Indian attention

Here is a lovely review of Black Juice in The Hindu. I particularly like:

It is evident that Margo Lanagan has sponged in a great deal not just about the magicks, stories, spells and geographies of Australia, but also about the witchery of words and the landscapes of word-making for she treks through language with a sure compass, a strong pair of well-clad feet and an ungiving rope.

And this is pretty spot-on, too:

Lanagan's stories are like earlier-time stories, when all stories were one story, and if you travelled in them, you never knew where you were going, or how: you could, suddenly, fall through a hole in the earth to a world down below or turn a corner and enter an enchanted field, you could be taken to see real men and women at work or you could be called upon to work magic yourself. And it is this sort of world that Margo Lanagan's stories inhabit.

Also, the way the review just ends mid-sentence is refreshing.

The Novel...

...which shall remain nameless, just in case it should turn into a different novel, is now a complete first draft, about 90,000 words long (yes, it has tripled in size since it was workshopped at ROR, although I haven't yet implemented all the ROR suggestions—except, of course, for the this-novel-needs-to-be-longer one), which I've begun revising. It has twelve chapters, and I'm working on a chapter every day, fixing weak points and filling in holes and noting things I have to work out or make decisions about—details about tools and food and burial customs and stuff.

Keep your fingers crossed for me.

CBCA shortlist 2007

Red Spikes is on the Children's Book Council of Australia shortlist for 2007—up against some pretty stiff competition, too.

Hey...

the Ditmars shortlist has just been announced! And thank you Professor Spleen, for all that lovely wine.