Yesterday was National Bookshop Day in Australia. Independent bookshops have been doing it really tough in recent years, probably because people are (a) reading less and (b) buying books online or as ebooks. I know it's not always cheap to buy books from an actual bookshop, but can you imagine a world without them? How sad! If you didn't buy a book from your local independent retailer yesterday, how about making up for it next weekend, or during the week if you have the time.
Also, yesterday, I did my first public reading at Whispers: Curiouser and Curiouser, at the State Library of Queensland. I read from my short story, Hoffman's Creeper, which is about a retired botanist and his struggle to keep his most treasured specimen alive. Doesn't that sound curious? By the way, if you happened to take of photo of me, please let me know.
Last night, after a few drinks with my fellow "furious" writers, I caught the bus home - had to wait for nearly an hour but that gave me time to read, The Horror in the Museum, by Hazel Heald... it's scary Lovecraftian fiction - and spent several hours reediting short stories. I got a huge amount of work done.
Today, it continues, I have a meeting with the other committee members of the Australian Horror Writers' Association, and we expect to have some big news for Aussie horror writers and readers very soon. But before that, I have some new fiction to work on... bye for now.
