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Places I Live: Mount Gambier

Places I Live: Mount Gambier
Blue Lake

About Me

I'm an experienced writer and editor of both non-fiction and fiction.

Editing - non-fiction

Much of my editing work comes from academics, especially PhD students, but I also research, write and edit other non-fiction work, especially reviews, biographies and family and local histories. I pride myself on having a broad general knowledge, and have edited in areas ranging from the arts (both performing and visual) through to Physiotherapy, Law, Business Studies, IT, Women’s Studies and even an occasional Engineering effort.

Editing - fiction

I am a well-practised beta-reader and critic of speculative fiction and am currently a sub-editor for The Specusphere, an e-zine for the Speculative Fiction community. (You'll find it in my links.) Historical fiction and high fantasy are my specialist sub-genres, but I’m delighted to edit or proof-read books in most areas of fiction writing.

My experience

From a background in the performing arts, principally dance and music, I switched to writing in these areas in 1987. I have written reviews and feature articles for various prestigious publications including ArtsWest, Dance Australia, Music Maker and The Australian. A decade or so back I was bitten by the fantasy bug and I have just about written the million words they say you have to write before you are any good. Any morning now I will wake up to find that I’m as good as some of my favourite authors. (Well, I can dream, can’t I?)

My bits of paper

I hold a BA in Religious Studies, an Associate Diploma in Performing Arts (Dance) and the certificate of the Federation of Australian Astrologers. For what it’s worth, I also have a Certificate in Rural Studies – I’m the only person I know who’s been both a ballet teacher and a pig farmer!

Fun things

In my spare time I enjoy Family History, Astrology, Yoga, Meditation and Belly Dancing. Although I regard these primarily as hobbies these days, I occasionally offer workshops in meditation and I will write astrological reports to order.

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For SpecFic Lovers

Places I Live: Perth by Night

Places I Live: Perth by Night
From Kings Park

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Places I Live: Perth by Day

Places I Live: Perth by Day
From Kings Park

Sydney Conservatorium

Sydney Conservatorium
My old school

Reading and reviewing

  • *Heir to Sevenwaters Another winner from Juliet Marillier! Reviewed on The Specusphere.
  • *Tender Morsels - an extraordinary first novel from Margo Lanagan, dark and beautiful.
  • *The First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. A WOW factor of great magnitude characterises this trilogy, composed of The Blade Itself, Before they are Hanged and The Last Argument of Kings.
  • *The Siege of Arrandin by Marcus Herniman. You will never see such lovingly detailed world-building elsewhere!
  • *Awakening by Lara Morgan. An impressive fantasy from a new Aussie author. Reviewed on The Specusphere.
  • *Midnight Never Come by Marie Brennan. An original and intriguing fantasy of Elizabethan England.
  • *Dreaming Again edited by Jack Dann. A fascinating anthology of some of Australia's best spec-fic writers.
  • *Black Ships by Jo Graham; a well-told riff on the Aeneid. Reviewed on The Specusphere.
  • *Hal Spacejock Book IV: No Free Lunch by Simon Haynes. Another screamingly funny story from this entertaining author.
  • *Escape by Sea by L.S.Lawrence. An exciting adventure story for the YA market, set in the era of the Punic Wars. Check out my Specusphere review.
  • *The Accidental Sorcerer by KE Mills. This is Karen Miller in disguise so the writing is top-class. She just gets better and better!
  • *Take Charge by James Hansen. A really neat little book on how to use apostrophes correctly. I loved it! Follow the link to read my review.
  • *Dragonscarpe by Pat McNamara, Michal Dutkiewicz and Gary Turner. A beautifully illustrated, coffee-table sized high fantasy novel. Delicious! Follow the link to my Specusphere review.
  • *Dreamsongs by George R.R. Martin. A fantastic restrospective of the Great Man's work. The link takes you to my Specusphere review.
  • *Winterbirth by Brian Ruckley. A most promising first novel of the blood and thunder variety. Reviewed for The Specusphere.
  • *The Riven Kingdom by Karen Miller. One of the best reads I've had in ages. The link leads to my Specusphere review.
  • *Shakespeare by Bill Bryson. The first thing I've read for ages that I didn't have to review, so I can just relax and enjoy Bryson's vivid, witty writing.
  • *Cybele's Secret by Juliet Marillier. One of the best YA books I've read in many a long year. Follow the link to my review on The Specusphere.
  • *Warprize and also its sequel, Warsworn by Elizabeth Vaughan. The first two books of a romantic fantasy trilogy, the first from this author. Reviewed for The Specusphere.
  • *The Awakening Book One of The Triumvirate by Bevan McGuiness. An attention-grabbing first fantasy novel. Reviewed for The Specusphere.
  • *The Elves of Cintra by Terry Brooks. The second in his Genesis of Shannara Series. Reviewed for The Specusphere.
  • *Dr Whom by A.R.R.R. Roberts. An amusing spoof not only on the TV series but also on Lyn Truss's classic work on punctuation, Eats, Shoots & Leaves. Reviewed for The Specusphere.
  • *Feast of Souls by Celia Friedman. An intriguing idea underlies this one - what if magic had a cost, and that cost was a person's life force? Reviewed for The Specusphere.
  • *The Illustrated Bede by John Marsden with translator John Gregory and photographer Geoff Green. This work really places the Venerable Bede in his setting and historical context.
  • *The Art of Awareness by Eric Harrison. A superb meditation handbook by one of Australia's leading teachers.
  • *The Weighing of the Heart, an Anthology of Emerging Western Australian poets. I have a sonnet in this one but I am put to shame by some of the other wonderful poets whose work is represented!
  • *Eagle of the East by LS Lawrence. A super historical yarn for the YAs, especially those of the male persuasion. Reviewed for The Specusphere

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A new issue of The Specusphere is online!

Wednesday, July 02, 2008 | Posted by Satima Flavell | Edit Post
A lot of blood, sweat and tears goes into getting an e-zine on line, but the doughty team at The Specusphere has come through once again. Here's a list of the latest offerings. If you can't access anything from the Table of Contents on the front page, try the menu on the right for individual sections.

Editorial
SF Rules OK on TV by Stephen Thompson

Feature
Meet the Publishers (QWC Seminar Notes) by Amanda Greenslade

Up and Coming
New books from Orbit
New books from Voyager
BLACK Magazine exposes Australia’s Dark Side

People
Jack Dann in conversation with Satima Flavell
Alison Goodman in conversation with Satima Flavell
Edwina Harvey interviewed by Stephen Thompson
Glenda Larke in conversation with Satima Flavell
Alastair Reynolds in conversation with Simon Petrie

Fiction
The Flying Banana by James Hansen
One Last Time by Bill Youatt-Pine
All the Stage is a World by Damien Kane

Poetry
Traitors All by Warren Bernard

Book Reviews
Belladonna by Anne Bishop
Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny
Fires Rising by Michael Laimo
Dreaming Again edited by Jack Dann
The Dragon Waiting by John M. Ford
The First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie
The Game by Diana Wynne Jones
The Healer by Sharon Sala
The Two Pearls of Wisdom by Alison Goodman
The Ice-cream Man by Jenny Mounfield
Wardragon by Paul Collins
Stargate SG-1: Do No Harm by Karen Miller
House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds
The Darkest Kiss by Keri Arthur

Film Reviews
The Orphanage (El Orfanato)
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

Meet my fellow members of the Specusphere team: Stephen Thompson (editor), Amanda Greenslade (webmistress and writer) and Astrid Cooper (sub-editor and writer):




Since 1997, Stephen has pursued an interest in creative writing that he’d been nurturing for over 25 years. His publishing credits include poetry, radio drama, short fiction, non-fiction, music and screenwriting. He holds an industry recognised Diploma of Editing (Publishing) and works as a freelance editor, proofreader and publisher in Brisbane.


Amanda has a Bachelor of Communication majoring in writing and screen production. She fits her duties as Specusphere's web mistress around a full-time job as a graphic design/multimedia manager for a non-profit organisation. Her interests include animals, writing, reading fantasy and science fiction, gaming, website design, film, theatre and music.



A published fantasy-romance novelist, Astrid's work for The Specusphere focuses on author promotions, interviews and book reviews. She will also be writing the occasional “how-to” article, drawing upon her experience in the writing and publishing industry. When not working on her own books, she serves as an editor/manuscript assessor with an Australian agency.


I do hope you enjoy the fruits of our labours. The panic's over now for another two months, but we'll be back on 1 September with even more previews, reviews and interviews!

5 comments:

Jo said...

Will have a look at all this later, right now I am rushing to go to the matinée.

Thursday, July 03, 2008
Marilyn Z. Tomlins said...

Great Work Satima!
Marilyn

Saturday, July 05, 2008
Satima Flavell said...

Thanks, Marilyn. It's a real labour of love. This issue I put in five solid days' work, and that doesn't include the time spent reading books to review! It's very gratifyingm though, when we see the hit count going up each issue:-)

Sunday, July 06, 2008
Mark Deniz said...

Very impressive, some great work here!

Keep it up!

Saturday, July 19, 2008
Satima Flavell said...

Thanks, Mark. I hope Morrigan and Gilgamesh will send us books to review!

Saturday, July 19, 2008

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