I have consulted the Oracle… er, I mean, I invited the wonderful Valerie Parv to judge the entries and she has contemplated them and sent me her decision:

As you predicted, it was quite hard to separate the entries. In the end I looked for a complete story with a beginning, middle and end, and a sense of plot, a lot to cram into 55 words. I kept coming back to Shayne’s entry, Foiled, which satisfies all the above with a plot, intrigue, deception…and dogs. How can you not love a dog story?

Second is Jane’s Celeste’s Redemption, beautifully written, a little gem complete with yarn for Bron

Third is Sandra Harris’s topical Explosion, vivid, concise and exciting with a kick-azz heroine.

If we had a highly commended, it would go to Azteclady’s delightful non-entry. She could teach writers a thing about editing even at age three!

Congratulations, Shayne, Jane, and Sandra! And Azteclady, too!

Shayne, you get first choice and can pick one book from the prizes. Jane, you can make your choice from the remaining two, and Sandra, you’ll receive the third book. The prize books are:
Helene Young’s romantic suspense, Border Watch,  Joanna Sandsmark’s delightful The Wisdom of Yo Meow Ma, and my romantic suspense, Dark Country.

I wish we could give more prizes, as I thoroughly enjoyed reading all the entries. So thank you, again, to all the entrants.

Coming up in the next week or so, I’m planning to have two more special blog guests – Valerie Parv herself, an amazing woman who has written more than 50 romances for Harlequin/Mills & Boon/Silhouette, and is an international bestseller, as well as a wonderful mentor to aspiring writers. And I’ve also invited Joanna Sandsmark to visit – author, voice actress, musician, comedy teacher – Joanna has so many talents she is an inspiration. So please keep an eye out for the upcoming guest posts!

July is also the month – although not until the end of the month – that the winners of the Daphne du Maurier Awards, and the RITA Awards, are announced. Dark Country is a finalist in both, which I am still very excited about – and excitement is also building across romance blogs, as the date draws nearer. I’m visiting the Romance Writers of Australia blog today, talking about the RITA nomination, and over at the Sisterhood of the Jaunty Quills blog later today, Robyn DeHart is highlighting the finalists in the romantic suspense category of the RITAs.

Given July is a good month, I figured it’s time for a celebration. Some years ago, my good friend Kate Rothwell held a few Fast Fiction contests – and they were a great deal of fun! So, what better way to celebrate good stories than having a Fast Fiction contest here?

What’s Fast Fiction, you ask? It’s a story – with a beginning, a middle, and an end – told in just (for this contest) 55 words. Yep, 55 words! Or less… but not more!

My friend, the wise and talented Valerie Parv, has agreed to judge the entries, and as I have some spare copies of some friends’ books, I have not one, not two, but three prizes to give away!

The prizes are:
A signed copy of Dark Country;
A copy of Helene Young’s fantastic romantic suspense novel, Border Watch; and
A copy of Joanna Sandsmark’s wonderful whimsical book, The Wisdom of Yo Meow Ma

Because I know many of my blog readers already have my book, the winner will have first choice from the three books above, the first runner-up will have second choice, and the third runner-up will receive the remaining book – but they’re all great!

So put your thinking caps on, get those fingers typing or writing, and start composing your entries! To enter, post your 55 word story in the comments. You can enter as many times as you like, and you have until next Friday, 16th July Saturday 17th July, to get those stories in. A title is optional, but if you have one, it’s included in the 55 word limit.

I’m looking forward to reading them!

Edited to add: As usual, anyone can enter, no matter where you live on the planet, and I will respect your privacy and won’t sell, giveaway or otherwise misuse your email address. Oh, and copyright remains with you, although by entering you do agree to have your Fast Fiction show in the comments section, and if yours is one of the winners, I may post it in a blog post announcing the winners.

To give you some examples, I’ve posted below the fold a couple of ones I wrote for Kate’s contests, a few years ago.

Forgiving.

“This is for you.”

Her mother’s silver brooch, tarnished, like the memories. From the Other Man. The home-breaker.

“She loved you,” he said.

“She left us for you.”

“Yes.” Not pride, only sadness.

“Was she…happy?”

“Without you, never entirely.”

“But you loved her.”

“Yes.”

Cool metal, against her fingers. Perhaps it could be polished.

Legacy

She wove her love into a blanket. Blue for the sky. Yellow for the sun. Wool for warmth.

Long past his childhood, he kept it still, although faded and worn with age. Made for him, because he mattered. Always wrapping him in love.

He chose blue and yellow for his own son’s blanket.

Maybe G and I will have to organise a special dinner out later this week… especially since it’s his birthday this weekend

In the meantime, as the RITA nomination is drawing interest from readers here and overseas, but my books aren’t (yet) published in the US, I think a celebration giveaway is definitely in order! And, because I have some spare copies of the UK editions, there’ll be more than one chance to win

The prizes? Two winners will each receive signed copies of As Darkness Falls AND Dark Country; and two runners-up will receive a signed copy of Dark Country.

Who can enter? The giveaway is open to anyone on the planet, as long as a postal service delivers to you.

So, how to enter? Download the first chapter of Dark Country and find the answers to the following two questions:
1) What does Kris put in the boot (trunk) of Gil’s car?
2) What social event is going to be held in Dungirri on Saturday?

Submit your answers, using the form below, before 11pm (Australian time) on Tuesday April 27 – which is 9am on the Tuesday morning, Eastern US time. But please, be fair, and only submit one entry per person!

I’ll draw the winners on Wednesday 28th, and notify them by email, as well as announcing on the blog.

The form does ask for your email address, but I promise that I do respect your privacy, and will only use your email to notify you if you are one of the winners. I will not sell, giveaway, publish, or use your email address for any other purpose.

Edited 28 April – This contest is now closed.

The four of us – Fleur McDonald, Helene Young, Fiona Palmer, and I – now have a FaceBook page: Australian Outback Romances and Mysteries. If you’re on FaceBook, please visit and say hello, and become a fan of our page, so that you can keep up with the news from all four of us.

I mentioned Helene’s new release, Border Watch, a couple of posts ago – and Fleur has a new book out in April, Blue Skies. So, to celebrate Fleur’s and Helene’s new releases, we’re running a Treasure Hunt Giveaway.

We’re giving away a collection of not one, not two, not three, but FOUR signed books to one lucky winner! The books are:
• Blue Skies, by Fleur McDonald
• Border Watch, by Helene Young
• The Family Farm, by Fiona Palmer
• Dark Country, by Bronwyn Parry

Two runners up will each receive a signed book; the first runner-up can choose one book from the four, and the second runner-up can choose one book from the remaining three.

So, how do you enter? It’s a treasure hunt, so you need to find the answers to four questions – the answers can easily be found in the first chapters of each book, which you can find by clicking on the link on the book title. The four questions are:

1. In Fleur McDonald’s Blue Skies, who was with Amanda, when she heard the terrible news?

2. In Helene Young’s Border Watch, what is the name of the snack bar caretaker who greets Morgan and Sam when they are out for their early morning run?

3. In Fiona Palmer’s The Family Farm, what did Izzy’s mum have in her gold locket that hung around her neck?

4. In Bronwyn Parry’s Dark Country, what did Kris put into the boot (trunk) of Gil’s car?

When you’ve found all four answers, come back to this post, and submit your entry. Entries close at midnight on Friday, March 26th, Eastern Australian time (about 9am Friday morning, US Eastern time). We’ll draw the winner and two runners-up from the correct entries.

Wherever you live on the planet, as long as there’s a postal service, you’re eligible to enter – but please, to keep it fair, only one entry per person!

The form requires your email address, but we do respect your privacy and we will not publish, sell, giveaway, or do anything annoying with your email address – we’ll use if only for notifying winners.

Thanks for playing along with us – good luck in the draw!

Edited 27 March: This contest is now closed.

For a chance to win a SIGNED copy of Dark Country, in 25 words or less tell us who you consider the most romantic Aussie couple and why. It can be a book, film, real-life story, or you can make up your ultimate Aussie romance.

You need to enter over at BookThing, in the comments section of the review post, by midnight Friday Sydney time. I’m enjoying reading the entries, so do go and join in the discussion.

I’d find it hard to enter, though – there are too many Aussie romantic couples I love! From the classics – Meg and Alan from Ethel Turner’s Seven Little Australians, and other books; Norah and Wally from Mary Grant Bruce’s Billabong books; and of course there’s also CJ Dennis’ The Sentimental Bloke and his Doreen – a little different from the previous two, being written in colloquial language, for adults, by a male writer, about a rough, working-class larrikin from Melbourne’s back streets, but wonderful and touching as The Bloke falls head over heels for Doreen.

Then there’s also D’Arcy Niland’s Call Me When the Cross Turns Over – the Cross in the title referring to the Southern Cross constellation – with it’s story of Barbie Cazabon and Jack ‘Fascinatin’ Kippilaw. These are two great characters, neither of them perfect, but definitely a great match, despite the trials they endure before they finally work it all out. The book is out of print now, but if you like Australian literature from the 1950s, it’s worth checking second-hand book shops for it.

As for real-life romantic couples, since I was a small child, I was always inspired by my aunt and uncle, Eileen and Arthur:

This is a photo through glass of a scan of a photo – but aren’t those smiles just beautiful? In my memory, they were like that all the time – aware of each other, devoted to each other, and showing that love constantly in many ways. Much older than my parents, they had grandchildren around my age, and it was wonderful a few months ago when one of the grandchildren and his wife came and stayed with us – and they smiled at each other in just the same way

So, I fired up the Random Number Generator, and asked it to pick a number:

And the sixth subscriber on the newsletter list has an email address that begins with ‘atkinsongra’. Congratulations to the winner! I’ll send you an email and you can choose which prize option you’d like – a signed copy of each of my books, or a combination of book and/or book voucher.

I’m not quite sure where October went – whoosh! – but I did promise a giveaway draw for subscribers to my newsletter, as something of an apology for the newsletter software snafu in September. So, on Sunday, I’m going to draw one name from the list of subscribers, and that person will win their choice of a signed copy of BOTH my books, OR, if they already have both books, a gift certificate from a bookseller of their choice ($30US/$40Aus), OR a combination of a book plus a gift certificate ($15US/$20Aus). If you’d like to sign up for my newsletter, you can do so here (or click the link at the top of the page). I send out a maximum of one newsletter per month, and I respect your privacy and abhor spam, so I’ll never giveaway or sell your email address.

In general news, things have been quietly busy here. Most of my time is focused on writing book 3, which is moving along, although a little slower than I’d like. The hero, Mark, has been proving a little elusive; there’s a lot underneath his controlled public face, but he’s reluctant to let anyone see it. However, I’m now getting to know him much better, and finding out many interesting things about him – and so will the heroine, Kate

So, I’d better get back to it, and settle in for, I hope, a productive day of writing! I’ll leave you with a few images from my recent morning walks. Our driveway is almost a kilometre long, so down to the gate and back is a reasonable amount of exercise. This morning, though, I hitched a ride with Gordon when he left for work, and hopped out another kilometre down our road, to walk back home. The combination of recent rain and warm spring weather has given a burst of green growth – but I’m sure it will brown off very quickly.

Down the driveway

Old farm cottage

The neighbours cattle - who see few pedestrians!

Wendy reviewed As Darkness Falls last year, and enjoyed it, so I suggested to my publisher that they send her Dark Country – which they did. Wendy has just posted her review of Dark Country – and it’s a great and positive review. Thanks, Wendy, for taking the time to read, and review, my books!

In an email discussion with Wendy before her review went live, we decided to offer a giveaway on her blog. Since most of her readers are from north America, and aren’t likely to find my books in the local bookshop, we’re giving away a copy of both As Darkness Falls AND Dark Country to one lucky commentor. So, if you’d like to be in with a chance to win, hop on over to Wendy’s blog and leave a comment there. The giveaway will be drawn next Wednesday, 21st October.