Australian SF Reader
I joined LJ so I can use the logged in reply thing to other people.
Read Andromeda Spaceways Magazine. Have fun. :)
If you want to see my actual blogs, then :-
Super Reader
Australian SF Reader
Free SF Reader
Not Free Reader
Graphic SF Reader
See info below which will give you the idea :-
BACKGROUND: This grew out of the whole Super Reader and Free SF Reader group, as starting the the early nineties Australian SF was a particular interest of mine, so I thought I would track what I had actually read, and maybe some other people would find it interesting, or find out about it. Some of my favorite writers of all time happen to be Australian, so this didn't hurt. The rest of it came about after subscribing to Andromeda Spaceways and finding some new writers. So, you can partially blame Dirk Flinthart, if you like. :) Also Jeremy Byrne and Greg Egan for having lots of cool stuff online, leading me to track down some more.
In the process, I found out about some new writers, and up and coming writers and have since talked to some interesting people and found out some more.
I still have some old magazines to go, and a few newer ones I bought recently, other than that, it will be what I read from here on in whether Free, or Not Free.
RATING
Novels are rated as novels.
Non-fiction that is related is rated as non-fiction.
Short stories are rated as short stories.
Anthologies, collections and magazines are rated like this :- take the fiction, apply the formula found in 'The Mathematics of the Anthology'. If the non-fiction part is good/useful, give a bonus. At least, after I invented that rating formlua, anyway, which is most of them except some earlier magazines.
So, they are not directly comparable as such, and possible might label separately if I come up with a good way to do it that isn't too clunky.
FAQ/GUIDE
I am posting ratings for the Australian SF I have read. There is more I have read, it is not all here yet, and of course
more will come as I read (and reread) more. I am particularly interested in work online to list in
There are a few ways to approach browsing or using Australian Reader.
Navigation Information
01) The main page has the last 50 posts, which you can scroll down to look at.
02) The grid of labels at the top breaks the posts down into sections. Each section has 20 posts per page, and at the bottom of each of these pages are previous/next navigation arrows that will let you go through these a page at a time.
The sections are by category of book, and also by rating of book, if you want to browse that way.
If you scroll down to under my profile image, these labels will be reproduced vertically, with counts of how many posts are in each section, but otherwise function identically to the labels at the top of the blog.
03) A list of links of interest, including writers that have answered questions, etc.
04) If you scroll further down than that, you will find a blog archive section, where posts are archived by month. You can navigate through this in a similar manner to navigation of the sections above.
05) A list of Australian SF that has won major awards, Hugo, Nebula, etc. all the way through Locus.
06) A list of Australian SF that have appeared in the various Year's Best anthologies from Dozois, Hartwell, etc.
07) A section for the Australian SF Ditmar awards.
08) A section for the Australian SF Aurealis awards.
09) The next part is a list of Important Australian SF anthologies by editor. They will have links to posts if I have done ratings for stories.
10) Another batch of anthologies that do not fall in the above categories, as I become aware of them.
11) A list of collected work by single authors that I currently am aware of. Authors that have these and don't list their stories on their websites are slack.
12) Stories by Australian authors that are available in other books, by author
13) A list of important Australian SF novelists.
14) A list of the Australian science fiction reference works.
15) A list of other anthologies of possible interest for the Influential Anthology section.
16) I list the stories from the Major Awards that I have rated and are available online.
17) I list the stories from the Year's Best that I have rated and are available online.
18) I list the stories from the Ditmar Awards that I have rated and are available online.
19) I list the stories from the Aurealis Awards that I have rated and are available online.
20) I list the stories from the Important Anthologies that I have rated and are available online.
21) After that is a section for all other works that are available online that I have rated.
22) I have started a list of Australian SF that is available for purchase electronically, so if you want some, you can get it right bloody now. :) If anyone has any additions, please let me know.
23) At the bottom right, if you scroll down, there is the complete list of fiction that I have put together so far. If there is a post about a book, the entry for that book will be a different colour, and have a url that links directly to the book. These are sorted by label and by author. This will be updated periodically after another batch of ratings are done. Probably weekly.
24) Google Search - you can use the search box to search, the same as you normally would, but this will rely on googlebot's indexing. It may turn up other interesting links/ads when you do this, however.
25) Anyone is welcome to comment on the posts. There is an email address on my profile, or you can write to aussievamp2@gmail.com if you have suggestions about books to add to the list, or want to talk to me for some other reason.
This email address is also displayed at the top of the blog.
Rating System
5 = Outstanding
4.5 = Very Good
4 = Good
3.5 = Above Average
3 = Average
2.5 = Below Average
2 = Poor
1.5 = Bad
1 = Very Bad
0.5 = Laughable
LABELS
As everyone knows, this sort of thing is tricky, fluid and blurry, but anyway :-
Scary - Books of horror that are meant to scare or disturb
Science - Science Fiction
Sleuth - Books of detection, crime and mystery
Sorcery - Books of fantasy and magic
Speculative - Harder to categorise, odd, or deliberate blends like the Illuminati, Wolfe, etc.
Spy - Books of espionage and related thrillers or technothrillers
Study - Books that are about Science Fiction and other genre writing, and are non-fiction. I added these in breaking the fiction rule a little, but I thought it made sense.
Superhero - Books that are listed at Super Reader, specific breakdowns can be found there.
Supernatural - Paranormal or occult themed books that are less concerned with horrifying
Swords - Books of the knights, swashbucklers and pirates, that sort of thing
If you have any suggestions for additions, alterations, corrections, or other info, please feel free to comment on a post, or email me if that is easier for you. The email is listed - aussievamp2@gmail.com.
Read Andromeda Spaceways Magazine. Have fun. :)
If you want to see my actual blogs, then :-
Super Reader
Australian SF Reader
Free SF Reader
Not Free Reader
Graphic SF Reader
See info below which will give you the idea :-
BACKGROUND: This grew out of the whole Super Reader and Free SF Reader group, as starting the the early nineties Australian SF was a particular interest of mine, so I thought I would track what I had actually read, and maybe some other people would find it interesting, or find out about it. Some of my favorite writers of all time happen to be Australian, so this didn't hurt. The rest of it came about after subscribing to Andromeda Spaceways and finding some new writers. So, you can partially blame Dirk Flinthart, if you like. :) Also Jeremy Byrne and Greg Egan for having lots of cool stuff online, leading me to track down some more.
In the process, I found out about some new writers, and up and coming writers and have since talked to some interesting people and found out some more.
I still have some old magazines to go, and a few newer ones I bought recently, other than that, it will be what I read from here on in whether Free, or Not Free.
RATING
Novels are rated as novels.
Non-fiction that is related is rated as non-fiction.
Short stories are rated as short stories.
Anthologies, collections and magazines are rated like this :- take the fiction, apply the formula found in 'The Mathematics of the Anthology'. If the non-fiction part is good/useful, give a bonus. At least, after I invented that rating formlua, anyway, which is most of them except some earlier magazines.
So, they are not directly comparable as such, and possible might label separately if I come up with a good way to do it that isn't too clunky.
FAQ/GUIDE
I am posting ratings for the Australian SF I have read. There is more I have read, it is not all here yet, and of course
more will come as I read (and reread) more. I am particularly interested in work online to list in
There are a few ways to approach browsing or using Australian Reader.
Navigation Information
01) The main page has the last 50 posts, which you can scroll down to look at.
02) The grid of labels at the top breaks the posts down into sections. Each section has 20 posts per page, and at the bottom of each of these pages are previous/next navigation arrows that will let you go through these a page at a time.
The sections are by category of book, and also by rating of book, if you want to browse that way.
If you scroll down to under my profile image, these labels will be reproduced vertically, with counts of how many posts are in each section, but otherwise function identically to the labels at the top of the blog.
03) A list of links of interest, including writers that have answered questions, etc.
04) If you scroll further down than that, you will find a blog archive section, where posts are archived by month. You can navigate through this in a similar manner to navigation of the sections above.
05) A list of Australian SF that has won major awards, Hugo, Nebula, etc. all the way through Locus.
06) A list of Australian SF that have appeared in the various Year's Best anthologies from Dozois, Hartwell, etc.
07) A section for the Australian SF Ditmar awards.
08) A section for the Australian SF Aurealis awards.
09) The next part is a list of Important Australian SF anthologies by editor. They will have links to posts if I have done ratings for stories.
10) Another batch of anthologies that do not fall in the above categories, as I become aware of them.
11) A list of collected work by single authors that I currently am aware of. Authors that have these and don't list their stories on their websites are slack.
12) Stories by Australian authors that are available in other books, by author
13) A list of important Australian SF novelists.
14) A list of the Australian science fiction reference works.
15) A list of other anthologies of possible interest for the Influential Anthology section.
16) I list the stories from the Major Awards that I have rated and are available online.
17) I list the stories from the Year's Best that I have rated and are available online.
18) I list the stories from the Ditmar Awards that I have rated and are available online.
19) I list the stories from the Aurealis Awards that I have rated and are available online.
20) I list the stories from the Important Anthologies that I have rated and are available online.
21) After that is a section for all other works that are available online that I have rated.
22) I have started a list of Australian SF that is available for purchase electronically, so if you want some, you can get it right bloody now. :) If anyone has any additions, please let me know.
23) At the bottom right, if you scroll down, there is the complete list of fiction that I have put together so far. If there is a post about a book, the entry for that book will be a different colour, and have a url that links directly to the book. These are sorted by label and by author. This will be updated periodically after another batch of ratings are done. Probably weekly.
24) Google Search - you can use the search box to search, the same as you normally would, but this will rely on googlebot's indexing. It may turn up other interesting links/ads when you do this, however.
25) Anyone is welcome to comment on the posts. There is an email address on my profile, or you can write to aussievamp2@gmail.com if you have suggestions about books to add to the list, or want to talk to me for some other reason.
This email address is also displayed at the top of the blog.
Rating System
5 = Outstanding
4.5 = Very Good
4 = Good
3.5 = Above Average
3 = Average
2.5 = Below Average
2 = Poor
1.5 = Bad
1 = Very Bad
0.5 = Laughable
LABELS
As everyone knows, this sort of thing is tricky, fluid and blurry, but anyway :-
Scary - Books of horror that are meant to scare or disturb
Science - Science Fiction
Sleuth - Books of detection, crime and mystery
Sorcery - Books of fantasy and magic
Speculative - Harder to categorise, odd, or deliberate blends like the Illuminati, Wolfe, etc.
Spy - Books of espionage and related thrillers or technothrillers
Study - Books that are about Science Fiction and other genre writing, and are non-fiction. I added these in breaking the fiction rule a little, but I thought it made sense.
Superhero - Books that are listed at Super Reader, specific breakdowns can be found there.
Supernatural - Paranormal or occult themed books that are less concerned with horrifying
Swords - Books of the knights, swashbucklers and pirates, that sort of thing
If you have any suggestions for additions, alterations, corrections, or other info, please feel free to comment on a post, or email me if that is easier for you. The email is listed - aussievamp2@gmail.com.