Trudi Canavan

Read the First Chapter of The Ambassador's Mission

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 02:49:16 +0000

It's up! Go here to read it. Normally I have to carefully format the text and add html code, but this time the lovely bods at Orbit have done it all for me - and it's up a month earlier.

For the full story, I'm afraid you're going to have to wait until the release in May. Only two months away. Wheeee!

Oh, I had so much fun writing this first chapter!

Continuum 6: Future Tense

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 21:46:54 +0000

I'll be at Continuum 6 this weekend, in Melbourne. I love these smaller, local cons for their cosy atmosphere. It's much easier to get to meet the guests, for a start, and catch up with all my friends.

I'm on only one panel this time:

Sunday, 2pm:

Craftonomicon

Meet the new crafters and makers. What can

you do with a few materials? Why would you

do it? Why "But I'm not creative!" is not an

excuse. Be inspired by the creativity of other

fans.

Which is an entirely new kind of panel for me, but I'm really looking forward to it for exactly that reason. And it's amazing how many readers of sf are also knitters, or crocheters, or tatters, or sewers...

The Aurealis Awards

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 21:29:45 +0000

It was very nice of them to arrange for Australia Day to come right after the Aurealis Awards, because by the time I got home on Sunday and unpacked on Monday I needed a good long Tuesday relaxing in the sun and eating BBQ to recover.

Here are some pics of the weekend:

Kaaron Warren and I signing at Pulp Fiction Books. Thanks to Rhiannon and Andrew who brought their own books and a friend's to be signed. Kaaron and I were the first group of the day, and by the time we left for lunch the joint was jumping, full of authors and readers having a great time.

That night we glammed up and got ready to party. Here's a nice blurry pic of the audience.

And one of the stage.

And here's what I came home with. Couldn't have been more surprised. Of all the books I've written, the one that was the hardest is the one that wins an Aurealis Award. But then, I suppose it's also the one that had me doubting that all the hard work is worthwhile, so this is fantastic reassurance.

Now I'm back to work writing and all the various tasks surrounding it - like sending my publisher a features wish-list for the new author site they're going to put together for me. I'm very excited!

Pulp Fiction and the Aurealis Awards

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 21:30:12 +0000

It's that time of year again! What time? Aurealis Awards time!

I booked my tickets a few months ago, just a couple of weeks before I found out that The Magician's Apprentice was shortlisted. (Which, I have to admit, has turned it from a relaxed opportunity to dress up and party to a nail-biting, nerve-wracking opportunity to dress up and party.)

Since there will be so many authors in town, Pulp Fiction Books is having a signing day on Saturday 23rd of January. Here's the schedule:

Trudi Canavan and Kaaron Warren at 10.30 - 11.30am

Sean Williams, Scott Westerfeld and Justine Larbalestier at 11.30am - 12.30pm

Karen Miller and Glenda Larke at 12.30 - 1.30pm

Pamela Freeman and Katie Taylor at 2.30 - 3.30pm

FWOR!

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 21:23:37 +0000

A bunch of writerly friends have been organising ourselves a two week writing retreat for the last couple of years. We call ourselves Fantasy Writers On Retreat, and this year we even have a blog. I spent a week in Berry in their wonderful company, and now I'm writing in isolation in Bowral (which does tend to be my ideal work situation). I've been working on the start of The Rogue.

When the retreat is over, I'm heading to Brisbane. Look to the next post for details...

The Magician's Apprentice is #1!

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 21:29:19 +0000

There's this weird time-warp thing that happens when writing books. Right now I'm working on the start of The Rogue, while waiting for the first pages of The Ambassador's Mission to arrive for proofing. So when I hear some news about The Magician's Apprentice, I can't help thinking 'but it's been years since I finished that one'. (Okay, a year and a half, but when your head is full of the latest book it seems like a lot longer since the previous one. And the previous one to that.)

But it's always pleasant when the news is something like this!

Thank you to the readers who voted over at SFcrowsnest. I'm flattered and utterly bowled over.

The Magician's Apprentice shortlisted for an AA

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 21:27:09 +0000

There's been nothing to report here lately. I've been proofing my way through the copy edit of The Ambassador's Mission, sniffling my way through a cold, writing my way through a short story, and plotting my way into The Rogue.

But last night something very reportable arrived in my email inbox - The Magician's Apprentice has been shortlisted for the fantasy novel category of the Aurealis Awards.

By happy coincidence, I've already booked myself flights and accommodation to Brisbane for the award ceremony, because I had such a good time at the awards last January. The Brisbane crowd really do a fine job of organising them and giving them the glitz and glamour they deserve. There may be a signing event, too - I'll let you know if that happens.

So, congratulations to all the shortlisted authors, editors and illustrators. Well done!

Yes, I Know My Website Is Broken

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 06:09:51 +0000

I broke it myself, trying to fix a few things. It does look like most of the content is visible, however, so I'm not freaking out about it. Right now I'm in the middle of proofing the copy edit of The Ambassador's Mission, but as soon as I finish that I'll see about fixing it.

The Ambassador's Mission Cover

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 21:31:46 +0000

And the blurb can be found here (WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE BLACK MAGICIAN TRILOGY!)

So far I only have vague release time information suggesting maybe, possibly May 2010. I know I'll be working on edits right up to New Year.

Interview

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 01:25:38 +0000

A few months back I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Joshua Hill for the Fantasy Book Review website. I remember waffling on quite a bit, but Josh has deftly turned my ramblings into (hopefully) interesting stories. The interview is here.

Twittering

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 06:24:09 +0000

I've just joined Twitter after snooping around and looking at how other authors have been using it. Seems like a good replacement for the newsletter I once had, but which we never got working properly. But I don't want my tweets to be all dry promo stuff. I'd die of boredom if I had to be serious all the time. As for what the non-serious stuff will be... I'll just have to see what happens.

My username is TrudiCanavan.

Home

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 23:27:12 +0000

We're back from our trip. As always, there's a sense of relief but also regret that the adventure is over. But it's nice to be back in our own bed... even if it means having to wash the sheets and make it ourselves.

I'm giving myself the rest of the week to recover from jetlag, catch up on domestic stuff, the internet and with friends and family, and see if our cat remembers us. Then next week I need to get stuck into a novella for an anthology, which will be a good writing warm up before starting The Rogue.

Zooming Along

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 11:57:16 +0000

Is what time is doing. And us. We're currently exploring Atlantic Canada with friends, in a hire car. Worldcon was great. We didn't manage to extract a non-broken internet cable from the hotel until the con was half over, but there was so little spare time to spend using it that I only managed to check my emails and bank account each day before being swept up in the fun again.

After the con we left Montreal for Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. It is very pretty, but unfortunately not a great time of year to be travelling here as it's very hazy, which doesn't make for good photography. It's also unpleasantly hot. Not as hot as it gets in Melbourne in summer, but much more humid. Still, it's lovely from the airconditioned comfort of the car!

We've seen deer, porcupines, squirrels, bear cubs, and lots of seals. I'd love to come back another time - and see other parts of Canada as well. Perhaps do a train journey. Hmmm.

Internet access has been available here and there, but with four people using it I'm still mostly checking email and my bank account, so I've given up on regular blog posting. Mobile coverage has been almost non-existant. I'm mentioning this because someone has been trying to call me, and for various reasons I can't call them back, so maybe they'll read this and realise why I haven't returned their call - and that they should email me.

Well, looks like we're packing up ready for the next leg of our journey. Gotta go!

Jetsetting

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 03:31:53 +0000

Oh boy. The last few weeks have been a blur. We've been to seven airports (some multiple times), taken seven flights and explored three cities. We've strolled on tropical beaches, seen what happens when hot liquid magma and sea water meet, got stranded in Dallas airport when a man with a fake bomb caused our ongoing flight to be cancelled, walked on streets that felt like movie sets in New York, brainstormed with publishers, met famous authors and been to countless parties. All in only two weeks.

Internet access hasn't been as attainable as I'd hoped, and neither has time for blogging. I'm squeezing this post in before bed. I wanted to share some photos we took at the US Orbit office. Here I'm being prepped for a video interview:

I've never been interviewed on video before, so I was both excited and a little nervous. But the recording team were very encouraging and helpful. It's not something you get to practise for, so I was surprised then they did just one take. But I know they'll cut and arrange things cleverly for the final clip, which for now will be used for internal (non public) publicity but may end up on the Orbit web site. (I'll post a link if it does.) Here's the team:

Penelope, Jack, me, Oscar, Sam and Brad. (apologies if I got any of those names wrong!)

Jack was the interviewer and escorted me to the studio and introduced us to the Orbit publishing team. Some exciting ideas were discussed for this website, so you might see some changes in the future. Here's me and Jack, with Tim - who I first met in the UK in 2005 and is now head honcho of the US office.

It's always great to meet the people who turn your stories into books, package them up so beautifully and deliver them to the world.

The Ambassador's Mission Delivered!

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 23:46:23 +0000

Yep, I've finally finished beating and polishing it into shape and sent it off to my publisher. Of course, there's a lot to be done before it hits the bookstores, including editing, proofing, printing and shipping. But since this milestone is the one that involves the Big Looming Deadline it always feels like the one that needs the most celebrating.

As always, I don't know when the book is going to hit the stores. All I know is it'll be sometime in the first half of next year. For more a precise date, nag my publisher. (Not me. Believe it or not, it isn't true that the more frequently I'm nagged for a release date the more likely it is that I'll know it. If that was true, I'd be asking everyone to nag me for the answer to much more profound questions about life and the universe.)

Info like release dates, signings and other appearances should appear on the website my publisher created for the purpose - trudicanavan.net - so keep an eye on it.