Today, March 24, is Harry Houdini’s birthday. I have an interest in all stage magic, and Houdini looms large in the history of this fascinating mode of performance. He had a wonderful combination of swaggery, showmanship, self-promotion and cleverness. He thought carefully about his potentially lethal escapes and practised...

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I was going to call this ‘Golden Rules for Writing Fantasy’ but I wasn’t happy with the ‘Rules’ part. Rules are a problem in Fantasy because when imagination is king, anything is possible. So as Captain Barbossa said about the Pirates’ Code, these are more guidelines than your actual...

Sometimes, after looking forward to something you’ve heard so much about, the reality can be a let down. The Somerset Celebration of Literature DEFINITELY wasn’t in that category. It lived up to my expectations, and more. I’ve just arrived home after three wonderful days (March 16 to 18) and...

I’m reposting some articles I wrote a while ago. This one featured on the Random House blog in 2009. I love reading, and writing, steampunk. I’ve been fascinated by the whole Victorian/Edwardian era in fiction ever since reading Conan Doyle (the professor Challenger books as well as Sherlock Holmes)...

Welcome to the new look Michael Pryor website – now with blog! Thanks to the very talented Angelo Dracoulis of AC&A, everything Michael Pryor related is now easily accessible in this one place, and looking good. The name? ‘Narrative Transport’ is the best description I’ve read of that wonderful...

After having finished the draft of my top secret Work in Progress, I’ve been busying myself with: an article about YA literature for Queensland Writers’ Group a Short Story for a forthcoming Junior Secondary anthology a rewrite of a novelette about fishing and television going through proof pages of...

In this book, Aubrey, George and Caroline actually visit Holmland, despite the dangers posed by this warlike nation – but not before Aubrey has an encounter which could lead to a cure for his condition, but at cost of the life of one of his friends. Dr Tremaine reappears,...