So Much Writerly News

So much sparkly news at the moment. And all of it good.  

 

October 8^th marks launch day for Crime Factory’s latest anthology of crime short stories: ‘Hard Labour’. I’m pretty stoked to have a story in this one, alongside well-established crime writers such as Garry Disher, Leigh Redhead, Angela Savage, Peter Corris and David Whish-Wilson. I *think* there’s about seventeen of us all up. My story is called ‘A Forgiving Kind of Nature’ and is, admittedly, quite different to my usual form of crime writing. Back last year, when editor Andrew Nette (whose brand new novel 'Ghost Money' is now available here) first invited me to submit to the anthology, he made it pretty clear this was a no-holds-barred collection. I was encouraged to write dark and as dirty. As Lindy Cameron writes in her introduction to the anthology: ‘Take a good sharp blade to this anthology and let it bleed Aussie noir all over your floor’. So I wrote dark. There’s no back-handed humour or sarcasm – my usual go-to when I’m playing with murder. ‘A Forgiving Kind of Nature’ goes to the bleakest part of my psyche I could muster – particularly as a mother. It’s one of those stories where I wonder where my own brain goes sometimes. I do hope you enjoy it! Details of the launch can be found here and if you keep an eye on the website, details of how to get your mitts on the book if you’re unable to make the launch should be up soon.

Two of my favourite people in the entire world have new – and of course, awesome – books out at the moment. The gorgeous Karen Brooks has just released Illumination, the third and final book in The Curse of the Bond Riders trilogy. This door-stop of a book is propped up on my bookshelf with her predecessors, waiting for me to catch up on review books before I’ll allow myself to read it. I loved Tallow and Votive so much that Illumination is this year’s ‘reward book’.

Marianne Delacourt (aka Marianne de Pierres) has a sparkly new Tara Sharp novel in the wild. 

‘Stage Fright’ is also the third book, though it stands alone as well. Tara Sharp is smart, sassy PI who also happens to read auras and drive a Monaro. Need I say more? You can find out more info on Tara Sharp here, and you might just catch some of my reviews while you’re there. MdP is also the author of squillions (ok, that's an exaggeration) of other multi award-winning novels, including the Night Creatures trilogy - so far we have Burn Bright and Angel Arias to be thankful for, and come November, there will also be Shine Light to sink our teeth into.

If you haven't read any of Karen or Marianne's work before, I'm officially urging you to do so. Yes, yes, you can thank me later. With chocolate. Please.

Oh, and while you’re poking around the Tara Sharp website, you’ll see I got luckysince last I blogged and managed to get myself invited to a special breakfastwith True Blood / Sookie Stackhouse creator, Charlaine Harris. How lucky am I? Check the pic:

Now, last but not least on the professional side of life … I have a secret project brewing that I’m ridiculously excited about. I won’t say much for now, but it’s a shiny new story, and it already has a home with a publisher. What I will say is that I haven’t had so much fun writing a story in forever. No, it’s not another comedy (far from it) but I’ve been completely and utterly consumed by the characters and the world.

I’ve fallen in love.

And it feels like magic.