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Captive of the Corsairs - Elizabeth Ellen Carter

7/20/2017

4 Comments

 
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What are the key differences between corsairs and pirates?
The only difference is etymology. Corsairs is derived from the mid 16th century: from French corsaire, from medieval Latin cursarius, from cursus ‘a raid, plunder’. Corsair was a term used to describe pirates in the Mediterranean (the Barbary Corsairs) and in the Caribbean. Just think the movies could have been called the Corsairs of the Caribbean! I quite like the alliteration. 

Kit is a corsair; how does this help him achieve his goal?
Kit is a corsair in that he has acted like a pirate, but his targets are the Barbary raiding ships. He is also different from privateers in that he doesn’t have letters of marque from the British for his activities. He and his crew are on their own.

Can you share five fun facts about the Calliope, Kit’s ship.
a.The Calliope is a three masted schooner and a lot of the other schooners I researched had two masts. I chose a schooner because they could be crewed with relatively small numbers of men (about 15). I thought the number to be just right to keep their clandestine activities a secret.
b.The Calliope has some portholes – they were a feature not commonly found in ships prior to the latter half of the 19th century because the ship needed to be as water tight as possible, but since Kit has adapted the ship to his specifications, he had them added.
c.The Calliope is more heavily gunned than other ships of her type. She has a secret cannon on a lift running amidships and later on, thanks to Sophia’s research, she has another weapon – Greek Fire...
d.To get my head around where everything was on a ship, I used a schematic of the Beagle – the ship that took Charles Darwin to South America.
e.The Calliope wasn’t Kit’s first ship, it was the Terpichore, both ships are named after Greek Muses. 

In our present world, we know a lot more about other cultures than Sophia would have done. How challenging is it to write about the ‘Mussulman’ from her perspective, and how did you reveal the cultural differences without creating an unwelcome cultural bias?
Sophia is half Spanish and is well-aware of the history of the country of her mother’s birth. For nearly 800 years Spain was occupied or under siege by the Moors and Berbers which left its mark culturally and architecturally on the country and Sophia is well aware of this. And she is an archaeologist’s assistant with a passion for ancient history, so she has quite a pragmatic and realistic view of human nature.  
The stories of the Barbary Coast pirates and their devastating slaving raids across Europe have largely been forgotten but in Captive of the Corsairs but Sophia Green and her cousin, Laura Cappleman experience those differences up close and personal.
 
Kit has some awesome talents, forged in the fire of a terrible childhood. Do you think these skills ‘saved’ him?
I really enjoyed writing Kit. He’s not your typical alpha hero. In some respects he’s a bit of a Sir Percy Blakeney – he’d be considered a dandy or a fop under other circumstances. His childhood was over the moment the ship on which he was a cabin boy was attacked. His love of dance – and the flamenco in particular came as a result of being forced to perform as a köçek – a cross-dressing dancer, a common fate of attractive ‘dhimmi’ boys in the Ottoman Empire, particularly in the 18th and 19th centuries. I fleshed out some of Kit’s experiences based on reports I’ve read on bacha-bazi, boys sold into sexual slavery – horrifically, it is an Afghan practice that still goes on today and was powerfully depicted in the 2003 book The Kite Runner (which was turned into a film in 2007).
 
Flamenco is such a masculine and virile dance and indeed it may have saved Kit’s sanity, but what really save his life was his determination to be free and avenge what had been taken from him.
 
Kit wishes to forget his past, Sophia clings to hers and wishes to forget about her future. What is the key to bringing two such opposing points of view together?
It really was the case of opposites attract with these two. Kit lives life to the edge of chaos and sometimes a bit beyond that too. He is reckless and flamboyant, but it’s really all for show. In many respects, he’s still a lost boy. Sophia is all front as well, but it’s a different type. Outwardly she is reserved and shy – very much a wall flower, but internally she has passion, fire and drive.  I think Kit and Sophia instinctively recognise that in each other and that’s what brings them together.
 
Finally, I love Spanish dancing – the fire, the passion, and the absolute control. As a skill, it suits Kit so well. Did you have to do much research to write that wonderful dance scene?
I had so much fun watching YouTube videos of traditional flamenco dancing and describing what I saw – with help of a dance studio glossary of terms. I so wish I didn’t have two left feet, I’d love to be able to dance with such grace and skill. My favourite video is this one, from a 1950s film featuring Jose Greco, an absolute master – just watch him oh my! 
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4 Comments

Diamond Sky - Annie Seaton

6/29/2017

0 Comments

 
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Hi Annie, and welcome to All the World’s a Page. Thanks for visiting and sharing some of the inspiration for your wonderful Porter sisters series. I’ve read and loved each of them, and a big part of my enjoyment is how clearly you evoke the different landscapes of Australia. I feel as though I am in each environment.

  1. What initially drew you to the Kimberleys in Western Australia?
We were planning our winter trip a couple of years ago (still in our trusty canvas camper trailer in those days) and we looked at the map and decided to go somewhere new. I’d had a vague idea about a diamond theft as a plot and when we discovered we could fly into the Argyle diamond mine on a day tour, that decided us on our destination.

PicturePool at the Argyle mine
You visited the Argyle diamond mine as part of your research for Diamond Sky.  Did the story idea change at all when you saw the mine first-hand?

The story idea developed from my original intention. Seeing the mine first-hand, and seeing how the security worked, deepened my understanding of the process, and helped me to write accurately. Some of the more interesting points: if you are at the mine as a tourist, you are not allowed to bend down to pick up anything from the ground. So if you drop your pen, your tissue or your keys, you have to tell the guide. Do NOT bend down!
Apparently the biggest diamond found at Argyle mine was lying on the ground and was discovered embedded in a truck tyre! 

​Your descriptions of landscape are filled with sensory details. Do you make extensive notes during your research trips? How do you recall and recreate these details for your readers?

 I take very limited notes when we travel, but I do try to write the occasional travel blog.  I do find that when I revisit my handwritten notes, most of the time I can’t read my writing!
So I keep a photographic journal. Hundreds and hundreds of photos each trip. Those photos then comprise a pivotal part of my writing day as I put the words down, sometimes up to a year after the research trip. The photographs bring the sensory details back to me. The feel of the air on my skin, the smell of the landscape, the heat and the gritty dust all form a part of my character’s response to the landscape they are in.
A taster for you below, I can still hear the plovers mournful cry as I write this!
This time he kept his eyes on the scrub at the edge of the road as he pulled over. On his right to the west, flat saltpans broken only by clumps of mangroves glinted in the late afternoon sun, stretched as far as he could see. The salt flats were dry white cracked mud, so vast it created a mirage; the Cockburn ranges bordered them to the south, incredibly tall, brilliant orange sandstone rising to over six hundred metres. The occasional derelict and abandoned boat lay in the mangroves and the only movement were plovers scurrying across the tidal flats in search of food. A fragment of memory tugged at him; how did he know they were called plovers? 
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Diamond Sky takes us to Dubai. Tell us how your experience of this place enriched your story. 

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I visited Dubai as a stopover on the way to Europe last year with the express intention of experiencing the heat, smelling the smells of the city and the desert, and seeing the Ain (where Dru works in Dubai) in person. When I was writing the scenes in Dubai, it transported me back to the city... and the Dubai Mall where of course, I had to research the shopping. When you read Diamond Sky, you will see there is a scene or two set there. One of the best places I visited, and I wrote a couple of scenes there, was the amazing palm Jumeirah Hotel where there is an aquarium in the restaurant. Thirty-three thousand fish and guest divers as you eat!

Finally, and you knew I’d be asking this! What’s your favourite photo and favourite memory from this trip? 

My favourite memory is the diamond shopping, and the pink diamond that my dear husband bought me for a significant birthday while we were in the Kimberley. ​

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Thanks for having me, Susanne. I hope your readers enjoy reading Diamond Sky as much as I enjoyed the research and the writing.
Annie

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To purchase your copy of Diamond Sky, click on the link below:

​http://www.annieseaton.net/diamond-sky.html 
​

















The series ... 

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0 Comments

Her Outback Cowboy - 'humour, heart and hope' by Annie Seaton

6/18/2017

1 Comment

 
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Thanks for chatting with us today, Annie. I know how busy you are with two books releasing within a week of each other, and you're presenting a workshop at the Winton Outback Writers Festival this week. Great timing! And congratulations on the release of Her Outback Cowboy. 
 
Blurb: The last thing advertising art director Lucy Bellamy wants is to go home to the Outback, but duty to family calls. At least there’s one bonus—her first love, sexy cowboy neighbour, Garth Mackenzie, is there and the attraction between them is still explosive. But Lucy has no intention of getting stuck in this two-bit town and she counts down the days until she can go back to her real life. 
After an engineering degree and working in the mines of Western Australia, Garth has returned to the Outback and is home to stay. His goal is to settle down, start a family, and work his beloved land with the girl he’s always loved. But if it comes to Lucy choosing between the glamour of the city or making a home with him in the Outback—he’d lose, hands down.

  1. 1. Where did the idea for Her Outback Cowboy come from? Sitting around a campfire in the Pilliga Scrub quite a few years ago, I listened to the story of how the owners of the huge wheat and cattle property met and fell in love. It was in the days before I started writing, but the romance of their story stayed with me. A beautiful girl from Central London, meeting her very own outback cowboy, finding true love and following him back to the outback of New South Wales, and making a happy life and family together.​  In Her Outback Cowboy, that story became the back story of the grandparents of the four cousins who are summoned home. I loved including about Helena and Harry’s romance from many years ago, knowing it was based on a true story.
  2. There are four books planned for this series. What connects them?  The four cousins and their journey to love in the outback
  3. There are numerous differences in language between Australia and America. The use of ‘cowboy’, an American term, in the title is an obvious difference. Given this is an Australian setting with Australian characters, what factors determine the language ‘choices’ you have to make?  The language choices have been very interesting. As my US publisher is keen to make this an authentic Aussie ‘outback’ romance, they have opted to go for British spelling. As the books have been edited, the differences in vocabulary and perception has become very obvious to em. The common ones like ranch/farm/ property are to be expected, as well as cowboy/ station hand but there have been other phrases that the US editor did not understand. A good example is a phrase I included that something was ‘too good to knock back.’ The US editor said that would be interpreted as drinking hard liquor!
  4. ‘Prickle Creek’ is a delightful location name. What does the name promise in terms of the overall series?  Prickle Creek is the name of Helena and Harry’s farm and each of the cousin’s stories will be based at this location.
  5. What is the inspiration for the setting? Do you have photos of ‘Prickle Creek’?  I do! The photos that I have included were taken at the property (note not ranch!) where the book was researched and where the lovely romance of the 1970s  with the English rose and her outback cowboy actually occurred.
  6. Can you give us a sneak peak at book 2 in the series? Whose story will feature?  Book 2 is Liam’s story. Journalist Liam comes home from London and unexpectedly comes across his former girlfriend in the very last place he expects to see her. Book 2, at this stage called Her Outback Christmas will be out on 9th October. 

Buy links:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072M1JDW6/
 
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/her-outback-cowboy-annie-seaton/1126480579?ean=9781640631335
 
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/her-outback-cowboy
 
iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/her-outback-cowboy/id1244648665?mt=11
 
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35060375-her-outback-cowboy
 
Amazon AU: https://www.amazon.com.au/Her-Outback-Cowboy-Prickle-Creek-ebook/dp/B072M1JDW6
 
Amazon | B&N | Kobo | iBooks | Goodreads
 
 
Bio:
Annie Seaton lives on the edge of the South Pacific Ocean on the east coast of Australia She is fulfilling her lifelong dream of writing and has been delighted to discover that readers love reading her stories as much as she loves writing them. Annie lives with her own hero of many years. Their two children are now grown up and married, and two beautiful grandchildren have arrived. Now they share their home with Toby, the naughtiest dog in the universe, and two white cats. When she is not writing she can be found in her garden or walking on the beach... or most likely on her deck overlooking the ocean, camera in hand as the sun sets. Each winter, Annie and her husband leave the beach to roam the remote areas of Australia for story ideas and research. In 2014 Annie was voted Author of the Year and in 2015 was voted Best Established Author in the AusRomToday.com Readers' Choice Awards. Readers can contact Annie through her website annieseaton.net or find her on Face Book, Twitter and Instagram.
 
Author Website: http://annieseaton.net
Author Twitter: https://twitter.com/annieseaton26
Author Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AnnieSeatonAuthor/
Author Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5779458.Annie_Seaton
Newsletter sign up link: http://eepurl.com/LgfFH
​
1 Comment

Lemongrass Bay by Theresa Smith

5/3/2017

2 Comments

 
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When lightning strikes...
Emma-Louise and Rosie have been friends for life, their bond unshakeable. Both women are on the verge of a new life, a second chance at love and happiness, but the past is about to catch up with each of them.
A story of passion, resentment, secrets, and lies.

Welcome, Theresa! 
I love the cover of Lemongrass Bay and can't wait to read it. Congratulations on your upcoming release. 

Where does your inspiration come from for this story?

The inspiration for Lemongrass Bay initially came from a news story I read on the ABC news blog about a man who had been struck by lightning while standing on a beach in Darwin. He survived the lightning strike, but there were very few details about the condition he was in and I found myself churning that over in my mind, so much so, I was compelled to start googling lightning strike victims and it just went on from there.
The story I began to write though, was vastly different to what has ended up being Lemongrass Bay. I had set the original story in Darwin, in a seedy run down apartment block, with only two characters. At around the 20k word mark, I felt the story was depressing and couldn’t envisage making it any less so.

I took a break and put it away, determined to not force anything and consequently waste anymore time on a dead idea. Often when I’m in between projects or taking a writing break, I’ll begin watching a new TV series, and in this instance, I began watching Hart of Dixie, a quirky US comedy-drama set in a small town in the South. About half way through season 2, my mind started ticking over the idea of writing a quirky Australian novel set in a remote coastal town. I had visited Karumba up in the Queensland Gulf with my family the summer before and the location appealed to me as a setting. Having lived in Mount Isa, Queensland, for the last five years, I’m still often struck by that ‘small town feel’ remoteness gives to a town, no matter what its size.

Armed with this fresh inspiration, I returned to my manuscript, plucked out the lightning strike scene I had written, and canned the rest. The story has evolved over the last two years and there was a lot of research undertaken. When a person is struck by lightning, the effect on the body can be profound but also quite individual. Symptoms range and vary greatly, so I needed to find out what effects were plausible when deciding what challenges to bestow on my character who ended up unfortunately being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I was lucky enough to pick the brains of a person who has actually been struck by lightning, so that a was terrific opportunity for me in terms of anecdotal knowledge.

There were some legalities of a medical nature that I needed to look closely at and fortunately a local GP was more than happy to assist with those questions as well as shedding some light for me on what being a small town GP is really like. I’m fortunate to work in a high school so examining education in rural communities was made all the more easier, and issues of equity were addressed within the context of my own professional experiences and the data on ‘Closing the Gap’ that exists for anyone in the public to access. Research of a more quirky nature ranged from examining the behaviours of crocodiles to doing a gun versus rifle comparison. In each novel I write, there is always a character who struggles with mental illness. I’ve built up quite a library of resources now, but there’s always something new to uncover, so I never address these issues without delving deeper. I read an excellent memoir on PTSD that shed a light on this illness like nothing I’ve come across before.

There’s so much more to writing a book than simply writing. Personally, I love researching and I don’t think it’s possible to ever know everything so I relish the opportunity to dig deeper. I don’t always use all of the information I uncover, but it’s good to have options. I’d love to turn Lemongrass Bay into a series but haven’t committed to that yet. I’ll see what the readers think and if they demand more, I’m certainly open to it. 

Buy Links:
Amazon Australia

Kobo

iTunes 

Google Play Books

You can visit Theresa on her Blog and keep up with her news. She writes thoughtful and interesting reviews too, especially of Australian women writers's books. I've found some great reads after Theresa has shared her reading! 

Thanks for visiting, Theresa, and best wishes for your new release! 
 

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2 Comments

Historical world-building and Dark Heart

4/15/2017

3 Comments

 
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Elizabeth Ellen Carter shares the world of Dark Heart, a wonderfully detailed, gritty and suspense-filled historical set in the time of Imperial Rome. I had the privilege of early reading this story, and couldn't put it down.  

I might cop some flak for saying this, but I’d suggest writing a historical novel is twice the work of a contemporary.

Both stories require research but historical novels requires the author to get an understanding of the time, the place and the people. Contemporary authors have the advantage of not having to explain the time period. It is now. One picks up a phone, switches on a light, opens the fridge – no great descriptive detail needed and the plot can unfold.

For novelists wanting to go beyond 'the ball gowns and bling' of costume drama, to immerse their readers in the time period means being authentic to the time and place, even if it seems foreign to modern audiences.
Early on in Dark Heart, I have a scene where the hero Marcus, is in a wrestling match with a friend when a page came to deliver a message. As was the custom of the time, men wrestled naked and Marcus addressed the boy while naked.
I had writers competition feedback which said that scene made one of the judges feel uncomfortable, even though they understood that casual nudity was probably custom at the time.
As LP Hartley said in the opening of The Go-Between, ‘the past is a foreign country, they do things differently there’.
This is precisely the reason why historical accuracy in fiction is so important. It should challenge us to have a renewed appreciation for our past and reflect on the immutable aspect of human nature – that very thing that connects us with people of generations past.
To my mind, there are two things that make historical fiction work:
  • Great world building (all senses are engaged – you see what your characters see, feel what they feel, etc)
  • A story that is so authentic to the time period that as a reader, you don’t know what’s fact and what’s fiction
The greatest compliment an author can receive is to have someone so engrossed by your story that they read more about that particular time period afterwards and discover where the lines were blurred between fact and fiction.
Let's put the ledger together.
Here is what’s factual:
+ Maximinus Thrax
+ The political purges which destroyed Senators and targeted Christians in high
office
+ The threat of a tax strike by Carthage
+ Valentin, c'mon, I couldn't write a Roman-era historical romance without St
Valentine!
+ The Oracle of the Dead
+ Nero's library in Antium
+ Baiae
+ The buildings in Rome from the Temple of Jove and Templum Pacis through to the
high density Insulae.
+ The industrial mill in Janiculum Hill.
+ The Villa of Jove on Capri
+ Elagabalus
+ The ancient historians referenced – Cicero, Tacitus, Seneca, Galen
+ Women doctors
+ Post-mortems


The fictitious:
- All of the cast
- The cult of Elagabalus (although child sacrifice and sex cults were common)
 
Blurb
Rome, 235AD
A series of ritual murders of young boys recalls memories of Rome’s most wicked Emperor. Magistrate Marcus Cornelius Drusus has discovered the cult extends to the very heart of Roman society.
Despite his personal wealth and authority, Marcus is a slave to his past – conflicted by his status as an adopted son, bitterly betrayed by his wife and forced to give up his child.
Kyna knows all about betrayal. Sold into slavery by her husband to pay a gambling debt, she found herself in Rome, far from her home in Britannia. Bought by a doctor, she is taught his trade and is about to gain her freedom when her mentor is murdered by the cult.
When the same group make an attempt on her life, Kyna is forced to give up her freedom and accept Marcus’s protection. With no one to trust but each other, mutual attraction ignites into passion but how far will Marcus go for vengeance when he learns the cult’s next victim is his son?
Find out more
Dark Heart will be released on April 28 through Dragonblade Publishing. Stay in touch by following Elizabeth:
  • Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Elizabeth-Ellen-Carter/e/B00G05CW5K
  • Web: http://eecarter.com
  • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ElizabethEllenCarter
  • Twitter: https://twitter.com/EECarterAuthor
  • Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/eecarterauthor/
  • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elizabeth_ellen_carter/
  • YouTube Trailers: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=elizabeth+ellen+carter
  • Newsletter: http://eecarter.com/index.php/homepage/book-club/
 


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Excerpt
Marcus Cornelius Drusus landed on his back with a thud that nearly winded him. His opponent dropped astride and offered a savage grin.
“Your time in Rome has made you soft,” he growled.
Marcus gritted his teeth and dug his heels into the sand, shoving his hips upwards. The move unsettled the attacker. He used his advantage to dislodge Lucius, a man of equal age, size and strength, but battle-hardened after three months on Germany’s frontier.
Lucius fell to one side. Marcus found his feet.
“No, just more cunning,” he grunted. Finding a surge of power, he pushed his opponent hard in the chest. Lucius stumbled backwards. Marcus grabbed Lucius’ wrist. It was easy to pivot him around and bring him face down into the sand. Marcus landed his own weight across the man’s back, twisting his opponent’s arm high behind his back.
“Yield?”
He raised an eyebrow. Lucius twisted his head and gave him a sour expression. Marcus grinned. Before the vanquished could make further reply, a page boy sprinted through the palaestra toward them.
“Magistrate! Magistrate! The Captain of the City Watchmen wishes to speak with you urgently.”
Marcus heaved a sigh and looked down at his naked form, covered with sand from the wrestling pit.
“Now?”
The lad nodded. “He waits outside the Baths.”
He stood and offered his friend a hand. Lucius clasped it at the wrist, pulled himself up and thumped Marcus on the back.
“Shall I tell Mother and Livia you’ll be absent from dinner?”he asked.
Marcus instructed the boy to say the captain would have his presence shortly before answering his friend.
“No, I wouldn’t want to disappoint them. I’ll be there. I’m sure the captain’s report won’t take long.”
The boy sprinted back down the colonnades, but Marcus and Lucius followed at a more leisurely pace. Marcus halted at the entrance of the tepidarium.
Lucius raised his hand in farewell and headed towards the frigidarium – the cold baths were the customary first step for bathers, followed by the tepidarium, and then the caldarium – the hot baths – after which came the skin scraping and massage.
Duty calls. Marcus slipped into the tepidarium for a quick sluice down.
 

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3 Comments

The Rarest Thing: a beautiful story of life, love, and taking a chance on both

3/31/2017

3 Comments

 
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​Review: The Rarest Thing – Deborah O’Brien
 
Set against the backdrop of Australia in the 1960’s is this beautiful story of an expedition to discover another Burramys or pygmy possum in the wild. Thought to be extinct, the discovery of a live creature creates waves within the scientific community, and begins a journey that will change the lives of two lonely people.
 
Nature photographer, Scott King, is an unusual hero. He appears to have it all; a glamorous career that sees him travelling around the world photographing both wild animals and pristine wilderness. But there is a darkness in his past and a vulnerable man beneath the charming face most of the world knows. I won’t spoil the story by revealing why he is an unusual hero; suffice to say he has found ways to adapt and handle his issues.
 
Doctor of Paleontology, Katharine Wynter is a painfully shy academic, more at home with fossils than other humans. She has achieved academic honours in a field taken by few women in the world, let alone Sydney. Intelligent and caring, she hides her light from most people. What turned her from a happy, loving child into the frightened young woman who creeps around the Badham building becomes the challenge she must overcome. And Scott King is the man to help her find her inner strength.
 
Together, they search for the Burramys possum in Victoria’s High Country, and survive a severe storm, which is the beginning of life changes for Katharine, or Doc, as Scott calls her.
 
The writing is lyrical, the story, inspiring, and the characters, two ordinary people who are so much stronger together. Loved it! 

3 Comments

The Dry - a tension-filled read

3/14/2017

0 Comments

 
Review: The Dry – Jane Harper
 
#bookreviews #aussiereading #AWW2017 #contemporaryfiction  
 
Luke Hadler shoots his wife and son then turns the gun on himself.
 
So begins this gripping crime mystery, which cracks open secrets and lies in a drought-stricken outback community.
 
I read this book in a day. Each time I had to put it down to do a chore, my mind was still with Aaron Falk, a Federal Police officer and old friend of the dead man. Asked by the dead man’s parents to give them proof their son didn’t commit this monstrous act, Aaron remains in a town he fled from twenty years earlier, fighting his own ghosts and battling the circumstances surrounding his departure.
 
It’s difficult to say much about the story without giving elements away, but Harper structures this story in a way that reminds me of Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies. The present story develops as past events are slowly revealed. In a land stripped bare by drought, secrets are buried deep. Harper captures the setting very well; the flies, the heat, the moisture-sucking sun beating relentlessly on weary, hard lives. This is a community in denial, but which story is the harder to accept? Murder-suicide or a triple murder?
 
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Jane Harper is added to my automatic read list for future releases. 
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Taste a range of romances from the Melbourne Romance Writers Guild

2/10/2017

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16 authors, all part of MRWG (Melbourne Romance Writers Guild) have created a delicious sampler of 16 short romances. 

Love is a box of chocolates – treat yourself to a delicious assortment of sixteen romance flavours from new and established authors.
Firefighter Ryan Harper is a dark chocolate-coated orange cream. His rich, bitter shell hides a sweet and sumptuous centre that satisfies long after the final bite.
Detective Colt Callaghan is chilli-cherry swirl in decadent milk chocolate. He hides behind a gruff exterior, but underneath he’s sexy and sweet, with a shock of spice when you least expect it. 
Space Engineer Simon Dubois is a handmade truffle. Decadent and Indulgent. Dark chocolate caressing a ganache infused with earthy, sensuous Armagnac, and sweet succulent smoked pimento. A fusion of flavor, a frission of pleasure.
Taste of Romance is a collection of love stories and romance fiction from members of the Melbourne Romance Writers Guild. The anthology spans many facets of romance, from contemporary to historical, romcom to suspense, with heat levels ranging from sweet to erotic. These works are a celebration of the past 26 years of encouragement and support the Guild has given to romance authors as they journey toward publication and beyond. 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N115NAM/ref=series_rw_dp_sw

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Australian Women Writers Challenge

1/16/2017

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Six years ago, with the goal of reading and reviewing more books by Australian Women Writers, the Australian Women Writer’s Challenge began. It runs from the 1st January to the 31st December each year, but you can join at any time.
Within the challenge, there are four levels. The first three are named after prominent Australian Women Writers who have had an impact on Australian writing. They are:
  • Stella: read 4 – if reviewing, review at least 3
  • Miles: read 6 – if reviewing, review at least 4
  • Franklin: read 10 – if reviewing, review at least 6
  • Create your own challenge: nominate your own goal e.g. “Classics Challenge”.
Many readers have taken up the challenge, from blogger/reviewers such as The Book Muse, (thanks Ashleigh), to fellow authors, including the wonderful Theresa Smith, whose reviews of Australian women writers' books in 2016 encouraged me to take up the challenge. 

As this is my first year, and I read across a broad range of genres, I have decided to go with the Stella level.
 
So far, I have decided to read: 
The Good People by Hannah Kent (I thoroughly enjoyed Burial Rites) 
The Lake House by Kate Morton, and 
Nine Parts of Desire by Geraldine Brooks (non-fiction) 

I'll post on Goodreads with the hashtag #aww2017 as I complete the challenge, and add occasional reviews here. I'd love to know what Aussie women writers you're reading, and when you find a great book to share. 

Until next time! 

​Susanne

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There's magic in Christmas... and a thief to catch!

10/29/2016

2 Comments

 
My guest today is Elizabeth Ellen Carter with a delicious Christmas tale of magic and how to catch a thief! 
I know, because I was lucky enough to catch a sneak preview! 
 It’s magic!
There is something fascinating about magic tricks and conjuring.
Yes, yes, we know that it is sleight of hand and misdirection and we’re way too scientific and intelligent to fall for myth and magic but still, we’re fascinated.
In the words of The X-Files’ Fox Mulder, we want to believe. The Victorians certainly did.
The 19th century was filled with social and technological advances. Every modern convenience we have today, we owe in some way to the Victorians. But like a counterweight on a pendulum, the Victorians were also fascinated by magic, divination and the occult. That in itself is a intriguing contradiction and one we experience today.
Stage magic gives us the opportunity to experience wonder and delight – something which adults find in short supply, having exhausted a lot of natural wonder in childhood. It gives us permission to be surprised.
In the case of those inventive Victorians, magic tricks became more and more elaborate with inventions of the age – image projection and electricity, for instance. But there is no evidence the scientist Nikolai Tesla ever invented a replication machine as depicted in the fabulously complex and intriguing 2006 Christopher Nolan film, The Prestige in which Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman play 19th century magicians in a deadly game of one-upmanship.
Many of the tricks the Victorians found fascinating, still entertain us today. And who can resist spoilers? They were equally fond of revealing the mechanics of the trick as revelling in the illusion itself.
It’s one of the reasons why magic is a central element to The Thief of Hearts and combined with the magic of Christmas, and the popularity of detective stories, a new genre of fiction at the time, bringing all of those elements together was irresistible.
 
Blurb
December 1890
London, England
Some seriously clever sleight of hand is needed if aspiring lawyer Caro Addison is ever going to enjoy this Christmas.
To avoid an unwanted marriage proposal, she needs a distraction as neat as the tricks used by The Phantom, the audacious diamond thief who has left Scotland Yard clueless.
While her detective inspector uncle methodically hunts the villain, Caro decides to investigate a suspect of her own – the handsome Tobias Black, a magician extraordinaire, known as The Dark Duke.
He's the only one with the means, motive and opportunity but the art of illusion means not everything is as it seems, in both crime and affairs of the heart.
As Christmas Day draws near, Caro must decide whether it is worth risking reputations and friendships in order to follow her desires.
Author Bio
Elizabeth Ellen Carter is an award-winning historical romance writer who pens richly detailed historical romantic adventures. A former newspaper journalist, Carter ran an award-winning PR agency for 12 years. The author lives in Australia with her husband and two cats.
Buy Link
Amazon.com  - https://www.amazon.com/Thief-Hearts-Elizabeth-Ellen-Carter-ebook/dp/B01MAWBWI5
Amazon.com.au  - https://www.amazon.com.au/Thief-Hearts-Elizabeth-Ellen-Carter-ebook/dp/B01MAWBWI5
Amazon.co.uk - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01MAWBWI
Social Media Links
  • Web: http://eecarter.com
  • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ElizabethEllenCarter
  • Twitter: https://twitter.com/EECarterAuthor
  • Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/eecarterauthor/
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    Story elements surround us every day, from new places to a favourite piece of music or an odd moment witnessed in passing that becomes a scene in our work. On this weekly post, fellow authors will share some of what inspires their stories and their lives. Sit back and make yourself comfortable with the drink of your choice as the curtain rises. 

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