Yes, another post devoted to shamelessly shilling my own stuff. Again.
Well, not just my own stuff.
First up, I was happy to learn that the anthology I contributed a story to, The Obama Inheritance: Fifteen Stories of Conspiracy Noir, published by the New York based independent publisher, Three Rooms Press, has just won the 2018 Anthony Award for best fiction anthology,
The Anthony Awards are literary awards for mystery writers presented at the annual Bouchercon World Mystery Convention in the US. They are named for Anthony Boucher (1911–1968), one of the founders of the Mystery Writers of America, and a pretty big deal.
The anthology contains fifteen stories of pulpy goodness, featuring robots, lizard people, vigilante killers and various other bizarre creations riffing off the conspiracy theories association with the Obama presidency (although I believe the current occupant of the White House also gets a nod), and was edited by one of the hardest working men in crime fiction, Gary Phillips, critically acclaimed author of mystery and graphic novels.
Anyway, if you have not already picked up the anthology, I reckon the news it has won an Anthony should be as good an incentive as you need to do so.
It features stories by a host of talented writers, including big guns such as Walter Mosley and Robert Silverberg. I represented the Melbourne contingent, along with my friend and fellow scribe, Liam Jose, with a dystopian science fiction heist gone wrong tale called, ‘Sunburnt Country’.
You can find details how to pick it up here on the Three Rooms Press site.
As I have said before on this site, I’ve been a little slow off the mark to publicise my latest book, a monograph on Norman Jewison’s 1975 dystopian science fiction classic, Rollerball, out now on various platforms in the US, UK and Australia, through Auteur Publishing.
To be honest, I have also been more than a little nervous how people would rate my debut monograph. Which is why I am thrilled with the first review of the book on the wonderful site, We Are Cult.
The review calls the monograph ‘essential reading, both for social historians and students of popular culture. Constellations: Rollerball is so good that I want to read it again. I also want to watch Rollerball again, which is a clear indication that Nette’s book is one of the best examples of critical writing I’ve ever had the privilege of enjoying.’
You can read the review in full on the We Are Cult site here.
The book draws on numerous sources, including little examined documents in the archive of the film’s screenwriter William Harrison, held at the University of Arkansas. I look at the various aspects of Rollerball’s making, including the elaborate and painstaking process of world creation undertaken by Jewison and Harrison, and discuss the film in the context of other ‘murder game’ films, from Elio Petri’s The 10th Victim (1965) to the Hunger Games cycle of movies. In the process, I also examine the various cultural debates that influenced Harrison and Jewison, everything from concerns around growing corporate power and to violence in Western society in late 1960s and early 1970s.
The book is out in paperback and ebook formats and details how to get it are here.
If you have got the book and enjoyed it, as is always the case, a little Goodreads or Amazon love would be highly appreciated.
And Melbourne folk, planning is underway for a joint launch of my Rollerball monograph and a very soon to be released one on David Cronenberg’s amazing body horror, The Fly, written by Emma Westwood for Auteur’s horror imprint, the Devil’s Advocate series. This will take place later in the year. Details when I have them.
