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Bec Stafford interviews Bundaberg writer and newly minted novelist Cheryse Durant.

 

 

 

Bec:  Congrats on the recent launch of The Blood She Betrayed in Brisbane! What does it feel like to send your ‘baby’ out into the big, wide world? Would you share some of your fears and hopes?

Cherie: How does it feel? Like unsheathing my sword for my first-ever battle and discovering my blade’s been changed to rubber – I can either dash off the battlefield and hide behind the geraniums, or stay and face the critics. Fortunately, I’ve been buoyed by some fabulous reviews and gorgeous fan mail since The Blood She Betrayed was published. Readers have written to me and told me how much they’ve loved my characters and storyline. One reader has even begged me to write a new Heart Hunters novel every week (I wish! It takes months and months to put a story like this together – for me, at least).

As a newly published author, I wanted to spin a book that touched people’s hearts. I’m hoping I did that. My second hope is that people will read and share my book and give it the chance to become known not just in my neck of the woods, but around the world.

 My biggest fear? Will I be able to write future Heart Hunters novels that resonate with the same magic as the first? My second novel, The Ghost She Killed, is due at my Publisher by March so once my author tour is over, I’ll be typing my little fingers to the bone to get the manuscript finished. For me, writing is therapy. There are all these images and conversations exploding inside my head and I need to pour them out onto. The hard work is making sense of all the characters and plot arcs and shaping it into a story that deserves to be read by readers. Readers are, after all, very discerning 🙂

 

Bec: The Blood She Betrayed is Book 1 in the Heart Hunters series. Can you tell us a bit about your gutsy heroine, the half-Taloner Shahkara, and your plans for Book 2, The Ghost She Killed?

Cherie: Seventeen-year-old Shahkara is a warrior princess from another world who comes to Brisbane, Earth, to find an ancient artefact, the Elnara, which can wipe out the heart-devouring Taloner demons plaguing her kingdom. As she arrives on earth, she manages to save the life of Max, brooding, directionless son of the enigmatic billionaire Liam McCalden. Max discovers that Taloners are trying to kill him and Shahkara discovers she needs an Earthern guide so they team up to find the Elnara together. The only problem: Shahkara’s hiding a deadly secret of her own. She’s half-Taloner. This gives her enhanced strength and sensory perceptions, but it also means she shares the same dark heart-lust and fears getting too close to Max in case she rips out his heart. You can watch the book trailer here:

 

Shahkara evolved from an image that flitted through my head – one of a warrior princess with gritty determination and fighter’s heart. I knew that, for her, I needed to create a story where the stakes were high and the sacrifices great. The Blood She Betrayed is a story of life and death, good and evil and an apocalypse that needs to be thwarted… within three days.

 Shahkara’s not a brilliant swordswoman or magician or mathematician, but she knows how to hold her own at court. Stripped of royal title, she becomes a stranger in a strange land, fearful of relying on anyone, but determined to forge her way through the murky, technologically-driven Earthlands so she can save her people. She’s every young woman I know, facing challenging circumstances with no easy answers. We may not be saving the world, but we use our courage, compassion and smarts to wade through the mire, whether it’s an overdue assignment or a dying friend with cancer.

The Ghost She Killed is the second novel in my Heart Hunters series. Without giving away an spoilers, I can say that it has a lot more action and adventures for my main characters. A chunk of the book is set in a huge, hotel/casino in the heart of Brisbane, inspired by a stay at Caesar’s Palace, Las Vegas, a few years ago. There are also new threats, new demons, new ancient artefacts and a lot more magic.

Bec:  You’ve just chaired a panel at GenreCon 2013 in Brisbane. Authors are famously pretty introverted creatures. Do you get the jitters, or are you confident when it comes to public appearances? What advice would you give first-time panel members?

Cherie: As a child, I was quite shy around strangers. I was more comfortable making friends with books than real-life people – but real-life people are so fascinating! Since my late teens, I’ve learnt to overcome my nerves and step out of my comfort zone so I can talk to strangers.

Some people say imagining their audience naked helps overcome their fears. I’ve never remembered to do that, but I also think it probably wouldn’t work for me – it’d just freak me out!

My advice for first-time panel members:

1. Know your subject but don’t feel nervous about any areas that aren’t your expertise – that’s why there’s a panel.
2. Write the three or four most important areas of discussion in short, sharp bullet points on a palm-sized piece of cardboard – so you don’t forget to bring these subjects up.
3. Imagine you’re only talking to the panel – that the audience doesn’t exist.
4. If you’re asked a question that you really can’t answer, say: “That’s an interesting question. Panel member B, how would you answer this?”
5. Remember to breathe! 🙂

Bec: You come from a strong writing community in Bundaberg. Can you tell us what’s happening up there?

Cherie: Bundaberg has a vibrant writing and arts community and one of the best libraries that you can find down under. Bundy writers are particularly proud of our annual one-day WriteFest in May each year, which brings authors/presenters from across Australia together to deliver cutting-edge info on craft and publishing. We attract attendees from as far away as the northern tip of Queensland and the far south of New South Wales. It’s a warm and close-knit gathering and gives writers like myself the chance to learn heaps – and pitch to top Australian publishers, including Hachette, Random House and HarperCollins. Speakers at next year’s event include international best-selling author Kathryn Fox, children’s picture book author/illustrator Jacque Duffy and industry stalwart Jo Butler who will present a masterclass on fitting your book into the changing shape of Australian publishing. Details will soon be available via bundywriters.com

 

 Bec: Where would you like to be as a writer in ten years’ time?

Cherie: My ultimate goal is to write full-time – and to find beautiful friends/fans who help spread the word about my stories to others. I write to unleash the characters and stories cluttering my mind. I can do that anywhere, anytime, but I often feel stretched because I’m trying to juggle work, writing, family life and community. My dream is to earn a full-time living from my fiction writing and if I could do that within the next decade, that would be fabulous. I have some amazing stories that I want to share with the world. Watch this space.

 

Cherie’s Bio:

Dead fingers curled around an ancient crypt and a love of Celtic mythology were the two inspirations behind Cheryse Durrant’s The Blood She Betrayed, the first novel in her Young Adult Urban Fantasy  Heart Hunters series, published by Clan Destine Press. Durrant grew up on a small farm outside Roma where she chatted to scrub faeries and imaginary friends, including a superhero. She wrote her first story on her aunt’s bedroom wall when she was roughly four, but it failed to attract literary acclaim. She worked as a journalist for 15 years before trading her soul for fiction. The coffee/chocolate/strawberry addict now lives at Bargara on the central Queensland coast where she teaches writing through Creative Dragons (www.creativedragons.com.au) and is an avid WriteFest (www.bundywriters.com) fan.

Social media links:

Website  www.cherysedurrant.com

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/CheryseDurrant

Twitter  @CheryseDurrant

GoodReads http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7166832.Cheryse_Durrant

 

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It’s Me!

So if the title hasn’t given anything away yet, I’m here today to tell you the five books I’m dying to finally having released in the month of November! And of course, why that it is! If you are just sitting on the edge of your seat, waiting for any of these titles below to finally hit the book store, feel free to comment down below! Or if you’re excited for other November releases that aren’t mentioned here, also feel free to comment! Either way I would love to hear what you’re anticipating and why!

Here are my books:

Champion by Marie Lu.

“June and Day have sacrificed so much for the people of the Republic—and each other—and now their country is on the brink of a new existence. June is back in the good graces of the Republic, working within the government’s elite circles as Princeps Elect while Day has been assigned a high level military position. But neither could have predicted the circumstances that will reunite them once again. Just when a peace treaty is imminent, a plague outbreak causes panic in the Colonies, and war threatens the Republic’s border cities. This new strain of plague is deadlier than ever, and June is the only one who knows the key to her country’s defense. But saving the lives of thousands will mean asking the one she loves to give up everything he has. With heart-pounding action and suspense, Marie Lu’s bestselling trilogy draws to a stunning conclusion.”

My friend was actually the one who constantly pushed me to check out Legend and to read it. She’s a die-hard fan. And while I do have to admit the way Day and June meet in Legend is a bit predictable, I was still completely head over heels for it! I can’t wait to see what Marie Lu has in store for both the readers and for June and Day! 

 

Crash Into You, by Katie McGarry.

“The girl with straight As, designer clothes and the perfect life—that’s who people expect Rachel Young to be. So the private-school junior keeps secrets from her wealthy parents and overbearing brothers and she’s just added two more to the list. One involves racing strangers down dark country roads in her Mustang GT. The other? Seventeen-year-old Isaiah Walker—a guy she has no business even talking to. But when the foster kid with the tattoos and intense gray eyes comes to her rescue, she can’t get him out of her mind.

Isaiah has secrets, too. About where he lives, and how he really feels about Rachel. The last thing he needs is to get tangled up with a rich girl who wants to slum it on the south side for kicks—no matter how angelic she might look.

But when their shared love of street racing puts both their lives in jeopardy, they have six weeks to come up with a way out. Six weeks to discover just how far they’ll go to save each other.”

Crash Into You has been on my mind, ever since I read and reviewed Pushing The Limits! I loved Katie McGarry’s writing style, and she almost reminded me of Simone Elkeles and her Perfect Chemistry trilogy. I’m excited to read this one, and see what Rachel and Ian get themselves into, and how far they truly will go just to save one another. 

 

The Fiery Heart, by Richelle Mead.

“In The Indigo Spell, Sydney was torn between the Alchemist way of life and what her heart and gut were telling her to do. And in one breathtaking moment that Richelle Mead fans will never forget, she made a decision that shocked even her. . . .

But the struggle isn’t over for Sydney. As she navigates the aftermath of her life-changing decision, she still finds herself pulled in too many directions at once. Her sister Zoe has arrived, and while Sydney longs to grow closer to her, there’s still so much she must keep secret. Working with Marcus has changed the way she views the Alchemists, and Sydney must tread a careful path as she harnesses her profound magical ability to undermine the way of life she was raised to defend. Consumed by passion and vengeance, Sydney struggles to keep her secret life under wraps as the threat of exposure—and re-education—looms larger than ever.

Pulses will race throughout this smoldering fourth installment in the New York Times bestselling Bloodlines series, where no secret is safe.”

This series has been around for so long, and I’ve been meaning to start reading it for a few years now, but still haven’t. I’ve read the first book in the Vampire Academy series, I purchased the rest of them as well as her Bloodlines series, but still haven’t picked them up. I’m so excited and I’m always hearing and reading good reviews, but still I always find myself having to read something else first. With winter break coming up soon (ish), I might just have to marathon these two series, and finally get them read!

 

Loud Awake and Lost, by Adele Griffin.

“LOUD. There was an accident. Ember knows at least that much. She was driving. The car was totaled. She suffered back injuries and brain trauma. But she is alive. That’s the only thing left she can cling to.

AWAKE. Eight months later, Ember feels broken. The pieces of her former self no longer fit together. She can’t even remember the six weeks of her life leading up to the accident. Where was she going? Who was she with? And what happened during those six weeks that her friends and family won’t talk about?

LOST. One by one, Ember discovers the answers to these questions, like a twisted game of dominos. And little by little, the person she used to be slips further and further away.”

A few years ago, when I first started blogging, I headed to the library and found this creepy book called Tighter by Adele Griffin. I was completely creeped out and loved it. Looking back at it now, it probably wasn’t THAT scary, but still I read it in one or two sittings, and could barely force myself to put it down. Since then I haven’t read anything about Adele Griffin, or heard any new books coming out, until now. And that’s why I’m excited to this book to come out, I want to see what Adele Griffin has in store!

 

Ketchup Clouds, by Annabel Pitcher.

“Zoe has an unconventional pen pal-Mr. Stuart Harris, a Texas Death Row inmate and convicted murderer. But then again, Zoe has an unconventional story to tell. A story about how she fell for two boys, betrayed one of them, and killed the other.

Hidden away in her backyard shed in the middle of the night with a jam sandwich in one hand and a pen in the other, Zoe gives a voice to her heart and her fears after months of silence. Mr. Harris may never respond to Zoe’s letters, but at least somebody will know her story-somebody who knows what it’s like to kill a person you love. Only through her unusual confession can Zoe hope to atone for her mistakes that have torn lives apart, and work to put her own life back together again.”

I haven’t heard anything about this book, nor about Annabel Pitcher, but when I got the chance to read the synopsis, it was going right onto this release list! She’s a teenage girl who fell in love with two boys, betrayed one, killed the other and she writes letters, explaining this to a man in prison who is on death row?! Okay, how crazy is that!? Doesn’t that make you want to buy the book?

Thank you so much for stopping by, and checking out this new type of post I’m trying out! If you like it, be sure to let us know!

 Lisa

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Belinda Hamilton interviews Professor Andrew Whitehouse about his book “Will Mozart Make My Baby Smart”.

 

 Bel~ Most mothers-to-be in the pre 2000’s would have picked up a copy of What to expect when you’re expecting (book, not movie) and followed the progress of their bundle of joy with each new chapter… Now there is a wealth of information and an even greater wealth of misinformation online. How should parents-to-be best sift through what is fact and what is pure fiction?

Andrew~ The Internet has been such a double-edged sword for new parents. It’s great to have all of the information at your finger-tips, but which information is correct? One of the greatest problems with the Internet is that if people have an opinion, then they could search online and there is bound to be someone who is showing ‘evidence’ to support that opinion, whether it is indeed correct or not!

I always feel that the best advice to give parents is: ‘you know more than you think you do’. Try as best you can to take the fear away from the upcoming years. It is indeed a bit scary, but it is also such a wonderful time full of so manyt unexpected joys. Rely also on the advice of trained health and early childhood professionals. In the vast majority of cases, they won’t have a vested interest, and will be keen just to dispense the best advice.

Bel~ I’m a big believer in kids learning how to be a gracious loser when it comes to sports, games and life in general. What harm do you think we are causing by putting a Freddo Frog in every layer of the pass the parcel and giving every kid a ribbon for running the race, effectively making the win null and void?

Andrew~ Someone far cleverer than me once wrote that education is not about filling a bucket, but about lighting a fire. What a beautiful idea! It means that education is not about piling on top of children each and every piece of knowledge they will need to navigate a life’s journey. No. It means that education is about igniting a passion for a life full of learning.

Emotional education is critical for child development. Teaching children about the highs and lows of the human condition ignites a lifelong relationship with resilience, persistence and humility. Few achieve a happy and content life without a healthy dose of these three attributes.

The mistakes children make are on a far smaller scale than those they will make in their adult years. Teaching children that not everything they do will be rewarded, allowing them to make mistakes, giving them the opportunity absorb feedback – all of this is part of nudging children towards a relationship with their own emotions.

Limiting praise does not mean increasing punishment. It’s quite the opposite. It is about providing children with a safe environment to learn that their self-esteem must be based on their own appraisal of their worth, rather than that of anyone else.

To impart that knowledge, is to truly light a fire.

Saying that, a Freddo Frog for everyone at a party seems like a fun way to spend an afternoon!

Bel~ If a parent has concerns that their child might be suffering Autism Spectrum Disorder, what should their first step be?

Andrew~ Don’t wait. Talk to your GP about getting child assessed for ASD. New research shows that children as young as one may exhibit signs of autism, so recognizing early signs and knowing developmental milestones is important. Early intervention is key.

Bel~ Would you mind sharing with us what you hope to achieve personally in the field of ASD?

Andrew~ My research team has two goals:

(1) trying to identify the causes of ASD

(2) how to help people with ASD and their families live the most fulfilling life possible. It is this second goal that I really want to focus on next. There are so many different therapies that are available for people with ASD, but there is very little hard scientific evidence that they are effective. I’m very keen to find out not only which therapies work, but also which therapies work for which children.

I want to devise a roadmap for families from the moment of diagnosis, to give them every opportunity to life a wonderful, happy life.

 

Professor Andrew Whitehouse of the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research poses those questions that make you gasp, snigger and ponder; the questions that you’ve thrown around over a coffee with friends, without ever reaching a conclusion.

In a wonderful combination of stories from modern parenting, tales from history, and scientific research, Andrew Whitehouse busts open thirteen of the best myths around, and provides reassurance and light relief from the challenges of parenthood.

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Paul is interviewed by Bec Stafford.

 

 

 

The Only Game in the Galaxy, Book 3 in The Maximus Black Files, is hot off the press. Congrats! Can you tell us a bit about this third instalment and your experience writing it?

The back cover blurb says: 

In a galaxy of cut-throat companies, shadowy clans and a million agendas, spy agency RIM barely wields enough control to keep order. Maximus Black is RIM’s star cadet. But he has a problem. One of RIM’s best agents, Anneke Longshadow, knows there’s a mole in the organisation. And Maximus has a lot to hide. 

So begins a game of cat and mouse between Maximus Black, our anti-hero, and Anneke Longshadow, pillar of light and good. You might remember ROR conducted a survey a long time ago when Mole Hunt, the first book in the series, came out, you asked if main characters need redeeming features. No respondents thought they did, and a few came out with some classic bad guys who have none. And this is where major publishers fail themselves. This “redeeming features” business is a fallacy. This trilogy was rejected by many publishers. The closest it came to even getting published was with Penguin in the UK, but after a meeting decided they already had the young James Bond series and I think Artemus Fowl, so they declined. It’s lucky I’m a publisher myself. The Maximus Black Files finally saw print with Ford Street Publishing, and it’s been selling extremely well.

Paul, Maximus and his sassy nemesis, Anneke Longshadow, are lively, emotionally complex characters that leap off the page. Can you talk to us about their development and how much fun you have playing them against one another?

I get asked sometimes if I use friends as inspiration for my main characters. I don’t think I do, but I definitely have in mind my favourite characters from other writers’ books. I think of Anneke as Modesty Blaise, Maximus as Artemus Fowl’s evil twin, Daretor from The Jelindel Chronicles as Willie Garvin (Modesty Blaise’s sidekick). When playing characters off against one another you need to know how far your characters will go to top the other one. You need to know from the outset that they’ll do anything to win, bar killing their opponent. So to suspend disbelief, you need to show how the characters are feeling toward their nemesis, and how they personally want to exact revenge rather than hiring someone to do their dirty work. And when it comes to a time when they have their opponent in their sights, the reader needs to know exactly why they’re not going to pull the trigger. So all of this has to be foreshadowed. If you hate someone enough to wish them dead, and then you don’t kill them when you have the chance, there needs to be a rationale for this outcome.

As well as your latest Maximus Black story, Damnation Books in the US just released an adult horror novel, The Beckoning. Do you enjoy getting into different creative headspaces, and do you do anything special to prepare before you sit down to write for one audience or another?

 To be honest, The Beckoning was written over thirty years ago. Yes, persistence is the key when being a writer! This book was first typed on an electric typewriter on the counters of two bookshops I owned in the 80s and 90s. Luckily for me I saved it by typing it on to my first computer back in the mid 90s. It’s since been stored on 3.5 discs, floppies, CDs, zip drives and USB sticks and transferred to about four computers. So in answer to your question, there was no trouble in getting into a specific adult versus young adult headspace when writing these books. But seriously, I can swap genres quite easily. While writing and editing The Only Game in the Galaxy, I also wrote six Lucy Lee books for Macmillan, a choose-your-own adventure called The Toastinator for Macmillan NZ and a middle reader called The Pranksters’ Club for Blake. So we have lower, middle, young adult and an adult horror book that I revised with an editor, all happening at the same timeframe.

Which of your fictional characters Burns Brightest in your mind and why?

 The answer to this might have once been Jelindel, from The Jelindel Chronicles. She’s feisty, going through the rite-of-passage with two young blokes, one of whom is a shyster, and yet somehow she never (well, most of the time!) complains. She learns, she battles wizards and foes despite overwhelming odds, and fulfils her quest. I think Maximus would now burn brightest. As I’ve implied, I thought I had the ultimate anti-hero, someone so bad he killed an entire civilisation seemingly on whim, eliminates enemies with not a second thought, and yet somehow, Maximus Black fans have told me they wound up rooting for him to win. Maybe I did too good a job on him lol. A close friend of mine read the first draft of Mole Hunt and basically said the lead character was so bad that he found reading the book distasteful. Luckily for me the vast majority of readers found the complete opposite.

 

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Belinda:

 

#1 Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick. Zombies. The gag inducing kind. Just ewwww.

#2 Pure by Julianna Baggott. The potential for this to come true freaks me the heck out.

#3 The Killables by Gemma Malley. Again, maybe a little close to the plausible truth.

#4 Dollhouse by Anya Allyn. I don’t think I’ll ever look at certain dolls the same way ever again.

#5 Siege by Sarah Mussi. A nightmare for anyone who can put themselves in the protagonists place

 

 

Lisa:

 

 

1# All the Truth That’s In Me, by Julie Berry. Not too scary, but truly gruesome and unimaginable things happen to the main character.

2# Pure, by Julianna Baggot. Also because it might actually happen to us!!

3# The 5th Wave, by Rick Yancey. For the same reason as Pure!

4# Wake by Lisa McMann. Nightmares!!!

5# Project Cain, by Geoffrey Girard. Horrifying and somewhat true!

 

 

Krista:

 

 

#1 Ashfall by Mike Mullin  Real Life Potential.

This one hits close to home as the Super Volcano erupts in the USA.

#2 Scowler by Daniel Kraus Escaped Convicts and Meteorites.

Domestic violence, greed and the sky falling. True terror for one family stranded in a farmhouse.

#3 The Hunt by Andrew Fukuda Vampires.

True terror when you think you find safety among other humans when hiding from the vampires. Only to find that solitude might be the best answer.

#4 Bonechiller by Graham McNamee Native American Legend.

Amazing writing style that brings in imaginative visuals as one nightmare begins to come true. Still to this day I get a chill when thinking about this monster.

#5 The Hallowed Ones by Laura Bickle Vampires.

 An unknown terror on the outside of this Amish farm, but will sympathy for those on the outside be their undoing?

 

 

 Joelene:

 

 

#1 A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb. What if apathy could make you slip out of your body? And while you were out, what if something else could slip in?

#2 Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake. Hunting ghosts…or are they hunting him?

#3 Curses, Inc. by Vivian Vande Velde. A creepy collection of short stories.

#4 We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. Half a family poisoned while the other half remain bound to each other in secrecy and lies.

#5 The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Because sometimes society is more terrifying than anything else.

 

 

Mandy:

 

 

#1 – *Sigh* I couldn’t decide. So I cheated, and have a tie. My top creepy, scary reads are: Pet Sematary by Stephen King and Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist. Two very different authors, two very different stories, both made into movies. King is the master, the entertainer, while Lindqvist is more subtle, delicate in a gruesome, almost vulgar kind of way. I LOVE these books. Absolute must-reads for any horror fans.

#2 – Handling the Undead – John Ajvide Lindqvist. What happens when your dead loved one comes on home? What happens when ALL the dead loved ones come home? A touching story about grief that will creep you right out.

#3 – The Tommyknockers – Stephen King – Probably not most peoples’ idea of the scariest King novel, but it was the first of his I read (and started a lifelong addiction) so will forever hold a terrifying place in my heart.

#4 – Bluegrass Symphony by Lisa L. Hannett – A collection of wonderfully sick and twisted short stories, wrapped in a ribbon of the most beautiful, sing-song writing style.

#5 – Madigan Mine by Kirstyn McDermott. Sure, it has the icky stuff, but Kirstyn McDermott has an amazing way of twisting your brain around too.

 

 

 Jamie:

 

 

#1 Escape from the Carnival of Horrors by R. L. Stine. The first book that ever truly scared me; and the one that turned me into a fatalist. A choose your own adventure tale where every choice leads you closer to a messy end.

#2 Only Forward by Michael Marshall Smith. One of my all-time favourites that still manages to scare me after a dozen reads. Demonstrating just what nightmares can do to you.

#3 Drawing Blood by Poppy Z Brite. The visceral descriptive nature of this book I think scares me more than the story; but the author has a special way of creeping into my brain and haunting me for hours.

#4 I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison. A short story that is both horrific in story and in detail. In a few short pages this tale makes me want to crawl under the covers and hide.

#5 1984 by George Orwell. Politically scary and just disturbing all over. This book has made me shudder every time I see a rat.

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