Michael Pryor

Trains on roof

Inside train diner.

Lunch today in a converted train on top of a building in the inner north. Easey's, good food, great views, top atmosphere, very cool. Peak Melbourne.

Bibliotrivia: C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien used to read extracts from the works of novelist Amanda McKittrick Ros aloud to each other to see who could last the longest without laughing.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanda_...

Heh. 'Planet of the Knob Heads'.

An idea just waiting for the right technology: horror novels where scary words pop up off the page just as you get to them.

nonfiction logo

Aurealis #187 non-fiction: 'Frankenstein in Pop Culture: Current Trends and the Future of Frankenstein Adaptation by Claire Fitzpatrick', 'What Lies Within: Hellish Metamorphosis in Tetsuo II: Body Hammer (1992)' by Andrew Kolarik and 'Time Travel Paradox and Entropy' by Gerald Keaney.

perfume bottle

'New Book Smell', a perfume for the discerning reader.

Here's a writing tip: Good ways to end a chapter – cliffhanger, bombshell, sardonic quip.
Bad ways to end a chapter – frustrated gibberish, breaking the fourth wall and swearing at your own characters for their lack of motivation, writing [put something interesting here] and forgetting to do it.

1950s/1960s motels in country/suburban Australia have some funky cool vibes. Look at that sign!

5. Put two fingers on the side of someone's neck and shake your head silently if you want to indicate that they're dead.
6. Whenever you bandage anyone, some blood will seep through. Don't worry about this as it never seems to inconvenience anyone.

4. Never order steak in a restaurant. You're going to be called on to save someone from choking, and it's hard to Heimlich yourself.

Medical things I learned from movies:
1. If someone coughs and then there's blood on their hanky they have tuberculosis.
2. Biting on leather stops pain from bullet extractions etc.
3. ALWAYS squirt a bit of the stuff into the air before you inject a patient.

Electric Dream

open.spotify.com/track/1GOmEv... Me trying to sound like Vangelis. The first track I recorded for the album. #music #PKD

I overheard someone say 'from the gecko' instead of 'from the get go'.

I hope this finds you, well.

So, in the olden days they looked at coffee beans and said, 'Yeah, we'll pod these, then roast 'em, then grind 'em, then put in hot water, filter and drink' but they looked at other beans and said, 'Stuff that, let's just eat 'em.'

I'm thinking of writing a delicious romantic comedy with a frenzied drumming soundtrack - a nom nom nom tom tom rom com.

Showcasing more of the amazing internal art from Aurealis #187, our first issue for 2026! Here's Leah Clementson's superb illustration for 'With Teeth' by S.R. Kriger.

More sensational internal art from Aurealis #187, our first issue for 2026!
Here's Andrew Saltmarsh's brilliant illustration for 'The Prince of Dogs' by Harry Goddard.

Time to showcase the sensational internal art from Aurealis #187, our first issue for 2026!
First up is Peter Allert's perfectly moody illustration for 'The Last Faithful Servant of the Empire' by Blaize M. Kaye.

IMAGE ALT TEXT: an illustration by Oslo Davis of a person in a contorted position reading a book, with the Footscray West Writers Fest logo above it, surrounded by yellow and pink stars. Under the image a headline reads: OUR PROGRAM IS LIVE! VISIT FWWF.COM.AU

Interrupting the depressing news cycle with a happy announcement: the program is live for Footscray West Writers Fest, March 27-29.

30 events across 15 venues along Barkly St. Lots of excellent writers, poets, journos, thinkers sharing thoughts and work. Program & tickets: FWWF.com.au

Rule No. 233 of the universe: the cordless drill/screwdriver is never charged when you desperately need it.

The Future of Books
1. Self-turning pages
2. Quantum books
3. Cryptobooks
4. English translations of major alien works
5. Book/jetpack hybrid
6. Hoverbook
7. Book in a Pill
8. 4D Book
9. Science Experiment that Goes Wrong, Spawns a Book that Destroys Cities in a Literary Rampage
10. More Books

While reading, has anyone else ever accidentally turned over two pages at once and some time later marvelled at how the pacing of the story had really picked up?

I see lists of greatest inventions ever but I never see cheese on them so they're all wrong.

Episode 20 of the 'It's True - Or Is It?' podcast that I host with George Ivanoff is out now and we're going to the movies! Farfetched features, amazing awards and surprising stars dazzle the screen in this episode! Find it wherever you source your podcasts or here: itstrueorisit.podbean.com

One thing I've learned from the movies is that door chain manufacturers have got away with selling shoddy products to the public for years as evidenced by no intruder ever being denied entrance by a door chain when eager to barge in. They made of tinsel or something?

They’d have to also be charcoalsmiths, pencilsmiths, pastelsmiths, threadsmiths, claysmiths, etc. Lotta mediums out there.

text describing Albaut Deduplication.

The things we don't know we know ... This is from the wonderful little book 'The Elements of Eloquence' by Mark Forsythe. Very highly recommended.

If writers are wordsmiths, does that make artists paintsmiths?

Making Toast.
Hmm, not brown enough.
Turns knob a tiny bit.
Reinserts underdone toast.
Flames, smoke detector shrieks, sooty puck from hell rockets out, lands on floor, scares cat, sits smouldering balefully until I approach it with tongs and hurl it outside.