2013 in Review

First up, a quick thanks to everyone who enriched my life this year–family and friends, sundry editors, agents, publicists, salespeople, retailers, readers, reviewers, bloggers, doctors, physios, specialists, surgeons, nurses, receptionists, Pilates instructors, pilots, stewards, writers, collaborators, self-publishers, artists, photographers, critics, supervisors, examiners, students, festival directors, committee members, volunteers, musos, filmmakers, actors, producers, frogs, frogwatchers, photoshoppers, captioneers, teachers, librarians, posties, shoemakers, milliners, Green politicians, chefs, and anyone else who crossed my path in some random or significant way, to the betterment of us both (I hope).

It was a busy year, with the release of Troubletwisters: The Mystery (of the Golden Card) (the latest in the middle-grade series Garth Nix and I have been having fun with for some years now) and Twinmaker (also known as Jump in Australia), the first in a brand new YA series. I’ve written several short works set in the Twinmaker universe, which you can find a guide to over here, at the website dedicated to the series. As well as those two novels and all the shorts, I submitted my PhD “The ‘Murdering Twinmaker’” and it was passed with a commendation, which was a huge relief (more info on that here).

On the writing front, Garth and I worked on Troubletwisters: The Missing (aka Missing, Presumed Evil) and Blood Ties, the third book in the massively popular Spirit Animals multi-platform story, both of which will come out in 2014. I submitted the second Twinmaker book, called Crashland (or Crash), which will be published in November.

2013 was marred by issues with chronic pain, but on every other front it’s been terrific, a year I’ve been looking forward to for a long time. It didn’t disappoint.

AMBIENCE

iTunes reveals that I have been less adventurous in 2013 than in previous years, with the exception of the Laurie Spiegel reissue (which is amazing for anyone interested in early electronic recordings). My most played albums are:

• Loscil’s Rubies (Losci’s Remix) – Destroyer
• Fortune – Robin Guthrie
• Future Flows – Steve  Roach (most played by a long way)
• Tales from the Ultra Tribe – Steve  Roach & Byron Metcalf
• The Expanding Universe – Laurie Spiegel
• Celestia – Erik Wollø

Late arrivals that I expect to be big in 2014 include I am the Center: Private Issue New Age Music in America (I didn’t know there was a vinyl edition until I found this link–d’oh!), Steve Roach’s Spiral Meditations, and Sleep Theory Volume 2 by Altus. I have two books to write this year so will be looking for new music to keep them rolling.

WORDS

Goodreads tells me what books I’ve given five stars to this year, and of those I pick the six below as my firm favourites for 2013. I’ve made a conscious effort to read more fiction by women this year and the list reflects that. They’re wildly different from each other. Follow the links to learn more. Read them all!

• The One and Only Ivan – Katherine Applegate
• The Shining Girls – Lauren Beukes
• Jinx – Sage Blackwood
• Tantra Song: Tantric Painting from Rajasthan – Franck André Jamme
• Mr Unpronounceable Adventures – Tim Molloy
• Rose Under Fire – Elizabeth Wein

That’s it! Roll on, 2014. Have a good one, everybody!