HAVENSTAR REDUX

Posted on by March 13, 2021
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HAVENSTAR, my first published book, is now available in any format that you could possibly want. And I am utterly delighted to have it that way.


There is something extraordinarily special about a writer’s first published novel. You never forget that moment when you receive the news that you’ve had a book accepted for publication. The delight, the sheer disbelief, then wonderment that all those years of trying have not been in vain after all. 

eBook Smashwords cover

For me, there was also a devastating sadness. I received the news just before my mother’s funeral. She died without knowing that I had at last achieved a lifetime goal.

Although the first publisher went belly up very shortly after it was published, Havenstar has never failed me. You see, the people who read it have almost universally loved it. And that is incredibly rare. In fact, one thing an author has to get used to is a variety of reviews — you can’t hope for any book to be loved by everyone. 

Nonetheless, no other book of mine has been so widely loved as Havenstar has. Others have done well, but this one has been special to so many people, and they have told me so with their reviews, with their five stars, with their fanmail. Better still, new readers are telling me it hasn’t dated, not even 14 years after its initial publication.

Readers may love the book, but I am so grateful to them. Those readers have carried me through the bad years and at times when I’ve wondered if it was all worthwhile, or if I had another book in me.


I dedicated the original Havenstar, quite obviously, to my mother. But in this new edition I have added something: an appreciation to you, my reader. Thank you. You are special.


And to the new reader, I hope you enjoy it too.

Where to Buy 

TICONDEROGA PRESS: 
Is offering editions in hardback; Limited Edition hardback; trade paperback. Buy online here.

Isn’t this hardback edition gorgeous???


Australian bookstores: Try the independent bookstores first. Ticonderoga has a list here, where you have a good chance of finding recent Ticonderoga editions.

In UK and US and elsewhere, you can always order physical versions through your local bookstore.

At Amazon (if you must…)
Amazon  US $17.99 trade paperback, $26.60 hardback
Amazon UK ₤15.75 trade paperback, ₤21.94 hardback, (prices at the moment of writing)

Book Depository has copies too (also owned by Amazon).


Ebooks: $US 5.99
Available through
SMASHWORDS (click this link) offering versions for Apple, Kobo, Kindle, Adobe, Nook, Stanza, Aldiko, Sony,  PDF, your computer, etc.
 
 Note: The ebook version will eventually go up on Amazon, but I get a bigger slice if you buy your Kindle version through Smashwords!

Splendour in the Grass…

Posted on by March 13, 2021
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Or perhaps, more accurately, Splendid in the grass, for this is the Splendid Fairy-wren and part of his family that we came across today on our morning walk. This charming male hopped all the way up to my feet, hence the rather odd angle of the first couple of photos.

Malurus splendens splendens

Fluffing up

So what, I get itchy sometimes…

And below, a member of his family, another male, non-breeding.
And one of the females below. Fairy-wrens are social, living in groups which cooperate and defend a territory, but there is usually only one breeding pair.

Copy Edit Time

Posted on by March 13, 2021
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Much of the past two weeks has been devoted to dealing with the copy edit of “The Lascar’s Dagger.” Today I needed a break, and of course … I went to my usual haunt over the back fence.

The Osprey nest and a looming rain shower
The young osprey and two ravens
A close up — the ravens want the scraps
Parent birds fishing
Missed!
The one that didn’t get away, clutched in a claw, and another hopeful raven
Splendid Wren
And after the walk, it’s back to the copy edit, refreshed.


More from the Len Howard Conservation Area

Posted on by March 13, 2021
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Yeah, I know you are probably a bit bored with me telling you all about the area over my back fence… but I have another reason today. It’s this: such places are good for the soul. Or, if you want to word it another way: good for one’s health, both mental and physical. 

And yet, they are in danger all over the world. The population grows, mineral and fuel resources diminish — and governments lose sight of the fact that clean water, clean air and a reasonably predictable climate are the three things that are even more important to us all than minerals and fuel. And to maintain those resources, we need natural areas, greenery not just for our personal benefit, but for the good of future generations.

Look at the picture above: the dead tree in the background contains a frequently used Osprey nest. An Osprey lives on seafood it picks from the ocean. There is a young bird on the nest, about to fly solo. His parents perch on neighbouring trees, keeping an eye on things. We are not the only life on the planet.

We stopped here for a while to watch dolphins playing, throwing a large fish up into the air repeatedly, like a cat with a mouse. Then there was the Caspian Tern, catching fish for its young, then climbing into the sky burden by its catch, struggling for height. Why? To drop the fish and then catch it again, this time the right way around so it could feed it to its fledged young.

Not far away, just a stone’s throw from some fancy houses, there is this pond — full of cormorants and nests, grey and chestnut teal, black duck, coot, dusky moorhen, purple swamphen, shovellers, hardheads… the list goes on and on.


These places are precious, not just to me, but to you too. 

And yet, here in Australia, politicians serving narrow interests and immediate concerns (rather than those worldwide and permanent) speak of allowing grazing of cattle, sport shooting*, and mining in National Parks.  So I ask you to consider signing this Birdlife Australia petition. This is a proper petition, i.e. you have to identify yourself properly.

*when I first read of the proposal to allow shooting in some National Parks, my immediate knee-jerk reaction was, “What? They want to kill tourists now?”

Writing and publishing update…

Posted on by March 13, 2021
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Here is the present state of my career and my books:
 
The Lascar’s Dagger (Trilogy name as yet undecided)
Book One has gone to copy edit. Publication date expected to be early 2014.
Book Two is being written. All being well, publication date will be no later than mid-2015, possibly earlier.
Book Three will be written in 2014. All being well, publication date not later than mid-2016, possibly earlier.
In this business, all publication dates are always tentative!


OTHER WORKS
1. In Australia:  
Harper Collins Voyager paper editions of my books may possibly be scarce in the future. If you have a missing book of one of the three trilogies, now might be the time to get it.

2. Ebook editions of  The Mirage Makers: 
Should be available in Australia, NZ, UK,  Europe and the Commonwealth, in English. Ebooks are also available in German.


3. Paper editions of The Mirage Makers:
Published 2006-2007
Should be available almost everywhere except USA, but could be becoming scarce in Australia.

4. Ebook and paperback editions of  The Watergivers aka Stormlord Trilogy:
Should be available in English worldwide.


5. French editions of Mirage Makers:
Alas, after the first volume was published, the publisher changed hands and the new publisher decided not to proceed with volumes 2 & 3, leaving readers high and dry. My deepest apologies to French readers. I don’t know what to say…

6. Havenstar ebook
Available at Smashwords.com for various formats except Mobi (for Kindle).
Will be available shortly, Ticonderoga edition, for Kindle/Amazon. Watch this space.


7. Havenstar print versions:
Will be out soon, hardback and paperback editions, from Ticonderoga Press, worldwide. Watch this space.

8. Ebook Isles of Glory:
Will be out soon from Fablecroft, worldwide, in English. Watch this space.


9. Isles of Glory, print editions:
Getting very scarce indeed in English. Still available in French and German.

Magic for Lunch

Posted on by March 13, 2021
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Yesterday, I took an old friend to explore the Len Howard Conservation Area in Erskine, Mandurah, just outside my door. After a morning birding and walking, we ended up here, where there is now an upscale marina, hotel and fancy houses. Sixty years ago when I was a young girl, it was just The Sticks area, devoid of buildings, called that because of the remains of poles stuck in the water to mark the channel. Anyway, we sat down on a park bench to eat our sandwiches. 

This was the calm scene in front of us at the time:

Peel inlet, The Sticks

A  few pelicans in the distance on the water, the odd seagull or tern or cormorant flying past. A water-logged darter climbed up from the water to the beach and hence onto that structure on the left, so bedraggled that his soaked tail swept the ground like a street sweeper’s wet broom. He then hung out his wings and tail feathers to dry…


As always for beachside picnics, a family of magpies, a raven and several gulls grouped around eyeing us hungrily as we ate our sandwiches.

Male Magpie
Female Magpie


When suddenly, out of the blue:
 

Birds everywhere. Everywhere we looked. Pelicans, several species of cormorant, darters, several species of terns, gulls…



Diving (cormorants, darters), squawking and arguing (seagulls), plunging from a height (terns), snorkelling (pelicans)…
There must have been shoals of fish around to set this off, but it really was extraordinary.
All those white bits in the water are cormorant necks!
Add caption

Gradually they began to disperse:



Until finally, they had mostly disappeared, almost as quickly as they had arrived:

A few gulls remained for a while — disappointed I suspect, as being unable to dive, they had missed out on most of the feasting — until they too flew off:



And then we were alone again. But it was ten minutes of pure magic…

Possums in the stove…

Posted on by March 13, 2021
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Perup, where the stove is home to Brush-tailed possums…

I went away with the W.A. Naturalists Club over the long weekend. It was aimed at fungi enthusiasts, so part of the time I spent writing  surrounded by mycologists looking at mushrooms through magnifying glasses, microscopes and camera lenses…but fortunately there was also plenty for me to enjoy. Including birds.

The place was Perup, Nature’s guesthouse on Tone-Perup Nature Reserve, which manages a save-the-Woylie project, a fenced area where the predators are kept out (cats, foxes.)

Brush-tailed possums spend the day inside the fireplace…
There is a much better picture of the possum at this site here.

Perup…where the paperbarks grow HUGE
Perup walking trail, with fungi and lichens
Perup, where the hakea was flowering and the perfume was overpowering
Sundews everywhere
Mushrooms everywhere…
Woodlands: Jarrah, Wandoo, Melaleuca…

Another of those giant, twisted paperbarks…
The place also grows HUGE Xanthorrhoea, see the 3 pix below
There are some days I feel like this too…
And other days when I feel like this!
And bad hair days…I have LOTS of those