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A friend of mine just bought me a hardcover copy of The Homecoming by Ray Bradbury, illustrated by Dave McKean.  It’s a beautiful book about Halloween/a haunting.  How come I didn’t know about this before?  I’ve read it through once and will need to sit with it for a while now.  There is a strangeness to the language which is not easy to swallow but altogether captivating, the reason I will keep coming back to it.

Short stories are built (among other things) upon use of language and the art of revelation.  It’s as simple and as difficult as that.  If you’ve got those two working for you then you’re on your way I reckon.  Singing me sister down by Margo Lanagan comes to mind here… one of my all time favourites.

I’ve had a few short stories published but plays and poems have been strength to date.  Can see the time coming though when I get back there… tempted by prose amid a desert of sales!

Some lines from The Homecoming…

Silently she stood stiff as a great loaf of nile bread…

Their laughter was a cave of winds…

Uncle Einar, last of all, kettledrummed the air as he descended, laughing at some half-remembered death, perhaps his own, until he lay in the longest box of all…

You might have noticed a change to my blog recently.  I got rid of the last style and have opted for the blander brown and fawn background.  I don’t know… that stupid little robot in the header had been bugging me for years.  So this is it for now. 

I finally have a day off to write!  Yay!  I have been reshaping this 15 min performance piece for Static at the upcoming Melb Writers Fest.  Sometimes the only solution is to walk away and leave the writing alone for a while.  Coming back to it with fresh eyes always helps.  And now I’m starting to understand my characters/where the story is leading. 

I think it’s almost there but won’t really know until rehearsals.

Also please check out the upcoming Blue Dog (Vol6 No13 ?) which is due to hit the shelves soon.  I have a poem in there, written in the middle of The Ghost Poetry Project last year, titled Anxiety.  Something I became an expert in.

Plus a big congrats to Sean Whelan who has a poem in this year's UQP Best Aust Poems.  And can't wait for his book launch at TINA this year.      

Latest news…

I am gearing up for next month where I’ll be a ‘writer in residence’ at Booranga Writers Centre (Charles Sturt University).  I’ve been looking forward to it all year and they’ve even arranged for me to head down the Write Around the Murray Festival in Albury where I’m running a workshop on performance poetry.

http://www.csu.edu.au/faculty/arts/humss/booranga/index.html

Looks like my interview with Sarah L’Estrange will be going ahead next month on ABC radio’s The Book Show.  Just a shortie but will be good publicity for the Ghost Poetry Project.

Plus I’ve just had some interest from Paranormal, a UK magazine that would like me to write an article based upon my adventures last year.  Early days yet, but hopefully that can come off too.  See previous posts for more info on what I got up to last year…

Melbourne Writers Theatre will be reading one of my short plays this Monday, 9^th June.  Details below…

The Top 30 short plays from 138 entries brought to life in three nights of rehearsed readings by Melbourne’s most talented actors, writers and directors.  The first night:

• 09 June 2008, hosted by playwright ALEX BROUN

Foul - Nathan Curnow
Space Travel Unlimited - Julia Britton
Masterpiece - Dina Ross
Drip - Tom Taylor
Cate Blanchett Wants To Be My Friend on Facebook - Alex Broun

INTERVAL

The Letter - Phoebe Hartley
Evelina - Colin Ryan
The Great Ocean Road - Natalie Faulkner
Ticking Boxes - Brooke Fairley
A Cup of Sugar - Jane Miller

• ACOPA – AUSTRALIAN CENTRE OF PERFORMING ARTS & CABARET VOLTAIRE

• 14 Raglan Street (off Errol Street), North Melbourne 305.  Melways Map Ref. 43 E5

• Tickets: $6.00 MWT Members • $12.00 Non-Members

• All tickets can be purchased at the venue

• Bar Opens @ 7.00pm • Readings @ 7.30pm