Trentonomicon
Being the Blog of Trent Jamieson – writer type person
Being the Blog of Trent Jamieson – writer type person
Aug 24th
Worldcon’s little over a week away. There’s book editing to be done, assignments to be marked, a panel to attend and a whole bunch of other stuff to be done including a micro book tour. If I’m a little quieter here than usual, it’s only so I’m not too exhausted before Worldcon. If you’re coming to Melbourne, see you there, if not, expect a whole heap of photos when I get back.
I’m beside myself with excitement, better knuckle down and get my work done!
Aug 22nd
Here’s where you can catch me at Worldcon. Of course, I’ll also be at the bar.
Fri 1200 Rm 201: Signing;
Trent Jamieson, Paul Collins, Nicole R Murphy, Shane Jiraiya Cummings
Fri 1300 Rm 209:(K) Writing career guidance for kids
Ian Nichols, George Ivanoff, Trent Jamieson
Fri 1500 Rm 210: Directions in Australian horror;
Tracking the movement from the traditional to the new, and maybe back again.
Stuart Mayne, Bill Congreve, Angela Slatter, Trent Jamieson, Honey Brown
Sat 1100 Rm 212: A labour of love: putting together an anthology (chair)
How do you put together an anthology? A discussion of the challenges, delights and pitfalls of multiple-authored collections. Tehani Wessely, Alisa Krasnostein, Trent Jamieson (Chair) Saturday 1100 Room 212
Sat 1200 Rm 201: Kaffeeklatsche
Mon 1300 Rm 207: Reading – Me and Daniel Dern
Aug 21st
Plenty to post about, and not nearly enough time. But, after a couple of days of illness, I woke up feeling fine, and my mode was further improved by finding out that Death Most Definite is number one on the Indie Bestsellers List in the Courier Mail. You don’t see something like that too often, well, I don’t. Nor do you see this:
These are, from left to right, the US, Aus, and UK versions of Death Most Definite. Pretty cool, huh?
Aug 17th
Today was spent getting a grip on my structural edits (which involved lots of post-it notes, and walking around in circles, and making big piles of paper) then a trip into the city to critique a mate’s rather excellent short story(believe me, it will win awards and when it does I will gloat). Finally, I headed into QUT to teach a class on short story writing.
All in all an excellent day in the life of a paperback writer. Writing, friends, and talking about writing (oh, and some excellent tea)
I feel like I’m really coming to grips with the Business of Death.
And I still love my ending – of course I’m not about to provide any spoilers.
I’d like to think that each book in this series is quite different to the others, bound together, of course by Steve’s voice. It’s Steve growing into responsibility. But I’d also like to think that I’ve given each character their moment in this book. Steve is very much at the core of the tale, and it’s through him that everything is related, but I hope the world becomes richer as his relationship with it deepens.
Of course, what an author sees in a book is rarely what a reader sees. That’s what makes writing and reading so fascinating – and fraught with peril. But when all three books are out, and people can see the whole story, I’ll be interested in how they take it. Of course, I’ll be working on something different by then. Probably a couple of something differents.
It’s funny, but while there’s still a lot of work to be done, I can feel this story* coming to a close (and let me tell you, if I do say so myself, it’s a great ending), and new and old projects are calling me.
All this, while people encounter Death Most Definite for the first time – which, in a way means that I keep encountering it for the first time as well. What a peculiar thing publishing is.
*which doesn’t mean that there may not be more Death Works novels down the track, just that this story arc is ended.
Aug 16th
I’ve mentioned it before, but Angela Slatter has just reminded me, and some things you can’t mention enough times. Marianne de Pierre’s boutique collection Glitter Rose is available from Twelfth Planet Press.

Cover art by Anna Repp, design by Amanda Rainey
The prose is just as wonderful as that cover, and you also get an introduction by me (and I can’t tell you how honoured I felt to write that, even though I’d encourage you to skip it and get straight to the stories, why waste good reading time!).
And just so you know what you’re getting all under one roof (so to speak) the contents are listed below:
Plus bonus
I’ve read every one of those stories, and they’re great. It’s wonderful to see them all in one space, and I’m sure you’ll love them as much as I do. So get cracking, buy yourself a copy today.
Aug 15th
Mil Clayton came along to my launch on Friday and her blog post about it brought a tear to my eye. I hadn’t thought about the time we all got together and read by moonlight in the Toowong Cemetery. It was a magical night, and yes, the story I read was about hell (I can never get away from the place it seems).
Mil describes it so much better than me, of course.
Toowong Cemetery gets a mention or two in my book, I’ve always loved the place. One of the pleasures of writing about the city you live in, is that you can visit the places that are important to you (it can be a danger, too. Familiarity doesn’t necessarily breed contempt, but it can breed blindness, and if you’re not seeing something, then you’re not really writing about it) and fictionalise them up.
Talking of which… tomorrow I’ll be getting my structural edits, and the real work on book three begins. I think it has the best ending of any of the books, though I think I’ve still got a way to go to honouring that ending, it’s that which will be occupying my mind for the next six weeks or so. That and marking assignments and Worldcon, of course – but, hey, you can have your cake and eat it as well, can’t you?
Aug 15th
Aug 14th
Well, Death Most Definite is now launched.
I’ll be doing a few other events and some interviews for the book, but this was the big one. My first book launch, and I couldn’t have asked for a better send off. It was great to see so many people that I care about in one space at once, none of whom I could talk to for long – after the launch I was kept busy at the signing table almost until closing time.
My mate Marianne de Pierres managed to make me blush then almost cry, and Paul Landymore not only produced a fine limerick around the word Gunnedah (Yes, not only Miranda Kerr comes from there) but managed to dig up some dirt belying my reputation as a “nice” guy.
We even had my trailer playing on a projector screen, thanks to Daryl’s artistry, and it looked amazing!
And having it at Avid Reader felt like having my launch at home. The Avid Reader is just one of the best places to work, they even made t-shirts for the launch, I’m wearing one in the photo.
Thanks to my workmates, and friends,the night was perfect, and one I’ll never forget. You don’t get many moments like that.

A packed bookstore (and yes, that is bestselling author Kylie Chan, with Marianne talking in the background to Peter M Ball and Gary Kemble- who interviewed a very dazed Trent later on in the evening. Hey, when you get a chance to name drop you do!).
The top of my head and some of the people in attendance, including my serious looking younger brother.
The goofy author signing books (and occasionally misspelling witticisms or even, to his utter mortification, forgetting someone’s name!)
Me and my mate, Paul, SF Sunday compadre who organised the whole thing, and was the perfect MC, all with a terribly crook back. By this stage in the proceedings the launch was well and truly done (oh, and you can just see Tansy Rayner Roberts’ excellent book, with bookplates, in the background, hmm, why isn’t that face out?).
Afterwards we went out for dinner and I had Fried Ice Cream for desert, cracking’!
And finally, even though I know the launch was recorded I thought I’d put my speech up on here, just as a more permanent way of thanking those people who mean so much to me. (Of course, you don’t get the rambling asides, but it went pretty much like this)
Thanks Paul, and thank you, Marianne for your kind words, and thank you all for coming.
I’ve been working towards this moment since I was five. Which makes me a pretty slow worker, I guess. I always imagined a book launch, as some sort of transformative thing, like pulling a sword out of a stone. You know and then bells start ringing, and suddenly By the power of Greyskull I AM A WRITER.
But the transformative thing really is the years it’s taken to get here. A writing life shapes you, and it’s shaped me, not just around the stomach area, but in everything I do. And it has for a very long time.
When I was young I used to write the acknowledgements before I’d even written the book. When I stopped doing that I think I was heading in the right direction.
Writing is a solitary endeavour, but it’s buoyed by so many people, people that quite often you neglect, because you want to get a story down, or want to write. But without them I wouldn’t be here.
There’s Mum and Dad who fostered a love of reading in me, and encouraged me to write, and who never doubted that I wouldn’t get a book of my own out(or if they did, they did so quietly or when I wasn’t in the room).
There’s the rest of my family who have always been supportive, who never voiced any doubt or tried to get me to do something more sensible, like, well, anything. And my in-laws too, who didn’t try and talk Diana out of marrying me. I would have.
Family’s important to me, and I think the reason it’s so important is because my family on both sides is just wonderful. You can’t choose your family, but I wouldn’t choose anyone else.
There’s the writers that you learn to turn to when you need help, and that you help in turn. And the staff at the various bookstores I’ve worked at over the years who’ve had to put up with my perpetual cloud of vagueness.
There’s the writer’s group Vision which kept the writing flame alive through the late nineties – even while grunge as a musical movement was dying. There’s the QWC, the best writer’s organisation in the country. If you’re a writer and you’re not a member, you should join and NOW.
Then there’s ROR, my writing family. Writers on the Rise (or the Riesling as we like to put it) two other members of which are here today, Marianne and Rowena. ROR must be one of the most successful writing groups in the country, and for a long time, I was the only one letting the side down without a book out, but not any more.
And there’s the publishers that put in all that hard work making me lift my game, drawing the best book out of me – and they really did work hard. So thank you, Deonie Fiford who helped the book over the first hurdle, and Bernadette Foley and co at Orbit and Hachette. So many people have worked on this book from cover art to marketing that I could spend the night listing them. I’d also like to thank Adele Fewster and the whole sales team for getting the book into so many bookstores. I really appreciate what you’ve done.
So many people, so little time. But I’ve only got a couple of people left to acknowledge.
Avid Reader is one of the best bookstores in the world, with some of the best staff. They’re all such wonderful creative and just lovely people. I mean, look at Kasia’s fabulous window. Look at everything set up here. So Fiona, Anna, Verdi, Kasia, Paul, Chris, Krissy, Stuart, Emily, Nelly Mae Thank you! And the Sunday crew Helen, Sophie, and Mellina. Thank you so much, you make it almost easy to get out of bed on a Sunday morning. Avid’s been a source of so much joy to me over the last couple of years, and you’ve all helped keep me sane.
And then there is Diana, my wife, who knew I was a writer when she met me, but chose to stick around anyway, and has supported me, and never stopped having faith in me.
It was Diana that talked me into quitting work and devoting myself to writing full time. Without her this book wouldn’t exist. She’s put up with the dreaded writer’s mope, she’s shared my dreams, she’s read too many rough drafts of things out of context, and not once, not ever, has she asked me to give it up.
This book is for you, most of all, my love. I can’t thank you enough.
So, by the Power of Greyskull!
Aug 8th
I’m lucky to have such creative friends. The talented Daryl Lindquist of R&D Studios put this Book Trailer together for me. Isn’t it grand! I think you’ll be seeing a whole raft of R&D Book Trailers in the next few months. The guy’s a serious talent. Thanks, Daryl, and here it is. My second book trailer – and one without wheels!