Brisbane Writers Festival – September

Posted on August 1, 2009 by Bron

The Brisbane Writers Festival program has now been published, and I’m thrilled to announce that I will be involved in two events during the Festival:

On September 10, I’ll be part of an author panel, ‘Romancing the Tone’ with wonderful historical romance authors Anna Campbell and Christine Wells.

On September 11, I’ll be leading a workshop on Romantic Intimacy for the Modern Reader. The workshop description is:
Love and lust, hopes and fears, vulnerabilities and strengths – this workshop explores, through practical writing exercises, your characters’ journey into a loving relationship. We’ll examine the different types and stages of attraction, emotional and physical intimacy and how these can be woven into a rich, compelling story.

There’s a full program of great events and workshops for the Festival, so if you’re in the Brisbane area, or planning to visit during Festival time, have a look at the website. Bookings are essential for most events, and some will fill up fast, so early booking is recommended.

I’m looking forward to participating in the Writers Festival. All in all, there’s a busy and exciting couple of months ahead, with the Academic Conference on Popular Romance and the Romance Writers Conference in August, and the release of Dark Country and the Brisbane Writers Festival in September. I’ve also just booked a few days in Melbourne in late August, where I’ll go to the Sisters in Crime Davitt Awards dinner, and also take the opportunity to attend a couple of events at the Melbourne Writers Festival. It’s not an ‘official’ trip – I’ll just be one of the ‘public’ at the MWF – but it will be pleasant to have a few days in Melbourne and to meet some of the Sisters in Crime members.

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Dark Country preview

Posted on July 31, 2009 by Bron

It’s now just a month before Dark Country will be released in Australia and New Zealand. Yes, I’m getting excited!

The official back cover description is:

Most people in the small town of Dungirri have considered Morgan ‘Gil’ Gillespie a murderer for eighteen years, so he expects no welcome on his return. What he doesn’t expect is the discovery of a woman’s tortured body in the boot of his car, and new accusations of murder.

Wearied by too many deaths and doubting her own skills, local police sergeant Kris Matthews isn’t sure whether Gil is a decent man wronged by life, or a brutal criminal she should be locking up. But she does know that he is not guilty of this murder – because she is his alibi . . .

Between organised crime, police corruption, and the hatred of a town, Gil has nowhere to hide. He needs to work out who’s behind the murder before his enemies realise that the one thing more punishing than putting him back in prison would be to harm the few people he cares about.

Kris is determined to help him, but will their search for the truth make her the next target?

For those who’d like a preview, you can now download Chapter 1 (.pdf file 408KB)  (And for Australian and NZ readers, it’s only another month before you can find out what happens next 🙂  )

As already mentioned, I am excited about this forthcoming release – but nervous, also. There’s been some great feedback about As Darkness Falls, so, like every author with their second book, I have moments of worry as to whether it will be received as well. However,  as I’m working on book 3, and preparing for two conferences in the next couple of weeks, I don’t have a lot of time to chew my fingernails and worry!

Posted in Book news | 2 Comments

Bits and pieces, here and there

Posted on July 21, 2009 by Bron

It’s hard to believe two weeks have slipped by since I last posted, but the date of my last post is staring at me, so it must be right. I cleared out my uni office last Tuesday, but didn’t have a lot of chance to draw breath before heading to Sydney on Thursday for some medical stuff. We’ll gloss over the medical stuff, which was fine but not fun, but it was great that my sister came up from Canberra to have the weekend with me, and despite assorted aching bits, we managed to do some strolling around the city, shopping and eating and generally enjoying the bright lights and bustle.It was also lovely just to have some time with her.

I flew home last night – and it is nice to be home, with days ahead in which I can concentrate on writing. Book 3 has been mulling in my mind for a while, but it’s time now to get serious words on paper – or at least, on screen. Now that the uni work is done, and Sydney visit over, that’s one of my priorities.

In book news, Dark Country is now at the printer – so I will have a copy in my hand in a few weeks! The official release date is September 1; it should be shipping to stores in the last week of August.

In more books news, Notebook magazine currently has a promotion  – at selected Newspower newsagents (sorry, I don’t know which ones!) As Darkness Falls is being given given away with a purchase of the August edition of Notebook. I haven’t seen it anywhere yet, but would love to know where the giveaway can be found – so, if you’ve seen it, please let me know!

And speaking of giveaways, it’s my turn to post today on the Nobody Writes it Better blog. My post is about Places – everyone who comments over there will go into a draw to win a signed copy of As Darkness Falls. So hop on over during the next 24 hours or so, and you could be in with a chance to win 🙂

The next few weeks will be busy; my conference paper proposal for Popular Romance Studies conference in Brisbane next month was accepted, so as well as working on book 3, I have a paper to finish: The Heart of the Matter: Representations of Love in Romantic Fiction.

Well, it’s getting close to sunset, so time now to take the dogs for a walk – although they’re both sleeping in their baskets so peacefully, it seems a shame to wake them!

Posted in Book news | 7 Comments

Morning frost

Posted on July 6, 2009 by Bron

Gordon’s away for a couple of days, so I’m on morning dog-feeding and walking duty. This morning we recorded a temperature of -4 degrees Celsius on the front porch – and there was definitely a frost coating the paddocks! Here’s a few photos, taken while the dogs sniffed around at interesting smells while we walked:

Frost in the west paddock

Frost in the west paddock

Morning frost on native blackthorn leaves

Morning frost on native blackthorn leaves

Frost on eucalyptus leaves

Frost on eucalyptus leaves

As we were walking back to the house, down by our little dam, I saw something unusual hanging from a clump of native mistletoe on a eucalypt. Closer inspection revealed this:

Caterpillars

Caterpillars

I’ve never seen anything quite like it before – I’m not sure what type of caterpillars they are.

The forecast for tomorrow morning is only for -1,  but as I was well-rugged up this morning, and didn’t feel the cold too badly, I should be fine tomorrow.

Posted in General, Landscape, Life, Photos | 3 Comments

Saturday miscellany

Posted on July 4, 2009 by Bron

A quick-round-up of bits and pieces from the past week or so:

My university job finishes up next Friday, and although I’ve enjoyed many aspects of it, it’s been a heavy load, so I am looking forward to being able to concentrate full-time on writing and life in general after that. I still have a large pile of assignments to mark over the next couple of days, though, so it’s not over yet – but I am on the count down!!

We had a wonderful visit from cousins I haven’t seen for many years on Tuesday night. It was lovely to catch up and spend long hours over dinner and well into the evening talking with them. We’ve seen other family members every few years, but not them, however in recent months we’ve connected again via Facebook, which has been a great way to keep in touch and renew the bonds.

Of course, for a couple of days before they came, I kept busy mounting an archaeological dig in the guest bedroom, excavating the guest bed from underneath piles of papers and books, and cleaning up the site room ready for them. However, that’s now done (mostly – we won’t mention one pile of unsorted papers stuffed into the new filing cabinet) and now that I have two filing cabinets, I’m hoping it will be easier to keep tidy.

Our next lot of guests arrive tonight – my brother-in-law and my niece and nephew. My niece is going to stay for the week, while the others head up to Queensland for a few days, before coming back through and picking her up on the way home. My niece is now 18, at uni, and has just today got her driver’s licence – and I’m looking forward to spending some time with her. Gordon is off to Queensland as well, for a conference for the week, so Lauren and I will have girl-time together.

Our major drama for the week was the discovery on Monday that our two vehicles had been attacked and damaged – by a rat! Yes, you read that right. A rat (or rats) have been munching on the various rubber hoses and plastics around the engines in both vehicles, although Godon’s was by far the worst affected – to the point of being undriveable, as there was coolant leaking out at a great rate when he set off on Monday morning. So, we had to wait for a tow-truck to come and take his LandCruiser in for repairs. Fortunately, mine isn’t as badly munched, and although there’ll be some repairs, it’s not urgent, and can wait until next week. In the meantime, we’ve been putting out rat poison, which we don’t really like doing, but don’t have other options.

Speaking of Gordon, he’s been putting up photos from our outback trip on his photoblog – he posts one per day, so if you’d like some sense of our travels, hop over and have a look. Or try the direct link for the outback series. I still haven’t gone through my photos properly yet – it’s on my (long) To Do list – maybe after next week!!

And, in book news, it’s now less than two months until Dark Country hits the book shelves. I’m starting to get quite excited – and a little nervous!

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