Just The Caffeine Talking

Australia, Part 4

In honor of Independence Day in the United States of America, I'm going to continue the narrative of our visit to Australia. 

On May 5 we started our day with brunch at the Sydney Seafood Market — some big raw oysters and an assortment of sushi. No clownfish. 

Then by foot to the Australian National Maritime Museum, a.k.a. the "Mu-Sea-um." (Somebody got paid to think that up.) It's actually a very good maritime museum. The collection includes the HMAS Vampire, a Cold War era destroyer, her contemporary the diesel submarine HMAS Onslow, a replica of Captain Cook's Endeavor, the recently retired patrol boat HMAS Advance, and — sadly not open to the public on the day we visited — Australia's deadliest warship, the MV Krait.

Touring the Endeavor replica was very hard for anyone over four feet tall, as the aft spaces had very low ceilings. The naturalist Sir Joseph Banks, who sailed with Cook, was six foot four, and must have collected an impressive array of bumps and bruises on his skull during the voyage. Both Vampire and Onslow had Navy veterans as tour guides, with some cool anecdotes about life aboard when the ships were in service.

We scrambled through ships for several hours, and took a nap back at the hotel to recover. In the evening we dined at a Thai place near the hotel, and then stopped in a local movie theater to watch Thunderbolts*. (Solidly entertaining but no more than that.)

The following day we left Sydney — and both of us had the feeling that we had only scratched the surface of the place. I would dearly love to be able to spend a couple of weeks in the city, long enough to really explore. But, leaving the flag and footprints, we boarded a plane to Melbourne. At breakfast the crown on one of my molars came off — the same tooth that had been feeling weird ever since I ate some overly crunchy unagi a couple of days earlier. With no time before our flight, I just stuck it in my pocket and hoped for the best.

We got to Melbourne and rode the bus from the airport to the Southern Cross Railroad station downtown. While Adelaide reminded me of Austin, and Sydney felt like San Francisco, both of us agreed on first sight that Melbourne had a distinct Chicago vibe to it.

After checking in to our hotel the first order of business was to get a dentist to put my tooth back in place. The very nice Dr. Vaishali at MC Dental in the Melbourne Central shopping center did the job quickly and painlessly. Melbourne Central itself is an interesting place: it's built over a train station, much like the hybrid mall-stations of Japan. One cool feature is the historic Shot Tower museum, contained completely within the shopping center's giant atrium.

We did some shopping in the afternoon, and stumbled across a lovely little street called Hardware Street completely lined with restaurants for three or four blocks. For our dinner we got a delicious Mediterranean style seafood dinner. I had a whole grilled calamari, which was surprisingly tender. We put away a half liter of wine between the two of us. The restaurant was called "Claypots Barbarossa" which sounds like a pirate with a sideline in ceramics.

May 7 was a bit chilly and damp in Melbourne, but we sallied forth anyway and got tea at Melbourne's oldest tea room, in an old arcade known simply as "The Block." We had fancy tea and scones with clotted cream and jam. Two tables away an adorable little girl of about eight was having a grown-up brunch with her mother, and was obviously loving it.

After that we went over to Minotaur Books, where I signed some store copies of my books, and then spend two hours chatting with the store manager about science fiction, things to do in Melbourne, things to see elsewhere in Australia, and the state of the publishing industry. We also looked at an art exhibit at the old town hall, and visited a couple of other bookshops, then returned to the hotel to rest up.

In the evening we went out to the nearby suburb of Kensington to meet with the NOVA MOB — a group of Melbourne science fiction fans who meet monthly in person (and via Zoom) to talk about all things SFnal. They very kindly invited me to come read from The Miranda Conspiracy and talk about the Billion Worlds setting, which I did at length. We all had a good time and Mr. M. gave us a little guided tour of downtown Melbourne on the way back to our hotel.  

Australia, Part 3

Our first full day in Sydney was Saturday, May 3. That was also the date of an "author event" at Abbey's Bookshop in downtown Sydney, which was one reason we scheduled our visit then. The reading and signing were set for afternoon, so in the morning we woke early and breakfasted at a chocolate shop in an arcade nearby. 

Arcades are a feature of downtown areas in Australia's cities, particularly in Sydney and Adelaide. Basically they're what an American would call a shopping mall, built into the ground floor of a downtown building, usually a big structure that fills a whole block or at least a large part of one. The arcade thus serves as an indoor passage between streets, a popular feature during the fierce Australian summer. The size of an Australian downtown arcade isn't really big enough for the "big box" stores popular in American malls, so the ones I saw tended to have numerous small shops and restaurants. 

I'm kind of surprised there aren't more Australian-style arcades in American cities. Some big skyscrapers do have shopping space on the lower floors, but typically the businesses are intended to cater to the people who work or live in the building — convenience stores, coffeeshops, barbershops or hairdressers, and maybe a fitness club. I suspect that a mix of city block size, zoning regulations about minimum size for various businesses, and economies of scale are responsible for the difference.

But enough amateur urbanist blather. 

We spent Saturday morning at the Australian Museum, a big old history and natural history museum not far from the bookstore where I was to appear later. They had a very charming exhibit called "100 Treasures" which is the hundred items in the Museum's collection which are most iconic or significant. In short, it was an exhibit of museum exhibits, and consequently also chronicled the history and growth of the museum, the changing role of museums over the course of a century, and the history of the British Empire from the founding of New South Wales until its disintegration. Unlike so many self-examining museum exhibits, this one paid attention to context and changing goals, rather than just indulging in a lot of self-congratulation about how enlightened we are now.

We lunched at the Victoria Arcade, a gorgeous old Victorian-era (of course) market building complete with a very stern-looking statue of Victoria R herself. It's full of very posh stores and some restaurants. We positively inhaled lunch at a conveyor-belt sushi place in the basement. There's something about visiting a museum that makes one hungry and tired.

The event at Abbey's went off pretty well. I read from The Miranda Conspiracy, signed some books brought by listeners, signed all the store copies, and shook hands with the store staff and management. They managed the whole affair with consumnate professionalism. 

After that the two of us walked to the harbor area, exploring the old original settlement section on the west side of the harbor, known as "The Rocks." We found an open-air market where various local crafters were showing off their wares. It's a nice old part of town, although sadly it is bisected and overshadowed by the southern approaches to the Sydney Harbour Bridge. 

Dinner that night was at a ramen restaurant near our hotel. The food was good, except that a bit of eel bone lodged in one of my molars, setting the stage for dramatic events a few days later.

On Sunday May 4th we spent the morning exploring the "Chippendale" neighborhood south of Chinatown, an odd and interesting part of town featuring, among other things, the old Mortuary Train Station, where funeral trains departed for cemeteries outside of the city. We toured the White Rabbit Gallery, an establishment halfway between a museum and an art dealer's, devoted to works by Chinese dissident artists. Ai Weiwei was probably the most famous, along with many others. In the signage I noticed a new bit of art-world jargon. Works now "interrogate" things — totalitarianism, consumerism, sex roles, you name it. I think this is a terrible term, almost a translation error. Interrogation is when you ask questions of someone (or something). If a work asks questions about a subject, that's not the same at all. How can one "interrogate" consumerism, anyway? How can it answer?

Then we got all duded up and took the train back downtown for our big fancy luncheon at a restaurant called Bennelong, located inside the famous Sydney Opera House building. The meal was definitely a ten out of ten. The first course was smoked pork belly with homemade koji noodles and black garlic; followed by a lovely little rack of lamb with pureed herbs; all accompanied by a cabernet franc from Clare Valley.

As it was Sunday afternoon there were lots of families in the place, many with adorably well-behaved kids. I was one of exactly three paying customers wearing a tie — the others being a paterfamilias hosting what looked like a wedding rehearsal brunch, and a well-scrubbed lad of about 10 in short pants.

Feeling well-fed we strolled back through the Botanical Garden to the Victoria Arcade and boarded a train back to our hotel.

In the evening we explored the neighborhood a bit more, including a Japanese-language used book store, and a park where a festival in honor of the birthday of the Buddha was wrapping up. We had no appetite for dinner and were too tired for nightlife, so back to bed under the benevolent gaze of the Monkey Lamp.

 

A Keene Event!

Three weeks from today I'll be at the brand-new Barnes & Noble store in the lovely town of Keene, New Hampshire. As part of their grand opening, the store is having a score of authors from all over New England sign books and do readings during the month of July. I'll be doing my part by reading from The Miranda Conspiracy at 5 p.m. on July 18. You can see the announcement here.

This isn't just self-promotion. Bookstores are a fragile link in the literary and publishing world, so it's always wonderful to see a new store opening up. Come on up to New Hampshire to show your support and buy some books — no sales tax! 

Off to LibertyCon 2025!

In a couple of weeks I'm off to the mountain-girt fastness of Chattanooga, Tennessee, for this year's LibertyCon. It looks like a fun time. Here's my schedule in case you want to catch up with me at the convention:

Friday, June 20, 3:00 P.M.: My Little (or Enormous) Buddy — Randee Dawn moderates a panel as we explore the use of animal companions in SF/Fantasy/Horror fiction.

6:00 P.M.: Reading — James Copley and I will read from our latest work. If time permits I may even give attendees a sneak preview of the book I'm working on right now.

Saturday, June 21, 1:00 P.M.: What is the Future of Gaming? — Join an all-star panel moderated by Steve Jackson himself as we look at trends and possibilities for the gaming hobby and industry. Few, if any, chairs will be thrown.

2:00 P.M.: Baen Traveling Road Show — Join publisher Toni Weiskopf and a host of Baen authors as we show off what we've published and what's in the pipeline.

5:00 P.M.: Ohhh, the Life of a Pirate For Me! — Irene Zielinski moderates a panel examining the perennial appeal of pirates in fiction, on sea, air, and space!

8:00 P.M.: Autographing — For an hour Saturday night I'll sign just about anything, and those who show up may get some special rewards!

Sunday, June 22, 10:00 A.M.: Kaffeeklatsch — Come enjoy coffee and conversation with me. You can ask me anything! (Doesn't mean I'll answer.)

 

 

 

If The Miranda Conspiracy Was A Movie

Marshal Zeringue's Web site "My Book, The Movie" asks authors to imagine their books as films and pick actors for the lead roles. It's a fun question to answer — sometimes I know exactly who to cast, because I pictured a specific actor when writing the piece. And sometimes I have to go on a deep dive in the IMDb looking for someone who matches the person I imagined.

He asked me to cast the imaginary (so far) film version of The Miranda Conspiracy, and you can read my response here.

If anybody has different ideas or suggestions I'd love to hear them. Also if you have Denis Villeneuve's private email, send it along.

MidJourney AI says "Hooray for Hollvyodd!"

The Page 69 Test

Marshal Zeringue's "Page 69 Test" blog asks writers a simple question: what does one random page say about your book? He always picks the same one (presumably with help from Bill & Ted) but one could use a random number generator and come up with a custom version for every new book. Anyway, he asked me what I had to say about Page 69 of The Miranda Conspiracy. Read it here.

I'm not going to generate any AI art for this one. I expect using the prompt "Page 69 test" would get me an "I'm afraid I can't do that, Dave" response.

Unboxed!

My author copies of The Miranda Conspiracy arrived today — which implies they've also arrived at your Friendly Neighborhood Book Store and the Amazon warehouses. Now's your chance to get one! Or more!

Miranda Conspiracy Interview With Paul Semel

I did an email interview with Paul Semel, a noted reviewer and critic of games, media, and fiction. It's pretty interesting, and fills in some of the behind-the-scenes maneuvering that led to the Billion Worlds and the oddly out-of-sequence nature of that sequence. You can read the interview here.

For visual interest, I asked Midjourney AI to draw me a picture of "The Miranda Conspiracy." This is what I got. I guess the one on the lower right might be one of Kavita's outfits. Does anybody recognize who the face is based on? The AI obviously has a particular person in mind.

Boskone is Coming! Boskone is Coming!

Mid-February brings blizzards, Valentines . . . and Boskone!

On February 14-16 I'll be at the fabulous Westin Boston Seaport District hotel for New England's oldest science fiction convention. This year they're keeping me busy, which is great because The Miranda Conspiracy should just be hitting the bookstore shelves. Here's my schedule, and when I'm not at these events I'll probably be attending other programming or hanging out in the delightful lobby bar.

Friday, February 14, 2:30 p.m.: Biology in SF/F — I'll be joining an erudite panel of experts to talk about how SF and fantasy fiction use (and misuse) biology.

Saturday, February 15, 10:00 a.m.: Reading — Come and hear an excerpt from The Miranda Conspiracy and pick up some bookmarks and special swag.

    2:30 p.m.: Technology and the Crisis of Conscience — I'll be moderating a crack team of writers as we discuss some thorny questions of ethics in science and technology and how SF has tackled those issues over the years.

    4:00 p.m.: Book Launch Party — Join me and all the other writers at Boskone with new books for a big combined book launch party!

Sunday, February 16, 11:30 a.m.: The Most Important Books I Never Read — I'll join an all-star panel discussing which famous works of SF and fantasy we've never gotten around to reading.

    1:00 p.m.: Autographing — I'll be signing copies of Miranda Conspiracy or anything else you want me to scribble on.

 

 

New Baen Anthology: DEPTH CHARGE

I just got my comp copies of the new Baen Books anthology DEPTH CHARGE, edited by Hank Davis and Jamie Ibson. It's a collection of short science fiction stories set in undersea environments. Obviously, if they're sending me copies it means I've got a story in the book — in this case, "The Ocean of the Blind," which became the first chapter of A Darkling Sea. 

But that's not what's so exciting about this book.. The cool part is the company I'm keeping. There are stories by Kuttner & Moore, Arthur C. Clarke, James Blish, Robert Silverberg, and a whole lot of other heavy hitters in SF. It's an honor to appear between the same covers. Check it out, at your local bookstore or at Amazon.