About Me
- Satima Flavell
- Perth, Western Australia, Australia
- I am based in Perth, Western Australia. You might enjoy my books - The Dagger of Dresnia, the first book of the Talismans Trilogy, is available at all good online book shops as is Book two, The Cloak of Challiver. Book three, The Seer of Syland, is in preparation. I trained in piano and singing at the NSW Conservatorium of Music. I also trained in dance (Scully-Borovansky, WAAPA) and drama (NIDA). Since 1987 I have been writing reviews of performances in all genres for a variety of publications, including Music Maker, ArtsWest, Dance Australia, The Australian and others. Now semi-retired, I still write occasionally for the ArtsHub website.
My books
The first two books of my trilogy, The Talismans, (The Dagger of Dresnia, and book two, The Cloak of Challiver) are available in e-book format from Smashwords, Amazon and other online sellers. Book three of the trilogy, The Seer of Syland, is in preparation.I also have a short story, 'La Belle Dame', in print - see Mythic Resonance below - as well as well as a few poems in various places.
The best way to contact me is via Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/satimaflavell
Buy The Talismans
The first two books of The Talismans trilogy were published by Satalyte Publications, which, sadly, has gone out of business. However, The Dagger of Dresnia and The Cloak of Challiver are available as ebooks on the usual book-selling websites, and book three, The Seer of Syland, is in preparation.
The easiest way to contact me is via Facebook.
The Dagger of Dresnia

The Cloak of Challiver, Book two of The Talismans

Available as an e-book on Amazon and other online booksellers.
Mythic Resonance
Mythic Resonance is an excellent anthology that includes my short story 'La Belle Dame', together with great stories from Alan Baxter, Donna Maree Hanson, Sue Burstynski, Nike Sulway and nine more fantastic authors! Just $US3.99 from Amazon.
Got a Kindle? Check out Mythic Resonance.
Follow me on Twitter
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For Readers, Writers & Editors
- A dilemma about characters
- Adelaide Writers Week, 2009
- Adjectives, commas and confusion
- An artist's conflict
- An editor's role
- Authorial voice, passive writing and the passive voice
- Common misuses: common expressions
- Common misuses: confusing words
- Common misuses: pronouns - subject and object
- Conversations with a character
- Critiquing Groups
- Does length matter?
- Dont sweat the small stuff: formatting
- Free help for writers
- How much magic is too much?
- Know your characters via astrology
- Like to be an editor?
- Modern Writing Techniques
- My best reads of 2007
- My best reads of 2008
- My favourite dead authors
- My favourite modern authors
- My influential authors
- Planning and Flimmering
- Planning vs Flimmering again
- Psychological Spec-Fic
- Readers' pet hates
- Reading, 2009
- Reality check: so you want to be a writer?
- Sensory detail is important!
- Speculative Fiction - what is it?
- Spelling reform?
- Substantive or linking verbs
- The creative cycle
- The promiscuous artist
- The revenge of omni rampant
- The value of "how-to" lists for writers
- Write a decent synopsis
- Write a review worth reading
- Writers block 1
- Writers block 2
- Writers block 3
- Writers need editors!
- Writers, Depression and Addiction
- Writing in dialect, accent or register
- Writing it Right: notes for apprentice authors
Interviews with authors
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Favourite Sites
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- Inventing Reality
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- Jessica Vivien
- Joel Fagin
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- KA Bedford
- Karen Miller
- KSP Writers Centre
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- Marianne de Pierres
- Phill Berrie
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- Satima's Professional Editing Services
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Blog Archive
Places I've lived: Manchester, UK

Places I've lived: Gippsland, Australia

Places I've lived: Geelong, Australia

Places I've lived: Tamworth, NSW

Places I've Lived - Sydney

Sydney Conservatorium - my old school
Places I've lived: Auckland, NZ

Places I've Lived: Mount Gambier

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Places I've lived: Adelaide, SA

Places I've Lived: Perth by Day

From Kings Park
Places I've lived: High View, WV

Places I've lived: Lynton, Devon, UK

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Places I've lived: Barre, MA, USA

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Saturday, 4 May 2013
Conflux 9 - Natcon 52


I don’t
often get to interstate conventions because of the high cost of flying across
this huge country of ours. We have two or three enjoyable conventions here in Perth
most years, and they provide a lot of fun for locals and even a few interstate adventurers.
But there’s something about a national convention that makes the interstate
trip well worthwhile if cash can be found for plane fares and accommodation.
The convention itself is not expensive. All the work is done by volunteers, so
the subscriptions of attendees can go toward expenses, including paying the airfares
of the international and interstate guests-of-honour.
![]() |
Nalo Hopkinson |
This year,
those guests-of-honour were great fun to have around. Jamaican-born Nalo Hopkinson, author of The New Moon’s Arms, gave us a taste of
a different culture as she sat on panels, knitting when she wasn’t talking and
dropping in salient comments on topics as wide reaching as cultural appropriation
in speculative fiction and ‘the secret lives of authors’ – i.e. what authors do
in their spare time. The other overseas guest, Marc Gascoigne of Angry Robot Press, was
a mine of information for would-be authors, as were local guests-of-honour KarenMiller and Kaaron Warren. Fan guest-of-honour was Rose Mitchell, who has
held a range of senior positions in various clubs or on convention committees.
She was Co-chair of Aussiecon 4, the world science fiction convention held in
Melbourne in 2010, which was my first – and probably only! – Worldcon. It was a wonderful experience.
Other local
guests included some of my favourite wordsmiths. Glenda Larke, recently
returned to live in Perth after many years of domicile in Malaysia, not only spoke
knowledgeably on a variety of panel topics, but gave us a lovely kaffeeklatch,
generously sharing her writing expertise, as did Karen Miller, Trudi Canavan, Kate
Forsyth, Keri Archer and many other local authors. Glenda announced news of her latest sale - I can’t wait to read book one of this
exciting new trilogy!
We had
several book launches, too – Nicole Murphy launched her crowd-funded mentorship’s
anthology In Fabula Divino (some
great new talent there!) and Jason Fischer launched his latest, Quiver. We also got a peek at Rob Hood’s
new opus, Fragments of a broken Land-Valarl
Undead: the title alone sounds terrifying! The Canberra Science Fiction
Group also launched its latest anthology, Next,
and Tom Dullemond and Mike McRae introduced us to The Machine who was also a Boy.
In lieu of
a Guest-of-Honour Speech, Karen Miller gave us a magnificent slideshow presentation
on her
recent research tour of Europe. Things that interest everyday tourists
were not Karen’s quarry: rather, she was after shots of the quirky, the
dangerous, the places that stimulate the imagination. She felt, after the tour,
much more confident to begin her project because she had immersed herself in
its settings.
![]() |
Karen Miller |
![]() |
Patty Jansen |
I took part
in three panels. The first was at 10.00 PM on Thursday night. I wasn’t going to
participate because I fully expected to be brain dead after the flight over
from Perth, but to my surprise I was wide awake and rearing to go. I’m glad I
went on the panel because we had a most interesting discussion about the value
of editing for self-published authors. Patty Jansen
pointed out that editing is such a big expense that someone hoping to make a living
from self-published works would find having every story professionally edited
too much of a financial burden. She has overcome the problem by relying on a
corps of knowledgeable beta readers who serve as an editing panel, and this
works for her as a good compromise. The other panellists (Abigail Nathan, Ian Nichols and I) agreed, though, that many
self-published authors do not have Patty’s experience and neither do they have
a band of well-read, well-educated beta readers who have some knowledge of the
editing process – hence the terribly low standard of some of the material that
turns up on Amazon and other sales sites.
My second
panel was less contentious, and it introduced me to some new colleagues. It was
a big panel – Phill Berrie
is a long-time crit buddy (and a brilliant continuity editor!), but Helen Stubbs, ZenaShapter, LeifeShallcross, Tracey O’Hara and I did not know each other. That’s one of the great things about
conventions – you get to meet lots of nice new friends! We had a productive
discussion on the value of writing communities – I.E. critique groups both
online and in person. There is little doubt that writers, especially when they
first start out, derive enormous benefit from these. Even published authors
usually have a group of trusted readers to show their MSS to. We swapped
experiences and were able to make up a list of writers centres and online
groups for new writers to check out.
My third
panel was about the place of a mentor in one’s writing career. My fellow
panellists were Valerie Parv, Joanne Anderton, Kaaron Warren, Jodi Cleghorn, and Kimberley Gaal.
We had all had experiences of mentoring or being mentored – some of us both –
so the discussion centred on reminiscences and lessons learned from each side
of the process!
There was
much interest in self-publishing. I was on a panel on the topic (see above) and
another one that impressed numbered Felicity Pulman among
the panellists. She generously gave out some printed notes she’d put together
to help intending self-publishers. As I am considering joining those ranks
myself, I was deeply grateful to Felicity for sharing her experiences with us.
Perhaps the
most fun I had at Conflux 9 was on the Saturday night, when the masquerade is
traditionally held. This year’s theme was Steampunk, and there was indeed a
surprising number of top-hatted gentlemen and bustled ladies around the Rydges
Hotel in Canberra Avenue! However, I didn’t go to the masquerade. Instead, I
opted for the other activity – the Romance Gauntlet
This is apparently
an annual event, and what fun it was! It seems that Canberra is not only well-served
for SF authors and fans, but for those of the Romance persuasion as well, and
every year at Conflux they hold a duel of panels. Craig Cormick skilfully wrangled
the contestants in a blow-by-blow steaming reading romp. Panellists included
Valerie Parv, KateForsyth, Jane Virgo, Leife Shallcross,
Phill Berrie, Ross Hamilton,
Robert Porteous,
Shauna O’Meara, Sam Phillips and Simon Petrie.
I’m not sure who won because everyone got a prize, including members of the
audience – we had all contributed to a re-telling of the story of the Three
Little Pigs and a list of delicate, sensitive ways (Ha!) to describe the sex
act.
Other highlights included the various awards – the Ditmars (see list of winners here) the Norma K. Hemming Award (Margo Lanagan) and the A. Bertam Chandler Award
(Russell B. Farr) I was delighted that my good friend Carol Ryles was placed in the
Conflux Short Story Competition and had her piece, The Silence of Clockwork, featured in the printed program.
Of course, conventions and conferences are never long
enough. I barely had chance to catch up with Tim Roberts,
Gillian Polack and Deborah Green, among others.
![]() |
Satima, Carol and Helen - this was taken at Swancon in 2010 |
The choice
of venue can hardly be faulted. Rydges Capitol Hill has spacious public areas,
a well-serviced and inexpensive restaurant, and free Wi-Fi for guests and pleasingly
quiet rooms. My room-mates, Helen Venn and Carol Ryles, were a joy to share
with. If I have a grizzle at all it is that the room was too small and badly
designed. Why any room should need two queen sized beds boggles the imagination
(let's not go there) and they’d crammed a pallet in as well. Surely a hotel of
that standing should have a room with a double and two single beds, or three
single beds?
My only
disappointment was the printed program, which did not include the usual potted
bios of panellists. There is a partial list on the website, but I always find
it very handy to be able to look in the program book to find out more about
panellists I’m on with or who have said something really interesting that I
want to follow up by checking out their blogs or websites. As it is, I have no
idea who some of the panellists were.
That’s a
small grizzle, for the con was well organised and efficiently run by DonnaMarie Hanson and Nicole Murphy.
They are to be congratulated
on putting together a winning team and getting Conflux 9 to the finishing line
with flying colours. Bravo!
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I'm sorry that my eyething meant I missed batches of contime, because all I got was that brief time with you. I didn't get to choose fun programme items and I missed lots of things I had intended to do, for the print was too small and I was too new to the new eye issues to have worked out how to deal. I missed your panels entirely! (I also missed the Ditmars and the closing ceremony - but that was being too tired. I just sat where I was and thought myself there...) Maybe next time.
If you email me the names of those you know not-much about, I may be able to help.
Getting quality time with anyone at a con can be problematical even with optimum conditions!I'm really glad, Gillian, that you managed to come at all and hope it didn't make the eye condition worse.
The only person I still haven't found a link for is Sam Phillips. If you happen to be in touch with her, perhaps you could ask her to let me have her web address, even if it's just a Facebook Page or a blog.
Always wanted to go to a con, don't suppose I ever will now though.
Did you mean raring to go LOL
JO ON FOOD, MY TRAVELS AND A SCENT OF CHOCOLATE
It was fun and very informative.
Yup, a great Natcon, wasn't it? Jo, aren't there any cons where you live? I hate to think of my friends being con-deprived! :-)
Yes, Jo, I rear my ugly head and then I go Go GO! But looking at the word raring - it's pretty recent and is 'British dialectal', according to Oxford. They say it derives from either 'rearing' (which I've always used and so did my family) or 'roaring'. It's only appeared in the dictionary within the last decade or two, AFAICT.
Just checked, thought I was there.
JO ON FOOD, MY TRAVELS AND A SCENT OF CHOCOLATE