Progress report January 2024

I'll start with some exciting publishing news. Editora Wish in Brazil will be soon be releasing a new translation of my novel Heart's Blood under the title A Montagna das Feras (The Mountain of Beasts.)  The lovely cover art is the work of Janaina Medeiros, who did the cover and internal illustrations for the special edition of Wildwood Dancing from the same publisher. A Montagna das Feras comes out very [...]

2024-01-20T15:38:58+11:00January 20th, 2024|

The Unlikely Hero

  Here's a link to my most recent post for Writer Unboxed. In it I talk about unlikely heroes in folklore, fiction and real life. Make sure you read the comments - they are very insightful! Photo 99656242 / Courage © Mbolina | Dreamstime.com

2022-03-11T13:04:24+11:00March 11th, 2022|

Season’s Greetings and Thank You

  Yes, it's that time of year again, and we headed along to Pet Lover's Cafe for a photo with a very long-suffering Santa. Reggie (on the left) is reacting to the photographer, Zen looks stately but disapproving, and Fergal is posing sweetly.  I left Pip and Bodhi at home - not brave enough to try for the five-dog image this time around. It's been an unproductive year for me [...]

2020-02-09T06:34:14+11:00December 24th, 2016|

Author Interview: Mark Noce and Between Two Fires

If I asked you what are the most popular settings for historical fiction these days, you might nominate the Tudor period, Regency England, or perhaps London in Victorian times. Then there’s Roman Britain, Viking era Scandinavia, Napoleonic Europe. But you don’t often find a novel set in early medieval Wales, which is odd, since that period and culture are rich in storytelling potential. Welsh mythology, captured in that treasure trove [...]

2020-02-09T06:34:15+11:00July 18th, 2016|

Q&A: Alison Goodman and Lady Helen and The Dark Days Club

I recently had the pleasure of reading Alison Goodman’s new novel, Lady Helen and the Dark Days Club, a heady and highly original blend of Regency romance and dark fantasy. I think this novel, and the sequels to come, is going to appeal to a very wide readership, as it combines meticulous research with great pacing and strong characterisation. And of course, there’s the uncanny element, which sometimes verges on [...]

2020-02-09T06:34:15+11:00February 13th, 2016|

Author Interview: Margaret Skea and A House Divided

I met British writer Margaret Skea at last year’s Historical Novel Society Conference in London, when we both stayed in the student accommodation at Marylebone Hall. Margaret is an award-winning writer of both short fiction and historical novels. Her new book, A House Divided, a sequel to Turn of the Tide, was released last month. I was delighted when Margaret agreed to an interview. Margaret, congratulations on A House Divided [...]

2020-02-09T06:34:15+11:00November 23rd, 2015|

Author Interview: Prue Batten and ‘Tobias’

I was delighted when Tasmanian author Prue Batten agreed to an interview to coincide with the release of her new historical novel, Tobias. Prue was formerly a journalist and now describes herself on her website as ‘a cross genre writer who is also a farmer, dog owner, gardener and embroiderer.’ Prue also enjoys cooking – no surprise, really, since both gardening and cookery involve the same alchemy as writing fiction [...]

2020-02-09T06:34:16+11:00September 3rd, 2015|

Thoughts on Point of View

How do you decide which point of view to use when writing a story – first person, third person, a combination, or something else like a diary, letters, or even second person? How do you know which will work best for your particular story? The reader who raised this question asked me whether I deliberately chose first person for my young adult books (the Wildwood and Shadowfell books) because it [...]

2020-02-09T06:34:16+11:00August 3rd, 2015|
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