Michael Pryor

The first rose of the season. Friesia, a happy, bright yellow - not gold - with a spicy, strong scent.

Trompe LOL: an internet image you have to look at a few times before you realise it's funny.

It grieves me that kibosh has no purpose other than putting it on something.

Finishing a first draft is like looking at a whole lot of clay, straw and water and saying, 'Yup, nearly finished that mud brick home I've always dreamed of.'

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder: 'No plan of operations extends with any certainty beyond the first contact with the main hostile force.'
Just about any plotter author: No novel plan ever survives around about chapter three when characters start doing things of their own accord.

Bartitsu - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartits...

Episode 1 of Season 2 of the 'It's True - or Is it?' podcast has just been released. Six stories about food, four of which are true, but two are totally bogus. Which is which?
Get it wherever you get your podcasts or find all episodes here: itstrueorisit.podbean.com

Aurealis has unearthed and reanimated a series of forgotten Australian classic speculative fiction. Ranging from the 1880s to the 1930s, this selection shows the vital contribution that speculative fiction plays in Australia’s literary history.
aurealis.com.au/store/classi...

Happy World Cassowary Day everyone! Best wishes to our favourite dangerous bird!
cassowaryconservation.org/event/world-...

Here's a young Sean Connery reading a book.

Bibliotrivia: C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien used to read extracts from the works of novelist Amanda McKittrick Ros to see who could last the longest without laughing.

Aurealis - a ten issue subscription for less than $4 per issue. Go to www.aurealis.com.au and sign on!

Time to showcase our brilliant internal art from Aurealis #184, our latest issue.
Here’s Jimmy Spence’s moody and evocative illustration for 'The Sound Your Soul Makes When It's Happy' by Markus Wessel.

Time to showcase our brilliant internal art from Aurealis #184, our latest issue.
Here’s Joel Bisaillon’s superb illustration for 'Goes the Way of the Seabird' by Mia Kelly.

Time to showcase our brilliant internal art from Aurealis #184, our latest issue.
Here’s Hannah Dunn’s perfect illustration for 'Farmhouse of the Lost and Found' by Ramez Yoakeim.

A few years ago, I got to sit and work in the Librarian's chair in the centre of the majestic domed Reading Room in the majestic State Library of Victoria.

“Get Smart” premieres 60 years ago tonight, on NBC.

“I was sick of looking at all those nice, sensible situation comedies,” Mel Brooks said. “They were such distortions of life. .. No one had ever done a show about an idiot before. I decided to be the first.”

Season 2 of the entertaining 'It's True - or Is it?' podcast is coming soon, and here's a tantalising two minute preview!
www.podbean.com/eas/pb-6thss...
Join George Ivanoff and me as we try to fool each other - and you - with extraordinary stories!

Aurealis #184, our latest issue, is chockers with fascinating genre related non-fiction: ‘Alienated Labour in The Substance and Mickey 17’ by Ani White, ‘The God Pan and English Fantasy’ by Emmet O'Cuana and an exclusive interview with SF legend Alan Dean Foster, conducted by Trevor Howis!

John Cleese's father shared a house in India with PG Wodehouse's brother.

Coming Soon! Season 2 of…
IT’S TRUE-- OR IS IT?
itstrueorisit.podbean.com

Salvador Dali walking an anteater in Paris, 1969. Now, that's surreal.

A print from a woodblock,
With the power to shock -
That's a Doré.

😮

This isn't a Black Ops Sleep Deprivation Chamber, it's how people decorated their bedrooms in 1973.
From the Australian Women's Weekly.

Perfect word.

1908 photo of Charles Dalmorès, French opera singer. Nice outfit.

Reading books you like is easy and fun. Reading books you don't like is hard and can take a long time. This can explain some attitudes of some young people to reading.

The State Library of Victoria all lit up tonight.