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When I came to Singapore this time, I thought it was a long time, but it is going very quickly indeed. I’m in the funnel path to head back to Australia. Technically, the 27th will be my last day as I get up at some incredibly early time to catch a 7.15 am flight on the 28th. Nine days left. My son gets back from his work trip tomorrow, so yay!
I’ve been a bit sick-not sick, sick, just you know a sinus/cold thing that made me pretty miserable, particularly, yesterday. (Neg RATS) (I think it picked it up at the cinema!)Today at least I felt well enough for some gentle exercise in the pool. I think I have trimmed a few kilos during my stay. I have a fatty liver and liver inflammation so I have to lose some weight and change my eating habits. Luckily, Ferdi advises me when we eat out and cooks really lean and less salty food when at home. The last couple of days she has cooked feasts! I shall share photos. Things my daughter-in-law and I planned went on hiatus and maybe we can revive some of those plans. I believe the deluxe hair spa will open up again before I leave.
On the writing front, slow progress compared to normal me. 16,000 words into Amethyst Way with scenes in my head fighting over their placement. A good thing you can select sections and relocate them in a document without too much fuss. If I had more energy I could get back onto restructuring and revising Tainted Lady, but it appears my energy is on holiday somewhere. I still write everyday about 1000 words.
And what did I mean about a funnel? Well, I have one weekend left and my son, some friends work 9-5 so that is the last opportunity to meet people and get together. There is a YumCha lined up for Saturday so that’s excellent.
When I get back to Canberra, I shall be working logistics for my first physical book launch in an age. Years, and years. I am very grateful that Dr Craig Cormick has agreed to launch The Founders’ Legacy.
Now some awesome food photos.
This was dinner, the first day I was pretty incapacitated by a cold/sinus. Ferdi went to get live prawns. We already bought this delicious pineapple. I must mention the soup. Soup is a must.
Next was lunch the day after. We don’t normally have such big lunches, but there were left overs from the above.
The prawn leftovers were mixed with squid, and the egg omelette had snake beans in it.
Then last night!
Steamed egg with tofu, Japanese curry chicken with potatoes and beef ball and broccoli and mixed fruit, including flat peaches that were divine.
Thank you Ferdi. I think we can eat out tonight so you can take a break from looking after me.
In a recent post, I talked about losing Russell Kirkpatrick. Yesterday, I dug up the maps he made for my books over the years.
I remember him telling me to draw a map and on one visit to Australia from NZ I showed him my hand drawn map of Argenterra, of which I was very proud. Of course, it was a bit like the expression his family included in their powerpoint about Russell at the memorial. “That’s terrible. I appreciate the effort.”
Although he may have been a bit more scathing. Lol. (I do really suck at this map thing). He was ‘Mad about Maps’ and I think his Twitter handle was ‘Insane Mapboy’ and you can imagine him seeing my pitiful drawing compared the carefully crafted maps he drew for his books. They were real places to him, everything considered carefully, cause and effect, geography, perfectly envisioned. And there’s me with a map, my head in a story and not really able to imagine and draw the place as well as him. However, he was helpful and liked to instruct.
The map helped me navigate the land in the Silverlands series and he sat with me to talk about naming conventions and how languages changed over time. I had a place called Two Rivers Meet and he said that it would be better as Trivers Meet or something similar. He also talked about some place names and from whose perspective they were named from. It was an incredibly helpful discussion and he also helped me flesh out a few things about the geography. He also prompted me to give the place a few more names so it wasn’t just empty in places. I also had the Lake of Reflections drawn way to big!
This is the map of Argenterra he did for me, based on my drawing but with extensive Russell improvements.
The next set of maps we worked on were Dragon Wine maps, three in total. It wasn’t a matter of just handing him a rough drawing. No, I had to sit with him and learn stuff too. Dragon Wine opens in Shatterwing at the prison vineyard and this is how we envisioned it. It was Russell’s idea to have the vineyard broken into types of grapes and we also had fun naming the rivers and things to fit in with what I had mentioned in the book. This map was included in the Pan Macmillian version of the book but somehow slipped out of my self published version. I’ll be fixing that soon.
The other map pertinent to the first and second books, Shatterwing and Skywatcher, is the map of the Sartell region. They also work for Nightwings and Bloodstorm. It also shows where the prison vineyard is, where the observatory is and Vanden town as well as Sartell. Some of these places are explored in the rest of the series.
For the last two books, I needed a map of the whole world of Margra. As it was post-apocalyptic, after a moon fell, there would be significant changes compared to the past, which is unknown. The map needed to be a sort of pieced together map that identifies past continents, swamped shorelines and maybe even conjecture. Russell did a bit of research on this and also drew on past experience of seeing maps where things were guestimated rather than measured and so on.
So for Skyfire and Moonfall, we have a different map. I love the little note at the bottom saying it was compiled by Nils of Barr. Sitting with Russell to do this was not easy because I had to have the names of all the things I referenced and then explain them to Russell. Some are just mentioned in reference to pre-Shatterwing and are not actually travelled during the story. I think Russell wanted to educate me but I can’t replace him with regards to maps. Some people are just good at visualising. Me not so much.
If I do maps in the future, well not sure how that is going to go. I use sketches of houses and things to navigate and describe but not publish them.
Russell thank you for helping me envisage worlds. You taught me so much but I have a lot to learn still.
My gmail accounts are too full and I’m running out of space. I can’t just do a global delete on terms like Twitter because random stuff gets pulled in. Someone may have their twitter handle in their email signature etc. So it’s a manual process.
It was funny as I was deleting all these notifications. Why did I have them turned on in the first place? I think after a number of years I did turn them off. But going through that old stuff, from way back in 2012 and maybe earlier, brought back memories. There was a Conflux that Nicole R Murphy and I ran and all the old emails for that. Twitter because I used to love that place and it got me thinking how I left because Elon ‘turned the evil and joined the dark side.’ Those people who I loved connecting with but now don’t at all.
And that got me thinking about Doctorow’s Enshitification theory and then my brain went into a feedback loop. Companies and people making super profits is just way wrong. Consider, I have bought maybe a dozen copies of Microsoft Office over the years. They used to be stand alone one off purchase and then I could never find the disc with the code or I’d buy a new computer and just get it loaded. I had Adobe Creative Cloud stuff and that stopped working and next time it was a monthly rental fee, way more than I ever earn that would pay for it. And now I pay a yearly fee Microsoft Office for something I bought over and over again. Loyally and legally. Microsoft are making huge profits so why am I paying still?
Okay so I’m stupid maybe but why?
Why isn’t it a token amount? They still get a profit but it is not exploitative profit. Same with banks and all of them, really. They just want more profit, more money and it’s accumulating in too few people.
There was an uproar on Threads recently because Canva is moving stuff to a professional level and has also changed the QR codes that were available on the free version. To be honest I hadn’t twigged when I did a recent back of QR coded bookmarks. It had a little c in the centre and I looked but didn’t see if you know what I mean. I suppose this means if I don’t keep up my subscription the QRs won’t work. And I use that subscription maybe once every few months so not really worth the $20 for me. I’m not very arty.
This rent I’m paying for these things and will probably soon pay for everything is crazy. Soon I’ll have to stop having things because I’m retired now and on limited income. Somethings are optional, like streaming. Britbox, for example, put up their fee by 50% this year so I’m going to unsubscribe because at the same time they were offering a cheaper price for new sign ons. I feel I have to watch Britbox because I paid so much for it. However, I don’t have to watch. I’d rather by physical media anyhow. I stick with Netflix because they were forerunners but I am spending too much on them so really need to adjust my plan.
But things like email and stuff like that well aren’t as optional. Iinet, for example, who I have been with since it was Ozemail, decided they didn’t want to do email anymore. They peeled that off to the Messaging Company, who you ended up having to pay for something that you already had included in your price. Then that price doubled the next year with the new mob and I closed my iinet email account. It was a huge job to change it and annoying but I felt it wasn’t fair.
Which reminds me I must quit iinet for my nbn, too. because hey that whole we aren’t doing email anymore thing sucked and I’m angry and no longer loyal. I’ll be looking for better price and better service elsewhere.
Life is not all about money. There used to be such things as social good, community, the greater good, public good and so on. Why does everything seem to be all about money and power? I feel trapped in some future dystopian SF novel but it’s reality.
I’m currently in Singapore. I don’t consider myself poor but I’m definitely not rich. And all the designer stuff I see, I wonder who can afford that stuff and why? It blows my mind, really.
Then there is AI and accusations about people using it, people using it and lying about it and so on. Before I retired, the department wanted people to use AI to write emails, read reports and so on. I don’t think an AI has my life experience to pick up things that I would if I read and analysed a report. And if AI wrote all my emails, where am I in this? I tell it what to write. But then I sound like an AI wrote my email.
As I was going through my emails and deleting old Twitter, Ebay and other notifications I saw all my drafts of books that I’ve sent myself over the years. I’m not deleting them because I might need them one day when someone claims AI wrote my books. AI companies used my books to train their agents btw without any compensation or permission. So at least I have the evidence that I wrote them, some of the attachments have very crappy drafts that don’t reflect my final product but they do have the dates.
For creative arts, like writing, composing, scriptwriting and art and illustration, I firmly believe you don’t need AI to write for you and I think using it for cover art is a kind of theft from the real artists. I also have views about AI translations and audio books. I saw some people on a book group I am in talking about massive profits from AI translations. I wondered why if they made so much money why they couldn’t pay a real person to translate for them. A thought I did not voice. I also saw one that will clone your own voice to read your audio book. I know my reading sucks but I’d rather read my own than artificially appear more articulate than I am. Also, reading your own work has value. You find typos and you learn some of your sentences and word usages are too complicated to read. Lol.
For finding information, for repetitive tasks sure why not? But the energy AI data centres consume and the water? Do we really need that drain on resources? AI is going to take jobs, I know. Technology has been taking jobs for maybe 150 years. I remember the huge stagflation (high inflation and high unemployment) in Australia in the 1970s with the oil shock and the advent of computers. In those days it was punch cards at the stock exchange, for example, that I had direct experience with but eventually years later the trading floor was not full of humans anymore and trading is now done through a computer system.
Right now we are in a oil shock and a technology shift. I don’t think we have had the full impact yet. We have protectionism, tariffs used as weapons, as well. We have crazy international stuff going down. If I was a doomsayer, and believe me I have those tendencies, I would say we are in for a rocky ride.
Stop the ride! I wanna get off now.
PS now back to writing fantasy to escape all this nasty reality.
PSS I bought a book and have been doing some research and this has fueled ideas. I’m happy about that.
I should be hard at work on Amethyst Way this morning. I’m up to 7,000 words but I realised last night that I need to understand Milly better and spend a bit of time with her before I head off into the action. So I need to write another chapter before I kick off the mystery bit. As much as I love Jemima I want the billing to feature Milly in equal parts. I also want to have fun with the narrative. So while I’m lining up my thoughts, I figured a blog post might help.
I’m in the apartment alone for most of the day. I was, too, yesterday but I wrote quite a bit, read, blogged and napped. I’ve done my pool walk and had breakfast. The headline news this morning is that the fancy robot vac has stopped just after starting. I don’t know what’s wrong with it as it speaks Mandarin and talks like an anime character. I love the sound of it. Last week, I was in my room and the robo vac came in and started talking to me in English, but that was my son using the onboard camera and mic. We had good laugh. Anyway, I tried restarting it a few times and it just stops. It is probably something simple but I’ll wait until Ferdi comes back.
If I get bored today I will go out even if its just for the exercise. A round trip on the metro is about 5000 steps! Mostly in airconditioning mind you, so very, very civilised. I weighed myself this morning and despite my exercise and a change in diet where I think I eat less every day, I have probably only toned up and lost a kilo. This is better than gaining weight, which I normally do while I travel.
Also in the apartment is an automated cat litter. I have one at home but not this fancy. This one bags up the doo doo and the used litter and puts into bags, which are stored in a tower. Every few days you empty the pile of bags and there’s no smell. Very high tech. I wonder if they will have something invented for me when I can’t use the loo when I’m old (cough older). I have no idea of the cost of this contraptions. It’s a Petkit so Chinese invented and made.
Another reason that I’m procrastaposting is that I need to do some research. I borrowed some books but I left them at home. Research is good for accuracy but also for inspiration. Now I’ll probably end up restructuring the beginning of my draft, which is something I normally frown upon because I should just keep going and get the draft down and that works generally. However, I don’t feel pressed for time so I’m going to sort it out before I move forward.
In other general news, I received a rejection from an agent I subbed to in February this year, who had a time frame of 8-10 weeks. I reckon I was the victim of a clean out. Ooh I forgot to reject that one. Six months. At least, they wrote to me. Often these days it is forget after 6 weeks or something. I think agents are good to have for traditional publishing but they are a bastard to get.
The editing/writing assistant has just arrived so it must be time for serious work.
A local author friend alerted me to a Singapore Speculative Fiction Event at the Book Bar, in Outram Park (actually it is close to Maxwell MRT). So I booked a free ticket and headed over on Friday last. The event was called Home, Truly & Beyond and featured Elaine Boey, Megan Chee and Joyce Chng with moderator Meihan Boey (fangirl squee!).
Duxton Road walking down from the Maxwell MRT station was a lovely experience. There are a mass of old ‘shophouses’ which are now fancy restaurants and exclusive bars.
I discovered a bookstore, called Littered with Books. Great name. I was early so went in to check it out. Bought a special book and then headed out. Littered with Books has lots of books, a lot of international SF and fantasy among the usual collection. The Book Bar was something else all together. It was full of South East Asian books and Singapore books and had a little bar, with food at reasonable prices. I did a quick survey of the books and bought my first round It was all set up for the talk too. I grabbed a drink and found a seat.
The view walking up/down Duxton Road.
Meihan talked about why she had organised this talk because while some Singapore writers were known outside Singapore they were sort of overlooked at home. The three writers talked about how they got published, when they started writing, the complexities of being Singaporean and trying to be noticed, particularly with agents and publishers. They talked about crickets when writing to agents. What a great term for the awful experience of querying agents and hearing nothing at all.
The picture of pretalk get together as they waited for the audience.
This picture is one of the panel underway.
They also read from various of their books. Elaine’s Small Bites had me drooling. It’s a body horror collection I believe but the food descriptions were so precise and real. Which is available for preorder. Next on my to do list along with ordering Megan Chee’s Archaeology of Falling Worlds. I bought Wolf Path by Joyce Chng and will do a little review below.
A picture of my book haul.
As for Meihan Boey, I have read her Miss Cassidy Trilogy, having bought them on previous visits. Recommended by my friend Dev J. They are now published internationally and you should definitely read them. So good. A blend of Victorian capitalism and Singapore blend of culture, myths and legends with a splash Scottish faerie.
The Wolf’s Path by Joyce Chng
The Wolf’s Path has made the British Fantasy Awards Shortlist for best collection and I can see why. It is part memoir and part story collection from older stories to newer ones. I find it quite intriguing as many of the fears and concerns Joyce writes about echo in me. Apocalypse, post-apocalyse, war, belonging, gender, aging. I am three quarters of the way through the collection. Joyce has a unique voice and at times uses lyrical prose. One story in particular stood out for me. “A Basketful of Figs”, featuring a fig tree in a courtyard, a symbol of permanence and also food. In the far future, families of Chinese immigrants return to China as ‘returnees’ after generations living in South East Asia. War comes and Joyce’s tale speaks to the impact on her family, her neighbours, distant cousins and even the defenders. I found it a bitter sweet tale. Exquisite even.
Other stories resonate with anger, with questioning, with alien invaders and the sharp strike of talons. Of bravery and difference. Another standout for me was “I found love in an urn full of ashes”–a story flavoured with the essence of myths and legends. I was amused and fascinated by this tale. “Lotus” was poignant, reminding me of the movie Waterworld, but not. It is more reflective on human nature, on greed and the things that make humans fight and I think optimistic after global warming floods most of the world. I loved the detail of the lotus flower, the roots, the seeds. Things I did not know. “Yao Jin” too, spooked me and fascinated me. What is this world that Joyce writes about? Very cool stuff.
Wolf’s Path is published by a US small press and should be available if you order it in or in ebook.
Gentleman Magician is with the editor. Phew! My son and daughter-in-law were away all day Monday until later in the evening so it was my chance to knuckle down and finish writing/revising/reading through the manuscript. I didn’t get the whole thing done until Tuesday morning, but it is done and it is sent at 50,000 words–full of Edward, Fulton and Dr Heaton. Sorry no Jemima!
I had fun with it and it was a challenge. Prequels can be difficult, for sure, because you have to tie into those things you set up on the novels. Also, there is no romance in it…I can’t have Edward being unfaithful to Jemima, even if it is before they get together.
Right now, I’m onto Amethyst Way. Here is the cover! A big thank you to Frauke at Crocodesigns.
It’s early days on the writing front. I have some words down and will get some more in after I have finished blogging. Amethyst Way will feature Milly and Jemima and using some Victorian era cliches– letters to convey information (not the whole book just the set up) and faerie entwined into the story.
Of course, I meant to start this two weeks ago but with The Founders’ Legacy autocorrect debacle, which delayed me finishing Gentleman Magician, I am about two weeks behind on Amethyst Way. And technically I was meant to write another novel about Jemima’s father and mother, which had to be skipped for now.
I’m so excited to be writing this story. My sister-in-law, who is a big fan of the Cry Havoc series, said she’d love a story about Milly and as The Prudential Light was Aunt Prudence’s memoir and Amber Rose was about Fulton, it seemed only fair to focus on Milly. Of course, that suggestion gave me ideas!
I am hoping to have Gentleman Magician in print before Books and Beyond on 27 September in Ourimbah. I think my chances are good. I will definitely have copies for all the October events, Conflux, Once Upon a Fairytale, the Goulburn Steampunk Festival and Books in Sight event in Canberra.
Anyway, I’m so excited.
Tonight we are eating out near Orchard Road I think because we are seeing The Odyssey in one of the Singapore Imax theatres. I haven’t ventured out in recent days, except for the pool, which is downstairs and a few laps of the complex in the evening. This is by choice as I want to write.
I know I’m in Singapore, but apart from a few things I have not done, I’ve seen most touristy things. However, now the busy things are done, I should be able to write in the mornings and explore Singapore in the afternoons, maybe even on my own. I usually go out with my daughter-in-law but you know I am a big girl now. We do have a favourite Japanese grocery store called Don, Don, Donki and will get back there soon.
I am going to a book event at the Book Bar on Friday to see Home, Truly and Beyond: Singapore’s Speculative Fiction Writers. It will feature Joyce Chng, Elaine Boey and Megan Chee with moderator Meihan Boey (I love her books). Me and my phone will find the venue.
My son is going to China and Vietnam for work on Sunday, which is Singapore’s national day. I’m likely to stay at home as we are near one of the major venues and there will be so many people, if the run up events are any indication. My son is away for ten days and that leaves me and my daughter-in-law to hang out by ourselves. My son’s absence couldn’t be helped as work is important. I head back at the end of the month, so I’ll have a final week with my son then. It all seems too quick to me. A day short of five weeks! It sounded like a long time but it’s not really. My daughter-in-law suggests I come for three months next time. Matthew has a permanent invitation, too, but alas the old kitty kat, Gin, does not.
Anyway, that’s it from me at the moment. The Founders’ Legacy is out in the world. The physical book launch will be on Monday 31 August at Smiths in Civic, Canberra. The first book physical book launch in literally years.
Singapore is full of delights. Culinary, in particular, but also cultural. I had an amazing time last year with the 60th anniversary, with the cultural institutions exhibiting early Singapore artifacts that tied directly to the novel I was writing. This year I had a couple of things on my wish list. But, then, something popped up on my Instagram feed, something right up my alley. The Portals Experience. Link here.
Anyway, my son and daughter-in-law liked the idea too, being geeks like me. Portals is in Scots Road, fairly central. What is Portals? Well SF and Fantasy, a whole spectrum of books, book cover art, figurines, dioramas, games, genre discussion. It was truly amazing and I think I needed a season ticket to get the full effect of it. It opens up the whole world of cover art and books. The early SF. The early art. I’m thinking AI is going to kill the future of cover art and I hate that. These covers were amazing, just like the stories were. Amazing and new at the time. The SF, Fantasy and Horror genres reek with creative imagination of the other worldly and it’s not just books and cover art. There are games, game art, figurines, dioramas–whole scenes of imagined worlds. There are archetypes and there is genre growth and evolution and Portals gives more than a glimpse into this.
I thoroughly recommend this event. I asked one of the staff members if the exhibit will travel elsewhere and she thought not. It took the organizer two years to put together and now they will be looking to store the contents when the exhibition ends September 1, I think. So you have all of August to check it out.
The store was amazing too. You could by first edition SF paper backs, art prints (with half the revenue going to the artists), art postcards (same deal) and other geek stuff.
I will share some photos. It is five stars all round. No loos on site so come prepared.
Image 1. Panels of Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazines. There were several panels of different magazines on display.
Image 2 An example of a panel with book, game and figurine and artwork Warcraft
Image 3 Examples of book displays in the first room
Image 4 Film, artifacts and book Planet of the Apes
Image 4 Examples of early SF books
Image 5 An early book that I had not read
Image 6 Figurines–These were done by themes, exploring different cultural origins
Image 7 Eastern tradition
Image 8 Greek inspired figurines
Image 9
Image 10 Map
A short clip of Atlantis Diorama
And a short clip of one of my favorite parts- The book slider loop thing
Obviously I have way more photos and video but this is just a taste. You should get along to see if if in Singapore and if you are heading to Singapore soon, check it out.
Also, we went to Alice Boulangerie and Restaurant. I had an amazing burger. I couldn’t have the prawn pasta or the lobster pasta because they put fish roe in there. (I needed to google the ingredients). Amazing pastries in the display too. Great service.
Otherwise I have stayed at home and worked on book stuff. Like all day. On the weekend we are booked for the Ginger Lily High Tea at the Hilton in Orchard. Stay tuned.
I have been putting this post off for a while. At first the grief was too raw. Then it was too hard to bear so shutting it away where I couldn’t see it or feel it seemed a better option.
It’s been nearly a month since he passed. I can’t believe it has been that long or that time passed so quickly.
I first met Russell on line. Back in the day, Harper Collins Voyager had a online bulletin board, cutely named the ‘Purple Zone’ and there readers could interact with authors, well those that chose to hang out. It was moderated by F8, who is still knocking around somewhere. The purple zone was one of the places where I let people now about Conflux in 2004, the Australian National Science Fiction Convention that was held in Canberra that I was chair of. A number of the people on there became friends in real life. Obviously Russell was one of those.
Russell had just had Across the Face of the World published in 2004 and I was heading to NZ for a family trip. I reached out to Russell and we met up in Hamilton. He’d not long moved there from Christchurch and was planning on building a house and was working at the University of Waikato. I mean in those days, you could meet people from the Internet, just saying! Russell, me and my two daughters and younger son met up. We went to Hobbiton. In those days it was a ruin, but there were still some things to see, remains of hobbit holes, the party tree and stories. Russell took us to his favourite fish and chip place in nearby Matamata. And I encouraged him to come to Conflux, offered accommodation etc.
The purple zone was where I met and befriended Glenda Larke as well. I visited her in Malaysia back then.
So Russell came to Conflux and then also started attending writing retreats. First one was Yackandandah, the next Metung and more. In those days, Trudi C and Paul came along, and besties Kylie and Nicole. We also used to chat online in real time in the Harper Collins Voyager hosted chat room, then later when they closed that, on Yahoo chat.
Unbeknownst to me at the time, Kylie and Russell began to correspond and fall in love. At this time, I had started going out with Matthew. Kylie moved to New Zealand to be with Russell. They hosted a writing retreat at this lovely home in Keri Keri and then later moved back to Australia.
I think that’s when we settled into a groove. We had weekend writing retreats, dinners, hung out, talked. Russell was always a good listener and supporter. I remember when I started my Phd, he had doubts but he supported me and listened to me as I raved on about philosophers and writing academically and the challenges of doing a PhD. You really did need to be a self starter. Russell was also a cartographer and did some maps for me for Dragon Wine and Argenterra. He also did a few workshops on maps–showing us weird historical maps, how cultural and religious imperatives governed maps and more. He also was a music buff and did a presentation at one of the Conflux’s on science and music and how music had been optimistic about the future and science and then how it turned negative. Absolutely fascinating. Russell was also mad about Lego and his collection was amazing. I don’t know how he did all the things. For the first while when he moved to Australia, he wasn’t working much but then he got an opportunity to tutor at the University of Canberra and then ended up over the years running courses as that’s what he had trained to do. He excelled at teaching and loved it. He did like to lecture but I loved finding out stuff from him. Anyway, we were buddies and his friendship network grew in Canberra. Nicole M, Shauna, Kim, Cat, Rob, Angie and Ian and lots more. He was loved and respected.
Did I mentioned he liked to lecture! But always in a nice way I thought. He was the font of all knowledge as far as I was concerned. He was also handy and would come to help with things around the house. We even went half in a whipper snipper back in the day when we first bought our places.
The hardest thing was Covid 19. That changed things a lot. Russell had medical anxiety even before then so it was harder to connect with Russell during and after Covid. However, we did, even it if was one lone birthday dinner and cake. In the time he was in Canberra, his son came to live and met his partner and had a kid and Russell became related to Cat and Rob. Lol. I love this. They also grew close too.
I think on Russell and Kylie and their life together and I feel that Russell’s life was enriched and so was Kylie’s. They had good times together. Kylie had the knack of getting people to talk and she definitely had Russell talking about his feelings. They made a beautiful house together, full of warmth and joy. It is Kylie who my thoughts are with the most. All of his closest friends are suffering and mourning him. But Kylie was his partner, the person who knew him best. And Russell would want us all to support her and look after her. Love you, Kylie!
So what happened you might ask. Russell was fit, teaching, cycling, and enjoying life until he had symptoms of pneumonia. He said to me the antibiotics are working and that he was on his second round. The doctor then thought to test for lung cancer. Meanwhile, Russell started feeling unwell, just odd things and Kylie would take him to the ER. Eventually he got admitted after a few visits as things weren’t right. I talked to Russell in the hospital and he was so anxious about his health he could not eat. He had cancer but didn’t know what type. They did a scan and it was in his lungs, liver, spleen, hip etc. I talked to him another day and they had taken him for a brain scan and it was in his brain and that was his worst fear. His intellect was under threat, his life was in the balance. When they sequenced the biopsy, it was melanoma. He was slated for immunotherapy and there was hope.
Meanwhile, I had trouble sleeping. I kept worrying that Russell’s illness was too far gone, that he didn’t have time for treatment. Sadly, this is what happened. I saw him after the first treatment and Russell was laid out by it. He said, the trouble is Donna, the untreated me is not very well. He went back into hospital and then every day more bad news. By 26 June, he was gone. A few short weeks and he was gone. So many tears over his passing.
His mob, his friends, we just needed to be together with other people who understood our loss. We ate New Zealand lollies and toasted Russell with Coke Zero, his drink of choice.
Now as I’m in Singapore, I will miss his memorial. There wasn’t a funeral as was his wish. I loved Russell as a friend and I will miss him. I thought he would be giving the eulogy at my funeral. He was a year younger than me. But life is not fair. Cancer is not fair.
Is there anger? Yes, there is rage against the unfairness of this. Why some people get time to live with cancer, maybe even get into remission. Alas, our friend Russell was not one of these.
I try to imagine that Russell is here somewhere. Not gone. Just elsewhere. It is my coping mechanism. All I could do on the day he died was dedicate The Founders’ Legacy to him as I was launching it on the day he died.
He was a stalwart friend of the keenest mind. I am better for knowing you Russell.
An older photo from when I launched one of his books at a NZ SF convention in Auckland. It was my early days with Matthew and the start of his life with Kylie. So an old photo!
It is going to be 23 degrees C today. It’s mid-Winter and that is batshit crazy. Mind you it’s about 10 degrees in Canberra atm but even that is a bit warm for Canberra at this time of year.
I have retired from my day job (Tuesday) and have come to spread my wings in the big city for a few days as a newly freed woman. Hah! (Mostly to meet people while I have the chance).
Interesting insight into the mind here. I used to think those two days I worked the day job were such an imposition. I worked hard and I was tired after. Now though my brain says…oh two days that’s nothing. You won’t get much work done now you have those two days! You could have kept working and earning $$$. I mean what the hell brain! Don’t be stupid and play around here.
Anyway, now I have to prove my own brain wrong.
I have brought Gentleman Magician with me to start the revision after beta reader feedback. That’s what you do after you launch a book, pick up the next one. The problem I have is that I have a soggy beginning in Gentleman Magician, not surprising as it’s a kind of prequel, a solid middle and a vague, cut off ending. Which means I have a bit of work to do. I did a bit of work on the train up yesterday but right now, obviously as I’m blogging, I’m a bit unfocussed.
I am going to eat lunch out so I am dreaming about Gozleme and whether there is any fresh stuff about…I can’t have any more tea because I have enough caffeine in me that I can’t sit still for five minutes. I will probably excavate my daughter’s cupboard for snacks soon and then complain about my weight. I am nothing if not consistent.
As mentioned, I launched the ebook of The Founders’ Legacy on Tuesday. I am currently planning a physical launch but that may be in early September because I am nicking off to Singapore for five weeks soon and appearing at the Canberra Geek Expo on 18 and 19 July. And I have to arrange for books to be delivered. I tried to book a launch just after Geek Expo before I fly out but the venue is unavailable…so…September. I shall keep you posted.
I am also working on an audio book. Cringe! I hate the sound of my own voice for starters. Also, weird things happen you know. Like one of the characters is called Kai and I have in two separate recordings of chapter one mispronounced the name Kai. And not noticed until I finished the recording for the chapter. The first time I call Kai Kal, which is a mix up with the main character Tal. I thought no problem I’ll just record that bit, snip the recording, delete the offending bit and insert the new bit. But for some very strange reason I am loud and sound very different in the redone recording. I delete the whole chapter and go back to the beginning. It’s all practice right?
The next time when I am editing I noticed I have called Kai “Kate”. Kate! There is no Kate. What the hell is my brain telling my mouth. This time I do a bit of research and can alter the inserted new bit which is loud etc and smooth it in. Not sure I’ll keep it but I did manage to do that using the Audacity envelope tool and manually manipulating the wave form.
Other interesting observations about recording an audio book, beside being exhausting, is stumbling over your own tongue. Yes, the tongue twisting words. There have been a few. One I edited out. The worn brown modular lounge… That does not work in spoken lingo so it changed to “Old brown modular lounge.” Self-congratulatory. Yeah that one. Gez man. Tongue gymnastics there. Preliminary…another twister.
When you record an audio book and you don’t have the stamina, experience and perspicacity, you get tired, your mouth stops working, your lips turn to jelly and your tongue becomes like a piece of disobedient rubber. Blah! Blah! Bleargh!
However, as The Founders’ Legacy uses single pronouns I think it will be more accessible as an audio book so I will perservere.
The only thing I have achieved is an audio book cover so I can’t back out now.
I am sorry I did not write this before when I had pre orders up. I had a sudden bereavement and everything went a bit pear-shaped.
My PhD novel is here.
I have blogged about this before so scroll back. However, I will say that I am currently working on the audio book, which I think it will make it more accessible. Reading a single non-gendered pronoun is hard enough (try writing it) but listening should be better. I shall let you know.
Also, a special introductory price of $2.99 au is in effect until 14 July, 2026 and $1.99 US
Here is the blurb
The Founders created them free and equal.
In the domed habitat of Frequil, sixteen-year-old Tal 455 is now an adult. Like every sihem—a genderless human engineered by the Founders—Tal has been raised to value harmony and the collective good, where every citizen has a place.
When Tal proposes an experiential history machine to explore Frequil’s origins, the ruling council reluctantly approves it under strict supervision. Paired with Gen 456, a certified genius, Tal begins uncovering fragments of the Founders’ world that were never meant to be seen.
Hidden among the archives are stories of men and women living in a society with different rules. Fascinated, Tal and Gen use their machine to experience a forbidden past—and begin questioning everything they have been taught about themselves.
