Muted (R)evolution
A small piece pondering the impact of digital on street press and the music industry generally has been published in the September issue of Meanjin (volume 70, number 3).
You have to knock. If you’re supposed to be there, someone will let you in. The exterior broadcasts little; only a small sign in the window marks the name of the magazine.
‘Hi,’ he says. ‘Come on in.’
Inside, the walls groan with the weight of history hanging from them. Posters old and new jostle for the limited space available: Powderfinger bidding farewell to the world, the Smashing Pumpkins touring their new album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. To the left, a reception desk curves away from me around the corner of the room, overlooking the entire area. No one sits behind it. To the right, stacks of papers line the wall by the front door without any discernible order to them: the reformed Saints here, the Residents there. There’s at least fifteen years of history lying at my feet, almost discarded on the floor.
It’s available in all good bookshops or you can buy a copy online over hereabouts. Go buy it. Go on.
Read MoreNew story published: Polysomnogram
The kind editors at Poor Mojo’s Almanac(k) have once again confirmed their taste and style, choosing to publish my story Polysomnogram in their august electronic pages.
A polysomnogram is a test performed on people with suspected sleeping disorders; in this case narcolepsy.
Polysomnogram is an exploration of the ideas and techniques I would use for my second novel, None of the Other Flies Follow My Crooked Lines. Juggling work and a young family, I found my writing hours relegated to the hours of eleven and three. I suspect stories about sleep disorders were a natural consequence.
Whenever I told people I was working on a story whose main character has narcolepsy, people often assumed I was writing a comedy. Although the story has what I hope are amusing moments, Ryan’s narcolepsy is never played for laughs, though it is a handy device to rely on when your scene runs out of steam and you need a quick transition to the next.
So? What are you waiting for?
Read Polysomnogram (should be a permanent link).
Enjoy the rest of Poor Mojo’s Almanac(k).
Read MoreStay of execution
Following on from the previous post, a new development.
With some amazement I write again to announce that the University, in its wisdom, having let LiNQ almost expire, has now decided that it [should] try to resuscitate the journal. So there will be at least one more issue
My previous rant still stands, by the way, but at least the life support system is still hanging on for that bit longer.
I’ll watch the next few months with some interest.
Read MoreThe Books
