Category Archives: Paranormal_Crime

Congrats all ’round!

So here I am madly scrambling to get through the day with work, family commitments and writing then I come home from a course and find good news on the Twitterverse.

A big congratulations to Marianne Delacourt (de Pierres), Narrelle Harris, Rhonda Roberts and me, we’re on the Long List for the Davitt Award. The Davitt Awards are run by Sisters In Crime. The award is named in honour of Ellen Davitt (1812-1879) who wrote Australia’s first mystery novel, Force and Fraud in 1865.

And another big Whoohoo because ‘The Price of Fame’ has made it onto the Long List for the Ned Kelly Award for Best First Fiction (since this is my first foray into crime!). The Ned Kelly Awards are run by the Australian Crime Writers Association. The awards began in 1995 and they say ‘When it came to deciding on a name, co-opting the nation’s most infamous villain seemed a natural fit.’ The awards are known affectionately as the ‘Neds’. Lovely to see so many fellow female authors in the running for a Ned.

72_PoF Wraparound

 

So this has been a good week, with the Long Listing of all three books from The Outcast Chronicles on the Gemmell Awards for their covers (thanks to Clint Langley!) and for the books themselves. And now the Long Listing of ‘The Price of Fame’. With 5 books published last year, (the 5th book was ‘The King’s Man’, an e-book exclusive), last year is all a bit of a blur for me, but it does feel nice now to come home to find four of the books are Long Listed for awards.

Now, if only I didn’t have to work to earn a living or sleep. I could get much more writing done!

 

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Filed under Australian Writers, Awards, Fantasy books, Inspiring Art, Paranormal_Crime, Thrillers and Crime, Thrillers and Mysteries

From Fantasy to Felony and Fangs…

I’ll be dashing straight from work to the airport to fly off to Melbourne on Friday the 12th of April for a Sisters in Crime Event, where I’ll catch up with Alison Goodman and Narrelle Harris (aka the Daggy Vamp). We’ll be talking about writing across genres. After all, as readers we don’t stick to one genre, why should our creativity be restricted to one genre?

And we even got a nice write up in the print media! (The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald)

 

Narrelle M Harris will interrogate two fellow authors – and herself! – about why they’ve turned from fantasy to crime to explore Melbourne’s underworld and other-worldly…

 

WS-Rough-front-207x300Narrelle M Harris writes both crime and fantasy. She is the author of two frequently hilarious crime vampire novels set in Melbourne: The Opposite of Life and its sequel, Walking Shadows, published last year by Clan Destine Press. Both feature daggy Glen Waverly resident, Gary Hooper, who might be Melbourne’s (or maybe the world’s) least impressive vampire and his geekgirl librarian friend Lissa.

Narrelle also writes in the business sector. She created the Melbourne Literary iPhone app in association with Sutro Media.

 

a_new_kind_of_death_ebook_cover_finalAlison Goodman has received world-wide recognition for her fantasy books Eon and Eona which have been sold into 18 countries, and translated into 11 languages. Her first crime novel, A New Kind of Death, previously published in the USA as Killing the Rabbit, is now available to an Australian audience, thanks to Clan Destine Press. It’s a dark and wickedly adult comic thriller with just a touch of speculative intrigue and was highly recommended in Sisters in Crime’s Davitt Awards.

Alison was a D.J. O’Hearn Memorial Fellow at Melbourne University, holds a Master of Arts, and has taught creative writing at postgraduate level. She is currently working on a new fiction series.

 

Fantasy writer R C Daniells has also turned her hand to crime – with a paranormal twist in The PoF Wraparound ResizedPrice of Fame (Clan Destine Press). At its centre is documentary maker Antonia Carlyle who uncovers dark secrets in St Kilda when she researches the cult ’80s band, The Tough Romantics, and its doomed singer Genevieve James. The iconic band’s rise to international fame, she discovers, had as much to do with its cutting edge sound as its history of tragedy, betrayal and murder…

In her spare time, Rowena has devoted five years to studying each of these martial arts – Tae Kwon Do, Aikido and Iaido, the art of the Samurai Sword.

 

If you’d like to attend, here’s the info:

The Rising Sun Hotel, cnr Raglan St & Eastern Rd, South Melbourne (no lift). Mel Ref: 57, H2.Try 1, 55, 112 or St Kilda Road trams. Free on-street parking after 6pm.

$10 (members/concession )/$15 (non-members). Dinner upstairs from 6.30pm. Men or ‘brothers-in-law’ welcome. No bookings necessary. 10% for members from the Sun Bookshop bookstall.

Info: Carmel Shute on 0412 569 356 or go to www.sistersincrime.org.au

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Sisters in Crime event: Killers, Crims & Cops

If you like a good thriller, if you like getting your teeth into a mystery, if you enjoy your crime with a touch of the X Files… then you might like to come along to this event.

Killers, Crims & Cops, Ceylon Inn, Thursday 28th, 2013. It’s being hosted by ClanDestine Press and Sisters in Crime (but Brother in Law are welcome, too!)

I’ve found that readers often read across several genres and writers often write across several, so here I am in my RC Daniells incarnation. (My book The Price of Fame is the only one with a touch of paranormal. The others are straight thriller and crime). It’s an evening of good food, wine and talk about killers, crims and cops! Meet Katherine Howell, Sandy Curtis, Lindy Cameron and me.  (Click on poster to see larger image).

KillersCrims&Cops

 

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My Next Big Thing…

Last week Cheryse Durant tagged me on her blog, as part of a chain of author recommendations called The Next Big Thing. Today it’s my turn to reciprocate and to pass on the torch. I’m going to answer questions about my new project King Rolen’s Kin Book Four . Then I’m going to tag some wonderful authors who will tell you about their Next Big Thing on Wednesday 12th of December. (Here are the other authors who are blogging today on their Next Big Thing: LJ Smith, Kallee BuchananChris McMahon and Keren K)

PS. Regarding my Next Big Thing.  I really had trouble deciding between the book that will be released tomorrow, The King’s Man and the book I’m currently writing. In the end I decided to talk about how writing The King’s Man influenced writing KRK4.

PPS. This blog post contains spoilers if you haven’t read the first KRK trilogy.


Q: What is the working title of your next book?

At this point Solaris Press want to call KRK4 King Breaker (or maybe King-breaker). I wanted to use words associated with kings and royalty, since this was the title theme of the King Rolen’s Kin trilogy.

Q: Where did the idea for the book come from?

I always knew there was going to be more KRK because when book three of the trilogy ended Byren had dealt with one of the Big Bads (as they’d say on Buffy) but the other villain still lived and sat on his father’s throne.

The problem was, I didn’t know how any of this was going to unfold. Then a friend* who had read KRK said to me, ‘Garzik can’t be dead. He just can’t.’ And I realised he wasn’t. And just like that I had the premise for The King’s Man ebook, released 6th December.

*The King’s Man is dedicated to: Leanne, who refused to believe that Garzik was dead.

Q: How did writing a book about Garzik help you write KRK4?

In the writing of The King’s Man I explored the larger world and having a richer world opened up more narrative possibilities. I am a voracious reader, which helps with world building.

I’ve always been fascinated by how societies evolve. What seems perfectly normal to us would be unthinkable to people at some other time, in some other place.

For instance, in Tibet they practice a much more varied form of marriage than we do. Two or more brothers* will marry one woman. All the children the woman has will be regarded as the children of the marriage. Because of the harsh conditions people need a certain amount of land to survive. If each of the brothers took a wife for themselves and had children, the family land would be broken up in the following generation and become non-viable. This would cause rivalry within the extended family. Their society evolved these customs over time to survive and it all seems perfectly normal to them because, for them, it is.

*This is a simple example. For more detail read Stratification, Polyandry, and Family Structure in Central Tibet by Melvin Goldstien.


Q: Speaking of world building, you explored a very differently structured society in The Outcast Chronicles and in KRK one of the central characters is gay. Were you worried that people would be offended? And why write about sexuality?

Some people were offended. There was one reviewer who said they refused to read KRK book one once they realized Orrade was gay. So far the reviews of OC have been positive, but I’m sure some people will find the way the mystics live in sisterhoods and brotherhoods confronting but just like the people of Tibet, the mystics’ society is logical for them.

And I write about sexuality (among other things) because I write about the human condition. I believe that fantasy can take a mirror and hold it to the world to make us question our assumptions.

Our world is a lot larger and more amazing than people realize, and I do my research. Things are never as simple as they first appear. For instance there are straight men go in search of gay sex* for various reasons. For one thing it is much easier than chatting up a woman, as there are no complications since both parties know what they want. For another, some men rationalize it as not cheating on their wife or girlfriend.

Sexuality and the search for love is one of our primal drives. If I avoided it, I would not be writing honestly. I would be skimming over the surface and the act of writing would feel unsatisfying for me. Besides, sometimes it is good for us to be confronted.

*For more information on this see Dr Joe Kort’s articles here.

Q: There are some confronting things in The King’s Man. How has this book been received?

The book will be officially released tomorrow but the first review is already up. I have a beta reader in one of my adult sons. He is a keen fantasy reader and he’s my target audience. If he doesn’t understand something or he wants to know more about it, I will elaborate. He reads most of my books before I send them to my publisher.

 

Q: After all that serious stuff, here’s a fun question. If you found yourself in a lift with a movie director you admire and had the chance to pitch your book to them, what would you say and who would that director be?

I’d say: I write rollicking fantasy that keeps readers up all night. But underneath all that adventure and fun King Breaker is about the price we are willing to pay to achieve our ambition and asks is it worth it?

And my dream director would be Allan Ball because of his wicked sense of humour in True Blood and Six Feet Under, or Peter Jackson because he is a consummate story teller, or Guillermo de Toro because of his lyrical vision in Pan’s Labyrinth.


Q: It’s been a busy year for you with four books coming out. How do you find the time to write?

Actually, it’s been five books this year – The Outcast Chronicles trilogy and The King’s Man, (both fantasy) and my paranormal crime, The Price of Fame. Plus I’ve been cleaning up my original trilogy, (new title The Fall of Fair Isle) to re-release it some time next year. (When I get the chance).

I’m an Associate Lecturer, we’ve been madly renovating, we have six children (the last one just finished high school) so it has been a really hectic couple of years. But the thing that keeps me sane is writing. This is what fascinates me, exploring worlds via character. If you took this person and put them in this situation what would they do? What would they learn about themselves? That is the core of why I write.

Q: When will we see King Breaker? And what will be your Next Big Thing?

I’ll hand the book into Solaris in May and it is scheduled for release late in 2013.

As to my Next Big Thing… there have been a lot of comments on my blog asking for more Outcast Chronicles and I find this series compulsive, so I will probably dive back into the OC.

 

And here are the authors I’d like to introduce. They will be blogging next Wednesday (12th December), when they talk about their Next Big Thing:

Lee Battersby, author of The Corpse-Rat King and its sequel Marching Dead, lives in Western Australia. He has had over 70 short stories published and won numerous awards.

 

 

 

AA Bell, author of the Diamond Eyes trilogy of SF & Fantasy thrillers. Twice winner of the prestigious Hemming Award for Excellence… Website and blog.

 

 

 

Glenda Larke is an Australian living in Malaysia, an rainforest environmentalist who has worked in avifaunal conservation. She’s also author of three fantasy trilogies and a standalone fantasy novel, seven of which have been shortlisted for the Aurealis Best Fantasy Novel of the Year.

 

 

Gail Z. Martin is the author of Ice Forged in her new The Ascendant Kingdoms Saga (Orbit Books), plus The Chronicles of The Necromancer series (The Summoner, The Blood King, Dark Haven & Dark Lady’s Chosen ) and The Fallen Kings Cycle (The Sworn  and The Dread).  Gail blogs at www.DisquietingVisions.com, and her web site in www.AscendantKingdoms.com.

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Filed under Australian Writers, creativity, Nourish the Writer, Paranormal_Crime, Promoting Friend's Books, Readers, Reviewers, The Writing Fraternity, Thrillers and Crime, Thrillers and Mysteries, Tips for Developing Writers, Writers and Redearch, Writing craft

Back from Brisbane Supanova

Well, I’m back from Supanova and I’ve almost had a chance to catch my breath after working all day.

So many wonderful costumes, so many enthusiastic genre fans. Here we are in Artist’s Alley: Joe Abercrombie, Alison Goodman who had just launched her new book with ClanDestine Press, and Lindy Cameron her publisher and me.

Kudos to the hardworking team at Supanova. It is amazing how busy it gets, how long the queues are, how much noise there is and yet no one has a meltdown. In fact you see grown-ups jumping up and down in excitement.

I caught up with so many readers. A special Hi goes out to Meghan, who started a book club and got all her friends to read my King Rolen’s Kin trilogy. Thank you!

 

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My crime-noir-paranomral is out!

I wrote the first draft of this book when I was 23. Now… it is in print.

With thanks to Marianne de Pierres for introducing me to Lindy Cameron of Clandestine Press.

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Here it is, the trailer for The Price of Fame

Thanks to my long suffering DH and Jason and Nat Collins who did the music!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgBHQ3MMPrk&feature=youtu.be]

Copies of The Price of Fame should be arriving next week. I promise, first thing I’ll do is send out the prize copies to the competition winners who’ve been waiting so patiently.

Am planning on interviewing Daryl about the proces of creating trailers, creativity and art.

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A round up of guest blog posts…

The Outcast Chronicles have been released into the wild – I always think of the movie Born Free and the young lions being released into the African plans – and I should have copies of The Price of Fame next week so I have been really busy. Have also  been battling the ‘flu which is going around (still teaching because it is the end of trimester and I don’t want to leave the students in the lurch)  and writing guest posts/interviews.

Just one more blog post…

Cheryse Durrant’s blog  where I talk about writing craft

Helen Lowe’s Blog: Fantasy, the poor cousin of science fiction.

Fantasy & Scifi Lovin’ News & reviews: Why is fantasy so popular?

James Maxey’s Blog: Powerful Women Factual and Fictional

Booky Monster guest post: Confessions of a Speculative Fiction Fan

Beauty in Ruins guest post: Why I love the world Wide Web (or How the WWW set me Free)

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Gold Coast Literati Event

If you live in South East Queensland and you love books and writing, the Gold Coast Literati Event will be held the weekend of the 24, 25th of May, 2012.

For more information see here.

Who is is for? Readers of all genres (spec Fic and mystery among them).

Who will be there? Myself, Marianne de Pierres, Trent Jamieson, Louise Cusack, Kylie Chan, Queenie Chan and many more.

What will be happening? Workshops, panels, talks and general celebration of books and writing!

So rock up, have some fun and say Hi!

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Filed under Australian Artists, Australian Writers, Comics/Graphic Novels, Conferences and Conventions, Conventions, creativity, Dark Urban Fantasy, Fantasy books, Female Fantasy Authors, Fun Stuff, Nourish the Writer, Paranormal_Crime, Readers, The Writing Fraternity, Thrillers and Crime, Thrillers and Mysteries, Tips for Developing Artists, Tips for Developing Writers, Workshop/s, Writing craft

Winner Rhonda Roberts Book Give-away!

The very generous Rhonda says…

I absolutely loved the replies to ‘What new festival should Australia celebrate?’ They were wonderful: Sit Down Day, Ready Willing & Able Day, Southern Cross Week and National Let Out Your Geekiness Day. I want to celebrate them ALL! So I’m going to send a copy of ‘Hoodwink’ to all of these clever people – more power to them!

So Thoraiya, Mary, Melissa and Cecilia email Rhonda on:

rhondaroberts(at)westnet(dot)com(dot)au

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