Tomorrow is the first day of January 2014. 2013 was a good year for me. I had two books published and their reception was good in most cases. Most people seemed to enjoy reading The Heir, so much so that they were begging me for its sequel, The Crown, and now they have been asking when they can expect the release of The Reign. It’s May 2014, just so you know. 😉 The release of both books brought with it a whole bevy of new responsibilities in the area of marketing. Suddenly I found myself talking about my books online […]

Tomorrow is Christmas Day. Living in Australia means that we are one of the first to celebrate Christmas, as it comes to the southern hemisphere before the northern one. In one way this is good, as it makes my wait shorter, but in another way, it’s bad, because it means that Christmas is over sooner. I love Christmas. I love the preparations for it: putting up the tree, putting up the lights, buying presents and wrapping them. I love the day itself too. It’s fun to spend time with family and give them a little something to remind them that […]

I love pretty much everything about Christmas. I love the birth of Jesus, which I remember at Christmastime, I also love the trees and decorations and presents and big meals and eating too much. It’s all great fun, as far as I’m concerned. There’s only one thing about Christmas that I don’t like: shopping. I hate going to the shopping centre at this time of year. It’s always busy, even in the early morning (I always try and go early to avoid the crowds). People also seem to be a lot grumpier at the shops this time of year. Maybe […]

Christmas is coming, had you noticed? I have, especially when we put the Christmas tree up! It’s also clear Christmas is coming when I race around to write all my cards and buy gifts, sending them to those I need to send them to and keeping them on hand for the wonderful celebration that is Christmas. There has been another thing on my ‘to do’ list this year: to do as much as possible. I know that seasons like this are a common time for people to buy books. Books make great gifts. They’re a handy size if you need […]

Traditionally, I have received the impression that in most trilogies the second book is the weakest link. I have certainly read some books where this is a problem. This was one of the reasons why I was nervous about the response to the second book in the Verindon trilogy, The Crown, which is now available. However, I now have another fear building. In my journeys through various sci-fi, fantasy and dystopian fandoms, it seems that lately, in the book world, it is the third book that has been the most disappointing. The Hunger Games and Divergent are two examples which […]