movies based on ...... games, graphic novels, books ...... an incomplete list

This is purely for my own edification, you know, things to do to while away a lazy Monday afternoon when I really should be doing something else... Me? Procrastinate? Never!!

Movies based on games:

• Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
• Doom (with a mix of live and game-based action)
• Super Mario Bros (ok, this was a serious flop)
• Halo (okay, so it's not out yet, but uit will be!! one day. I'm sure of it. True.......)

Movies based on comics / graphic novels:

• Sin City
• Daredevil
• Elektra
• Constantine
• Hulk
• Superman
• Batman
• Spiderman
• Ironman
• Conan
• X-Men / Wolverine
• Captain America
• Thor
• The Avengers
• Catwoman
• Ghost Rider
• Green Lantern
• Hellboy
• Judge Dredd
• V for Vendetta

Movies based on plays (ie, have Shakespeare, will travel):

• Hamlet
• Macbeth
• King Henry VIII
• A Midsommers Night Dream
• Much Ado About Nothing
• Romeo and Juliet
• etc, etc, etc

Movies based on books:

• Apocalypse Now (Heart of Darkness)
• Beastly
• I am Number Four
• Die Hard 4.0 (actually based on a Wired magazine article: "A Farewell to Arms" by John Carlin)
• Dune
• Bridge over Terabithia
• Tomorrow when the war began
• The Road
• No Country for Old Men
• Master & Commander: the far side of the world
• Caddie
• Careful He Might Hear You
• I can jump puddles
• For the term of his natural life
• The Shiralee
• Seven Little Australians
• The Searchers
• One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
• Catch 22
• The Colour of Magic
• To Kill a Mockingbird
• 20,000 leagues under the sea
• A Christmas Carol
• Bleak House
• David Copperfield
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame
• The Three Muskateers
• The Man in the Iron Mask
• The Count of Monte Christo
• Moby Dick
• The Name of the Rose
• Wuthering Heights
• Dracula
• Pride and Prejudice
• Sense and Sensibility
• The Jane Austen Book Club
• Harry Potter (series)
• We Were Soldiers
• War of the Worlds
• The Day of the Triffids
• The Vampire's Assistant (The saga of Darren Shan / Cirque du Freak)
• The Saint
• Toy Soldiers
• Stormbreaker
• Peter Pan
• A Series of Unfortunate Events
• Out of Africa
• Gorillas in the Mist
• Battlestar Galactica
• Jurassic Park
• The Andromeda Strain
• Outbreak
• The 13th Warrior (Eaters of the Dead)
• Blade Runner (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?)
• I am Legend
• I, Robot
• Total Recall
• 1984
• The Firm
• The Pelican Brief
• Carrie
• Pet Sematery
• The Shining
• James Bond (series)
• Watership Down
• Force 10 from navarrone
• Where Eagles Dare
• The Great Escape
• The Dam Busters
• The Missing
• The Last of the Mohicans
• The War Wagon
• True Grit
• Rooster Cogburn
• They Were Expendable
• Red River
• Rio Grande
• North to Alaska
• Hatari
• Commancheros
• The Shootist
• The Undefeated
• The Green Berets
• E Dorado (John Wayne / Robert Mitchum)
• In Harm's Way
• The Sons of Katie Elder
• The Longest Day
• The Odd Angry Shot
• Mister Roberts
• The Hunt for Red October
• Hart's War
• Stalag 17 (also, Hogan's Heroes TV series which was based on the movie based on the book)
• Full Metal Jacket
• Empire of the Sun
• The Eagle has Landed
• D-Day
• A Bridge Too Far
• Zulu
• Breaker Morant (Shoot Straight You Bastards)
• The Bridges at Toki-Ri
• Black Hawk Down
• The Blue Max
• ANZIO
• Anne of Green Gables
• The Bourne series
• Coraline
• Limitless

..... and they're just the ones I could think of this afternoon, there's sure to be more.

Gets me thinking though, about movies based on songs, movies born from TV series (eg. S.W.A.T., Doctor Who, and so on), movies based on a poem (The Man from Snowy River) .............. mmmm, ..........curious.

Biblio Turismo 2011 road trip

"Biblio Turismo is the NSW public library event of the year when librarians from across the state meet and visit public libraries over a three day period. We do it on motorbikes and use the event to help market public libraries. All those working in the library industry and their partners are invited to come."

Biblio Turismo went on its first ride in 2006 and since then has visited (2006) Springwood; Bathurst; Orange; Cowra; Cootamundra; Tumut; Tumbarumba; Corryong; Holbrook; Wagga Wagga; Gundaroo; (2007) Engadine; Corrimal; Bowral; Ulladulla; Bateman's Bay; Narooma; Bombala; Eden; Merimbula; Tathra; Bermagui; Nowra; Kiama; (2008) Gosford; Maitland; Gloucester; Tamworth; Armidale; Dorrigo; Bellingen; Coffs Harbour; Nambucca Heads; Stuarts Point; Taree; Forster; (2009) Singleton; Denman; Mudgee; Wellington; Dubbo; Parkes; Forbes; Eugowra; Canowindra; Blaney; Bathurst; Katoomba; (2010) Campbelltown; Mittagong; Goulburn; Braidwood; Queanbeyan; Canberra; Tidbinbilla; Cooma; and Thredbo libraries. 

 

(the 2011 Biblio shirt)

This year (Dec 1-3) I joined the 'mild ones' as they set out to visit Cessnock; Muswellbrook; Scone; Gunnedah; Manilla; Walcha; Wauchope; Port Macquarie; Nabiac; Raymond Terrace; Tomaree; and Shoal Bay libraries.  
I also tweeted the event (a first for biblio apparently - http://storify.com/CatyJ/biblioturismo2011 also http://storify.com/CatyJ/road-trip) and kept my family fully informed of my progress via Facebook (always good to keep in touch!)...... At each library I was sure to be the one running straight to a PAC asking "can I log on?".....

Riding down from Grafton I got as far as Bulahdelah before stopping for the night (beating a torrential thunderstorm by only minutes). I have to say the Bulahdelah Motor Lodge is a friendly spot, they offered to let me park my m50 in their locked garage overnight keeping it well out of the rain and safe and secure. The motel restaurant is also out of this world (I recommend the gnocci & prawns in blue cheese sauce followed by the home-made sticky date pudding).

I left Bulahdelah the next morning in the pouring rain and headed in to Cessnock where I planned to meet the rest of the Biblio Turismo crew. This year it consisted of Alan Flores (Gosford), Alan Arnold (Campbelltown), Leon Alavoine (Blacktown), Ian McCallum & Sherrey Quinn (ACT), Ross Balharrie (State Library) & myself (Coffs Harbour). Thankfully along the way the weather cleared and when I finally turned up at Cessnock Library (well before everyone else) I was more than happy to remove my "Michelin Man" wet weather gear (aka 'the pool liner').

 Cessnock Library provided our first ever Biblio Cake!!

Rose-Marie offered that I could bring my bike into the library foyer where she would also be setting up morning tea for us - so I did. When the rest of biblio turned up Alan brought his Ducati inside too and then decided to try out what it feels like to sit on a "real" bike!!

(now Alan, this is a real bike!)

From Cessnock we headed out to Muswellbrook. Now according to the map, the plan, and the instructions we were travelling via Denman. I must've double, triple & quadruple checked this with Alan before we left........ anyway, I went via Denman, everyone else followed Alan and hurtled straight up the highway....... Mind you, they did hold off on eating lunch at Muswellbrook Library until I got there which I though was nice of everyone.


At Muswellbrook Ross left us and returned to Sydney whilst the rest of us took a quick jaunt up the highway to Scone Library for more tea, coffee, and cake - trust me, you can never have enough cake!  

(Scone Library)

The original plan from Scone to Gunnedah had been to ride via Caroona, Spring Ridge, Premer, Tambar Springs, and Mullaley. Given the heavy rainfall and road closures of the week before it was decided to simply head straight up from Scone to Gunnedah via Quirindi. This was a good plan and managed to put us back on schedule (with some creative riding thrown in for good measure).


I love these roads. Turning left off the highway at Willow Tree saw us move on to some lovely open pavement with sweeping bends and little traffic. Perfect. Ian & Sherrey hurtled ahead to make sure someone got to Gunnedah Library before they closed. As it was we ended up arriving fairly close to each other and well in time for Alan to bring his Ducati into the library and read the kids a delightful story - "Once upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude". The ensuing line up of kids to have their photo taken on Alan's Ducati seemed endless!!


After locating our various accommodations we then met up at the Courthouse Hotel for drinks, dinner, and good conversation. By the end of the evening though the weather had turned decidedly chilly and a touch on the breezy side - a portent of what the next day would bring.


Meeting again outside Gunnedah Library the next morning we were all fueled up and rearing to go. So we headed up the Oxley past Carroll and then turned north towards Manilla, skirting around Lake Keepit and leaning into that cool southerly wind tearing across the Manilla plains. A short ride later we arrived at Manilla Library well ahead of time and happy. Alan once again motored his Ducati into the library and was content.

 

(Manilla Library)

From Manilla we began the trek to Walcha Library via Tamworth - so that Alan could fuel up, having a bike with a range of 125kms certainly provided the rest of us with much mirth. After a brief pause at the Moonbi Roadhouse, we then headed up the Moonbi's to Bendemeer and then right onto Walcha Road and through the ranges to Walcha Library where we were met with a much appreciated hot lunch. At this point I was feeling the chill factor and dashed across the road to Vinnies to stock up on some extra layers - which I was rather grateful for later on.

(Walcha Library)

Leaving Walcha we trundled along at a steady pace as we waited for Alan to catch up to us, which he finally did at the Apsley Falls turn off (it would have been nice to stop for a look but we were on a fairly tight schedule). After a brief pause at Gingers Creek (where I donned my wet weather gear again - more for the added protection from the cold than the threatening rain) we then continued down Walcha Mountain. This is where the others moved ahead. I'll be the first to admit I lack confidence on mountain bends. I love them but I'm also rather cautious around them. I guess having had a few near misses with oncoming trucks over the years has added to my caution. The addition of numerous roadworks featuring loose gravel also slowed things down a bit. ......... Bottom line though, it was a great ride!

(Jim Maguire documenting the evidence of a Ducati in one of his libraries)

I finally arrived at Wauchope Library an hour later than scheduled but all in one piece and fairly close behind everyone else (Ian & Sherry had arrived at 4:30 so I didn't feel too badly being only 20 minutes behind them). Jim Maguire met us there with tea, coffee, and some scrumptious carrot cake while Alan again manoeuvred his bike into the library.  Earlier in the day Ross had a replied to a tweet of mine making the comment that 'the Ducati has been in more libraries than popular fiction titles' - this is oh, so true. (I vaguely remember visiting Wauchope Library as a small child in both its previous locations. I also mentioned to Jim that I'd also done my Year10 work experience at Port Macquarie Library in its original location. I was certainly on some home territory here.)


After Wauchope I left biblio and rode to Taree (for the best & quietest night's sleep I'd had in ages) while they headed to Port Macquarie for the night and then on to Nabiac, Raymond Terrace, Tomaree, and Shoal Bay Libraries the next day. 


On Saturday morning after a relaxed morning spent chatting with my parents I then headed home to Grafton. Just north of Kew I passed the biblio crew heading south. I waved and wished them well.


I had a great biblio. By the time I arrived home I was exhausted but happy and felt I could do it all again in a flash - once you get on the bike and start going all the tiredness just melts away. Nothing beats it.


Already the planning for Biblio Turismo 2012 has started as Alan begins to plot and scheme a trip down south and across the border into Victoria. 2013 will hopefully see everyone head up north towards Byron Bay (I have my fingers crossed for this one as there are some great bike roads up here) and I dare say 2014 is shaping up for a visit to Western Australia (why the heck not?!). Already I'm working out whether to put the bike on the Indian Pacific and train across or fly to Perth and hire something. It's contagious this bike trip stuff. Darwin anyone??

Happy Biblio Turismo 2011 one and all - see you next year!

Vale - Anne McCaffrey (1926 - 2011)

It was with great sadness that I learned today of the death, at 85, of Anne McCaffrey on November 21 in Ireland.
McCaffrey introduced me to the world of Pern, to dragonriders, to crystal singers, to a world of wonder and delight. I devoured Anne McCaffrey's books with relish and often returned to them time again to revisit old friends and take comfort in their worlds. My battered copy of  The Crystal Singer (1982) once was new but now shows many reads, as do my remaining few copies of titles from the Pern series.
Whilst I may have moved on to other fantasy authors and explored new worlds with them I nonetheless owe a huge debt to McCaffrey for first feeding my burgeoning teenage love of fantasy fiction and providing a balance to my reading. At the same time I was first reading about Pern I was also devouring tales of Middle Earth and The Land, McCaffrey helped counter the huge landscapes and epic tales of Tolkein and Donaldson with shorter, often bittersweet tales of dragons and acceptance and discovering oneself in the larger community.
She is greatly missed.

#readit2011 - #goreads in June

Throughout June the #readit2011 theme has been travel, using the hashtag #goreads.

Added to this has been the further challenge to the #readit2011 team of stepping up to blog every day of June.

And what a challenge it has been!

Jenn ( @wateryone) summed it up pretty much with her tweet

blogging every day this month with the #readit2011 team made me realise how many different types of journeys and travels there are! #goreads

It has also been a wonderful journey of its own. Challenging in working together to ensure that posts are up each day, exciting considering the nature of travel and all its forms - fiction and nonfiction (ooh, and games!), and rewarding - at the end of the day each of us has come away with a deeper understanding of each other, ourselves, our shared experiences, and how the idea of 'travel' or 'travelling' can be applied to so many forms of expression - from travel guides, to cook books, from console games, to movies, from verbal narrative, to journeys of the soul.
 
My favourite post? Mmmmm, I really can't pick just one, they all offered so much. I will admit though it was fun to use the challenge as an excuse to write a post involving Halo: combat evolved. Ellen had written an earlier post touching on game-play but I knew I could slot one in referencing both that and Star Wars. Cheeky but fun!
 
I've really enjoyed this month. Even though making sure we had a post to go each day and using a googledoc to track who was doing what had its moments, in the end it worked and it showed that with just a little organisation and committment we can pull it off. I don't think I could have personally committed to blogging every single day but being able to share the workload made it so much more achievable and allowed the converstaions to flow in exciting ways. Being responsible for maybe 5 or 6 posts was something I could handle (along with all my other committments) and being able to use the blog's functions to draft them and schedule their publication meant I could write when I had the chance, reducing a lot of the pressure.
 
I look back on this month and I think I can say with all honesty "we done good". Congratulations team.

Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey Stuff

One of the cool things about Twitter is the way you quite simply stumble upon some absolute gems - this is a video from Phil Bradley (UK) http://youtu.be/HECUTJ-BCpY which I stumbled upon via a tweet from Aaron Tay which first sent me to The Infectious Library blog and then on to the YouTube link.

The gist of Phil's talk to CLIPWALES links 11 social media resources which libraries need to use more to 11 Dr Who regenerations. It's a great list, a great video, and an engaging way of remembering what we should be trying to do - going where the conversations are.

And before I forget ................ #readit2011

The #readit2011 Twitter reading fest has been an amazing journey so far. All the details can be found here - http://readit2011.wordpress.com/ - and here - http://readersadvisory.wetpaint.com/page/2011+Twitter+Reading+Group

Not to mention the shirts you can buy the shirts from RedBubble here - http://www.redbubble.com/explore/readit2011

There are plans afoot to continue the love next year too in conjunction with the National Year of Reading and make it bigger and better and broader and bookier!! .............. is that a word? You get what I mean, I'm just a tad excited about it all.

Now, I'd best be off to update my reading challenge list on the RA wiki .............................

And now for something completely different.......... #risg2011

Last Tuesday, May 24th, was the annual Reference @ The Metcalfe seminar, #risg2011.

The day had an exciting line-up, including David Lee King (via skype), Craig Thomler, Mitchell Whitelaw, Paul Hagon, and Ross Balharrie. Not to mention Megan Pitt doing her bit to showcase CNRL's fabulous CWA Country of Study webpage. Plus loads more.

All the details and presentations can be found here.

I missed attending this day in person, but thoroughly enjoyed following the action via twitter. A huge bonus has been the ability to view the Twapperkeeper stats and feed after the event to catch up on those moments when I wasn't shackled to my desk following the twitterstream.

As always a huge thank you to the RISG team for putting this event together and especially to Ellen Forsyth (@ellenforsyth) for all the hardwork she puts in when the rest of us simply can't make it to the post.

Dragons in the Metcalfe - #ra2011 – part nine (last but not least)

Finally we finished the day with Garth Nix. Such a superb storyteller! He really brought the day full-circle, having started with Brent Weeks that’ morning.

Garth Nix reads everything – Rosemary Sutcliffe, Arthur Ransom, Georgette Heyer even rated a mention as an adventure story! For him, fantasy writing and reading is about myth, legend and superstition.

After weaving his magic on a spell-bound audience Garth reminded us that writing fantasy is about taking pieces of reality and adding in elements of the fantastic (or mythic) so that readers know it’s not true but will happily go along with the tale. And we certainly did that!

For him, finishing novels is one of the most important things a writer should do – regardless of whether or not that novel is ever published. As a writer it is important that you don’t quit, just keep going and when done move on to the next book. Write the books you want to read – Garth does.


Okay, so what is fantasy?
Often lumped together with Science Fiction
Plot; character; narrative; structure; emotion
Ask, what if…..?

Taking ordinary things you know well and making some small change


What advice does Garth have for writers?

Read Locus magazine – especially, the year in review (www.locusmag.com)

Pursue how-to-write literature: Ursula le Guin – “steering the craft”, books on writing

Exercise:
3 lines – beginning, middle, end
3 paragraphs – beginning, middle, end
Keep expanding on that

Plan / plot
Eg. Keys to the Kingdom series
Knew the 7 titles
Knew the big story, but not the smaller stories
Knew how the story would end, etc

Editors – very useful



Garth Nix’s first book was The Ragwitch, he has this beautiful cover fold-out of all his book covers which has he unfolds more covers makes you realise just how many books he has written and how diverse they have been – but all Fantasy, and all popular with audiences.


When the day finally ended it was with such a positive vibe in the room. Yet again the RA working group had put together an excellent seminar. I’m sure we all look forward to next year’s seminar and whichever theme it explores.
Well done!

Dragons in the Metcalfe - #ra2011 - part eight

Next up was Vassiliki (@vaveros) with her delightful presentation RA and Twitter which is viewable via Sharepoint and on the RA wiki (along with all the other presentations from the day).

And then yours truly ( @CatyJ) showcasing the delight of #readit2011 and #bookbinge plus the range of shirts now available from RedBubble to support these events.

Dragons in the Metcalfe - #ra2011 - part seven

Next up was Sally Dowling, Acting Childrens & Young Adult Librarian at Waverley Library, bringing together a YA Librarians perspective of providing recommended reading for teens. This was an insight into the committment Sally has to her role - participating in a teen reading group (building rapport and relationships with readers), reading YA titles, reviewing journals,newspapers, and publishers' websites, checking out the new stock as it arrives at the library and spending time on teenreads.com.au and the CBC website.
Sally came armed with some Fantasy author suggestions for teens:-
ED Baker (The Frog Princess)
Steven Orgerod
Scott Westerfeld (fabulous steam punk series: Leviathan, Behemoth, etc)
Justin Lalalesteley (?? not sure of the spelling of this one....)
Garth Nix (Sabriel is a great YA read)
Andrew Butcher
Brian Jacques
Jonathon Stroud
Holly Black
Sarah Singelton
Anthony Horowitz
Diana Wynne Jones
Eion Colfer
James patterson
Sophie Masson
Tamora Pierce
Philip Pullman
Stephanie Meyer
Erin Hunter
Anne McCaffrey
Darren Shan (Cirque du Freak / the Saga of Darren Shan; Demonata series; The Thin Executioner; etc)
Catherine Jinks (Evil Genius series; The Reformed Vampire Support Group; etc)
Francesca Lea Block
Gillian Rubenstein

Dragons in the Metcalfe - #ra2011 - part six

What is your fantasy?
After lunch Jenn Martin (@wateryone) led us through a series of small groups discussions on the various Fantasy titles we had read prior to coming to the seminar. We approached our reading from the viewpoint of Nancy Pearl's 'doorways' of language, character, setting, and story/plot and considered our expectations of reading a Fantasy title versus the actual experience of the one we read. the bottom line was to consider the appeal of Fantasy to our library clients.
This was a fun session, highlighted by Vassiliki's (@vaveros) reading of Urgum the Axeman who keeps trying to die heroically only to be constantly foiled by the gods he worships who want to keep him alive as he is their last believer and without him they would perish and be forgotten. For Vassiliki reading this was all about character.

Dragons in the Metcalfe - #ra2011 - part five

Ellen Forsyth from the State Library of NSW (@ellenforsyth) spoke briefly regarding the Stock Quality Health Check (SQHC) - a project to develop a practical tool which enables public libraries to undertake an assessment of the relevance, depth and range of collection stock in relation to the communities they service.


Sound fancy?


Actually, I think this is a fantastic project and one I can really see the usefulness of in my workplace. To be honest I'm quite excited about this project - compiling an indicative list across numerous AF genres which can then be used to gauge the coverage of the library's collection is such a useful and practical idea. I'm also looking forward to parts 2 & 3 - nonfiction and junior/ya fiction

Dragons in the Metcalfe - #ra2011 - part four

Just before we broke for lunch at Dragons in the Metcalfe we were introduced to Sophie Morales sophiam@galaxybooks.com.au , who runs a paranormal romance book club at Galaxy Books (where she also works) introduced us to some of the sub-genres of Fantasy, plus a bit of a look at what’s hot, what’s not, and what’s going to be hot over the next 12 months. A delightful presenter with an amazing generosity on sharing what she knows, Sophie again reinforced the advantage of having presenters from Book Shops at these seminars – she really knows her stuff.

Order me / Tell me / Twitter / Facebook / blog / monthly newsletter

Subgenres of Fantasy

Dark – Stephen King : Eyes of the dragon
Merrvyn Peake - Gormenghast trilogy
Michael Moorcock
Fritz Leiber – Our Lady of Dark
James Clemens – The Witch series
Stephen Leather – Nightfall / Midnight
Kate Griffin – In the Midnight

Comic – Terry Pratchett (the ever poluar and the best!!)
Terry Brooks

Urban – tied to setting – Jim Butcher (suggest that libraries should get all his titles)
Simon R. Green
Patricia Briggs
Ilona Andrews
Epic – Robert Jordan
Joe Abercrombie
Patrick Rothfuss

Heroic –

Historic ? – Guy Gavriel Kay - Ysabel

YA – Tamora Pierce
Kirstin cashore
Suzanne Collins – The Hunger Games series
Julie Kagawa – The Iron Court series
Holly Black
Melissa Marr – themes of dark faeries / tattoos
Gail Carriger – steampunk, Victorian, very cool

Upcoming themes ? – mermaids, zombies, minotaurs

Dragons in the Metcalfe - #ra2011 - part three

Next up at Dragons in the Metcalfe were the ever popular Lightning Talks – 5 slides in 2 minutes.

Martin Mantle – Armidale Library – Non-western motifs in Fantasy fiction.
· Raymond Feist / Janny Wurts
· Western / European
· Japanese
· Middle East
· India
· Sophie Masson – Mulsim / Hindu / Buddhist – a local Armidale author! –
· Graphic comic book - the Ninety-Nine / The 99 – al-tisa’a

Heather Thomson – Monavale Library – Holding The Book : using kindles in reading groups
· 1 purchase allows 6 copies
· Catalogued kindles to allow issues/returns
· Portable / storage / clarity (of screen)
· Blandness of reading experience

Anne Duffield – Ultimo Library - @Edwirinia – What are you reading?
· Listening to others (staff) talk about books
· Broadening knowledge
· Getting to know who reads what, what titles/authors are out there

Martin Mantle – Armidale Library – Disability in Fantasy Fiction – a fantastic talk, left everyone wanting more!!
· Impairment vs Disability
· Impairment – Body, Mind, Senses
· Disability – Environment, Technology
· Stephen Donaldson - The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Unbeliever – has leprosy
· Garth Nix – asthma of main character is what enables him to enter fantasy world

Dragons in the Metcalfe - #ra2011 - part two

Dragons in the Metcalfe exposed public library staff to some interesting speakers.

Following on from Brent Weeks, Rowena Specht-Whyte - @Rowena-SW - spoke to us next about her role as an Aurealis Awards judge and #specfic (Speculative Fiction / Fantasy) in particular. The Aurealis Awards were established in 1995 by Chimaera Publications specifically “to recognise the achievements of Australian science fiction, fantasy and horror writers”. The awards cover five categories: science fiction, fantasy, horror, young adult, and children’s fiction (ages 8-12 years, added in 2001). The YA and children's categories cover works in all three speculative fiction genres. These categories each have two separate awards, one for novels and one for short fiction. To qualify an author must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident and have published an appropriate title during the set period (currently 1st Nov through to 31st Dec of the following year). It is up to the judges’ discretion as to which category a book fits into.

So what does an Aurealis judge look for in a Fantasy novel?
· World building
· Character
· Supernatural / ‘fantastic’ element
· Consistency


Some winning authors:

· Sara Douglass
· Isobelle Carmody
· Juliet Marillier
· Garth Nix
· Traci Harding
· Patricia Wrightson
· Sean Williams
· Kim Wilkins
· etc
· etc
· etc



Rowena is a passionate reader whose enthusiam was an inspiration for everyone!

Dragons in the Metcalfe - #ra2011 - part one

Back on March 9th I had the fun of participating in the annual Readers Advisory seminar at the State Library of NSW – Dragons in the Metcalfe. It’s taken me some time to compile my thoughts on that day, but here they are…….. (this may take a while .............)

Following on from an Intro from Ellen Forsyth & the Executive at NSL, we launched straight in to a fabulous Skype session with American Fantasy Author, Brent Weeks - @brentweeks - the author of The Night Angel trilogy and The Black Prism (first title in the Lightbringer series). Inspired by Edgar Allen Poe at 12 yrs old, Weeks was comforted by the language and sense of kindred spirit he found in reading books – and noted that Librarians have the skills necessary to give the right books to the right people!!

After a beautiful description of his relationship with his older brother, Weeks explained how he came to write The Black Prism – a book about brothers and what happens when the “rules” for fighting are broken. In any novel you use the people around you to inspire characterisation. In The Black Prism, Gavin & Dazen have a love / loathing relationship (like many siblings). The use of Kip as ‘the fat kid’, the outsider who is necessary for success is pertinent to this story. It’s about keeping secrets and complicated love – “the human heart in conflict with itself”. Personally, it’s absolutely brilliant!

Weeks went on to talk about Fantasy as a genre as some authors he regards as being important to the genre. Whilst Tolkein popularised the genre it did not start with him. Rather Lester Del Rey had a bet with other publishers which led to the genre becoming commercially viable.
* Terry Brooks and his Sword of Shannara promoted the genre and really kicked it off.
* Robert Jordon’s Wheel of Time series shows the sheer scope of huge Fantasy (epic at 13 books with Book 14 due out in 2012).
* The 1990’s brought us George R. Martin and the concept of Fantasy without the Romanticism (A Song of Ice and Fire series).
* Joe Abercrombie’s Fantasy is gritty (UK, First Law series).
* Whilst Scott Lynch is described as “oceans meets Fantasy”.
* Brandon Sanderson, currently finishing Jordan’s Wheel of Time series, writes very fast, has a number of YA titles already (including Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians), and is bound to be as big as George R. Martin.
* Peter V. Brett – The Painted Man;
* NK Jemison – The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms;
* Nnedi Okorafor – Who fears death?;
* Paolo Bacigalipi – YA, exploring political / social issues; Sci-Fi / dystopian future;
* Pat Rothfuss – The Name of the Wind, has beautiful prose and is literary Fantasy, will be a best seller.
*For YA / Urban fantasy try Gail Carraigher – Soulless, Blameless, Nameless (light Victorian vampire novels), and
* Jim Butcher (huge!).

So why did Brent Weeks choose to write Fantasy? Fantasy as genre is huge, like a playground without fences. The sky is the limit for imagination – the author creates the world, presents the unfamiliar, and allows readers to see things with new eyes. In reading about the ‘thugi’ in India during the period of British Imperialism (ambushed travellers by joining merchant caravans and at an agreed spot would strangle merchants and disappear with the goods – they did not believe in spilling blood), discovers how hard it is to untangle the truth of history, where our own perspectives influence how we view the events / or the import/impact of the events. Writing Fantasy allows authors and readers to break away from this and create a sense of magic exploring new cultures – telling stories with lots of action and moral dilemmas.

I was impressed by Brent Weeks’ presentation, especially when our webcam went a little skewed and whilst we could still see him, he lost all sight of us and got a lovely shot of the ceiling!! Presenting via Skype isn’t easy but he was an absolute joy to listen to and so open and forthcoming with his viewpoints and ideas and oh so generous in giving of his time to talk with us as he did.

On a personal note. I first read The Night Angel trilogy and decided that I had found my new favourite Fantasy author. I was re-inspired to read more and to get closer to this genre which is already one of my favourites. Reading The Black Prism I was completely blown away by Weeks' capacity to create this amazing, believable world and characters that I simply needed to know more about.
I had always read light fantasy stories about dragons and faeries and the like as a child but I was first introduced to Fantasy as a very young teenager when someone handed me The Lord of The Rings and I did not sleep until I finished it (yes, 3 days is a very long time, thank goodness I started it on a Friday evening!), closely followed by Stephen Donaldson's The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Unbeliever. From that moment I was hooked on Fantasy. The Night Angel trilogy and The Black Prism has brought me back to that point and I am inspired once again by this fantastic genre!

February's #readit2011 and #heartreads

The NSW Readers Advisory Group is running another reading challenge during 2011 - #readit2011.

The challenge this year is to read a particular theme each month and either tweet about it using the #readit2011 tag (http://twitter.com/home#search?q=%23readit2011) and/or add your reading list to the RA wiki (http://readersadvisory.wetpaint.com/page/2011+Librarian%27s+Reading+Challenge).

During January the theme was Horror, reflecting the Summer Reading Club’s “scare up a good book” theme, using the twitter tag #suagb.
For February the theme is Romance, linking in with Library Lovers Day / Valentine’s Day, and using the tag #heartreads.
March’s theme is Fantasy (or speculative fiction) to tie in with this year’s RA seminar – Dragons in the Metcalfe.
And so on, you can go to the readit2011 blog to find out more - http://readit2011.wordpress.com/

This is not a reading challenge just for fiction lovers nor just for books, this is a chance to read, listen, perform, and even play games all based around the theme for that month. So why not challenge yourself and join #readit2011 today.

#suagb resources

I was browsing the reference shelves this morning and stumbled on titles from the Read on series from Libraries Unlimited.

Most pertinent to the current #readit2011 challenge and January's theme of Scare Up A Good Book (#suagb) was the title: Read on... Horror Fiction by June Michelle Pulliam & Anthony J. Fonseca. Each chapter covers a particular appeal characteristic - Story, Mood & Atmosphere, Setting, Character, Language. Plus an appendix for Horror on Film, another for Series, and one for Genreblends (including Splatterpunk). It's my new favourite resource!

Thinking about the upcomong RA seminar in March (Dragons in the Metcalfe), I also grabbed Read on... Fantasy Fiction by Neil Hollands. This title again includes chapters on Story, Character, Setting, Mood, and Language. Plus an appendix of Suggested Trilogies and other Series, and another of Award Winning Fantasies.

#readit2011

From a recent PLN e-list post:-

After a very successfull 2010 Librarians Reading Challenge, the NSW Readers Advisory Group are inviting library staff to take part in our 2011 Librarians Reading Challenge.
http://readersadvisory.wetpaint.com/page/2011+Librarian%27s+Reading+Challenge
and to join the Twitter Reading Group so as to engage with the broader online community.

2011 Librarians Reading Challenge
Each month in 2011, we are encouraging librarians to read items on a set theme and to then post their choices to the corresponding month on the NSWRA wiki. Your reading experience on the topic for the month can vary from books and blogs to poetry, plays or essays.
As well as discussing what they are reading in the library, some library staff will also be tweeting about their reading on twitter using the hashtag #readit2011 as well as specific monthly themed hashtags.
To take part you will need to be a member of the NSW Readers Advisory Wiki.
http://readersadvisory.wetpaint.com/
Once you are a member you can go to the 2011 Librarian's Reading Challenge page and add your name.

2011 Twitter Reading Group
The Twitter Reading Group (and blog - http://readit2011.wordpress.com/) is an opportunity to run programs for the broader library clients and online communities. This is an online reading group, one that involves microblogging, blogging and taking pictures about reading. Through this program, we will be encouraging our clients to tweet, blog or post photographs about what they are reading. This is also an opportunity to engage with online users who are not currently library users.
For more information on the 2011 Twitter Reading Group go to
http://readersadvisory.wetpaint.com/page/2011+Twitter+Reading+Group

Already #readit2011 has taken off on Twitter with January's #suagb (scare up a good book) theme. It looks to be a great year for reading - and for sharing online.