Champagne and Socks

We have a lot in the works over at Twelfth Planet Press and are looking for enthusiastic people to come on board and help us. Hence another ad!

Twelfth Planet Press has several great opportunities for those looking to gain experience in ePublishing and be part of a fast growing indie press. The Twelfth Planet Press ePublishing team is expanding to meet the demand for high quality eBook production. Several short term intern positions and a volunteer eBook Designer will play a vital role in the development and delivery of Twelfth Planet Press eBooks and online products by supporting the conversion of our back catalogue to eBooks and in-development projects.
As the successful candidate, you will love reading, have experience in copyediting and proofing, have competent to advanced computer proficiency, have access to eReader software (preference will be given to applicants with access to multiple platforms) and if applying for the eBook Designer position, will have experience with coding. You will be enthusiastic, with strong communication skills, have attention to fine details and be willing to manipulate data. You will be a team player, open to feedback and constructive criticism but also an independent worker with initiative and ideas.

These are volunteer positions with no salary attached. It is expected that these roles will offer experience, skill development, network building, exposure and perks including Twelfth Planet Press product. These roles will be filled by more than one person, in more than one location. This role is not limited to Australian applicants.

Your application should include a cover letter addressing aspects of the job description as presented in this advertisement, detailing your relevant experience in proofing, copyediting and/or eBook layout and production, your interest and involvement in publishing, what you hope to get out of the experience as well as how much time you have available for this role.
Email your application to contact@twelfthplanetpress.com along with your current cv by February 14^th 2012.

Twelfth Planet Press has a great opportunity for someone looking to be part of a fast growing indie press and gain experience in the world of publishing. The Publicity and Promotions Coordinator will play a valuable and key role in the Twelfth Planet Press team and will drive the promotion and expansion in the international publishing scene.

As the successful candidate, you will love speculative fiction, have knowledge or experience of the publishing industry and a passion for independent press. Publicity, promotions or marketing experience is appreciated, but not required. You will be enthusiastic, outgoing with strong communication skills and interested in building on the networks and promotional opportunities already developed and used in house. You will be a team player, open to feedback and constructive criticism but also an independent worker with initiative and ideas.

Role description:

• familiarity with Twelfth Planet Press products, both published and forthcoming
• writing content for press releases, website and social media outlets
• developing and expanding promotion contacts and networks
• developing a marketing strategy
• representing Twelfth Planet Press at conventions and other industry related events

This is a volunteer position with no salary attached. However, it is expected that this role will offer publishing industry experience, writing skill development, networking opportunities, increased industry profile and perks including Twelfth Planet Press products. This role may be filled by more than one person, in more than one location. This role is not limited to Australian applicants.

Your application should include a cover letter addressing aspects of the job description as presented in this advertisement, detailing your relevant experience, your interest and involvement in speculative fiction publishing, why you want to join the Twelfth Planet Press team and what you hope to get out of the experience as well as how much time you have available for this role. Your application should also include examples of any previous promotional work and short writing examples (preferably non fiction).

Email your application to contact@twelfthplanetpress.com along with your current cv by February 29^th 2012.

The new episode is up! Go fetch it and consume it with digital gusto!

In which women aren’t funny, don’t write important books, but come in handy as assassins and thieves.

News

Connie Willis named SFWA Grand Master

Liz Bourke on Strange Horizons & the art of the mean review

Survey shows that men (as well as women) often play characters of the other gender while gaming – in many cases, men are bored with or alienated by the big musclebound male characters, which game designers think they want. Sound familiar?

Hoyden about Town are asking for guest bloggers to crosspost their Australian Women Writers Challenge reviews on Hoyden (ASIF also keen to do so)

More on feminine tosh: a good solid article in the Australian media (shock!) about the women in literature issues of recent months (and, you know, decades).

Have we been following the “Women aren’t funny” stoush that played out in NYT? This interesting development.

DC Comics – cancellations & new titles – Tansy is especially excited by World’s Finest (featuring the Earth 2 Huntress & Power Girl)

Stranger with My Face – Women in Horror film festival in Hobart, Tasmania – 17-19 February

Tansy’s book launch for Reign of Beasts (Creature Court Book Three) on 2 February at Hobart Bookshop, 5:30pm.

What Culture Have we Consumed?

Alex: Ashes to Ashes season 2; Dr Who season 1; Rocannon’s World, Ursula le Guin; The Declaration, Gemma Malley; Grey, Jon Armstrong; The Collected Works of TS Spivet, Reif Larsen. BBC 4 “Cat Women of the Moon” podcast

Tansy: Destination: Nerva (Big Finish, audio), Astonishing X-Men by Joss Whedon, The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson, DVD Extras Include Murder, by Nev Fountain

Alisa: absorbed in novel submissions; The Big Bang Theory; Swordspoint Audiobook, written and performed by Ellen Kushner

GS Award will be proclaimed… in a short while!

Winner of Alex’s Yarn giveaway: Jo

Tansy: Creature Court trilogy give away!
Email to tell us about one book you read after we talked about it on GS to be eligible

Please send feedback to us at galacticsuburbia@gmail.com, follow us on Twitter at @galacticsuburbs, check out Galactic Suburbia Podcast on Facebook and don’t forget to leave a review on iTunes if you love us!

Twelfth Planet Press Call for Submissions:

A Stitch in Time Travel

Craft Ebook Project

Twelfth Planet Press is looking for innovative and fun science fiction, fantasy or horror inspired craft projects on the theme of time travel for a Geek Craft ebook to be released at Craftonomicon, the Australian National science fiction convention, 8 – 11 June, 2012.

Projects

We’re looking for anything from a knitted scarf or jumper to socks, toys, hats and anything and everything in between. Draw inspiration from your favourite books, comics, games, movies and television. We want it creative and geeky!

Some examples of what we’re looking for:

Knits for Nerds

Teeny-Tiny Mochimochi

Steampunk Softies

The AntiCraft

Submission details

Your submission should include:

1. your pattern with clear step-by-step, repeatable instructions;
2. list of materials and supplies required;
3. photos for easy reproduction of your project by others;
4. whether your pattern has been beta tested by others
5. your contact and paypal details.

Wearable patterns should include suggested sizings. Consider using http://www.craftyarncouncil.com/sizing.html. We will give preference to submissions that provide a range of sizes.

Your photos should show the completed work but might also include steps along the production process. They should be in colour and good lighting, with a minimum of 72dpi resolution.

Send your submission to contact@twelfthplanetpress.com with “Craft Project Submission” as your subject heading.

Submission Period Closes April 30, 2012.

Payment: $50 for each pattern or tutorial and a copy of the final publication.

Caveats

We are looking only for previously unpublished works. Please note, work published on a blog is considered previously published.

We are not accepting any works derived from copyrighted franchises.

We are aware that riffing off a theme or idea is a large component of this kind of project. Please let us know about the original products that inspired you so we can determine whether your submission encroaches on any intellectual property rights or copyright infringements.

Additionally, if you do obtain permission to design a project inspired by someone else’s creative work, please include this with your submission.

It’s been a really full on week, and I want to sit and write about it. But first I have a couple of Twelfth Planet Press developments that I really want to plug in this space.

This space. What is it anyway? What is it *for*? I really knew what my livejournal account was for, I knew why I posted there and I knew what and how and for whom. But after nearly 200 posts in this new space, it still feels like clothes that don’t quite fit or  party where you don’t really know anyone. I thought if I just wrote, it would sort itself out, that I would find a voice or a tone or a something. But I haven’t really. LJ always felt more intimate. It felt more personal. But then, 5 years ago, I could write a lot more anonymously than now. And now it just feels really self conscious.

Anyway.

I started my new job this week. And for much of the week I just wanted to write a post with the one sentence: Life is weird. But halfway through I thought, no … life is interesting. When I first applied for this job I knew there was an hour and a half commute and I told C that I would have to leave home at *7.30* to get there by 9 and we both wondered how in the hell I would be able to do that. But then … then I had that weird jetlag thing and I started the getting to work at 7.30 thing so leaving home at 6.30 was completely doable. And so it is. And I dunno. Isn’t life funny the way totally disparate things can synchronise?

I like my new job and workplace so far. Everybody is really nice. I really like my new boss and team. The drive is long but I have signed up to try out Audible. com and that’s been working well. And the view is very pleasant. I’ve restructured the way I eat in the day so as to not get sugar drops on the long drives. I’ve started packing my own lunches now as well as breakfast cause there is no onsite canteen. And I’m happy. So far I’m really happy. The work is interesting and challenging. It’s enough in my experience to be able to hit the ground jogging but broader than my knowledge so that I will have to work hard to get up to speed for the level I will be expected to perform at – but I got an itemised checklist for what that specifically means. It’s going to be hard work and full on and challenging – this is both a little bit daunting and also the reason I went for the position. There’s room for me to grow and evolve and that’s exciting. So … this was a good thing.

And today we headed off to the jewellers to hand over my gems for my engagement ring, I’d been working to and fro with her on ideas for the ring and today we finalised it. And we got to use the gems as the deposit. There aren’t many moments in your life where you get to use stones as currency and I loved it! It did make me feel a bit like a swashbuckling pirate. I also played up a bit with the “have you brought the diamonds?” It’s not often you get to feel like you’re in a heist movie! I’m happy to have locked in a decision and am really looking forward to seeing the final product. Couple of weeks and I’ll finally have it. It’s amazing how many people’s eyes go straight to your left hand when you tell them you just got engaged. I’ve also been blown away by how many women will let you try on their rings to see what you like and what suits your hand.

That’s mostly my weekly check in. I’m intending to go back to working one full solid day of the weekend for TPP to make up for the lack of time I have in the week now from the commute. I was really really tired (and headachy) the first couple of nights and couldn’t do anything other than collapse on the couch. It’s amazing how draining just showing up to a new place, learning the ropes and meeting new people can be. I mean, I worked the full week before I started here and in work really similar. It’s not like I suddenly rocked up in ER for a Saturday night shift after being a pool boy or anything. Weird.

Tags: life, tpp, wedding, work

This afternoon we headed up to Perth to celebrate my niece’s second birthday. Wow. Time has flown by!

My parents are still away so we could only hang out amongst ourselves, not having any bubs of our own as distractors.

My sister is an amazing cook and she outdid herself today. There were club sandwiches, sushi, pizza, fairybread, and so many other things. I grabbed some photos of these cute biscuits she made:

racing car teddies and teacups!

And the piece de resistance, teddy bear birthday cake:

I had a really good week. One of those rare great weeks that I can’t even remember the last time I had one. And I don’t mean a week in which something awesome and unexpected happens. I mean, that the whole week rocked.

Monday I had to tell the boss I had given notice and that Friday would be my last day. I’d been kinda dreading it because I wanted to avoid discussing it. He’d been away since about 8th of Dec so… yeah it went how I thought it would go.

Tuesday though was the team’s farewell lunch for me and M, who was also leaving. It was really lovely and my face hurt from smiling for the rest of the day. A couple of past team members came along which was so lovely for the opportunity to catch up with them. And we both were given a voucher for a manicure/facial and I got this frog, which is a bit of a work in-joke. I think it’s hilarious and I’m going to take it to work and put it on my new desk.

And then when I got back to the office, reception called to tell me I had a delivery and when I wandered down to collect it, I discovered that C had sent me flowers and chocolates to wish me good luck on my change of job. And everyone agreed that he is a great guy and a keeper. But I already knew that.

Wednesday and Thursday I spent tying up loose ends, writing handover notes and filing and trying to mentally and emotionally move on. I’m kinda sad about leaving this team and the work. I’ve been there 4 years and I feel like I accomplished a few biggish kind of achievements and worked towards progressing some weaker areas. I networked a lot and met a lot of really great people, both in my agency and outside it. And I’m going to miss my team. Though M is also leaving so the team is kind of splitting up in any case.

Friday was my last day and I spent it really manically trying to finish up memos and letters to pass on to the others to just wrap up and send out. And I packed up my office and we had afternoon tea and then … then I left. And I couldn’t really believe that I had given them my keys to the building and was actually leaving. There were lots of hugs and that was the moment that I finally realised it was real and that I was sad. And J gave me the gorgeous card up in the top photo which says “Well-behaved women rarely make history”. I’d gotten a really lovely group card and so many people said so many beautiful and well meant things and then I got this follow up one from a teammate who I have I guess gotten really close to only in the last year or so. We’ve had so many heart to hearts and she held my hand at work through Swancon. So sad to leave her but also so touched that she really “got” me. Isn’t that what we all want in life, to be understood?

C had dropped me to work and so had picked me up, and attended the small farewell afternoon tea so I had him to leave with and not feel really down about having left my team. And we headed off to do more shopping and then to have an early dinner at the Daily Planet before meeting Marianne and Jonathan to see Ira Glass! I had been so looking forward to this. We headed up to the bar to hang out, wondering if they might come up there but they didn’t and then I couldn’t remember if we’d booked our tickets to be seated together. We hadn’t, as I recall now, we’d just talked about it online and both bought tickets at the same time. It was only then that I realised that we would just be at the same event together but not actually *with* each other. So we went in and were looking for where our seats, they were 3 rows from the front and C turned to me and said, “really?” and all I could do was shrug and say, “I’m a REALLY big fan”. And then … and then you won’t believe it. Our seats were right next to Marianne and Jonathan. Unplanned, pure coincidence, utter serendipity. And in that exact moment, as we sat down next to our friends and C settled in for 2 hours of watching someone he’d never heard of speak, I knew that the universe was smiling down at me, and that everything will be be ok. That I am in the right place, at the right time. Finally.

And I just loved Ira Glass. It was a fantastic performance. Really interesting and engaging and so very very enlightening, not just on how they  put the show (This American Life) together but on what they intend for the show to be and a lot on good storytelling. I got a lot out of it – first the buzz of inspiration to want to go home immediately and throw myself back into TPP but second, he had a lot of interesting things to say about storytelling and on building momentum and how to seduce your reader/listener to not put the work down/turn off the radio. Since I’m currently reading novel manuscript submissions and thinking about that a lot, it couldn’t have been a better time to immerse myself in the careful musings of such a great storyteller/editor. And it made me realise how the asking for only 3 chapters is really a great submission process because, I should NEED to ask for the rest of the manuscript because I NEED to know where the story goes. And if I don’t, then that’s not a project for me. I also really got a lot out of how he spoke about the show and how he thinks about what it is and so on. I think you do need to know what your intent is from the outset. If not what it will end up being, at least what it is that you set out to do. Because that should underpin every decision you make after that and should allow you to constantly check back in with whether what you are doing now is consistent with what your project model or philosophy is.  At the end of the day, when I’m stuck on rejections, I do this, I look back at what TPP is and what I see that it should be, and if something doesn’t fit with that, then it’s not a project for me.

After the show, we headed off for coffee, the four of us and just hung out and caught up. And it was the perfect end to a damn fine week.

Last night I had an acute Crohn’s flareup that lasted into this morning and so I was home sick and feeling sorry for myself today. I ended up not really doing much of import. But finally finished the third quarter of the monochrome quilt. It’s actually a rather large project – a queen size bed – so I had trouble fitting it all in the photo. When it’s finished I’ll hang it on the washing line for a good proper pic.

You can almost see the second red block I got to insert in this quarter (at the top of the photo). There is one more to go into the final quarter. When you piece this many blocks together, the random red is like this huge reward. And for the final quarter, it’s up in row two which is both exciting but means the pay off is sooner rather than later. Any hoo…

Not wanting to let this project languish like last time, I did a count of the remaining blocks I’d already made, to see how many and of which still needed to be made. I have been following my own handy chart for the piecing and whilst I haven’t stuck to it perfectly, it’s been a great guide. Anyway, I discovered that I was just 11 blocks from the end. That’s right, I let this project languish for over a year when I only had 11 blocks to make and then the rest of the project to assemble. Sure, it’s taken me about a week to assemble (and sew) the third quarter and then to look at what remained to discover this. but I can’t help thinking this is a lot like many other abandoned projects of mine – so close to the finish line and then just tossed aside for something more exciting and new.

The calculator says 756 – that’s how many diamonds went into this project. And the photo below shows the 52 blocks I had already pieced last year (or the year before!) that will make up the final quandrant. and above them are all the extra diamonds I cut out. You can’t really tell  but that is one big pile of random diamonds I don’t need – I’m guessing there is maybe 100 extra.

And I can’t help thinking that the (lack of ) process of this project shows some insight into how I could improve the way I work, generally. See, I had a plan at the start (see chart in the photo, it has a key and everything).  I had all the tools and materials that I needed. And I had enthusiasm. But what I lacked was organisation and management of the project as it unfolded. I tend to wing things in life. Had I had a better logging and management system, I would have made the right number of blocks for each type (I labelled them by the dark diamond) and I would have known I only needed to cut out 756 diamonds in total. Instead, I never really knew how many of what I had or needed to make and the thought of having to audit it in the middle was too confronting and difficult so I just pressed on. Hmmm … this sounds a lot like my finance spreadsheets, doesn’t it?

So, I applied this newfound knowledge to a new problem just today. I realised that the next step (see last post on this topic) for a particular project at TPP was to assign something an ISBN. But I’d been holding off on that because .. .well, I have no system for those. What? Well a press just falls out of your handbag, you never really plan on it, who knew I’d have over 40 to juggle so soon? Anyway, there was only one thing for it – design a logging and management system right then and there. Ahem. A spreadsheet was called for. And whilst, yes that raised more questions than perhaps it answered, I can’t help but admit that I am further ahead. And a bit more organised.

I’m coming to think that I’m not as organised a person as I might like to think. Perhaps that will be something I can report that I changed in 2012?

We’re looking after my parents’ dog, Morrie, at the moment. He’s quite old, not interested in making new friends, yet despite this, unbelievably patient with the puppy who does not take no for an answer. It took a good few days for Morrie to settle in. He kept looking like he thought Sasha had cooties. But yesterday, for some reason, he seemed to really settle in. He started patrolling the perimeter and sitting guard at the front door, in turns. This mesmerised Sasha who went from constantly antagonising Morrie to sitting in choice viewing spots and watching Morrie get hot under the collar. Now they are both tiring each other out and napping and not annoying us, more importantly.

Anyway, I just noticed that Morrie puts himself to bed and then doesn’t get up for anything. Puppies on the other hand, are always up for any old caper and will happily wake up and wander down the other end of the house with you, no matter the hour. On noticing this, I remarked to C: We should get another puppy when Sasha starts to get old.

C: I’m planning on doing that with you, too.

Me: *unimpressed look*

C: Yeah, isn’t the old one supposed to train the new one?

Me: You really want *me* training your next wife?

C: maybe I’ll pay someone.

So now I am sitting in bed, nursing a very painful spicy food incident and contemplating my holiday that was, as the prospect of hours to returning to the day job tomorrow approaches. Holidays are no way long enough and I really really wish I didn’t have to go to work yet. I only have 8 days left in this job to go. I of course got nowhere near what I had hoped to get done done. And I’m getting more and more scared about the longer commute that I have signed up for with my new job. I’m consoling myself on the first with the fact that the holidays have kickstarted my getting round to a bunch of things which I can continue to work on, in shorter spurts, as of tomorrow.

• I got started on sorting out and clearing out the two spare rooms which have some of the last, and worst, of my unpacking. You know, all the stuff that you don’t know what it is or what’s with it so you don’t unpack it cause you’d have to sort it out.
• I also sorted and tossed yet more of the postgrad stuff.
• I homed a few more of my pictures on various walls.
• I started some low effort gardening (mostly setting the habit of watering things)
• I watched about 50 hours of The Vampire Diaries. Ahem
• Also watched bits of Homeland, Psych, Primeval, The New Girl, Whitney, The Big Bang Theory, Private Practice
• Sorted out my quilting – did about half of my xmas presents (the rest still to go), discovered I had one quilt top finished and located backing and wadding for the finishing of the project (that’s as far as that got), almost finished the third quarter of the monochrome quilt, made up almost 50 of the charm hexagons for my charm quilt (and discovered I have many many triangles precut for this project).
• Read several books
• Bought a ipad
• Started my 2012 Last Short Story Reading
• Participated in the Mega Boxing Day Podcast
• Worked on three different Twelve Planets collections
• Worked on a couple of unannounced TPP projects
• Found a couple of comics that I’m dabbling in
• Opened and started processing TPP’s novel manuscript submissions call

Ok, after that list, I guess I did ok with my holiday. I felt really like I had nothing left to give to the year and spent a lot just “pottering about the house” which is one of my favourite things to do when I’m on downtime. So I have to be happy with that. Even though a lot of things didn’t get progressed as far as I’d like.

But I did get a bit of insight into how I operate – know thine enemy – in terms of procrastination. I figure if I can figure out why I don’t do things I really want to, maybe I can figure out a way around my own obstacles. Or something. Don’t read that too closely, it’ll give you a headache. I often figure up tricks to get myself to do things I don’t want to. And whilst, the making myself do things I don’t want to do is more a thing of the past, making myself do things I want to do is kinda new and still shiny. Anyway, what I discovered is I often abandon or avoid things when they require going to find something out, or figuring out how to do something, or if left fallow too long, not knowing where I was up to or what I was doing.

So the whole sorting out my craft cupboard involved grouping like with like ie all parts of each project in one place and then taking stock to see where each was up to. And that alone was enough to get my enthusiasm back for about 6 projects at once. Often just identifying what the next step is (something C is often saying to me) was enough to help me move forward. It meant that instead of starting a bunch of new projects which had been my plan, I ended up happily working on older ones. I took this and applied it to other things, like sorting out scary packing boxes of doom, and emails that were waiting for answers, and TPP projects I’d stalled on, and found great success. It seems so simple but I think I need the reminder – when looking at something I’m avoiding, think up what just the next step is. Maybe that should be my thing for this year.

Tags: holidays, new years resolutions, puppy, quilting, reading

Things have been quiet here because I’ve found myself doing exactly what I had planned to do this break – watch TV and sew. This is both time consuming and I’m finding myself zoning out with not much of importance to think on and to write about. I’d thought that I would have this break to work on new and exciting projects but what I’m really enjoying is picking up long ago started ones and working on them. It both feels good to work towards finally finishing things but also I’m enjoying the process without having to be creative. I’d wanted to take this time to be creative but really, I’m burnt out, it was a tough, big year and being creative takes inspiration and energy which right now I’m low on. And the clearing the decks on projects makes way for being creative later.

I finally pulled out most of my craft to tidy my craft cupboard and take stock of the projects within. I have most of the quilting projects now itemised with an idea of where I’m up to with each ie the reason why I’d abandoned them cause the next thing was too hard. I still have my knitting and cross stitch to go but it feels good to get my head around what’s left and to also just sort it all and collate the projects which were a little jumbled and spread out due to my move. It’s sort of appealing to the tidying up frame of mind that I’m in right now.

We’re slowly tidying and culling and pulling our home together. I’ve been hanging pictures and throwing out more junk and settling further in. I also started work on the backyard garden. It’s a very very small start – a couple of fruit trees which I have potted and have on the patio for now. And a few more herbs to go with the tomato plants I planted earlier. I’m sort of aiming to green up the patio first as I get my head around a much bigger plan for the backyard. I’d planned on doing the backyard as my 2012 project but that was before planning a wedding jumped the queue. That being the case though, I can’t leave the barren wasteland as it is for the next year either. So … something will have to be done.

I’ve been thinking about new years resolutions and whether I should have any. I think though, in truth, that stuff, the ones you actually pull off, happen organically because they are the things you genuinely want to change or work on or towards and the rest is the list of things that you think you want or ought to be but are not. And I gave that stuff up last year – the whole wanting to be something that I’m not or like something or someone that I don’t. So writing a list of things that I wish I wanted to do or be … well, that’s not me anymore.

And at the same time, there are things that I genuinely want to do better and I’m already working on those – keeping my email at zero inbox, not there yet but working on it. Being a better friend to those closest to me – again, working on that. And this year’s goals for Twelfth Planet Press. Last year we achieved Sales Goal B – Goal A was perhaps a little overambitious given the current state of the world and publishing so I’m happy to have achieved Goal B, especially since it was benchmarked to the Worldcon year of 2010. 2012’s goals are bigger still, I guess. And will require you know, the usual, to work harder and smarter and savvier and all that. It’s not a list of goals, I guess, if it doesn’t require ratcheting it up another notch or two. Dream big, otherwise why bother dreaming at all, yeah?

Wishing you a happy new year and hoping your resolutions stick and your year is everything you hope it will be.

Since I’m sitting and updating my calendar for 2012 – this time I am hoping to have a system that won’t require that this time next year – I may as well do my year in review. I’m not very good at taking a step back and acknowledging what I *did* do – much better at listing what I didn’t.

Art, Culture and Music
– Guggenheim exhibition with Kathryn
– Rocky Horror Picture Show midnight screening at Burswood
– Quilt and Craft fair with Christine
– Wicked with C and David
– Attended the Stirling ball
– Balboa Park

Publishing
– Above/Below by Stephanie Campisi/Ben Peek
– Nightsiders by Sue Isle (Vol 1 of Twelve Planets)
– Love and Romanpunk by Tansy Rayner Roberts (Vol 1 of Twelve Planets)
– Thief of Lives by Lucy Sussex (Vol 1 of Twelve Planets)
– Bad Power by Deborah Biancotti (Vol 1 of Twelve Planets)
– World Fantasy Award nomination and win
– 6 TPP shorts made the Aurealis Awards finalists, 1 co-win
– Glitter Rose in WFC bags

Podcasting
– guested on Salon Futura
– Boxcutters blurb in Press Gang special
– Galactic Suburbia First Birthday
– Galactic Chat series began
– Live and Sassy began

Conventions and Travel
– Convened Swancon 2011, Perth
– Attended World Fantasy Con, San Diego
– Travelled further north than have ever been before for a work project

Personal Stuff
– Moved in with C.
– Went to the cemetery far too many times this year.
– Completed the couch to 5k program.
– Applied for and successfully interviewed for new job.
– C proposed to me.
– Set wedding venue and date.

– got a 9 week old puppy to raise.

I, like Nnedi Okorafor now have a bust of an antisemitic, misogynist, racist in my house.

She made the above post a week ago and until then, I actually knew very little about H. P. Lovecraft (maybe that’s the most scandalous thing I’m going to write in this post). Reading that post was the first I ‘d heard that this figure was deeply repugnant as a human, really. I’ve never really been that interested in his work and truthfully, I’m not going to give myself a hard time about that anymore.

It’s hard to move past some of the things I’ve since read that he wrote about … well, about people like me, among others. And I’ve spent a week ruminating on it all. Should I say something? Do I have to say something? What should I say? What’s appropriate to say? How do I feel about it? How should I feel about it? What should I do with the bust of this person now? Is it appropriate to have this person’s face out on display in my home?

In the end, I didn’t feel it was ok to be silent and just sidle past – never mind the Jewish girl with the H P Lovecraft bust on display. Move along, nothing to see here.

After a week of thinking about it, I haven’t moved the bust from its current position and I don’t feel any less honoured to have received it. I have, though, thought a lot about how nice it must be not to have to worry about such dilemmas. And I’ve thought about the word privilege a lot and what that means and feels (to not have it). But mostly I’ve really really really enjoyed the fact that H P Lovecraft would have hated the idea that I, and others who won the World Fantasy Award this year (and in other years), you know, did.  And I’ve thought about how really, that is the best outcome. You know, she who laughs last etc.

China Miéville has his Lovecraft head turned to the wall, like a naughty boy, so he can write behind his back. But I don’t want to continue doing what I’m doing with Twelfth Planet Press behind Lovecraft’s back. I want to do it in front of his face, all proud and unapologetically. My success disproves his beliefs.

I don’t like the argument along the lines of the statue transcends its resemblance of Lovecraft to now represent the award (more than representing the man it’s fashioned in likeness of). I mean, in some ways it does – it has done for me until last week, given I didn’t actually know much about the man. But it doesn’t hold for me as strong argument because if I took that to an extreme place, there’s no way I would want to display an award for any cool thing if its trophy was the face of Hitler. At some point, you can’t look beyond the face to what the trophy represents without the face influencing the meaning.

Ultimately, I’m deeply honoured to have been awarded a World Fantasy Award. And I’m also proud that the nominees and the winners are diverse – more diverse than Lovecraft would ever have liked or perhaps envisaged – and demonstrate that the membership and judges of the award do not support or condone his politics. And as for me, I find strength in knowing I am alive and doing ok when I think about men like Lovecraft and Hitler who have wished me dead or that I never existed at all. It makes me strive harder. And that’s never a bad thing.

Before I forget to remind, we’ve got a bunch of things going on at TPP.

Firstly, our sale off a bunch of titles ends Dec 31, 2011. Visit our website here and grab A Book of Endings for $16, Glitter Rose for $20, Horn and Bleed for $9.60 each, any of the first 3 Twelve Planets for $14.40, Sprawl for $20 and a bunch more.

Secondly, our novel manuscript submission period opens January 1, 2012 and ends January 31, 2012. Check out all the details on guidelines etc here.

Thirdly, we’re supporting the Australian Women Writers Challenge 2012 with a 10% discount on all our books which fit the challenge all year long. Here’s how.

Fourthly, enter our Goodreads Giveaway to win a copy of Deborah Biancotti’s Bad Power:

Fifthly, keep an eye out for more TPP announcements over the next fortnight or so!

Ah. First day of my 12 days of leave and I already feel like I’m too knackered to have accomplished anything. I know, I know, it’s only 1pm. But still!

Had a lovely cuppa with Tehani this morning. It was so good to just catch up. And I shall miss her terribly when she leaves for Tasmania. I think I have only just started to feel settled enough here in this house to be ready to do the whole “pop out for a cuppa and chat” thing. So I guess I never really took proper advantage of living so close to another kindred spirit. Still. We won’t live here forever. And I shall resolve to do better next year in popping in for cuppas with Terri (who will be on the way home from work now) and Helen.

I described 2011 to Tehani as a year of waking up and smelling the coffee. I quite like that description. I’ve been thinking the year over a lot recently as I mull over how I want to blog the year in summary. This was the first time I thought about it that way, and I think it’s apt. It was a year in which the veil was lifted for me in a whole bunch of arenas and a year in which my hand was forced to see and tell the honest truth and act on it. Because when you move out of denial, you *have* to act. The other option is no longer an acceptable alternative for me, after this year. In other words, I wrote in a previous post that things were getting really real down here (I love that Missy Higgins song) and there was no escaping that. And you know, the smell of coffee all about. So it was a year of culling – possessions, unwanted commitments, pretense and unrealistic expectations (maybe one way of putting it). A lot of drawing the lines for things and realising what my personal boundaries are. It was a deeply confronting and at times very stressful and discomforting year. But also a year in which the pay off of that was, without exception, ending up in a better place or position. The whole lotus in the mud thing (the deeper and richer the mud, the more beautiful the lotus).

And so on that whole crunch time thing, today I start my new workout routine. I’ve been working on this program for the last couple of days, the first parts being getting your head around a bunch of stuff. Again with the facing down the awful truths etc. It’s been more eye opening than I thought it would be. Right now I am thinking up a bunch of reasons why I should start the workout phase tomorrow and not today. But that would be an excuse and I don’t do that anymore. The idea of changing personal habits still fascinates me. I am very much a creature of habit and I do not like change at all. I spent the whole of November complaining about C’s facial hair as he grew his moustache and  beard (for work had to have both if he wanted the mo) and then was upset the day he finally shaved it all off. “You really don’t like change, do you?” was his response.

So yeah. I *like* the habits and ruts I find myself in even if they aren’t healthy or productive or useful. And I start to panic at the suggestion of changing them. I worry that I won’t be me anymore and I don’t cope well with suggestions like: why not do it for just a little while? Or what about doing this on Monday and that on Tuesday? I am a total routine person.

And yet? So far this year, I *have* made important changes (in terms of degree of change *to me*) and have found them extremely beneficial, enjoyed them AND have not lost my sense of self. Really, I do wonder how it is that I define this “self”. I had gotten into a long lasting habit of watching TV before bedtime – sometimes 2 or 3 episodes of a show I was watching at the time – and would watch on my laptop in bed before falling asleep by midnight or 1am. Like, I’ve been doing this for years. And I prided myself on being a night owl. I’ve always been one, I did my most productive work after 7.30pm and I didn’t really sleep that well. When I moved in with C he gently suggested we not have a TV in the bedroom (!!!) which I felt was fine actually, because I had my laptop. And then a couple of months ago, I guess after coming from the US, I started instead going to bed early – I aim to be asleep by 10 but it’s mostly 10.30 – and I started taking a book to bed to read a chapter or two before sleeping. And now it’s become more going in a couple of hours before bedtime and doing maybe 2 or 3 hours of reading (not just books but also internet and publishing) and most importantly, no longer watching much TV in the week. I have become *that* person. I would seriously never have believed I could watch maybe only an hour of TV on some nights during the week. The concept of turning off the TV *in preference to do something else* has never ever been part of my mindset. Ever. Partly TV these days is so crap. But also I have so many other things I want to do in preference (who IS this person?). I still watch TV but I prefer to do it in longer sessions on say a day of the weekend whilst doing other things too.

Am I still me?

Couple the above with the giving up a true love of mine – coffee. Which helps with the falling asleep by 10/10.30 pm and then sleeping a long uninterrupted sleep. Guess what? I feel fantastic. And as my friends have pointed out – I was so so so sick before I went away and then after I got back. I’d say my health has improved 200% compared to how I felt in October. And it’s not just these changes. Of course it’s some other more personal ones too. But almost all these are about me taking control and responsibility for my life and for how I feel. And it’s not yet second nature. There is still a lot of searching whether I am choosing something because I think it’s what someone else (maybe the person asking etc) wants me to choose or because it’s what I want. And that is still involving me realising I sometimes choose the first over the second. But importantly I’m now changing that.

Mmm coffee.

You know, every year, I watch all my crazy crafty friends do that pre Christmas Eve panic as they try to fit what I think is three months of knitting or sewing into the last 4 days to get their gifts finished on time. I’ve watched this and thought it was insanity. And so this year, when I fell in love with some over the top Christmas fabric, in September, I justified purchase of it by deciding to make hand made gifts this year. You see where this is going. But! But I started in November! And I am still, no, I am still not finished. Sigh. My fingers hurt as I madly hand quilt. I have recruited my Mum to help me finish off. And I am still wayyyy behind. My annual leave starts today and I shall be spending tomorrow furiously at (craft) work to at least meet some of my Christmas Day deadlines.

In thinking over this madness, and the need to obviously start earlier than November, even for what is a relatively simple project, I’ve realised that I would resent starting making gifts for Xmas in June. Like that would encroach into my personal crafting time, for making things for me. And in recent days, I’ve been looking forward to finishing this project in order to get stuck into the projects I had earmarked for working on in my holidays. But I also realised that making these gifts has kickstarted me back into sewing every night, which I hadn’t been doing before that. So that I will easily slide back into regular crafting afterwards, when I hadn’t before.

And I always have this massive introspection when I fall into what I think is a new routine – will it mean the old one is gone for good? Have I changed? What does  this mean? etc etc. Because ultimately, I’ve reduced the amount of time I have for craft in the evening because I go to bed earlier than I used to and I now spend maybe half an hour, sometimes an hour, reading in bed before I sleep. One of the new things I started when I came back from the US. It means I have less time for crafting but I am reading more. Cue the loop that is the beginning of this sentence.

So that’s like my general update. Too busy running around chasing my tail this last month. Too much to do, too little time. I’m wrapping up at my current day job and will have the first half of January to hand over before I move on. My new job will involve a long commute. A commute that will add an extra hour of commuting to my day and I already commute two hours a day. It’s the one and only main con for this position. And I don’t know how I’m going to go. But I’ve had some fantastic suggestions on this. Obviously its a great chance to catch up on all the podcasts I’m behind on. So that will be great. I’m thinking of finally exploring audio books – driving 15 hours a week will mean I can actually listen to a book a week. But my favourite suggestion so far came from a colleague in a different team who said, “hey did you know that you can get Adobe Reader to read you out your pdfs?” Well no, I did not know this. AND OMG I nearly hugged him. Because we shall be reading novel submissions come January 1 and the thought of losing more of my time  for TPP from commuting (driving is the only option) was making me feel a bit sad. But if I could get my computer to read out submissions to me? Well then my commute is not a waste at all – I can be productive and its not so easy to be distracted by the internet etc. Last night C set it up for me on my laptop. And he’d bought me an iTrip as a present a few weeks ago which I’ve been using to listen to podcasts whilst driving. So I may very well be all set up AND be in a more productive situation than previously. Very excited.

I hope your last days of December are going well. I wish you all the best for the holiday season and a very happy new year. I hope to be around here in the next few days catching up on some thoughts and so on. But I’m also planning all sorts of other things that I want to do.

Last week I caught a really interesting TED Talk By Lauren Zalaznick on the conscience of television. She talked about how TV shows have responded to our times. “That television is how we disseminate our value system.” She looked at the top 10 shows at points over the last 50 years and how they reflected our social conscience at that time – in response to things going on at that particular time. It’s a fascinating talk if you love TV.

I particularly am interested in TV before and after 9/11 because I guess that’s really my era and I’m interested in how television has changed and responded to events that I’ve lived through. Given that, I find flash mobs really fascinating. Firstly I LOVE THEM! (and the one below is an advert but still, it’s a great flash mob).  But what fascinates me about them is how the phenomenon is a complete juxtaposition to the rest of the way pop culture is responding, I think, to the state of the world. The world is pretty grim. Things are pretty right wing and all “with us or against us”. Our future looks grim too with more economic hard times to come, possible collapse of the European Union, a scary US election to come, climate change is happening whether the top dogs want to admit it or not and with that more and more extreme weather events seem to be hitting harder and harder.

What better response that for a bunch of strangers to suddenly break out into synchronous dance? Am I right?!

I’ve known it’s been coming for a while and today I put my big girl pants on and went gluten free. Being caffeine free has been really rewarding – and I say this as the huge coffee addict that I was (am?) – so much so that it’s a breeze to continue it, even with the seductive aromas of the dark nectar of all good things. I feel better. I feel more awake. I no longer drag myself through the day. I sleep better. I drink more water. … I feel better.

But. My reactions or intolerance to gluten and dairy has been increasing over the last few months. And it’s kinda gotten to the point I was at when last I went cold turkey on the fun things in life. I can deal with some of the less serious side effects – and have done so for a long time, hence my “should be but am not” practice. But now I am in physical pain which increases throughout the day til I feel very unwell at nighttime.

And it occurs to me, as I have thrown off the (bitter doubleedged sword) shackle of the coffee addiction, that it seems utterly self defeating to choose actions that directly lead to sabotaging myself by not feeling my best. And that if all I have to do is … not … to feel unhindered or at least not handicapped in the day … well, why would I? It’s like, there’s enough crap holding me back or obstacles I have to climb to get where I want to go and do what I want to do, why should I be actively going out and seeding the course with mines? It  makes no sense.

And that above is the result of five (is it 6?) years of counselling. There may be hope for me yet.

So today was the day. I started it in a cafe waiting for my car to be serviced and found a bunch of gluten free options. I had hot chocolate so didn’t go lactose free. The work canteen now offers at a minimum 1 gluten free lunch option, often 2 or 3. So I opted for one of those for lunch. And then had gnocci for dinner. And? Verdict? I still need to go lactose free – I bought lactose free milk and put it in the work fridge so the rest of the day was lactose free and from tomorrow I will be properly. BUT I am in much less pain this evening than yesterday. And almost no nausea. Win.

Also, this is *much* easier than it was 10 years ago when I had to live off rice and those rice biscuits for a year. We had an afternoon tea this afternoon and some of my workmates brought in bought gluten free mince pies and gluten free choc chip cookies and they were good!

I’m very sleepy so I’m going to write this fast else I’ll probably not get to it for another couple of days.

Much has happened. Yesterday I had a fabulous day, all up. I gave notice for my day job and accepted a job offer for a new one – same organisation, completely different location. It’ll be different work too, which I’m looking forward to – change is as good as a holiday and all that. Course with the winding down of the year and the winding up of my role, it’s getting harder to be dedicated to silencing the squeaky wheels. Much to do, so little left of the year.

Also. Yesterday we had a massive thunderstorm. Not really a big deal unless you live in a city that is drying and rain is less and less common and more and more of an event when it does happen. We had a real and mighty thunderstorm. I absolutely loved it. I finished work, ran postal errands and then picked C up from the train and we headed off for coffee before meeting up with T and Kathryn for dinner. We hung out in the Imp having coffee when the storm and rain began and I told C this was my favourite thing to do – sit in a funky cafe, drinking coffee (I had hot chocolate) and listen to a storm outside. Then we headed off to browse Crow Books which was our meeting place and I declared book buying/browsing in a bookstore, listening to a thunderstorm outside my favourite thing to do. You see the pattern. Anyway, I picked up some books, we bumped into T there and then we headed to Cinnamon for dinner. We had a lovely catch up and then it was time to go home. I drove home in that lightning display, into it, actually. And it was spectacular. And then I fell asleep listening to the rain and the thunder. And it’s so rare in Perth now for that kind of weather to last that long that it was just so joyful to listen to it.

And I’ve been working on a bunch of things at Twelfth Planet Press. Some are obvious – the next couple of volumes of the Twelve Planets. I’m loving how Showtime and Through Splintered Walls are shaping up. Showtime has a draft cover but I’ll post that when it’s closer to done. I’m clearing the decks for the novels submission month which kicks off on January 1. And I’m working on a couple of other soon to be announced projects. Today though, I got to announce this upcoming project for 2012:

From Twelfth Planet Press in 2012, comes the next volume in our novella series:

Salvage

by Jason Nahrung

a 40 000 word novella

Beware of the links below to the new website for Cheeky Frawg – you might lose a bit of time as you wander around, lost in the shiny:

Cheeky Frawg Books has launched a new website. Does it sell our ebooks? Yes! But very…cheekily. It’s an interactive and mysterious experience you truly won’t want to miss, in a 180-degree scrollable environment. Free content, hidden treasures, singing fish, the animated Myster Odd video, and, of course, the full catalogue of Cheeky Frawg ebooks, including Amal El-Mohtar’s The Honey Month and the ODD? anthology, featuring Jeffrey Ford, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Amos Tutuola, Hiromi Goto, Nalo Hopkinson, and many more.

Cheeky Frawg specializes in quality, self-aware e-books. We hand-craft every e-book on a letterpress using only the best, most perfectly formed 00000s and 111111s.  Forthcoming titles include the legendary The Encyclopedia of Victoriana by Jess Nevins, It Came From the North: Finnish Weird edited by Jukka Halme and Tero Ykspetäja, Jagganath by Swedish sensation Karin Tidbeck and Don’t Pay Bad for Bad by iconic Nigeria writer Amos Tutuola.

Note: A percentage of direct sales in December will go to aid iconic fantasy editor, artist, and writer Terri Windling, who is suffering from financial woes.

Well, I have a list of things that I want to do in 2012 and I know it’s ambitious. But it does include getting my read on so I thought I might as well throw my hat in the ring and join along the Australian Women Writers 2012 National Year of Reading Challenge.

Objective: This challenge hopes to help counteract the gender bias in reviewing and social media newsfeeds that has continued throughout 2011 by actively promoting the reading and reviewing of a wide range of contemporary Australian women’s writing. (See the page on gender bias for recent discussions.)

Goal: Read and review books written by Australian women writers – hard copies, ebooks and audiobooks, new, borrowed or stumbled upon by book-crossing.

Genre challenges: 
Purist: one genre only
Dabbler: more than one genre
Devoted eclectic: as many genres as you can find
 
Challenge levels:
Stella (read 3 and review at least 2 books)
Miles (read 6 and review at least 3*
Franklin-fantastic (read 10 and review at least 4 books)*
* The higher levels should include at least one substantial length review

So, I’m going to be a Purist and stick to speculative fiction :). And I’m also going to be practical and set myself the Stella Challenge level – 3 books and 2 reviews.

I think it will be a lot of fun and I want to encourage others to participate. There’s also a second part of the challenge WeLovetoRead2 which is also a really worthy challenge. I’m not going to participate in that aspect of it though, due to time constraints.

However, Twelfth Planet Press will be getting behind the campaign and will be offering a 10% discount on our books throughout 2012 which conform to the challenge. Either email us at contact@twelfthplanetpress.com with the link to your challenge post for a discounted invoice or let us know in the instructions for your purchases by including the link to your challenge post. In the meantime, we’re having a sale for December and are offering 20% off almost all of our catalogue.