Kimbofo, ex-Australian, current-UK resident lit blogger, apparently doesn't like the concept of writing in books: "Indeed, I'm happy to report that The Canal, easily consumed in a few sittings, is the least boring novel I have read in a long while. I found it so thought-provoking that I committed what I regard as a cardinal sin, as far as books are concerned, and defaced every second or third page by underlining entire passages and scribbling notes in the margins." Surely not a cardinal sin. Hardly a sin at all. It's not something that I do, generally preferring to use small, sticky flags to indicate parts of a book I would like to refer to in a review, but I really don't see anything wrong with writing in a book or underlining sections.
James Bradley was in Melbourne for one day during the recent sf convention and he and I contrived to completely miss each other in the mayhem. Still, he seems to have got over that disappointment, to be very excited about his new book.
In "The Times" Barry Forshaw and Laura Wilson pick the best crime novels for each year for 2000-09. Of Australian interest is the choice of The Broken Shore by Peter Temple as the best novel for 2006.
Even after 21 books, Kim Wilkins, this time masquerading as "Kimberley Freeman", still has feelings of trepidation whenever a new book hits the stands.
We already have an on-going series of books titled The Year's Best Australian Science Fiction, and now we learn that this will be joined by The Year's Best Australian Fantasy and Horror. Doesn't seem that long ago that filling one such book with any story in the genre, let along "the best", would have been near impossible. That, or very, very slim.
