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Archive for the ‘fantasy’ Category

It’s about time I shared my news….

Posted in Dark fantasy, Digital Publishing, Dragon, Dragon fantasy, Dragon Wine, fantasy, General excitment, post-apocalyptic, Sale, science fantasy, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on July 4, 2014| 8 Comments »

I have let out hints on Twitter and Facebook about contracts! Yes, plural. I’m so excited and I’ve been dying to tell but a few things happened. One, I hadn’t signed the contracts yet. Two, my laptop fell off my bed and broke. I’m afraid I was traumatised. But it’s now fixed and all is right in my world again.

If you have been following me for a while, you would know about my novel Dragon Wine. It’s the work of the heart, my major work, my first glimpse of writing something good way back when (2005). It was a massive  door stopping beginning to a trilogy, which I started in 2005. It wasn’t quite as good then as it is now. If it wasn’t for the Varuna MS development awards it may not have been written. I was encouraged by being long listed for the first 25 000 words (all I’d written at the time) of this first imaginings of Dragon Wine in 2005. At the time, I had a little vineyard so I did think a lot of it up while I was out there working on the vines, pruning them, caring for them. I wrote more in 2006 and it made the long list again, then I submitted again finally making the shortlist.

I did a quite a lot of posting a while back about how I cut it back after some feedback and also to make it eligible for some slush piles. However, I hadn’t quite got it where I wanted it to go. And those slush piles. Shrug. Publishing is a different place from when I started writing way back when.

I was thinking to do another rewrite of Dragon Wine this year, as you do with a work  you never give up on, when I had a chance to submit it to Haylee Nash at Pan Macmillan Australia. The wonderful thing was she read it straight away and loved it. I was offered a deal with Momentum Books and I took it. All very quick. It felt amazing to have an editor read it and love it. You can’t imagine how it felt. I’ve been working on this book for 9 years.

So Dragon Wine is coming out really soon. It is coming out in two parts. Dragon Wine is the name of the series and the first book is Shatterwing, which is the name of the remains of the shattered moon above Margra, the planet where Dragon Wine is set. The second book is called, Skywatcher, which is the name given to the people who watch the skies and shoot down meteors. Alex Adsett, my literary agent, coined the term-post-apocalyptic dragons when she read it.

You can probably tell that this is a weird sounding fantasy as it seems to have science fiction elements. It does! It’s also a pretty dark fantasy in that the world is not nice and is inhabited by some pretty nasty and desperate people. Of course, my story is about the people who are good and want to change things. Anyway, you will have to wait for the blurb! Then not very long after for the books. I am hoping to launch them at Conflux in October in Canberra.

Meanwhile, I post things as I hear or see (like the covers!). I’ve just got the copy edits for the first part. And I’m going to get the next ones when I’m in the UK in August, eep! There is more to the story of course, but being a commercial world we need to see how these two go before decisions are made about the next installments. But I do have the next two drafted!

And I have good news for Dani K too, but that’s another blog!

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Bringing on the boys-Author spotlight interview Alan Baxter

Posted in fantasy, Interviews, tagged , , , on May 18, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Ah finally I get to drag Alan to my blog. I hear rejoicing!

Thank you Alan for answering some questions about your new book coming out with Harper Voyager.

Alan Baxter

Alan Baxter

Your new novel is coming out, Bound, the first novel in your new trilogy. Can you tell us a bit about it?

 

It’s the story of Alex Caine, a martial artist fighting in illegal cage matches. His powerful secret weapon is an unnatural vision that allows him to see his opponents’ moves before they know their intentions themselves.

 

An enigmatic Englishman, Patrick Welby, approaches Alex after a fight and reveals, ‘I know your secret.’ Welby shows Alex how to unleash a breathtaking realm of magic and power, drawing him into a mind-bending adventure beyond his control. And control is something Alex values above all else.

 

A cursed grimoire binds Alex to Uthentia, a chaotic Fey godling, who leads him towards chaos and murder, an urge Alex finds harder and harder to resist. Befriended by Silhouette, a monstrous Kin beauty, Alex sets out to recover the only things that will free him – the shards of the Darak. But that powerful stone also has the potential to unleash a catastrophe which could mean the end of the world as we know it.

The cover of Bound by Alan Baxter

The cover of Bound by Alan Baxter

 

Alan tell us a bit about yourself

 

I live on the south coast of NSW, among rolling dairy country. It’s beautiful, we’re very lucky to live here. I’ve been writing since forever, even as a kid I would make up stories and write them down. I’ve got three novels out now, a dark fantasy duology, RealmShift and MagesSign, and a short horror novel called Dark Rite, co-written with David Wood. My new trilogy is coming out from Voyager soon – Bound, Obsidian and Abduction. Bound is out in July. As for other work, I’ve had over 50 short stories published all over the place. I recently sold a story to Fantasy & Science Fiction magazine, which is like the holy grail for me. I’ve been trying to sell the for a decade and it’s always been top of my short fiction wish list. My full bibliography is here:

 

Alan what do you find so attractive about the fantasy genre? In what ways do you find it fulfilling?

 

I like the total freedom it gives us to explore any ideas we like. We can expand any concept well beyond the boundaries of the real world and that makes it much more exciting for me.

 

I know you have had a new addition to the household. How does having a baby affect your writing time?

 

It makes it much more precious! I wrote my first novel during my lunch hours at a 9 to 5 office job, so I trained myself early to make time whenever I could to write. Having a baby means I’m drawing on those experiences again.

 

What are you working on at the moment?

 

I’ve got a new novel under way – a standalone horror novel that’s a kind of organised crime/Lovecraftian thing with other stuff mixed in. It’s slow going with the baby, but I’m working on it while also doing edits and final proofs of the Alex Caine books.

 

What is your writing process? (planner, panster, write every day, write sporadically, writers block etc).

 

My process is to make time to write whenever I can. No one can find time to write, so you have to make it. I also run a martial arts academy, so I can’t write every day, nor do I think people need to. But you do meed to be a writer every day – that means always thinking about writing and stories and characters even when you can’t be writing. Always look at the world with a writer’s eye. I’m a bit of a hybrid pantser/planner. I make loose plans and outlines, then wing it from there. I’m always happy to throw the plan out the window and go wherever the story takes me though.

What do you prefer drafting the story or revising and reworking?

 

Drafting. Get that first draft down no matter how shitty it is. Get it finished. I make notes along the way of things I think will need looking at later. Then edit and polish and edit and polish and edit again until it shines.

 

What part of writing do you find hardest?

 

The middle of books. I hate middles!

 

 

What do you plan to work on next?

 

Not sure. I want to get this standalone novel finished and hope the Alex Caine books go well. Beyond that, I’m not sure!

Thank you Alan. Here is Alan’s contact details on the web.

Website – http://www.warriorscribe.com

Twitter – @AlanBaxter

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pages/Alan-Baxter/115972625096325

 

Book cover and mugshot attached.

 

 

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Author spotlight interview with Glenda Larke

Posted in fantasy, Interviews, Writing, tagged , , , , on April 8, 2014| 4 Comments »

One of my favourite people in the world is Glenda Larke. Not only is she a wonderful, knowledgeable and interesting person, she is an exceptional author. I’m so pleased her next book is out (or coming out) that I thought it would be a good idea to interview her.

Your new novel is coming out, Lascar’s Dagger. Can you tell us a bit about it?

It’s the first book in a trilogy, The Forsaken Lands.

It is set in a fictional world, evocative of our 17th to 19th centuries when the expansion of the Dutch and British East India Companies led to colonial wars and aggressive expansion. The wealth of Asia fed the prosperity of Europe at the expense of Asian freedom.

In my fictional world, a lascar arrives from the East with a magical dagger — and nothing is quite the same again…Image

Glenda, tell us a bit about yourself (where you live, how long you’ve been writing, previous publications etc)

I’ve spend most of my adult life abroad: Malaysia including Borneo, Austria, Tunisia–but now I’ve returned to Australia to live, not too far from where I was born. I started to write fiction when I was a kid, but my first published work was all photo-journalism articles (travel and nature). My first novel was accepted for publication when I was 52.

Since then I’ve had three trilogies and a standalone published. The standalone, Havenstar, was the first published, and — weirdly — has garnered the most passionately enthusiastic reviews and the least negative ones, yet has sold the least copies.

Glenda, what do you find so attractive about the fantasy genre? In what ways do you find it fulfilling?

It enables a writer to explore all facets of humanity with greater ease than any other genre. For example, within the pages of The Lascar’s Dagger, a reader will find cultural misunderstandings and irrational prejudice; the tragedy of arranged marriage; the greyer areas of murder and piracy; misuse of inherited power; religious compassion and spirituality alongside evil, sanctimonious self-righteousness; sacrifice, bravery and honour; battles and … Well, you get the picture. In a fantasy, anything can happen. The secret is to make it believable.

Have you had any feedback from readers about your fantasy worlds and if so what have they said?

Each of my trilogies is very different from the next. The Isles of Glory is more of a kick-ass swords-and-scorcery. With intelligent, aquatic aliens.

The Mirage Makers is really a story about an individual stolen from her culture and family, rather as children of Australia’s stolen generation were, and how she exacts her revenge — and the cost involved. All with mirages.

The third trilogy, called either the Watergivers or the Stormlord trilogy,  is about the preciousness of water and understanding what it takes to live in a desert nation and survive. With magic. And pedes and ziggers…

Some readers have loved them all; others have favourites. As I said above, everybody raved about Havenstar. Probably the least popular of all was the second book of The Mirage Makers. Some people found that very difficult to read because it reminded them of their worst memories of highschool!!

What are you working on at the moment?

Book Two of The Forsaken Lands. Publication is scheduled for January.

What is your writing process? (planner, panster, write every day, write sporadically, writers block etc).

Not much of a planner. Or rather, I plan like mad, then never follow it because I think of better ways to tell the story. I write anytime, anywhere – literally. In the past that has involved sitting on  the floor of crowded Asian airports, or the deck of a fishing boat chugging up the Kinabatangan River, or in a study so untidy I can’t find anything…

I do find that as I grow older, my ability to write for long hours has diminished. Writer’s block? I write anyway, knowing it’s mostly rubbish, throw it out and try again. Until I get it right.

What do you prefer — drafting the story or revising and reworking?

Reworking & revising, because that’s the fun part. That’s when you decide that maybe, just maybe, this particular story is not crap after all.

What part of writing do you find hardest?

Almost everything?

It’s self-torture. Nothing comes easy. You pick yourself up off the floor and try again. And again. The weird thing is that I never thought of myself as a masochist — yet I must be, because I would do it all over again. Every bit. And still believe I enjoyed myself.

What do you plan to work on next?

Book 3.

You write under different names. Does maintaining these identities (blog, twitter and facebook) it take a lot of time? Do you have any tips for those of us who write under more than one name?

Well, I do double up a lot. My webmaster set up a system whereby I can send blog posts on writing/publishing straight to my website. My tweets go straight to Facebook.

Changing my name was at the request of my publisher at the time. They thought Noramly was too difficult for readers to remember. If I were to do it again, I’d start with the name Larke.

There are only two reasons to use different names: 1) because books flopped and a change of identity seems a wise strategy, or 2) because you write several different kinds of books. For example, Melody Silver for romance, Morgan Sheild for fantasy and Mike Storre for military sci-fi.
You can find Glenda on the web

Blog:
http://glendalarke.blogspot.com.au/

Twitter: @glendalarke

Website: www.glendalarke.com

Facebook: The Glenda Larke Page
 http://www.facebook.com/groups/105625628881/

 

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