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Posts Tagged ‘Steampunk’

Ages of Pages

Posted in A writer's life, Australian author, author appearances, Author signing event, Keri Arthur, New Zealand, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 10, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Hamilton is a lovely city. Keri and I stayed close to the venue and did a big long walk to Hamilton Gardens. It was $20 to see the themed gardens and expect to see photos from these pop up here and later. I reckon I could get a mystical door way theme going.

The event was quite big. A lot of authors and cool vendors and well organised. It was well organised. Some authors did fabulously well. Keri Arthur for one. Laura Hunter said she did great. Me, not too great but not bad either considering I am still building a following and I haven’t ever appeared at a NZ event before.

It was lovely to meet readers and also connect with authors who I knew but haven’t seen in a while. Waves to Lee Murray. Or authors I know online such as Mary Brock Jones. We were table buddies being placed next to each other. I met a librarian and also a rep from the NZ Society of Authors. The beauty of this book event is that it is free to readers. Yes, there are VIP tickets I think and raffles but basically it is free. I recall they do an anthology for charity too.

While I wasn’t busy at the table I scoped out a series. I did a lot of writing down of world building, story arc, characters and plot. It’s very weird but I was inspired by Nalini Singh when on panels at the ARRA event. She talked about her 12 book Psy-Changeling series and how she wrote the first book and a scene for the final book at the same time. I haven’t ever tried planning so hugely. Actually I lie, when I first wrote a book, an SF romance with feminist overtones, Relic, I mapped out a six book series, a cross galactic, alien and sex and gods and planet settling thing. However, I never published that book. It was in 2000 and SF romance wasn’t a big thing, I was a new writer, there was no self publishing then and while I had two different agents around that time, it never went anywhere and I wrote other things. I did get feedback from author friend that I should write it later on when I was more experienced. Maybe I will, who knows.

Anyway, I wrote the first scene in that scoped series the other day. However, I have lots of things going on writing wise and need to apply my ADHD post menopause brain to achieve more and faster.

Anyway, take aways from NZ and Ages of Pages. NZ is always worth a visit. Ages of Pages is a great event. Not sure I’ll go again but you never know as I always have a reason to visit NZ so makes sense.

Here is the photo bomb!

Chinese section of Hamilton Gardens

Photo by Keri Arthur. Me in the pagoda thing Hamilton Gardens

Japanese section of Hamilton Gardens. Lovely lamp.

Italian section of the Hamilton Gardens. Romulus and Remus being fed by the wolf.

Egyptian Wall Hamilton Gardens

Small statue in the picturesque section? Not sure. Hamilton Gardens.

Unicorn from Tudor garden section Hamilton Gardens

Egyptian pool, Hamilton Gardens.

Keri taking a photo of me, Chinese section Hamilton Gardens. Some great reflection going on there.

The photo Keri took of me in the Chinese gardens.

This is a shot from leaving the themed gardens. Hamilton Gardens.

This gum was in the Hamilton Gardens, general area. It’s very impressive.

Also, we walked around the street and found some amazing trees. I asked Keri to pose with this huge Plane tree so you can see how thick the trunk was.

We did about 18,000 steps that day.

At Ages of Pages

Me and Laura Hunter at Ages of Pages

Keri at her table before she sold out of some of her books.

My table at Ages of Pages

At dinner on the eve of Ages of Pages at The Cook pup. Keri, JO Mantel, assistant to Laura, Laura and me grinning like a ghoul.

Anyhow, I am back home and I’ve done some stuff and will be blogging all that over the next few days.

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The Eve of Ages of Pages

Posted in A writer's life, book signing, Steampunk, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on April 25, 2025| Leave a Comment »

I have had an enjoyable time in Auckland in the run up to Ages of Pages. The weather has been interesting. Wind, rain and some sun, but compared to nights in Canberra warmish. I associate visiting New Zealand with cold so I packed warm things. Unfortunately I had to buy some summery things to get through. Poor me! I now possess a very pretty blouse and a blue floaty dress.

I spent a windy night up in Warkworth, not in a caravan (see previous post). However, I did get a night in a caravan but the wind had died back by then. Also a nice walk along Martins Bay. It was a really interesting experience in the caravan park. I think it might be my first time and I found it fascinating. I’m sure there is a story idea in there. We did a walk to Whangapaparaoa Pennisula, along Orewa Beach and around Mitre 10 in Silverdale. Interesting that I was in Silverdale when I have a Silverdale in Argenterra! The steps from walking around malls and hardware stores are shopping steps. These can really mount up. My mate Wendy helped me out by taking me on walks, which helped to counteract the food and the wine. (what happened to your diet Donna? Well you see I went to New Zealand and …um..).

Whangapakaraoa Pennisula view

Martins Bay view

Martins Bay view

This is a view from near Manly Beach

This delightful, sprawling Pohutukawa Tree. They have red flowers and look amazing end December and early January, so my friend Wendy tells me. I’ve seen amazing displays driving to Thames.

View from Orewa near the caravan park.

Even with clouds, New Zealand is beautiful and there are so many harbours and bays around Auckland, particularly north that there is wonder for the eye no matter which way you look. I’m very grateful for my long term bestie, Wendy and her hubby Paul for showing me all these beautiful spots.

This sign cracked me up and had my imagination running hot.

This is a locally made cider in Warkworth. It has citrus in it so quick fresh and bitey.

Last night I met up with Keri at Auckland airport and she drove us to Hamilton and we are both in our beds in a hotel on our laptops. Hahaha. And drinking tea. Today is ANZAC day where Australia and New Zealand commemorate the lost lives in two world wars and everything is shut until 1pm.

Liar liar pants on fire! I found a cafe open today so we can have breakfast after all!.

Tomorrow we attend the Ages of Pages book fair. It’s my first time and I am excited. I believe there is going to be about 90 authors and vendors, mostly from NZ but a few of us Aussies there as well. For readers the event is free so come along and check it out. Venue information here.

I’ll have a very limited number of books available so please come say hi.

I cannot see any reviews for Amber Rose yet, but there is a four star rating on Kobo so that’s a relief. Us authors are always keen to see how our book is received. I have most of the plot in my head for A Prudential Light, a novella come memoir of Aunt Prudence. It’s going to be fab.

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Writing to you from the windy city

Posted in A writer's life, Amber Rose, book signing, Cry Havoc series, New Zealand, Steampunk, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 17, 2025| Leave a Comment »

You could say I blew into Auckland last night. However, the Qantas landing was perfect, the decent a little bumpy. Walking to my hotel with my heavy suitcases was indeed a challenge. I was blown backwards and often had to struggle to move forward. Later, I realised I could have caught a bus so didn’t have to work up such a sweat to get to the nearby Ibis hotel. However, the blowing backwards was just leaving the terminal and walking to the car park where the bus was in anycase.

Also, even when we are old we never learn.

Today, the house is being blown about by very strong winds. It’s quite interesting. However, as the weather is a bit shite and will be for the rest of my stay, I can take this time to catch up on my administration. I was supposed to go stay in a caravan but I haven’t heard if that is still the plan. Pray for me.

Speaking of administration, I’ve added Amber Rose to my payhip store. Buying direct means I get a tad more $, less the take from Payhip and Paypal! The book delivery is by Book Funnel so you get the file for your selected reader. My buy direct link is here.

I’ve also updated my book page which as buyer links there too. Link to the Cry Havoc page. You will notice I am sure that I have been rather abyssmal on the links to Emerald Fire. I’ll add that to my to do list.

I’m drafting a newletter and participating in a Book Funnel giveaway. I have been rather slack on that side of things of late. (You might say a year or so).

I was thinking of making this post about Amber Rose (and it mostly is) and I wondered if I could share an excerpt. Let me go have a gander. Not easy as my files are on my IMac at home. Okay, round about way but I managed to download the epub and do sections of copy and paste as the epub limits the amount of copying.

This is part way into the story and there has been general chaos at the inn and more to follow, plus a copious amount of baked goods, scones, bread rolls, baps, sweet buns…and lots of tea.

With a low mood, Jemima made her way to the upstairs parlour to partake of some breakfast. Aunt Prudence was at table when she entered. “Good morning, Aunt. I hope you slept well.”
“Good morning. I had a passing night. Aly woke three times to be fed. Otherwise he caused no trouble. Have your friends set out?”
“Yes,” Jemima replied taking a seat. She reached for some bacon, which was most likely cold and eyed the scrambled eggs. Perhaps her stomach was not up to cold eggs. She cut into the bacon and nodded when the aunt lifted the tea pot.
“Thank you. I am starving.”
“You mean are hungry, dear. You are certainly not starving. That is a state of being you might never experience.”
“I stand corrected. I am very hungry. Is that a bread roll peeking out of the napkin?”
“Yes.” She passed it over.
Jemima buttered it quickly and cut it in halves.
“Why did you not say that your Uncle Ferdinand was coming to visit? I would have taken greater care with my hair and my toilette this morning.”
Jemima dropped a spoon of jam on the tablecloth. “Uncle Ferdy? He is here?” She grabbed a napkin to clean off the offending stain.
“Yes, that is what I said. I bumped into him in the hall and he complimented me on my gown and complexion before he went to see my nephew.” She preened as she conveyed this. “I am so pleased I chose this particular gown as it does wonders for my complexion.” The gown in question was a deep maroon and did look well on her. With only fine lace at the collar and cuffs, it was remarkably unadorned. Her curls looped nicely around her ears, offset by a lace cap with trailing ribbons.
“That is good news, Aunt. I was hoping he could come. I must have missed him in all the noise of departure. Thank you for telling me.”
Jemima thought Uncle Ferdy must have popped in. The innkeeper was wily so she did not know how she was going to explain the new arrival, who was likely not seen arriving in a conventional fashion. Had he walked up plain as day, she would have noticed him. She did some mental calculations. If they consolidated Fulton and Milly, the sick room would accommodate him or there was the room the Heatons had vacated. She frowned as she thought it through. Or he could just pop off again and go home but the questions, the questions. No, he would have to play the part of guest.
Standing up suddenly, she gulped the last of her tea. “Forgive me, I must see Uncle Ferdy and check on Edward.”
“Has there been no improvement?” The aunt asked, turning in her chair as Jemima made for the door.
“Not just yet, Aunt.”
“Very concerning. Do tell Mr White that I can procure fresh tea for him if he is in need.”
Aunt Prudence inclined her head, turned back to the table, and as if she was the queen, lifted the teapot to pour herself another cup of tea.
Bursting into her room and rubbing the crumbs from her lips, she found Uncle Ferdy bent over her husband. “Thank heavens you heard me.”
Uncle Ferdy stood up straight and turned to her. “There you are. I was wondering what you were about. Sorry to not come sooner but I was in the middle of something.” He peered at her. “Have I interrupted your breakfast?”
She waved him off. “No, but Aunt Prudence is keeping the kettle warm for you.”
He lifted his eyebrows. “I see, how thoughtful of her.”
Hands clasping each other in turn, she asked, “How is he? Can you help him? Is it a hex?”
Uncle Ferdy met her gaze. He had stripped off the bedcovers, leaving Edward in a night shirt, and sock-adorned feet. “The same. Perhaps and, yes, I believe so. A nasty one.”
Jemima went to the other side of the bed, not sure whether to be relieved or not about Uncle Ferdy’s answer. At least he was better equipped to help. “He looks so pale. He is breathing, but it is slow and shallow.”
A sharp knock on the door interrupted their conversation. “Mrs Huntington? It is Sir Giles, the Magistrate. I need to speak with you urgently.”
Alarmed, Jemima stared at Uncle Ferdy. How was she going to explain him to the magistrate on top of the innkeeper? “Go away now.” she whispered urgently.
“It is not that easy to pop in and out,” he whispered back. “I need to rest between.”
“Mrs Huntington?” The magistrate repeated.
“Coming!” She turned to Uncle Ferdy. “Hide then.”

Excerpt From
Amber Rose: Cry Havoc Book 3
Donna Maree Hanson
This material is protected by copyright.

And of course after all the proof reading, I found a typo. I swear they are god’s curse. I hope you enjoy the excerpt. Now to write myself a note to fix that typo.

I am at the Ages of Pages book signing event on the 26th of April in Hamilton. It’s a free event. Details are here.

Talk again soon.

.

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Amber Rose is out there

Posted in A writer's life, Amber Rose, Book launch, book signing, Cry Havoc series, new release, victorian paranormal, tagged , , , , , , , , , on April 11, 2025| Leave a Comment »

That sounds like a tag line from the Xfiles! Hahaha.

Now all I have to do is wait in case some one likes it enough to give me a review. Taps fingers on the desk.

On launch day, yesterday, I had my hair done. I don’t think I mentioned this story. I was feeling a bit down, a bit anxious around the middle of March. I decided I wanted to dye my hair grey, steel grey. I did not do any research. Rocked up to a random new salon and asked for that. I was shown a colour and that looked ash grey to me. However, I walked out of there with medium ash brown hair. Matthew blinked when he saw me. That’s not what I was expecting, he said. I was miserable about it. My mates were great and told me the new colour looked great. It made me look younger, which is true. Yesterday, I got it fixed. Previous posts you will see a different hair colour.

I like my new hair. It’s not steel grey yet. I put a lighter champangne type rinse in it. After the last shock colour I wanted to be careful. I have planned a bit birthday bash for my 65th birthday in early May. For the birthday party, I will do steel grey. However, I am very happy and it made launch day special. Bonus is that today my order arrived so I have some print copies.

New hair!

New hair. New Book.

I’m hosting a birthday dinner for a friend tomorrow. And I’m making a cake today. I’m going to try for a black forest cake. My first time. If it sucks of course I’ll duck out and buy a cake instead.

I pop off to New Zealand next week. I’ll be in Hamilton at the Ages of Pages book signing event on the 26th of April. Back just in time for my party!

PS I forgot to mention. Did you all see the Murderbot trailer dropped? I’m so excited. I loved the books.

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It’s all happening!!!

Posted in A writer's life, Amber Rose, Book launch, Cry Havoc series, Digital Publishing, Steampunk, victorian paranormal, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 3, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Amber Rose is up for pre order at major e retailers! !!

Amber Rose is up at Ingrams for a paperback, a hard back and a large print hard pack, with accessible font.

Phew!

I’m currently working on the universal links. Books2Read this time. Here is the link.

Get your pre-order! Date of release is April 10, 2025. All the files are up so it’s just waiting.

I’ve got to send a newsletter as well today and I have a release day blog post to prepare for the ARRA website.

I’ve also been dictating/narrating one of my Dani Kristoff books because I think I should narrate them myself. Aussie accent and all that. And, gee, Amazon and others offering AI readers. I’d rather have a human.

I also have ideas burning out of my brain for A Prudential Light, a short novel about Aunt Prudence Wainwright. This ‘memoir’ is foreshadowed at the end of Amber Rose and I think it’s going to be a beautiful and poignant story, some of which will be set in Singapore (colonial times). I am heading to Singapore in June so I was hoping to wait until then but I’ll have to make notes as the ideas are rushing out of my brain.

Here’s the cover and the blurb for Amber Rose again in case you missed it. Many thanks to the awesome Maxine McArthur of editing and proofreading and also feedback during drafting.

Also, if anyone ones a review copy please contact me on my contacts page.

Blurb Amber Rose

A book of manners, magic and mayhem…and, perhaps, a tad too many scones

All Ambrose Fulton wants is to enjoy his idyllic life at Hatfield, helping his wife Milly raise their little son, tolerating Aunt Prudence and entertaining their friends.

What he gets is a ferocious assault from a violet-eyed automaton that devastates the estate and makes off with his enchanted clockwork arm, brutally ripped from his shoulder. To the rescue, barely in time to save his life, come friends Edward Huntington, gentleman magician, and his wife, the monster-slayer Jemima.

Whoever sent the machine can only have wanted one thing: to glean the secrets of Huntington’s magical mechanical designs for purposes clearly nefarious. Now as well as wrangling an anxious innkeeper, a fake heir, interfering magistrates, odd magicians and some thoroughly unexpected visitors, they must uncover their mysterious enemy’s identity and stop them or who knows what evil ends Huntington’s inventions will be put to?

A final word as this is topical. I love technology and I think AI can be a useful tool for many things. However, I don’t think it’s good for creative things personally. I don’t use AI in my writing and my covers. As I haven’t bought a cover recently, I don’t think my cover artists use it either. I will, however, keep an eye out for it. This is a personal choice for me.

I am a bit of a geek. When I first used Skype and I was over the moon. This is Star Trek come to life. We have moved on from that. I had an Ericksson flip out phone back in the day. Yes, because it was like a communicator from Star Trek. I read science fiction and have loved it ever since I can remember. I have hope for the Human race, although that hope, that belief has been sorely tested of late. I’ve had an iPhone since the early days. Back then people criticised me for staring into my phone, playing with my phone. Now I watch other people do it while I look at the view or what’s going on around me. I still spend way too much time on my phone. I do Duolingo, puzzles, read books, listen to books, read the news, social media (no longer X) and communicate with people via email and text. I love my iPhone and I love tech, but I guess we must have boundaries.

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Publication update-Amber Rose

Posted in A writer's life, Book launch, book signing, Cry Havoc series, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on March 24, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Oh the excitement! Amber Rose is all laid out and off for a proof read.

It’s a milestone and I’m pleased with it. A bit more admin to do before I can put preorder links up. That’s a job for superman….no, actually, I’ll do it tomorrow as I’m a bit tired now.

I went to the ARRA events in Brisbane and Sydney on the weekend and met some lovely readers. Even readers who had some of my books and came back for more. That’s fabulous and I’m so grateful. I will be travelling to Melbourne for the book signing event at the Jasper Hotel on Saturday. Tickets at the door for the signing event.

What was fun about these events was that I got to be on panels, talking about bookboyfriends, talking about tropes. The feedback after was really positive. I also hosted a lunch in Sydney with four readers. I know what I write isn’t for everyone but it is lovely to meet people who read widely as well as people who write in your genres. In Melbourne I’ll be moderating a panel on Paranormal romance versus Urban Fantasy with Nalini Singh, HH Hodgson, and M J Scott (Melanie Scott) and that’s going to be fun and interesting too.

Interestingly I think I sold more SF in Sydney than I would at an SF con. Go figure! Rayessa and the Space Pirates, Awakening, Robot Hearts and my other short story collections. Brisbane I sold more Dani Kristoff paranormal romance books.

Don’t forget I do have a book store for ebooks and print books. If a print book isn’t up there and you want it just drop me a line and I’ll get back to you.

Me and my half table at ARRA Brisbane

Matthew and me at ARRA event in Sydney. Photo by Jenny Kew

Me with the headdress I bought at Sydney ARRA.

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Amber Rose Blurb

Posted in blurb, tagged , , , , , , on March 19, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Amber Rose is currently having a second round of edits but we are getting closer.

Launch date is set for April 10 2025.

We have a blurb

Amber Rose

A book of manners, magic and mayhem…and, perhaps, a tad too many scones

All Ambrose Fulton wants is to enjoy his idyllic life at Hatfield, helping his wife Milly raise their little son, tolerating Aunt Prudence and entertaining their friends.

What he gets is a ferocious assault from a violet-eyed automaton that devastates the estate and makes off with his enchanted clockwork arm, brutally ripped from his shoulder. To the rescue, barely in time to save his life, come friends Edward Huntington, gentleman magician, and his wife, the monster-slayer Jemima. 

Whoever sent the machine can only have wanted one thing: to glean the secrets of Huntington’s magical mechanical designs for purposes clearly nefarious. Now as well as wrangling an anxious innkeeper, a fake heir, interfering magistrates, odd magicians and some thoroughly unexpected visitors, they must uncover their mysterious enemy’s identity and stop them or who knows what evil ends Huntington’s inventions will be put to?

Next is to register ISBNs, put up pre order links etc.

I’m off to Brisbane and Sydney over the weekend just when I’m expecting my edit back. However, we shall solider on. Don’t forget tickets are now at the door. I believe panels are in the morning and the signing/book selling is from lunch time.

While I was waiting for the edits of Amber Rose, I managed to polish up a Regency Romance I drafted way back in 2016. I’ve lobbed it at a trad publisher. The reason I mention this is that I am very proud of my productivity and have been thoroughly enjoying writing in February and March.

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Conflux 15

Posted in A writer's life, Australian author, authors, Book launch, Fandom, Science fiction conventions, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 14, 2019| Leave a Comment »

We had a long weekend in Canberra last weekend and I went to Conflux 15, a local SF convention. For the first time we had it in a library, Gungahlin Library to be precise. It was a nice space. There were logistical issues with the door when the library wasn’t open, but overall not too shabby.

It seemed to be a smaller convention than usual. It takes a few people to not turn up to make it seem that way. I heard that the committee had issues and that Karen Herkes was in hospital and that left just a small core of people to do all the things. They and the volunteers did a great job. The program was an awesome thing to behold. Well done, Alistair. I also hear that Karen is on the mend so that’s great news too.

Thoraiya Dyer was the guest of honour and her guest of honour speech was moving and funny. It was very well done. Les Petersen was the artist in residence and his talk about his puppets and animation was interesting. He talked about his career making book covers and how book covers should tell a story. Russell Kirkpatrick was the MC and he put on a schoolmaster role that had people laughing their heads off. Special bonus was a visit on the Sunday by John Scalzi, who did a walk around chat in the dealers area! A kaffeklatch and a question and answer session. It was so fab! John Scalzi was very generous with his time. His books are good too. I’m waiting on The Last Empero that he’s writing right now.

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Me with Thoraiya Dyer at the banquet

 

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Les Petersen during his talk

I have to admit to being the mastermind behind John’s thank you gift. I noticed when I met him in Perth at a Swancon a few years that he had a little sugar addiction going. He’d flown 40 hours to get to Canberra and would need a bit of sugar to get him home. We gave him a bag full of Australian sweets, with some vegemite flavoured peanuts thrown in. He has youtubed the tasting of said sweets. I laughed. Musk sticks scored the lowest and I love those lollies. I can’t keep a pack in my house because I’ll just keep eating them. The link to John’s youtube tasting is below.

A few days before, I was lucky enough to catch John Scalzi’s keynote at the Dept of Defence seminar on the future of war through the lens of SF. A great day full of great talks by the lights of Australian SF: Jack Dann, Janeen Webb, Russell Blackford, Cat Sparks, John Birmingham and other international speakers. I even got an idea for a novel out of that day from an unasked question.

The con kicked off at Siren’s on Friday night with a get together, with pizza and meat on skewers and it was low key but a nice way to warm up with everyone. Well everyone who came. It was free and put on for Conflux members. I’ve always been a fan of the warm up event.

I hung with Keri Arthur and Catherine Walker mostly at the get together and during the con. Keri is a real trooper and had come up for Conflux to catch up with mates. She didn’t even bring any books to sell. I also got to say hello to old friends and introduce myself to people I didn’t know.

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Catherine trying to get away from Keri and me.

 

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Catherine joining in because she couldn’t get away

I had a dealers table at Conflux so I spent a lot of time there. But first, you must hear about my book launch. Leife Shallcross launched Ruby Heart and Emerald Fire at 12.30 on Saturday. I made cupcakes. The best recipe ever that I got on Youtube. I will post the link below. I also made gluten free brownies and provided some rice crackers and humous.

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Launch food, photo by Cat Sparks

I think the launch went very well but I stuffed up my reading. This is because I was so busy! Can you believe that excuse? A serious lack of preparation. Cat Sparks took some shots from the launch. Thoraiya’s daughter had dressed in steampunk costume for the launch. I was dressed in 50s’ style as I have grown out of my steampunk garb! Thoraiya bought both books for her daughter, who is a very advanced 11 year old. To my surprise, the wonderful daughter finished both books by the banquet on Sunday night and pronounced them excellent! I have never been so gobsmacked and grateful for such excellent praise.

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Launch books

My partner usually helps me out with the table and launches but he had a commitment to our house cleaners. I was lucky enough to have my daughters and granddaughter come to help me. My second daughter revamped my table and the number one daughter did the till! They were rewarded with cupcakes.

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Me at the launch. Photo credit Cat Sparks

 

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Me explaining something about the books

People stopped by my dealer’s table so I did get some photos. These guys were instrumental in Matthew Farrer’s writing career. They used to manage a Gamesworkshop store back in the day. Matthew is my very understanding partner.

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Dr Tim Napper and Andrew Old

I was probably on the most panels I have ever been on during a convention. On Saturday I was on a panel about research and rabbit holes called the Exploration Beneath the Novel. It was a fun panel with Dion Perry, Dawn Meredith and Aiki Flinthart. We talked about types of research, like experiential–doing stuff so we can write about it more effectively. Aiki launched her Fight Like a Girl book at Conflux. I’ve almost finished reading my copy. It’s a book for writers about writing girl fights and it is interesting, well researched and very useful. I did her fight like a girl workshop last year.

I was scheduled to be at the Meet the Author station on the Sunday but after watching authors sit under this sign and no one coming to talk to them I didn’t do it. I likened it to the naughty chair so I stayed at my dealer table. Catherine M Walker had the table next to me and she was great keeping an eye on it while I was scampering about. Thank you Cath! And she was company when things were slow.

Monday I was on three panels.  The first one was SF romance, which was a very good panel with Freya Marske and Darian Smith, a new to me male romance writer. I will be interviewing him on the blog soon. Freya was the moderator and she did an excellent job.

Then in the afternoon I was on two in a row, Underground Movements and Secret Societies, followed by the Jane Austen panel. I didn’t have time between panels to change but I had decided to wear my latest Regency dress and my slapdash bonnet. Seeing that in the Regency period, and earlier, there were men’s clubs I thought I could get away with the dress and bonnet during that panel. We were lucky enough to have Keri Arthur join Dionne Lister, Dion Perry and me. It was a fun panel and interesting too about paranoia and conspiracy theories and why these nefarious societies work in fiction, particularly urban fantasy, paranormal fantasy and so on.

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Me on the underground societies’ panel, photo by Nicole Murphy

I chaired the Austen panel and participated a little bit. With panel members Leife Shallcross and Freya Marske, who could talk Austen underwater, this panel went off nicely. With some information gaps filled from the audience we were able to talk about Austen’s contribution to fiction and genre and recommend some Austen genre mashups. I had done a little research ahead of time through reading this book, What Matters in Jane Austen, by John Mullan. Thank you Nick for the gift.

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As I mentioned earlier, I spent a lot of time at my table, but the buzz from the congoers was good. A bit slow for us dealers, but that happens. I did manage the banquet which had good food although I think they ran short of roasted vegetables and put some chips in there, which is a bit sad really. The gluten free menu was a bit contracted and poor Keri got no entrees and had to have ice cream with caramel sauce because there were no gluten free dessert for her.I did hear a rumour that we might get historical banquet’s again curtesy of our resident historian, Gillian Polack.

It was sad to say goodbye to everyone at the end. Sad to pack up the table but Matthew was there to help me so all good. I had to take a walking stick with me because of the distances involved. I have a partial tear in my plantar plate and I’m trying to keep the weight off. I kept leaving the stick behind. But once I went a certain distance I’d need it. I wasn’t faking it guys. I hate the damn stick.

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A great photo of me in my bonnet taken by Cat Sparks

So ends another Conflux. Conflux 16 has been announced for next year. If you like meeting authors and hanging out with the genre tribe then make plans to go to an SF convention near you. If you have been to Conflux before and think you might go along one day maybe, remember that Conflux only exists because people come along so come along next year. Without support SF conventions can’t afford to run no matter how dedicated the committee and volunteers. Convention goers make the con. I hope to see you next year.

Here is John Scalzi eating Aussie Sweets and YouTube.

The cupcake recipe is from this lady but this clip is great.

Cat Sparks has a great selection of photos on her Flickr account.

The first photo in Cat’s photostream is Elizabeth who bought and read my books. She’s so cute in her steampunk outfit.

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Well, life is interesting isn’t it?

Posted in baking, Crumpets, Emerald Fire, English Muffins, Pan breads, Ruby Heart, self publishing, sourdough, Steampunk, strong female lead, tagged , , , , , , , on March 1, 2019| Leave a Comment »

It is now the 1st of March 2019. What happened to two months? I know I’ve been occupied with the new granddaughter, but really? I’ve let my blogging lapse and and have really slowed down on other things.

However, I will focus on the good things. I’ve been baking. Yeah, I know weird.

I am fascinated by yeast breads cooked in pans so I tried crumpets (delicious) and English Muffins. I also made hot cross buns (oven). The English muffins, though, were a winner! None were left for freezing or toasting.

Here are some pictures of the muffins and the crumpets.

These are the crumpets.

 

I’m not sure what’s happening with my display options on WordPress. Sorry about that.

Yesterday, I had a ‘me’ day and I tried sourdough bread (oven based). I’d been working on the starter for about five days and tried out a recipe. It takes a long time to make sourdough bread according to the recipe I used. It’s an American method — long and complicated. I’m going to try it again as I ended up with two smallish loaves. I’ll make one big one instead.  Delicious by the way. I probably stuffed it up somewhere but so delicious. Worth the effort. The first picture is of the loose dough, which has to be folded every 30 minutes, six times. The second shows the dough getting tougher as it is folded and the last is my first loaf, which was a bit small and pancake like. I had an issue transferring the dough to the hot dutch oven. I tried a smaller casserole for the second loaf and it turned out great.

I also subscribed to a You Tube channel on sourdough bread making and I might try that method too. I’ll put the links below in case you are interested.

I’ve been playing around with the 100 day goal approach to things. My insights so far is that I have way too many goals. I think it is useful though, I’m just not good at doing a little bit each day. And having a newborn baby around certainly kept me distracted. I’m more like–today I will do X and only do that. Sort of binge goals!

Other things I’ve managed to do so far. I finished my Kimono quilt, which was one of my goals. I had another quilting goal that I have not moved, but I did do some sewing. Baby hats to be specific. The shops did not have new born sizes.

The house is a little tidier and I’m working on the motto of a place for everything. At present everything that doesn’t fit goes in the garage and that’s now full of guff!

My phd progress is slow. I won’t say zero but close to. I’m on a break so that’s okay. I was planning on keeping the fires burning and the novel ticking over. I’m also tutoring again. Just a few hours over two days.

I managed to get Ruby Heart in print and Emerald Fire published and also in print. I have one more book to do in the Silverlands series and I can get them printed, too. I am doing a book signing in Sydney in March so time is going well. My job for the next few months is just to keep the indie publishing stuff ticking over as I need to focus on the PhD novel–the next draft. Then I’m free to write what I want. Yay! Or polish something I’ve already written.

I tried the Kindle Unlimited route with Ruby Heart and Emerald Fire. I did all the things, advertising and cross promotion but I don’t think it’s worth keeping the series in Kindle Unlimited only. I will be putting the books out on other platforms when time has expired.

I recently had a promotion of Argenterra (England, Canada and Australia) with the new covers and I’m pleased to report that a good percentage of people are buying the rest of the series. That’s such a good feeling. I love the Silverlands series but I was beginning to think I was the only one.

I am also trying a ACAP machine for sleep apnea. It appears to be working. I don’t feel as tired and my cognitive ability has improved. I am also getting longer periods of undisturbed sleep. It’s only been a few days. Apparently in another couple of days I will feel the full benefits.

I had a lot of other things to blog about but a can’t think of them right now.

Here are the links.

I love cooking (Ireland)

The Kitchn- sourdough starter recipe

Sourdough bread recipe

Many thanks to Emma from Kitchn.

I also used this recipe for English Muffins for the Thermomix!

English Muffins using the Thermomix

And the crumpets using the Thermomix

Crumpets using the Thermomix

And if you are interested in Ruby Heart or Emerald Fire, they are steampunk themed, with gothic horror and a bit of romance. Think-manners, magic and mayhem.

Currently only on Amazon.

Ruby Heart

Emerald Fire

 

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Emerald Fire is on Pre-order

Posted in new release, Steampunk, strong female lead, tagged , , , , , , , , , on February 10, 2019| Leave a Comment »

I mentioned last time that I had Emerald Fire up on pre-order. For those of you who have grabbed a copy of Ruby Heart, don’t miss out on the next book. If you like steampunk fantasy and cups of tea then this book is for you. Emerald Fire, a tad more manners, magic and mayhem!

I think Emerald Fire is better than Ruby Heart. I had so much fun with it. I’ve taken the characters and given them a big workout. I’m so excited to know what you think.

Frauke at Croco Designs did a great job on the cover as well. I am so pleased.

 

The series is Amazon only for the moment. I’ll let you know when it is with other retailers.

EmeraldFire-2

amazon

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