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Club Fantasci

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Club Fantasci

Tag Archives: Erin Morgenstern

The First Official Club Fantasci Hangout “The Night Circus” – August 2012

22 Friday Feb 2013

Posted by David Lowry in Monthly Hangouts

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Australia, Authors, Book Club, Book Publishers, Book Publishing, Book Review, Books, Ciara Ballintyne, Club Fantasci, Dark Fantasy, David Lowry, Dionne Lister, dystopian, Epic, Epic Fantasy, Erin Morgenstern, Erotica, Fantasy, Gothic, High Fantasy, Horror, Indie authors, Lycans, Militaristic Science Fiction, Model, Monsters, Nashville, Paranormal, Reading, Review, Romance, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, Space Opera, Steampunk, Supernatural, Supernatural Romance, The Lowry Agency, The Night Circus, urban fantasy, Vampires, Werewolves, Writers

The First Official Club Fantasci Hangout – August 2012

Book of the Month: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

The Night Circus

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wine of the Month: 2011 Suited Muscat by Sort This Out Cellars.com

August 2011 Wine of the Month

04 Tuesday Sep 2012

Posted by David Lowry in Wine of the Month

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Australia, Authors, Book Club, Book Publishers, Book Publishing, Books, Ciara Ballintyne, Club Fantasci, Dark Fantasy, David Lowry, Dayne Delux, Dionne Lister, dystopian, Epic, Epic Fantasy, Erin Morgenstern, Erotica, Fantasy, Gothic, High Fantasy, Horror, Indie authors, Lycans, Militaristic Science Fiction, Model, Monsters, Muscat, Nashville, Paranormal, Pinup, Reading, Romance, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, Shannon Million, Sort This Out Cellars, Space Opera, Steampunk, Supernatural, Supernatural Romance, The Lowry Agency, The Night Circus, urban fantasy, Vampires, Vino, Werewolves, Wine, Writers

August Wine of the Month – 2011 Suited Muscat

2011 Suited Muscat

Not your typical dessert wine, by any means. Great for hot summer days, refreshing and light – not syrupy, this Muscat shows beautiful lemon, orange and honey flavors. Drizzle it over vanilla ice cream or enjoy a glass or two on the porch. World class contemporary pinup model, Dayna Delux sets this label on fire.

Club Fantasci Members Discount: 15% off! Use the code “Book” when ordering online in the coupon section or if by phone just let them know you are with the “Club Fantasci” book club.

Out of state orders (out of california, nevada, arizona or colorado) will need to order via phone.

www.sortthisoutcellars.com

www.sortthisoutcellars.com

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern Review by Ciara Ballintyne

01 Saturday Sep 2012

Posted by David Lowry in Book Reviews

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Australia, Authors, Book Club, Book Publishers, Book Publishing, Book Review, Books, Ciara Ballintyne, Club Fantasci, Dark Fantasy, David Lowry, Dionne Lister, dystopian, Epic, Epic Fantasy, Erin Morgenstern, Erotica, Fantasy, Gothic, High Fantasy, Horror, Indie authors, Lycans, Militaristic Science Fiction, Model, Monsters, Nashville, Paranormal, Reading, Review, Romance, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, Shannon Million, Space Opera, Steampunk, Supernatural, Supernatural Romance, The Lowry Agency, The Night Circus, urban fantasy, Vampires, Werewolves, Writers

Ciara BallyntineLe Cirque de Reve – the Night Circus, an exotic circus open only during the hours of nightfall, a place of beauty, and wonder, and dreams made flesh. Here, the circus-goer can wander the mysterious paths between black and white striped tents, venturing into each tent as they please. Within each tent, a wonder – an illusionist, a fortune-teller, and sights even more wondrous and exotic, a garden of ice, a tree of wishes, a labyrinth of spectacular rooms, each even more fantastic and unbelievable than the last. And above all, the smell of caramel and popcorn. The Night Circus – the arena for a magical challenge.

Celia and Marco – unwilling antagonists in a battle of wits between their near-immortal mentors to prove one school of thought better than another. Bound to the challenge by magic, compelled to strive against one another, yet drawn to one another like moths to the flame.

Even now, the day after I finished the book, this is all I can tell you about the book. The story is easily summarised to a line or two, indicating a simplicity of storyline that is rare and not necessarily desirable. The scenes and individual events already blur and fade because they were part of a gradual build to the ending, rather than important events in their own right.

I enjoyed the destination of this book, but the journey often left me flat. Did I like Celia and Marco? In a vague, distant kind of way, yes. Do I feel I know the characters intimately, that I could tell you how they might respond in any given situation? No, not at all – in fact, if I were to describe the characters, I could only do so in vague terms. Was I invested in the outcome? Again, only in a slightly hopeful way.

The book is written in a peculiar fashion, utilising both second person point of view (use of ‘you’ instead of ‘I’, ‘he’, or ‘she’) and omniscient third POV (use of ‘he’ and ‘she’ in a remote fashion, where we feel the story is narrated to us and we are kept at arm’s length from the characters).

I detest the use of second person point of view in this book. It is used, I think, to create the sense the reader is in the circus. It irritated me, and distracted me from the story – not a good thing when I was already hardly invested in the story. Although I concede that the ending, the culmination of the use of second POV, was clever, it was not enough to compensate for its annoyances during the book. Third omniscient POV is what largely kept me from connecting with the characters. Never allowed inside the character’s heads, I never felt I got to know them, never got the chance to live and breathe their lives, their desires, and their fears.

The book uses present tense to compensate for the remote POV (he walks instead of he walked) but this, too is unconventional, as it often distracts the reader or creates a sense of discomfort – we are, by nature, accustomed to telling stories in past tense, even our own stories of each passing day, and use of other tenses can be an uncomfortable experience. I found it distracting and it didn’t sufficiently compensate for the POV.

The book also lacked conflict in my opinion. The main conflict turned out to be Celia’s and Marco’s desire to be rid of the challenge – the tension between what they must do by the rules of the game, and what they want to do. But the rules are so vague, each ‘move’ in the game so abstract (consisting mostly of each of them contributing to the circus by means of magic, adding a new tent or ‘act’ only made possible by magic), that the book is more than half over before the reader starts to gain a sense of this conflict. Other conflicts that might exist between the characters (for example, Celia and Marco’s blossoming romance, or the potential love triangle with Isobel) is negated by the use of omniscient third – we never wonder if Celia’s feelings for Marco are reciprocated because the narrator has already told us they are.

As a result, I found I had nothing to keep me reading except a vague curiosity in where the book was going. If I hadn’t been reading this for Club Fantasci, I may well have stopped in the first 10%. As it was, I was well past halfway before I felt I needed to read to the end. In my opinion, that is far too late.

My strongest reaction was early in the book to Prospero the Enchanter when he slices Celia’s fingers open in a cruel fashion to teach her to heal herself – but the impact of this, even, could have been made more immediate, and a stronger basis for the reader to identify with Celia if another POV had been used. Later, in the story, the emotional impact of this event in her life is played down.

The Black Moment (the moment of crisis, when the reader should catch their breath in fear and anticipation, waiting to see how terribly wrong everything has gone, and if all will be well) had me curious, but hardly emotionally invested to the point I should have been. I did foresee Celia’s plan for ending the game, and although it wasn’t what I wanted to happen, I found the most I could muster at the prospect of an unhappy ending was a mild annoyance.

While the story was different, novel, unique, and had a fabulous atmosphere and mood, I can only say I feel every opportunity for passion, for strong emotion, for the things readers hunger for, was missed. While I was not unhappy with the ending, this is not a story that will stay with me for years to come – or even perhaps past the week.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern – a Review by David Lowry

01 Saturday Sep 2012

Posted by David Lowry in Book Reviews

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Australia, Authors, Book Club, Book Publishers, Book Publishing, Book Review, Books, Ciara Ballintyne, Club Fantasci, Dark Fantasy, David Lowry, Dionne Lister, dystopian, Epic, Epic Fantasy, Erin Morgenstern, Erotica, Fantasy, Gothic, High Fantasy, Horror, Indie authors, Lycans, Militaristic Science Fiction, Model, Monsters, Nashville, Paranormal, Reading, Review, Romance, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, Shannon Million, Space Opera, Steampunk, Supernatural, Supernatural Romance, The Lowry Agency, The Night Circus, urban fantasy, Vampires, Werewolves, Writers

David LowryWhen my book club Club Fantasci chose its first “Book of the Month,” we had quite the list to go through and pick from. For some reason after discovering this book at a local mom & pop bookstore, it really stuck out to me. The premise was very intriguing, the colors brought to mind what I thought would be a sinister plot and for some reason it kept bringing the movie “Something Wicked This Way Comes” to my mind (a favorite from childhood) also a very popular novel by Ray Bradbury from 1962.

What I got out of the novel was not what I expected. Although I loved the premise of the book, the book itself didn’t stand up to what it could have been.  Author Erin Morgenstern did turn out a good book for her first novel without a doubt. It has plenty of imagination and creativity. What I felt was missing was any real bond to the characters or any real attachment to the outcome of the love story because that is essential what “The Night Circus” is, a love story.

It starts off with two young children Celia and Marco who are unwittingly looked into a life or death challenge that goes on for their entire life. They know nothing about it, how it works, whom it’s against or when it ends. They just exist and are in a combat of sorts against each other until into their adult hood they start to figure out who their opponents are and the stakes if the challenge is lost.

Along the way, a cast of characters again that you develop no attachment to pepper the story with little bits of their involvement here and there. Two characters die and you don’t really even know or care who they are although they are at least partially integral to the circus itself. The story jumps back and forth in time with nothing but a tiny sub-script line at the top of each chapter to let you know of the time shifts and if you are like me and extremely busy, it becomes very hard to keep that all in order as when I am able to read, I read in spurts and very rarely for hours at a time.

As Celia and Marco grow up and figure out they are pitted against each other in this challenge they had no choice in participating in, they fall in love and of course they have to figure out a way to be together upon discovering that the only way to win the challenge is to be the last to survive. It’s a challenge of endurance, who can last the longest before finally giving up because they can’t bear it anymore emotionally.

I won’t give away the ending but let’s just say it ends very quickly and very anti-climatically. I ended the book thinking to myself how completely unsatisfying it was to read. I do love the premise, I love the potential, but I don’t feel it was reached here. Erin Morgenstern is a talented writer; I think her ability to describe detail is very good. Her imagination is fantastic. I just think this story was a bit rushed and the ending was not thought out well to me. There was not enough character development to care about the outcome and the switching between first and second person was a bit off-putting.

All in all I would give it about three out of 5 stars. I would read another book by the author, but admittedly it would probably be after getting through all my other ones first.

“The Night Circus” by Erin Morgentsern – Review by Dionne Lister

01 Saturday Sep 2012

Posted by David Lowry in Book Reviews

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Australia, Authors, Book Club, Book Publishers, Book Publishing, Book Review, Books, Ciara Ballintyne, Club Fantasci, Dark Fantasy, David Lowry, Dionne Lister, dystopian, Epic Fantasy, Erin Morgenstern, Erotica, Fantasy, Gothic, High Fantasy, Horror, Indie authors, Lycans, Militaristic Science Fiction, Model, Monsters, Nashville, Paranormal, Reading, Romance, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, Shannon Million, Space Opera, Steampunk, Supernatural, Supernatural Romance, The Lowry Agency, The Night Circus, urban fantasy, Vampires, Werewolves, Writers

A Rich Atmosphere with Bland Characters – 3 stars

The Night Circus is a book that had me thinking it was fairly good until I really thought about what I did and didn’t like about it. I was initially impressed by the original theme and plot, and the writing is bordering on great but didn’t quite get there for me. Morgenstern’s descriptive language provides a rich atmosphere, but the rhythm overall is repetitive and, at times, monotonous.

The editing lets the book down. I know a lack of punctuation can be trendy, or speed up the flow, but only when used effectively. Tim Winton is a skillful writer who knows when to leave out punctuation, but Erin Morgenstern’s editor should be slapped with a wet fish. There were instances where sentences became unclear and I had to read them twice to make sure I understood exactly what they were saying—a comma can be a good thing. I also found a couple of run-on sentences, which a reader probably wouldn’t notice, but as an editor, I couldn’t help but see.

The characters were likable and I could picture them clearly, however they lacked depth and I didn’t love any of them. The love story between two of the characters had moments of intensity, but not enough for my liking (and I don’t mean it should have been more raunchy). It seemed like the author was keeping them apart to build suspense and it worked as I was thinking, come on when will they get to see each other again, but when they did reunite it wasn’t spectacular, it was just OK.

I’m wondering if the focus on the circus took too much focus off the characters. The author has skillfully set the atmosphere and scene but it has come at a cost to character depth. Sometimes I wished she would just get on with telling the story, rather than describe every single tent in the damn circus. The circus stole some of the soul of the characters and none were as central to the story as it was, which I think is a mistake. To me, this book is a good example that characterization can be more important than plot and setting—give me lovable characters and I’d be happy to watch them lazing away on the beach, but give me boring ones and my heart won’t race even if they’re wrestling crocodiles.

OK, I know it seems like I didn’t like the book, but I liked it enough that I wanted to read the whole thing and I did enjoy parts of it, however it doesn’t make my ‘want to re-read’ list.

Books, Wine and Music – Club Fantasci – Guest Blog by David Lowry

26 Sunday Aug 2012

Posted by David Lowry in Uncategorized

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Australia, Authors, Book Club, Book Publishers, Book Publishing, Books, Ciara Ballintyne, Club Fantasci, Dark Fantasy, David Lowry, Dionne Lister, dystopian, Epic, Epic Fantasy, Erin Morgenstern, Erotica, Fantasy, Gothic, High Fantasy, Horror, Indie authors, Lycans, Mariam Kobras, Militaristic Science Fiction, Model, Monsters, Nashville, Paranormal, Reading, Romance, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, Shannon Million, Space Opera, Steampunk, Supernatural, Supernatural Romance, The Lowry Agency, The Night Circus, urban fantasy, Vampires, Werewolves, Writers

A great honor, and a great pleasure: my guest blogger today is no one other than the one and only David Lowry, President of Lowry Agency!!
Books, Wine and Music – Club Fantasci brings you your three favorite things (Guest Blog by David Lowry)
If you love to read, think you are a wine connoisseur or love music then Club Fantasci is the new book club for you. A break from the traditional book club as it is held by a Google+ hangout, Club Fantasci endeavors to bring you something new to your reading experience. With live discussion, a sense of humor and also a critical look at books and all things necessary to help a book break through the masses, Club Fantasci will break down everything from its literary merits to its marketing.
Our first meeting will be on August 31st at 7:00pm CST on Google+ with the live feed available to watch on the Club Fantasci website. To participate and share your views or just have fun with the hosts you can interact with us on our twitters pages @lowryagency, @ciaraballintyne,@dionnelister and @shannonmillion.

Read more here…

http://mariamkobras.blogspot.de/2012/08/books-wine-and-music-club-fantasci.html

Not Your Traditional Book Club

26 Sunday Aug 2012

Posted by David Lowry in Uncategorized

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Australia, Authors, Book Club, Book Publishers, Book Publishing, Books, Ciara Ballintyne, Club Fantasci, Dark Fantasy, David Lowry, Dawn Kirby, Dionne Lister, dystopian, Epic Fantasy, Erin Morgenstern, Erotica, Fantasy, Gothic, High Fantasy, Horror, Indie authors, Lycans, Militaristic Science Fiction, Model, Monsters, Nashville, Paranormal, Reading, Romance, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, Shannon Million, Space Opera, Steampunk, Supernatural, Supernatural Romance, The Lowry Agency, The Night Circus, urban fantasy, Vampires, Werewolves, Writers

Have you ever been so busy that you don’t have time to attend every book club function you want? Do you love to read but haven’t in a while and don’t even know where to begin when looking for a new book? Do you like fantasy, science fiction, paranormal, erotica or anything in between? Do you want to find others that like the same types of books you do or discover new authors?

If so then Club Fantasci is the book club for you.  A little different from your average meet once a month at the coffee shop book club, Club Fantasci meets once a month on Google+ and we talk about the Book of the Month, Wine of the Month and the music that each host feels best relates to the book we are reviewing that month.

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In Club Fantasci we will discuss speculative fiction and it literary merits. The marketing of it, its effectiveness, and whether or not it shifts to much from it expected outcome from it genre. We wants to bring our members a deeper understanding of not just story telling, but what goes into the book itself on every level.

Our first Google+ hangout is August 31st at 7:00 pm CST. You can interact with us on our individual twitter accounts @lowryagency, @ciaraballintyne, @dionnelisterand @ShannonMillion to discuss your views on the book or just to have fun with us live. The video feed will be live on the Club Fantasci website.

Read more here…

http://dawnmkirby.wordpress.com/2012/08/26/not-your-traditional-book-club/

How Do You Travel? Explore Club Fantasci and Your Deepest Imagination

26 Sunday Aug 2012

Posted by David Lowry in Uncategorized

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Amberr Meadows, Australia, Authors, Book Club, Book Publishers, Book Publishing, Books, Ciara Ballintyne, Club Fantasci, Dark Fantasy, David Lowry, Dionne Lister, dystopian, Epic Fantasy, Erin Morgenstern, Erotica, Fantasy, Gothic, High Fantasy, Horror, Indie authors, Lycans, Militaristic Science Fiction, Model, Modeling, Monsters, Nashville, Paranormal, Reading, Romance, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, Shannon Million, Space Opera, Steampunk, Supernatural, Supernatural Romance, The Lowry Agency, The Night Circus, urban fantasy, Vampires, Werewolves, Writers

Enjoy a wonderful creativity guest post from Ciara Ballintyne on Club Fantasci, and travel into the deepest realm of your imagination.

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Join Clube Fantasci and explore the deepest corners of your imagination.

How do you travel? By car, bus, boat, train or plane? Or… by paper and ink, or ereader, teemed with your imagination?

Where do you travel? Venice, Rome, London, New York? Or to the dark emptiness of space, where a vast planet curves out of sight in the vista below you? To a fantastical world where dragons fly, and sunlight pours like syrup?

I have been to hundreds of worlds I could never reach by car or plane, carried by the wings of fancy, aided by the dreams of someone else, written down and shared. I have walked the earth of planets far away, in our galaxy or another, and strode across the landscape of imagination to face the hordes of evil. Without speculative fiction, my life would be immeasurably poorer.

If this sounds like you, you should check out Club Fantasci, a new video book club for speculative fiction. The hosts meet monthly via Google+ Hangout to discuss the book, and you can tune in to watch. You get your say on the discussion boards for the group at Goodreads! There’s a current debate about what ‘traditional fantasy’ means exactly (in a situation where high/epic fantasy is a different category) so come along and have your say. My current view is it might be sword and sorcery, or possibly heroic fantasy. Do you know?

The first G+ Hangout is on 31 August at 7:00pm CST, and the Book of the Month for August is ‘The Night Circus’ by Erin Morgenstern. Feel free to drop by our Facebook Page or Goodreads group and make suggestions for future books. I’ll be revealing September’s Book of the Month at the August G+ Hangout.

Read more here…

http://www.amberrisme.com/2012/08/26/how-do-you-travel-explore-club-fantasci-and-your-deepest-imagination/#

Our Co-Host Dionne Lister’s Interview with Maria Savva

26 Sunday Aug 2012

Posted by David Lowry in Uncategorized

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Australia, Authors, Book Club, Book Publishers, Book Publishing, Books, Ciara Ballintyne, Club Fantasci, Dark Fantasy, David Lowry, Dionne Lister, dystopian, Epic, Epic Fantasy, Erin Morgenstern, Erotica, Fantasy, Gothic, High Fantasy, Horror, Indie authors, Lycans, Maria Savva, Militaristic Science Fiction, Monsters, Nashville, Paranormal, Reading, Romance, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, Shannon Million, Space Opera, Steampunk, Supernatural, Supernatural Romance, The Lowry Agency, The Night Circus, urban fantasy, Vampires, Werewolves, Writers

Introducing author, Dionne Lister, plus a giveaway!

Today, I’m thrilled to be introducing you to author Dionne Lister. I met Dionne on Twitter, a while ago, shortly before the release of her debut novel, Shadows of the Realm. I am very glad I discovered this author as she is now on my list of favourites. I am looking forward to reading her latest book, Dark Spaces – A collection of suspenseful short stories, which is already on my Kindle!

After reading, and thoroughly enjoying, Dionne’s debut novel, I was keen to introduce her to all of you. If you like fantasy fiction, you really should get to know this author.

Dionne very kindly agreed to answer my interview questions and has also offered to give away 2 e-book copies of Shadows of the Realm, and 2 e-book copies of Dark Spaces to followers of this blog! If you would like to enter the giveaway please leave a comment below or simply ‘like’ the blog post. Winners will be chosen on 16th September 2012.

Here is my interview with Dionne:

Shadows of the Realm is the first book in a series. Did you start out with the idea of writing a series or did it just develop into a series later?

I wanted it to be a series from the beginning. Most of the fantasy I’ve read over the years is always part of a series and I like that because I get invested in the characters and when I read a good book, I miss the characters when it’s finished.

Who designed the cover of your novel? It’s very striking.

Thanks Maria. The cover is something that was really important to me, especially as I think fantasy is a genre which cries out for artistic and imaginitive images that evoke the feel of the world your trying to convey. A Sydney artist, Robert Baird, did it and I was so happy when I saw it that I cried.

Your characters have great names! How did you come up with the different names?

I don’t know lol. I have a picture of the character in my mind, then went through different letters and names in my head until it fit. I think names can conjure a feeling about a person. Although my Greek background came out in the dragons’ names. Greeks have long names, like Papadopoulos, and I was sort of having a joke with that. Zim was originally Zimapholous Terralphyn Accorterroza, but a beta reader didn’t get the joke and said the names were too long, so I cut them lol.

Being Greek myself, I did wonder whether they were inspired by Greek names, as some of them sounded Greek to me, like Avruellen, and the name of the dragon city, Vellonia 🙂

In your novel, your Realmist characters have to bond with a creatura, who will become their animal friend and partner for life, and they can ‘talk’ to them telepathically. If you could bond in such a way with an animal what type of animal would you choose and why?

I would say a panther. They are so strong and I imagine calm in a tricky situation. Their eyes are mesmerizing and look as if they see to the heart of things.

Your book is full of wonderful characters, including dragons, and Realmists, ‘talking’ animals. If you could spend a day as one of the characters in your book, which one would you choose, and why?

That’s a tough question. I think Zim. It would be awesome to glide around in the sky and breathe fire at people.

LOL, and I thought you were such a nice, friendly woman, Dionne

I understand you have had some success in getting the book noticed by local schools. Can you tell us a bit more about that?

One of the local high schools bought my book and the students are loving it actually (which I was very excited to find out). We have a program here that encourages kids to read. They have to read 20 books a year. 15 of the books they read have to come from something called ‘The Premier’s List” and I’m trying to get my book on there at the moment. If they accept it, most of the schools in our state will buy it.

Is fantasy your favourite genre to read as well as write?

It used to be my favourite genre, but in the last couple of years I’ve branched out and am reading contemporary literary stuff as well and I’m really enjoying that. I love writing fantasy but my suspenseful/scary stuff is something I love to write equally as much. I love writing horror too, but haven’t done any for a long time, although there’s a little bit of horror in Shadows of the Realm (as you know).

What inspired you to start writing Shadows of the Realm?

I had wanted to write a novel for as long as I can remember, and I thought fantasy was a good place to start since I loved it and I didn’t need to do any research. That sounds terrible but I’m lazy lol.

How long did it take you to write the book?

The first draft only took a few weeks.

I understand that there was a period of about 8 years between you writing the book and finally getting it published. What was the reason for the delay?

Life, lack of experience and opportunity. When I initially wrote it, tradition publishing was the only way to publish and of course I had a few rejections. I was busy with my full time job, then kids came along. I also realised that I probably wasn’t as good a writer as I thought, so I enrolled in a creative writing degree so I could learn, and then revisit my book. I went over it again then found an editor (after a false start where Jessica Hollis Brown took my money but did no editing – there’s a post on my blog about this). Then I went through my book about four more times and finally was ready to self-publish.

You are the co-host of the Tweep Nation podcast, with Amber Norrgard. I enjoyed being interviewed by you both on the show. How did you and Amber meet, and what gave you the idea for starting the podcast?

We met on Twitter. Social media has been wonderful to me. If it wasn’t for Twitter I would never have self-published. Anyway, I was asked to co-host a friend’s podcast (newbiewriters.com) and after Amber heard it she suggested, um no, insisted, we do our own. And thus, Tweep Nation was born.

If you could interview any author on the podcast who would that be?

Douglas Adams, and yes, I know he’s dead, but I think he would have been very interesting to talk to.

Who were your favourite authors as you were growing up?

David Eddings, CS Lewis, Douglas Adams, Stephen King. There have been so many good authors that I don’t think I could name them all. So many books have influenced me and stuck with me.

Are you reading a book at the moment?

I just finished The Night Circus and I’m currently reading The Hours (that one is for uni). When I’ve finished those I have Coincidences on the list and a book by another indie author, Donna Cavanagh, called Try and Avoid the Speed Bumps.

I hope you enjoy Coincidences! 🙂

Do you prefer print or e-books?

I prefer print books for aesthetic reasons, but e-books win in the cost and convenience stakes.

Do you have any advice for someone thinking of self-publishing a book?

If you want to do it properly don’t cut corners. Don’t be too eager to get it out there. Have it edited, go through it four or five times, be particular. Even then you will still make mistakes, but if you want to be around for a while, quality counts. There are too many writers who don’t take it seriously and their books have five typos on every page, the grammar is shocking etc. If you don’t put your best work forward no one is going to read your second book (although Fifty Shades of Gray has done ok lol). Something I will admit, is that the more you write, the better you get, so your first book probably won’t be the best you will ever do. Do the best you can and build on it, and don’t lose hope, you will keep improving. I would also recommend doing some kind of course. Uni has improved my writing ten fold, I get better with every subject I do.

I understand you are writing the sequel to book 2 in your The Circle of Talia series right now. When do you think that will be published?

I’m aiming to have the first draft done by Christmas. I’m envisaging a March release date (fingers crossed).

You’ve just published a collection of short stories, Dark Spaces, that I’m very much looking forward to reading. Are the stories fantasy tales, or are there other genres too?

There’s only one fantasy flash fiction in there. The stories are mainly dark suspense or looking at an intense situation. Most of them are crime/thriller and have a twist at the end.

Were the stories in your new collection all written specifically for an anthology or were they stories you had written over the years?

They were all stories I had written over the last couple of years, usually for competitions. When I realised I had a few I decided to do something with them. Breathe In Autumn was runner up in a Five Stop Story competition, while Heart of an Angel had an honorable mention in the another comp run by Five Stop Story. My flash fiction piece “Outback Lament” was written for a competition but because I had posted it on my blog I was not allowed to enter it, but someone has just requested to include it in an anthology because they liked it so much! I was very excited when I got that message.

Thank you for being a wonderful guest, Dionne, and I wish you success in all your writing endeavours!

Check out the interview on Goodreads.com here:
http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/2887032-introducing-author-dionne-lister-plus-a-giveaway

Dragon Lovers Unite! Club Fantasci Understands – Guest Post by Ciara Ballintyne

25 Saturday Aug 2012

Posted by David Lowry in Uncategorized

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Australia, Authors, Book Club, Book Publishers, Book Publishing, Books, Ciara Ballintyne, Club Fantasci, Dark Fantasy, David Lowry, Dionne Lister, dystopian, Epic, Epic Fantasy, Erin Morgenstern, Erotica, Gothic, High Fantasy, Horror, Indie authors, Lycans, Militaristic Science Fiction, Model, Monsters, Nashville, Paranormal, Reading, Romance, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, Shannon Million, Space Opera, Steampunk, Supernatural, Supernatural Romance, Sydney, The Lowry Agency, The Night Circus, urban fantasy, Vampires, Werewolves, Writers

Do you love dragons – or other mythical or fantastical creatures? Ever experienced that moment where, halfway through hotly debating whether the dragons in Harry Potter are in fact dragons or wyverns, you realise everyone is staring at you? Or while discussing the differences between hippogriffs and gryphons, everyone starts edging away?

I have. In fact, it was the Harry Potter debate that did me in. I still staunchly maintain those are not dragons. They’re wyverns – of the pterosaur variety. I see you nodding in agreement… We understand each other.

But ten years later, my friends still remember that incident. Don’t start on the dragons again, they say. Or the other objection I encounter is ‘You do know dragons aren’t real, right?’ So what? Why does that matter? The mythology, and even more recently, the fantasy classifications, do exist.

If you know what I’m talking about, you should check out Club Fantasci, a new video book club for speculative fiction. We’ll be discussing the literary merits of each selected book, but also the extent to which a book deviates from or meets genre expectations – anything and everything that impacts on a book’s effectiveness. The hosts meet monthly via Google+ Hangout to discuss the book, and you can tune in to watch. You get your say on the discussion boards for the group at Goodreads!

The first G+ Hangout is on 31 August at 7:00pm CST, and the Book of the Month for August is ‘The Night Circus’ by Erin Morgenstern. Feel free to drop by our Facebook Page or Goodreads group and make suggestions for future books. I’ll be revealing September’s Book of the Month at the August G+ Hangout.

Read more here….

http://www.safireblade.com/?p=5693

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Club Fantasci
Club Fantasci 94 members
Welcome to Club Fantasci, the book club taking the stigma out of speculative fiction. We want to ...

Books we've read

The Night Circus The Night Circus
by Erin Morgenstern

The Way of Shadows The Way of Shadows
by Brent Weeks
Start date: September 1, 2012



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