"the sea itself had become a gaseous, voluminous, screamingly hot malformation of its proper self, out of which was ejected a writhing column of angels."
WATERBLACK by @alexpheby.bsky.social
@galleybeggars.bsky.social
Characteristic chilling irony from Jarvis Cocker on Pulp's glorious new album:
"And life's too short to drink bad wine and that's frightening."
Second half of WATERBLACK has returned to Nathan Treeves... and I'm struggling. I preferred the origin story of Sharli much more to the methodical activities of demigods and the (meta)physics of the Weft universe.
STRANGER THINGS finale: they did it!
So thrilled and relieved that they pulled off the ending.
And now a pig farm.
Finally getting around to WATERBLACK by Alex Pheby.
A nice change of pace from Malarkoi: the first sections featuring long detailed first-person scenes of camp, factory, brothel and kitchen.
Finished À la recherche vol 2: À L'OMBRE DES JEUNES FILLES EN FLEURS.
Seaside hotel is closing up for winter. Time to go home.
Third last page he says he's now going to have to get used to sleeping in his old room in Paris. Poor guy.
THIS is the real poetic tragedy of the passing of time.
David Bowie and Bing Crosby doing 'Little drummer boy/peace on earth' is one of the most AI things ever (that isn't).
youtu.be/lCpXMy5GalI?...
Okay but hear me out:
A book club, and everyone brings a cat.
Great year to be a Tasmanian buying books as Christmas gifts.
Sure. And as I said, Dylan already got one... and one Dylan-adjacent.
The same people hating on DELIVER ME FROM NOWHERE also raving about A Complete Unknown mystify me.
They're both guilty pleasures and flawed films in pretty much the same way...
If anything, Unknown is worse, because I'm Not There and Inside Llewyn Davis make it so redundant.
Trent Dalton's GRAVITY LET ME GO book tour event in Hobart was a fun night. He's definitely a showman!
Liked the 10-up green Docs, too.
"Is horror too good now?"
"We have an insane between greatness... and everything else."
pca.st/episode/89fe...
This intrigues me, because I first think about "indie" with music, then film. In both those settings, I have no issue calling self-produced LPs or films indies.
If anything, those industries have big so-called independent companies/productions that stretch the definition that direction.
sweaty
#rollerblading
"There’s no shame in self-publishing. There should be considerable pride. So much so that I’d suggest there’s no utility in self-publishers calling themselves independent publishers. They already have a term that is more than good enough. And it doesn’t hurt to be clear about these things."
Tasmania/Lutruwita based folk, this is next week! Tickets (possibly) selling fast. Would love to see you there.
"The horror is not in the jump scare. The jump scare is relief. The horror is in the dread."
pca.st/episode/7f7c...
Here's me in Guardian Australia on the total debacle with Meanjin.
www.theguardian.com/books/commen...
Really not sure why so many recipes talk about oxymoronic 'sourdough discard'.
That's just 'using your sourdough starter'.
If you regularly use and feed your starter, there's no need to discard.
And if you're using some of your starter, by definition you're not discarding it.
Good to hear Norwegian director Kristoffer Borgli make the case for public arts funding.
The arts ought not only be conceived as a commercial product but a public good—like libraries and parks—and so worthy of public funding.
pca.st/episode/078c...
This was a good grim funny read.
www.killyourdarlings.com.au/article/the-...
WEAPONS is so fabulous. So glad I saw it at the cinema.
Naruto running was never so frightening.
Announcing a new tool to fight AI slop in the book world - and authenticate that the books we publish are written by, you know, humans.
Books by people vs books by AI
open.substack.com/pub/samj/p/b...
So of course both seasons of ANDOR are excellent.
But they really should be 8-or-10-episode seasons rather than 12. Really.
I really enjoyed the DFW-style chapter in PISSANTS comprising an obsessive deep dive into Mario Kart N64 speedrunning.
I've had comments from agents and publishers I've submitted to that there's no market for 'post-Praise' style (grunge) fiction... that my work is too 'sport-adjacent' to be of interest.
Maybe that'll change?
Just as important as daring & creative writers are daring & creative agents/publishers.
