Category: Discussion

Nikei Love is a story I wrote for Cat Sparks a few years ago when she was still editing anthologies. Now she’s the Fiction Editor at Cosmos and on the eve of the Olympics this story seemed very relevant. It’s a glimpse into of a world where Sport is both Business and Family, and there’s no escaping your birthright unless you take a visit to the Corpus strip. You can read it online and while you’re there check out the interview I did where Ajai asks me some curly questions about writing science fiction. Just be warned it’s a straight transcript so there are plenty of um’s and half-finished sentences.

I remember when I was working in a country public library a few years ago, a young man came in and told me how one particular Bryce Courtenay book had changed his life. He was so emphatic and passionate that the memory stuck with me over the years. I had no doubt that his life really had been altered.

Fast forward to now. I’ve just finished watching the three series of Saving Grace starring Holly Hunter, and I think I’ve just had a glimpse into how that young man felt. I don’t know that SG has changed me forever but it has certainly had a profound affect – so much so that I’m struggling to watch other shows at the moment because they seem so insipid in comparison.

Something about the whole dialogue on “faith” and the wild, untamed nature of of Grace’s character pierced right through me. I think I’m still processing  exactly what that means. I’ll get back to you on it.

In the mean time, here is the trailer that’ goes with Everlast’s beautiful theme song.

Thanks to Paula Tapiolis at ABC.NET, I got to see this article which talks about DRONE JOURNALISM. This is so eerily reminiscent of the Priers in the Parrish Plessis novels that I got goose pimples when I read it.

Here’s a picture of them:

As an author, it’s kinda of stomach churning to think you were heading in the right direction with one of your visions. Now … if the banking hierarchy starts taking royal titles and the Media takes over the banks …. we’re in big trouble people!