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Talking Books: An industry Snapshot

Tehani Wessely

Science fiction and fantasy are collectively a global phenomenon. Keen speculative-fiction fans are members of the local and international community, as easily inspired by what's going on in London as in Perth.

Take last weekend's World Science Fiction Convention, for instance.

The iconic Worldcon convention has inspired Snapshot 2014, an impressive series of interviews published online, which shine a light on the personalities that make up the Australian speculative-fiction scene.

A team of 15 people took a template approach to interviewing the Australian writers, editors, artists and publishers who produce science fiction and fantasy.

Co-curator Tehani Wessely said the group had produced about 200 interviews with local personalities.

A number of Snapshots have been held since the debut project created by well-known author Ben Peek.

The Twelfth Planet Press associate editor said the project's reach had expanded by this, its fifth run, with interviewers profiling a range of different industry players.

"It used to be just authors, and now it's creators and some consumers. It started to be expanded to editors and publishers, and artists, and now it's a really big cross-section, including podcasters, viewers, judges for big things like the Aurealis Awards, convention-runners and that sort of stuff as well," she said.

Snapshot 2014 was timed to appear in the lead-up to the Loncon Worldcon.

"Leading up to Worldcon is usually a good time to do this sort of thing, it puts Australia back on the radar, particularly in an international focus," she said.

Participants this year included WA-based editor and Coode Street podcaster Jonathan Strahan, Perth- based Twelfth Planet director and publisher Alisa Krasnostein and HarperCollins fantasy novelist and non-fiction writer Tansy Rayner Roberts.

To read the Snapshot archives, search for #2014snapshot on Twitter or view the full interview archive at SF Signal.

For book reviews and author profiles, visit thewest.com.au/books.