Eric Idle At Hamer Hall

 Tonight I went to see Eric Idle, one of the members of the Monty Python group. I only found out it was on last night because he is on Twitter and mentioned he was having fun in Canberra and was doing a show in Melbourne tonight. The tickets were sold out except some in the choir seats, on the sides. I knew it would be fine, having seen Henry Winkler earlier this year, also from last minute choir seats, so I booked on line. It was not cheap, even in those seats, but well worth it. 

Mr Idle was very funny, but the show was mainly about how the Pythons got together (university) and how they made their shows and their films, even some of the TV shows on which they appeared, with clips. There was a Virtual Band playing every now and then, sometimes with Eric on the video.

He wrote the songs, including, of course, “Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life” from Life Of Brian. In fact, his show ended with him leading the audience in a sing-along of it, and quite a few people whistled during the chorus(good on them, I can’t whistle these days). I did sing along. 

He said he wrote it when they were trying to think of an ending for the film - in his hotel room! 

He had a story to tell about the help they got from the Beatle George Harrison in making Life Of Brian. They were in the middle of building sets in Tunisia when Lew Grade cancelled  their budget, after reading the script. With no money they had to go to the US to see if they could somehow raise the money, but no one was interested. Then Eric got a call from George, saying he had the money. To get it, he had to mortgage his home and his business. When Eric asked him why he did it, George said, “I wanted to see the film.”

Fortunately it became a classic, so he got his money back, but I remember the fuss made by Christians who hadn’t even seen it. A friend of mine who was religious said she had heard bad things, but I assured her it wasn’t making fun of Jesus - far from it! - so she went to see it and loved it. 

I had heard that George Harrison had helped, but not that he risked losing his home to do it.

He told stories about his other friends, including Robin Williams, who was disappointed that no one recognised him in France when they went out to a club - after saying he didn’t want to go out because people in the US always made a fuss. 

That reminded me of a friend of mine who hosted Leonard Nimoy when he was here(she knew all the Trek folk). He said he didn’t want a fuss made of him, then was disappointed that nobody recognised him when he went out for a walk. Well, it was the suburbs. You don’t expect to meet Mr Spock in Mordialloc, do you? 

He also talked about the sadness of losing friends as the years go by. He was asked to speak at Robin Williams’ funeral - and George Harrison’s. Both times he wrote a song, which he sang for us.

He spoke about the death of Python Graham Chapman, then showed a clip of a show they were on. They brought on an urn, supposedly with Chapman’s ashes in it, and a picture of him hanging on the side… then the urn was knocked over when John Cleese was in the middle of a sentence. They all got up and frantically started brushing up the ashes. I suspect Graham would have enjoyed the joke. 

I really enjoyed the show and am glad I was able to catch it. It was fascinating to look at the jam packed auditorium and think, everyone in the audience is a Monty Python fan. 

Good night! 

The October Man by Ben Aaronovitch. London: Gollancz, 2019

 I have been reading and loving the Rivers Of London series by this author. They are about a London policeman, Peter Grant, who is recruited to work for an unusual part of the police department, dealing with magic. In this universe, magic is a thing. Anyone can learn it, but it’s dangerous, as it can destroy your brain, which is why you’re safest to create a staff, fill it with magic and use it as a battery. I thought that a clever suggestion for why wizards use staffs. Oh, and rivers have gods and goddesses. 

In this novel, set in the same universe, there is also a tiny - magic - part of the police department in Germany. While there are plenty of  “special people” such as ones with horns, there are not many “practitioners” like Peter - or, in this case, Tobias Winter, a police detective called for in supernatural cases. In this case, he is called to the city of Trier, where there has been a strange, probably supernatural, murder. There are also human-form rivers, two of whom appear in this book, goddess of the river Kyll, Kelly, and a child goddess, Morgane. Kelly is helpful, but there are things she doesn’t want to talk about. There are strange things involving someone who tried to rape Frau Stracker, a local vintner whose family has been in the district for centuries, when she was twelve, and someone in Kelly’s past.

Can Tobias and his non-magical work partner, Vanessa, work it out? Of course they can, what kind of a mystery novel would end without the crime being solved? Well, there are a few, I just find them irritating. But this one is still thoroughly entertaining. 

Peter Grant, of course, isn’t in this book, but he and his department, known as the Folly, are mentioned a number of times. Tobias is actually an admirer of Peter. 

You could probably read this standalone, but I’d advise starting with the first novel, The Rivers Of London, which introduces this delightful universe. Be warned, though, once you start, you will probably want to binge on the lot.

We Couldn’t Leave Dinah by Mary Treadgold - Just Arrived!

 Look what just arrived from England! 

I ordered it through ABEBooks, a web site where secondhand booksellers post their stock. It’s out of print and not available in ebook, so on an impulse I went to ABEBooks, which had plenty of copies. This one was printed in 1964,  but the first edition was published in 1941, during the war, and set during the war.

I read it as a child, because I was madly into pony books, like many other little girls, and was reading, among other things, the novels by the British Pullein-Thompson sisters. I even managed to find an Australian one, Good Luck To The Rider, by Joan Phipson, who went on to write many other children’s books. 

But this one, though it has a horse in it, and the heroine adores it, isn’t a pony book. It’s set on a fictional French/British island, Clerinel. The Nazis arrive in a sneaky fashion rather than by plane, and the British residents have to evacuate - except thirteen year old Caroline and her brother Mick, who get left behind and have to hide. And Caroline is concerned for her horse, Dinah.

I remember the main bits, of course, from my childhood, but had forgotten that the children in the story are, as usual in many of the old English children’s books, middle class with servants and a nice home. Their father is a former journalist, which is interesting. But of course, you’d need money to be able to feed and look after a horse, let alone three(each child in the family has a pony).

I took the book with me to read at the pub last night, when I went there for dinner.

I’ll take it with me again on the tram to the city, where I am meeting a friend to see the dinosaur exhibition at the Melbourne Museum. 

Three cheers for ABEBooks! 

Glasgow Worldcon, 2024, And Hugo Awards

 This year’s World Science Fiction Convention was held in Glasgow, Scotland. I wasn’t able to attend in person, alas, I’ve never been overseas for a Worldcon. The last time I was planning to do that was when it was being held in New Zealand, but that in-person convention had to be cancelled because of COVID. However, the organisers decided to have the con online, and there has been a virtual Worldcon ever since, which has meant I could attend, even if I had to stay up till 2.00 or 3.00 a.m! I usually lie in bed and watch on my iPad.

Last year’s Worldcon, in Chengdu, China, was the least well-organised. I did manage to get some of the shortlisted Hugo Award books, but not all, and I couldn’t watch a single panel.And I only got one reply to my inquiries. Not sure who was responsible, but it was a disappointment. At least the virtual membership was cheap. I gather there was a controversy over the Hugo shortlist. Here is a link to the Wikipedia article.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/81st_World_Science_Fiction_Convention

This year’s was a pleasant surprise. Downloading the books was easy and smooth. I didn’t have to stay up late to watch the panels, because the ones that were available to watch online were put up very soon after the panels were over. And while I’m still catching up, I have till the end of the year. I want to catch up with the opening ceremony and Hugo Awards presentation. There was a controversy over that too, by the way. Someone paid for a lot of memberships so that the new members would vote for that book. They spent about $30,000 for that! We don’t know who it was, or what the book was, and the author may not even know about it, but they didn’t win anyway. I’m wondering if it was a publisher. Why else would it be worth that much money? Honestly, even being on the shortlist is amazing.

The only thing that did disappoint me is that quite a few panels I was interested in were not recorded. Ah, well, can’t have everything!

I have already given you the full shortlist here:

https://suebursztynski.blogspot.com/2024/05/the-hugo-awards-2024.html

Below are the winners. I’ll be interested to see whether you agree with them. 

There were some wonderful items in the Dramatic Presentations, short and long, and I haven’t seen either of those that won. I’m still reading the books, so I voted for those that I had read - and liked - at the time. I can never get through everything, but I don’t bother with those that only give you a sample. I mean, fine, I get it, that’s a few thousand copies the publishers of shortlisted books have to give, but I prefer to focus on those who gave me a full copy.

BEST NOVEL

• Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh (Tordotcom, Orbit UK)

BEST NOVELLA

• Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher (Tor, Titan UK) 

BEST NOVELETTE  

• “The Year Without Sunshine” by Naomi Kritzer (Uncanny Magazine, November-December 2023) 

BEST SHORT STORY

• “Better Living Through Algorithms” by Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld May 2023) 

BEST SERIES  

• Imperial Radch by Ann Leckie (Orbit US, Orbit UK)

BEST GRAPHIC STORY OR COMIC  

• Saga, Vol. 11 written by Brian K. Vaughan, art by Fiona Staples (Image Comics)

BEST RELATED WORK  

• A City on Mars by Kelly Weinersmith and Zach Weinersmith (Penguin Press; Particular Books)

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, LONG FORM  

• Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, screenplay by John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein and Michael Gilio, directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein (Paramount Pictures)

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, SHORT FORM

• The Last of Us: “Long, Long Time”, written by Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, directed by Peter Hoar (Naughty Dog / Sony Pictures)

BEST GAME OR INTERACTIVE WORK

• Baldur’s Gate 3, produced by Larian Studios

BEST EDITOR SHORT FORM

• Neil Clarke

BEST EDITOR LONG FORM

• Ruoxi Chen

BEST PROFESSIONAL ARTIST

• Rovina Cai

BEST SEMIPROZINE

• Strange Horizons, by the Strange Horizons Editorial Collective 

BEST FANZINE

• Nerds of a Feather, Flock Together, editors Roseanna Pendlebury, Arturo Serrano, Paul Weimer; senior editors Joe Sherry, Adri Joy, G. Brown, Vance Kotrla. 

BEST FANCAST  

• Octothorpe, by John Coxon, Alison Scott, and Liz Batty 

BEST FAN WRITER

• Paul Weimer

BEST FAN ARTIST

• Laya Rose

LODESTAR AWARD FOR BEST YA BOOK

• To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose (Del Rey)

ASTOUNDING AWARD FOR BEST NEW WRITER (sponsored by Dell Magazines)

• Xiran Jay Zhao

In Which I Win Books And get A Fan Letter!

 I’d like to share with you a happy-making thing I received this week. A few weeks ago, I entered the competition for the celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the Ranger’s Apprentice series. I’ve written about this a number of times on this blog - here is a link to one of my posts. 

https://suebursztynski.blogspot.com/2018/04/a-to-z-blogging-challenge-2018-f-is-for.html

The series is written by Aussie children’s author John Flanagan. 

Anyway, I clicked the link, entered and forgot about it - how often do I win anything? 

Readers, I won. A few days ago I got an email informing me I had won! Today, my lovely nephew Mark picked up the big, heavy box of books from the post office and left it at my door. I’m going to curl up with the first book tonight. I’ve read several, but not all, and it was a while ago, so a reread is in order. 

Here is the box, just after I opened it.

And I had another happy-making thing. I received fan mail about my novel! The young man wanted to know if there was a sequel, and had some ideas for what I could write in future books in the series. He is, by the way, a primary school student and  Wolfborn is YA, so I assume he is a very mature lad! Good on him! 

His first suggestion was not bad, so if I do get a chance to write it, he will get an acknowledgment. Meanwhile, I’m working on something else. And I have 60,000 words of a prequel where I froze with writer’s block. The main problem is the lack of a villain. You have to have a villain in fantasy! 

Anyway, thought I’d share with you. I have not had some good days recently, with family in hospital, so these two events were much needed.

Food And Fiction!

 

My friend Gillian Polack, who enjoys writing food into her fiction, has told me I really need to do the same. In my fiction, I admit, characters only eat when they need to, and then there isn’t much description of the food or the eating. In my novel Wolfborn, there is a bit of food, in the form of a rabbit stew in one scene, when the hero comes in out of a storm, cold and soggy and really needing a hot meal. The characters get food supplies and do some hunting when needed. 

I thought it might be fun to talk about food in other people’s fiction. 

Gillian Polack is definitely the food enthusiast. Characters are at the table regularly in her novels. In my favourite, The Time Of The Ghosts, we meet three older women who live in Canberra and have a monthly banquet, to teach the homeless teenager they have taken in. One of the women is actually the mediaeval French fairy Melusine, who has allowed herself to age for obvious reasons. One of the stories she tells is how she civilised a wolf child, gradually, through food. 

The Harry Potter novels are full of characters eating and drinking, whether at breakfast or dinner in the Great Hall or having midnight feasts in their dorms. The choice of food at mealtimes is such that the reader does wonder how they don’t leave Hogwarts the size of barn doors. As well as regular foods, there are those cultural to the wizarding world. Honeyduke’s sweetshop in the wizarding village of Hogsmeade is full of sweets you can only get if you are a member of the wizarding community. There are cauldron cakes - we’re never told if they are shaped like cauldrons or made in cauldrons. There is butterbeer, which is not high alcohol, except to House Elves. 

Speaking of putting on weight, there is Kerry Greenwood’s 1920s detective Phryne Fisher, who somehow doesn’t. Phryne enjoys a good meal, and has a wonderful cook, Mrs Butler, who takes pride in creating art works in the form of meals. Our heroine is small and slender. She doesn’t have much for breakfast - coffee and croissants, or toast - but lunch and dinner are both three course delights. She often eats out. Each meal in a Phryne Fisher book is described in great detail. 

She has another mystery series, set in the present day. Corinna Chapman is a baker, so we hear about her work in the bakery in much detail. Corinna also enjoys cooking. Most of her books have recipes at the end and, unlike other cosies, they are recipes you can actually use successfully. I enjoy making her French Onion soup and her muffins. All the Corinna Chapman novels end with the characters gathering for a feast.

Enid Blyton’s characters have picnics(the Famous Five), with “lashings” of ginger beer. Kerry Greenwood wrote a short story in which the Famous Five have to investigate the theft of all the village’s ginger beer supplies before they can have their picnic. 

In the Faraway Tree books there are magical foods, such as Pop Biscuits(filled with honey) and Google Buns(with sherbet filled currants). Fans online have actually come up with recipes for both! Here is a link to a recipe for Google Buns. https://aliterarysupper.com/a-literary-supper/moonfaces-google-buns-the-faraway-tree

The author admits that currants seem to be rather too small to fill, so uses dried apricots. The sherbet is made from scratch.

Barbara Hambly’s Benjamin January series includes lots of food. As the novels are set in 19th century New Orleans, the food is culturally appropriate. Benjamin often stops in the street to buy delicious local pastries from street sellers and have them with coffee while discussing the current case with one of his friends, Irish musician Hannibal Sefton or police officer Abishag Shaw. Ben has a nephew who is training to be a chef and cooks at home as well. His sister Olympe, a herbalist, also cooks good stuff. 

There was even a novel in which the murder victim is killed by a  peanut allergy.

I have to admit, my mouth waters at the description of food in the Benjamin January books.

YA novelist Will Kostakis has Greek food in his fiction. He isn’t as much of a food person as the others I have described, but food does play a role. In my favourite of his novels, The First Third, there is a yiayia, a Greek grandmother, who cooks. At the beginning of the novel, the family visiting her in hospital bring huge amounts of food. Later in the novel, a girl who has just lost her grandmother regrets that she never learned from her how to make moussaka. The hero, Billy, buys the ingredients and takes her to his own grandmother to learn how. 

There are so many great books with food in them! These are just a few. Do you have any favourites?