(My latest newsletter just went out – here it is)
This business, man, I tell you…
I know I’m in a position many would murder their granny for. I’ve worked my arse off at this gig but I recognise I’ve been lucky too. Anyone who denies the role of luck in publishing is ignorant or lying to you. Even then, it’s so hard to make a living doing this that turning anything down seems ridiculous. But I had to do just that recently. I got a query from a big Russian publisher asking after foreign rights for one of my books. Translation is a great passive income usually – the book’s already written and out there, you just get paid for it again. Brilliant! But I need to keep my ethics intact. I had to say to the publisher that while I recognise it’s utterly beyond their control, I can’t in good conscience do business with Russia while the war with Ukraine is still happening. We have to draw lines. We have to stand up for what we believe it, or we’re just paying it lip service. It’s easy to be ethical in word, but often much harder in deed.
This publisher and all its staff may well completely disagree with the war too, and there’s certainly nothing they can do about it. (Or they may agree with it and I’ve blown my chances of ever working with that publisher. Who knows?) I tried to be as polite as possible and said I really hope we can pick up the conversation again when the war is over, but who knows if that’ll ever happen? Anyway, I’m sore about it because I needed to do the right thing, but turning down money is brutal when I’ve got the bills stacking up.
Ho hum, ever onwards!
You may have noticed that I recently lost a couple of Aurealis Awards. I bet you’re glad you opened this rainbows and fucking unicorns newsletter, right? I think it’s important to make people aware that it’s not all successes in this gig. It’s mostly misses and disappointments with the occasional success. BUT! While I would have loved to win one or both of those awards, and I’m a bit gutted that I didn’t, I was still shortlisted. That’s no small achievement and I’m stoked to have been a finalist. I’ve actually only ever won once at the Aurealis Awards (for The Gulp) but I’ve been a finalist 13 times now. That’s fucking epic!
You know what else is epic? The book you see below! Twisted Retreat are a book box company who make these amazing limited edition hardcovers and they picked Sallow Bend for May. You see, there’s a serious win right there. The photos are stills grabbed from ohitsme doing a YouTube unboxing. There are still a few copies of the book available (no boxes left) and you can grab one right here. I don’t think there’s many, so be quick if you want one. I can’t wait to see it for real, I’m still waiting on my copy.
What else is new? Well, I’m directing the WritingNSW Speculative Fiction Festival which is happening on June 24th, so if you’re anywhere near Sydney that would be an awesome thing to get along to. You can get tickets here. And the next day, a whole bunch of amazing authors will be gathered at Galaxy Bookshop in the Sydney CBD for a big old group chat and signing. Seriously, look at these names! (And apparently I’m charming! *preens*)
I don’t have much else to talk about this time around, so let’s get to
What I’ve Been Enjoying
On the reading front, Cemetery Dance Publications asked me to blurb the forthcoming A Red Winter in the West by C S Humble. This is book two of The Survivors Trilogy. Book one is The Massacre at Yellow Hill. As I hadn’t read that one yet, I asked CD to send me both and I’ve recently read them. I mentioned last time that I’d read and enjoyed the first one. Book two is even better. They’re superb horror westerns mixing up cosmic horror and monster hunters and stuff. Humble is a great writer, so I recommend getting these. Book three, The Light of a Black Star, is out in November, I think.
When it comes to watching stuff, I mentioned before that I’ve been bingeing Breaking Bad. (I know, I’m like a decade behind, they’re all using flip phones and shit.) But holy hell, is this good television. I’m just the first couple of episodes in to season 5 now, so no spoilers, please. I’m still bloody loving it. The end of season 4 was wild.
We’re also watching Wednesday on Netflix. I’ve already watched it and really enjoyed it, but my 9yo was keen to see it as apparently everyone at school is talking about it. I wondered if 9 was maybe a bit too young, but all seems to be going well so far!
On the work front, last time I was talking about stepping back and taking a rest, which I did and felt much better for. I also mentioned that next on my agenda was a short story commission. Well, that’s written now and sent to the editor, so I really hope they enjoy that. And now I’m back to work on the small town horror novel I put aside last year. It’s about one third written at this point and I read over it yesterday and I really like it. I also have a much better idea now about where I’m going with it. It’ll fun to see where that leads. Once I get this newsletter sent off, I’ll grab a bite to eat then get right onto that. So I’d better stop fucking around.
Keep in touch with comments here or elsewhere on social media, I enjoy hearing from folks.
Hot respect, my good fiends.
Al