Thursday, April 3, 2008

BREAKING NEWS RE: THE MYSTERIOUS H.M. BROWN

If you've read my blog, or even just glanced over at the "What am I reading?" section, you'll know something of the mysterious H.M. Brown, a manuscript of whose I'm currently reading.

Well, lo and behold, said H.M. Brown was recently shortlisted for the 2008 ABC Fiction Award - and don't be fooled by the title, for ABC in an acronym, not an indicator of the level of writing required to make the cut.

Don't believe me? Well, check out this 'ere link:
http://www.abc.net.au/corp/abcfictionaward/winner.htm

Oh, what the hell. I'll save you the trouble and paste in the text from the site:
The six shortlisted authors come from three states: three from Victoria, two from New South Wales and one from South Australia.
Honey Brown, a young mother writing at her farm in country Victoria, has been shortlisted for her manuscript Red Queen. Relationships are of great interest to her, and are often the basis of her novels and screenplays.
I did read an earlier manuscript of the Red Queen, and I loved it - though I haven't read the final version, which I'm sure is either even better - or complete bollocks.

She didn't win, but did receive some manner of high commendation or such-like, so is a good chance of getting published. I could hardly be more excited if it had happened to me!!!

On the subject of books, I finished reading The Covenant of the Flame - by David Morell.
I think expectations are everything when it comes to enjoying a book. This one definitely has got the makings of a B-grade movie - but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Were I a pretentious wanker, I'd probably call it a "guilty pleasure". But I don't feel guilty - I just happen to enjoy pulp fiction.

The book is not dissimilar to The DaVinci code, both in subject and quality of authorship. The plot centres around descendants of the Spanish Inquisitors and practitioners of "mithraism", an allegedly pre-Christian pagan religion, but with many similarities to Christianity, including the notion a a virgin birth on December 25, and similar iconography.

The religious content is significantly factually incorrect, the writing is average and the plot totally unrealistic. However, the writing is at least unobtrusive, the plot well revealed and the story well paced.

I've now moved on to The Shadow of the Wind - by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.

This book is on loan from Lee, and is so far excellent.

One final exciting bit-o-news. We got our new camera today. The old camera died during our Labour Day weekend at Harrietville, so I purchase a new Canon Powershot S5 IS on ebay. I had been hoping it would arrive over Easter, but anyway, it arrived today - and with 2GB SD-card instead of the 1GB that was advertised. Should I mark down the seller for "goods not as described"?

1 comment:

Lee said...

Wow that is exciting news for Honey! Tell her congrats.

Hmmm sounds like a decent book, good for a wet and windy weekend, might have to borrow that from you, or does the "database" forbid lending books out?

Glad you're enjoying the book, I just started a doozy last night and think it is something you would enjoy....stay tuned...

Still haven't seen the elusive camera, you may need to bring it on the next PR night which is looming sooner than you think :-)