Solaris, my publisher, is having an Advent Calendar, where ebooks go up on sale for a short time. You can find a copy of The King’s Bastard here for only 99p. (From this I suspect it is only available for those readers in the UK, although it does say, the book is available in Amazon, iBooks, Google Play and Kobo).
And here is the super cool, updated covers from the new Solaris Classics line.
Many thanks to the guys at Solaris/Rebellion!
Filed under E-books, Fantasy books
I came home from the shops (which is a bit of a trek now that I live in the wilds of Tasmania) to find a note in my letter box saying there were parcels to pick up from the post office. I thought it would be the possum trap we’ve ordered.
Here I digress…
Over winter the possums have eaten the bark of several of the fruit trees and then they ate two little azaleas that I planted. I thought azaleas would be safe since they haven’t eaten others. I was wrong. So it wasn’t the possum trap (in case you are worried, we intend to drive down to the river which is part of a national park and let the possum go so it will be a pig in mud, rather than making a pig of itself in our garden).
The parcels were… drum roll … my copies of Solaris Classic KRK, All FOUR books. I was expecting book one but I should have realised Solaris would send all four books since they were being printed together, so they could be released a month apart.
The updated covers look terrific. Here they are on the kitchen table. Kudos to Clint Langley for the wonderful artwork.
You’ll notice on book two there’s a sticker letting people know that Garzik’s novella, The King’s Man, is included at the end of book two. Great news, for all those readers who contacted me wanting to buy a print version.
And then I turned the books over and discovered the layout artist had done something really clever. Ta Da!
They’ve used silhouettes from the front covers. Very graphic, very nice. So kudos to the graphic designer at Solaris for this!
And now I’m all set up to do the GoodReads giveaway for book one which starts on the 24th of September and runs until the 30th of November. (Will see if I can add a link to the giveaway when it goes live). Must get to work on all the blog posts I promised as well.
See here where the Fantastical Librarian interviewed me. Thanks to the lovely Mieneke.
I just heard that Solaris are having a 25% off all Epic Fantasy.
So if you were thinking of trying a new author or you’ve read one of my books and want to pick up the rest, drop over here.
I was trying to get a screen shot of my books, but it looks like they are all mixed up with other books, not sure why. Here’s they are in very good company!
Filed under Fantasy books
Solaris have sent me the Fall of Fair Isle cover, artwork by Clint Langley. (Release date: March 2015) This is an omnibus reprint of my original trilogy, which was published 1999 – 2003.
This trilogy is set 600 years after The Outcast Chronicles:
And tells the story of Imoshen, named after Imoshen the First of Fair Isle. When her island is conquered she must find a common ground with the invading Ghebite general, Tulkhan, to save her people from oppression. To add to her troubles, her betrothed who she believed dead, has survived. Like Imoshen, Reothe is a throwback to the original T’En and he is determined to win back his island home and the woman he loves.
The story is both intimate and epic. Unlike many books The Fall of Fair Isle starts after the great battle and follows Imoshen’s struggles as she maneuvers to preserve the peace without compromising her ideals.
For a long time it was hard to get copies of book three of the trilogy, now thanks to Solaris it will be released with a brand new cover that captures the intrinsic conflict, one woman’s battle to preserve her people’s way of life.
Filed under Australian Writers, Covers, Fantasy books, Female Fantasy Authors
The King part:
Solaris are doing a ‘Start a Series’ promotion, selling the first book (e-book) for 99c this weekend. They’ve selected The King’s Bastard from King Rolen’s Kin series. (You can find it here).
I don’t want to get into the great debate about the difference between cat people and dog people. We’ve always had cats but our daughter has bought a Pug. He’s actually a Jack Russel crossed with a Pug so he’s a Jug, (a rescue dog 13 mths old).
Of course, he thought the cats were put in the house for his entertainment and they weren’t impressed. It was not that he wanted to hurt them, he just wanted to play but the cats didn’t understand. So they are now outside cats (with a very comfortable insulated shed to sleep in) and Manny the Jug is now an inside dog. Here he is at the dog park with our eldest daughter.
Manny the Jug at the Dog Park
No more sleeping in my desk drawer, little black cat.
Ninja Cat
No more getting in the way as I type, Sassy cat.
Colour coordinated cat
Filed under Cats, Fantasy books, Fun Stuff
If I could just download the story straight out of my head…
Ran into a friend at work yesterday who said he’d dropped by my blog and I hadn’t posted anything for a while. He was quite right. I must admit to juggling too many balls in the air.
I think as adults we have to be responsible, hold down a job, pay the bills, look after elderly relatives, give emotional and financial support to children who are just branching out into adult life and, quite rightly, this is just what grown ups do. In between all this I’ve been trying to squeeze in working on a writing project just for myself, for fun.
Writing is a creative process that requires a lot of hard slog. There’s the actual hours spent at a computer, which is really bad for your health. Then there’s the challenge of pulling a story out of the subconscious while all around you things are clamoring for attention and the challenge of holding all the threads of a narrative in your head while doing the washing, dashing to the shops, writing lectures, marking assignments and sorting out family dramas etc.
I’d been meeting this challenge while writing to deadline for four years now, so I gave myself permission to take a step back and write for the love of it. I felt I needed something fresh, set in a new world with new characters and challenges.
It’s a bit like taking an adventure holiday with a new group of friends.* Creativity should be fun.
So that’s what I’ve been doing.
What do you do to give yourself a mental break and have some fun?
* I promise I will get back to KRK and the OC. I have plans for those characters.
Filed under creativity, Obscure and Interesting
Off to Supanova today and tomorrow. Cheryse and I had heaps of fun yesterday.
Here we are all set up with our books.
Will be in the RICC building, in Artist’s Alley (booth 191). We Artists are underneath the Signing Hall.
And here we are thinking about running away with the Doctor. (They were still setting up at this point, hence the ladder etc).
Today Chris McMahon will be joining us. I’ve known Chris since way back in 1997 when he joined the Vision Writers group so we’ve been through the upheavals of trying to write, while looking after our families. Today he’ll be bringing along copies of his Jakirian Cycle. A little while ago I was teaching my UNI students and one girl mentioned this really cool book she’d found by a Brisbane author but could never find the rest of the trilogy. Turned out it was Chris’s first book, The Calvanni. Small world.
Hope she sees this and comes to Supanova.
‘Think Kill Bill meets Dune . . . Heroic Fantasy in world of ceramic weapons where all metal is magical . . .’
So if you’re coming to Supanova, drop by and say Hi!
I only discovered this because I saw the Helen Lowe (who I interviewed here when she won the Morning Star Award with her first book) was on the short list for the Gemmell Award with her new book The Gathering of the Lost. Congratulations, Helen!
Then I thought I’d drop by the Ravenheart Award page to see which covers had made it to the short list and to my delight Clint Langley’s wonderful cover of Besieged is on the short list!
Congratulations Clint and kudos to Solaris for appointing Clint to do the covers.
It’s been a crazy busy year with ups and downs but here it is at last, book four of King Rolen’s kin, King Breaker, looking very cool, thanks to Clint Langley!
As Bernard from Black Books says, ‘You’ll laugh, you’ll cry. It’ll change your life.’ (You’ll have to imagine the Irish accent).
But seriously, big sigh of relief.
Filed under Covers, Fantasy books
Very excited for Clint Langley. His beautiful cover for Besieged is on the Ravenheart, Gemmel short list!
Congratulations to everyone on the shortlist!
Filed under Awards, Covers, creativity, Fantasy books, Fun Stuff
