Change. It's in the air. It's everywhere.

Change.

That's what it's all about.  Everything is in a constant state of change, that's true of our planet, ourselves, and our communities.  Is change always good?  No.  But neither is resisting every change, and spending your days longing for a return of "the good ol' days."

Before I continue, I have to let you know that while writing this piece about change, I am listening to 'Around the Fur' by Deftones, which has been one of my favourite albums since I first heard it in 1997.  And despite it still being an amazing album, the entire entertainment industry has changed since it's release.  Digital streaming of TV and music, the vinyl revival, e-readers and the ease of self-publishing your own books online, and the increasing influence of social media.

One of the biggest changes though is the diversity of the creators.  Of course, People of Colour have always been creating and contributing, but now they are no longer on the periphery.  Well not as far out as they used to be.  The success of Tomi Adeyemi's 'Children of Blood and Bone,' Kevin Kwan's 'Crazy Rich Asians,' Angie Thomas' 'The Hate U Give,' and N. K. Jesmin's  Hugo Award Winning 'The Broken Earth' series are each stunning examples of this.  And it's amazing and wonderful that this change is happening, that we can all enjoy these stories.  And I've got no way of knowing how it would feel for people of African or Asian heritage to have these books and movies where the characters they can identify with are the main characters, not just token, stereotypical side characters.  But that's got to be powerful.  That's got to be revolutionary.

Let's go back to 1987's 'It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)' by R.E.M.  I once subscribed to a theory that with every second, with every breath, the world as we knew it ended. Every new piece of information that we received changed the world, or our perception or what we knew about it. Change on a much smaller scale. My own life has changed.  Three Septembers ago I got married to an amazing, funny, beautiful woman, and my life changed.  Two Septembers ago my wife and I had just brought a house.  And my life changed.  Last September I had almost finished writing my first novel, and this September the Aussie Speculative Fiction group, which I'm a part of, is getting ready to publish an anthology of short stories.  Submissions are still open, so if you're a Australian Speculative Fiction writer, feel free to go to the website and submit a short story (obviously check the guidelines first).

Despite the submissions still being open, the other panel members and I have announced our first successful submission.

Every book, every story, is about change. The characters change, and perhaps through their actions, they change the world.  Or the world changes, and the characters need to find their place in the new world.  The change in 'When The Lights Went Out' is subtle, unnerving, wonderfully thought out and executed.  It's a short story that keeps you guessing, and stays with you after you've finished reading it.  I am really excited about getting this anthology out there, and sharing a selection of wonderful stories with the world.

   

Unpopular Opinions. You will probably hate me forever now.

Just for fun, here is a list of my Unpopular Opinions.

I don't even know why I am doing this, because I can pretty much guarantee that you will strongly oppose at least one of these opinions. Quite possibly enough to make you never want to read anything else I write ever. Which - as I actually want to publish some books soon, and have you buy them and read them - is something I should be trying to avoid! I can see this ending in disaster. Yay! This is going to be great!


So if Unpopular Opinions were an Olympic event, I would have all the medals.

I can out-Unpopular Opinion anyone.


Come at me.


So, with the recent release of 'Deadpool 2' and 'Avengers: Infinity War' in the cinemas, here are my Superhero-related Unpopular Opinions:


#1 'MYSTERY MEN' IS THE BEST SUPERHERO MOVIE EVER. Look. I know what you're going to say. "It can't be a good movie and have Ben Stiller in it." And usually I'd agree with you. But there are like three movies where he doesn't make you want to rip your eyes out, and this, as well as 'Zoolander' are two of them. Anyway it also had Geoffrey Rush and Janeane Garofalo who are two of my favourite actors. "Ok. Whatever." You say, shaking your head. "But what makes it the best superhero movie?" Get this. Not one member of this mysterious band of superheroes actually have superheroes. Well maybe one does. And that makes these guys and girls one thousand times more relateable and likeable than any actual superhero. Ok. That was an easy one. Brace yourself though, coz shit's going to get real very fast.


#2 I JUST CAN'T BE ARSED WITH SUPERHEROES, HONESTLY. Ok. I bet that got your attention. This is a double pronged one. As I touched on before, I don't find superheroes relateable. Like I don't get how someone can identify with an alien from another planet whose only weakness is Kryptonite. Show of hands, guys. Who here can fly, stop trains, shift the entire orbit/rotation of Planet Earth? "Okay, but how about a human who becomes a superhero?" I could probably relate to an alien better than I could relate to a billionaire, frankly.


But the lack of relatability is only minor. What's more important to me is that sometimes I think that the whole superhero culture is dangerous. We need to be telling kids that they can change the world. They don't have to be super strong aliens or billionaires or get bit my radioactive spiders. They are enough just as they are. When it comes down to it, we are going to need to save ourselves. If we keep waiting for a superhero to do it we're doomed.


So anyone still reading, make yourself a nice cup of tea. Treat yourself to one of those nice biscuits you've got hidden away. Thanks for making it this far. This next one is going to be an easier pill to swallow.


#3 BRENDAN FRASER STOLE JERRY O'CONNELL'S CAREER. Like I can't actually back that up. But Fraser's breakout role was in 'The Mummy' and I will swear 'til my dying day that role should have been O'Connell's. Like I don't even know if O'Connell auditioned. But he would have been perfect in that role, and Fraser is the kind of actor who even looks confused himself how he's still getting parts. You know that general confused and out-of-his-depth look that's basically his trademark? He's not acting. He's confused as to what he's even doing in front of a camera. Anyway, how freaking good was Sliders? That's a TV series they should bring back.


Alright. Let's move to novels now. Do you still have that tea? Best brew another cup before reading further.


#4 HARRY POTTER WAS NOT THAT GREAT. So it took me a long time to actually pick up the book. Ten years? Yeah that's a while. Having said that, I only read Anna Karenina last year too. 140 years since it was published versus ten years since it was published. And despite not reading the books or watching the movies, everyone has known who Potter was and what the story was about pretty much since it came out. So I was like "Young boy-Wizard goes to magic school - I've read this before." And then you hear about other characters and scenes and they bear striking resemblances to characters and scenes you've read in other fantasy novels, and you just get less and less excited about it. So by the time I read it, I'd heard the whole story about how it was rejected seventeen times before it was picked up by a publisher. And when I was reading it, I could see why. But I have to acknowledge that the humour that Rowling brought to the story was really good, genuinely funny English humour.


#5 A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE WAS SO BORING AND PREDICTABLE I COULDN'T FINISH IT. Well I gave up somewhere in the third book. I mean, what more is there to say? When you've read it all before, why would you keep reading? Honestly it felt like more like a homage to the great sci-fi/fantasy literature of the past hundred years than anything else.


Anyone still reading, thankyou. You can, of course, post your feedback in the comments. Tell me why I'm wrong about everything. And remember, your opinions are as valid as my own.


#6 THERE STAR WAS REBELS / RESISTANCE ARE TERRORISTS. Before you start, hear me out. Anyone who does what the Rebels / Resistance do in our world are given the label 'terrorist' and are universally condemned. And if you still don't think Luke Skywalker and your childhood heroes deserve that title, consider the definition of a terrorist act, "an act of violence to achieve a political, religious or ideological aim." The Rebels sure as hell have different political and ideological aims and beliefs to the Empire, hence any acts of violence they are involved in can accurately be defined as acts of terrorism. So the question becomes "is terrorism ever acceptable?" A quick history lesson will show that America has supported terrorism for a long time, I mean those who fought against the English in the American Revolution must also be described as terrorists. Ultimately, it comes down to who is telling the story, doesn't it? We call the American Revolutionaries 'heroes' because they won, and the winners tell the story. If they lost, and the English told the story, would they still be revered as heroes? I don't think so.


So that was fun, wasn't it?  I guess you probably all think I'm a bitter soul who doesn't like anything. But you'd be wrong. For balance, my next piece will be about the books and movies that I just love.   

Australia Day, and the Constant Spectre of Politics in Literature

So today is May 8. M8. Mate.

I am one of the minority who call it Australia Day.

Why? Because the official day (the 26th of January) celebrates the arrival of the First Fleet and the creation of the British colonies in Australia. And as you might imagine, the arrival of Europeans in a continent already populated by Aboriginals never works out well for the Aboriginal people, or First Australians in this case.
The First Australians refer to the 26th as 'Invasion Day' and given the shit that they've survived since, the inequality and racism that they continue to endure, I can't see anything worth celebrating on the 26th of January apart from the survival against all odds of Australia's Aboriginal people. So we need a new day that all Australians - whether their ancestors arrived here 20 years ago, 120 year ago or 80 thousand years ago - can celebrate what this land means to them. May 8? Why not.
So this blog is usually about writing. So why am I talking about politics? Because the two are intrinsically linked. As I wrote on twitter (here's the link) Books are Political - Books talk about our world, our experiences, our cultures and our beliefs. Even kid's books - 'The Lorax' for example. Books open reader's minds to new ways of looking at the world, of challenging conventional stereotypes, challenging social constructs like racism and sexism, and inspiring people to fight back against their oppressors.

This was something I always knew in the back of my head, but it didn't crystallise until a few years ago when my wife and I were strolling down the beautiful Unter den Linden in Berlin and visited the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (let's just call it the Humboldt University). This was where, on May 10th 1933 the Nazis burned over 20,000 books written by "degenerates" and opponents of the Third Reich. There is a monument in the square of Humboldt University to this moment, one of many moving monuments and reminders of the crimes of the Nazis. It's an empty bookshelf with a plaque saying "Where they burn books, they will also ultimately burn people."

So what does all of this mean? I guess Paul Kelly said it best with "From Little Things Big Things Grow" (which, appropriately, is a protest song about the Gurindji people's struggle for equality and land rights). A book can plant a small seed in the mind of it's reader. which can influence the way they see the world and their beliefs. And a small group of Australians who refuse to celebrate Australia Day on it's official day but instead celebrate on a different day* well that might catch on. I hope it does get bigger over the next few years. No-one can tell us when or how we celebrate what is important to us. That is a decision everybody can make for themselves, and there isn't a damn thing the Government can do. So Happy Australia Day.



*Obviously the "Invasion Day" protesters and thousands of people who have condemned the continual celebration of Australia Day on the 26th of January and the whole "Change the Date" movement have inspired people like myself to actively celebrate Australia Day on a different day is where this idea started.