You may remember the interview I did with Sophie Masson here on Matilda for the Crime Snapshot last month - if not, why not? - and now Sophie has posted the cover art for her new YA Mystery, The Case of the Diamond Shadow, that we discussed.
Jonathan Strahan, Hugo-nominee and co-editor with Gardner Dozois of The New Space Opera, talks about, yes, space opera on the SFSignal website. (His piece is 4th down.) "I'm aware that we all think we live in some kind of post-cyberpunk world, and that Philip K. Dick's crazy paranoia seems to be keeping Hollywood in business these days, but how could you possibly argue that space opera is NOT mainstream when we live in the same world as Star Trek and Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica and so on and so forth?"
Susan Wyndham's new book, Life In His Hands: The True Story Of A Neurosurgeon And A Pianist, is now out, and in "The Sydney Morning Herald", she discusses it and other recent books about death and dying.
Susan Johnson reveals on her weblog that, shock, horror, the main character of her novel-in-progress is named "Susan". No such a big deal you might think, but you have to keep in mind all the discussion about Helen Garner's latest novel,
the main character of which was also named "Helen". Johnson provides an explanation in advance to forestall the grilling she is sure she is going to get. I wish this wasn't necessary, but I see her point. I wonder how many "ordinary" readers (ie non-journalists) will worry about it. I'm sure I won't. In City of Glass, Paul Auster wrote about a writer turned private detective descending into madness, named "Paul Auster"; which tends to take things about as far as they can go. Auster was deemed to be "post-modern". Not a phrase I have heard in connection with Helen Garner, nor, I suspect, will I hear it when reading about Susan Johnson's next novel.
