Hello everyone! If you remember one of my previous blog posts, a while ago I was thrilled to be cast as a character for a silent short film, based on one of my favourite comics (tick that one of the life goals list!). If you’d like a taste of what’s to come, I give Melisandra of Hopeless, Maine a voice in a short monologue on Saturday the 22nd!
There are so many talented people involved and I cannot wait to see everyone’s contributions! Please tune in during this dreary January for some eldritch mystery, wondrous strange creatures, live music, an interview with creators Tom and Nimue Brown and much, much more! Meanwhile, the Hopeless, Maine graphic novel series is well worth checking out. It started out as an online serial, which is how I discovered it and has since grown in popularity and tentacles.
Art by Thomas Brown
🦑🌊🐙🧜♀️🦇🥄🐚🕷️🧿🔮🌊🦑
Originally posted on Druid Life: On the 22nd of January, there will be an online Hopeless Maine festival, which is an exciting prospect. I’ve already…
This is a cut and paste of my review on NetGalley!
As a longstanding Nix-fan, I’m very happy to say this book did not disappoint. It was a delight and I’m so grateful for the advance reader copy! I love it when Garth Nix writes standalone books; as much as I love his series, he really shines when he condenses the narrative to a single volume, as he did before with the brilliant Shade’s Children.
This adventure is packed with pagan lore and big, quest type concepts, sweeps the English countryside and manages to feel cosy and folksy at the same time. But what is really wonderful about this book is that I was, very decidedly, suffering from major ‘Merlin-Fatigue’ before reading it. I will admit that when I realised this was a Merlin based story my first reaction was ‘For heaven’s sake, hasn’t riffing on Arthurian themes been done, overdone, and then done to death?’
It’s always brilliant to be proven wrong. This is such a lovely take on Merlin and his relationship with his sister Vivien, Susan and the human/magical worlds around him that I was riveted. The fact that everything is tied up with a secret society of ancient personages prowling the perimiter of the modern world to protect it, in the guise of booksellers-with-supernatural skills, plus that a lot of those society interactions take place in libraries and/or specialty bookshops, is a joy for a bookworm! On top of that, I’m a middle-aged woman and officially not the target audience but it didn’t matter one bit. That has always been the case with Garth Nix. I wasn’t introduced to his books until at least my early thirties and I’ve been hooked ever since. That is certainly not always so with YA books but he has a fantastic insight in the teenage mind and has an ability to describe them so well, without them ever becoming exasperating to the reader! This is a ripping yarn, I loved the pagan elements, the beautiful yet wild spirit of Old Nature that permeated everything, the snappy dialogue, the humour and the very present sense of dread and danger. Susan’s personal quest for her father and how she comes to grips with who and what he is is extremely well done and the final resolution is deeply satisfying, albeit bittersweet. There is definitely scope for a sequel but I almost hope this is it. Perfect book.
Christmas is close, how lovely! It’s nearly time to wrap up for the holidays.
The last deadline of the year is looming: an article about Indian Steampunk for the next edition of SciFi Romance Quarterly. 2016 will see the release of the Steampunk Universe anthology edited by Sarah Hans, featuring my latest story, Internal Devices. I will be contributing to The SciFi and Fantasy Network and am excited about my involvement in a writing project instigated by fellow Steampunk Hands Around the World participants, which has been brewing for some time. February will of course see the 2016 edition of Steampunk Hands Around the World itself: the annual global effort to connect as many people across as many cultures through Steampunk as possible by local events, blog tours, themed articles, exclusive artwork and interviews and much more. Keep a weather eye on the Airship Ambassador’s site for details.
Work is ever ongoing for the Steampunk India-verse itself; short stories – and ,eventually, a book – are mapped out. I will delve into other genre writings as well as ongoing music projects. I will continue to work towards gender -and LGBTI equality in all creative industries.
So please, keep your aural induction oscillators tuned to the aether, thank you for your support and enjoy the festive season, however you may celebrate!
Finally the announcement can be made! Today sees the launch of a brand spanking new website: The Scififantasynetwork.com, a EuroCentric fandom site created by Tolkien artist and illustrator Jay Johnstone, in collaboration with YA SciFi writer Francesca Barbini.
I am very pleased to be a contributing writer. Not only on all matters of Multiculturalism and Steampunk, as below
but with sundry articles on general Geekdom topics, plus book, film and comic reviews. I will in all categories be focusing on Multicultural aspects and female artists working in the genre as much as possible.
An in-depth interview with the creators of the Priya’s Shakti comic is coming soon.
The Network is also still looking for contributors so climb into your quills and contact them via the e-mail address below if you wish to be part of this new endeavour:
Suna Dasi 
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