As well as using the cream of Australia's SF writers, we plan to include some of our best thinkers from outside the genre to speculate on Australia's future. Vend-a-Nation will ask that writers use the notion of a future Australian republic as central to their story. Despite Keating's preferred model, all the options are open and all the options can become a reality. Vend-a-Nation The Futures of the Australian Republic will present the best of Australia's speculative writers giving their visions of future Australia. I hesitate to use such cliches as "bold" and "exciting" but our new anthology will be different. So what of Australia? In these times of republican debate, new millennium and burgeoning technological change, what are the possible futures of Australia?Ĭhimaera Publications are pleased to announce a new project which will be published in conjunction with a major Australian publisher. This speculation can, of itself, determine the shape of things to come to borrow a phrase. It demands that the author creates a plausible future world, and in doing so, forces the author to speculate on a range of issues. ? Well, that is what we are about to find out.Īs has been pointed out numerous times, SF is obviously and demonstrably the ideal vehicle for speculating upon the future of human society. Huxley and gene manipulation, Verne and Lunar landings, Wells and societal change.
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Self-posts are welcome, but should contain more than just a simple question in the title ("DAE like Lovecraft?). Whether or not a post meets this criterion is subject to mod discretion. Submissions should be related to that broad category of "Weird" fiction-fantastical, speculative, surreal, things that fall through the cracks of categorization. Meta | Question/Request | Other Discussion Group Calendarĭiscussion Group Archives Events Recent & Forthcoming Submissions New to The Weird? Try our recommended reading, or check out the wiki Submission of news, criticism, and discussion related to the field is encouraged. Welcome to WeirdLit, a community focused on news, discussion, and the practice of collection in the field of Weird Literature, old and new. Tell us what you're reading with your flair And neither can Grace's boss, Jake, who thinks it will be a great opportunity for Grace to scout out the interior design market on the west coast.Once in LA, a bewildered Grace tries to keep her Prada-toting charge happy as she shepherds her through photo-shoots, radio interviews, and morning hangovers. So Grace can hardly refuse when they ask her to go with Maddy to Los Angeles as her adult accompaniment. Somehow navigating the outbursts and mood-swings, Grace manages to endear herself to Maddy and Maddy's only-too-happy-to-be-absent mother. On the set, Grace meets Maddy, the temperamental if talented young starlet. Plucked from her Chicago day job as an interior decorator, Grace is thrust into starsitting at a local movie shoot when her Aunt Lana begs off sick one day. Dinner with vegetarian gangsta-rappers? Temper tantrums over old school designer logos? A last minute curling-iron crisis? All in a day's work for 27 year old Grace Daniels, the unwitting guardian to Maddy Malone, Hollywood's next teenage it-girl. The Shepherd’s Crown that gave the book its title is a fossil echinada with a piece of flint embedded in it. There are also belly laughs at times, especially with the Nac Mac Feegles! As always social commentary and fantastic observation of people and how they act makes the story flow. The elves sense it too, and they also have their actions as a result. The plot is about the consequences of Granny’s death, how the other witches take it and their manoeuvring. The Shepherd’s Crown starts with Granny Weatherwax preparing for her demise, and laying the foundations for what comes next. The Nac Mac Feegle are in there too, along with some of the lyrics from the Steeleye Span discworld album. I particularly liked Geoffrey, the calm weaver, and the old boys of Lancre who helped with the denouement. There are some interesting new characters too, not just old favourites. This is a Tiffany Aching story, although it also includes the other witches, and the Lords and Ladies too. I’m sure he knew that The Shepherd’s Crown would be his last Discworld book, there are some interesting nods to that in the story. There was no diminution of the characters or story telling, despite Pterry’s illness he kept this one up to his usual standard right to the end. The Shepherd’s Crown is a fitting end to the Discworld stories. Messi can be enjoyed by a nation that now has some appropriate appreciation of his genius. Here is a man who has a rightful place in the conversation about the best players ever to kick a soccer ball. When Pelé came to the United States in 1975, he was 50 years too early. He shows that MLS has arrived, or that it is still just a rest home for stars past their prime. To this, I might say: Who cares? None of us really have any clue what effect Mr. Messi is simply cashing in one last time before retirement. Messi’s arrival will be a watershed moment for American soccer, or Mr. When the world is gripped in the first giddy moments of excitement, we often either bathe in the rosy glow of optimism or assume the practiced role of the skeptic. Messi’s career. At such a momentous moment, it is natural to ask momentous questions. At the end of one of the most storied careers in soccer history, the legend and World Cup hero is coming to Miami to play in Major League Soccer. Here is where we in the press insert countless breathless and portentous stories about what this means for American soccer, for America’s top professional league, and for Mr. By this point, many of you will have heard. |