This is Bloc News, a word from the team about what the month ahead holds.


OK. So we don’t want to take up too much of your time, but you should know that Blocwise, April will be explosive.

If you’re new to Writers Bloc, then you might want to check out What Is She Doing? That's our video series produced with Bri Lee which follows the adventures of an emerging writer who gave up her promising day job to become a freelancer. Did it work out? KIND OF! Watch and see. It wrapped in March, but If you missed it, or if you are just looking to kill half an hour in a very pleasant way, check out the series here.

So anyway, that's done and dusted, but don't panic, because we are replacing it with not one, but two new, columns. 

ASK ME EDITING

Starting April, we're launching a new writing-industry advice column. It's called ASK ME EDITING, which is a fun play on words and doesn't infringe in any way on Reddit's proprietary ASK ME ANYTHING.  

If you have ANY questions about publishing, ask our resident publishing agony-aunt Patrick Lenton. Patrick is an author, works for Momentum books and runs Town Crier, a social media and digital marketing consultancy for authors. If he doesn't know it, he'll go and find out. ASK HIM ANYTHING! Send your questions to Patrick care of [email protected] or tweet them to us, and he'll respond with FREE professional advice.

First issue out on Thursday.

REALITY TESTING

Reality Testing is new conversational column where two geniuses, Khalid Warsame and Joshua Barnes pick an idea which may or may not matter and fight it out. It’s exactly like a podcast! But for your eyes!  

The first column will be about fiction, nonfiction and literary truth, if that even is a thing. First issue on April 21st.

On top of which we'll be running all our usual columns and content, including our monthly book club.

BLOC CLUB

And, we are pleased to announce that our Bloc Club book this month is the debut novel by short-fiction superstar Jospehine Rowe, A Loving, Faithful Animal.

It is New Year’s Eve, 1990, and Ru’s father has disappeared again. Haunted by the horrors of the Vietnam War, Jack has been an erratic - and at times violent - presence in his family’s life. Meanwhile, Ru’s sister, Lani, is constantly fighting with their mother, both suffocated by the small country town where they live. And then there’s Les, Jack’s brother, destined to be on the periphery, but harbouring his own desires. As each of the five reckons with the past, what emerges is an incandescent portrait of one family forever scarred by war.

Tender, brutal, and heart-stopping in its beauty, A Loving, Faithful Animal is a hypnotic novel by one of Australia’s brightest talents. Click here to buy a copy at a discount, and join in the discussion at our Bloc Club later in April.

Liam Pieper's picture

Liam Pieper