Carmel's new
novel, Red Shoes, was published in Australia as a
Vintage paperback in February, accompanied by a CD-Rom.
The novel is in two parts -- The Narrative and The
Footnote. The first few chapters and their footnotes are
available here.
Red
Shoes occupies the wild air of the marvellous. An
angel is assigned as guardian to an evil woman who leads
a millennial cult of which the foundation is baby girls
stolen from their mothers. The angel must continually
examine his own moral position as he hovers beside the
woman and observes child-stealing, violence, rape and
murder committed in the name of religion. And the angel's
voice is one of cool, seductive clarity.
Part
of the angel's fascination with modern technology is his
love of hypertext and interactive multi-media. The fruit
of this love is the CD-Rom that accompanies the book.
With image, sound, animation and hypertext, the CD-Rom of
Red Shoes gives readers of this novel a new experience of
narrative.
- SCENES
FROM THE CD-ROM
A series of screen captures (images are 35-40Kb)
'Original, imaginative and thoughtful'. So said
Stephanie Dale in The Weekend Magazine. Read
her review.
Ann Skea writes: 'Carmel Bird has written a horribly
fascinating story, and much of its fascination is
achieved through [the narrator] Beau, whose
quirky character becomes evident as he tells the story.
In a matter-of-fact tone and with sundry off-hand
comments, Beau discloses a tale which is worthy of the
Brothers Grimm at their grimmest.' The review will
appear in a forthcoming number of Australian Book
Review and is online at OzLit. You can read
the review here -- but remember, please come back.
Chapter 1:
:
A high-res photograph of Carmel suitable for press reproduction is available here