Why do you re-read a book?

Posted on by March 13, 2021
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I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. Partly because I am packing up my gigantic collection of  books, trying to decide which ones to keep and which ones to give away or discard. I am shifting continents and I do have to make decisions based on cost–effectiveness. Do I want to take up so much of a container with reading matter I may never look at again?

It’s been a very hard task. Sometimes the criteria is clear; if I am going to use a non-fiction book as a reference, then I keep it. With fiction, it’s often less clear-cut. A much-loved book seems to cling to me. How can I throw away something that has given me several hours of pleasure?

I wonder what makes a reader decide a book is worth re-reading.

Sometimes I make the decision based on how much of it I can remember. This is particularly true of the early books of the series. If Book 2 of a trilogy is a long time appearing, I might reread Book 1 again. With G. R. R. Martin’s Song of Fire and Ice, I continue to buy the books — but I’ve actually stopped reading them. When the last book is due out, I shall reread the early books from the beginning and so on until the last volume.

One of the criteria which I use to help me make the decision about
whether I want to keep a book is  indeed whether I will  ever read it
again. If it’s likely that I will once again dip into it, then it’s a
keeper. The only trouble is: which will I reread? There are books I want to reread simply for the pleasure. I just can’t  quite work out just what their commonality is. Why this one, and not that one — when I enjoyed them both? When the book has a surprise ending, is it worth revisiting? Will it be
fun to see all the clues that I missed first time around? Or will the
plot disappoint because I now know the ending? Why have I re-read Georgette Heyer’s complete oeuvre multiple times when I don’t normally even read romance??

I have republished Havenstar as an e-book and I’m astonished by the number of people who have bought it even though they have read the paperback version, and may in fact still have the paperback. So many of them comment that Havenstar is a book they read and reread, sometimes on a yearly basis.

So, tell me: why do YOU re-read a book?

My wildlife adventure of the day

Posted on by March 13, 2021
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 And where’s the wildlife, you may ask? Well, it was in that vase. I disturbed it and it fled out the sliding doors…

Yep, that pesky tree-shrew (neither shrew nor tree-dweller, remember) was at it again, building a nest in the vase. When I emptied the vase on the floor to check if it had babies in there yet, this pile of leaves was the result!

The vase is about 30cm (12″) high,  and the animal (see here) is — if you in include the tail — about 34 cm in length, so I am not sure how on earth it thinks it can use the vase as a nest.

Last week it was tearing around the front lawn pretend-fleeing its amorous mate. This week, it’s in my lounge room. Typical!

A New Australian publisher for Havenstar

Posted on by March 13, 2021
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I haven’t posted in so long. Too much going on with the house sale, packing up and stuff. Still lots of uncertainties because we haven’t yet found a definite buyer for the house, even though we have dropped the price yet again.

But I have good news:

Havenstar was found a new home. I have already been selling it for most e-readers from Apple to Nook to Kobo. (You can find the downloads at Smashwords here.)

But now I have an Australian small press who has taken on the book, to reprint it and sell it — paperback, hardback and a limited hardback edition! Fabulous! It will also be up on Amazon for folk who like to buy from that site. And thanks so much to Ticonderoga Publications for having the faith that this book can be republished, 14 years after its initial publication — and still sell. Watch this space for the publication date, in May.

It never sold many copies in its original form, because the publisher (an imprint of Virgin) went belly up with months of starting up.

It was the first book of mine to be published, but alas, there has always been a … sadness about that too.

I received the news that it had been accepted for publication just two days after my mother died. She never knew that I was finally about to accomplish a childhood dream by becoming the author of a published book.

 I wish she had known.

However, Havenstar, as the very first, has always been close to my heart. It wasn’t actually the book that snagged me my agent — that was The Aware — but it was the first in print. It has resonated with people so much that many read and re-read it, again and again.

Anyway, I am delighted to see that it is going to be available again with a new cover for another generation of readers. And I’m doubly delighted to be able to say I still have an Australian publisher — which is very important to me!

My morning walk yesterday…in the snow

Posted on by March 13, 2021
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We are staying in Kaisermuhlen, which is an area squeezed between the Donau (River Danube) and what we Australians would call a billabong that used to be part of the Danube, the Alte Donau.

The ugliest modern belltower ever, for a lovely 19th century parish church
Kaisermuhlen in the snow…
Part of the front of Stefansdom (Cathedral)in the main square

Enlarged portion (it was snowing…)

I feel so sorry for this lion, trapped forever behind the anti-bird wire…
One statue is Samson fighting a griffon. Not sure if it’s this one.

Here’s the Graben fountain in the snow…

…with snow on the lion’s nose
No, the lion is not smoking.That’s the waterpipe.
Snow on umbrellas, a Fiaker and the Stubentor bus. I really am back in Vienna.

Oh, my. Nice cover.

Posted on by March 13, 2021
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 This is the third and final book of the German translation of the Mirage Makers, Der Bund der Illustionisten. It is a gorgeous lush cover, worth clicking on to have a look at in big size.

The German title for Song of the Shiver Barrens is Brennender Wind, or Burning Wind.
Unfortunately, it won’t be out until July … even the second book, Trügerisches Licht (Deceptive Light) isn’t out until February. Nice to see they are both already selling well in advance on Amazon.de

Aurealis Awards

Posted on by March 13, 2021
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These awards are the yearly Australian awards for science fiction, fantasy and horror short stories and novels. Every year, a dedicated band of folk interested in spec-fic of all kinds gets together to organise the awards, a task which includes selecting panels of judges to read works entered in the various categories, finding sponsors for the event, ordering the trophies, organising the actual prize giving ceremony, etc, etc. You can see the website here.

The most impressive thing about this is that they are all volunteers. All of them. And when you consider that anyone can enter their work, and that it will be read and considered, their achievement is truly impressive.

I don’t have entry this year, because I haven’t published anything this year, which is one reason I am writing this — no one can accuse me of smarming up the judges, right? I just want to say that I think everyone who devotes time to this in the interests of Australian spec-fic is, in my book, pretty damn special. You rock, every single one of you.

Thank you.

The Next Big Thing

Posted on by March 13, 2021
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Last week, Rowena Cory Daniells tagged me to write a post about my “next big thing” by answering a number of questions.

Which presented me with a problem: I certainly have a next big thing coming — my next trilogy, but I don’t really want to talk about it, other than saying the first book, The Lascar’s Dagger, is finished and the second book is started … But to be published by whom, and to be out when, is not settled yet. Let’s just say, discussions are ongoing.

So I am going to talk about my immediate thing, which for you may be BIG or not — depending on whether you have read Havenstar, or not. So here goes.

1) What’s the name of your Next Big Thing?

Well, it’s actually an old thing big thing. A stand-alone fantasy, Havenstar, that was first published in 1999 in the UK under the name of Glenda Noramly, and which was soon out of print because the Virgin sf/f imprint folded. (Yes, that Virgin. You didn’t know they published books, did you?) Havenstar was also published in German and Russian.

As a very new author at the time, I found it hard to figure why a book should wend itself up to 81 on the general Amazon best seller list (of all book types) only to be out of print the very next day…  Talk about from supreme happiness to despair in 24 hours! (I know better now — weird stuff happens all the time in the world of publishing!)

2) Where did the idea come from for the book?

Long before the days of GPS or Harry Potter, I had a conversation about how cool it’d be if you could look at a map in the car and see what was happening on the ground in real time — and dodge traffic jams, accidents etc. And my niece, the same one who did this map for Havenstar, said, “That’s an idea for a book…”  Which is kinda like waving a sardine under the nose of a starving cat…

3) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

I wouldn’t. I think the great glory of reading a book instead of seeing a film is to imagine everything yourself. So go read Havenstar and imagine! 

4) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Do you really want me to reduce a 160,000 word novel down to one sentence? Go read it instead! Oh, all right. It’s a book about a mapmaker. And magic maps. And the looming end of a world. And … ah, see? I can’t. 

5) Will your book be self-published or…?

I am self-publishing it as an eBook. With help from my friends (thanks Patty and Rowena for advice, Jo for helping with the copy editing after I made a mess of it, Perdy for art work and gorgeous map) of which you can see a clearer version here.

6) When will
your book be available? 

It is available already. You can buy it at here at Smashwords. Just scroll down and click on the title, pay and download it straight onto your Kindle, Nook, Kobo, Sony reader, iPad, iBook and just about any app you care to name! It’s also already up for sale on the Kobo site and will eventually turn up on Barnes and Noble sites too. I am in the process of putting it up on Amazon as well, but it will take a few more days for it to go live.


You can also buy a paperback version for $US486, brand new on Amazon.com (or so they say!) …but believe me, I won’t see a cent of that, and I’m not sure you’ll ever see a brand new book either, seeing as it has never been reprinted.  (Prices have been crazy for Havenstar ever since it became unavailable.)

7) Who or what inspired you to write this book?

I don’t need specific inspiration to write a book! I was born wanting to write books…


8) What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest?  

It’s a book for those who love traditional fabulist stories — it has all the tropes of the very best fantasy: a fellowship of unlikely companions, going on a journey, a land under extreme threat, a Dark Lord and his minions, adventure, tormented heroes, unlikely heroines, adventure, battles and unexpected twists and turns. And a love story, of course. And no, even though it has all those things, it’s not at all like Lord of Rings.

I guess the other intriguing thing about it  is how many people have told me they have re-read it multiple times.

_______________________________
So that’s my big thing. 
Now I am supposed to tag 5 more authors for their big thing. Trouble is, everyone I asked was already tagged or not interested. I even put out a general call and got nothing. 
I think this meme has chugged to its natural close…

 Oh, and don’t forget to buy Havenstar.
—————————————————————————

And here for your amusement (its preservation showing just how obsessed I was with ratings at the time) is Havenstar at 81 on Amazon’s bestseller list, beating Visual Basic 6 Objects by Peter Wright…
Tom Clancy was at No 78 and 79, while Sword of Honour by Alexander Kent came in at No 80…

 (I wonder if it was possible to take screenshots back then? I just printed it off…ah, how things have changed!)

Dave Freer and Steam Mole

Posted on by March 13, 2021
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Dave Freer is doing a Next Big Thing today — read it here. Being written by Dave, it’s witty.

More importantly, Dave’s Last Big Thing, Steam Mole, has now been freed into the world. If you have a Young Adult reader anywhere within your range, buy it for them, and if you haven’t already done so, buy the book comes before it too, Cuttlefish.

The Steam Mole

Here’s what I wrote about The Steam Mole:

“The Steam Mole by Dave Freer is a gritty tale of betrayal, courage and mateship, a riveting read for lovers of realistic steam-punk. A steam mole may burrow like a termite to escape the harsh conditions, but moral and ethical dilemmas are not so easily solved in Freer’s alternate Australia.

“The background of a hot, climate-damaged land is fascinating, but it’s the eclectic mix of characters that brings the story alive. British imperialists and greed-driven company men vie with fiercely independent miners and submariners. Feisty teenage protagonists include a conflicted aboriginal and the well-to-do daughter of a prominent family, plus Clara and Tim from Cuttlefish. The result is a high-stakes adventure to preserve basic human freedoms.”

Rowena’s next Best Thing

Posted on by March 13, 2021
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There is a blog thing going around at the moment entitled “The Next Best Thing” where writers write about what they are working on… They answer a number of set questions, then name 5 more writers who will do the same one week later on their own blog site.

Here is Rowena Cory Daniells’ blog post, and she has tagged me for next Wednesday — so if you want to read what I say to say about my next big thing, drop around here next Wednesday.

My problem with this meme is that I can’t find anyone who wants to be tagged! Everyone has either already done it, or says they’re already committed. (As the meme grows larger week by week, this is not surprising. ) So if you are a published writer and want to write about your next big thing, email me (info at glendalarke dot com) and I’ll tag you for the following week…

And Rowena writes great character-based epic fantasy so pop over to her blog and take a look around.