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August 14th, 2004 - Bye-bye to the Guestbook and Story of the Month! Yes, a sad decision that I had to make, but judging by my web stats, no-one was reading the Stories of the Month anyway, and I couldn't be bothered choosing, formatting, preparing, uploading and linking to a story every four weeks if nobody was going to read it. So I've decided to discontinue that particular feature. Of course, if anyone objects, please CONTACT ME. For different reasons, I've taken down the guest book as well. This one was an easier decision; again, no-one was using it, at least not for legitimate reasons, but some scumbags were using it to try to sell cut-price medications. So, thanks to their selfishness and inconsideracy, down it goes as well. Thanks to Greg and Bren, for being the only two people who ever bothered to use it. Ah well.
July 2nd, 2004 - a new Story of the Month is online! Previous stories are available here, here, here, here and here.
June 12th, 2004 - a new Story of the Month is online! Previous stories are available here, here, here and here.
May 22nd, 2004 - "Sigmund Freud" gets a mention in Asimovs! In the latest Asimovs SF, there's a review for last year's Agog: Terrific Tales. In it, the author picks out two stories for special mention. I'll quote it below: Cat Sparks has a good story in Fables and Reflections, but it’s as editor of Agog! Terrific Tales (Agog! Press, trade paper, AUS$24.95, 275 pages, ISBN 0958056722) that she really shines this time around. Perhaps even more rewarding than the previous volume from Agog!, this collection of twenty-one stories showcases the wide variety of voices working Down Under. Every piece exhibits at least journeyman competence, while others are masterful. I particularly enjoyed Robert Hood’s "JAM Jars," about an alien-fostered nanotech plague, and Martin Livings’s "Sigmund Freud and the Feral Freeway," in which a robot psychologist has to conduct some perilous negotiations with a sentient roadway. All in all, this volume is a must-have. Isaac Asimov was probably the single most influential author for me as a young writer, so getting a mention, any mention, in the pages of the magazine bearing his name is simply awesome. To garner a positive mention is just unbelievable. My life is now complete. I can die a happy man! May 5th, 2004 - An acceptance, a rejection, and the return of the old Story of the Month! Yes, I'm feeling decidedly bipolar today... one story has been accepted by Antipodean SF (for publication in August), but another has been rejected by Andromeda Spaceways In-Flight Magazine. I gotta say, both bunches of folks were incredibly quick getting back to me... quite a difference from the one-year waits of Eidolon in its prime! ;) Anyway, the rejection just happened to be the same story that didn't win the Conflux Short Story Competition, and the one I originally put up as my Story of the Month for May. So, after a short trip to ASIM, it's back here, beaten and rejected. Hope you like it. ;)
May 2nd, 2004 - another new Story of the Month is online! I decided to submit the previous one elsewhere, so I've quickly replaced it. Well done to those who read it in the week or so it was online! Previous stories are available here, here and here.
April 27th, 2004 - a new Story of the Month is online! Previous stories are available here, here and here.
April 26th, 2004 - Missed out on the Ditmar too! And the Conflux Short Story comp too... I believe, in baseball vernacular, that counts as "three strikes, you're out". :( Yup, my story "Sigmund Freud and the Feral Freeway" was up for a Tin Duck, an Aurealis Award AND a Ditmar, but was beaten in all three. Of course, I was defeated by the lovely and talented Lucy Sussex for the Ditmar, so I really can't complain too much. Oh, who am I kidding? Yes I can! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaghhh! Also didn't win (or place, I guess) in the Conflux Short Story Competition, which I threw an entry into... I didn't have high hopes for that one, though. I'll put the story up as my next Story of the Month next week.
April 11th, 2004 - Awards night highs and lows Well, last night was the Awards Ceremony at Swancon, and it was an evening of high drama. I missed out on the Tin Duck and the Aurealis Award, though of course huge kudos to all winners. I did, however, win the short story competition, which was awesome! So yay me! :) Thanks to everyone who came up and congratulated me so nicely after my amazing acceptance speech ("Umm... ahh... thanks... thanks a lot.. yeah!"), especially Scot, who suggested I didn't actually qualify for an amateur sf competition, but congratulated me anyway. ;) Oh, one more thing... I was informally invited to be a guest by a bid for the 2006 Swancon by Russell, which was so incredibly flattering and nice. Unfortunately, he and his crack team of experts didn't win the bid, so I guess I'll have to continue just being an ordinary pleb there like everyone else. ;)
April 7th, 2004 - Swancon is a-comin' up! Yes folks, it's that time of the year again. The annual Perth science fiction convention, Swancon, is on this weekend, starting Thursday afternoon and finishing Monday afternoon. Due to family commitments, I'll only be there for Friday and Saturday this year, but I'm looking forward to it nonetheless. It's a chance to catch up with friends I haven't seen for ages, check out some panels, and basically be a geek for a couple of days. Hopefully see you all there too! PS - my girlfriend just spotted the comment about being a geek for a couple of days. Her comment - "And the rest of the time you're not???? Ha!!" ;)
March 15th, 2004 - "The Art of Suffering" published in the first issue of the new Ticonderoga Online And I'm very, very pleased to be there too. First publication to come out for 2004, and it's one of my all-time favourite stories. I hope you enjoy it. It's available at the Ticonderoga Online web site. Thanks to Russell, Liz, Lee and Lyn for thinking that it was somehow "gonzo" enough to appear there. ;) Below is Russell's press release:
For Immediate Release TiconderogaOnline Launches Issue 1 TiconderogaOnline today launched its first issue with a solid line-up including Martin Livings, Jay Caselberg, Sean Williams, Stephen Dedman, Chris Lawson and Grant Watson. The webzine features two stories: "The Art of Suffering" by Ditmar and Aurealis Award nominated writer Martin Livings and "Tasting Time" by Aurealis Award nominated Jay Caselberg. "We've got a good mix of stories," said editor Russell B. Farr. " 'The Art of Suffering' is a fast-paced horror story with a twist while 'Tasting Time' is a thought-provoking, character driven science fiction story." The site also offers an impressive array of non-fiction, including interviews with Sean Williams and Borderlands' founders Stephen Dedman and Grant Watson, and a science column by Chris Lawson. TiconderogaOnline #1 will be available at the website until 15 September 2004. While a last minute computer hitch briefly threatened to delay the launch, the site went live at approximately 10 pm on 14 March, Western Australian Time. "We aimed to have everything ready in plenty of time," said Russell B. Farr. "And sometimes the best back-up is having another computer handy."
TiconderogaOnline is edited by Lee Battersby, Russell B. Farr, Liz
Grzyb and Lyn Triffitt and is online at
For further information please contact Russell B. Farr at
March 14th, 2004 - "Sigmund Freud and the Feral Freeway" has been nominated for a Ditmar! It looks like 2004 might be the Year of the Freud (or perhaps the Year of the Cat, since she published it!)... not only has it been nominated for an Aurealis Award, now it's also been nominated for a Ditmar! Unbelievable... well, I'm not going to the natcon at Conflux this year, but if anyone is, and they feel like voting for me, the voting forms are here. Voting closes April 15th, so remember, vote early and vote often. ;)
March 10th, 2004 - a new Story of the Month is online! Previous stories are available here and here.
February 21st, 2004 - I have a LiveJournal! In an effort to shame myself into working harder on my writing, I've put a LiveJournal up, almost entirely for keeping track of the word count of my novel-in-progress, "Carnies". This novel's been in development for well over ten years, but I've been procrastinating about writing it for almost that entire time. I finally launched into it in December last year, intending to write it in a month (kind of NaNoWriMo but a month late!), but then got all depressed about it and stopped. But I've started again, and have set myself the goal of finishing it by late March, for my 34th birthday. As I figure it, that will require about 2000 words a day every day. I have daily goals, and every day I'll be putting up my projected word count and my actual word count. I'm already behind, of course. :) Probably of interest to no-one, but hey, it's still news!
February 1st, 2004 - a new Story of the Month is online!
January 15th, 2004 - Ticonderoga Online to publish me! Again! Well, it's official now! Below is a "press release" by Russell B. Farr of Ticonderoga Online:
I can reveal a further secret - the title of the story is "The Art of Suffering", and it's one of my favourites. I've updated the bibliography accordingly. :) Exciting!
January 11th, 2004 - Ditmar nominations now being accepted! First news posting for a new year! The Ditmar Awards for 2003 are now taking nominations. I don't hold out any hope of even making the short-list, let alone winning one, but if anyone out there has ready anything of mine that they liked, please feel free to nominate me. My list of eligible stories is:
Thanks! :)
December 27th, 2003 - New sections up on the web site! Okay, now that Christmas is finally over, I've had the chance to get the web site a little more completed. Added is a working guestbook to get your feedback, plus I've thrown up (ooh, that's a rather appropriate turn of phrase) the Story of the Month section, and for this month it's an original written just for this year's holiday season. Enjoy, I hope!
December 21st, 2003 - "Know-It-All" published in issue 67 of Antipodean SF! Well, actually, it may have been published well before now, but I've only just noticed it. Woohoo! Snuck in my sixth story published for the year! :)
December 21st, 2003 - New website launched! Yes, defying the tradition of seven years, I've changed my web site, mainly because I was feeling a little funny about having all my stories online, especially because they kept on getting sold afterwards, despite all rhyme or reason. So now it's more of an informatory site, bibliography and biography and whatnot. But in the future I also plan to have a random story of the month, carefully selected from what used to be the MJL Files. Plus maybe occasional originals written just for the site, if I can be bothered!
December 20th, 2003 - "Sigmund Freud and the Feral Freeway" nominated for an Aurealis Award! Now this is cool... my little story for Agog! Terrific Tales has somehow finagled a nomination for best SF short story in the AA's this year. I'm truly stoked and honoured to be in the company of the other nominees, and I'll be sitting nervously in the audience at Swancon this year when the awards are announced!
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