Justine Larbalestier

reading, writing, eating, drinking, sport

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Newtown is, indeed, twelve kinds of awesome

Came across this completely randomly *cough* *cough*. (I mean would I waste time with the likes of google, blogpulse, technorati, ljseek, icerocket or feedster? Please!) It gave me twelve kinds of pleasure.

First up someone getting into the Magic or Madness trilogy enough to want to figure out their Sydney setting—Newtown—and look at maps and photos. How cool is that? And then linking me to the Whitlams, who are an ace Sydney band. Even cooler. (Though I don’t know them and I very much doubt whether they know me. So no cahoots at all.) The Newtown photos Purple Primate links to are fabulous. If I wasn’t already home I’d be so homesick. And they’re making me regret having shifted from Newtown to Surry Hills. What was I thinking?

Here are some of my faves:

    The cemetery as taken from the park that Tom piggybacks Reason across in the first book. The trees are in the cemetery. By the way that’s not an evil tower: it’s the spire of St Stephen’s Church.Here’s another view of the Moreton Bay fig tree on the front cover of Magic Lessons. It’s taken from the street so you can see the wrought iron gate and fencing.

    When we lived on Chelmsford St we used to walk through this tunnel all the time. Sadly, “Piss Tunnel” is a pretty accurate name. It’s very eerie and every time I walk through I’m not entirely sure what I’ll find on the other side.

I couldn’t find any photos that gave a sense of how narrow the streets are or of what Esmeralda’s house looks like. Maybe I’ll have to take ‘em myself.

The other pleasure of this post was the speculation in the comments about who would wind up with Tom, Reason and Jay-Tee. That’s right they were shipping my book! Colour me very happy. But I’m not saying a word about what happens, except that one of those comments might possibly be right. Or not. I’ll never tell!

Posted by Justine at 15:19, 18 April 2006 under Bloggery, Praising, Reading, Sydney/Australia | 14 Comments »

Comments

  1. Judith Says:

    It may not be an evil tower, but it’s looking mighty wonky in that photo!

    Great photos, Justine. I had vague plans once of photo-blogging Ashfield, which has surprisingly interesting sights tucked away in between all those red brick flats!

    April 18th, 2006 at 3:33 PM

  2. Sir Tessa Says:

    Dude Maaate….did you just call The Whitlams a Sydney band?

    April 18th, 2006 at 6:34 PM

  3. 3. Justine Says:

    It’s a well-known scientific fact that all Australian bands are from Sydney, young Sir Tessa. I’m astonished you did not know this.

    April 18th, 2006 at 6:36 PM

  4. Sir Tessa Says:

    Pffffft. Dork. All Australian bands come from Newcastle.

    April 18th, 2006 at 6:43 PM

  5. 5. Justine Says:

    which is just a northern suburb of Sydney. Honestly, Sir Tessa!

    April 18th, 2006 at 6:46 PM

  6. Sir Tessa Says:

    Wait for it….

    I’m waiting for the tirade of anti-Newcastleness….

    Any second now…

    April 18th, 2006 at 7:08 PM

  7. 7. Justine Says:

    All suburbs of Sydney are wonderful in their own special way.

    April 18th, 2006 at 7:12 PM

  8. Sir Tessa Says:

    Ha! I’m so going to quote that at you one day.

    April 18th, 2006 at 7:31 PM

  9. 9. Justine Says:

    Though some suburbs are obviously more wonderful than others. Like Newtown, for example . . .

    April 18th, 2006 at 7:41 PM

  10. PurplePrimate Says:

    Ta! This entry made my morning. Drinking coffee in my pajamas, casually skimming my LJ friends page, I had to do a bleary-eyed double-take.

    The internet is a wondrous strange space; sometimes it makes transglobal doorframes seem normal.

    April 19th, 2006 at 1:45 AM

  11. 11. Justine Says:

    Purpleprimate: Tee hee. Just know that us authors can hear our names—even thousands of miles away!

    Thanks so much for all the kind things you said about my books!

    April 19th, 2006 at 7:09 AM

  12. ashley Says:

    wow. i didn’t realize that you actually lived in the same place that your characters do! way cool! did you actually have a tree that you called Filomena? i’ve never actually been to australia…but i hope to someday…as well as italy, africa, and germany. but i have been to new york…you described time square quite accurately…and interestingly, i must say. 12 just happens to be my lucky number! tee hee, not like anyone here really needed to know that…i was just thinking how good a violet crumble would taste right now…although i’ve never actually had one…but im a HUGE chocolate fanatic, so why not add a little honeycomb to the mix! it sounds delicious!

    April 19th, 2006 at 8:42 AM

  13. 13. Justine Says:

    I do, indeed. In fact I’ve been to all the places in the MorM books. I know Newtown like the back of my hand! Perhaps I took the old adage “write what you know” just a bit too seriously.

    April 20th, 2006 at 11:35 AM

  14. Ashley Says:

    no, not a bit too seriously…just enough. it seemed to have worked out rather well for you. not to mention for anyone who reads your writing.

    May 29th, 2006 at 9:13 AM

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