Comments on: Why genre is blooming in Aotearoa

By: Helen E. H. Madden

Helen E. H. Madden — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 01:27:21 +0000

I love getting sci-fi and fantasy books written by authors from other countries, including New Zealand. The books **feel** different, read different, are different it seems to me from books I read from US and English authors. The culture of a distant land really does show through.

While you’re mentioning factors that put New Zealand on the speculative fiction map, don’t forget Xena Warrior Princess and Hercules the Legendary Journeys. My husband and I ended up traveling to New Zealand after hearing Karl Urban talk about his native country at a convention we went to. While we were in Rotarua, we picked up a newspaper with the following headline:

“New Zealand Director Begins Production On Lord Of The Rings Movies.”

I’ve still got that newspaper around somewhere

By: Debbie

Debbie — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 19:00:36 +0000

I know what you mean about the thrill of discovering a author you love is a NZer as a kid – for me it was Maurice Gee but it was hugely inspiring at the time. It is fantastic that genre is starting to take off now in Aotearoa. I’ve found your insights as to why this is really interesting.

By: Cassie

Cassie — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 22:42:38 +0000

This is an awesome post, really makes me proud to be a NZ writer of speculative fiction!

By: Dan

Dan — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 22:05:44 +0000

Great post – Everywhere I look I see more reason to be proud to be writing genre fiction in NZ.

Funny you should mention Hugh Cook – my contribution to NZ Spec Fic Week is an article on the man himself and his work:

http://podagogue.blogspot.com/2009/09/hugh-cook-wordsmith-and-warrior.html

By: Ripley Patton

Ripley Patton — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 10:26:36 +0000

Pip,

Great post and most encouraging. And wow, I love the big ass moon at the top of your website.

Cheers,
Ripley Patton