Jennifer Fallon, author of the The Demon Child, The Second Sons, The Hythrun Chronicles and The Tide Lords series of fantasy novels, is interviewed by Gary Kemble for the ABC's "Articulate" weblog.
Q. You're a speculative fiction writer, but I'd like you to speculate on the future of Australian speculative fiction! How will technology affect the lives of Australian writers? Is the tyranny of distance a thing of the past?As a writer from Alice Springs who is published all over the world, I've never considered the tyranny of distance in the first place. I had an agent in Sydney for two years before I met her. I was published for three or four years before I ever met my Australian editor. I've never even spoken on the phone to my US or UK publishers, or my US or European agents. The world functions quite well on email.
As for the future of Australian spec fic, I'm probably not the person to ask. This is partly because I don't think of myself as specifically an "Australian" spec fic writer. I'm just a writer and my work is just as valid (or not, if it sucks) as any writer from the US, the UK or Outer Mongolia. I've never expected or assumed that being Australian makes a difference.
