Me, Antman and Fleabag by Gayle Kennedy

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This is such an easy review to write. I loved the collection of short stories that is Me, Antman and Fleabag. Gayle Kennedy captures the language and story telling style of the people she writes about. The stories are wry, joyous, heartfelt, sometimes painfully real. The characters wandered off the page, pulled out a chair and sat down at my kitchen table. They asked for a cuppa, milk with two sugars, ta love, and stirred vigorously.

I defy anyone to read the first story, “How ta drink in the park”, and not immediately turn the page for more.

This collection has such a strong voice, the humour and courage of Indigenous Australians’ experience. Like the best stories anywhere, the powerful identity of the characters doesn’t exclude, but rather welcomes us into their world.

 

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Brand Promise Jargon

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Maybe those three words, “brand, promise, jargon” don’t jangle your nerves, but they do mine. I think it’s because slick jargon is hiding some important stuff I want to talk about. Stuff like, expectations, conversations, identity, reality, work, friendship and why the heck am I, Ms Hermit, spending so much time on social media?

The first thing I want to say is, You are NOT your brand.

It’s kind of complicated.

Any time you venture online you are creating people’s perception of you — and how they perceive you is your brand.

But, did you read the word I used? You are creating people’s perception of you. Whether you’re conscious of it or not, whether you believe you’re being completely unfiltered or not, what and how you share information about yourself (and that information includes how you behave) creates a version of you online. That version of you is your brand. It’s what services like Klout purport to measure.

This version of you deserves to be called your brand when you look at it and see that it is the value proposition you’re putting to people. This brand tells people it is worth their time, their attention, heck, maybe even their money, because it offers them … Well, what are you offering them? This is where brand morphs into promise.

And this is the point where I think it’s important to remember that you are not your brand. You are so much more than your brand. But there is only so much of you that you want to give away — promise — to others. This is why being conscious of the version of you that you’re putting out there is vital. People will (mostly) respect your boundaries, but you need to define those boundaries.

On the flipside, people will build expectations around your brand. They will believe your promises. So you need to make promises you can keep.

Brand You … oh jargon, how I hate thee … Brand You is not a false identity. Well, I guess it could be, but this is my take on it. Brand You is genuine. It is you, but it’s also you knowing that you’re creating yourself. It is you self-aware and acting with purpose. It is you wanting something: friendships, conversations, to share knowledge, to sell your music, books or paintings, to take a journey (literal or figurative), to amuse and be amused.

The reason why people talk so much about brand is because it’s an effective tool in the “look at me! look at me!” world of social media. There is a lot of babble, a lot of confusion, a lot of competition in social media. If you want to make genuine connections with people it really helps to offer them a coherent you. People like stories. Brand You is your story.

 

 

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Dark Vow by Shona Husk

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Who else grew up watching Little House on the Prairie? I read the books, too. And then there were all the John Wayne Westerns Dad watched. When I opened Dark Vow by Shona Husk the setting sprang vividly to life — Western but with a fantastic distopian twist. I was immediately hooked.

No, that’s not true. It wasn’t the setting that hooked me…brilliantly conveyed though it was, using enough of the stereotypes plus a twist to have all the world building rocking in a novella length story. What made it impossible to put the book down was the heroine and the conflict she was plunged into from the opening. Jaines Cord is a strong woman, a survivor, in a world of danger and, as it turns out, heartbreak.

Summarising a story is not my strength, besides in Dark Vow, the unfolding drama really doesn’t need spoilers. The twists in the plot are unexpected, but natural. Jaines’s journey is an emotional one as much as a physical one. For the reader, there is also the fascination of discovering the world Shona Husk creates.

The story gripped me. Be warned: You won’t want to put it down once you’ve started — and you’ll remember it after you’ve finished.

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Goodreads Groups

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Welcome to the world of my latest obsession. I’ve been on Goodreads for a while, but you know how it is. You’re busy, can’t do everything. Goodreads kind of slid. But I’ve decided to cut myself some slack with Facebook — I really don’t like FB. If it weren’t for the lovely people there I wouldn’t bother with the annoyance of using it, and having it then trail me around the net unless I remember to log out and delete its cookies (or whatever the hell they are). Anyhow, this post was not meant to be a rant about FB. However, in the space left by me allowing myself to cut down on FB I think I’ll have time to spend on Goodreads. Yay!

Goodreads is lovely. What could be nicer than hanging out with other readers and chatting about books?

There are two main groups where you’ll find me on Goodreads:

Here Be Magic — run by fantasy (broadly defined) authors published with Carina Press. But we don’t limit ourselves to Carina books or to…um…serious discussion. Simply a fun, friendly place to call in. Also, we’re thinking of building a thread of book giveaway contests. We’ll see how that goes.

Australian Women Writers Challenge — the Goodreads companion site to the reading challenge I signed up for at the start of the year. Lots and lots of great book recommendations and reviews, plus clever, welcoming people. Nice group.

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Notorious Australian Women by Kay Saunders

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I should have paid more attention to the title. You know, the “notorious” bit. I went looking for a history book by an Australian woman writer that I could read on my kindle. I don’t know quite what I expected from “Notorious Australian Women”.

The book is very readable.

The opening chapters, dealing with Indigenous and convict women from the early years of European settlement, were strong. They were fantastic in the wealth of period detail and history woven into their biographies.

The style of the later chapters would suit inclusion in a magazine as feature articles. I was fascinated by the varied achievements and daring of the women described. But…it wasn’t my cup of tea and I’ve spent a few days thinking about why not.

A major element of the Australian Women Writers Reading and Reviewing Challenge is to read outside your normal reading. Well, now I realise why I read a few autobiographies but seldom touch a biography (like this collection). The biographies feel voyeuristic. This is purely my perception. “Notorious Australian Women” isn’t a nasty or lip-licking book. But I didn’t like the sense of the narrator coming through the story and telling me how the woman thought, loved and hated.

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Thoughts

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Reading The Guardian‘s obituary for Vaclav Havel I was struck by a quotation from him: “Experience of a totalitarian system of the communist type makes emphatically clear one thing which I hope has universal validity: that the prerequisite for everything political is moral. Politics really should be ethics put into practice.” I wish politicians could live by this truth, or should I say hope they will?

Second thought for the day is actually something I’ve been stewing over since New Year’s Day. The issue of surveillance. It’s the potential surveillance that disturbs me. I wonder if the perception that we’re always (possibly) being watched — online, by cameras, our financial transactions, satellites, hell I don’t know — affects our thinking and way of being in the world. I’m sure there’s scientific language for this…I just don’t know it. But the hovering threat of our every action recorded and scrutinised must impact us somehow.

And then I remembered I’m Catholic. Recording angel, anyone? People have lived with the notion of constant surveillance for centuries…and not just Christians. Quite apart from gods, some of us fear our ancestors are watching.

So then I turned the question of contemporary surveillance on its head. What if it’s not something scary imposed to control us but rather, given our increasing secularity, a means of replacing gods and ancestors with a reassuring secular promise that someone (Big Brother?) is watching? Does being comfortably human require a belief that we’re interesting enough to be watched?

I am observed, therefore I am?

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A Hole in the Pavement by Tahlia Newland

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I’m so excited to be part of the Australian Women Writers Challenge 2012 — this is a challenge for READERS — and that’s me! Sure, I write, but I read a heck of a lot more than I write. I love reading :)

I’m kicking off my review challenge with a short story. I think this is going to be the year of the short story for me. I’ve subscribed to Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine and The Griffith Review — both to arrive digitally, which is bliss. So simple, no straying postal deliveries, no trying to track down a copy at the shops.

But, on to the review…

“A Hole in the Pavement” by Tahlia Newland was originally published as part of her collection, “A Matter of Perception“. I’ll get back to you on a review of the collection as a whole because the quality of this story means I HAVE to read more :)

What makes it so good? Well, the writing first. It has an easy, assured quality that makes it a pleasure to read. Then there is the fact that I ventured out of my comfortable reading rut to discover what “Magic Realism”, which is how Tahlia’s writing is described, feels like. It feels wonderful. Do you remember how much you loved Aesop’s Fables as a kid? “A Hole in the Pavement” gave me that same sense of a gifted storyteller guiding us through a fable, albeit in a contemporary setting — and with no talking animals.

Maybe “fable” is the wrong word. I’m looking for a descriptor for a story that delves into life and adds a touch of magic to illumine how to live it — with courage.

The characters, Norris and his goddess, are warm and appealing. They could so easily have been left as undeveloped stereotypes to advance the plot and story message. Instead, Norris charmed me.

Trying to write my first review for 2012 I realise that the magic of “A Hole in the Pavement” was the strength with which relationships were portrayed and developed, including the relationship a person has with themselves, the element of self-perception.

A delightful read, perfect for the lunch hour.

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You may have noticed…

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A sudden change to this blog. I’ve just noticed WordPress has an Import-from-Tumblr feature. Since I find some beautiful and intriguing images over there, I thought I’d have them feed here. However, if it turns out the images are a nuisance if you’re reading this blog in Google Reader (or anywhere else) let me know and I’ll reconsider this shiny new toy :)

The influx of eight images into your feed should only happen this once as the importer gets itself sorted out.

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