Next week I have not one, but two public events to enjoy. The first is the Summer Reading panel and the second is my first Melbourne signing event.
When: 12-1pm, Saturday 21st February
Where: Dymocks Southland, 3067-8 Westfield Southland, 1239 Nepean Highway, Cheltenham.
So come on down and get your books signed!
The last few days have been harrowing here in Victoria, Australia, as thousands of people have lost their homes and hundreds their lives in savage bushfires. I was a teenager growing up on the edge of the Dandenong ranges when the Ash Wednesday fires devastated so much of the local areas, and was visiting the area in 1997 when fire burned out the forest above the house I was to later buy (the ‘little house on a hillside near a forest’ which I sold last year). Although I’ve been lucky, growing up and living on the edge of an area notorious for bushfire does make you very aware of the dangers and terrible consequences. Just the smell of smoke can make me edgy.
These fires have been far, far worse. It’s early days yet, and there are many theories being discussed as to why, but whatever the reason the result has been tragic.
My heartfelt sympathies go to all those who have lost loved ones, and also to those who lost homes, pets, livestock and businesses. There is a list of ways to help on the ABC site – from donating money and clothing to giving blood to minding pets. The Red Cross appears to be the main fundraiser, but don’t forget the smaller charities – Wildlife Victoria, for example, which lost two animal shelters and is likely to be inundated with injured animals.
In a week’s time I’ll be making a public appearance at a local library to talk on a panel about Dreaming Again, an anthology of Australian speculative fiction that was published recently. (Here’s my post about it.) Jack Dann, Cecelia Dart-Thornton, Adam Browne and I will be talking about the anthology and our stories published within it. And most likely about life, the universe and writing.
Here are the details:
Jack Dann and Dreaming Again authors visit to Nunawading
Date and Time
Venue Nunawading Library
Bookings Phone 9873 5638 or online at http://summerread37.eventbrite.com
Program Panel of sc-fi and fantasy writers in conversation
Refreshments Light refreshments
Transport and Access
Melways ref. 48 G9
I love hearing what people thought of my books, or reading messages that go “Wooo! It’s out!”, and even having errors pointed out (it’s usually possible to get them fixed for the reprints).
Normally it’s better if those messages go in the Guestbook, but it’s easy to miss the link to it in the sidebar over there on the right. So feel free to leave a comment here on this post. But do bear in mind that the Guestbook makes your email address available to me if I should decide to reply to you, wheras I haven’t found a way to access email addys in Movable Type.
Also please remember, do not include any spoilers in your comment. I’ve recieved some lovely comments and guestbook messages but had to delete them because they’d give away the story for others. If you want to mention something that would spoil the plot, send me a message via the fanmail address.
My publisher has made a very nifty thing.
Yep, they’ve put together a new website for me: TrudiCanavan.net. But it’s not going to replace this one. Instead it compliments it. It’ll be the place where they’ll post news, publication dates and book signing events. I’m particularly happy about this because, as I’ve said in my FAQ, most of the time I don’t know what the publication dates are. Now I have somewhere to go to check them, too! (However, foreign language editions aren’t included on the site.)
If there’s a particularly juicy bit of news on the site I’ll link to it here. But remember that I’m several hours around the world from the UK and US and posts may go up in the middle of the night, Aussie time, so if you are from those regions and like your news fresh and shiny, best bookmark the page of the site for your region.
I’ve put the link to TrudiCanavan.net in the sidebar as well as this post. Hop over there and check it out!
This was the view from my hotel room:
Southbank Sunset
I haven’t been to Brisbane for over twenty years, when I bussed through on the way to Expo88. So everything was shiny and new to me. The city was bigger than I remembered, not surpisingly, and very cosmopolitan. And not as hot as I’d expected. It was humid, but not the searing 40-45 degrees (Celcius – that’s 105-112 degrees Fahrenheit) I returned to in Melbourne.
The first bookshop Adèle, my Orbit guide, took me to was Angus & Robertson in Morayfield, where I signed stock for the lovely Lyn and Terry.
With Lyn
I’d woken up in the middle of the night with a frozen shoulder, possibly due to the hotel bed, and was in some pain so Lyn suggested I try the Chinese masseur nearby. Half an hour later, after the ‘cups’ treatment I somehow managed to order without realising it, I looked like this:
Cupping Marks
But I felt much better! We headed for Chermside, where at Dymocks I talked football with Byron and signed more books for Sue.
With Sue
And then we visited Mega Books, a newsagency with a big book section at Toombul, where I signed lots of books – in two displays!
With Lisa
And a savvy shopper, Elsa, took advantage of having a real, live author on hand to get a present for her daughter and granddaughter.
With Elsa (photo thanks to Adèle Fewster)
A late but very delicious lunch at Riverside books followed. Good food, good books, great company. I wish I had a shop like this near me!
With Emily
Sampling the product
Adèle, wearing amazing shoes that gave me a serious case of boot-envy.
Next stop was Dymocks Indooroopilly, and the lovely Jo Ann.
With Jo Ann
Then Dymocks Brisbane City, where the store was closed for stock take, but as we arrived we encountered a reader who was trying to see the price of my book, and invited her in. She looked completely disbelieving at first when Adèle told her who I was! I signed a book for her and the shop put it aside for her to return and buy the next day.
With Sam – I hope you enjoyed the book!
With Pam & Jon and lots of signed books
Finally, we popped into Pulp Fiction, where I gossiped with Ron Serdiuk and signed yet more books.
With Ron
After a short rest at the hotel, Adèle took me to La Belle Epoque French Restaurant in Fortitude Valley, where I enjoyed a delicious meal with her, Matt Hoy from Orbit, Ron (Pulp Fiction), Chris (Coaldrakes Books), Emily (Riverbend Books, Rosy (Dymocks Indooroopilly), and Krissy (a reader and writer). We talked (and gossiped) about books, films, publishing and had a very fun and at time hilarious night.
Matt, Rosy, Chris, Ron, Emily, me, Krissy (photo thanks to Adèle Fewster)
All in all, a very enjoyable book tour – and all due to some very lovely, fun, book-loving people. Thankyou to all the booksellers, and to Adèle for being the perfect tour guide. I had a wonderful trip and can’t wait for the next one.
Last Saturday I had the good fortune to have my book launched at a fantastic venue by lovely people just before the annual Aurealis Awards ceremony in Brisbane.
My publisher, Bernadette, began with introductions then Marianne de Pierres, fellow Aussie author extraodinaire, gave an amazing speech, saying wonderful things about my books and revealing things about them I didn’t even know – like how long they’d been on bestseller lists!
Then it was my turn. I talked about the difficult time I had while writing the book, read a funny email from my UK editor, and tried to keep the thankyous short and sweet, then couldn’t resisit finishing with an appalling pun.
There were gifts…
Books were signed. Thank you to everyone who bought a copy, especially those who decided to give my work a try for the first time.
There were photos…
(left to right: Bernadette, me, Marianne)
And then we all made our way into the Judith Write Centre of Performing Arts for the 2008 Aurealis Awards Ceremony.
Back when the awards were created I was the art director for Aurealis magazine. The ceremony was held in a small Melbourne specialty sf bookshop and the awards themselves were certificates printed out on my printer (which were later replaced by the sculptural version given in following years). They gradually became more well known, the venues ranging from a big commercial bookstore’s cafe (where you couldn’t hear a thing for the coffee machine) and a university theatre.
Then they moved to Brisbane and I ’retired’ from being the magazine’s art director. I wasn’t able to get to Brisbane for the awards until this year. And was I impressed! Now there are frocks and suits, hosts and presenters, and it all looks and feels very polished and professional. But not stuffy – there was a real feeling of celebration for the genres and those who write, edit or illustrate in them.
Over the years since the beginning, I’ve had glimpses through people involved in organising, convening and judging the awards of the enormous task it is. The organisers did a fabulous job. I now want to head up north every year to glam up, see the ceremony and celebrate the best of Australian sf.
(If you’d like to know more, and/or see the shortlist and winners, check out the Aurealis Awards website.)
I’m back from the writing retreat. We had a fabulous time and I reached the halfway point of the first draft of The Ambassador’s Mission. Now I have a few frantic days to catch up and prepare for the launch of The Magician’s Apprentice at the Aurealis Awards on Saturday.
It’s all getting very exciting! This morning I received the first report of a ‘sighting’ of The Magician’s Apprentice in a Melbourne bookstore. And yesterday the schedule for my Brisbane visit arrived. I’ll be signing books in these shops next Tuesday (the 27th):
9am Angus & Robertson Morayfield
Shop 62 Morayfield Shopping Centre
Morayfield QLD 4506
10:00am Dymocks Chermside
Shop 249 Westfield Shoppingtown
Chermside QLD 4032
11am Mega Books
Shoppingtown Newsagency
Sandgate Road
Toombul QLD 4012
12:00pm Riverbend Books
193 Oxford Stree
Bulimba QLD 4171
1:30pm Dymocks Indooroopilly
Level 3, Indooroopilly Shoppingtown
318 Moggill Road
Indooroopilly QLD 4068
2:30pm Dymocks Brisbane City
Macarthur Central
Cnr Queen & Edward Streets
Brisbane QLD 4000
So if you happen to be at one of these locations while I’m there, come up and say ‘hi’ and I’ll sign your books personally. (Or your autograph book. Or your bus ticket. Or your arm.) Otherwise, pop into the shops when you can for a signed copy of The Magician’s Apprentice. And probably as many other books of mine that I can sign in the time we’ve got.
Toury dates for Canberra and Sydney are now likely to occur in late February and early March. I’ll post ‘em when I know ‘em.
For the next two weeks I’m going to be at a writers retreat with no internet access – unless we manage to find an internet cafe in one of the local country towns, and then I doubt I’ll be getting a daily fix.
My partner will post any important information that my publisher sends to me. (He’s not going to the retreat, having gone nearly bonkers from being stuck with only us crazy writers for company for a fortnight last year!) Hopefully that will include a link to a new website my publishers have created for fans of my books, and a list of the events in my coming Aussie tour. (No tours planned outside Australia yet.)
This means I probably won’t be approving guestbook entries, blog comments or reading fanmail, either. I’ll have to do a catch-up when I get back. In the meantime I’ll be madly working on The Ambassador’s Mission, hoping to get to the halfway point by the time I return home.
Look what arrived the other day:
Yep, my advance copy of The Magician’s Apprentice!
Now, as you can see, it’s a trade paperback. I thought the book was coming out in hardback first, but I might be wrong. I might have been told otherwise and forgotten. (It’s been a busy few months.) It might be that some places will get paperback and other hardback.
My publisher has shut down for the holidays so I can’t email to check, so I did what I usually end up doing when I need to find out when one of my books is due out – looked it up on bookshop sites. First I looked up the book on Amazon UK and Amazon US. They list it as hardback, due out Feb 5th and 23rd respectively. But on the Borders site it’s listed as paperback.
Then I looked up some major Aussie bookshop sites:
That last one was odd. Usually hardbacks come out before paperbacks. Next I went to a few specialty bookstores:
So I’m afraid I can’t clarify whether the books is going to be paperback or hardback right now. But I do have a trade paperback in my hands. Perhaps Australia is going to be getting paperbacks, while the rest of the world gets hardback first. That would make sense – hardbacks don’t always sell that well here, with our smaller population.
Right now I don’t care, because I finally have the result of over a year and a quarter’s hard work in my hands, and it’s mine, all mine!
Trudi Canavan is an Australian fantasy writer and the author of the international bestseller, the Black Magician Trilogy.
The Traitor Queen is the final volume of the Traitor Spy Trilogy, which takes up the action a generation after the events in The High Lord.
The Rogue is the second volume of the Traitor Spy Trilogy, which takes up the action a generation after the events in The High Lord.
The Ambassador’s Mission is the first volume of the Traitor Spy Trilogy, which takes up the action a generation after the events in The High Lord.
Set hundreds of years before the events of Black Magician Trilogy, this stand-alone novel can be read as an introduction to, or an addition to, the story of Kyralia and its magicians. Learn More
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