If you’ve been reading this blog (you have been reading it, right? Like, slavishly reading it?), you’ll know that my first book, Sicily, It’s Not Quite Tuscany, was released with the surprise addition of 20 or so unwanted typesetting glitches. (For those who don’t know about this minor saga, you can find more details here and in The Sydney Morning Herald, here.) Continue reading
Catania sunrise
Early morning at the Porto di Catania, Sicily. A week later, Mount Etna filled the sky (and our apartment courtyard) with lava and ash following her most explosive flank eruption in a century and a half. The eruption lasted three months. (Hence the subtitle of my book…)
In the press
When I was five, my photo appeared in The Northern Star, Lismore’s daily newspaper. (For those who don’t know Lismore, congratulations! No, I honestly don’t mean that. Lismore is a country town in northern NSW, near Byron Bay; it’s where I went to school.) The photo showed me and my sister Katie clinging to a rope swing on a hot afternoon out at the Lismore Lake. It was on the front page, too, so it must have been a slow news day. (Often the case in Lismore.)
Happily, after a hiatus of many years, I’ve just appeared in the Star again (“Hooked on Books”, 19 April). One of the paper’s journos interviewed me about appearing at the Byron Bay Writers’ Festival in August. Continue reading
Feeling festive
Had a good week last week, book-wise. On Friday, I found out that I’m on the bill for this year’s Byron Bay Writers Festival, 3-5 August. Not sure what sessions I’ll be doing yet, but very happy to be up on stage for the first time – especially as Byron is my old stomping ground and where my parents currently live.
Then I scored a return flight, Singapore-Gold Coast, for the festival weekend for just $170 on new budget airline, Scoot. Admittedly it’s cheap for a reason: no check-in luggage, no food, no entertainment, and they put you in an iron maiden for the duration of the flight (or something like that). But still. Continue reading
Launched!
No, not the North Korean rocket. I mean my book. Actually, the two launches – in Brisbane and Byron – were over a month ago now. But I’ve only just got around to sourcing some images. Oddly enough for someone with a ridiculous 12,000 photos in his Flickr account, I didn’t even take the lens cap off my camera. Perhaps my mind was on other things – like whether or not anyone would show up. (I had visions of this scenario.) So, thanks to Tony, Stu and Sib for the photos. (Click to scroll.) Continue reading
The reviews are in …
For a first-time author, reviews can be daunting. But I’m not particularly fussed. I’ve always expected Sicily, It’s Not Quite Tuscany to be disliked by certain groups – those who hold the Sicilian city of Catania dear to their hearts, for instance, and anyone who abhors the consumption of horse meat for pleasure. And, thanks to the book, I probably haven’t made too many friends in Toowoomba in Queensland, or in the Sydney suburb of Rooty Hill. (Or, indeed, in Germany.) Continue reading
10 Amazon products you might accidentally stumble upon when searching for my book
When a friend asked me recently if Sicily, It’s Not Quite Tuscany was available at Amazon, I went to the website to check. Typing “Shamus Sillar” into the search bar sadly didn’t lead to my book (no huge surprise though, since distribution is currently limited to Australia and New Zealand), but it did lead to a whole lot of other weird and wonderful crapola, most of which I’m considering buying.
1. A Burt Reynolds DVD
Can’t say that I’ve seen Shamus, the 1973 action film about a hard-nosed private detective, though I do like this comment from one of the Amazon customers who reviewed it: “Burt Reynolds gets beat up so much in this film, it’s a wonder he can make love to Dyan Cannon on top of a pool table mid-movie!” Continue reading
For fog’s sake
Just got back to Singapore after two weeks at home for book launches and whatnot. More on all that later; in the meantime, here are some snapshots from an early morning drive in the Byron Bay hinterland.
The Glitch and The Heckler
My advance copy of Sicily, It’s Not Quite Tuscany arrived in Singapore about 12 days ago. It was a big moment. Gill took photos of me ripping the top off the parcel, removing the contents, popping the bubble wrap (though I spent rather longer on that than she had the patience for), and holding the book aloft like it was the holy relic left behind by a religious figure, or a placard being waved by a ring girl at a boxing match. Then she went to grab the champagne off the ice. Continue reading
Lava and other palaver
So, Mount Etna kicked off again last week, with a bit of a lava show. Catania’s airport was closed briefly because of hot ash in the sky, and players from the Serie A football side AS Roma were left stranded in the city for a night. The latter doesn’t sound like the worst outcome in the world, except perhaps to the American travel writer Josephine Tozier who had this to say in 1910: Continue reading