I wish to hire a condor

Well, I am writing this with half an eye, since the other eye and a half are watching the Rugby World Cup. France versus New Zealand. And I’m going to give credit to the French for advancing on the Haka. I dig the Haka, but it leaves the opposing team in a bit of a bind – you cannot be disrespectful, but on the other hand, they can’t just expect you to stand there (especially since you’re not allowed to bring books onto the playing field. I can attest to this from my primary school experiences.)  It would have been even better if the French had been smoking Gauloises as they advanced, but still, very cool. And I’ll be equally pleased no matter which team wins.

You may have noticed on the front page of this website that there’s a spot for ‘The Book Trailer – coming soon”.  Work is underway on that particular little project, and I am pretty excited about the prospect. I haven’t seen many book trailers, but I’ve seen a few, and some of them have been very good. Now, I am a huge fan of movie trailers, I always insist on being in the cinema fifteen minutes before a movie starts, to ensure that I catch all the previews. But I was not at all sure how to go about a trailer for The Rook. There’s some scenes that I think would translate quite well to live performance, but some of the concepts would really stretch our trailer budget (does anyone know where you can cheaply rent a condor in New York City?) However, my trailer director has hit upon quite a brilliant concept, and so I have spent the past couple of weeks scripting up some stuff. And it’s been murder – I am accustomed to being somewhat wordy, but with a trailer, you need to cut right to the chase immediately. But, I think it will be good. I have submitted some words, and I am eager to see what he creates.

Also, I just want to draw attention to the (Australian) release of SNUFF, the new Discworld novel from Terry Pratchett, who is one of three writers who tie for the position of Dan’s Favourite Author. I’ve been reading Pratchett’s work since Year 7, when my high school librarian placed a copy of Truckers into my youthful hands. I’ve read all of his books many times, and I inhaled SNUFF like… well, like snuff. I enjoyed it immensely. Damn fine writing. If you’re a Discworld fan, odds are that you have it already, and if you aren’t, well, actually it’s probably not the best one to start with. I always recommend Wyrd Sisters or Mort for first-time Discworld readers – they weren’t the first to be written, but they make excellent starting points.