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Posts Tagged ‘Skywatcher’

Celebrating my Supanova appearance in Sydney and Perth in June 2015

Posted in author appearances, book signing, Cosplay, Dragon fantasy, Dragon Wine, Dweebette, epic fantasy, geekgirl, general excitement, Grim dark fantasy, Pop Culture, SF romance, Supanova, tagged , , , , , , , , , on May 27, 2015| 3 Comments »

I’ve been given a fantastic opportunity to be one of the guests at Supanova Pop culture expo in Sydney and in Perth. (Many thanks to Alex Adsett and Supanova). If you are interested in pop culture, cosplay, games, comics or in any of the amazing guests you should come along and enjoy yourself. If you see me then come and say hi to me too.

The Sydney Supanova starts on Friday 19 June at Sydney Showground, Olympic Park-an easy trip on the train.

Guess who is the major guest? Nathan Fillion.Remember Firefly?

There are stacks more of course, writers, actors, comic artists etc. I’m also quite keen to meet/see Graham McTavish (The Hobbit movies, Outlander). I am a big fan of Gabaldon’s books. Actually watching the series I believe Diana Gabaldon is quite dark-lots of brutality and attempted rapes etc so I don’t know why people are complaining about the Dragon Wine series being so grim. Gabaldon was being dark more than 20 years ago.

I’m going to Supanova! Be prepared for geek girl freakout by the Dweebette (me!).

Outlander_Cast_Dougal_420x560_v2

Photo borrowed from http://www.threeifbyspace.net/2014/08/outlander-twitter-qa-with-graham-mctavish/

I’ll be hanging with my mates, Karen Miller and Keri Arthur and also meeting KA Bedford in Perth. I haven’t seen Kevin J Anderson and Rebecca Moesta (international author guests) for some time so it will be great to catch up them too as well as meeting all the people I don’t know.

The dates for Perth are the following weekend 26 to 28 June at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre.

To celebrate the Supanova appearances, where I’ll be signing books and a limited number of print books will be available for purchase from the bookseller, Momentum Books have put Shatterwing and Skywatcher ebooks on special. So if you already grabbed Shatterwing when it was a freebie, now is the time to grab the second book, Skywatcher, for $2.99. Shatterwing is $1 so you can grab the set for under $4.

Hang on a minute. All my hard work writing this book and you can read it for less than the cost of a cup of coffee! How can this be? There are no steak knives, just grim dark fantasy, with a sci fi setting and dragons.

The special for the Dragon Wine series is currently on the Momentum website and iBooks (today) but it will filter through to other platforms. So it would be great for you to have a read and then come see me and say hello.

Dragonwine

My Supanova appearance will also allow me to put on my retro 50s dresses and petticoats and maybe even a hat or two. I’m so excited.

Me in my dress and shoes

Me in my dress and shoes

I love seeing the cosplayers, who create the most amazing costumes and some stay in character the whole day. All power to them.

I will also be handing out postcards of my other books, which are available as ebooks.

New RayessaSee you there!

Links

Supanova home page

My Supanova guest page

BTW Momentum are having a sale so there are lots of books on special right now. Momentum Books home page.

Momentum Books Shatterwing

Momentum Books Skywatcher

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Adjusting to being a writer

Posted in A writer's life, distractions, Dragon fantasy, Dragon Wine, reviews, Shatterwing, Skywatcher, tagged , , , , , , , on November 12, 2014| 2 Comments »

It’s been a month now since Skywatcher was released so I guess it’s time I calmed down and stopped looking at what people are saying about both Shatterwing and Skywatcher. It’s time to develop some composure, some sense of being a writer. What does that even mean?

You put to work out there in the world and people are going to like it, think it’s ‘meh’ or that it stinks. As a writer you are not meant to care, and you’re definitely not meant to engage, unless people actually ask questions, which they usually don’t. (BTW I’m happy to answer questions about the story. However, I won’t be giving out spoilers for future installments.)

It’s creates a big jumble of emotion and intellect seeing what people say about your work. There have been highs (amazing and exciting highs) and there have been cutting lows, especially negative comments from people who you know and respect. I was tempted to respond, to explain myself, but that’s not on. That’s not how it goes. I have to live with it. There comes a point where you have to step back from that. You have to develop as Zen sense of calm. (I’m searching around here for some incense and quiet space, bother there are none.)

It’s also very distracting getting excited, then upset. It could be hormones (they are a bit crazy at the moment) but I’m sure other writers struggle with the same thing. That initial roller coaster ride of being published.  Maybe it’s childish to think of my story as my baby. The novel is a form on entertainment. You write for people to read. If they love what you do that’s great. If not it’s tough luck-tough love!

Although I appear to be whinging don’t I? I’m not really whinging, I’m struggling to adjust, to reorganise my mindset. I’m so happy with the reception of the Dragonwine series. I love what Momentum Books have done, the covers, the promotion. I am amazed at the thoughtful, respectful reviews, even those that have taken issue with what I’ve done. I am inspired and awed by that. It must be a good thing if people get upset and angry about what happens to the characters or the twist in the plot. I know why things happen and I guess I know how it all ends up, although I’ve not written the ending yet.

I’m amazed people around the world are reading Shatterwing and Skywatcher and talking about it in another language, even though they read the book in English. I didn’t expect it to be like this. I didn’t really expect anything. I’m just starting out. I need all the help I can get to get noticed. I’m humbled. I’m grateful and I’m tantalised that people are reading about Salinda, Brill, Danton, Nils, Laidan and Garan and reacting. I have to say a big thank you to those reviewers and readers. THANK YOU!

And to give you something to look at, here is the Tower of London and the ww1 remembrance day installation. It was an amazing sight. So many people died. These poppies represent the British soldiers.

Tower of London, WW1 remembrance day installation

Tower of London, WW1 remembrance day installation

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Joint author event-Dymocks Belconnen-Halloween

Posted in Book launch, book signing, Dark fantasy, Dragon fantasy, Dragon Wine, Shatterwing, Skywatcher, tagged , , , , , , on November 3, 2014| Leave a Comment »

The lovely guys at Dymocks Belconnen hosted an author event at their store on Friday night 31 October, Halloween.

I had a fab time with Craig Cormick, Jack Heath and Dan O’Malley, strutting our stuff and signing books.

I had copies of Shatterwing and Skywatcher. Dan O’Malley had copies of The Rook. Heads up, his new book Stiletto is coming out in 2015. Craig Cormick had two books going, Shadowmaster , published by Angry Robot Books and Time Vandals, a book for younger readers. Jack Heath had a stack of books to sell, his latest Enigma amongst them. Not only is he a very talented young man (his first book, The Lab, was published when he was 18)  he’s very tall.

WE HAD A FAB TIME. THANK YOU FOR COMING. WE HAD A FAB TIME. THANK YOU FOR COMING. WE HAD A FAB TIME. THANK YOU!
Too busy chatting to pose for a photo

Too busy chatting to pose for a photo

Jack, Craig, me and Dan

Jack, Craig, me and Dan

We had lots of fun in between signing books and chatting to people. Thank you to all of you who came along.

Sharon and me

Craig, Sharon,  me and Ian McHugh

.Dymocks poster Dymocks poster

And a lovely photo of me taken by Craig Cormick, close to the end of the night. I believe I’m holding a black balloon.

Donna Maree Hanson

Donna Maree Hanson

Shatterwing and Skywatcher are available in print either online http://www.momentumbooks.com.au or Amazon stores. You can also order them in through your bookstore. Remember ebooks are available from Amazon Kindle, iBooks, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, and other eretailers.

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Publication news

Posted in Book cover, Book launch, Digital Publishing, Publication news, Skywatcher, tagged , on October 10, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Just  a quick post. I’ll blog the launch later and stacks of other stuff. (BTW the book looks so lovely! Momentum Books have done an amazing job. So pleased!)

Skywatcher is out now! Both books are available in print. You can order them online or ask your bookshop.

Meanwhile the ebook of Shatterwing is free for a short time on all platforms. It has two five star reviews so far!

Cover of Skywatcher

Cover of Skywatcher

More over the weekend. I have to go to my day job now.

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Cover reveal: Skywatcher

Posted in Skywatcher, tagged , , , , , , , on September 3, 2014| 1 Comment »

I’m still travelling but the publishing world moves on regardless. I’ve had edits and proofs and PR and other guff going on. It’s fabulous and exciting even though my energies are divided and access to internet haphazard. As we are staying with the lovely Abnett’s in Kent, we are making the most of their great company and internet.

We are about to head out for some sightseeing fun. Canterbury I think, so I’m getting this post ready.

Here is the cover reveal for Skywatcher, Dragonwine book 2. It will be available for pre-order when Shatterwing is available. Skywatcher is due for release on 9 October I think.

Cover of Skywatcher

Cover of Skywatcher

For those of you who know me can understand how exciting this is. I love what they have done with the cover. A consistent image but with a colour theme change. Well done Momentum books and many thanks to Haylee Nash who takes good care of me. The gang there have been fabulous too, Joel, Patrick and Tara.

I hope the book does well so you can read more of the series.

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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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