by Jason Fischer | Apr 3, 2014 | Uncategorized
Today at the Fischblog I have the brilliant Marianne De Pierres, come to chat about her new book Peacemaker.
JF: Much like in your Parrish Plessis series, your new book Peacemaker is set in a future Australia. What is the draw for you to write fiction set locally, when so many Aussie authors play it safe and set their pieces in Somewhere USA?
MDP: I feel a strong connection with the Australian landscape, Jason. My dad was a Western Australian wheat and sheep farmer. His father cleared the land that they farmed and he grew up with a fierce passion and sense of place that he passed on to me. I then spent ten years of my early married life in the Pilbara. That vast, harsh and beautiful environment imbued me with such an appreciation of how frail and temporary we were, that it still informs everything I write about. This is a wild and amazing country. Why wouldn’t I write about it?
JF: Your idea of a densely populated Australia is perhaps the most terrifying to me – anywhere up to 7.5 million square kilometres of land built out (and presumably up). That’s one hell of a lot of people that can be packed into that space. When you did your worldbuilding for Peacemaker, did you posit this expansion as an extrapolation of the FIFO (fly-in-fly-out) mining lifestyle, the spread of these mining towns/settlements, or more a forecast of immigration and population growth?
MDP: Immigration and population growth, I think. I see it as more of a statement about asylum seekers. It’s easy to imagine a future where we simply must take in refugees and people from countries who can no longer sustain them.
JF: SFF Westerns are one of my favourite sub-genres, and I could reel off a list of canonical works that I’ve enjoyed, such as the Dark Tower series, Firefly, and video games like Fallout: New Vegas. What are some of your own influences, and what drew you towards writing your own SFF Western?
MDP: I grew up on Westerns (my dad again!) and I was totally convinced (at 14) that being a cowboy was the life for me. I read mainly Zane Grey, Louis L’Amour, a little J. T Edson, and of course “Shane” by Jack Schaefer. As I got older, I also researched a lot about the “real” West which was far less glamorous. My reading and writing got side tracked after that, but I always knew I would somehow find my way back to this beloved genre. And I did … thirty years later! I decided that if I wrote PEACEMAKER with a heavy science fiction slant that it would just garner endless comparisons to Firefly, so I went for a genre blend that interested me – mythical fantasy. That’s not to say that there aren’t any Sci-Fi elements, but they are revealed with subtlety, over time, in book 2.
JF: It is SO flipping cool that you’ve had an RPG based around Nylon Angel! What are some of the other memorable highlights of your writing career?
MDP: Honestly, I really think that the highlights have been the people that I’ve met along the way because of my writing career, the relationships I’ve forged – both writers and readers. But there have been some lovely moments as well. Winning awards is always nice, so picking up my chunk of wood for the Davitt award, and my shard of plastic from the Aurealis Awards was pretty cool. Getting to film a segment for a TV show in a mock-up of a space shuttle was also fun. Oh … and being Cuthulu’ed by Morag and Charlie. It explains a lot about what’s happened since.
JF: Apart from your work on this series, do you have anything else in the pipeline? Cyberpunk, Crime, YA, and now SFF Westerns, so what’s next for Marianne De Pierres?
MDP: OMG goodness! Now this answer could go on for a while! I am definitely one to have a few projects on the boil, so here’s a link to a breakdown of my current projects, In a nutshell though, I‘m working on three crime novels (all series), a near future dystopic adult SF novel and a YA magic realist novel. Then there’s some side projects as well that aren’t novels but are film and game related.
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Marianne’s new novel Peacemaker can be found at all good book stores, and here is a link to her book on Amazon if that’s how you roll.
Marianne de Pierres is the author of the acclaimed Parrish Plessis, the award-winning Sentients of Orion science fiction series and the upcoming Peacemaker SF Western series. The Parrish Plessis series has been translated into eight languages and adapted into a roleplaying game. She’s also the author of a teen dark fantasy series.
Marianne is an active supporter of genre fiction and has mentored many writers. She lives in Brisbane, Australia, with her husband and three galahs. Marianne writes award-winning crime under the pseudonym Marianne Delacourt. Visit her websites at www.mariannedepierres.com and www.tarasharp.com.au andwww.burnbright.com.au
by Jason Fischer | Mar 21, 2014 | Reviews
In the latest issue of Black Static, reviewer Peter Tennant analyses a fat stack of Australian genre books, and gives a thorough review of many new works, including my short-story collection “Everything is a Graveyard”.
Peter says “Of all these writers, Jason Fischer is the one who, to my outsider sensibility at least, feels the most Australian, with stories that simply couldn’t happen anywhere other than a land down under…an engaging and thoroughly enjoyable collection showcasing a strong new voice with a distinctive vision.”
To get the latest copy of Black Static (as usual, chock full of fiction, horror news, reviews and all that good stuff) grab a copy at your local newsagent, or it can be ordered online via this link:
http://ttapress.com/blackstatic/currentissue/
by Jason Fischer | Mar 12, 2014 | Awards, Pimping
Some of you may remember my friend Drusilla, the Ditmar Diprotodon. This unlikely mascot from the Pleistocene era has been using my blog to spruik Australia’s national science fiction award since she stumbled into our time-stream back in 2011 or so.
Things have changed for Drusilla. She’s discovered coffee, iPads (problematic given her paws) and of course, the vibrant genre fiction scene found in her home continent. I’ve been a bit wary of disturbing her, given that she is apparently “hibernating”. I swung by her place to see if I could get anything useful out of her this year regarding the Ditmar Awards.
JF: Drusilla! Hey, hello! How are you?
DDD: [groans] What do you want? I’m sleeping.
JF: Yeah, I’m calling bullshit on that. Pleistocene-era Australia didn’t snow during winter.
DDD: What would you know? Were you THERE?
JF: Well, no.
DDD: I was. So piss off. [accepts bucket-sized coffee] Okay, you can stay.
JF: Drusilla, did you have anything to say about this year’s Ditmar Award?
DDD: Seriously dude? As if everyone hasn’t nominated yet. Here’s the hyperlink to my usual spiel, just to save everybody time [mashes iPad with her enormous paw]. Argh, I think I broke another one. Jason, can you..?
JF: Sure. Here it is (https://jasonfischer.com.au/thus-spake-drusilla-the-ditmar-diprotodon/).
DDD: I don’t really have much more to add than the usual – list as many works/people as you think are deserving of the awards. You’re not diluting your nomination by doing so – in fact, you’re ensuring a diverse ballot paper by doing so.
JF: Thanks Drusilla. Will you – will you help pimp my stuff?
DDD: You have GOT to be kidding. I read your collection, and you didn’t even write a story about Diprotodons.
JF: Well, I mentioned them in that one story.
DDD: You mean the one where your “drop bears” used to eat us. Whatever.
JF: [hands over a bucket of Haigh’s chocolate and a new iPad]
DDD: It’s my pleasure to announce Jason Fischer’s Ditmar eligible works as follows:
Best Novella or Novelette
- “Everything is a Graveyard”, Jason Fischer, in Everything is a Graveyard, Ticonderoga Publications.
Best Short Story
- “Art, Ink”, Jason Fischer and Martin Livings, in Antipodean SF 180.
- “L’Hombre”, Jason Fischer, in Everything is a Graveyard, Ticonderoga Publications.
- “When the Cheerful Misogynist Came to True-Town”, Jason Fischer, in Everything is a Graveyard, Ticonderoga Publications.
Best Collected Work
- Everything is a Graveyard by Jason Fischer, edited by Russell B. Farr, Ticonderoga Publications.
DDD: So here’s a (possibly incomplete) list of eligible works, to help jog your memory should you be as sketchy as Mr. Fischer:
http://wiki.sf.org.au/2014_Ditmar_eligibility_list
DDD: And here’s the nomination form:
http://ditmars.sf.org.au/2014/nominations.html
JF: Thanks Drusilla. I’ll just be quietly leaving now.
DDD: [Eating sounds, shortly followed by snoring]
by Jason Fischer | Feb 24, 2014 | Uncategorized
Ten thousand ideas buzz around in my skull,
One lifetime to write them all down,
Because trepanning is not an option.
by Jason Fischer | Jan 17, 2014 | Meaningful Post
Greetings folks! [blows dust off ye olde blog]
Like any other field of endeavour, writing attracts many types of personalities. Every sort of philosophy and viewpoint is represented, somewhere, by someone. From the best-selling authors through to the twitching crafters of manifestos and bizarre fan-fiction, we’re all sitting down to Make the Thing Happen.
One thing I believe we creatives have in common is a hunger. A drive to get those words out, to crystallize whatever we’ve got going on inside our skulls. Everyone has a different reason for doing this, be it a personal journey, a desire for fame and wealth, a need to communicate an important message as far as possible. A deep love of a franchise. Or even just for the lolz.
But it’s important to remember that we’re all hungry, even if it’s for different things. And that’s fricken awesome, folks. Hunger is a great drive for creation, and should be applauded. The opposite of a striving, hungry soul is a complacent and stagnant one. If a writer can deliver that sense of urgency, of importance, to those who read their work, they’ve made the world just that little bit better.
What I’ve observed, both in my own journey and observing that of others, is that the hunger changes. You might change targets, several times. The small victories near the starting line no longer seem sufficient, and as you grow and evolve, you just get hungrier.
Not hungry like the hummingbird, a blur of activity that has to eat and eat, just to keep going (and oh, how I hummed!). I’m thinking more like the deep hunger of a reptile, some long-lived thing that hides beneath rotten logs. You’ll pounce on something and eat, and it will be amazing and satisfying. You’ll digest it for weeks, months, before you need to eat again.
I think that long-view can only benefit the average creative. Focusing on resonance instead of the quick and shiny glim of a tasty bug. Growing into an impressive force that lurks beyond human ken, and is remembered, nay, feared 🙂
Be driven by that deep, slow hunger. Work on something ambitious and memorable, and focus on it like an ancient swamp creature with nothing better to do. I dare you!
“Dude….just finished writing an awesome book. Dude? Where are you going?”
