Zenobia Frost writes poetry in cemeteries, articles at a desk in a backyard rainforest, and to-do lists on receipts, bits of paper, the back of her hand, and flatmates’ spare bits of skin. She writes, edits, and types for a living, and occasionally orchestrates cabaret events that are really an excuse to drink tea. Her work has appeared in Stylus, Mascara, Small Packages, Burdock (USA), Rave Magazine, Famous Reporter, and Voiceworks, and she has performed at Queensland’s and Tasmania’s poetry festivals, as well as around Australia with the Queensland Touring Poets Program. Her debut collection, The Voyage, was published by SweetWater Press in 2009.

1. When were you first bitten by the poetry bug?

Mum is very proud of her copy of my first poem, written at age 5 or 6. It went like this:

Love Your Pets

Hot-cross bun.

Half-past one.

Silly billy,

I will sit on you.

Hm. Well. No, I couldn’t explain that one even if you asked. The poetry bug really bit me in my early teen years. An inspiring teacher liked my writing and urged me to learn more about poetry and enter competitions. I have bulging folders full of the fantastic teenage tripe I wrote in high school; I wrote a lot and, hopefully, honed the craft a little bit—at least honed it away from Love Your Pets.

2. Which is your favourite poetic form?
I enjoy writing blank verse, and applying it loosely to sonnet-ish forms and terzanelles. I like the way form can direct, rather than constrain a poem—it can be like a puzzle. I also write free verse. Both are challenging; both are rewarding.

3. Which famous poet would you most like to be stranded on a desert island with?

Oh, gosh. I’m not good at these questions. I’d give you a different answer every two minutes. Is David Bowie poet enough? I want to take him. We’d have a great time. I could choose the love child descended from numerous ‘page poets’ I love, but I imagine that would be cheating even than just taking Mr Bowie.

4. I was fortunate enough to have been at the launch of your fantastic chapbook, The Voyage, last year. Have you got another collection in the works?

I was glad you could be there; it was such a lovely night. I’m presently working on a collection of poems in conversation with the inhabitants of Toowong Cemetery. This has led to me writing a number of poems about history, mortality, death, decomposition, roadkill, ghosts, and a variety of other cheery topics. It won’t be a completely morbid collection, though, I promise. There are, I hope, moments of warmth and humour, and lots of life.

5. What’s your favourite punctuation mark and why?

Semicolons are downright sexy. Let’s be honest. What a delicious little mark; I love the way they seduce clauses together. Ahem. Also, I have flings with those versatile, playful em-dashes. I imagine you are remembering the punctuation cupcakes from the launch of The Voyage—all 99 of them.

6. What do you write your poetry in/on? Do you carry a notebook everywhere you go?

I have a huge pile of notebooks, and which one I carry depends on where I’m going and how big my bag is. Lots of notes and observations go in the ol’ Moleskin diary. Graveyard poems go in one specific notebook, when I’m drafting. When the good typewriter has ink, I’ll use that—I like being rewarded with the ‘ding’ at the end of the line. Very often, though, the story’s boring; I usually edit and finish pieces on the computer. I’ve learnt to back things up on multiple USBs, believe me.

7. You regularly participate in poetry readings. How important is performance to you?

I enjoy performing immensely, but I’m definitely a page poet at heart. Performing (and listening) is a great way to experiment with poetry, connect with other poets, and get out of the office/house/cemetery. Writing is very solitary, so I most enjoy readings for the socialising and networking. It must be said, though, that I get a real buzz from reading, and find that sometimes performance can make me look at a poem in a completely different light.

8. What do you most like to write about?

Finding the magical in the mundane. Also, strange animals (the ones that usually don’t get a lot of air time, like bugs).

9. Who is your greatest literary influence?

Eep! Another tricky one. I’d have to say the mentors and friends right here in Brisbane who supported me through my formative years as a poet (and who continue to support me).

10. Do you have a personal motto?

Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s motto was “Seize the day…because tomorrow you might be dead.” Perhaps that is suitable considering my current project. Really, though, I’d never be able to stick to one motto. I just keep my eyes peeled for moments of magic or madness in everyday life.

11. Can you tell us a bit about The Ruby Fizz Society for Superior People? How superior must one be to join?

As superior as you believe you are or want to be; The RFS embraces the fun and silliness of putting on airs and eating fancy cakes. I started the society with the goal of bringing different art forms together in a relaxed environment. I really wanted to hold events that felt like parties, rather than readings or performances where the audience would sit, unmoving, for the duration. The events I’ve held so far have been tremendous fun, and have featured some amazing local and interstate talents. I only wish I had the time to hold more!

12. What’s the best thing about being Zenobia Frost?

Being named after a warrior queen, being blessed with ridiculously good luck, living in the loveliest Queenslander, and being surrounded by gorgeous, creative people.

Rat – Zenobia Frost

I am the cloaked detective.

I am the silent choir. I am the top

of the slush pile.

I am sleeping inside your pocket.

I am the gatherer of secrets

in my nest of old headlines.

I am Icarus, scaling the maze

before flight and I am Houdini,

with supple spine. I am a mathematician;

I can multiply. I am looking to master

mischief’s map, whatever it is

that X might mark.

Read Zenobia’s blog here!

Music: David Bowie – Fashion

[Bec Stafford]

MDP says

I’m slowly reading the House of the Night series and found book 2, Betrayed, to warm into an exciting climax. Other than Zoe’s propensity to stop and chat about ‘anything’ in the middle of something important, the story definitely gathered momentum and for a moment or two, I felt like I was sixteen again and part of the story. The hook was strong enough for me to read the next book and I’ll be interested to see how Zoey Redbird develops. Highpoint: Heath’s cute sense of humour, Zoey’s mind games with Neferet. Trip ups: the amazingly understanding policeman.

Kim Wilkins was born in London, and grew up at the seaside north of Brisbane, Australia. She has degrees in literature and creative writing, and teaches at the University of Queensland and in the community. Her first novel, The Infernal, a supernatural thriller was published in 1997. Since then, she has published across many genres and for many different age groups. Her latest books, contemporary epic romances, are published under the pseudonym Kimberley Freeman. Kim has won many awards and is published all over the world. She lives in Brisbane with her husband and two small children.

1.       What is your ideal writing environment, or what are the things you like to have around you when you write? Are you superstitious in that sense?

Ideally, it is early morning, cold and rainy, my children are asleep and I have a scalding hot cup of sweet tea (Irish breakfast for preference). My desk is tidy, a scented candle is burning, my cats are in their baskets nearby, I have my next scene planned, and I know I won’t be interrupted for an hour or two. There’s probably a maid folding my washing somewhere in the house too. No, I’m not superstitious. Writers need to be able to write anywhere, under any conditions. Once you start putting conditions in place, you are procrastinating: something I try not to do.

2        Your novels are set in a variety of historical periods. If you could go back and live in one, which would it be? Which character from history would you most like to hang  out with?

It would depend very much on what my current obsession is. At the moment, I would go back to early medieval times. I’m obsessed with Anglo-Saxons. I know life would be short and smelly, though. For frocks, I would go to Edwardian times. For somebody cool from history to hang out with, I’d head off to early 19^th century England and hang with Percy Shelley. I heart Shelley.

3.       I’ve read that you’re a big music fan. How great an influence is music on your writing and which artists/bands most inspire you creatively?

I don’t write without music on. I make a playlist for every book that captures the feel of the story so that when I put the music on it gets me in the mood. At the moment I am writing a big moody fantasy based on Anglo-Saxon stuff. So I’m listening to folky Led Zeppelin, achey love songs from Regina Spektor, dreamy ambient from Hammock, and Icelandic post-rock from Sigur Ros.

4.       You’ve written a lot of novels and short stories in your career. Which of your many characters Burns Brightest in your mind and why?

That’s like asking me to choose between my children! It’s always the characters that I’m with at the moment who burn brightest, and I am totally in love with my female lead in the current book. But when I look back, I still have residual fondness for Prudence in Grimoire because of her wild girly energy, Rosa in Rosa and the Veil of Gold because she was so screwed up, but most of all Victoria in Giants of the Frost because she was the most like me. Not in a weird way.

Led Zeppelin: Kashmir

Visit Kim’s blog for the musings of a best-selling author & fab writing teacher here!

Bec Says

Do you have a favourite book illustrator? Are you like me: can you pore over picture books for hours, taking in every last detail… loving that shade of blue… that beautiful embossing? I can clearly remember the way certain characters were depicted in books I had as a child and when I see them represented differently in other versions, they just seem wrong. I had a gorgeous, illustrated hardback of Alice in Wonderland that I would lose myself in for ages; I’d dive right into Carroll’s world via the pictures as much as the text. When my (much younger) siblings inherited the book years later, they managed to destroy it and it’s always broken my heart that I’ve never been able to find that same edition since.

The Genius of Shaun Tan

How much of an impact do book illustrations have on you? How swayed are you by book cover design? Some book covers truly are the bait that lure you in… Some should never see the light of day! But all of them promote the story within, so they’re worth our consideration.

Music: Blondie – ‘Picture This’

The Cure – ‘Pictures of You’

1. Ok, Yunyu — ‘Morbid Pop’. For newcomers to your music, would you like to elaborate a little on that category?

Well, this genre was probably made up to confuse the music industry a little less. I got this off a review by a nice broadcaster from the ABC. I kept it because there just seemed to be some logic to having the music named under Morbid Pop. Firstly,I try, with all my musical creations, to capture the attention of the listener within 5 seconds. I also assume that the listener, like me, has an attention span shorter than a bee’s needle butt. This means that my music had better get interesting fast and stay that way or face my destruction. These sentiments are, to me, the definitions of pop.

The morbid just comes from the factoid that most of my lyrics deal in the stories of life, and with it, death. I’m also told I obsess way too much over zombies.

2. Your Mum chose the name Yunyu because it means ‘beautiful rhythms’. Does musical talent run in the family?

The short answer is no. The name-giving council in the family didn’t pick my name because it meant beautiful rhythms. They picked it because my core name “Yu” promised the wearer some version of supposed awesomeness in a bureaucratic career. All very practical decisions.

Still here for the long version? Here goes:

The story is that my maternal grandmother/ uncle/ mum named me. See, traditionally, the Chinese are usually given 2 characters that make up your full name. One character is your common name, which acts like the y-axis to the x-axis of your surname on the geneology grid. Together with your surname, that allows geneologists to track not only which family you are from, but what specific generation/ branch of the family tree. The other character given is your true name, the core character which belongs to you and you alone.

This system only strictly applies to boys but my grandmother decided that it was cool that the girls in the family start this system too. It was decided that the girls have a common name of the character “Rhythm” aka “Yun”. “Yu” got picked because, according to the Chinese name dictionary, individuals who got the “Yu” character as a name would turn out to be high flying magistrates/ bureaucrats with an express ticket ride to awesomeness. Hence, in the spirit of all that was practical, it was picked.

Of course, in the course of un-translatable complicatedness between languages, the 2 characters of “Yun” and “Yu” coming together just happened to spell beautiful rhythms…which, according to the tale, was mostly an afterthought.

Do musical talents run in the blood? Not that I know of. There are a few talented visual artists in the family and my late maternal grandmother was an amazing storyteller who used to scare the crap out of me with her horror tales.

3. For those who don’t know, ‘You Are Expendable’ won Triple J’s Unearthed Competition in 2002, leading to national (and international) exposure. What was that experience like?

Great, surreal and, as an afterthought, it also felt like some sort of a massive automobile pileup… except I’m wearing this stupid smile on my face while the carnage is happening.

Don’t get me wrong. It was a good thing that happened, but it was also a very strange time for me. To put it in context, it was a year and a half after I moved from Singapore to do a commerce degree in Australia. I had no idea what Triple J was. (I think there probably is a recording in the ABC vault where I asked Caroline Tran — twice — who she was). I had only just started writing songs that year I was Unearthed and You’re Expendable was the 4th song I ever wrote in my life. And, at that time, my performing experience was limited to mostly tutorial presentations — which lead to massive bouts of fear-induced gastro regurgitation backstage from pure fear.

Unearthed brought many things into my life. Most of it wasn’t comfortable, but it wasn’t a bad occurrence.

4. Your video clips are incredibly creative. How much input do you have into these? How long did it take to make that amazing video for ‘Lenore’s Song’? Was the process fun?

Thanks. Very glad you like.

Lenore’s Song took us a year. I worked with Matt Carter, who produced it, and hijacked the crew talents from LOTR and Superman Returns, and the bulk of them got it all happening. Tahnee McGuire, who directed it, was the one who wrote the concept of the video clip, and Callan Green was the cinematographer who took the pretty pictures…I mostly played the human Gumby.

5. You’ve described yourself as ‘a psycho musician whose songs range from love to violent murders’ and have said that your hobbies ‘include visiting psychosis self help forums and studying murder case files’. I have 2 questions: 1. Should we be scared? 2. Do you have crazy fans? (If so, what’s the nuttiest thing that’s happened at a gig?).

1 — No don’t be. Long as you bring offerings on approach you have nothing to fear.

2 — I have lovely fans. One gave my performing stage goat a bell necklace and another gave me a teddy bear with teeth. It warmed my muses greatly and they did not bite.

6. Despite describing your classical training as a grim thing that you were glad to escape from, it’s obviously stood you in great stead technically. If we swiped your iPod, would we find that you still secretly listen to classical stuff or are you modern in your taste all the way now?

I listen to everything from Kanno Yoko to Edith Piaf to catchy Middle Eastern pop and Tibetan Chants. My iPod is my time/genre-crossing TARDIS.

7. Neil Gaiman and Warren Ellis are both fans of yours. What is THAT like? (Also: We don’t envy you at *allllll*!!!).

When they were kind enough to mention my tunes on their blogs…a Major Yay just about covers it. They make me feel like a special human bean.

8. Anime: What are your faves?

Fwoah…hard to pick. I have shelves and shelves of Anime and they are all good. Mushishi, Cowboy Bebop, and Neon Genesis are the first thoughts if I had to really pick

9. ‘Writing dead people love letters is Yunyu’s idea of romance.’ What do you write for your *living* romantic interests?!

I bring them lovely offerings of dead animal carcass grilled to perfection…with a healthy serve of decapitated vegetation… I’m really not so big on the waxing lyrical. See…being into the “morbid pop” and all, making it into my songs as a subject matter is generally not perceived in most cultures to be a good thing.

10. What comes first: the words or music? How long does it typically take you to write a song once the muses have visited?

Depends. I took 3 minutes to write a song called Souls Alive and 2 years to write one of the songs in my new album. Most times these days, I write by deciding what I want the story in the song to be, and create and kill a lot of potential music in rapid succession until they suit the story, then whack the words in. That’s…sort of the gist of it I think.

11. Tell us a secret!

O.K…No secrets…But what about a revelation? I’m just discovering that all my musical compilations and work I get involved in come with repeating alphabets. (Spiked Soul, T_____T___ (new album that shall not be named), Burn Bright, Angel Arias…). See a pattern?

12. What’s the best thing about being Yunyu?

I get to have awesome minions.

[Bec Stafford]