Stuff That Happens

Recent scribbles

Posted by The Author on 28 Jul, 2011 in Digital Publishing, He Writes, Stuff That Happens | 0 comments

I recently wrote a couple of pieces for The Book Shed and for the Small Press Underground Networking Community (or SPUNC to you and me). I’ve only just noticed that both of them contain the word ‘dead’ in their titles. What’s interesting about that is that I submitted both pieces untitled. The titles were chosen by the published blog editors.

Does that mean anything? Probably not, except that any mention of dead things in discussion of digital publishing will likely make the headline.

L’Odeur des Livres

Posted by The Author on 22 Jun, 2011 in Digital Publishing, Stuff That Happens | 0 comments

I was recently invited to present a soapbox speech at Melbourne’s Wheeler Centre as part of the Emerging Writers’ Festival. So I took the opportunity to berate those who espouse the smell of books as a defence of the printed book.

Needless to say, it wasn’t an entirely serious speech. But, at its core, it does have a serious message: the radical transformation at the heart of publishing presents an opportunity for everyone involved in bookishness: from writers to publishers to readers. Morose pining for an idealised past (that never existed) is not the way to face the necessary challenges.

At least that’s what I think.

Speech at The Reader

Posted by The Author on 19 May, 2011 in Digital Publishing, Stuff That Happens | 0 comments

I recently spoke at The Reader, an if:book Australia symposium on booky/digitally stuff. Hardly surprising that I spoke when I was the one organising it, but still worth a mention since I squeezed a few good riffs on digital publishing cliches via a drinking game.

Chugalug.

Simon Groth from if:book Australia on Vimeo.

Reading at Outspoken

Posted by The Author on 8 Apr, 2011 in Here Today, Stuff That Happens | 0 comments

I will be performing a reading from Here Today at ‘Outspoken’ this Wednesday 13 April at the Maleny Community Centre. I still haven’t quite decided which bit to read, but my inclination is towards a passage with vomiting in it.

Technically I guess I’m the support act for AJ McKinnon. I’ve never done a support slot before.

Tickets are $12 available from the Maleny Bookstore, 2/41 Maple Street Maleny or call 5494 3666.

Head over to the Outspoken web site for more info.

Here it is

Posted by The Author on 3 Apr, 2011 in Here Today, Stuff That Happens | 0 comments

It’s been a long time coming, but Here Today is now available in both print and digital.

The novel was shortlisted in the Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards in the emerging Queensland author category.

Astrid Reinhart is a stand-in therapist seriously out of her depth. Martin Finn, a successful novelist whose stroke has left him with the rare ‘locked-in syndrome’, wants Astrid to help him write his story — one letter at a time. Featuring stories published literary journals, Meanjin, Overland, and Island, Here Today is an affecting and sometime comic reflection on life with an unexpected twist in its tail. Like the stories of its characters, Here Today is a novel that demands to be heard.

Download the novel for your preferred ereader for free or order a print copy for US$17.95 plus postage.

New novel available soon

Posted by The Author on 28 Feb, 2011 in Digital Publishing, He Writes, Here Today, Stuff That Happens | 0 comments

For some time now, I have been working on making download-ready editions of my first novel Here Today. Like the short story collection Saccades, it will be available in multiple formats simultaneously. All digital editions will be free to download and share, published under a Creative Commons licence. The print edition (of which I have a test copy I’m mildly in love with) will be sold at near cost. I’ve tried many different models of digital publishing over the years and I’ve found this to be the one that works best for readers. No shopping cart, no credit cards, just instant fiction. For all those who have downloaded Saccades in such a fashion, I hope you have enjoyed it.

Saccades was really my test case for this novel. The idea was to iron out any kinks and make Here Today as seamless a process as possible. It hasn’t worked out that way. Actually, Here Today has been an incredibly long and arduous process. Where the attitude behind Saccades had a suck-it-and-see approach with cheerful abandon, Here Today has been bogged down in the arduous process of making sure everything is right. I’ve been through about eighteen versions of the cover and obsessed over every instance of italics in the text. And that’s just for the print version. All those ebook editions need a patient hand, especially now I know much more about ereaders and their various eccentricities.

I’ll post more (much more) about Here Today when it’s released at the end of this month.

As my daughter used to say, ‘I’m very exciting!’