Bec Stafford

Bec Stafford has a Masters of Philosophy from the University of Queensland. She blogs and interviews for the Escape Club and The Spotlight Report.

As a long-time music journo, band manager, label owner, and author, Stuart Coupe is able to talk about the Australian music industry with more than a little authority. He’s not only a well-informed raconteur, but a man who demonstrates great affection for the industry and its players, both major and minor. Writing a biography, albeit unauthorised, about Michael Gudinski can’t be an easy task; Gudinski’s towering personality and legendary career may be compelling in themselves, but he’s notoriously prickly when it comes to granting interviews or having copy written about him without his personal sanction. Ultimately, Coupe is among a selection of writers who can lay claim to not only having an intimate understanding of Gudinski’s career, but also to having known the man personally.

Gudinksi is a fascinating, exhilarating tour through the wild, impassioned career of Australia’s most influential music mogul. From his early days, back when he was an ambitious teen organising dances in halls across suburban Melbourne, to Consolidated Rock and the halcyon days of early Aussie pub rock, all the way through to his creation of the imposing forces of Premier Artists, Mushroom, and Frontier Touring, Gudinski is an unstoppable force, virtually unmatched in the Australian music landscape.

Depicted as a wild, inspired maverick as much as a shrewd and aggressively competitive businessman, Gudinski is also presented as what he’s also been at his core all along: a passionate music fan who loves nothing more than revelling in the energy surrounding the creative artists he so tirelessly promotes. Coupe recounts some hairy encounters that he and others have had with Gudinski: screaming phone calls, feverish rants delivered from office desktops, champagne flutes hurled against boardroom walls, dismissals, relentless outmanoeuvring and outgunning.

We are given unique insight into his long-standing friendships and associations with other industry personalities, including the indomitable Molly Meldrum, Barnsey, Michael Chugg, and Rupert Murdoch. And we are told, in a frenetic, thrilling storytelling style, of the heart-stopping and often stressful realities behind some notorious events: the nail-biting postponement of the Stones’ 14 On Fire tour; the logistics behind the doomed Alternative Nation; damage control during a Madonna visit; the inspired decision to sign Skyhooks, Split Enz, Paul Kelly, and Kylie. This book is a must for music lovers and anyone seeking an action-packed, electrifying glimpse into the life and times of one of the most energetic, extraordinary and important figures in the history of the Australian music industry.

Gudinksi: The Godfather of Australian Rock ‘n’ Roll – by Stuart Coupe

Bec Stafford

326 pages

Hachette Australia

ISBN: 9780733633102

Publication date: 28 Jul 2015

Joelene Pynnonen

Joelene Pynnonen embraces the life of an avid book lover in every way. Her household is ruled cruelly by a wrathful cat; and should a fire ever start it is doubtful that she would make it past the elegant stacks of novels to her room door. At least once a year she coerces her mother into watching the BBC mini-series of Pride and Prejudice with her, and will often follow up by re-reading the book.

 

The planet of Nevermore has been empty – seemingly abandoned by its previously vast population for thousands of years. For Aisha’s archaeologist parents, this is a mystery that needs to be solved – if only they can scrape together the funding for it. Unfortunately, resources for such expeditions are low and, when it looks as though Aisha and her family will be forced to leave Nevermore, Aisha sets off an exploration, hoping to find a treasure worth keeping the expedition funded.

What she does instead is unleash an ancient being, put to sleep six thousand years ago when he became too volatile to manage. Everything about his world has changed since he went to sleep, and all he wants is to find out why. If he is to be loosed on the unsuspecting world, however, Aisha cannot let him go alone.

Khalida is trying to recover from the horrors she has seen and inflicted during her years at war. She’s not doing a particularly good job of it, but when orders come through, calling her back to the precise battle that she had tried to end, she has no choice but to follow. Her niece, Aisha, and Rama, the unbelievably powerful being that Aisha released, are along for the ride – whether Khalida wishes it or not.

As promised in the Kickstarter campaign funding this novel, Forgotten Suns is a rip-roaring adventure in the guise of a space opera. Like any adventure, there is a great journey – though this one spans universes, not just worlds. The world of Forgotten Suns is intricately and tightly woven. Not purely sci-fi, it delves into fantasy at times, seamlessly melding the two genres.

While the mystery at the centre of the story concerns Nevermore, the abandoned planet, and Rama, the ancient being that Aisha awakens, there are other storylines going on that are much more interesting. Khalida’s broken mind and her struggle to keep herself alive, the Psycorps relationship to Military Intelligence, and how it affects the planets they exploit are storylines that are not explored as well as they could be. Much of the issue is that Rama is too powerful for this novel. Any conflict that arises he is too easily able to quash. Psycorps is a genuinely scary organisation and has the potential to be a serious threat, except for Rama’s abilities.

The world of Forgotten Suns is as richly imagined as any space opera should be. Rather than imagining a white-washed future, it delves into a universe diverse in race, sex and sexuality.

Forgotten Suns is a futuristic journey of discovery spanning not only universes but dimensions. Vividly imaginative and almost poetic in metaphorical description, it’s the novel for any aficionado of space opera.

Forgotten Suns – Judith Tarr

Book View Café (April 21, 2015)

ISBN: 9781611384772

Krista McKeeth

Krista McKeeth is a blogger and reviewer from Utah. Visit her website.

Multi-award winning author Aliette de Bodard, brings her story of the War in Heaven to Paris, igniting the City of Light in a fantasy of divine power and deep conspiracy…

In the late twentieth century, the streets of Paris are lined with haunted ruins, the aftermath of a Great War between arcane powers. The Grand Magasins have been reduced to piles of debris, Notre-Dame is a burnt-out shell, and the Seine has turned black with ashes and rubble and the remnants of the spells that tore the city apart. But those that survived still retain their irrepressible appetite for novelty and distraction, and The Great Houses still vie for dominion over France’s once grand capital.

Within the House, three very different people must come together: a naive but powerful Fallen angel; an alchemist with a self-destructive addiction; and a resentful young man wielding spells of unknown origin. They may be Silverspires’ salvation—or the architects of its last, irreversible fall. And if Silverspires falls, so may the city itself.

EDITION Hardcover ISBN 9780451477385 PRICE $26.95 (USD)

The story opens up with a fallen angel being dissected by scavengers. The land is in ruins as a result of the great war, and angel essence is a much sought after drug. Selene, the head of House Silverspires, saves Isabelle and one of the scavengers, Phillipe. Selene can tell there is something different about Phillipe and intends to keep a close eye on him.

Since the war, the houses have never been too friendly, and when events bring the houses to a conference at House of Silverspires, all hell breaks loose. There is a shadow figure on the loose who has been killing people. Betrayals, secrets, revenge and abusive of powers all eventually become part of the storyline, as everybody’s lives, especially those of the House, are in danger.

There is never a dull moment in the story, and the world building was amazingly detailed and hauntingly post-apocalyptic. Phillipe becomes the focus of the story as Selene tries to figure out who he is, and he tries to figure out a way to become unbound from her powers. Isabelle and Phillipe have a tie to each other and that comes into play throughout the story. The one character that has really stuck with me after reading this book, however, is Madeleine, the alchemist of House Silverspires, formerly of House Hawthorn, who is addicted to angel essence. Everything about her was hauntingly honest and true; the growth of her character throughout the story really stood out to me.

There was nothing that I did not like about this story. Everything comes together with perfect timing and intensity. If you enjoy stories about war, politics, fallen angels, high fantasy magic, this is a must read!

A book that I would highly recommend with a great ensemble of characters and story lines. It’s pretty epic.