Interesting blogs

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Have you noticed how once you know something, know it to the point that it’s comfortably part of your everyday life, you tend to think everyone shares your knowledge? Or is this just my quirky mind?

Anyway, I have a handful of blogs that routinely offer me interesting info and which I really shouldn’t assume everyone and their cousin knows about. So here goes:

Mind Hacks for neuroscience (and psych stuff more broadly).

Past Horizons for archaeology.

Dear Author for romance novel reviews and publishing news.

ArtDaily is one of the few e-newsletters I’ve signed up to receive daily. It goes beyond the art world to include interesting happenings in related fields, like archaeology.

Tiny House Blog for tiny house news, inspiring photos and stories.

These are all pretty much my “lurker” blogs where I love what they do, but seldom–never–comment. Then I have a ton of other friendly, interactive blogs authored by cool people … but that’s another post!

Oops, almost forgot BoingBoing for weirdness and attitude. Also informative.

Any must-read blogs that you’d like to share?

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Heard It on the Grapevine by Monica Gagliano

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As a non-scientist I’m hugely appreciative of scientists who can write up their findings in a simple way that invites everyone to consider the implications. Monica Gagliano has done just that with her article, “Heard it on the grapevine: the mysterious chatter of plants” published online at The Conversation.

Studies show that plants respond to sounds and produce meaningful sound themselves. And that’s as much as I’m going to recap the article…it’s not a long read and it’s very clear. Well worth clicking through the link. What I do want to talk about in this review is how strongly structured the article is.

I write fiction and plotting is one of the nightmares of my life. Yes, genre fiction does tend to have certain expectations shaping each story’s structure, but you still have to be clear about what experience you want a reader to have at particular points in the story. At all times you want the reader to want to read on (because they can put a book down any time and you want them to pick it back up), but at some points you want them to be hopeful, fearful, angry, whatever…a good story demands an emotional engagement.

But back to this science article. The structure is deceptively simple. First the background on bioacoustics (nice that this recap wasn’t patronising), then the new research (cool!) and what it may mean in understanding plant life, and then, this lovely set up whams us with the emotional challenge: If plants aren’t passive, insensitive organisms…do we have a right to tear down their world (and concrete over it)? A really effective structure that left me as a reader thinking — and as a writer, pondering a little science fiction fable :)

 

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In Defence of the Empire

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This bear,
clothed in the skin of a bear
on skeletal steel,
bars the gate at Buckingham P.

Bars the gate and crushes my heart.

I wish I could bash his knees,
rust his sharp elbows, his killing claws,
introduce him
– oh unpatriotic desire –
to lumbering freedom.

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The Girl in Steel-Capped Boots by Loretta Hill

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The Girl in Steel-Capped Boots is perfect! Loretta Hill has written a beguiling romance that rings true with its West Australian setting — and characters! — but is also a coming of age story. Lena is on a quest to prove herself, not least, to herself.

There’s a lovely clarity to the Loretta’s style that captures the rhythms and expressions of Australian speech without exaggerating them into mockery. Humour and courage nicely balance the emotion in the story, and all tangled plot strands are competently dealt with in the satisfying conclusion.

I know this is a short review, but honestly, “The Girl in Steel-Capped Boots” was a joy to read–and what else is there to say?

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Steampunk Chronicle’s Readers’ Choice Awards

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So, the voting’s nearly over in the Steampunk Chronicle’s Readers’ Choice Awards. No matter what the result I am beyond thrilled that my novella, “Wanted: One Scoundrel”, is up for Best Short Story. Oh my corsets and clockworks! It is rubbing shoulders with an awesome collection of talent. There is still time to squeeze in a vote or two … but even if you don’t want to vote (which is completely fair enough) you’ll brighten your life by checking out some of the nominees … favourite steampunk personas, clothes (these are amazing! hold onto your credit cards), music and more.

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Soliloquising I’m Shakespeare

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I enjoy a good Shakespearean soliloquy. The play is romping along, the characters are interacting with varying degrees of wit and confusion, and suddenly one character steps forward, turns to the audience and addresses them directly under the pretence of speaking to him or herself. The soliloquy works because it doesn’t stand alone but is supported by all this preceding and subsequent activity — not to mention the framing of the stage, props, music and costumes.

An effective blog, I’ve decided, is a soliloquy. It can’t be a lone voice crying in the wilderness. It has to emerge from, and help create, a community. Making Light is an excellent example.

For the last couple of years I’ve been thinking about blogging — its role and why I’m so spectacularly unsuccessful at it. I started at the wrong end. I should have started by finding a community I’m at home in and building my blog from points I want to share, but which don’t find a place in current dialogue.

Because while a good blog creates content, a great blog creates content for a specific audience and nurtures that audience into a community.

There’s some discussion whether blogging is becoming passé. I’d argue that it may change form or publishing platform, but that the essential power of it will remain: independent, free publication of new content.

Content creation is the defining difference between the lions of the social media world and the rest of us ants. I scurry around, picking up crumbs and carrying them here, there and everywhere. A lion hunts down a juicy issue and gnaws on it, occasionally growling and snapping at vultures.

To blog or not to blog is not the question. Instead ask yourself: Who are you? Where do you belong? and what do you have to say?

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Stepping Out with the Sacred by Val Webb

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As part of the Australian Women Writers Reading and Reviewing Challenge I popped into a local bookshop and asked if they had any theology books written by Australian women. Guess what I walked out with? ;) [I also picked up The Silent Cry: Mysticism and Resistance. Its author, Dorothy Soelle, wasn't Australian, but the book was wonderful. But that's another review :) ]

Stepping Out with the Sacred by Val Webb is a book about engaging with the Divine, the “something more”. It’s NOT a how-to guide. It’s a book about the many paths (religions), their overlap and differences. Why is this important?

I’m not sure if Val ever spelled it out in a way I can quote. If she did, I missed it. But reading “Stepping Out with the Sacred” I felt like it was reaching towards a way to understand God (which really means, to understand how we want God to be) that would enable people to network for good causes, like environmentalism.

Don’t get me wrong, the book shows evidence of years of theological research and thought. It’s not lightweight. It attempts to prepare readers to “dialogue” with other religions.

Val self-identifies as Protestant and I think she’s writing for that audience. She provides accessible examples of people’s experience of their religion, whatever it may be. What I can’t judge is how truly she’s captured believers’ own notion of what they believe and how they live it (and to declare my own background: I’m Catholic and not a big fan of St Therese of Lisieux whom Val mentions and quotes a number of times — to be clear, I respect Therese’s commitment to the life she chose. I don’t respect how gleefully the male Catholic hierarchy held up her meekness as a model to all [us women] by canonising and marketing her — and this is the sort of complexity in religions that Val’s book just doesn’t have space to cover).

Fundamentally, “Stepping Out with the Sacred” addresses the question of how we live in the world, and does so through a theological lens. In fact, I think it goes further and asks us to consider how we create the world by out perception/belief in “something more” — whether that something more be God or another intangible, like ideology.

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Pumpkin soup

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I make a very simple pumpkin soup – one with lots more than just pumpkin in it, actually. I never was very good at following cooking rules ;) Anyways, I was wondering, what do you flavour your pumpkin soup with?

Peter, Peter, pumpkin eater...

Lots of times I use commercial stock (liquid or cubes), but for this one I eliminate stock entirely. I fry up an onion in butter with salt and pepper, just till it’s translucent. Add a chopped stick of celery to soften in the butter too. Then I add a pinch of curry powder (the mild kind…hello, Keens :) ) for the golden glow of its turmeric along with a couple of chopped carrots, a sweet potato, and of course, the pumpkin. Then I shake in some nutmeg, fill up with cold water, bring to boil, then simmer for about forty minutes. Blend up the result so it’s smooth and there you have it — my secret spice for pumpkin soup is NUTMEG. What’s yours?

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The Fine Colour of Rust by P A O’Reilly

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I added “The Fine Colour of Rust” by P A O’Reilly to my TBR pile after reading ShelleyRae’s review. I’m so glad I did. Thanks, ShelleyRae.

Loretta, the story’s heroine and narrator, is brilliantly conveyed in her humour, failings and courage. Her small town home is portrayed with an awareness of its shortcomings and yet, celebrates a sense of community.

I’m not sure how to phrase my response to this novel — reviewing is a tough gig!

The thing is, the theme of The Fine Colour of Rust seems to me to be desperation. But if I say that, you’ll think the book is depressing, and it’s not. The book is funny and (I know this word is overused) heartwarming.

I enjoyed the book’s style. I could smell the dust, feel the heat, hear my neighbours in the characters’ conversation — though I confess I’m a suburbanite, not a country dweller: most Australians are :)

The Fine Colour of Rust felt like an honest conversation with a friend. A wonderful read!

[and yes, I did finish reading the book while eating a mini-pavlova. What can I say? I felt all patriotic ;)  and The Fine Colour of Rust was as yummy as the pav.]

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