Can’t wipe the grin from my face

Someone out there must love Grievous Harm (well, at least several someones), because it has made the shortlist of the Australian Romance Readers Association Awards in the Romantic Suspense category. I am so thrilled and would like to thank all the readers who voted.

ARRA Awards finalist 2014

Now I’m hoping they would like to vote again in the finals. It would be beyond my wildest dreams to have Grievous Harm make it to the top but I would love to see John’s and Kate’s story get there. They are the fictional embodiment of all those people who work so hard to bring child abusers to justice and I tried my best to give them a voice.

Meet My Character

I was tagged by rural romance author Heather Garside to participate in the Meet My Character blog hop. Thanks, Heather, for inviting me.

Heather grew up on a cattle property in Central Queensland and now lives with her husband on a beef and grain farm in the same area. She has two adult children.

She has previously published three historical romances and has helped to write and produce several compilations of short stories and local histories. The Cornstalk was a finalist in the 2008 Booksellers’ Best Award, Long Historical category, for romance books published in the USA. Breakaway Creek was a finalist in the QWC/Hachette Manuscript Development Program and was released by Clan Destine Press in 2013. It is a rural romance with a dual timeline. Her recent release is Tracks of the Heart, a collection of three short stories.

Heather works part time at the local library, at home on the farm and helps produce a local monthly newsletter, amongst other voluntary activities.

BC Ebook Cover

Heather’s book Breakaway Creek is available through Clan Destine Press.

Now I’d like to introduce you to my main male character from my latest thriller, Grievous Harm, John Corey, through these blog hop questions.

  • What is the name of your character?

John Corey

  •  Is he fictional or a historic person?

Fictional.

  • When and where is the story set?

It’s a contemporary story that starts in Brisbane, then goes to Sydney before moving to country New South Wales, back to Brisbane, then Outback Queensland. I love Australia and like to show the variety in our great country. And the plot takes the characters where they need to go.

  • What should we know about him?

Although he works for a covert agency that answers only to the Prime Minister and has to undertake assignments that force him to act in ways that he doesn’t always like, John has kept his sense of decency and moral compass. When he decides to help Kate find her missing niece, it is in defiance of his orders but he knows he can’t brush aside the fact that children are being violated and he is the only one in a position to find them.

  • What is the main conflict? What messes up his life?

Something happened in John’s past that has made him determined not to become emotionally involved with another woman, and it’s only when he’s faced with an impossible situation that he realises he loves Kate. The decision he has to make, while saving her from a horrific fate, also destroys the future he thought he could have with her.

  • What is the personal goal of the character?

To save the children who have been taken into an invidious cult.

  • Is there a working title for this novel, and can we read more about it?

This book is Grievous Harm and there’s an excerpt on my Books page.

  • When can we expect the book to be published or when was it published?

It was published in October this year by Clan Destine Press and is available as both print and eBook.

 

I have tagged two authors who write in different genres, Nicole Hurley-Moore and Christine Gardner.

Nicole has always been a lover of fairy tales, history and romance. She grew up in Melbourne and Central Victoria and has travelled extensively. Her first passion in life has always been her family, but after studying and achieving her BA in History and Honours in Medieval Literature, she devoted her time to writing historical, fantasy and contemporary romance. She is a full time writer who lives in the Central Highlands of Victoria with her family, where they live in the peaceful surrounds of a semi-rural town.

Black is the Colour Cover

Ciana has loved Oran all her life and nothing, not even her father will prevent them from being together. But the Mayor of Stonemark has higher aspirations for his daughter than the village blacksmith. He engages the help of a witch and dark magic to bend Ciana to his will. Oran knows that he doesn’t deserve Ciana. But their love is stronger than the metal he forges and welds. She has his heart and he will never turn from her no matter the cost. They plan to run away and start a new life far beyond her father’s reach. But their escape comes too late. Separated, Ciana will need all her strength to journey through the deep forest and save Oran from the witch’s curse. Alone and with only a trail of black feathers to follow, Ciana will fight against the odds and attempt to bring her lover home.  Amazon link – http://goo.gl/f3juDg

www.nicolehurley-moore.com

 

Christine lives in regional Victoria, Australia, with her husband and a Siberian husky, Esky, the proud owner of the back yard. After a life-long love of reading and of history, she spent several years at both TAFE and university, studying everything from editing and professional writing to history and philosophy, eventually emerging with a Bachelor of Arts (Hons). Her studies led to the writing of a non-fiction book, ‘Not Guilty’ and the fiction version of the same story, ‘Her Flesh and Blood’. She has also written several novels for children and young adults and is now focused on fiction for adults. Her last novel was ‘Stony Creek’, a rural romance, and all her books are available on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Christine-Gardner/e/B00AY80A08

ecoverkarinyasmall

Prue King is nineteen and lives on Karinya Station, one of seven girls. She and her friend Sally decide to go on the adventure of a live time—a road trip, right around Australia. Neither Prue nor Sally is in any hurry to settle down, unlike some girls their age. They want to see the country and be independent. When they meet brothers Dan and Steve on the Sunshine Coast Prue is stunned by her feelings for him, but her plans remain the same. She and Sally are determined to get to Perth where they will live for at least a few months and decide what their futures hold. When the girls leave the brothers behind though, they experience something that will change their plans and their lives, perhaps forever.

 

Thanks, Nicole and Christine, for agreeing to be part of this blog hop.

 

At the Top End

We’ve had a great tour of the Kimberley region of Western Australia with AAT Kings. Our guide, Nellie, and driver, Cam, made sure our trip was the best it could be (in spite of those early mornings they inflicted on us so we could get to the next magnificent attraction). Cruises up tropical rivers with crocodiles sunning themselves on the banks, feeding the fish in the Chamberlain Gorge, flying into the Bungle Bungles, drooling over pink diamonds at the Argyle Diamond Mine, visiting the War Cemetery at Adelaide River. Then there was swimming in the Katherine River at Katherine Gorge. The cruise guide assured us that they’d checked to make sure the area we swam in was free of crocs but only five of us took the chance. Beautiful cool water – bliss after the heat and walking from one part of the gorge to the next.

I wondered if one of the crocs was partial to propellers.
The resting place for those too tired to walk from one part of the gorge to the next.

It’s been many months since there’s been rain in the Top End and it’s very dry. The  cruise boat could only go so far up the river and then we had to walk to the next level where another boat waited but that could only go a short distance as well. Guess we’ll have to come back after The Wet to see the Gorge at its full glory.

Rob and Tom (we’d met Tom and his sister Tanya on the coach tour) decided they wanted to swim with a ‘saltie’ so shared a perspex cage at Crocosaurus Cove with Chopper sizing them up for dinner.

Rob and Tom swimming with Chopper, the 5.1m croc so named because he was missing one front limb and the ‘hand’ of the other limb. Didn’t stop him moving with lightning speed when he went after the meat the handlers fed him.

We were told Darwin’s The BookShop had closed down, but were delighted to discover it had only moved and found it in its new location of Shop 1-30 Smith Street Mall. Gotta love those independent book stores – they are fighters and deserve to survive. And thrive.

I took some copies of Fatal Flaw with me to donate to the Darwin Library, but ended up being directed to the State Library instead of the public Library. Turned out to be a lucky chance as I met lovely Hayley who had not only read my books but was a fan. It was such a wonderful surprise. The biggest thrill for writers is discovering readers who love our books. It’s such a great feeling to know that readers enjoy them. Thanks, Hayley, you made my day.

On Sunday we head to Kakadu on a three-day tour. Hope the mossies aren’t biting 🙂

Tell Me Why

My guest today is author Sandi Wallace whose novel, Tell Me Why, makes its debut at the Book Expo Australia in Sydney on Saturday 30th and Sunday 31st August courtesy of Clan Destine Press and Sisters in Crime Australia.

Sandi, congratulations on your first book being published. Is this the first one you have written and how did you get picked up by Clan Destine Press?

Thanks, Sandy! It is a real thrill. And yes, this is the first book I’ve written, although it doesn’t much resemble its early drafts. I worked on the same book for a number of years, developing my style, honing my skills, while practicing with shorter works and building confidence. I don’t undervalue or begrudge this time at all. It was my writer’s apprenticeship and particularly important as Tell Me Why is the first book in a series, so my style and characters needed to be well developed before the first book went to press. When it came time to send my manuscript out into the marketplace, I approached Clan Destine Press, a small genre publisher who I was aware of through my membership with Sisters in Crime Australia. It took me a couple of revised submissions but to my great delight, Clan Destine Press offered me a publishing deal last November and the first book in my Rural Crime Files series Tell Me Why has now been released!

What made you decide to write this book?

I knew I wanted to write a crime series and Daylesford seemed the perfect setting. It’s one of my favourite places, perhaps second only to the Dandenong Ranges where I live with my hubby. Daylesford’s a pretty country town, popular with tourists, arty types and same-sex couples. I liked the way that romantic perception juxtaposed with a moody crime story. The inbuilt conflict of a town balancing permanent residents with regular influxes of tourists also appealed. Then I decided I wanted it to be contemporary, reflecting our times, our world, even though it’s fiction.

So I had setting worked out. Then Georgie Harvey, the independent Melbourne writer and her search for missing farmer, Susan Pentecoste, came to me as the main character and story line for Tell Me Why. In my second draft, John Franklin emerged. He is a slightly old-school cop stationed at Daylesford and also a single dad. It fascinated me to position city-girl Georgie in his territory (which is way outside her comfort zone), but with her in the driver’s seat in the search for Susan. Meanwhile, Franklin is working another case – poison-pen letters targeting single mothers – which is a step-up from Daylesford’s usual soft crime.

I angled the book as mainly a Why-Dunnit because many crime readers – including me – are enthralled by why crimes happen, the repercussions and outcomes. Through this book, I had fun exploring human relationships, how far we’d go, and what we’d risk, to find the truth.

Have you always wanted to write crime?

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been addicted to crime fiction in film and print. And it seems that, for equally as long, I’ve wanted to be a crime writer. Since I was a little girl, I dreamed of a row of books with my name on the spine – a crime fiction series written by me, with some standalone books, too. I hope this is the start of that dream coming true!

Do you see your writing branching out into different genres or sub-genres?

Tell Me Why combines thriller, suspense, police procedural, adventure, mystery and a touch of romance, so I have already branched into different sub-genres. My vision for the series is a revolving cast of characters and locations, although Daylesford and the characters from there will continue to be integral. This rotating platform allows each book to be unique, giving me artistic licence with sub-genres. I wouldn’t rule out writing a standalone book in a different genre but think my roots will always be entrenched in crime.

Who is your favourite author, and why?

Tricky question! I can’t limit it to one because there are so many wonderful authors whose works or work ethics have resonated with me for different reasons and at different times. These are across a variety of genres, literary fiction, classics, contemporary and historical stories. But nowadays, I tend to devour contemporary crime – albeit across its many sub-genres. Some of the recent reads I’ve thoroughly enjoyed include books by Michael Robotham, Jaye Ford, Katherine Howell, Honey Brown, Ian Rankin, Camilla Läckberg, Alex Hammond, Karen M Davis, B Michael Radburn, Bronwyn Parry…the list goes on! And I can’t wait to read your new release, Grievous Harm, Sandy, when it comes out in October.

Any advice for aspiring authors that might help them on the road to publication?

One of my characters in Tell Me Why says: ‘If it means that much to you, do it.’ And that’s what it all boils down to. Write because you want to write; you can’t imagine your life without creating. Know that the process will sometimes be slow and torturous, there will be speed humps (which may seem like mountains) and you will doubt yourself – numerous times. Successes in short story contests, other writing wins or exposure may boost the chances for your novel, so give them a go. Practice, persevere, seek constructive feedback and work with other writers or a mentor. Enjoy every step of the journey, every small win and keep believing. Good luck!

Thanks, Sandi, and best wishes for Tell Me Why.

www.sandiwallace.com

http://www.clandestinepress.com.au/node/385

Tell Me Why will be available for sale and signing at the Clan Destine Press/Sisters in Crime stand at Book Expo Australia. Sandi will also be sitting on two crime panels over the weekend: the Thriller vs Crime Smackdown on Saturday at 11.30am and Crime Panel Did the Butler Really Do It? on Sunday at 3.45pm. 

Guess whose shoes?

Had a fantastic time at the Romance Writers of Australia Conference. It was lovely to catch up with old friends and make new ones and find out what the writing industry is up to from the viewpoints of publishers, editors, agents, and just as importantly, authors.

I took some happy snaps at the Friday night cocktail party, but strangely, most of these came out with a very pink tinge. I was beginning to think it was some magical RWA magic until I went into the foyer and took a couple more happy pics. Some of these are on my facebook page, including this one:

Now, who do you think would own these delightful items of footwear? Here are the damsels whose only distress was knowing that the party was over and they had to go back to their rooms. Or out to dinner. Or to the bar …

Yes, it’s Sarah Wendell of Smart Bitches, Trashy Books fame, fabulous author and Conference Convenor Shannon Curtis (no relation, I promise), and NY Times bestselling author Cherry Adair.

Here is Shannon in her Conference Convenor/Crisis Warden/is-everything-in-this-cocktail-party-really-pink? mode:

Shannon Curtis in crisis mode.

Welcome to Maggie Christensen

Australian author Maggie Christensen joins me today.

Congratulations on the release of Band of Gold, Maggie. Was there something in particular that inspired you to write this story?

Thanks, Sandy. A number of years ago I heard a story of someone who placed his wedding ring on the table on Christmas morning. It stuck in my mind and when I started wondering what might happen afterwards. Anna and Marcus appeared and Anna’s story began to take shape.

What did you find were the advantages and disadvantages of writing in first person and present tense?

It wasn’t really a choice. Anna’s voice came to me as soon as I began to write. I think the advantage was that it was easy to see the story though her eyes, and I didn’t have to worry about changing POV. As I was writing, I really stepped into Anna’s shoes, and the present tense made it more immediate. I guess the disadvantage was that everything was from Anna’s perspective, so there was no opportunity to see events form anyone else’s point of view. I have to say that, although I don’t normally write first person present tense, I really enjoyed it.

What did you like most about writing Band of Gold?

I enjoyed my characters. The story flowed well for me, and I think I fell a little bit in love with Marcus. I particularly enjoyed using familiar settings. Manly Beach was the first beach I visited in Australia when I lived for several years in Sydney, and I now live close to beautiful Peregian Beach.

Do you find your readers come from all age groups, or, because your books deal with mature-aged heroines, your readers tend to be in that age group?

When I began writing about women in their prime (I love this phrase), I thought I was targeting older readers – baby boomers. However I’m finding that my readers do come from all age groups. I guess women experience marriage and career crises at all ages, so the situations my protagonists find themselves in are easy to relate to.

Do you think there is an advantage to having background knowledge of two locations, i.e., Australia and Oregon in the US, and how helpful has this been in writing The Sand Dollar?

Definitely! I would never have contemplated Oregon as a setting if I hadn’t spent time there, and I don’t expect I’d be writing about Australia if I didn’t live here. I find that when I write, it’s as if I’m actually in the setting. For example, my current work, The Dreamcatcher, is set in Oregon, and I spend my days there when I’m writing.

What do you envisage writing in the future?

I’m presently writing what will most likely be book 3 in my Oregon Coast series. It picks up Ellen from The Sand Dollar and tells her story. Book 2 stalled part way through so I plan to go back to that one, which tells the story of Rosa, also from The Sand Dollar, and set in the Sunshine Coast in Australia.

Also, although I wrote Band of Gold as a stand-alone book, Anna’s sister Jan has started telling me her story too, so that book is also in the cards. Plus a few more ideas which are still in their infancy.

I intend to keep writing books with mature protagonists, as these are the ones I can relate best to.

That’s great, Maggie. I know what it’s like to have characters start to tell you their story. I’m sure a lot of people think writers are a bit cracked when we say we hear voices in our head, but our characters become like real people to us, don’t they.

Here’s the blurb for Maggie’s book, and an excerpt:

Band of Gold deals with the tricky topic of new romance after a failed marriage.

Anna Hollis is a forty-seven year old schoolteacher living in Sydney. She juggles her busy life with a daughter in the throes of first love, and increasingly demanding aging parents.

Anna’s world collapses when her husband of twenty-five years leaves her on Christmas morning. She makes it through the family festivities, explaining his absence with a flimsy excuse, but later breaks down on a Sydney beach where a stranger comes to her aid.

Marcus King has returned to Australia from the USA, leaving behind a broken marriage and a young son; through their mutual hurt and loneliness, a fragile friendship is formed when he takes up the position of Headmaster at Anna’s school.

Written in first person, present tense the author slips the reader into Anna’s shoes as she struggles to leave the past behind and learns to trust again. Can Marcus be a part of her future?

Excerpt

‘I don’t want to be married anymore.’

The band of gold, symbol of our twenty-five years of marriage lies on the table between us. I am stupefied, unable to speak. Tears prick my eyes as my first coffee of the day grows cold beside me. The sun is shining brightly through the kitchen window. The turkey is sitting on the kitchen bench waiting to be cooked. My parents, daughter, brother and sister, along with her husband and children are due to arrive in five hours’ time. The house is redolent with the scent of pine needles and Christmas pudding. It’s Christmas morning and my world has collapsed.

‘What do you mean?’ I finally utter, thinking this must be Sean’s idea of a bad joke. My mouth goes dry. My head begins to spin. The bottom has dropped out of my world. I look over at the man I have loved for over twenty-five years, his bushy greying blonde hair, his ruddy cleanshaven cheeks. He looks no different from any other morning. He’s wearing the bright yellow tee shirt we bought on our holiday in Bali last year. His steely blue eyes meet mine. This isn’t happening.

‘I can’t do this anymore, Anna.’ His waving arms take in the kitchen including me, ‘All this; family, house, job. I need to get away.’ He pushes his chair back from the table and strides out of the kitchen. I sit there in a daze, my mind going round in circles. Is it too late to call off Christmas lunch? How can I even think of such a thing? Does Sean mean he’s going to leave right now? How will I explain his absence? God, this is really going to be the Christmas from Hell.


Look for Band of Gold at:

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1owK2w6

Barnes &Noble: http://bit.ly/1sZmp2

The Book Depository: http://bit.ly/1nbUiHf

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/maggiechristensenauthor

Website:  http://maggiechristensenauthor.com/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8120020.Maggie_Christensen

 

Thank you, Maggie, for being such a lovely guest. I look forward to seeing The Sand Dollar and The Dreamcatcher available in the near future.

Who’s tagging whom?

The lovely Kaz Delaney was a victim, and when she cried out for other victims, of course we all put our hands up like sheep happy to be led to the shearing shed on a Outback summer’s day. Or maybe a Melbourne heat wave. Authors are like that – happy to blog about their writing and other author’s books and when we get ‘tagged’ there’s rarely a word of protest.

Amanda Ashby tagged me. Amanda is the delightfully zany author of YA books like Demonosity and Fairy Bad Day. Amanda was born in Australia and after spending the last sixteen years dividing her time between England and New Zealand, she’s finally moved back and now lives on the Sunshine Coast.

She has a degree in English and Journalism from the University of Queensland and is married with two children. Her debut book, You Hand Me at Halo, was nominated for a Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice award, and her first young adult book, Zombie Queen of Newbury High, was listed by the New York Public Library’s Stuff for the Teen Age 2010. Her latest release, Fairy Bad Day, has been selected by Voya as one of their Top Shelf Fiction for Middle School Readers 2012 and was a SCBWI Crystal Kite Award finalist for the Australia/NZ region.

So thanks, Amanda, for the tag. Well, that was my initial reaction when asked, but then I had to think about my answers to the four questions in the tag and I nearly rescinded my effusive gratitude (just kidding, Amanda, and yes, I am winking)

Q1 What am I working on?

I think my head must be in several different places lately, because I can’t decide if I should keep writing the next women’s fiction or the rural romance I started last month. The women’s fiction is the next book on from Murder, Mayhem and Menopause (which hasn’t found a publishing home as yet), and continues the lives of Ellie, Cass and Kandy, women in the prime of their lives (sounds better than mature-age protagonists, doesn’t it J) and their families and friends. I always like to give my work-in-progress a title, but Conceptions and Misconceptions, which is the working title of book two, doesn’t float my boat, even though it accurately describes some of the story.

The rural romance is still in the Chapter Two phase and is on hold while life intervenes.

Speaking of intervening, the edits on my seventh romantic thriller, Grievous Harm, have just landed in my in-box. Not too much to do, but I have to find/make the time. Not easy when I’m organising the Bundaberg writers festival, WriteFest, and helping some family members at the same time. Ah, well, you know what they say about asking a busy person…

My eighth romantic thriller is still in the embryonic stage, with my subconscious mind trying to cement the many scenarios I’ve thrown into the cauldron into something that resembles a cohesive plot.

“Cauldron” you ask? I’ve always thought a writer’s mind is a bit like Macbeth’s witches cauldron where all the ideas and snippets of information go and get stirred around and around and finally spill out and become a full story with living, breathing characters (well, they are that way to the writer, and hopefully to the reader).

Q2 How does my work differ from others in the genre?

I think all writers put their own stamp on the stories they write, and I think my stamp would be the pacing and tension. As one reviewer said, “It’s like reading Matthew Reilly with romance”. I prefer not to read books that take ages to get to the next plot or character turning point or wax lyrical about fashions or floor coverings or describe the scenery in minute detail as I’m a firm believer in what Graeme Green said – “character is plot”. So I like to read books that get right into the guts of characters and keep me interested in them, as well as having a great plot that hooks me.

Q3 Why do I write what I write?

See the answer to Q2. Okay, it’s not quite as simple as that. I grew up reading every book I could get my hands on, but the ones that really grabbed me were the action-adventure kind. I read every Alistair McLean, Jack Higgins, Robert Ludlum etc book, but I found it frustrating that the female characters had only minor roles, or if they were a main character they would inevitably come to a dire end and the hero would carry on without them. Ken Follett’s The Eye of the Needle was an exception, with a resourceful heroine, and I loved the Modesty Blaise novels. So I guess it was inevitable that when I gave in to my overwhelming compulsion to write, thrillers with great heroes and heroines who could match their courage and daring would be my choice of genre. And falling in love while facing all that danger was definitely the way to go.

Q4 How does my writing process work?

There’s a process? I’ve heard about it, and I’m sure it’s not a rumour because I have friends who have one, but no amount of trying has enabled me to master the “sit my backside on the office seat at a certain time and write to a certain time and then have lunch etc, etc.” scenario.

But wait, that’s a writing routine, isn’t it. A process … Well, I guess it’s that I’m always gathering ideas for plots and characters and locations every minute I’m awake. I try to write them down as soon as I can (yes, there’s a pad and pen beside my bed), and sometimes I write a basic outline of the plot. I fill in character sheets for my main characters and some minor ones. It’s a great way of getting to know them, particularly the part that addresses their family and childhood as we are a product of our environment as much as our genes. The character sheet also acts as a continuity check, especially if it’s for a minor character whose eyes were green in chapter two but by chapter ten I can’t remember if I’d changed them to blue or blue-green.

I’m one of those terrible writers who can’t seem to turn off their internal editor and when I start writing each day (or on those days when I can find the time) I re-read what I last wrote and tweak anything that needs it. I also can’t seem to keep writing if something needs fixing – I have to fix it. Anal, I know, but it also means that I do few re-writes before I give it to my beta readers.

Grammar, spelling, punctuation – can’t help myself, I was an English A+ and treasured my writing bible, the ABC of English Usage. One day I think I will go ballistic if I see another incorrect apostrophe – don’t people know the difference between possessive and plural? Ooops, there I go, being anal again …

And now to introduce the next three victims willing and enthusiastic authors who have been tagged and will be blogging next Monday:

Best-selling author Bronwen Evans grew up loving books. She has always indulged her love of storytelling and is constantly gobbling up movies, books, and theater. Is it any wonder she’s a proud romance writer? Evans is a two-time winner of the RomCon Readers’ Crown and has been nominated for an RT Reviewers’ Choice Award. She lives in Wellington, New Zealand.

 

Scott Baker is a film-maker who has recently returned from middle earth, working with Peter Jackson on his epic trilogy – ‘The Hobbit.’

From a young age, Scott was a storyteller, making up elaborate reasons why he wasn’t able to tidy his room when confronted by a sceptical mother. Scott moved from Yorkshire England to the blue mountains of NSW when he was three years old. He grew up learning martial arts, reading fantasy novels and watching movies at every opportunity. He spent his youth playing sports designing elaborate stories to shift the blame for anything that was done wrong onto his older brother.

He studied TV and film production at university, and worked as a consultant in the film industry before lecturing at the Australian National University in digital video. He moved to Canberra to train in the sport of Taekwondo with sights set on the 2004 Olympics, but injury would keep him out of the selections.

‘The Rule of Knowledge’ is Scott’s first novel. He is currently working on the development of two feature films and his second novel. He lives somewhere on the highway between Sydney and Canberra in a little red Hyundi Excel….

 

 

http://www.ruleofknowledge.com

 

 

 

 

 

Heather Garside grew up on a cattle property in Central Queensland and now lives with her husband on a beef and grain farm in the same area. She has two adult children.

She has previously published three historical romances and has helped to write and produce several compilations of short stories and local histories. The Cornstalk was a finalist in the 2008 Booksellers’ Best Award, Long Historical category, for romance books published in the USA. Her rural romance, Breakaway Creek, was a finalist in the QWC/Hachette Manuscript Development Program and is now published by Clan Destine Press.

She works part time at the local library, at home on the farm and helps produce a local monthly newsletter, amongst other voluntary activities.

http://www.heathergarside.com

http://heathergarside.wordpress.com/

Australia Day

Australia Day 2013 should have been full of barbecues, picnics, thong-throwing competitions, and happy families celebrating their pride in their country while newer residents proudly took their citizenship oath. But Cyclone Oswald lashed Queensland’s coast, creating six tornadoes and the biggest flood in Bundaberg’s recorded history. Thousands of homes were inundated, thirteen washed away, never to be found, others teetering on holes created by the torrent. Businesses suffered devastating losses, caught by Nature’s intensity and the Burnett River breaking its banks. Boats were washed away, some completely disappearing, some found days later as broken hulks on the rocky shore, debris scattered like broken dreams.

The town was in shock. But as the water receded and help flowed in, Bundabergians created their own Mud Army and went to work helping those whose lives had been traumatised.

One year later, the town has mostly recovered. Some businesses never re-opened, some houses never re-built, some folks still fighting insurance companies and unable to return to their homes, but the ghost-town atmosphere that pervaded North Bundaberg in the months following the flood has been replaced by a thriving community spirit.

So this Australia Day I reflected on that wonderful Aussie spirit, that pride in a country of extremes, from tropical rainforests, snow-covered mountain ranges, vast Outback plains that seem to be either in drought or flood. We started as a penal colony of convicts and guards and evolved into explorers and farmers and graziers and nation-builders. But it wasn’t easy. This is a harsh and often unforgiving land, and it took guts to try to conquer it.

It’s those aspects of the Australian landscape and psyche that I’ve tried to capture in my books. I love this unique land of ours and want to share it with my readers. In Dance with the Devil the rugged Great Dividing Range became as huge an obstacle for Emma and Drew to conquer as the killer who held an innocent life in his hands. In Black Ice a hit-and-run on the Sunshine Coast and a mud slide in the Blue Mountains nearly meant the end for Kirri and Daniel. Deadly Tide was a favourite to write, set as it was on a trawler off Bundaberg’s coast. Putting Sam and Chayse in such a confined space gave lots of opportunities for sparks to fly, and some unusual dangerous situations, and researching beautiful Lady Musgrave Island was no hardship for this dedicated writer J

Until Death was more citified, encompassing Brisbane, Sydney and the Hunter Valley region where Libby and Connor had to cope with a natural disaster as deadly as the killers hunting them.

Dangerous Deception allowed me to indulge in more exotic locations such as Central Queensland’s Carnarvon Gorge before bringing Breeanna and Rogan back to Melbourne. But I couldn’t resist having them go via the Gold Coast hinterland in a daring escape that has them jumping off a mountain.

Ladder to Amphitheatre tunnel entrance at Carnarvon Gorge

The plot of Fatal Flaw only allowed me to take a slight deviation from Brisbane’s suburbs, Chinatown, and nearby Mount Glorious, but it’s Mark’s trip to the sapphire diggings outside Emerald that gives him a clue to who wants to kill Julie’s father.

Grievous Harm (to be released later this year), traverses a lot of New South Wales and Queensland, and depicts the harshness and grandeur of the Outback. This is the darkest of all my novels, and I hope readers can forgive me for what I put Kate and John through. They really deserve their HEA.

What I also strived to do was give my heroes and heroines the kind of courage our early settlers had to have in order to survive. They have to battle not only the highs and lows of falling in love, but danger in various guises and a land that can be as deadly as any determined killer.

We didn’t have prawns (shrimp) on the barbie this Australia Day, but lamb chops (after all, Australia was supposed to ride on the sheep’s back at one stage in our history), and I counted my blessings that I live in this wonderful country that gives me such fabulous settings in which to tell my stories, and planned my next research trips to those states and territories I haven’t yet written about.

Quirky humour

It happened a while ago, but I thought I’d share with you. When I told my daughter that my sixth book was titled Fatal Flaw, she quickly came back with, “And I guess the sequel will be called Treacherous Tiles, or Lethal Linoleum, or …” You can probably gather from that that her mind works in a rather quirky way.

It set me thinking about book titles and how they can be interpreted by readers and whether they play a part in why a reader selects a book to peruse and perhaps to purchase. After my first book, Dance with the Devil, was published, I was shopping in Target and, naturally, checked out the book department. To my surprise, Dance with the Devil had been placed in the Horror/Supernatural section. Another surprise was that my friend Louise Cusack’s first book, Destiny of the Light, a fantasy, had been placed in the New Age section.

What had made the Target employee decide where to place the books? The title? The cover? As the cover of Dance with the Devil gave no indication that it had any horror or supernatural elements in it, I could only assume it was the title. And I’d thought Louise’s book looked like a fantasy.

So what makes you, as a reader, pick up a book? And does the title influence what you think the book might be about?

Strawberries and books – but missed out on the chocolate

Soon-to-be-published YA/NA urban fantasy author Cheryse Durrant and I shared a stall at the Bargara Strawberry Fair today. The Fair is run by the Coral Coast Community Care Inc and supports their charitable work in the community. It might still feel like winter in the southern states, but Queensland lived up to its “Beautiful one day, perfect the next” slogan and turned on sunshine, blue skies and a balmy breeze. Lots of food stalls, craft stalls, entertainment, art exhibition, and us with our giveaway basket of books from our publisher Clan Destine Press, copies of my thriller Fatal Flaw for sale, and flyers about the fantastic prizes to be won on the Cheryse Durrant website over the coming four months.

Did I mention that there was at least a truckload of strawberries on sale? There were even strawberries dipped in chocolate, but unfortunately the chocolate wasn’t gluten free, so I had to stick with delicious berries au natural.

One of the highlights of the day was handing the prize for the Years 9-10 Poetry Competition to the winner, Jerry McGiffin. It’s not easy for young writers to maintain their enthusiasm for writing when their mates are keen on sports or movies or whatever and don’t have the same passion for creating stories and characters. I hope all parents and teachers support their children who have the desire to write.

 

 

 

The second highlight of the day was presenting the basket of books by the Clan Destine Press authors to the winner, Marietta McLellan. Marietta was thrilled with her prize, even driving back to the Fair at the end of the day to pick it up.

We had many chats with people who, like us, love reading. I even had some people tell me they’ve read all my books and enjoyed them. It’s such a thrill to hear that, as it makes all the hard (and often lonely) work of writing so worthwhile.