Well, cheers, dear friends.

Thank you all so much for your uplifting words, though my logoseremoty ( log-o-serr-EM-o-tee, "word-emptiness", "word-desertedness" - just made that up to keep my hand in, woot!), my spirits are genuinely lifted. Indeed, as you can see you have [provoked me to play once again with words I so love. Thank you for your care.

And to show that not all is mired in the Slough of Despond, I now present to you some post-MBT/TFT (= The Foundling's Tale) doodlings for your delectation.

(WARNING: This is pretty nerdy, rivet-counting stuff, but that's where I am a Viking so there I shall - and do - go...)

The first is the plan of a vessel I hope to write about soon.

The next are some mottle and harness diagrams of various states within the Haacobin empire and some realms without too (these are but a sample of a much larger work where I am attempting to fathom the appearance of as many states/realms as I can).

Where are my words...?!

Dear All,

My words are gone and I don't know where to find them... As an example, I needed my thesaurus for this post, but could not immediately find it. That has never happened before - I always know where my thesaurus is at. Exhibit b/- I have hardly touched my notebook: last year I filled two, yet as this year as it ticks on to it's end, I have barely made it a 5th of the way into one.

What is going on...?

And here was me thinking I had "made it", that I would be immune to such "humanness". Ack!

How does a writer get his words back?

Tell what does make me happy though, knowing that Factotum is already beginning to make its way to you all. Now we get to find out if I can really pull off an entire story or not, which was, during the process of the last 6 years, of real concern to me...

Still is :/

Is it just me or do seconds take forever to pass; weeks can flash by, but seconds seem to plod along with nigh tauntingly ponderous - even reluctant - leadenness.

Next!... or: where'd he go?

One would think that after setting off on an exciting journey half way across the world's smallest continent/largest island to attend WorldCon 68/AussieCon 4, that a certain person who for today's purposes shall remain nameless, might return to immediately post an enthusiastic rant about how much fun it was, how baffling it was, how great it was to be taken care of by Chris and Ed and Dim and Brie and all the writers of the (what I have dubbed them) Melbourne Writers Conventicle; what a delight it was to meet one determined E.K. Vollmer all the way from a town called (would you believe it) Sebastipole!; how cool it was to receive encouragement and honest critique from Kit (and by extension Patience St.James - there are two Herbroulesse in the Sundergird: the one we find in Lamplighter was named after the much older one you find on the "BIG" map, honest); how exciting and rewarding each panel - with such lights as Kate Forsyth, Shaun Tan, Ian Irvine, Juliet Marillier, Lara Morgan, Richard Harland, Russell Kirkpatrick, to name(drop) only some - I was on actually was... but apparently no.

Apparently said nameless soul has waited 2 - maybe even 3! - weeks to post something.

Why is that? you may not actually be asking yourself (if indeed you are still even visiting this barely-a-blog).

Well, not sure actually: I think maybe it is a great tumbling collapsing relief that after so long above person has actually produced what they were tasked to produce (both by their original publisher and ultimately by themselves); also it is the great wilderness that it seems often comes after a writer has completed a long project (I cite here the great talent, Michael Pryor , who said at the con that, having this very moment finished his own 6(!) book series, he now feels bereft

So here he sits, hiding in his room, playing too many computer games (and thus inviting judgement from all non-gamers), squeezing out a post to you all, actually very excited that MBT Book 3 is almost here. indeed that some folks might even have copies right now and that all the speculation and wait will (I most earnestly hope) be rewarded.

As to those projects mentioned in previous posts, the Next! of this blogs title - well, they are sitting there, waiting to be picked up soon: for, Lord willing, the penner of this post surely want to write more Half-Continent stories, but right now and just for a little bit finds it necessary to let the "field lie fallow" as it were.

As to why I spoke of myself in the third person for much of this post, I do not know either - Jung would have a field day, I am sure... T'was and interesting writing exercise never-the-less: I have been told that this is a good thing for a writer to do after finishing a big work, to write short things, try stuff out, keep your hand in but keep your goals small so you still feel like a writer who can achieve stuff. All very helpful - now it remains for me to put it in to practice...

BTW, you may not have noticed, but I LOVE ellipses...

Aussiecon 4 World Science Fiction Convention

Here we are, the very week Aussiecon 4 is going to happen and I make the great trek to Melbourne to take part (both scared and excited in about equal measure). The Con (as we in the biz call it...) will be running from the 2nd September to the 6th September at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre (link to map of where it is). The Guests of Honour are Hugo-winning author Kim Stanley Robinson, award-winning Melbourne artist Shaun Tan (woot!), and dedicated fan Robin Johnson (just to get your interest, maybe...)

As for me, you can see me fumble my way through various topics of which I am only marginally qualified to fumble through at these days/times:

Thu 1600, Rm 217: Wrought from the very living rock: world building in YA spec fic.
Sat 1500, Rm P3: Behold the wonders! Art, design and the visuals in YA spec fic.
Sun 1100, Rm 210: The series question: big books chopped up or small books glued together?
Sun 1600 Rm 211: Let’s get lyrical: poetry in YA spec fic
Mon 1200 Rm 212: The lure of a good map.

Not sure if this is busy or not. Do know that I am very happy to be involved.

I hope I get to see some of you there; make yourself known to me, it might be awkward, but it would be cool non-the-less :) (They say one of the worst things that can happen to a book is to meet its author - let's test the theory, huh...)

Well look ye here!

This! did arrive on my doorstep this morning!!!


It is finished! Never thought I would see the day of the three spines lined up 1 - 2 - 3.

And so you have continuing proof the Factotum is indeed on its way to you all, that every day is another day closer to official release, that the book is done and will soon be in the process of delivery to you local book-pusher.

An Interview to tide you all over.

We are getting closer and closer to Monster Blood Tattoo Book 3/The Foundling's Tale Book 3 Factotum getting into your hands, but until then I hope this interview at The Enchanted Inkpot will tide folks over (just a little). Thanks to Ellen and her comrades for such great questions.

Oh, and I hope you all will be happy to note that the next Half-Continent book is slowly forming even now...

... and there is a new poll, at last! (just over on the right)

Tropes & ...

Now, in my experience (not necessarily that broad, but there you go), the word "trope" is usually thrown about in a supercilious manner by folks who have themselves never dared to bare their own soul in story to an often unkind world to show how superior they are. In this example, however, over at TV Tropes, the use of the term in so thorough and gleeful a manner has been a revelation, and very helpful to boot! I had no real notion - for example - that MBT was a "world of no grandparents"; this was certainly not intentional but probably reflective of my own real life experience. It is funny how hard it is to fit such things as a granny and/or grandpa into an adventure story - I shall be on the look out for such omissions in future...
That said, neither do I want to include things just because. Either way, thank you TV Tropes, a/ for liking MBT, b/ for helping me see my tale in so succinct a fashion - a great aid to learning this whole writing game.

Speaking of which, I have begun what will , Lord willing, be the next Half-Continent story, and this in turn raises an interesting dilemma:

...Along with the change of the series name in the US from Monster-Blood Tattoo to Tales from the Half-Continent and the (Oh, I surely hope so!) creation of more H-c tales, what on earth do I change the name of this blog to?

Oh, and cheers very much for your comments last post - has anyone got their hands on a copy of Corsers' Hinge (as found in The Legends of Australian Fantasy) yet?

... and happy new financial year.

Legends of Australian Fantasy

For all of you wanting/needing a bit of Half-Continent action as we wait for October/ November/ some time not toooooo far away, Legends of Australian Fantasy has hit the shelves and it has a story of mine in it, a whole new non-Rossamünd, Half-Continent story of 90 pages long! If you can not tell, I am very excited...

Unfortunately it is currently only an Australian release, but we hope to reach the world with it soon.

Rossamünd Married?! ... or, Questions Answer'd #120302

Actually I have no idea what number of "question answering" this is, but, you know, just having fun...

Alyosha asked a little while back why there seem to be few/no married folks in the MBTs, and I have to admit myself a tad perplexed by this. I too have realised such a (Freudian?) anomaly, and can only think that it is for the same adolescent reason that many spec fic novels deal mostly with the filially/conjugally unattached - it is simpler; no ties, no needed to refer back home to sooth anxious loved ones, just freedom to go and do and be as the adventure proceeds. Having said, I have quite pointedly had Rossamünd writing and "keeping in touch" with Verline, and refer in his thoughts to her and Frans and Pin, have tried (after committing the cliche of all cliches by making him an orphan) to give him filial connections that require tending - for I see Verline and the two one-time foundlingery masters as an ersatz family to our little adventurer.

... Maybe the non-married thing is a product of my own un-married state at the time of beginning MBT (a state happily reversed at this present time!), or the desire that I think many men of Western culture possess/have inherited: to do their growing on their own - but that is a whole can-o'-worms [TM] that I do not want to open here...

After all this, I am hoping/endeavouring to have a main character (yes, at least 1!) who is attached in the matrimonial way, though whether said attachment comes along for the ride is another matter. Anyone have thoughts on this?

An Annony Mouse was wondering: "Will the movie be filmed in Australia?"

To that my answer is unfortunately at this stage brief - I do not know. You all will be among the earliest to know when I do (my wife, close friends etc will probably get to know first, but after that it will be you.... at least that is my intent!)

chana was wondering: "How old is Rossamünd?It's been bugging me incessantly for quite a while now. Since Threnody must be at least fourteen, that would mean Rossamünd would be twelve/thirteen years old? It makes it just a little hard to relate to him."

Well, I have always found the "fact" of his age a slippery one, but for me it floats around 12ish - remembering of course, that he is small for his age. It is a bit odd I suppose that I should be a little hazy on his years, but the fact of his own "entry" into the world are hazy themselves. I hope this makes him a tad easier to know...

Oh, and me, as to that "something more to the olfactory presence of MBT books", is is I who make that happen, sitting in my lounge room with a crate of bottles of specially made book-cologne spraying every page - it is why you have to wait so long for them to come out; I actually finished writing the MBTs years ago, it is the spraying of this literary perfume that takes the time *looks sadly at tired cologne-spraying finger*.

Factotum typeset and ready to go! ...or... Still around!

Hey folks, a bit of an internet blackout period for me or what!

Great news, having just done the last tweaks on the typeset pages the text for Monster-Blood Tattoo/Foundling's Tale Book 3, Factotum is very very soon for the printers! (You've all had to wait so long I thought every little bit of information might help the wait...)

Some questions/points in last post needing to be answered, as I have to shoot off now I will just say of my intention to endeavour to get to them tomorrow.