SWANCON 2015 PERTH —

Posted on by March 13, 2021
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I shall be attending Swancon over Easter. Please come and say Hi if you
are attending. I will be on at least one panel (with John Scalzi —
exalted company!) 

I am giving a kaffeeklatch as well (small group
discussion over coffee/tea where you can ask me anything.) There will be
a gift for everyone turning up to that — books and other stuff. 


Most of the time I will just be hanging out in the bar or around the
hotel. Please feel free to come up and introduce yourself if we haven’t
met.

I believe the Ditmar and the Tinduck Awards will also be announced during the convention. (And for those attending, have you voted yet?)

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN US & UK COVER

Posted on by March 13, 2021
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The one on the left is the UK cover.  The book itself is a smaller size and the cover is slightly bluer and darker. 
 The US book on the left has a tinge more green and is lighter.
The other difference is in the reader/reviewer comments on the back. 
UK has quotes from Elizabeth Moon and Karen Miller; 
US has Karen again (but a different quote), Publishers Weekly and RT Book Reviews.
I have no idea why there is a difference, 
but I suspect there is a reason!

The Kind of Review…

Posted on by March 13, 2021
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 …that every author loves.

Every now and then you get a review from someone who really “gets” what you, the writer, are trying to say.
Here is one such, from Ryan Frye at Civilian Reader blog.

Below is Ryan’s summary, but you can read the whole review here.


Overall, The Lascar’s Dagger is a great read. The pacing is
great, with plenty of action and swagger. While I thoroughly enjoyed
every aspect of this book, Larke left plenty of hints that there’s
greater depth to the characters, the world and the story to be found in
later volumes. If you are looking for a new epic fantasy series that
will engage, entertain (and maybe even enthrall you) in equal measures,
then Larke’s your author and The Forsaken Lands is your series.

NEWS! NEWS! NEWS!

Posted on by March 13, 2021
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THE LASCAR’S DAGGER 
has been shortlisted for two Australian awards for 2014.



One is the Aurealis Awards, which is a juried (juryed?) award. 
The book is up for the Best Fantasy Novel 2014.
The winner will be announced in Canberra on April 11th.


The other is the Ditmar Awards, which is a reader/fan-voted award
and it is up for the Best SpecFic Novel 2014.
This will be announced at the Australian National SF Convention over Easter (which is Swancon this year).

This is the eight time I have been shortlisted for the Aurealis, but I think the first time I have had a novel shortlisted for both.

TODAY I HAVE A NEW BOOK OUT WORLDWIDE

Posted on by March 13, 2021
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The second book of THE FORSAKEN LANDS is out today.

 If you haven’t read book 1, THE LASCAR’S DAGGER, look here for reviews to see if it might interest you. To my intense pleasure, it made “the best fantasy of the year” for one SFF blogger, and featured on a couple of “best-books-read-in-2014” lists compiled by book bloggers.

So what is Book 2, THE DAGGER’S PATH all about? 

 Well, half of it is set on the opposite side of the world, in the spice islands of the story. That’s the Sorrel, Saker, Juster and Ardhi thread.


Back in the Va-cherished Hemisphere, those left behind (Fritillary Reedling, Lady Mathilda, Gerelda) have their own horrors to confront. 

 Both sides of the known world are under threat, but the threats are very different … or are they linked? The characters have been pushed by the dagger into confronting these dangers, but how they tackle them, and whether they find solutions — that’s up to them.

  

The world of The Forsaken Lands Trilogy

Below are some photographs of some of things and places that inspired me. 


Much of the background of the story has its roots in South-east Asia where I have lived and worked  for most of my life

     — only this time with buccaneers, unscrupulous merchants, battles, mystery, conflict and mayhem. 
A morning in tropical rainforest, Malaysia


Pulau Tiga (the original Survivor island of first show)

Sabah — glorious tropical Islands
Sabah mountains


As part of the book includes the journey of getting from one side of the world to the other, I had to pay attention to sailing ships. I went on board every one I find, but the two which offered the greatest authenticity and were more appropriate to the period were two replicas found in Australia:  Dufken, below, from 1606 and the Endeavour from 1770.

 Below: officer cabins on Endeavour
Endeavour replica mess
Interior of the Duyfken replica – 1st European ship to Australia
Main crew mess of Endeavour


Perth, Western Australia

Posted on by March 13, 2021
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 The Swan River, Fairy Tern nesting area. Saw a pair of Ospreys from this beach too this morning…

Also teal, a stint, a rail and numerous pelicans, cormorants, seagulls and such.

 And fron near the tern nesting area, this is the view across the river to the city.

HOW TO MAKE AN AUTHOR HAPPY

Posted on by March 13, 2021
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It’s actually very easy.


Give book tokens or books as presents.
Buy books. For yourself. As presents for others.


Any books. Books for babies and toddlers, so they’ll grow up in a home with books. Books for kids who’ve just learned to read, to give them the feeling of accomplishment. Books for kids, books for teenagers. Fiction. Non-fiction. Picture books, eBooks, real books, graphic novels, how-to books. Biographies, thrillers, whodunnits, fantasies, science fiction novels, horror stories, cookery books, romances, literary novels.


Why would any of that make authors happy? Because it keeps bookstores going, it keeps the publishers alive, it keeps the industry healthy. And it fosters a new generation of readers, and keeps an older generation of readers happy.


Of course, if you want to make a particular author ecstatic, buy their books. 



If you don’t have enough money to buy, then get their books out of the library, read them, blog/tweet/facebook/review them anywhere or everywhere. Tell your friends about them. In fact, we’re actually very easy to please!

And remember: Book 2 of THE FORSAKEN LANDS 
will be out mid-January! It’s called 
THE DAGGER’S PATH

THE BURRUP PENINSULAR, PILBARA

Posted on by March 13, 2021
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Our Pilbara trip to the north of my state, June-July 2014, continued…
 
The first glimpse of the Burrup Peninsular, out of Karratha, is not all that prepossessing. There is, after all, a huge industrial complex there, see above. This is Woodside, the North West Shelf Project (which is natural gas). If you ever go there; do have a look at their public exhibition hall — it is superb.
 
The centre includes replicas of some of the oldest art in the world — nearby there are a mere 1 million or so examples spread over 88 sq kms! Forget European paleolithic art…it pales in comparison to what Burrup has to offer. 
These are etchings (petroglyphs) on rock, out in the open on the Peninsular and the 42 islands of the Dampier Archipelago. Because they are done on rock, it is hard to be precise about the age. 
Best guess, perhaps 40,000 years.
Above: Everywhere you look there are red rocks, many of them etched. 
With matching flowers…

Sturt’s Desert Pea in fiery blazes of colour…

In the centre of the group above you can see etched bird tracks.
Below a marsupial of some kind.
The beaches of the Burrup — in spite of the industrial complex — still manage to be stunning!
The “sand” you see below is actually shells, not sand at all. Nothing but shells.

Below: a local walking his dog across glistening sands when the tide is out…

Note the clear water above.

Tring Tiles: more book research (Middle Ages)

Posted on by March 13, 2021
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There’s a bit of mystery about how these tiles ended up in a curiosity shop in Tring, U.K.
 After all, they date from about 1330!


They portray a series of scenes from — supposedly — the life of Jesus, but they aren’t just the same old New Testament tales. They are a medieval take on biblical stories and are particularly interesting because they portray the everyday life of the 14th century England rather than the Palestine over a thousand years earlier. They can be seen in the British Museum in London.

The above tile supposedly shows Jesus playing by the river making pools. When a bully destroys one, he falls dead, only to be resurrected by the young Jesus, apparently achieving this miracle by giving him a kick, after being admonished by his mother. (Or touching him lightly with his foot. Take your pick.) The first English comic strip?

RESEARCH: LINENFOLD WOOD MOULDING

Posted on by March 13, 2021
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 When in the U.K. on the recent trip, visiting castles and manor houses formed part of my research. Today I used a tiny part of that research in the book I’m writing — Book 3 of The Forsaken Lands.


I just wrote this:
Flattening herself against the solid oak of the linenfold panels, Sorrel stared at the King.

I’d never come across “linenfold” panels until I visited The Vyne Estate, a National Trust property in Hampshire, and I was fascinated. 


 

Along this gallery, once walked Queen Katherine of Aragon and King Henry VIII. Still later he came back, this time with Anne Boleyn on his arm…

 I got shivers just walking down this long gallery, thinking of the feet that had trodden those floors, the eyes that had feasted on those panels, the men and woman who had lived and walked here.

Not to mention the long-forgotten artisans who created these lovely wooden panels.