I’m thrilled to announce I’m included in the 2022 Ditmar Awards Nominations. There is such a fabulous variety of works nominated this year.
Presentations will be held at Conflux Convention in September/October.
I’m nominated for Best New Talent and my LGBTQI dystopian alternate history novella Bluebells is nominated in Best Novella or Novelette.
Congratulations to all the nominees and can’t wait to celebrate everything Australian speculative fiction at Conflux.
Join me and author of Rarkyn’s Familiar Nikky Lee for a virtual book launch March 9th 19:30-20:30 AEDST (+11:00 UTC) for The Devil and the Loch Ard Gorge. A belated launch due to my extended illness but it’s finally time to celebrate this gothic horror novelette.
The virtual launch will be held live on Facebook and will remain available as a recording on my Facebook page. Nikky and I will discuss all things gothic horror, hauntings, traditional gothic literature and the history behind the ill-fated Loch Ard shipwreck in 1878 off the infamous southern Australian shipwreck coast.
The virtual book launch can be accessed here.
SIGNED copies of the The Devil and the Loch Ard Gorge are available for purchase via my Shop or kindle and paperback on Amazon here. SIGNED bookplates are also available from my Shop for overseas customers where postage from Australia is unfortunately prohibitive.
Hope to see you there and join the online discussion or via the discussion board!
A very late posting of the offical launch of Bluebells on October 2nd, 2022 at Conflux 16 Convention in Canberra. The book launch which had been delayed due to my health issues and extended hospital stays. So this was time to celebrate!
We kicked off the launch with Zachary Ashford giving a great introduction to my writing career and focus so far: I’m an LGBTQI and disability author of numerous short stories in the horror and dark fantasy genres. Bluebells was my debut novella.
Zachary had a couple of questions on what inspired me to write Bluebells. The answers ranged from climate change, an interest in WWI, vampires and the Black Death and ‘Spanish fever’. Alternate history had always fascinated me and the question in my mind became what if the world had fallen into a post-apocalyptic state during WWI? What if the future we know, never happened?
Zachary invited me to do a quick reading from Bluebells. I chose a passage near the end where the vampire Nicolas confronts and debates his humanity alongside his vampirism.
A book signing and purchase option for copies of Bluebells followed and I had a lovely time meeting new and old friends while I signed copies.
An updated and quality full-colour paperback of the second edition of my illustrated chapbook and ebook Dark Christmas were released on February 15, 2023.
Dark Christmas marks the first in my new chapbook series Quick Bites Chapbooks published under my imprint Quill Lore. These chapbooks are a combination of short stories or microfiction on a theme. And, each reimagining, retelling or story inspired by a specific aspect of the chapbook theme has quality colour illustrations related to the story.
More details on how to purchase Dark Christmas here. You can also buy SIGNED COPIES directly from Shop.
A very late post on the October 2022 Conflux 16 Speculative Fiction Convention held in Canberra. Aside from being an invited panelist for 4 seperate panels, I ran my first Dealers Table for the four days and officially launched Bluebells.
I was also an invited panellist on 4 panels – each exciting to engage with an audience and discuss the theme in question with other likeminded writers.
“Queering Fiction” was a wonderful discussion about how authors create characters with a LGBTQI identity – or how authors like Sam Hawke create an entire world where sexuality is fluid and accepted.
“Re-imagining Horror in a Pandemic” was a great lineup of panelists discussing how the pandemic affected them as writers but also how the wider public changed perceptions and fear became a driver of society. For horror writers, fear is the driver of a story. Many ideas were exchanged on whether horror writing would become more or less popular and certainly Fantasy seemed to be the main genre read during pandemic lockdowns.
“Including Disability in Fiction” was such an important panel that like the queer community, characters with disabilities are often absent, stereotyped or in the background of a storyline. This panel explored what writers living with disabilities experience and want to see more of in fiction and from their own writing.
“Climate Change: Past and Future” was a fascinating panel exploring the emergence and importance of climate fiction in publishing scene. Discussions ranged from the emergence of man-induced climate change to the reality of how climate change is affecting everyday existence and how that has seen the explosion of dystopian fiction. An important comment by Cat Sparks was that perhaps we should be focusing in our writing of turning the current climate crisis around and sending a message of hope in doing so.
The last event was a live 5 minute reading session with Kaaron Warren. I read an excerpt from Bluebells when Peter first meets Nicolas de Laon on the frontlines in Belgium.
Year Four, an anthology of dark drabbles was published on January 6th by Black Hare Press. Three of my dark folklore drabbles are featured and a flash fiction piece.
If you’re interested in purchasing an ebook or paperback copy of Year Four, more details are available here
Dark Christmas is the first in a series of illustrated chapbooks on various dark fiction themes. All illustrated collection is inspired by Yuletide folklore from Canada, Poland,Iceland, Australia, Germany ang England.
Dark Christmas was released on ebook on 24th December 2022.
If you wish you buy copies of Dark Christmas you can find more information here.
This single charity anthology has donated to the American Suicide Prevention Society. It is a fantastic collection of stories by authors on topics of overcoming the darkness of depression, loss of a loved one, self-harm, self-rejection, societal rejection and chronic pain. Out of the Darkness was published by Wolfsinger Publications on 20th December 2022.
My own story “Tatters” features in the anthology and is a very personal and emotional piece for me, exploring the concepts of chronic pain and psychosis and the emergence into the light at the other end.
If you wish you buy copies of Out of the Darkness and support this wonderful cause, you can find more information here.
My first stories for children and younger readers were published on 26 November 2022 in Wimbledon Common from Black Hare Press.
My children’s story “Grace’s Kingdom” was inspired by classics like Alice in Wonderland, The Secret Garden, The Chronicles of Narnia all featuring protagonists exploring magical worlds hidden to all but them while escaping a harsher realities beyond the borders of the their fantasy world. I also drew on my own personal experiences, crafting a story I hoped would resonate with children experiencing bullying and coping with being different. “Grace’s Kingdom” channels the extremely difficult daily experiences for many children but highlighting how being different is a hidden strength.
My younger readers story “A Bargain of Shadows” was inspired by Swedish fairytale about siblings and the love they share for each other. When one is fatally ill, the brother bargains with a wizard to save her life in exchange for his shadow. Exiled from society for being different and having no shadow, he flees into the Otherworld of magic and becomes enslaved to the wizard. His sister goes in search of him, undergoing many trials to eventually outwit and save her brother. “A Bargain of Shadows” speaks to sibling rivalry and love and the undeniable importance of family.
You can find more details about how to purchase paperback and ebook copies of Wimbledon Common here.
My Australian dystopian horror Bluebells explores queer fiction, alternate history, pandemics, vampires, mental illness, trauma and war. The
There is a post on research background to Bluebells and the folklore of the bluebells flowers which is key to the novella character Anna is here.
A video tour of Bluebells and a reading excerpt is below. Enjoy!
You must be logged in to post a comment.