Shadows US/Canadian blog tour, Brisbane Writers' Festival and other stuff

21 September 2013 | 0 Comments

If you follow me on twitter or facebook, you’ll know this week has been the US and Canadian blog tour for Shadows. This post is a wrap up of the tour, with other updates from me further down.

I had a blast this week. So many generous bloggers took the time to read and review Shadows, host guest posts and interviews, give away copies, and post other fun content.

Thanks to everyone who participated – and everyone who took the time to leave comments along the way. HUGE thanks to Sylvia Chan at Tundra Books, who made it all possible. She went above and beyond with this tour and I’m so impressed and grateful.

So, for those who missed any or all postings, here are the links:

Day 1:

• The Midnight Garden – guest post (with photos) of locations that inspired settings in Shadows (with an enthusiastic response for Australia in the comments) + give away
• Journey of a Bookseller – review
• WinterHaven Books – giveaway and interview, in which we talk about whether or not I’ve stayed on track with my original vision for the series, and a tiny teaser for Haze.
• Collections – review + give away
• Rally the Readers – review

Day 2

• Perogies & Gyoza – review
• Book Labyrinth – review
• The Readventurer – interview, in which we talk about equality in YA romances and writing human characters in paranormal stories (among many other topics)

Day 3

• Krystal’s Stellar Book Blog – review + giveaway
• Cozy Up With A Good Read – review
• Centre of the Universe – interview, in which we chat about mystical v rational ideas, my favourite character in Shadows, and the appeal of paranormal stories
• Musings of a Blogder – review
• Poetry to Prose – review

Day 4

• The Paperback Princesses – review
• A.A. Omer – guest post, in which I talk the word changes for the North American edition of Shadows, and give a crash course in the Australian wildlife and trees mentioned in the book
• Bookittyblog – review, giveaway and Bethzaida gives us a dream cast video. 🙂
• MissFictional’s World of YA Books – review and interview, in which we chat about topics including my motivation, inspiration and favourite ice cream flavours.
• Michelle & Leslie’s Book Picks – review

Day 5

• Joyousreads – a look at what’s on my bookshelves
• My Friends Are Fiction – giveaway and interview, in which we chat in depth about my research for the Rephaim series, as well as character development and future book plans
• Cuddlebuggery Book Blog – interview, in which we chat about chemistry between Gaby and Rafa, writing fight scenes, and my obsession with jacaranda trees…
• Crystal in Bookland – review and interview, in which we chat about writing strong female characters and what book made me fall in love with reading

Brisbane Writers’ Festival 2013

I had a ball at the Brisbane Writers’ Festival earlier this month. I sat in on awesome sessions, met wonderful writers (including two of my personal favourites – Melina Marchetta and Randa Abdul-Fattah) and enjoyed my first BWF session as a panelist.

Marjorie Liu, Nalini Singh and I chatted with our wonderful moderator Gary Kemble about angels and demons in urban fantasy (sadly Teagan Chilcott was unwell and couldn’t join us). We had an excellent crowd in Auditorium 2 and I had enough presence of mind to soak in the moment before we got started.

I’m the new kid on the paranormal block, so it was a big moment for me to share the stage with these two accomplished writers. I’m also now a fan of their work, having read installments in Marjorie’s Hunter Kiss series and Nalini’s Guild Hunter series in the lead up to the festival.

Writer-in-residence at Loreto College

Last month, I spent four days as writer-in-residence at Loreto College here in Brisbane. I worked with the Year 11s on their short stories. We brainstormed ideas and chatted about narrative structure and sense of place, and I got to read some really amazing stories. Thanks to the students for being so engaged and receptive, and to Cathy O’Donoghue and her team for having me.

Logan City Libraries Sci Fi and Fantasy month

More fun at Logan North Library this year. I hosted a workshop and again participated on finale day. Our panel this year featured regulars Trent Jamieson and Kev Webb, and first-timer (but accomplished speaker/workshop deliverer) Rebecca Timmis.

There was all the usual Cosplay fun and good crowds. Check out these guys:

Haze in the UK

Oh, and if you haven’t heard…Haze is coming out in the UK on 3 October. A blog tour is coming together as we speak (type). More details soon!