Where to find the Rephaim series

27 June 2013 | 0 Comments

So, I made a fascinating discovery this week. (Okay, it wouldn’t have been so fascinating if I’d been paying better attention to my agent when she explained my contracts to me.)

As I’ve mentioned before, The Rephaim series to date is being published in three key territories:

• Australian and New Zealand, by Text Publishing
• the United Kingdom, by Orion (Indigo Books)
• the United States and Canada, by Tundra Books

Now, if you live in other parts of the world it turns out you can still access the Orion-Indigo (UK) edition, because it has the export rights (English language version) to a large chunk of the rest of the world not covered by Text or Tundra. (There are some exceptions of course, but the list is quite long.)

So, if you’re in parts of Africa, Asia, Europe, South America or Central America there’s a chance your local bookseller either has it on the shelf or can order it in. Otherwise, you should be able to access the UK version on Amazon – as hard copy or as ebook. I don’t know how the price structure works in the export market, but hopefully it’s not too expensive.

I’ve had a lot of queries in recent months about availability of the Rephaim series from readers in Europe and Asia, so I hope this helps.

And US/Canadian readers – your edition of Shadows is not far away: 10 September!

Rafa and ladies' kisses

23 June 2013 | 0 Comments

You’ve possibly noticed my books tend to make regular mention of food – in particular, tasty cuisine from different parts of the world.

In Haze, there’s a scene in which Rafa is telling Gaby a story about their childhood and it involves sneaking into the kitchen at the Sanctuary to steal Italian biscuits known as baci di dama (ladies’ kisses).

So, as an excuse to write a post with ‘Rafa’ and ‘ladies’ kisses’ in the search terms, here’s the recipe (from Gourmet Traveller) and photos of my first attempt over the weekend to make them (great suggestion Heather Scott).

I took a slight cheat’s option and used Italian-made hazelnut spread rather than the chocolate filling in this recipe – partly because it was quicker, and partly because I wanted more hazel flavour.

•    105 gm (¾ cup) hazelnuts, roasted and peeled
•    160 gm (1 cup) pure icing sugar
•    125 gm softened butter
•    1 orange, finely grated rind only
•    1 vanilla bean, scraped seeds only
•    150 gm(1 cup) plain flour

Chocolate filling (or use hazelnut spread)
•    150 gm dark chocolate (60% cocoa solids), coarsely chopped
•    25 gm butter
•    25 ml pouring cream

Method
•    Preheat oven to 180C. Using a food processor, process hazelnuts and icing sugar until nuts are finely ground.
•    Using an electric mixer fitted with a paddle, beat butter, rind, vanilla seeds, hazelnut mixture and a large pinch of salt until creamy, then add flour, stirring until just combined (do not overmix).
•    Roll half-teaspoon of dough into balls and arrange about 6cm apart on baking paper-lined oven trays. Bake one tray at a time in centre of oven until golden (12-15 minutes), then cool on trays over a wire rack. Repeat with remaining biscuits.
•    For chocolate filling, combine chocolate, butter and cream in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring occasionally, until melted. Stir until glossy and smooth, then cool to room temperature.
•    Spread half-teaspoon of chocolate filling onto the flat side of half the biscuits (you may have a little filling left over), then sandwich with remaining biscuits, pressing lightly together to seal. Biscuits will keep in refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 1 week. Bring to room temperature before serving.

And yes, I realise mine look more like ladies poking out their tongues than puckering for a kiss (probably appropriate, given my approach to romance). Here’s what they’re supposed to look like (from Gourmet Traveller):

A bit about Freddie

14 June 2013 | 0 Comments

Haze is dedicated to Freddie.

Freddie was our beloved greyhound. He came to us from the Greyhound Adoption Program (Queensland) after his racing career and for two years was a beautiful personality in our home.

In December last year he was diagnosed with bone cancer. In February we had to say goodbye to him. Murray and I still miss him every day.

North American blogging tour for Shadows – coming soon!

12 June 2013 | 2 Comments

Calling US and Canadian bloggers.

Would you like to be part of the blog tour for Shadows (Rephaim #1) in North America? Tundra Books is offering a range of ways to be involved (review, interview, guest post).

You can find out more here.

Advance copies of the North American edition of Shadows (Tundra Books)… in hard cover. 🙂

Haze: official launch

7 June 2013 | 13 Comments

Last night we had the official launch of Haze (The Rephaim #2) – and it was a huge amount of fun.

Riverbend Books at Bulimba kindly hosted us again, and the wonderful Marianne de Pierres (who launched Shadows last year) was also on board, this time to lead an ‘in conversation’ session with me.

I was much more relaxed this year than last year – so much so I even did my own reading (in front of 60 plus people who know me!) – and the conversation format with Marianne helped enormously. Just two writers chatting. It was fun and informal and seemed to go down well.

As well as my enthusiastic gang of family and friends, there were also bloggers and reviewers in the crowd: Nomes from Inkcrush (with her friend Amanda), Michelle from Maree’s Musings, Mia K Rose (from the blog of the same name), and Trisha (from Padua College, who is also a Goodreads regular). It was lovely to have them along and to get a chance to chat in person.

During my chat with Marianne, I also announced the working title (which is pretty much final) for book 3: Shimmer.

(Nomes has written a fantastic overview of the topics we covered. Read it here.)

Special thanks again to Text Publishing for putting on the soiree, especially publicist Rachel Shepheard who did a fantastic job bringing it all together (as well as organising some wonderful publicity for Haze). And of course, my business partner Heather Scott (pH creative threw a few extra dollars at the bar later in the night). And thanks to everyone who came along and who continue to share in this adventure of mine.

At the start of the night I also acknowledged my friend Michelle Edmonds-Weller, who very sadly passed away on 12 May after a long fight against breast cancer. She was 42. In the days before she passed, Michelle asked me to sign her copy of Haze. It was the toughest signing I’ve ever done, knowing she wouldn’t get a chance to read it. Her husband Teale and sons Riley and Kynan came along to support me for the launch, which I really appreciated. As a way of honouring Michelle – and her family – I reminded women in the audience to get their breasts checked regularly. (I’m booked in at Breastscreen Queensland next week.)

Here’s a photo of Michelle (in the white scarf) at Shadows’ launch last year with her family and the Dunlops.