Thought is was time for a few upcomings and incomings. Hope to catch you around the traps at some of the following!

Indooroopilly Library Tuesday 13th August | 6:30 – 7:30pm

Meet Marianne Delacourt: Crime fiction in the Sunshine state. Join local author Marianne de Pierres as she discusses the supernatural crime fiction she writes under the pseudonym Marianne Delacourt. Marianne will delve into the pros and cons of setting a supernatural crime fiction novel in the Sunshine state. Bookings essential.

Brisbane Writer’s Festival – I’ll be moderating a panel discussion between Scott Westerfeld and Max Barry on the Saturday of the festival at 11.30 am.

CrimesceneWA – crime convention in Perth on the 12-13 October. You can read the full (awesome) guest list over at their website.

Australian Webstream Awards – inaugural awards ceremony where I’m presenting Best Writing Award.

And some webby love:

An interview with Portuguese mag Nanozine 9. Slide on through to page 18 and hit Google translate!

Reviewed by Jamie Marriage

It’s difficult to find a more skilled master of context than was Iain Banks. With simple flashes of the pen he was able to sketch out the undercurrents of a myriad of stories within a single narrative.

The main focus of the story is upon Kit, a young man with near-autistic social difficulties, as he copes with his father’s impending death from cancer.

Truly ironic then that The Quarry was published not long after Bank’s own death from cancer, a fitting final testament to a prolific career of incredible works, creating a context that renders the nature of the novel that much more relevant.

Set in rural England in a dilapidated house due for demolition to extend the local stone quarry, the narrative brings together the long-time friends of Guy, Kit’s dying father, in one final reunion before he passes.

The rest of the cast, a varied collection of prominent business people and social misfits, arrive with the intention of not only enjoying the last of the companionship their ill friend can provide, but also to locate a possibly incriminating videotape recorded when the group were young and reckless. Hol, almost a stand-in mother for young Kit, seems to be hiding something important from him. Paul is willing to pay for first access to the mysterious video. Ali and Rob are using the time away to explore their fracturing relationship. Haze is the drug addled beatnik he always was. Pris is anxious about how the group will respond to her younger boyfriend. And Guy is emotionally abusive in the face of his terminal illness.

The story evolves to include each character’s personal stories, providing material that fleshes out the history of the house and its occupants. Revealing tantalising hints of hidden agendas and further stories never to be told.

Throughout the novel there are questions constantly on the verge of being answered. Who is Kit’s real mother? What will happen after his father dies? Could it really be a sex tape that everyone is looking for?

In true Banks Style, the writing is immaculate and imaginative; setting vivid scenes and believable characters. Dialogue is rich and realistic, often humorous or painfully realistic. And the plot moves at the perfect pace for such a novel; fast enough not to get bogged down in detail, but steady enough that every element gets its appropriate print time.

There is not much more that can be said about this wonderful piece that could give it justice without spoiling the pleasure. As the last work of a great man it is one of his greatest; not the galaxy spanning epics of his science-fiction work, nor the satirical or depressing worlds of his literary work, but something more important.

The Quarry is Iain Banks’s final footprint on this earth. It will remind us of what a great man can do, even at the very end.

Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose!

Friday Night Lights has been on my radar for a while, recommended to me by very good friends. Sometimes it takes a while for the time to be right to embark on immersing yourself into a fictional world, and with FNL I’ve been waiting for that prefect moment.

Trusting your unconscious to signal when that right time be has worked pretty well for me in the past. I believe its the intuitive part of the story-telling hindbrain that pops up and says, time to view.

Anyway, this is a long way around saying that I’m glad I waited. Why? I had a sporting related trip to the US in May this year and met a bunch of basketball coaches, went to a heap of colleges, and experienced first-hand the awe of the 80K football stadiums. Coming to this series after those experiences, makes my viewing of this series much more enriched. I totally get it, in a way I just wouldn’t have before. Australia is reknown for being a sport-obsessed nation, but there is a magnitude of belief and culture around sports in the US that doesn’t compare, even to here.

I’ve only watched the best part of two series but I’ve been impressed on SO many levels; the acting, the script, the story arcs, the delicate balance between heartbreak and joy. I believe some of the power in the story comes from the way it’s delivered. The show’s wiki states that the whole thing was filmed without blocking and rehearsal, so there’s a lot of hand-held follow around filiming and raw ad-libbing. The actors were encouraged to use their initiative. The EP’s quoted as saying, “no rehearsal, no blocking, just three cameras and we shoot.”

Deep into series two now, I’m finding only a few tiny instances of straying into melodrama, but many more of intelligent, soulful story-telling and social commentary. I feel terribly connected to all the characters – even Buddy Garrity! If I had to single a couple out, Taylor Kitsch is pretty much to-die-for in the role of bad boy, Tim Riggins, and Kyle Chandler as Coach Eric Taylor is quite superb. Of the female cast, the characters Lyla Garrity, Tyra Collette, Corinna Williams and Tami Taylor worked best for me ( and LOVE LOVE LOVE Lorraine “Grandma” Saracen).

The anatomy of Eric and Tami’s marriage with the arrival of a new baby and their separation due to work commitments is beautifully portrayed, as is the Jason (6) Street’s journey from athlete to quadraplegic, Smash, Saracen and Riggin’s different struggles into manhood and Tyra’s desperate attempt to break the family mold. So much is going on in this show and its organic feel contributes to creating the illusion that you’re listening and watching and being a part of your own friends and family’s lives.

Not sure if it was my own personal experiences with sport, but the game scenes NEVER failed to give me goose pimples. What makes me sad is that it didn’t reach a wider audience – as it seems viewers were put off by a notion that this was a story about football, when in fact it’s a complex narrative about how our choices define us.

Love it and trying not to watch it too fast!