intragalactic war that threatens Earth. You may have heard of the genre of ‘cosy crime’ – well, I think I may just have written a ‘cosy sci-fi’ book. Alternatively, my editor jokes that ‘Grey Nomad’ is a coming-of-age story!

Anyhow, I’d love you to read my novel – if you like it, then it would be really great if you wrote a review for it on Goodreads, and/or on the site from which you downloaded the book (Apple books, Booktopia, Google Play, Kindle, or Kobo).

Alison

One hundred ways to get writing …

Start a new page, take another step, ask for help, think again, try again

Take a break, sigh, breathe, lie on the floor, try again

Consult a book, click a link, sketch a diagram, dot some points, try again

Clean the bath tiles, go for a walk, sit, do a jig, try again

Type a word, sharpen a pencil, write a list, make a spreadsheet, try again

Sleep, waste some time, tell a friend, tell a stranger, try again

Dunk a tea bag, brew a coffee, eat a biscuit, eat another, try again

Do a course, watch a how-to video, analyse a show, review a book, try again

Join a group, attend presentations, offer feedback, listen to critique, try again

Write ‘the’ as many times as it takes to get bored, write rubbish, free associate, write a paragraph for a genre you hate, try again

Write more rubbish, make a folder called ‘crap’, make a folder called ‘ideas’, fill the folders, try again

Identify a book you love, pick a paragraph at random, read it aloud, ask yourself why it works, try again

Write a paragraph in the style of a favourite author, do that again for an author your spouse likes to read, do it again for a different author, and another, try again

Look back at your ‘ideas’ folder, list the ideas in order of ‘do-ability’, in order of challenge, in order of excitement, try again

Explore the internet for writing competitions, identify a match with any of your ideas, write the deadline on a post-it-note, stick it somewhere you see every day, try again

Rough out some ideas while telling yourself you’re ‘not really writing’, start writing out some sentences and paragraphs among your rough ideas, keep filling in the blanks, smarten up the rough draft so the sentences make sense, try again

Ban yourself from looking at the damn draft again for at least a few days, congratulate yourself with a treat of your choice, write something that ‘doesn’t matter’ just for fun, go back to your rough draft, try again

Bring your draft to a critique group, read your work while someone reads it aloud, underline where they stumble in their reading, keep notes on the listeners’ feedback, try again

Re-draft, re-draft, re-draft, put it away for a day, try again

Submit, breathe, rest, smile, keep trying.

When I’m not writing…

Poetry is always a stretch for me but, inspired by a great workshop by Ed Wright from The Creative Word Shop, this emerged!

‘When I’m not writing, I’m knitting’

My mind is tangled yarn.

I rip my knitting off its needles.

Wool trails from the bin onto the floor,

where lie the fragments of paper from unfinished drafts,

where the vacuum cleaner can no longer go.

If I leave,

If I close the door,

Will my mind unravel?

(Alison Ferguson, 11 June 2022)

Listening to books

The best of 2021

The books I read in print form last year were a disappointment so I won’t share the pain. On the other hand, 2021 brought me some fabulous listening pleasure with the following audio books. As usual, I flit between genres so it’s hard to present them in any particular order. Let me know if you enjoyed any of these too!

Top favourite of 2021

Slow Horses: Slough House, book 1 (2010, John Murray Publishers) by Mick Herron

(audio book narrated by Sean Barrett)

In the first book of the series, we meet British MI5 agent River as he is bungling an important training mission. For this, he gets sent to the sad and miserable dumping ground for failed spies, Slough House.  However, it is River’s boss, Jackson Lamb, who captures our attention for the series. Fat, farting, swearing, smoking, and without a politically correct bone in his body, Lamb torments River and his fellow failures. The plot is intriguing and the writing witty. Best of all, the BBC is currently filming some of the series, with the wonderful Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb, in a cast that includes Kristen Scott-Thomas and Jonathan Pryce.

Best light fare for 2021—two contenders

  1. The Thursday Murder Club (2020, Viking Press) by Richard Osman

(audiobook narrated by Lesley Manville, Richard Osman, Marian Keyes)

Having seen Richard Osman being amusingly knowledgeable on British television game shows, I was intrigued to hear that he’d written a few cosy crime novels. The setting is a retirement village where (shock and horror) the residents are anything but sweet senior citizens. With a ‘Midsomer Murders’ sort of plot, this novel was very much in the style of the author’s personality: clever, warm, with a few unexpected twists and turns.

(audiobook narrated by Zara Ramm)

This is a continuation of a consistently amusing series that is among my favourites. The Time Police were the bad guys in the original ‘Chronicles of St Mary’s’ Series, which is all about historians who ‘investigate major historical events in contemporary time’ (i.e., time travel, but don’t let our heroes hear you say that). In the Time Police series, we follow three raw recruits who don’t fit the usual tough guy Time Police mold.  In this book, they’ve graduated and are doing things in their own hilarious way.

Best Young Adult fiction for 2021

The Rest of Us Just Live Here (2015, Quill Tree Books) by Patrick Ness

(audiobook narrated by James Fouhey)

What happens if you’re the teenagers in the background while the superhero kids go head to head with zombie monsters and mysterious blue lights? This novel uses this fun premise to explore sadder themes that are all too real for adolescents. The writing is tight and the characters are compelling—definitely worth a look.

Best dystopia for 2021

Metro 2033 (2005, English edition Gollancz) by Dmitry Glukhovsky

(audiobook narrated by Rupert Degas)

The novel, originally written in Russian, inspired a widely popular video game. Translated into English, I loved how ‘Russian’ it still felt. Basically, the world above ground has been destroyed and contaminated by nuclear fallout. Our hero, Artyom, lives in the Moscow Metro system where every train station has evolved into its own State while subjected to the ever present threat of the mutant monsters that lurk above. Artyom is entrusted with a quest to deliver an important message. His journey is a post-apocalyptic odyssey where new characters emerge to help or hinder the battles he must fight as he navigates his way through the underground. Warning: it is long, but then—it is Russian!

Best non-fiction for 2021

Educated (Windmill Books, 2018) by Tara Westover

(audiobook narrated by Julia Whelan)

This memoir tells how the author grew up in the back blocks of Idaho, raised in a Mormon family which was dominated by her father whose survivalist ideology became increasingly bizarre and damaging to his wife and children. It’s a grim tale, but written evocatively in a way that allows us to sense the inner resilience that burned within the author who eventually found her way out to engage with formal education and a wider world view.

And finally,

Best re-read for 2021

The Lord of the Rings (1955, Allen & Unwin) by J.R.R. Tolkien

(audiobook narrated by Andy Serkis)

Really, what is there to say? I’ve listened to a couple of versions of Lord of the Rings, but I think Andy Serkis (aka Gollum) is the best narrator. My only complaint is the songs….I confess I skip these when reading LoTR, but I can’t do that in an audiobook very successfully, and Serkis’ singing isn’t up to his voice acting level. Still, good on him for being authentic, I guess!

Great News!

Just wanted to share my good news — I’ve been offered a publishing contract for my sci-fi novel, ‘Grey Nomad’! It’s with Booktopia Publishing (who have expanded from being mainly an online book retailer to publishing as well). After getting a legal contract consultation, I signed on Friday — so lots of champagne this weekend! 

I’ve put up a few posts about this story before, and I’ve kept working on it, encouraged by earlier drafts being shortlisted for the Brio Books Fantastica Prize in 2019, and for the Queensland Writers’ Centre Adaptable program in 2020. Lots of revising and great editing advice has got it to the stage it is now. I know that there’s still a whole lot more polishing to go, but what a joy to be able to undertake revisions knowing that sometime soonish (maybe toward the end of next year????) I’ll be able to share the story itself.

Whose view?

Whose view?

You’ll Thank Me One Day

Version 1 – John, the father’s point of view (written in 3rd person)

‘Let me hear you one more time.’ John took one hand off the steering wheel to wipe the sweat off against his trousers.

‘Jesus, Dad, not again. We’re nearly there.’

John glanced up to the rear-view mirror. ‘For Christ’s sake, Andrew. I told you to put it away.’

Andrew made a show of putting his smart phone in his blazer pocket.

‘And the earphones.’ John waited till Andrew, scowling, complied. ‘Right then. Periodic table. Off you go.’

‘They’re not going to ask me things like that.’

‘Oh, so you’ve done a private school entrance exam before then, have you?’

Silence from the backseat.

‘Well, have you? No. And if you get one of their scholarships, then you’ve got it made, boy. You’ll thank me one day, you know.’

(re-posted from piecesoftayo)

Version 2 – Andrew, the son’s point of view (written in 1st person)

[PING: koolkukumber WTFRU]

Kobe knows where I’m going. He’s just taking the piss because that’s what best mates do. I text back.

[handyandy Crap exam thing]

‘Let me hear you one more time,’ the old man says.

‘Jesus, Dad, not again. We’re nearly there.’

Dad’s eyes squint at me in the rear-view mirror. I know what he’s going to say.

‘For Christ’s sake, Andrew. I told you to put it away.’

See, right again.

[PING: koolkukumber WAJ]

I’d like to think Kobe’s calling my dad a jerk, but I know he means me. But, shit, it’s not my fault Dad wants me to go to a private school. Besides, there’s nothing Dad can do about it once I’m in the interview. All I’ve to do is look like I’m as thick as Kobe.

I quickly text back.

[handyandy FU]

I take my time stowing the phone in my pocket.

 ‘And the earphones. Right then. Periodic table. Off you go.’

‘They’re not going to ask me things like that.’

‘Oh, so you’ve done a private school entrance exam before then, have you? Well, have you? No. And if you get one of their scholarships, then you’ve got it made, boy. You’ll thank me one day, you know.’

Blah, blah, blah. The only thing I’d thank him for is if he STFU.

_______

I wrote these short pieces back in October 2020, when I participated in a great course on ‘Writing Conflict’ led by Cate Kennedy (see my earlier post inspired by this course on Conflict & Dramatic Irony). Another exercise that Cate set us was to write about a scene she described as, “A father and son argue in a car as the father is dropping off the son at school before an important exam”. Then she challenged us to re-write the piece but boost the conflict through altering one or more elements (e.g., changing point of view, increasing time pressure, restricting sentence length). I chose to play around with point of view, and I think it radically changed the power dynamic in the exchange. Which version do you like best?

OUT NOW!

I am very excited to announce that my historical fiction trilogy, The Sisters’ Saga, is now officially released from the confines of my desk drawer to make its own way in the world.

Back in 2015, a box of my husband’s family history records sat staring at me from the kitchen table. The first folder I opened was the lively memoir of Harriet Dowling and it sent me on a journey of research into colonial Sydney and British India. While I stopped on the way to corral what I’d learned into a short biography of Harriet, I knew from the start that she was a heroine to inspire historical fiction, and so that was my destination.

Like all journeys, I’ve lost my way several times, been sidetracked to other places, and struggled to find a way forward at times. My biggest dilemma involved handling the historical ‘truth’ of people’s lives while letting the narrative develop. This is an old chestnut in the world of writing historical fiction, with some writers landing on the truth is paramount side, and others favouring the story. The turning point was when I came to understand that, in fact, I did not know the internal thoughts and motivations of the people who inspired my characters, and that it was a more ‘truthful’ representation to render them as fictional characters with a life of their own.

The practical consequence of this understanding was that I gave all the central characters and some places new names, and this small step was immensely freeing. I did, however, keep the names of well-known historical figures about whom we have a considerable range of of primary and secondary sources of information. Also, in line with common practice in the world of historical fiction, at the end of each volume, I have provided details of the fictional departures from the sources which provided my initial inspiration.

Here’s a short 4 minute audio ‘taster’ of the result, from Volume 1 Maiden Manoeuvres!

Coming soon!

The Sisters’ Saga

A story told across four decades, in three volumes.

Maiden Manoeuvres is the first of three in The Sisters’ Saga, which tells of three sisters and the compromises they must make to reconcile love’s delusions with the demands of reality. This historical fiction novella focuses on the eldest sister, Henrietta Burbridge in the early 1800s in colonial Sydney and Calcutta. Henrietta’s sisters collect flowers to catalogue and make detailed drawings. But Henrietta is not like them. She lets the petals scatter where they may.

Dearest Daughter is the second of three in The Sisters’ Saga, which tells of three sisters and the compromises they must make to reconcile love’s delusions with the demands of reality. In this short historical fiction novel, the lives of the younger sisters, Rose and Beth Burbridge are turned upside down by Henrietta’s return from India. In colonial Sydney between 1825-35, Henrietta asks why, if matrimony is the bedrock of the family, is it so hard for love to survive marriage? But her sisters must answer a very different question: How much would they trade for matrimony?

Widow’s Wake is the last of three in The Sisters’ Saga, which tells of three sisters and the compromises they must make to reconcile love’s delusions with the demands of reality. In this short historical fiction novel, over the course of a single voyage from Sydney to London in 1847, Henrietta must reconcile the regrets of her past in order to truly cast aside her widow’s weeds and embrace the adventures ahead. She is the heroine of the colourful tales she shares with young Mr Morgan Mayhew. However, their 1847 voyage from Sydney to London will be one tale neither will ever divulge.