The books up for discussion this month are Feed by M.T. Anderson (beginning around 11:40),  as recommended by Kirstyn, and Some Kind of Fairy Tale by Graham Joyce (48:30) which Ian chose.  Reviews of the Joyce novel by Charlie Jane Anderson at io9 and Ben Godby at Strange Horizons are both mentioned. The usual spoilers abound — including analysis of the endings — so listener be very much aware.

If you have skipped ahead, please come back around the 1:25:45 mark for some final remarks and announcements.

Next month, The Writer and the Critic will again be recording in front of a live audience as part of Continuum 9, Melbourne’s annual speculative fiction and pop culture convention, and Ian and Kirstyn are delighted to announce that NK Jemisin, will be a special guest on the podcast. For her recommendations, Nora has chosen A Madness of Angels by Kate Griffin and the graphic novel Saga (Volume 1 only) by Brian K.Vaughan and Fiona Staples. Read ahead and join in the spoilerific fun — and if you’ll be in Melbourne on 8th June, please come along and be a part of our live audience.

They then, with much girding of loins, move on to tackle the two books up for discussion this month: Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace (beginning at 14:15) and House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski (43.25). Kirstyn warns about the dangers of broken noses while Ian references this interview with David Foster Wallace by Charlie Rose.

If you’ve skipped ahead to avoid spoilers, please come back at 1:25:15 for some brief final remarks.

There will be another brief break in April while Ian and his lovely Jules bring their second child into the world, but The Writer and the Critic will be back again in May. Promise! For that episode, Ian has recommended Some Kind of Fairytale by Graham Joyce, while Kirstyn has chosen Feed by M.T. Anderson. Read ahead and join in the spoilerific fun!

The books up for discussion this month are Evaporating Genres, a collection of essays by Gary K. Wolfe (beginning 35:20), and James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon, a biography by Julie Phillips (1:03:50). This thoughtful essay by Jonathan McCalmont is mentioned and, in the spirit of Alice Sheldon, Ian promises to begin writing Letters of Appreciation to authors whose work he has enjoyed. We will follow him up on this next year!

There are no real spoilers here but if you have skipped ahead, then please tune back in at 1:39:50 for some closing remarks and (belated) holiday well-wishes.

And now for the sad news … The Writer and the Critic is on hiatus for a couple of months and won’t be back until March 2013. The good news is that will give you plenty of time to read Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace and House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. Hopefully it will give Kirstyn and Ian plenty of time as well!

Thanks to everyone who listened to The Writer and the Critic during 2012. Ian and Kirstyn love you all to bits and look forward to talking at you a whole lot more in 2013!

The books on the table for this episode are: The Black God’s War by Moses Siregar III (at 2:15) the mark), The Silence of Medair by Andrea K Höst (42:30) and Paintwork by Tim Maughan (1:08:30).  During the discussion, Ian mentions an article on “Writing About Rape” that Jim Hines wrote for Apex Magazine back in January 2012. While this isn’t available online, Jim Hines has written two similar pieces which can be found on his blog, along with other useful resources on the subject.

If you’ve skipped forward to avoid spoilers, please tune back in at 1:33:35 for a thoughtful discussion of self-publishing, reading in general and concluding remarks about the last two episodes.

Changing gears, next month will see the first non-fiction edition of The Writer and the Critic. Ian has recommended Evaporating Genres, a collection of essays by Gary K. Wolfe, while Kirstyn has picked James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon, a biography by Julie Phillips. Read ahead and join in the non-fictional fun!

After some brief introductory remarks, Kirstyn and Ian jump straight into the dissection of the first three books up on the block: Angelfall by Susan Ee (at the 3:20 mark), Anticopernicus by Adam Roberts (32.15) and The Dark Wife by Sarah Diemer (1:01:20). Along the way, Kirstyn recommends this series of philosophical reviews of Anticopernicus by Rich Puchalsky for further reading, while Ian notes a discussion of difficulty in fiction by Adam Roberts, which was in turn inspired by a 2009 essay by John Lanchester. Sarah Diemer’s thoughtful explanation of why she chose to self-publish her books can be found here.

For those who’ve been skipping ahead to avoid spoilers, you can tune back in around 1:30:20 for a very quick wrap-up.

Next month, in Part the Second of the eBook Extravaganza, Ian and Kirstyn will discuss the last three books as chosen by listeners:

• The Black God’s War by Moses Siregar III
• The Silence of Medair by Andrea K Höst
• Paintwork by Tim Maughan

They’d love to hear your feedback on all the eBooks they’ve discussed!

The books tabled for dissection this month are Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth (beginning around 21:40) and Osama by Lavie Tidhar (at 1:06:10). There are many, many spoilers, including detailed discussions of both endings. Be warned! For supplemental listening, Ian and Kirstyn both highly recommend this episode of Galactic Chat in which Sean Wright interviews Kate Forsyth about the research and writing of Bitter Greens.

If you’ve skipped ahead, please back around the 1:53:00 mark — yes, it’s another loooooong podcast — for some final remarks and listener feedback.

Next month is the special Writer and Critic eBook Extravaganza! Ian and Kirstyn will endeavour to read and discuss the following six — yes, SIX — originally self-published eBooks as recommended by their listeners:

• Angelfall by Susan Ee
• Anticopernicus by Adam Roberts
• Paintwork by Tim Maughan
• The Black God’s War by Moses Siregar III
• The Dark Wife by Sarah Diemer
• The Silence of Medair by Andrea K Höst

Unlike other books featured on the podcast, Ian and Kirstyn will also be commenting on the format, practical readability and publication standards of these six titles in the context of a broader discussion of e-publishing — and they have given each other permission to abandon any book they find a struggle for whatever reason. Join them for what should be a most entertaining, engaging and edifying episode!

Discussion then moves on to the the two books selected for dissection on the podcast. Angela’s pick was Voice of the Fire by Alan Moore (begins around the 26:00 mark) while Lisa chose Galore by Michael Crummey (59:00). Scalpels are sharpened and edifying evisceration is conducted with much exuberance.

If you’ve skipped ahead to avoid spoilers, come back around 1:33:00 for some final remarks.

Next month, the podcast is back in real time with Kirstyn choosing Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth for discussion and Ian bringing Osama by Lavie Tidhar to the table. This time, as the novels were picked three months in advance, neither of the pair has actually read their selection … so anything might happen. Read ahead with them and join in the spoilerific fun!

At around the 28:40 point, Kirstyn then manages to herd them onwards to the novel Galveston by Sean Stewart, which Jonathan recommended for all of them to read. Galveston was a joint winner (along with Declare by Tim Powers) in 2001  of  the World Fantasy Award, a year in which Jonathan served on the relevant awards jury. That’s how much he loves this book.

They then move on to the official novels for the podcast, Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor (beginning at 54:55) and The Drowning Girl by Caitlín R. Kiernan (around the 1:22:00 mark). Ian confesses to having watched the marvellous trailer for The Drowning Girl around thirty times while reading the book and thinks you should watch it at least once or twice! In a tangential discussion about semi-autobiographical fiction, the title of the pertinent Catherynne M. Valente story that Kirstyn fails to remember is “Thirteen Ways of Looking at Space/Time”.

Listeners might also like to check out the recent Notes from Coode Street episode in which Caitlín R. Kiernan is interviewed and talks about The Drowning Girl, as well as previous Writer and Critic episodes in which Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor and The Red Tree by Caitlín R. Kiernan were featured. Don’t forget to tune back in to this episode at 2:13:45 for some very brief closing remarks!

Next month will bring another pre-record from June, with very special joined-at-the-brain guests Angela Slatter and Lisa L. Hannett. As with their previous double-barrelled guest podcast with Alison Goodman and Kelly Link, Ian and Kirstyn decline to nominate books of their own to talk about and instead will focus on the two recommendations from their guests: Voice of the Fire by Alan Moore and Galore by Michael Crummey. Read ahead and join in the spoilerific fun!

Because  reviewing four books in a single podcast would be an act of no small madness, Kirstyn and Ian wisely decide to leave the recommendations for this month to their guests. Alison has chosen The Crystal Singer by Anne McCaffrey (discussion begins at 17:50) while Kelly has brought along The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (48:20).

Inspired by the online exploits of Jim C. Hines, Ian attempts to reconstruct the pose illustrated on the cover of The Crystal Singer. He does rather a marvellous job:

If you’ve skipped ahead to avoid spoilers, please tune back in around 1:16:50 for final remarks. Kelly would also like to make two additional recommendations that listeners might enjoy, The Hearts of Horses by Molly Gloss and the Flora Segunda series of books by Ysabeau Wilce.

(photo: Art Bébé Promotions)

Next month’s episode features yet another special guest, editor and fellow podcaster, Jonathan Strahan, who has recommended Galveston by Sean Stewart for Ian and Kirstyn to read.

Ian has picked Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor while Kirstyn has chosen The Drowning Girl by Caitlin R. Kiernan. It will possibly be their longest podcast ever. Okay, okay, it’s already been recorded and, yes, it is definitely their longest podcast ever. Make sure you bring along a comfy chair!

***

BREAKING NEWS!

You are now listening to a multi-award-winning podcast — a fact which Kirstyn and Ian did not yet know while recording this episode. Because this episode was in fact recorded before the awards were announced. We’re not living that much in the future! But Ian would explode if he had to wait until the next recording to announce that The Writer and the Critic has won both Chronos and Ditmar Awards for Best Fan Publication. Ian and Kirstyn are ever so chuffed, and would like to thank all their listeners as well as everyone who voted for them. (They would also like to apologise to Galactic Suburbia for being so shocked and overwhelmed that they failed to notice the GS standing ovation in the back row. They promise to ovate in an upright posture the next time GS wins an award so they too can be blissfully ignored. It’s only fair.)

But yes, awards! Look! Proof! Plus a random monkey!

Join host Ian Mond as he interviews Twelve Planet authors Deborah Biancotti, Narrelle M. Harris, Deborah Kalin, Margo Lanagan, Rosaleen Love, Kirstyn McDermott, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Lucy Sussex and Kaaron Warren, along with publisher Alisa Krasnostein. It’s a fun, informal conversation which — and this is how you know it’s not an official Writer and Critic episode — goes for less than 50 minutes! You’re welcome.

The Twelve Planets are twelve boutique collections by some of Australia’s finest short story writers. Varied across genre and style, each collection will offer four short stories and a unique glimpse into worlds fashioned by some of our favourite storytellers. Each author has taken the brief of 4 stories and up to 40 000 words in their own direction. Some are quartet suites of linked stories. Others are tasters of the range and style of the writer. Each release will bring something unexpected to our subscriber’s mailboxes.

And from the Department of Filthy Lucre, Kirstyn and Ian are pleased to announce the opening of a brand spanking new Writer and Critic Zazzle Store from which their loyal listeners can purchase all kinds of yummy merch! Okay, there’s just one design available right now, but it’s very classy. Inspired by last episode’s conversation about stick figures, which was in turn inspired by listener feedback from Mark Webb, Kirstyn has designed a female stick figure logo which is now splashed across shirts, badges, stickers, mugs and a whole heap of other swag. Why is the stick figure female? The more important question is, why is it male? Go on, you know you want one.

Around the 26:20 mark, discussion turns to the first of the two books for the podcast, Bad Power by Deborah Biancotti, which Ian recommended. Ishtar, an anthology from Gilgamesh Press which includes a novella by Deb, is tangentially mentioned and garners a bonus mini-review from Kirstyn. At 45:00 they switch over to Sea Hearts by Margo Lanagan (also known as The Brides of Rollrock Island outside of Australia), which was Kirstyn’s pick. Ian mentions this review of the book by Abigail Nussbaum and, for listeners wanting to know more about the writing of the novel, Kirstyn suggests watching this interview with Margo. Sea Hearts was expanded from a highly acclaimed novella of the same name, which can be found in the X6 anthology from Coeur de Lion Publishing.

If you’ve skipped ahead to avoid spoilers, please check back in at 1:25:10 for final remarks and some exciting — and exhausting! — announcements about future episodes. Kirstyn and Ian would also like to thank the wonderful Charles Tan for creating a Pinterest board of all the books they have review on the podcast so far. There’s really quite a lot of them!

Next month, The Writer and the Critic hits the road once more to record its second live podcast in front of an audience at the Continuum 8: the National Science Fiction convention in Melbourne. Their very, very special guests will be Alison Goodman and Kelly Link, who have recommended The Crystal Singer by Anne McCaffrey and The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater respectively. (Ian and Kirstyn have wisely decided not to choose books of their own because, well, four people talking about four books in less than two hours would be a frantic kind of madness.) Read ahead and join in the fun!

Around the 19:20 mark, the pair turn their attention to Kirstyn’s recommended book for the podcast, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. This review by Abigail Nussbaum is mentioned, as are the usual spoilers. Discussion of When Gravity Fails by George Alec Effinger begins at 56:25. Again, spoilers. Skip ahead at will.

But don’t forget to check back in around 1:34:50 for some (very brief) final remarks.

Next month, Ian has picked Bad Power by Deborah Biancotti, while Kirstyn has chosen Sea Hearts by Margo Lanagan. Read ahead and join in the fun!

Around the 27:15 mark, the conversation meanders over to Rob’s recommended book, Hope: A Tragedy by Shalom Auslander. Despite the fact that it’s quite a new book, the trio are relentlessly free and easy with the spoilers, so skip ahead if you’d rather not hear how the book ends. Or begins. Or what happens in the middle.

They then move on to discussing the two official podcast books: Houses Without Doors by Peter Straub (beginning at 1:00:30), picked by Kirstyn, and Queenpin by Megan Abbott (1:31:30) which was Ian’s recommendation. Yes, it’s another looooong episode. You’re welcome!

Tune back in around the 01:53:45 point for final remarks (and possibly some out-of-tune singing).

Next month, Ian has recommended When Gravity Fails by George Alec Effinger while Kirstyn has picked The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. Read ahead and join in the spoilerific fun!

*

Vale Paul Haines

Paul Haines, a well-known and much-loved member of the Australian spec fic community, passed away on Monday 5th March, 2012. Paul was a generous, funny and all-around amazing human being, as well as being an astonishingly good writer – truly, one of our best. He will be sorely missed by those who knew him and by those who only met him through his words. Paul’s work is dark, disturbing, confronting and, more often than not, piss funny to boot. If you’ve not yet had the pleasure, please track down his collections:

• The Last Days of Kali Yuga (Brimstone Press, 2011)
• Slice of Life (The Mayne Press, 2010)
• Doorways for the Dispossessed (Prime, 2006)

Thank you, Paul. Travel safe.

There has been a small change of plan for Episode 17 of The Writer and the Critic. Ian and Kirstyn’s special guest, Robert Shearman, has decided to wantonly abandon Perfume by Patrick Süskind as his book of choice for next month, and instead shack up with the newly released Hope: A Tragedy by Shalom Auslander.

Look, there’s a cute little baby deer on the cover. Baby deer are called fawns. In animated films, the mothers of baby deer are often tragically killed, resulting in lifelong psychological scarring and abandonment issues for unsuspecting young audiences and baby deer alike.

The Writer and the Critic: Randomly Educational.

During discussion of The Silver Wind by Nina Allan (beginning at 35:30), Ian mentions this review by Martin Lewis while Kirstyn quotes from this piece by Sofia  Samatar.  The conversation then turns to The Courier’s New Bicycle by Kim Westwood at 59:45 wherein this review by Cheryl Morgan is mentioned.

Tune back in around the 01:43:00 point for final remarks.

Next month, Ian and Kirstyn invite UK author Robert Shearman onto the podcast. (You may remember a discussion of Rob’s most excellent story collection, Everyone’s Just So So Special, on Episode 12. If you don’t remember, go back and listen to it right now!)  Rob has recommended Perfume by Patrick Süskind for everyone to read, while Ian Mond has picked Queenpin by Megan Abbott and Kirstyn has chosen Houses Without Doors by Peter Straub. Read ahead and join in the fun!

A lengthy discussion of and around — and around and around — Redemption in Indigo by Karen Lord begins at 18:30 with the conversation about  Zoo City by Lauren Beukes starting at 01:07:30. Yes, it’s a long podcast this time. That’s what happens with books that are interesting, intelligent and inspiring.

Tune back in around the 01:57:20 point for final remarks.

Next month, Ian has recommended The Silver Wind by Nina Allan while Kirstyn has picked The Courier’s New Bicycle by Kim Westwood. Read ahead and join in the fun!

Discussion of The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht begins at 05:15 and includes references to a review by Philip Hensher at The Telegraph as well as this one by Ruth Fowler at the Huffington Post. At the 35:15 mark, the two then move on to We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver. Kirstyn quotes from this Guardian article by Lionel Shriver and recommends the newly released film starring Tilda Swinton — but only if you read the book first!

If you’ve skipped ahead, please come back at for final remarks at 01:21:40.

Next month — next year! — Ian has picked Redemption in Indigo by Karen Lord while Kirstyn has chosen Zoo City by Lauren Beukes. Due to their hectic end of year schedules, neither of them have actually had a chance to read their own recommendations yet so they’re each looking forward to finding out what they themselves think . . .

Happy New Year!

Ian and Kirstyn would also like to congratulate all the recent World Fantasy Award winners announced in San Diego last month. In particular, their warmest wishes go to Nnedi Okorafor, who won Best Novel for Who Fears Death (featured on The Writer and Critic in Episode 11), and friend of the podcast and Galactic Suburbian, Alisa Krasnostein, who received the Special Award Non-Professional in recognition for her fabulous work with Twelve Planet Press. Yay Alisa and Nnedi!

The two official books for this month are Room by Emma Donoghue — Ian’s pick — and The Secret History by Donna Tartt — chosen by Kirstyn. As usual, there are plenty of spoilers — including revealed endings! — so for those of you who wish to skip over a particular book, discussion of Room begins at 22:15 while The Secret History starts at 41:10.

John Richards has chosen Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture by Douglas Coupland for this episode and discussion of the book commences at the 1:09:40 mark. The three self-confessed GenXers also talk generally about the 1990’s, generation x and the alleged end of history. Appropriately, they seem a little jaded. And old.

Wander back at 1:28:35 for some brief but witty final remarks.

The books for next month will be We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver (chosen by Kirstyn) and The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht (Ian’s pick), both recipients of The Orange Prize.  Don’t worry, there will be a return to a greater speculative fiction emphasis in 2012 — that’s a promise!

P.S. Kirstyn apologises for the sketchy sound quality on Ian’s mic this episode. Even if he does deserve it.

P.P.S. Kirstyn also apologies for the tardiness of this podcast. She was away for more days than she was home in the past couple of months. She definitely deserved that!

Kirstyn would like to disclaim that she is a judge for both the Australian Shadows and the Aurealis Awards this year, for which Lisa Hannett’s stories are eligible, and therefore needs to stress that her opinions of the collection as expressed on this podcast are solely her own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the judging panels for either award. Ian would like to disclaim that he loves Rob Shearman just so so much, and is therefore incapable of holding any objective opinion of his work. So there’s that.

The Karen Joy Fowler story that is tangentially mentioned can be read online over at Subterranean Press, while Rob Shearman’s insane One Hundred Stories project lives here.

Next month, Ian and Kirstyn invite John Richards from Boxcutters to be their special podcast guest. John has chosen Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture by Douglas Coupland as for everyone to read, while Ian has selected Room by Emma Donoghue and Kirstyn has recommended The Secret History by Donna Tartt. They will most likely be back to their usual spoilerific form, so read ahead and join in the fun!

They then turn their attention to this episode’s featured books, We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson and Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor. Kirstyn mentions this thoughtful essay about Jackson and her work by Joyce Carol Oates. This lengthy review of the Okorafor novel by Paul Di Filippo is taken to task for being just a little bit patronising and somewhat missing of the point. The rather harrowing Washington Post article that inspired Okorafor can be found here. For those wishing to avoid spoilers and skip ahead, discussion of We Have Always Lived in the Castle begins at 14:30, while Who Fears Death starts around 52:50.

Ian and Kirstyn would like to warn listeners that Who Fears Death deals explicitly with rape, female genital mutilation and sexual violence. Their review of the novel in this episode naturally involves frank discussion of those same subjects.

Some very brief final remarks can be found at 01:29:30.

Oh, and look, the episode of the Outer Alliance podcast is now live! OA host Julia Rios invited Ian and Kirstyn along to have a Writer and the Critic style discussion, with the recommended texts being Horn and Bleed by Peter M. Ball (chosen by Ian), “Nightship” by Kim Westwood (chosen by Kirstyn) and “The Behold of the Eye” by Hal Duncan (chosen by Julia). They talked for over three billion hours. Thankfully, Julia managed to edit the conversation down into a very succinct podcast of around two hours. She is a genius!

Next episode will focus on two short story collections: Bluegrass Symphony by Lisa L. Hannett (chosen by Kirstyn) and Everyone’s Just So So Special by Robert Shearman (Ian’s recommendation). As both of these collections are fairly new releases, Ian and Kirstyn intend to go light on the spoilerage, but still encourage you to grab yourself copies of these fine volumes and read ahead.