Radio New Zealand – Tim Jones

Chapter and Verse: Podcast Discussion on New Zealand Science Fiction and Fantasy

Posted on July 12, 2009

This afternoon I took part in a live discussion on science fiction and fantasy writing in New Zealand. Chaired by Radio New Zealand’s Lynn Freeman, it featured writers Helen Lowe, Russell Kirkpatrick and myself, and publisher Larain Day – see below for further details.

The podcast of this 13-minute discussion is now available in MP3 format at http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/art/art-20090712-1430-Chapter_and_Verse-048.mp3

I enjoyed taking part – and thanks for inviting me, Lynn – but I felt we were just getting started on the discussion when we ran out of time. All the same, we covered some interesting territory, including whether New Zealand SF&F readers are willing to read SF&F written by New Zealand authors and published in New Zealand, and where these genres may go in future. Worth a listen, I think!

Ain’t No Stopping Us Now

Posted on July 9, 2009

Hard on the heels of the news that a short story collection by science fiction writer Chris Beckett has won the prestigious Edge Hill Short Story Prize, beating collections by Anne Enright, Shena Mackay, Ali Smith and Gerard Donovan, comes the slightly less big – but still welcome – news that Radio New Zealand (National Radio) is holding a panel discussion this coming Sunday afternoon (the 11th) on writing science fiction and fantasy. Here’s the official announcement:

2:30 Chapter and Verse

A panel of New Zealand Sci-Fi writers and publishers, on the on-going fascination with the future, and what the future holds for our Sci-Fi. On the panel are writers Tim Jones, Helen Lowe and Russell Kirkpatrick, and publisher Lorain Day from Harper Collins.

(Ooh, I do dislike that term “Sci-Fi”! It always sounds patronising to me – but I’ll learn to cope…)

Two of the panelists, Helen Lowe and Russell Kirkpatrick, are best known for their fantasy novels (though Helen is also an excellent short story writer and poet), so I expect to be holding the fort for science fiction and for short fiction.

If you live in Wellington, keep your eyes peeled for another writing event in September featuring Helen Lowe and myself – more details to follow!

Details of how to access Radio New Zealand broadcasts are available on their site (see “Ways to Listen” on the bottom left of the home page) and, if a podcast is made of the panel, I will put the link up here as soon as it’s available.

Voyagers Interview: The Podcast

Posted on June 7, 2009

Voyagers: Science Fiction Poetry from New Zealand has just been published. You can buy Voyagers from Amazon.com as a paperback or Kindle e-book, or from Fishpond in New Zealand. You can also find out more about Voyagers, and buy it directly from the publisher, at the Voyagers mini-site.

This afternoon, National Radio in New Zealand played an interview that Arts on Sunday presenter Lynn Freeman recorded with Mark Pirie and myself about Voyagers. The interview is now available as a podcast in mp3 format from the Radio New Zealand website – the address to download it is

http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/art/art-20090607-1445-Chapter_and_Verse_Voyagers,_sci-fi_poetry-048.mp3

While you’re in podcasting mode, you might also want to check out this Sunday Group discussion from earlier in the day about the Transition Towns movement – very interesting:

http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/sun/sun-20090607-1006-The_Sunday_Group_-_Transition_Towns_Taking_Root-048.mp3

During the Voyagers interview, I mentioned – jokingly – the prospect of a second volume, given the number of poems we could potentially include, and the number of poets who have said they would like the chance to submit a science fiction poem or two. But what should the title be? I’ve got as far as Voyagers 2: The Voyaging. Anyone have a better suggestion?