Squeee; another guest post with an AIA author
Mary Maddox, AIA (Awesome Indies Approved) author of Talion invited me to her blog to share my excitement at having another book out and also to talk a little about the series. So for another installment in the saga of getting this Series written and into the world pop on over and check out the post. If you like horror with a difference, take a look at her AIA book while you’re there. http://www.ancientchildren.com/?p=1126 Thanks for the invite, Mary.
Another book flies into cyberspace; guest post for Pavarti Tyler
Pavarti Tyler is another AIA (Awesome Indies Approved) author who writes magical realism and she has very kindly invited me to her blog to share my excitement at having a new book out. The post talks about the process of writing and how it feels to send a book out into the world. It also tells you a bit of the inside story on the series – like why you should read it. 🙂 So share some love with Pavarti, pop over and have a read. http://www.pavartiktyler.com/guest-post-from-tahlia-newland-on-her-newest-book/ And don’t forget that, in celebration of the new release, Lethal Inheritance, book one in the Diamond Peak Series is only 99c on Kobo and Kindle until the 5th of July.
Things you didn’t know about me; a fun interview by Tim Vicary
Tim Vicary is an awesome writer and a wonderful person. He has lots of books listed on the Awesome Indies site and has been very supportive of everything I’m doing there. He was kind enough to invite me onto his blog and ask me a few revealing questions. So pop over and find out what annoys me most, what invention I most appreciate and why I always sleep with a torch beside me. http://timvicary.wordpress.com/2013/06/27/interview-with-tahlia-newland/ Feel free to share these strange details of my life with the world. Writers can no longer afford to be private people!
Should art reflect society or should it enlighten society?
My first thought on this topic is that these two options are not mutually exclusive. As in many things, balance is the best way, but when reading books, it’s fairly clear that some focus almost exclusively on one or the other. Some reviews also indicate that some readers so deeply subscribe to the idea that art should reflect society that they reject anything that hints of a different way of being other than what they consider to be the norm, even if that behaviour is positive. On the other hand, some books I have read are so determined to show an enlightened world that the characters and subject matter are very hard to relate to or come across as preachy. Avoiding sounding preachy is something any author trying to show an enlightened world view must grapple with. As readers it’s a good idea to examine our views on this because…
Making the leap (as distinct from taking a jump!)
Vision is the first step in any venture. I have had visions before, visions that I have brought into existence and, every time, there is a point where a leap of faith is required. It’s the point where the vision needs to develop from a nice little idea into something more substantial, something that will take the vision and fly with it. I’m a serial project manager. I keep finding things that need developing and I develop them. The last one was a distance education centre for a Buddhist group. It took me twelve years to set that one loose. It now prospers without my help. That was completely volunteer, of course, a fact that my family considered rather unfortunate due to the amount of time I spent on it and the little time it left for earning money. Luckily, I had my performing business still running at the time,…
I am definitely not & have never been normal!
The point of this is to remind us to be ourselves. We can’t be happy if we’re always trying to fit into someone else’s idea of who we should be and what we should do. So be yourself, whoever you are.
Another 5 star review for Stalking Shadows: once again, a well-driven, well-plotted voyage through well-drawn, well-imagined worlds
Evie Woolmore wrote a review of Stalking Shadows in which she says (among other things) “once again, a well-driven, well-plotted voyage through well-drawn, well-imagined worlds.” She also notes the importance of Nick’s POV in the this installment of the series. “Often YA fiction sees things from only the girl’s point of view, so this is a welcome addition to the novel.” Her review gives an insight into the issues dealt with in the novel. Follow the link to read the full review http://allonymbooks.wordpress.com/2013/05/15/indie-book-reviews-4/