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.
Shimmer launch party on 3 July – you coming?
If you’re not doing anything on Thursday 3 July and you can get to Riverbend Books in Bulimba (Brisbane), you might like to book to come along to the Australian launch of Shimmer (Rephaim #3).
The wonderful Marianne de Pierres will again be joining me, and this year we’ll have another of our fun informal chats about the series and writing in general. I’ll take questions from the audience (if anyone has any), plus I’ll be around to sign copies of Shimmer. (Wow, I can’t believe it’s only a few weeks and it’s out in the big wide world!)
I’m so excited to again be at Riverbend Books (I do love a tradition!). We’ll have snacks and a cash bar and of course there’s the actual bookshop itself to explore…
The launch is open to everyone, but you definitely need to RSVP (details below).
See you there!
Shimmer release dates for Australia, NZ and UK
Here they are, confirmed release dates for Shimmer (Rephaim #3):
- Australia and New Zealand (Text Publishing): 25 June
- United Kingdom (Indigo): 3 July
(Indigo also distributes the Rephaim series – English language version – to a number of countries in Europe and Asia and other selected parts of the world.)
I’m really excited for you guys to read Shimmer. There’s a still a bit of tweaking to do (mostly line edits) but it feels like it’s pretty much there now.
Meanwhile, I’ve also been busy working on Burn (Rephaim #4) and I’m over half-way into the first draft. This will be the final book in the series and a lot of threads need to come together (and work!). So far so good… 🙂
Shimmer blurb and the title of Book 4
Text Publishing has come up with a fantastic early cover blurb for Shimmer (out in July), which I’m busting to share. So here it is (warning – there’s a spoiler if you haven’t read Haze):
Gaby thought her life couldn’t get more complicated.
She’s almost used to the idea that she’s not the nineteen-year-old backpacker she thought she was. She can just about cope with being one of the Rephaim – a 140-year-old half-angel – whose memories have been stolen. She’s even coming to grips with the fact that Jude, the brother she’s mourned for a year, didn’t die at all.
But now Rafa—sexy, infuriating Rafa—is being held, and hurt, by Gatekeeper demons. And Gaby has to get the bitterly divided Rephaim to work together, or Rafa has no chance at all.
It’s a race against time – and history. And it may already be too late.
And now, drumroll for the title of Book 4 of the Rephaim series (the last one)…
Burn
Hope you like it. 🙂
