True Blood’s writhing, sultry evocation of the Deep South immediately comes to mind – blood, scales, swamps, religion, sex and death are all there, coupled with the dirty rhythm of Jace Everett’s ‘Bad Things’ – a perfect preface to a vampire drama without ever actually having to show any. The credits were done by Digital Kitchen (also of Six Feet Under fame).
David Astle has driven the world to delight and despair as crossword setter DA, appearing in both the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age. He’s currently the host of the SBS quiz show Letters and Numbers and his latest book, Puzzled has just been released by Allen & Unwin. In the latest of our Spike mini-interviews, JA traded vowels with DA over the digital divide to find out about the BBC’s scruffy dilettantes, looking sideways at Trattorias, and why a good word combo should always be al dente but delicious.
In Meanjin Vol 69/1, David Astle laid down the gauntlet—readers were asked to complete our seventy-year crossword challenge and then use the answers to create a literary response. Our winner, Alison Sampson replied with a cryptic story of her own: new clues (in italics), same grid, different answers.
He will traverse such topics as: How can writers seize the possibilities of the digital future? Are copyright and creativity compatible, or is it merely a war of attrition?
When Zoe and I started Sleepers in 2003 it was just a crazy idea on a Monday morning before the midday bottle of wine in a cavernous Collingwood warehouse. We knew we needed other people involved, but for a long time we had trouble convincing anyone to take us seriously, so, in the absence of staff, we invented them. There was Narelle Britney Ciccone on Reception (short skirts, gum, attitude), Todd the mail boy (roller blades, ear phones, Blink 182) (who eventually knocked Britney up), and Wendy the webmaster (blue-black hair, horn-rims, irony).
Our two Reading in an Age of Change essays are now available on our editions page, as well as the Meanland site, your longform reading leisure.
Don't miss 'White Noise in a Networked World'.
Meanjin is packing itself into a packing crate on Saturday and we’d love for you to join us! Whether you’ve been overwhelmed by the sheer amount of choice from this year’s MWF, or perhaps missed out on some of your favourites, Magazine is a great way to enjoy a morning of short literary doses – the best of our winter and spring issues, and them some – within the comfy confines of a kitted out shipping container.
I’d like to open a debate about the inclusion of the photograph of backyard abortion victim, Mabel Ambrose’s head in Meanjin Vol 3/2010. I think the text of ‘The Morgue’ by historian, Rachael Weaver, more than adequately canvasses the bizarre aspects of this specific case, as well as the general phenomenon of the Nineteenth century practice of displaying unidentified corpses to the general public.
The winners of the Age Book of the Year Awards were announced at the Melbourne Writers Festival last Friday – Alex Miller took out both the fiction prize as well as the overall top going for Lovesong, Kate Howarth won non-fiction for her memoir Ten Hail Marys and Jennifer Maiden won the poetry prize for Pirate Rain.