Playing around with character art
As part of re-releasing The Rephaim series in Australia and New Zealand, I’ve been playing around with character art to keep my promos interesting.
I don’t use AI for any form of written content generation, but I’ll confess I’m mildly addicted to the image generation function (which can be hit and miss – and some of the misses are hilarious). And even then, I’m only using it for social media. (I’ll blog separately on my thoughts on generative AI.)
What do you think of these? Any requests for scenes/moments/quotes out of any of the books?
Reflecting on a decade since The Rephaim series
This year, it’s 10 years since Burn, the fourth book in The Rephaim series, came out in Australia and New Zealand.
These books changed my life. Not in a throw-in-my-day-job kind of way, but in the way it enriched my life as an author. After many years of writing novels and amassing a daunting rejection pile, I was finally in print and connected to an audience. That meant writers’ festivals, school visits, meeting other authors and – best of all – interacting with readers.
It was awesome.
From 2012 to 2017, I had a blast – the four books of The Rephaim series came out, were on-sold to the US and UK and I followed it up with a stand-alone near-future thriller, The Undercurrent. It was my most critically successful novel , and I found new readers, but the fans who loved The Rephaim mostly didn’t embrace it (perhaps because Rafa wasn’t in it?).
That was seven years ago and I haven’t had a book published since. I haven’t stopped writing: a contemporary thriller a few years ago and, most recently, the first two books of a new fantasy trilogy. Granted, the thriller was not my best work. I wrote it in the final year of my mum’s life and it was a more of a distraction than a passion project. But the fantasy series is the one I was working on before The Rephaim, and I’m deeply invested. It’s in a very different shape to what it was a decade ago and I think it’s some of my best work.
The Rephaim books have always been close to my heart. I started writing Shadows to entertain myself after a near-miss publishing deal and – as naff as this sounds – I still enjoy reading the series. So, when the books were close to being out of print in Australia, my agent and I reached out to Text Publishing to see if I could get the local rights back. Text Publishing, to whom I’ll always be grateful for taking a chance on me, agreed to the request.
That happened in February this year and I’ve been on a very steep learning curve ever since as I’ve embarked on re-releasing them myself. I’ll blog more on that in coming weeks.
In the meantime, the new 10th anniversary editions of each of The Rephaim books are now available on Amazon Kindle. The new edition print versions (via Amazon and bricks-and-mortar stores in Australia/New Zealand) are not far away and ebooks on other platforms will follow later in the year. All other versions internationally are still available through the usual channels.
What’s particularly special about these new local editions is that the new covers feature original artwork by my talented brother-in-law (and watercolourist) Tony Weston and designs by my talented bestie (and graphic designer) Heather Scott.
I’m hoping the books can have a new lease on life and reach new audiences. Being back in this space has reminded how much I love my creative life – with all its ups, downs, frustrations and triumphs. I’m in the infancy of managing every aspect of publishing a book series myself, of course, and I’m leaning on the wisdom of many who have gone before me – not the least being Ellie Marney and Kirsty Eagar.
Meanwhile…
Meanwhile, the new fantasy trilogy is taking shape, I finally have thoughts on how to step back into the world of The Rephaim, and the TV option in Canada for Shadows is still live.
I’m cautiously optimistic about the future.
But whatever happens, I’ll keep writing.
A few photos from the Burn launch
As you’ll see from the photos below, I had an awesome night when Marianne de Pierres and I launched Burn at Riverbend Books in Bulimba with another of our annual chats.
We had a great crowd and the buzz was fantastic. Thank you again to Marianne, the team at Riverbend Books (especially Vicky, Pauline and Lachlan), Text Publishing (especially Steph Speight), and everyone who came along and made it such a great night.
And I got to meet fellow Brisbane writer Christine Bongers 🙂
Some more shots from the night:
First look at Burn (Rephaim #4): a teaser
It’s only a month now until Burn – the fourth and final instalment in The Rephaim series – is released in Australia and New Zealand (24 June 2015 – release dates for other parts of the world are below).
Hard to believe we’ve come to the end already.
I’ve had quite a few requests for a teaser, so…here it is! (Click on link or thumbnail)
Back cover blurb:
Gaby remembers everything.
For a year she believed she was a backpacker chilling out in Pandanus Beach. Working at the library. Getting over the accident that killed her twin brother.
Then Rafa came to find her and Gaby discovered her true identity as Gabe: one of the Rephaim. Over a hundred years old. Half angel, half human, all demon-smiting badass—and hopelessly attracted to the infuriating Rafa.
Now she knows who faked her memories, and how—and why it’s all hurtling towards a massive showdown between the forces of heaven and hell.
More importantly, she remembers why she’s spent the last ten years wanting to seriously hurt Rafa.
Australia/New Zealand: 24 June 2015 (Text Publishing)
United Kingdom: 5 August 2015 (Orion – Indigo Books)
US/Canada: 7 June 2016 (Tundra Books/Random House Canada)
Everywhere else (English language): check your local book stores or try Amazon (for hard copy and kindle editions) (Orion – Indigo Books)
Must be time for an update…
It’s been a while between meaningful posts, so here’s a quick update on what I’ve been doing.
First up, Burn (Rephaim #4) is done! And by done, I mean the draft has been tweaked and polished and is almost print-ready. That doesn’t mean release dates are any earlier, it’s just a reflection of the lead-in times required for publication – and the fact that the draft will be further tweaked with those small word changes for overseas markets by my respective publishers (e.g. ‘doona’ becomes ‘duvet’ in the UK).
Burn will be released in Australia and New Zealand on 24 June and in the UK on 5 August. Shimmer (Rephaim #3) and Burn will both be released in paperback in the US and Canada in 2016 (Shimmer in March and Burn in June).
Romancing the Stars
On Thursday night, I was one of 20 authors invited to participate in Romancing the Stars 2015 at the State Library of Queensland. This is a fun event hosted every year by Book Links and the Centre for Children’s Literature at which writers and illustrators get to update booksellers, librarians and teachers (and anyone else interested) on their latest works.
It’s a great format, promoted as ‘speed dating’ with authors and illustrators. Guests sit in circles of eight, with two chairs spare in each group for authors/illustrators. Each of the two visiting author/illustrator gets three minutes to speak, then, when the six minutes is up, they move along to different groups (heading in different directions so authors/illustrators get to mix it up too).
This year’s event was on The Terrace at SLQ (my favourite venue at the State Library). With Cyclone Marcia coming down the coast and the threat of heavy rain, strong winds and flooding on the cards, we were all braced for bad weather, but the rain and wind held off and the night went smoothly.
There was so much energy and support in the room. I connected with wonderful people and had a chance to meet talented authors and illustrators, including Sue Wright (AKA Tiny Owl Workshop), Lucia Masciullo, Alison Rushby, Peter Taylor, Kim Michelle Toft and Caroline Magerl.
Congratulations again to Jenny Stubbs and her team for putting on such a well-organised event. Here are a few photos taken on the night by official photographer Peter Allert. You can view the whole collection here.
