Continuum 15

Here’s where you can find me at Continuum 15, next weekend in Melbourne!

Saturday, 10am: Mothers! In! Space!
I’ll be moderating this one, and the panellists are Kate Elliott (gasp!), Liz Barr & J S Breukelaar

Sunday, 5pm: Happily Ever Afters
I’ll be on this panel with Laura, Lyss Wickramasinghe & Andi Buchanan.

Monday, 11am: Regency SFF
I’m on this one with a bunch of dear friends and fellow Regency romance tragics, Kathleen Jennings, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Devin Madson, & Freya Marske.

I gotta say, their program is looking very, very fine.

Looking forward to Continuum 15!

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Are you going to Continuum in Melbourne over the June long weekend?

If so, hopefully I’ll catch you there!

I found out what panels I’ll be on, and subject to last minute tweaking, you should be able to find me talking about Mothers in SFF on Saturday morning, Happily Ever Afters on Sunday afternoon & Regency-inspired SFF on Monday morning. I’ll post more details when they’re finalised, but I AM SO EXCITED FOR THIS!!!!

Conflux 14: The Unconventional Hero

 

conflux14-finaldateIt’s that time of year again! Yep, Conflux is next weekend.

This con is very dear to my heart – and not just because it’s my local SFF con and always has really strong programming aimed at writers. But it is a great opportunity to hook up with my tribe. If you’re new on the Australian spec fic scene (like I was, once!) it is the best place to connect with people involved in the SFF writing community from across Australia – not just writers, but editors, agents, publishers, the whole shebang.

Anyway, here’s where you’ll definitely find me over the course of next weekend:

Pre-con stuff:

Friday, 28 September

From 6pm King O’Malley’s pub in Civic: Welcome drinks to Conflux 14.

Conflux 14, the Vibe Hotel, Canberra Airport

Saturday, 29 September

9am – Opening Ceremony

9.30am – Hero cliches & how to make or break them, with Ion “Nuke” Newcombe, Sam Hawke & Louise Pieper.

1.30pm – The Unconventional Romance, with Keri Arthur and Freya Marske.

Sunday, 30 September

5.45pm – Launching A Hand of Knaves (squee!)

Monday, 1 October

11.45am – The Book Love Fest

1.30pm – When the dream comes true – what really happens when you get a deal with a big publisher? With Cat Sparks, Sam Hawke, Craig Cormick & Claire McKenna.

At all other times, try the bar first!!! And if you want to know what else is on, all the details are up on the Conflux website!

 

Sydney here I come!

If you are in Sydney this weekend you can catch me at your choice of Dymocks store!

(Pictures aren’t showing up 😦 but the links work.)

2.30pm Saturday, Dymocks George St

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11am Sunday, Dymocks Penrith

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I’m not excited… much! 🙂

Blog tour & launch pics

It’s about 10pm in the UK on Wednesday 2 May right now, but it’s early in the morning  on Thursday, 3 May, here in Canberra, Australia. Which is an exciting day, because that’s the day the hardback of The Beast’s Heart is released in the UK.

Squee!

Hodder are taking my Beast on a bit of a blog tour. Here are the dates!

The Beast's Heart Blog Tour Poster

And here’s a few pics of the launch here in Canberra last week, from my lovely colleague Amber O’Shea.

Two women sitting in front of a wall of bookshelves. They are immersed in conversation.
Angela Slatter asking me tricksy questions.

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Harry Hartog Booksellers thought they could only fit 80 people in the shop. As it turns out, they can get about 120 people in.

A woman sitting at a small desk with a book open in front of her. She is writing on the first page of the book. She is looking down at the book and smiling.
My partner gave me a lovely fountain pen to sign the books with. So I spent the entire evening terrified I was going to blot someone’s book. (Spoiler: it all ended happily ever after with no blots.)

A woman sitting at a table. She is holding a pen and has paused in the act of writing something in the book open in front of her. She is laughing.
What? They sold ALL the books? Every single copy?

It went brilliantly. We sold every copy of the book. O_o There wasn’t a single one left in the shop. James at Harry Hartogs closed off the RSVPs at 80, because he thought he could only fit about that many in the shop. As it turns out, he can fit about 120 people in the shop. (He was pretty happy with it all.)

And…

AND

My fave high school English teacher turned up.

It was a great night. Thank you to every one who came. I still feel giddy when I think about it.

What’s happening?

Rather a lot.

I have been super busy over the last few weeks, but here’s some important stuff.

1. Book launch

The Beast’s Heart will be published in Australia & New Zealand on 24 April and in the UK on 3 May and I am dizzy with excitement. Dreams coming true.

If you’re in Canberra on 26 April, I would love for you to join me at Harry Hartog Booksellers at 6pm to launch it. There will be cupcakes and bubbles, and one of my fave author crushes, the incomparable Angela Slatter, will also be there to help me launch it.

Want more info? Hit the pic of the giraffe below to go to HH’s events page. You’ll need to RSVP!

A giraffe stands above the text Harry Hartog Bookseller

2. Books!

Things are staring to get real. Really real. In the last week TWO boxes of books have turned up on my doorstep. First to arrive were the completely stunning trade paperbacks that will (as of next Tuesday) be available in all good bookstores:

A box full of paperback books, titled The Beast's Heart. The cover is decorated with shiny coppery ivy.

Then, two days ago, the box of hardbacks arrived from the UK. Yeah, my face was sore from smiling. Aren’t my book babies beautiful?

A box full of hard cover books, titled The Beast's Heart.

This box came with a card and a present that I am forbidden to open until Tuesday!!! ARGH! The agony!

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3. Workshop

Last Wednesday I ran a workshop at one of the local libraries here for their The Write Stuff series. It was for 2 hours and when they gave me the topic I nearly fainted: From idea to publication!!!

Just a small subject. There’s probably only about 20 workshops worth of material in that, not counting the actual business of actually doing the actual writing. Nevertheless, I rose to the challenge and even in the absence of a powerpoint presentation, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. I had fun, anyway.

What’s next?

The book launch next week! Followed by publication in the UK. *chews nails*

And I’ll be up in Sydney again on the first weekend in June, doing events at a couple of the Dymocks stores, and maybe something else if I can squeeze it in. You’ll definitely be able to find me at:

  • Dymocks Sydney (George St) at 2.30pm on Saturday, 2 June
  • Dymocks Penrith at 11am on Sunday, 3 June.

So if you’re in Sydney then, I’d love to see you.