Narrelle M Harris: writer | editor | songwriter | crafter
Words are like oxygen
Lissa: Given your usual misgivings about how vampire books are nothing like actual vampires, what’s the verdict Gary: It was okay. Lissa: I really liked Pandora English. She’s smart, capable, funny and I liked that she wanted to be an investigative journalist, not just write fluff pieces about fashion. Her Aunt Celia was a good character, and I liked her […]
» Read moreLissa: That was a bit of a history lesson. I remember reading about a flu epidemic after the First World War, but I had no idea that it was so bad, or that it shut Melbourne down like that. Gary: Yeah. I think one of my dad’s uncles died of the flu around when this book is set. Lissa: This […]
» Read more*For newcomers, the GaryView is a review of books/films/TV/entertainment carried out as a conversation between Lissa Wilson (librarian) and Gary Hooper (vampire) , characters from my book ‘The Opposite of Life’. Lissa: I hadn’t heard of Lamia’s before. How did I miss the fact that Keats wrote poems about vampires? Gary: Lamia’s aren’t really vampires. They’re not really real, either. […]
» Read moreGary: That wasn’t very plausible. Lissa: A cat-faced man forming a strange and intense friendship with a plucky gal with a regular job? Gary: For a start. Lissa: Says the vampire who is friends with a librarian. Gary: … I suppose when you put it like that… Lissa: (laughs) Only you never read me poetry. Gary: No. Not likely to […]
» Read moreGary: Look what someone sent me! Lissa: What who sent you? Gary: This lady I know from Twitter. Dragonsally. She sent me a present. A calendar. Lissa: Oh. Gary: It’s a vampire calendar, see? Lissa: “Vampireology… The True History of the Fallen Ones.” Well, it looks nicely made. It’s got all these fold out bits, and things stuck on. Gary: […]
» Read moreSnippets of conversation overheard during the evening… Lissa: Thanks for coming with me tonight, Gary. You may have saved my life. Gary: I thought you said it was just a work thing. Lissa: It is. And I love my job, but I hate work functions. I never know what to talk about besides work. Gary: … I know what you […]
» Read more<At a simple, double-brick home in Glen Waverley, the doorbell rings. A pale, chubby man answers the door to greet a young woman with long dark frizzy hair. She is carrying an obviously full beach bag and is wearing a pair of foam antlers.> Lissa: Merry Christmas, Gary! <gives him a bear hug. An antler pokes him in the ear> […]
» Read moreLissa: <knocks on Gary’s front door. He answers> Heya, Gary! Gary: Heya. Come on in. Lissa: <thrusts a potplant at him> Happy birthday. Gary: Um. My birthday was in September. Lissa: Yes, but you didn’t tell me until November, so now you get a present. It’s a cactus. They can live for hundreds of years if you treat ’em right, […]
» Read moreGary: So. That’s… good television, is it? Lissa: Many consider it so. Gary: But it’s just all weird dresses and weirder hats, and everyone finding fancy ways of being obnoxious or stupid. Lissa: Truly, is that all you garnered from it? Gary: Why are you talking funny? Lissa: There is nothing peculiar in my… oh god. Bugger. Sorry. I reread […]
» Read moreTomorrow, In a Year is an opera based on the work and life of Charles Darwin. It is performed by Danish art collective, Hotel Pro Forma, with music by Swedish electronic band, The Knife. It contains opera, dance, avant garde music, projections, smoke effects, laser light effects, Darwin’s text ‘written’ in light on a screen, and very unconventional lyrics taken […]
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