Inspiration for the settings in Shadows

31 January 2013 | 0 Comments

I’ve loved that so many reviewers have enjoyed the Australian settings in Shadows, so I thought I’d share some of the locations that inspired them.

First up, the track where Gaby is running in the opening chapter. When I wrote this scene, I was picturing one of my favourite places in south-east Queensland, a rainforest track on Mount Tamborine (not far from where I live) in the Joalah section of the Tamborine National Park.

The fictitious Pandanus Beach of course features a beach (this shot is from North Stradbroke Island, also not far from me):

(I think the next shot is at Burleigh Heads on the Gold Coast – I didn’t record the website where I found it…apologies to the photographer. The rest of the shots here are mine, except where noted below)

I picture Pandanus Beach as a bit of a Noosa/Byron Bay/Port Douglas hybrid. This image (from www.businesseventscairns.org.au) captures the feel of the town nicely. Just picture a beach right across the road.

Here’s a poinciana (a tree that features on the esplanade in Pandanus Beach):

And a Moreton Bay fig tree, which also gets a mention in the opening chapter (I love these trees):

The falls, where Tommo’s farewell is held (these images are also from Tamborine National Park):

And finally, this is the sort of cabin I pictured when I wrote the scene at The Retreat on the mountain (imagine rainforest around it):

A frame cabin

Now, picture some sword-wielding Rephaim…

Dates for UK blogging tour

15 January 2013 | 0 Comments

As part of Shadows’ launch in the UK, I’m participating in a blogging tour this month. This makes me very happy. 🙂

Each of the following blogs will host a post from me over the next two weeks. I’ll be chatting about YA trends, my characters, musical inspiration, my bookshelves, book covers, dream dinner party guests, angels, demons…you name it!

I’ll tweet as each goes live, but here’s the schedule:

18th Dark Readers

19th Overflowing Library

22nd The Bookbag

23rd Wondrous Reads

24th Feeling Fictional

25th Bart’s Bookshelf

27th Gollancz Blog

28th Book Babblers

29th Book Angel Booktopia

These are all excellent blogs and well worth checking out (even before my posts go live!). Thanks in advance to each for hosting me.

Shadows is out in the UK today!

3 January 2013 | 0 Comments

Big day for Shadows today. The first book in the Rephaim series is now out in the wild in the UK.

To celebrate, here are some early reviews from UK bloggers:

– Dark-Readers
– The Readers Den
– The Bookbag
– Much Loved Books
– Cicely Loves Books
– Liberty Falls Down
– Kirsty (Overflowing Library)
– The Pageturner
– Tenpenny Dreams

And here are a couple of reviews from other parts in the world in December:
– Fiction Fare
– Joyous Reads

Thanks guys. And a huge thanks to the team at Indigo Books (Orion) for bringing the Rephaim to the UK. 🙂

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