galactichat

Galactic Chat 14: Trudi Canavan

Sean interviews Australian and International Best Selling Fantasy novelist,  Trudi Canavan.  They discuss her new book, The Traitor Queen, the response to Gay relationships in her fiction and differences in the perceptions of fantasy writing between Australia and Poland.  Trudi candidly reveals that even being a best selling novelist, she still gets nervous with the release of each book. Trudi can be found at her website and  on Twitter

From Continuum 8

Where Are All The Wonder Women? There's no shortage of female superheroes (or villains!) but few have attained the iconic status of, say, Wonder Woman. Why is this? Which characters deserve better? A discussion of female representation in comics. This panel was recorded at Continuum 8, the National Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention, in Melbourne, on 10 June 2012. Panellists: Russell Blackford, Alice Clarke, Tansy Rayner Roberts and Grant Watson. Reproduced with permission of those involved.

Galactic Chat 13: Deborah Kalin

Sean interviews Australian Novelist  Deborah Kalin. They discuss her Binding Duology and her latest project, an as yet unnamed title from the Twelve Planets Series.  Deborah also talks about her experiences at Clarion South and how the workshop was of fundamental importance to her career.  The "dominance"by women of Australian fantasy gets a mention and they talk about the single mould approach to strong female characters.

Deborah can be found at her website and  on Twitter.

Galactic Chat 12: Kate Forsyth

Sean interviews best selling and award-winning author of more than twenty books, Kate Forsyth,. They discuss Kate's latest book Bitter Greens - a wonderful book mixing the historical with the fantastic.  A retelling of the Rapunzel story, Bitter Greens gives life to the memory of Charlotte-rose de la Force, Rapunzel's original author, who has until now been largely lost to history.  The discussion also covers the sanitizing of fairy tales for modern audiences and the resurgence of the original darker tales.

Kate can be found at her website and sometimes on Twitter.

Galactic Chat 11: Helen Lowe

Sean interviews  New Zealand author Helen Lowe. It's a lengthy conversational interview in which they discuss Helen's career as both an award winning YA novelist and epic fantasy author, the influence of Lord of the Rings on speculative fiction writing scene in New Zealand and the effects of the Christchurch earthquakes.

Helen is launching the second book in the acclaimed Wall of Night Series,  hosting blog parties and guest posting on a number of well known sites like SF Signal.  She can be found at her blog or on Twitter.

Galactic Chat 10: Claire Corbett

Sean interviews debut novelist Claire Corbett, author of When We Have Wings. They discuss Claire's novel, what the future holds for Australia and finish with a discussion on state of women's writing in Australia. Claire has had essays and short stories appearing in a range of publications including: Rolling Stone, Cinema Papers, Picador New Writing, and others. She can be found online at her website and on Twitter. As mentioned in the interview as part of celebrating International Womens Day, Kirsten Tranter, Tara Moss and Claire Corbett, with blogger Elizabeth Lhuede, will be holding a discussion sponsored by The Stella Prize. Where: The Carrington Hotel Ballroom, 15-47 Katoomba Rd, Katoomba When: 6 – 7:30 pm, Thursday March 8. Cost: FREE. All welcome. Please RSVP. To reserve a place, or for more information, email Kirsten Tranter kirsten AT kirstentranter.com

Galactic Chat 09: Ian Irvine

Sean interviews Australian fantasy author Ian Irvine, a genre veteran of 27 novels and an international best seller.  Sean queries Ian about his new book,Vengeance coming out in November.  They also discuss the change wrought in the publishing industry by the roll out of low cost ereaders and the rise of self publishing.

By the time this podcast goes to air, Ian will have attended the  Armageddon expo in Melbourne, but if you're in Brisbane on Supanova weekend he will be in attendance for book signings and a chat.

Ian can be found online at his website, blog, Facebook and Twitter.

Note: Do to the technical issues some of the interview questions had to be edited in after the fact.

Galactic Chat 08: Ben Peek

Alisa interviews Ben Peek, a Sydney based author. Ben has had two novels published. The first was an autobiography called Twenty-Six Lies/One Truth, and was published by Wheatland Press, and illustrated by Anna Brown. His second novel was a dystopian novel called Black Sheep. He has a body of short fiction work which has appeared in collections like Polyphony, Agog!, Forever Shores, and magazines such as Aurealis, Fantasy Magazine, Phantom, and Lone Star Stories. Earlier this year his novella Below was published by Twelfth Planet Press in the novella double Above/Below. Ben Peek can be found online at www.benpeek.com and on Twitter @nosubstance.

Galactic Chat 07: Kelley Armstrong

Kelley Armstrong is an International Bestselling author from Ontario, Canada. Her first novel Bitten, released in 2001, spawned the “Women of the Otherworld” Series, now at 12 novels with the release of Spellbound. If you’re looking for sparkly vampires and chaste heroines, look away- Armstrong’s universe is more True Blood than Twilight. A prolific author she has also expanded into Teen Paranormal fiction and Crime. Our roving reporter Sean, caught up with her as she toured Australia. Kelley can be found online at http://www.kelleyarmstrong.com and on Twitter as @KelleyArmstrong

Galactic Chat 06: Deborah Biancotti

Deborah Biancotti is a writer based in inner-city Sydney, Australia. Her first published story won an Aurealis Award and her first collection, A BOOK OF ENDINGS, was shortlisted for the 2010 William L. Crawford Award for Best First Fantasy Book. Her short fiction has won the Aurealis, the DITMAR and the Australian Shadows Awards. Deborah can be found online at http://deborahb.livejournal.com and http://deborahbiancotti.net, as well as on Twitter as @deborah_b.