Grace Dugan

The Motherland Garden

gd — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 02:19:45 +0000

Hi all,
My new novel The Motherland Garden is being sent out into the vast wide world to find a good home. I’ll let you know what happens.
In the mean time, here is a kind of back-cover blurb which I whipped up with the help of Trent Jamieson. Don’t get too excited, though, even if things went very quickly it wouldn’t be on the shelves for at least a year, and things don’t usually go quickly. Publishing is slow, I’m a slow writer, not much can be done about it.
Meanwhile, I’m off to New Zealand for six weeks to take part in my secret other life as a medical student (on elective in Nelson), and then visit some very Lord of the Rings and “Queen of Erewhon” territory.*

The Motherland Garden

Years ago the Empire of Bysar conquered the land of Rip Pir. Now rebellion is brewing in the mountains. Kir Hep is an orphan raised in a hermitage where women study the forgotten magic of their land, a magic that once governed the weather, made the crops grow and kept harmony among the people. The only one schooled in the language of the conquerors, Kir Hep is sent to the capital to earn money when the Hermitage falls upon hard times. She finds work in the mail room of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and there meets Niyarka, an idealistic young civil servant fresh from the Empire. Soon she has fallen in love, and must rethink all of her hopes and plans for the future, the pattern she had imagined for her life.

But with civil war looming in Bysar, the rebellion rising in the mountains, and Niyarka a constant source of mystery, things never happen as she expects them to. Forced, again and again, to question her loyalties; Kir Hep will find heartbreak, and confront desire; she must forego certainty, and sacrifice almost everything to discover her true place in the world.

*For those who are unaware, “Queen of Erewhon” is an excellent short story by Lucy Sussex which is set around Erewhon Station near the Southern Alps.

Audio gd

gd — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 04:19:34 +0000

The good people at Interzone are thinking about releasing audio versions of a few stories, including “Knowledge.” I’m having a stab at reading it myself, which is much harder than I thought. I have a bit of a stammering tendency. We’ll have to see how it turns out. Anyway, I’ll let you all know when it’s available.

Interzone Reader’s Poll

gd — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 04:14:45 +0000

“Knowledge” came second in the Interzone Readers Poll for 2007. I’m so thrilled that so many people liked it. Now I’ve got to finish some more stories…
Here’s the full list:
http://ttapress.com/441/2007-interzone-readers-poll-results/

Somebody thought…

gd — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 04:10:15 +0000

I should have been nominated for a Hugo. There’s a little review of “Knowledge” here on Sam Tomaino’s Hugo recommendations on SFRevu.

http://sfrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=6870

Snapshot 2007

gd — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 10:33:25 +0000

Belatedly, here’s a link to an interview I did last year as part of a snapshot of Australian sf.

http://random-alex.livejournal.com/21757.html

Interzone online edition

gd — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 00:29:04 +0000

Interzone is available online on Fictionwise. You can buy a whole issue for just USD5, which I reckon is a pretty good deal. Here’s a link for issue 211, the one which includes my story “Knowledge.”
http://www.fictionwise.com/eBooks/eBook53691.htm?cache

Buying The Silver Road

gd — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 11:32:20 +0000

People have been asking me where they can buy The Silver Road. Well, in Australia, you can of course just order it at any bookshop, and if you’re overseas I recommend this website: www.abebooks.com. They list books from many bookshops around the world. However, if you’re outside Australia, you’ll end up paying heaps because it has only been published here. One shop was selling copies for US$67!

Boing!

gd — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 02:11:03 +0000

The Silver Road has been reviewed on Boingboing by Alice Taylor. Here’s the link:

http://www.boingboing.net/2007/08/15/summer_fantasy_readi.html

Interzone

gd — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 08:41:06 +0000

I just received my copy of Interzone issue 211 which includes my story “Knowledge.” It has fairly spiffy artwork, which you can see online at http://scifi.uk.com/2007/06/22/interzone-211-contents-michael-moorcock-richard-morgan/. It was published last month and took a while to come to me because they had my old address. I haven’t got my hands on an Interzone for a few years so I’m looking forward to checking it out.
A quick Google for reviews reveals two bloggers who liked it, one who didn’t. I can live with that ratio.

Ditmar Nomination

gd — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 10:53:35 +0000

Hi all,
The Silver Road has been nominated for a Ditmar for Best Novel. The Ditmars (otherwise known as the Australian Science Fiction Achievement Awards), are voted by the members of the National SF Convention, which this year happens to be Convergence in Melbourne in June. I won’t be there, so I now have the fun task of choosing a proxy to either give a speech or look disappointed on my behalf. How delightful for them!