Betrayal release day

Happy Release Day today for Betrayal

0714 Betrayal_Final200Finally it’s out in the universe to download to your ereader.  It’s lovely to see it happening. Thanks to all who’ve been such a support for me and the series. Get if from all the usual ebook sites- links on the Home page of this site…..

Romance Writers Conference 2013 and news on the Twins of Saranthium

me, on the right, with Kate Cuthbert, publishing manager of Harlequin Escape

with Kate Cuthbert, publishing manager of Harlequin Escape

I spent a fabulous weekend in Fremantle, WA, recently enjoying my first Romance Writers of Australia conference at the Esplanade Hotel. 48 hours of talking about writing, cake, romance and books. Heaven! Oh and also eating plenty of chocolate, the writer’s best friend of course.

you can never have too much desert

you can never have too much desert

You may be wondering what I’m doing at a romance conference? Well it has something to do with the release of my Twins of Saranthium fantasy series as Ebooks very soon!

I can’t give specifics but very, very soon I will be revealing the ebook launch of Awakening.., so stay tuned for that.

And as it was a conference I learned some great new writing tips and I’ve done a full separate post about it here including some things that might help you, as I’m hoping they’ll help me!

Until next time, happy writing

Lara x

 

 

Twins of Saranthium Books – how do you find them?

I’ve had many queries of late about availability of the books in my fantasy series The Twins of Saranthium. People are having difficulty in finding them now, so I’m doing this special post to let you know what’s going on. Firstly let me say thank you all so much for your enthusiasm for the series and for contacting me about sourcing copies. I will be trying as hard as I can to get them out there and available as I know how frustrating it can be if you never find out what happens to the characters you’ve grown so fond of in a series! 

Unfortunately the english language versions of the first two books, Awakening and Betrayal, are no longer available for purchase at bookstores in Australia or New Zealand. This is just one of those things that sometimes happens in the publishing world. 

At the moment the only place you can source these in english is either at your local library or perhaps at a second hand bookstore. I am hoping to release english language ebook versions of the books, but at this stage nothing is yet organised. As soon as they are available I will post a notice here on my webpage. 

As for Book 3 in the series – Redemption – I am still writing it for the German market and both the first and second books in the series are available in German through Penhaligon – in hardback, softcover and as ebooks.  So if you read german you’re in luck and will be able to get Redemption, hopefully within the next year or so. I have no publication date as yet for Redemption in Germany but will let people know when I do – and hopefully it may be late this year. . As for the english language version, at this stage I have no english language publisher, but have not given up so please just hang in there I am trying to make it happen! If all comes to nought I will release Redemption as an english language ebook, but at this stage I cannot give you a date other than to say it’s unlikely to be this year.

Once again, thanks so much for all your messages and hopefully sometime soon I will be able to let you know where you can get the books in english. 

all the best

Lara

Big Sky Festival – fun times with lemon pie

Yes I know that is an odd title, but I chose it because, A. I just love talking about pie – and eating it which I did at the festival. B. ….nope that’s it. So over the weekend just gone, September 9  – 11, I was at the fabulous Big Sky Readers and Writers Festival in Geraldton. Where I live. Which makes it all the more lovely because I don’t have to travel, I can sleep in my own bed and all these fabulous people come to my town who I can talk to and hang out with. This year was a stellar line up with Ita Buttrose headlining as keynote speaker. I have never met Ita before but like most Aussies feel like I know her because she is so high profile. My first meeting with her though was perhaps not as auspicious as I might have liked. 

On the Friday night the library held a lovely opening ceremony to introduce all the writers and launch Peter Dockers new book, The Waterboys. So I arrived a little late (only a few minutes, really I’m sure no one noticed!) and there was a mingling crowd of people hovering around the stage while the MC Will Yeoman said hello and talked about the festival then asked all the writers to come forward and say a few things about themselves. As I was at the back, I had to work my way through the crowd to the front ( followed by a certain author lad I’d been whispering to named Craig Silvey in his ever present thongs (that’s footwear for the non-Aussies – not the under wear which would have been odd). So anyway here’s me sidling and excusing my way to the front and right near the front is a slim blonde lady blocking my way. I tap her on the shoulder – well it was more like a push really (hand to forehead), she turns around and I freeze, stare and stammer, ‘Oh, it’s you, hello!” as if I know her. As if we’re old pals and it’s okay for me to be shoving her around. Yes, you guessed it, it was Ita. Gulp. Ita however was unphased. Hello, she said. So I make dumb gestures at the stage and she, says, ‘We have to go up, how about you go first and I”ll go after you.’.  ‘Yes! Great idea!’ I say, breathing a sigh of relief. I mean, who wants to go, unprepared up to a mike to introduce themselves after Ita? Not this little writer.So I waited, waited, and – after almost rushing Juliet Marillier to the mike, finally got up on stage and said something I now can’t remember. It was the lights, they’re so bright up there!

So how about the rest of the festival? I was doing only one panel on the Sunday and a reading, so Saturday was a relaxing day for me to chat to the other authors and go to their panels. Which I did. Though I must admit there was a lot more chatting than panelling. There’s something about the green room – which for this festival was called the pink room on account of that being the theme colour – which is where writers can go to relax, drink coffee and eat cake and chat about things author related. Most of which I cannot reveal here because it’s all secret author business. Kind of like fight club for authors. Without the fighting – unless you count over cakes which we didn’t need to because there was plenty of food. 

What I can reveal though is : Sally Dingo ate all the mini quiches, Peter Docker is always ‘putting another nail in his coffin’, (yes you will have to figure that out), Juliet Marillier bought a lot of books, Piers Ackerman is adept at tossing hand grenades, Craig Silvey was once not allowed in business class because of those thongs, Shamini Flint is funny enough to do stand up, Kirsten Tranter is more than just an author she’s a campaigner for equality. And those are just some of the things I can talk about.

As for Sunday – my panel with Juliet Marillier on the inspiration for our worlds went very well. Lots of great questions. I had a lovley long chat with illustrator James Foley about being in New York in a blizzard, and a fantastic long lunch at which I read a bit from the upcoming Equinox, which comes out in November. 

And what about the pie? you ask. Well it was gooey and runny and lemony. Two kinds. Best kinds. 

Now, next stop in my life is a book to write and a blog tour to organise for Equinox. And maybe some gardening. Ciao for now.

Rosie Black Chronicles 2: Equinox. Cover Reveal countdown….

Things have been busy these past few months at the Morgan ranch as I’ve been flat out editing the second book in my young adult series but it’s almost ready now and I can finally say when the cover and first chapter will be released into the wild.

On August 22, Equinox will be getting it’s first unveiling to the world in the form of a cover, first chapter and new book trailer. I post about this series more on the dedicated blog I’ve set up for it at http://laramorgan.wordpress..com which is all about Rosie Black and her world, so if you want the most up to date news on the series its always best to check there. 

And you can always find me lurking around twitter as well – I’m a serial lurker when I should be working! Any questions, mail me, tweet me or comment on the blog. Love to hear from you!

On my soapbox: a woman’s worth

Women have always been valued for their beauty. Ever since Helen of Troy our worth has been weighed by the constructions of our faces, the litheness of our bodies and a lack of the perceived perfection of the time meant a woman may never be as valuable as her more pleasantly constructed sister. In some parts of the ancient world being beautiful was akin to goodness and being less than perfect, or the gods forbid, downright plain was a mark of your inherent badness.

How much has that really changed? I was wondering this to myself as I read an article recently which celebrated an American woman being the oldest cheerleader ever. Her body taut as a teenagers, blonde hair and slightly strained smile she stares into the camera with triumph. She is 42 and most definitely the oldest woman ever to be accepted into a cheerleading squad for a national football team. As I read of her joy at having exercised her way to athletic heights and gaining the position after the terrible doubts she felt standing in a line next to girls half her age, I wondered am I the only one who is disturbed by this? Am I the only one who instead of feeling a cheer coming on for her for scaling this bastion of youth feels a sense of disappointment and, yes, just a little bit of anger?

It is not that I denigrate her athletic achievements, or that it is an important achievement for her, but I wonder about this being held up as if is the best, the most important thing she’s ever done. And I worry that she believes it is. Cheerleading is undoubtedly ferociously tough on the women who choose to compete in it. They hone their bodies like gymnasts and to achieve those jaw dropping tosses and tumbles must take long hours of dedication. But still, at the end of it all what are they really considered to be? Outside of their inner circle, are they anything more than pretty girls who tumble and jiggle pom poms as entertainment before what is considered the more important event, the men’s football game? Are they? When they can no longer keep up with the demands of the sport and retire, will they be remembered like the footballers, or simply disappear?

Seeing this celebration of an older woman conquering a young woman’s field, I can’t help thinking, is this all there is for us? Is this what we’ve come to? Can we not age gracefully anymore? Are we still valued more in this society for our beauty, our bodies, than for anything else? If this woman had, instead of turning to cheerleading, gone to university and got a phd, or taken up leading a charity group in the Middle East, would she have received the same glowing coverage, the same gushing praise? Looking at how women are celebrated in the media I’m going to have to say no.

Increasingly women, and now even men, are praised the highest for having a makeover, losing that baby weight or exercising their way to supermodel lean. It is not that our intellectual achievements are ignored but they are rarely given the same wide eyed reception as when we lose ten kilos. No wonder we are becoming more and more obsessed with our appearances when so much of our value to society is tied up in it. And we are doing it to ourselves. Caught in the loop of wanting to fit in, wanting to be valued, we still stare at ourselves in the mirror and turn physical faults into character flaws. We all want to be beautiful because for thousands of years, society has told us we are worth more if we are. So what has changed? Can we change? I want to hope so, but the way we are going now, I just can’t see it.

Betrayal nominated for Tin Duck award

While checking out the latest info and zooming around the Swancon 2011 website today, I had a lovely suprise when I saw Betrayal listed as a nominee in this year’s Tin Duck Awards. 

After a trying couple of days working on book 3 in the trilogy it was so lovely and brigthened my day right up to see it there. The Tin Ducks are the WA writer awards for sci fi and fantasy and to be listed alongside some other wonderful authors makes a little warm place in my heart. I’m not sure if I can make it to Swancon this year, but I will try, I will.