I can barely believe it – my madcap month of planes, trains and automobiles to get me around to so many bookstores is actually over.
In the end, I only visited 49 bookstores in the 31 days I set aside … although I do have Number Fifty, A+R Town Hall, set aside for Thursday August 5 lunchtime, although I won’t call it truly part of The Big July.
But, and here’s the fantastic bit – I sold 1016 books to wonderful people across three states and the ACT!
Along the way, The Radiant Child hit the Dymocks Top 10 Fantasy Bestseller List at number 9, climbed to 4 and stayed there for two weeks, then finished the month at No. 6.
That was amazing, particularly as I think only about nine of my stores were Dymocks – the rest were Borders, A+R or independents (who don’t do a bestseller list).
Still, The Radiant Child was THE best-selling book, of ANY book, for Erina A+R, two weeks after I visited there, while also being the top-seller for the month at Umina’s Book Bazaar and a big seller for Infinitas at Parramatta as well. Read the rest of this entry »

Duncan Lay’s Big July wraps up – goal achieved!
July 30, 2010
Kylie Chan’s tour dates this July/August
July 29, 2010Kylie Chan is on tour in Brisbane … and if you’re quick you can catch her from tomorrow!
Emma teeters on the edge of becoming fully demon, and must make a journey to the Kunlun Mountains in the West, home of the reclusive ancient goddess Nu Wa, in an attempt to regain her humanity.Travelling with Emma is Xuan Wu’s daughter, Simone, who is struggling with her growing powers and trying to defend herself from the demons who want to destroy her.
And Michael is trying to come to terms with the shock of finding out he might be half demon … and a danger to them all.
Date: Fri 30/7
Time: 12-2
Store: A&R Post Office Square, Adelaide St City
Date: Fri 30/7
Time: 5-9
Store: Rosemarie’s Romance Bookshop, Blocksidge and Ferguson Arcade, Adelaide St City
Date: Saturday 31/7
Time: 12-2
Store: A&R Indooroopilly
Date: Saturday 31/7
Time: 3-5
Store: A&R Carindale
Date: Sunday 1/8
Time: 11-2
Store: A&R Chermside
Date: Saturday 7/8
Time: 10-12
Store: Toowoomba A&R
Date: 14/8
Time: 11-1
Store: A&R Sunnybank

A Game of Thrones starts shooting Monday
July 28, 2010We’re in the valley of excitement, looking up at the city of amazing, because HBO has done great things with True Blood, Entourage and a host of other shows. The casting for A Game of Thrones looks perfect to me (though I always imagined Eddard Stark as less burly than Sean Bean – but still).
Anyway, The Guardian has an article up entitled ‘Is A Game of Thrones the most eagerly anticipated tv show ever?’ What do you think?

Chat with Kim Falconer in August!
July 27, 2010
FANGtastic say: We’re absolutely delighted to announce that we have launched our Fangtastic chat room where visiting authors will answer your questions, discuss their books and generally have fun with topics about writing.
We’re incredibly excited and have some terrific authors already lined up …. but for our inaugural Fang Chat our guest host is the wonderful Kim Falconer, author of the fascinating Quantum Enchantment trilogy and Quantum Encryption, her new series being released on 1st August with book one, Path of the Stray). When not writing, Kim runs an astrology forum and alternative science site (and trains with a sword so beware!) so we thought that it would be appropriate to have our very first chat at the time of the next new moon …. so on Tuesday August 10,at 8pm Aust EST when the moon is new in Leo (perfect for such a social, creative ventures) come and join us for our very first Fang Author Chat.
Many of you might know Kim from her books, from Twitter or maybe from her great comments on our competition blogs, so you’ll know that we can expect a lot of fun with this chat. However if you don’t yet know her, well let’s just say that her chosen topic for the chat is Sex and the SF Fantasy writer – otherwise known as “Blood Honey Sex Magic” and you’ll get the picture that we’re going to be in for a lot of laughs, some no doubt risque and inappropriate comments and an insight into a rather challenging aspect of contemporary writing. Yep Kim’s ready to get down and dirty on a topic often overlooked and easily misunderstood in both genre and literary fiction.
In fact, when describing this topic to us Kim wrote ……
If you think writing sex is simply a matter of describing an image from the Kama Sutra and adding “oh yeah, do it to me baby!” this chat is for you.
This is going to be such fun, so bring your opinions, ideas and questions along – we hope that you can join us!
No special software, just login from your browser: http://www.fangtastic.com.au/chat.php

Full Moon Stars by Kim Falconer
July 27, 2010July 27 to August 2, 2010
RAM: The full moon highlights your connection to other people and how participation in the group can shape your goals. Would you like to experience something new? If you want to make peace, you don’t talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies. ~Moshe Dayan
AUROCHS: The spot light shines again on career, mission and public standing. There is only one question worth asking. Do you love it? Success isn’t the key to happiness, happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. ~Albert Schweitzer
TWINS: If you think anything at all during this full moon, think for yourself! Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions. ~Albert Einstein
COBRA: The light of this moon shows not stumbling blocks scattered around to trip you up but building blocks ready to create a new foundation. Help is also on the way! How wonderful that we have met with a paradox. Now we have some hope of making progress. ~Niels Bohr
LION: Relationships are highlighted in this full moon event. It is likely you are going to be looking, seeking, analysing and prognosticating about them in every which way. There is a beautiful revelation in this. What we are looking for is what is looking. ~St. Francis of Assisi
CERES: Consider your current reading material. Are your books a light in the darkens? Guides along the way? Books are the engines of change, companions, teachers, magicians, bankers of the treasures of the mind, Books are humanity in print.” ~Authur Schopenhauer
BALENCIA: The full moon shines its light on your inclination to go along with the crowd. In a word, reconsider. Such tactics will not show your true beauty to the world. The trouble with being in the rat race is that even if you win, you’re still a rat. ~Lily Tomlin
SCORPION: The full moon is shining on your domestic life. It’s a perfect time to enjoy yourself, no matter what. Remember, your laughter is contagious, in a good way. If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance. ~George Bernard Shaw
ARCHER: This full moon could see you in a hot debate with family and friends. You’ll have to decide if you’d rather be real, happy or ‘right’. You’ll have to decide if there is a difference. The most important persuasion tool you have in your entire arsenal is integrity. ~Zig Ziglar
SEA-GOAT: It is easy to measure yourself against the past, your own and others’. Easy, but not so helpful. This full moon throws light on your core values. Have they changed? Do not be satisfied with the stories that come before you. Unfold your own myth. ~Rumi
WATER-BEARER: The brilliance of the full moon is its ability to shine light on a darkness previously unseen. At first, it can feel shocking, painful or repulsive. But the task is to see and move on. Ask yourself this question: Will this matter a year from now? ~Richard Carlson
FISHES: The full moon illuminates the less than orderly aspects of life, the cluttered drawers, crazy closets, random shelves and hectic sheds you can’t quite put right, or keep right for long. For now, get okay with the mess. Chaos is a friend of mine. ~Bob Dylan
Kim Falconer runs an astrology forum and alternative science site‚ trains with a sword and is working on the second book in the Quantum Encryption trilogy, the follow up to Quantum Enchantment, both of which are set in the world of Gaela, as well as on Earth. The first book in the new series is called Path of the Stray and will be out 1 August. Kim lives in Byron Bay and is taking part in several events at the Byron Bay Writers Festival in August, find the details on the News & Events page!

The Naming of Aufleur
July 23, 2010
Names are hugely important to me as a writer. I can’t move forward until I know what my main characters are called. I remember being severely held up on writing Power and Majesty in the first place because I didn’t know what Velody’s name was – I narrowed it down to ‘v’ finally but no ‘v’ names fit. Verity was close but not right, Victoria was possible but… no. Eventually I just started writing girls names randomly and replacing the first letter with ‘v’ until I found the right one. She could have ended up a Velanie, Velissa or Vercedes… luckily I hit on the right one eventually!
One of my aims with Aufleur was to create a city that really felt like a place that could exist. I wanted it to be a cosmopolitan hub, the sort of city that people leave their small towns and even their small countries to visit. It’s a centre of trade, which means there is lots of references to people and materials that come from outside – enough so that my publishers requested a world map even thought the characters rarely step outside the city!
Just as the city was in my head a mash up of favourite historical cities (ancient and modern Rome, Victorian London, turn of the century Paris, hints of Cabaret Berlin and 1920′s New York) so too was the language I referred to. I pinched bits of Latin, French, Italian, English and Spanish (plus a hefty dose of Madey-Uppy) for my character and also my place names. Also, being as it was my city and I could do what I wanted, I threw in a whole pile of in jokes and references to things I loved. Because worldbuilding for me is just as much about wordplay as visual references, I also played with the vocabulary of characters, creating my own words and removing a few from the language I had to work with. There’s a sense where fantasy worlds are “translated” to readers in the process of writing, and one of my favourite things about language translation is that there are some words that don’t have equivalents and get kept along the way.
Here then are a handful of the stories/ideas behind the naming of places in the world of Aufleur and the Creature Court:
AUFLEUR: I wish I had a cute story for this one, but it’s one of those cases where I pushed sounds/words together and they sounded right to me. ‘Fleur’ obviously is French for ‘flower.’ The other cities of the region, Tierce and Bazeppe, were likewise words that just arrived in my head.
DIAMAGNE: Another one that came out of nowhere. Reading it aloud for the podcast, I was thrown that I had no idea how to say this – in my head it’s always been ‘dia-magny’ but that sounded so wrong. “Charlemagne,” I chided myself, and pronounced it far more sensibly after that.

What makes you buy a book? Nicole Murphy
July 22, 2010So, here’s a question for you – what makes you buy a book?
Ah, yes. It’s the slightly panicked author, having to accept that she can’t control what happens to her book now; desperate for people to buy it, wondering what she can do to help.
So, first things first – why do you go into a bookstore? Is it to buy a certain book? To see if the latest from your favourite author is in? Are you out of reading material and you’re just browsing?
Me, I tend to be a mix of looking for a certain book or browsing. When looking for a certain book, it tends to be that of a friend or someone I’ve met. I’m a sucker for this – if I meet you, and you’re nice, then I’ll go buy your book. I have a terrible time at cons – keep meeting authors, keep liking them, keep buying their books and the to-be-read pile grows and grows (I think about what my book buying will be at Worldcon and shudder).
At the moment, I’m trying both to buy all my fellow Voyager authors’ books and to buy books from friends who are publishing at the moment.
When browsing, I tend to go to the section of a store. At the moment, my big kick is urban fantasy/paranormal romance, so I’ll go there. Generally, my beeline is for the science fiction/fantasy section. From there, I’ll move over to the romance section. I tend to not need to move on from there
.
Alright, let’s say you’re browsing. You’re in the store, probably at the section of books that you are most likely to buy. What gets you to pick up a book? Cover? Title? Store recommendation? Does the number of copies on the shelf mean anything to you?
I tend to be a bit of a cover gal. If something catches my eye, I’ll pick it up and have a look. This generally means that a book facing out has more of a chance with me then one with just the spine showing. However, if there isn’t a cover that catches me, then I’ll start looking for titles. There’s particularly clues I look for eg if I’m in a vampire mood, anything with bite or death is probably what I need to find.
I’ll also look to see if it’s a series and if so, is book one there. Nothing worse than buying a book and when you get home, realising it’s not clear that you needed to read a previous book. I HATE books that don’t make that clear on the cover.
At this point I must thank Voyager for the FABULOUS covers I’m getting for the Dream of Asarlai trilogy. They’re very eyecatching, I think.
Now you have the book in your hand. What convinces you to buy? A quote from the author? The blurb on the back? Do you flip it open and read?
I have a friend who actually uses the author photo as part of the buying process. If the author looks like someone that he’d relate to, it helps sell the book.
I’m not so into author quotes myself. Instead, I’ll read the blurb and if it intrigues me, will then go in to read a few pages. Generally near the front, and around the middle. Do I like the tone of the writing (I’m not into overly descriptive stuff, for example)? Does the internal seem to be matching what the cover and blurb are promising?
Again, kudos to Voyager for the blurb of Secret Ones. I think it’s fabulous.
So, what makes you
a) go into a bookstore,
b) pick a book up off the shelf and
c) decide to buy it?
Enquiring minds want to know.
Nicole Murphy is the author of Secret Ones, Dreams of Asarlai Book One. She has been a teacher and journalist, but is now concentrating on her writing. She has had many short stories published, and has edited speculative fiction magazines. She lives in Queanbeyan with her husband Tim.

Duncan Lay in Adelaide for the Big July Tour
July 20, 2010My last trip away for this amazing month of selling books was to Adelaide.
My main reason for going down there was A+R Edwardstown, (see photos here) which has been a great supporter my books and so I was keen to support them back.
I was being met by HC rep Anthony down there, who would look after me for the first day, then Graeme would take over for day two.
I was a little nervous, as they had warned me it was not like Sydney but at the same time I was confident I could make a good impression.
After all, this is not just about selling books. It is about meeting sales staff and getting the stores enthused about you, bringing your books out from the pack.
It was grey and drizzly as I flew in and headed out to A+R Westlakes, a combined book store and newsagency in a big shopping centre.
My fears were unfounded as I sold 21 books in the two hours there and chatted to some great people … strangely enough both Anthony, myself and store manager Bradley had the same style of close-trimmed beard – make of that what you will!
A+R Edwardstown was next, an older centre but the store I was down here to see.
They were just as nice in person as they were on the Net, with Tarran and owner Jo snapping endless pictures of me!
After a slow start I kicked into gear and sold 22 books for them. A pair of spruikers were trying to sell exercise equipment just across the aisle from me – that was to happen a few times in Adelaide and I even tried to sell them some books (without success). Still, I thought, if I can sell to a spruiker …!
I checked into my hotel, The Medina Grand, which used to be the old SA Treasury Department building. It was stunning – 15-foot-high ceilings, real old-world charm and in the heart of the city. I grabbed a early dinner in the Chinatown before heading out for Thursday night shopping at A+R Marion.
This was a tough gig, my toughest of the day. Not only was my voice really starting to break up but everyone was in a rush and very reluctant to stop and talk!
`MasterChef is on!’ one exclaimed as she tore past me.

Kim Falconer’s horoscopes: Saturn into Libra
July 20, 2010July 23, 2010 to Oct 5, 2012
RAM: Saturn in Libra says it’s time to take all unions seriously, reconsidering how you choose them and why. Note: It’s not like buying a car. Human relationships always help us to carry on because they always presuppose further developments, a future –and also because we live as if our only task was precisely to have relationships with other people. ~Albert Camus
AUROCHS: Saturn in Libra heightens the interest in your physicality, putting focus on health, strength, nutrition and exercise. It’s all about appreciating the little things. A leaf fluttered in through the window this morning, as if supported by the rays of the sun, a bird settled on the fire escape, joy in the task of coffee, joy accompanied me as I walked. ~Anais Nin
TWINS: The next two years highlights creative self-expression. It may seem like you need to research and study and plan to choose the best medium, genre or moment, but you don’t. All you must do is open your heart. You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children. ~Madeleine L’Engle
COBRA: Saturn into Libra can feel like a weight of responsibility. Suddenly it’s you, and only you, that can manage the family, sort friends problems, bail out a relative or rear a child to perfection. If you fall for this, you will robe those you love of their own adventures. Now and then it’s good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy. ~Guillaume Apollinaire
LION: The time of Saturn through Libra is a liberation of the mind, if you are willing to expand your awareness and learn new things. Life thus far is a tool box filled with everything you’ve agreed to believe. You may want to take a look in there and see if you’ve kept the right ones. If you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail. ~Abraham Maslow
CERES: This is a time of patience, care and planning. The seeds of your ideas have only one requirement—they must make you smile. Then all you have to do is nurture them and allow them to grow. Success is alive. It germinates, sprouts, and grows. It grows first ‘underground’; in due time it appears and keeps on unfolding. ~ Elizabeth Towne
BALENCIA: Saturn in your sign for two years rings the chime of accomplishment. Pick your favourite goal and pursue it, one hundred percent. My secret is summarised in four C’s: curiosity, confidence, courage, and constancy, and the greatest of all is confidence. When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly and unquestionable. ~Walt Disney
SCORPION: The shift of Saturn into Libra marks an immersion with the collective unconscious. You’re going fishing in the well of souls and your bait is art, language, music and dance. Express, by all means express! A good poem helps to change the shape of the universe, helps to extend everyone’s knowledge of himself and the world around him. ~Dylan Thomas
ARCHER: The call of Saturn is to reach out and connect with the community around you. To appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
SEA-GOAT: Career is your focus, individuality your goal. If you do not feel respected, you’re not in the right game. Why do they always teach us that it’s easy (and evil)to do what we want and that we need discipline to restrain ourselves? It’s the hardest thing in the world–to do what we want. And it takes the greatest kind of courage. I mean, what we really want. ~Ayn Rand
WATER-BEARER: Saturn in Libra asks that you get moving. Open your mind to the dream of possibility. Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of people and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime. ~Mark Twain
FISHES: Saturn transiting the sign of Libra is about sharing resources with others, cooperating in joint endeavors and making advantageous connections. This bodes well for business partners, research workers or relationships of a more physically intimate nature. The only requirements are harmony and patience. Remember: Waiting is erotic. ~Irene Nemirovsky
Kim Falconer runs an astrology forum and alternative science site‚ trains with a sword and is working on the second book in the Quantum Encryption trilogy, the follow up to Quantum Enchantment, both of which are set in the world of Gaela, as well as on Earth. The first book in the new series is called Path of the Stray and will be out 1 August. Kim lives in Byron Bay and is taking part in several events at the Byron Bay Writers Festival in August, find the details on the News & Events page!







