For I Will Consider My Cat Jeoffry
Christopher Smart (1722-1771) is most often described as a mystic and a visionary. That’s when it’s not pointed out that he was ‘confined for insanity’ at St Luke’s Hospital in London. While he was there, he produced 1200 lines of verse most often titled Jubilate Agno (‘rejoice in the...
Cover Reveal, Graveyard Shift in Ghost Town
Graveyard Shift in Ghost Town, the eagerly anticipated sequel to Gap Year in Ghost Town, is coming soon. But we have a cover! Many thanks to the phenomenally talented Craig Phillips for his stylish work! Look for it in July, from Allen and Unwin!...
Graveyard Shift in Ghost Town Teaser 1
With Graveyard Shift in Ghost Town (the sequel to the Aurealis Award Shortlisted Gap Year in Ghost Town) to be released in July, I’m deep in the last stages of editing. Thanks to the good people at Allen and Unwin, the story is getting tighter and pacier, coming together...
Gap Year in Ghost Town – The Sequel
Hey, everyone! We now have a title for Gap Year 2 – ‘Graveyard Shift in Ghost Town’! More spooky, fun adventures, more Anton, Rani and Bec, more ghosts, more everything! Coming, July 2019 from Allen and Unwin. ...
Fantasy and SF Sentences to Savour
I keep a compendium of sentences that I like both for inspiration and for the sheer pleasure of reading them again and again. What gets a sentence onto my list? A number of reasons. A neat turn of phrase. An unusual construction. An arresting use of punctuation. A thousand...
Words and Nerds Podcast
Dani Vee from the excellent Words and Nerds podcast interviewed me recently. If you’d like to listen to my mellifluous and authoritative voice while I talk about inspiration, characterisation and motivation – with a particular focus on Gap Year in Ghost Town – then go here. After that, have...
Speculate 18
It was an honour, being asked to be one of the guest writers at the very first Speculate Festival, held on Saturday 28 April 2018, and such was the wave of enthusiasm at the end of that inspirational, exhilarating day that I thought I’d record a few impressions...
Tips for Author Visits to Schools
As an author of books for young readers, I’m often asked to visit schools for presentations, residencies and workshops. I enjoy doing this sort of thing, and not just because they get me out of my home and into the world where I can interact with real people...
More Good News!
Hot on the heels of last week’s Aurealis Award ‘Best Fantasy Novel’ shortlisting, ‘Gap Year in Ghost Town’ has bobbed up again, included on the CBCA’s 2018 Notable Books List. Yay!...
Aurealis Awards Shortlisting!
Good news, everyone! I’ve managed to rack up two Aurealis Awards shortlistings! Gap Year in Ghost Town has been shortlisted for Best Fantasy Novel and my short story ‘First Casualty’ (from the groundbreaking ‘Begin, End, Begin’ anthology) is shortlisted in the Best Young Adult Short Story category. These are my...