Ramblings of an Australian Writer

Hey guys, I was over on the DSP FB today, chatting about all manner of things. The chat's over now, but if you want to take a look or leave a comment, I'll be checking back over the next few days. Post links are:

POST 1: https://www.facebook.com/dreamspinnerpress/posts/842333282497691
POST 2: https://www.facebook.com/dreamspinnerpress/photos/a.164623126935380.42893.153390824725277/842348609162825/?type=1
POST 3: https://www.facebook.com/dreamspinnerpress/photos/a.164623126935380.42893.153390824725277/842361495828203/?type=1
POST 4: https://www.facebook.com/dreamspinnerpress/photos/a.164623126935380.42893.153390824725277/842370142494005/?type=1
POST 5: https://www.facebook.com/dreamspinnerpress/posts/842405232490496
POST 6: https://www.facebook.com/dreamspinnerpress/posts/842413959156290

So I’ve been tagged by the my long-time good friend Meredith Shayne to participate in the Meet the Character Blog Hop, where those of us who are so inclined talk a little bit about the characters from our latest--and upcoming--books. Meredith introduced us to Shane Cooper, from her recent release Cutting Out. You can read more about Shane in Meredith's post here.

Cutting Out is out now with Bottom Drawer Publications and you can get it here.



Blurb:

A twenty-year veteran of the shearing shed, Aussie Shane Cooper loves his job, and the home he’s made for himself in New Zealand. If he’s a little lonely, he’s got good mates to keep his spirits up. When a hot, cocky young shearer named Lachlan Moore catches his eye at a competition, he’s content to look but not touch, knowing the young man is out of his league.

Lachie wouldn’t mind a piece of Shane, but the gorgeous gun shearer from Australia is soon forgotten when the Christchurch earthquake hits, and tragedy strikes Lachie’s family. Lachie deals with it the best he can, cutting himself off from all he knows. A year later and he’s back in the shearing shed, out of practice and lacking confidence. That Shane’s there to watch him flounder doesn’t help his nerves.

As Lachlan struggles to re-acclimatise, Shane can’t resist giving him a hand to get back on his feet. As they move from friends to something more, Shane finds himself wanting to know everything he can about Lachie. But Lachie’s got secrets he desperately wants to keep, and when things come to a head, those secrets might just mean the end of them before they’ve truly begun.


*~*~*~*


And onward we go. Introducing Gray, one of the two main characters in my current release, Mythica.



What is the name of your character?

Gray. He has no surname or middle name. It's just Gray.

Is he a fictional or a historic person?

Oh, definitely fictional!

When and where is the story set?

Present day, and in the South Australian seaside towns of Tiddy Widdy Beach and Ardrossan. The Innes National Park at the bottom of the Yorke Peninsula gets a mention too.

What should we know about him?

Gray is an alien, from a race called the Sy'lph. He is one of only two hundred who escaped their home planet in a deep space vessel when invaders destroyed the place and every life on it. With the last survivors of his race, Gray travelled through the galaxy, until the ship reached Earth. They asked for and recieved asylum as refugees--after a long period of discussion and voting with the United Nations--and settled around the world. Gray used to live and work in London, but decided he wanted to see more of Earth, specifically those places that are more remote and less urban. He wanted to visit Australia, so he asked for a work placement there. He was given the job of a senior community officer with Bridging Lives, the government office that works to help the poor, the sick, students, imigrants and mythica.

Gray, and his fellow sy'lph, do not understand hate. He has no concept of it, and has little comprehension of why a person would hate something or someone. He is a little naive in that regard, but he is generous and compassionate to a fault, has a wry sense of humour and is intelligent and interested to learn all that he can about his new home. As sy'lph are, in their natural state, creatures made of liquid metal, their scientists created a synthetic shell in humanoid form for the sy'lph to wear over their true shapes when on Earth. This is for two reasons, the first being that it's less alien in appearance and the second and more important one is that the light spectrum of the natural state of the sy'lph is such that it blinds anyone and anything that looks at them.

Gray is also extremely passionate and devoted to those he loves; he cares for the friends and family of his lover, Caiden, and adores Caiden himself unconditionally, even if Caiden, who is a mythica, doesn't think too highly of himself at times. In his human synthetic form, Gray is just over six foot tall, slender with a muscular frame, pale-skinned with blue-green eyes and mussed blond hair. He is often smiling, and enjoys life.

What is the main conflict? What messes up his life?

When Caiden is kidnapped by Free Earth, a terrorist group dedicated to eradicating all mythica life, Gray grows very angry and with a friend and colleague, recruits an Aboriginal tracker to help find Caiden. He is filled with fear that something will happen to Caiden, as they haven't known each other long and he's fallen in love with him.

What is the personal goal of the character?

Being able to live free, happy and peacefully, with his lover, Caiden Jones.

Is there a working title for this novel, and can we read more about it?

It's out! Mythica is available now at Bottom Drawer Publications.


*~*~*~*~*


Now to introduce you to the two authors who I’m handing the blog hop baton to. Both of these lovely ladies will be posting on November 10th, so watch out for their posts.

First up: My good and dear friend and co-author, Cate Ashwood. Cate's release is forthcoming in 2015, so here's a little bit about it. (I've beta'd this one, and I have to say, this is a terrific book.) It's called "Thirty Things" and will be out with Dreamspinner Press.



Blurb:

Finn and Nate have been best friends almost their whole lives, but Finn has something he's never told Nate—despite the fact that Nate isn't gay, Finn has been in love with him since he was eight years old. Finn has kept his feelings a secret for twenty-one years, terrified of what would happen if Nate ever found out.

One month before Finn's thirtieth birthday, Nate gives him his gift; a road trip across America to check off a list of thirty things to do before Finn turns thirty. Starting in Crawfordsville, Indiana, they tour the country, experiencing new things and meeting new people. Along the way, Nate discovers Finn's feelings for him, and Finn makes some discoveries of his own.

Learn more: http://www.cateashwood.com/coming-soon.html
Visit Cate: http://www.cateashwood.com/


Second up is L. V. Lloyd, fellow Adelaidean who's an author after my own heart, loving science fiction! L. V.'s release is Lunar Affair and it's available here.



Blurb: Lieutenant Jack Alexander has wasted years, waiting for his best friend, Marc Duran, to return his affections. Perhaps it is time to finally move on and find someone new. However, when Major Ethan Pattisson is sent to the planet Mayia to investigate the theft of hundreds of illegal weapons, Marc comes under suspicion, and Jack can’t help stepping in to save him. When Jack finds himself caught in the middle between Ethan and Marc, he discovers that unrequited love might soon be the least of his problems. Fourth book in the Aurigan Space Saga series, although it can be read as a stand alone story.

Learn more: http://www.amazon.com/Lunar-Affair-Aurigan-Space-Volume/dp/1502451247
Visit L. V.: http://lvlloyd.com/


Remember, these guys will be posting on the 10th, so check 'em out when the date rolls around!

It's been a while (again) since I posted here, and all I can say about that really is that between having the cold that wouldn't die and a plethora of other real life things, there hasn't been much energy left in the L. J. bank to power me too far. But there's been some good stuff happening, which makes a wonderful change--with my mum and one of my besties, Minnie, I've been going to the local hydropool every week and doing hydrotherapy. I love this pool and it's a great chance to do a weekly catch up with a very good friend, so it's all win-win for me. Last week, we met a cute little boy who was wearing a Cthulu t-shirt. He wandered up to mum first and gave her a very serious high five, and later, when I was heading to the change room, he and I had a Very Serious conversation about a man in a Big Blue Box (Dr. Who). That whole thing made my night!



This is not a rocking horse, this is a rocking dragon! Made of felted yarn. Click to embiggen.

There's also been a day in the Handspinning and Weavers Guild shop, visiting with old and dear friends, a lot of phone chats with my brother, which is awesome, and checking out a nearby thrift market where I got a really gorgeous multi-colour glass bottle. This week, we also had the back lawn mowed, FINALLY, as it was beginning to take on triffid-like proportions, and I felt that I should alert everyone that if we vanished, taken by the grass, they should avenge us. Now it's all cut back and it looks SO good. I got a few new things for the garden, and there's more coming from my favourite go-to online garden store, Diggers (http://www.diggers.com.au).


Bowls made of felted yarn. I love these, the two blueish/purple ones especially. I'd love to be able to make them myself. Click to embiggen.

But what you guys really want to know about is the writing, right? Well, nearly two months ago now, I submitted Waiting for the Moon and You to Dreamspinner Press and I'm waiting to hear back on that. Having it finished and all was a huge relief, as for a while there, I thought it'd be the manuscript that would never end! Some muses are very chatty. The next and last three Archangel books are confirmed for 2015 release, also with DSP. The novel I'm writing with the awesome Cate Ashwood is trucking along, very quickly, actually, so much so that it seems as if it's writing itself and we are merely the physical facilitators of this story. It's called Brick by Brick and is a contemp love found/lost/found story set in Canada. I'm working on another project with Cate and the lovely Raine O'Tierney as well, and while that's taking me a bit to kick it off (I'm blaming this on being VERY tired atm), I'm very excited about it. Finally, and certainly not least, Mythica will be out soon with Bottom Drawer Publications, and I love the cover I have for it--reveal on that soon. So there are books coming soon and far, my friends!

Also, there was a lunch for the Adelaide m/m writers and readers last weekend, at The Archer hotel in North Adelaide. Good food, good conversation, and it was great to catch up with Ali Wilde and Zathyn Priest again, and to meet L. V. Lloyd, Alison Mann, her mum and Thelma Jean Mathew. Thanks to Alison for arranging it all, and here's hoping we can do the lunch thing again, sometime in the future.

Link of the Now: As the Northern Hemisphere is coming into winter, I want to share with you a fantastic etsy shop, run by the lovely Maria. You can't go wrong here, there's hand/neck/head warming things for everyone. I've got two pairs of her armwarmers! ElizavetaViola.

(Don't forget, I'm on Instagram now, so if you want to follow along, here's me: http://instagram.com/ljstar239)


Our much less scary back garden! Click to embiggen.

So to end this post, there's a meme going around Facebook at the moment, where you list 10 books that have stayed with you, long after you first read them. Rather than post my list on Facebook, I thought I'd post mine as a blog post.

I've got a list as long as my arm, so for that reason, I'm limiting my choices to books written by people I don't know. And there's a few notes about the books too, for extra points!

This is in no particular order. And a bit more than 10 books. It was hard enough to cut down to 18!

( Les livres )

The Bone Cup is out today! You can grab the eBook: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=5071 in many formats or the paperback: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=5072 or both!

Blurb: Sequel to The Crystal Lake
Archangel Chronicles: Book Six

Gabriel and Michael, hand in hand and leading the Brotherhood of Archangels, the Venatores, and the Archdemon Guild of Glass Knives, march into the mouth of madness to retrieve the Holy Grail with the blessings of both God and Lucifer. They cross dimensions and battle for the future of all realities: Heaven, Hell, Earth and Purgatory.

In Purgatory they are reunited with Naamah and meet her children, who are terrified of her. One of her allies is an angel, but they can’t identify the traitor. Gabriel faces his worst fear when Michael is injured and he might lose the unwavering comfort Michael embodies. If Gabriel cannot save the Holy Grail, he risks losing more than his one true love—all of creation might be destroyed along with them.

May 17th is the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia and you can learn more about that here: http://dayagainsthomophobia.org/ In the meantime, the Hop is going on and there are loads of interesting posts, the masterlist of which you can find here: http://hopagainsthomophobia.blogspot.com

I have contemplated for a while what I would discuss for this year's Hop Against Homophobia and Transphobia. With the political climate here in Australia being, shall we say, turbulent. However, it was clarified for me that what I would discuss would be the current government's stance on same-sex marriage.

This is a topic that—in the hallowed halls of Parliament—is a hot button issue. The Labor Party, who are currently the Opposition, are for same-sex marriage and for a conscious vote within caucus. The Liberal National Coalition (LNP from this point on) are less inclined. Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Penny Wong, a long-time Labor MP, is out and proud, and she and her partner have just celebrated the arrival of their baby daughter… but they cannot be legally married in this country.

It is easy to say that this is due to homophobia within the ranks of the current LNP government. That may, perhaps, be part of it; I can't say either way. What I can say, though, is that it's a topic that our current Prime Minister has dismissed as being "the fashion of the moment." [1] He has also said, "There is no doubt that (homosexuality) challenges, if you like, orthodox notions of the right order of things," [2] and when asked in an interview for 60 Minutes how he feels about homosexuality, Mr. Abbott replied, "I'd probably I feel a bit threatened." [3]

In October 2013, Mr. Abbott said that while he would attend his gay sister's wedding, but that he couldn't support gay marriage, because, "'I am a traditionalist on this,' he said.
"'From time immemorial in every culture that's been known, marriage, or that kind of solemnized relationship, has been between a man and a woman.'" [4]

This all came to a head when the ACT (Australian Capital Territory) where the national and state capital city, Canberra, is and where federal parliament sits, passed a bill to legalize same-sex marriage. The ACT was the first state or territory in Australia to do this and there was a nationwide hope that this was the first step in the entire nation passing similar bills.

Not so. A challenge to the bill was made in the High Court by the LNP Federal Government. The High Court does not make policy, but interprets the law, and it has ruled that only Federal Parliament has the power to make marriage laws. Therefore, by that ruling, the ACT bill to allow same-sex marriage, could not operate concurrently to the law currently in effect, which is the Marriage Act, amended by former Prime Minister John Howard in 2004 to stipulate that marriage is defined as being between a man and a woman.

While some LNP MPs support same-sex marriage and would support an amendment to the Marriage Act, it is becoming very clear that the Prime Minister does not consider this an important issue that needs to be addressed. So those couples who celebrated their weddings in the ACT in that brief period that they were allowed to be married, had their happiness dashed by the ruling of the High Court, which only interpreted the laws, and dashed further by the LNP government's refusal to reconsider.

Many couples are looking forward with a positive attitude and their stories are heartwarming and give hope for the future. The Australian Greens and many Labor MPs are determined to bring same-sex marriage legislation to the table in Parliament again. The full document (and some of the lovely stories—and not so lovely attitudes from bystanders) can be read here. (NB: Warning—may contain material that could be considered triggering for some.)

And so we come to New Zealand. A year ago, in April 2013, the law was passed allowing same-sex marriages to take place and be celebrated and legally recognized as lawful marriages. There was a great deal of joy and jubilation. The bill that was passed in New Zealand defined marriage as a union between two people rather than between a man and a woman. The figures in the year since the passing of this bill are very interesting.

"Figures released by New Zealand’s Department of Internal Affairs show that from August 19, 2013, when the law became operational, to March 31, 2014, there was a total of 385 female couples and 285 male couples.

"Of these, nearly a third of the couples were Australian citizens." [5]

This illustrates so clearly why the marriage laws here in Australia need to be changed and why the Marriage Act needs to be amended. It also illustrates how unequal the treatment of same-sex couples is here and that there needs to be additional amendments to make same-sex marriages performed overseas legally recognized as being marriages here in Australia, just as marriages between a man and a woman are. At the end of April, 2014, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young of the Australian Greens plans to bring a bill before the parliament to at least recognize those marriages performed overseas as being legal here in Australia. I, for one, hope it passes.

Meanwhile, Mr. Abbott and those who agree with him, have not discussed the issue since the ACT bill was struck down and repealed. That is, until a group of high school students in Year Nine (ages 14-15) from Newtown, New South Wales, on a field trip to Canberra, had a surprise visit from the PM. I rather suspect that Mr. Abbott got a LOT more than he bargained for with these awesome, brilliant kids.

Those teachers and parents should be damn proud of those kids, as indeed, are the majority of Australians. Not only did they ask Mr. Abbott tough questions about asylum seekers, why the Minister for Women (Mr. Abbott himself holds this portfolio as well as being Prime Minister) is a man, but they asked him repeatedly about same-sex marriage.

Happily, one of the students filmed it and it is on YouTube for all to see. I share with you now the video of a group of high school kids asking the Australian Prime Minister tough questions and his fumbling and bumbling for answers.

References:
1. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/14/tony-abbott-gay-marriage-fashion
2. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/tony-abbott-gay-remarks-dangerous/story-e6frf7jo-1225838436495
3. http://sixtyminutes.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=1020354
4. http://www.news.com.au/national/prime-minister-tony-abbott-says-he-will-attend-sisters-wedding-but-not-support-the-marriage/story-fncynjr2-1226745544432
5. http://gaynewsnetwork.com.au/news/a-year-on-one-third-of-nz-gay-marriages-are-of-aussie-couples-13623.html



Further Reading:
http://gaynewsnetwork.com.au/viewpoint/tony-at-the-wedding-12281.html
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/tony-abbott-quick-to-kill-samesex-marriage-20131214-2zdvq.html
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-12-12/high-court-decision-on-act-same-sex-marriage-laws/5152168
http://gaynewsnetwork.com.au/viewpoint/what-a-croc-12170.html
http://www.samesame.com.au/news/10688/Student-asks-Abbott-Why-are-you-so-against-legalising-gay-marriage

Notes:
All emphasis are my own, not the original author's.

---

As part of the Hop, I am giving two lucky readers an eBook copy each of The Wind-up Forest and The Crystal Lake. Leave a comment to go in the drawing to win one of these bundles!

The Wind-up Forest: Archangels Book Four.
Blurb: Archangel Gabriel is hoping for a quiet period in his life to enjoy his relationship with Archangel Michael, but someone has other ideas.

New dangers arise when the Holy Grail is stolen. Gabriel, Michael, and the rest of the Brotherhood of Archangels and their allies must somehow thwart the twisted desires of the thief.

Their search for the Grail takes them all over the world, calling on old friends like Uriel and Raziel, and forging powerful new alliances. Though they face a fresh set of perils in pursuit of the thief, the enduring comfort Gabriel needs so much, that of his beloved Michael, never abandons him.

The Crystal Lake: Archangels Book Five.

Blurb: The thief of the Grail has been identified and the Brotherhood of Archangels is moving to counter her evil machinations. But as demons flock to the side of the thief and betray Hell, monsters are enslaved and shifters and an angel turn traitor. The love between Gabriel and Michael is tested as they join the rest of the Brotherhood on the trail of Naamah. Danger makes strange bedfellows in the form of Lucifer, the Archdemons, and Lilith.

A traitor lurks among the angels and humans, and the Venatores are discovering vital new information. Lovers Liam, a Necromancer, and Baxter, a shifter working for Michael's Venatores unit, must face not just the living but the dead. Archangels Raziel and Uriel contend with demands on Raziel's power that wear him to the brink of exhaustion. The Brotherhood will need all their strength to prevail against the threats surrounding them.

Dreamspinner Press is turning seven!

Can you believe it? How awesome is this--DSP is seven!



You can get a whopping 35% off my books this week, and they are all over this-a way! So grab a bargain while you can.

There are loads of other authors on sale this week, check out the index to see who's on sale--click the name and you'll be taken to that author's page and list of books.

I can't believe that it's been four years I've been published! So wonderful!

So "Noah" is out. I haven't seen it yet, but I plan to. I'm interested particularly in how Darren Aronofsky handles this, as from everything I've read about it, this vision of the story is based on the Apocryphal books of the Bible, rather than what is in the Bible today. The book from the Apocrypha that is relevant is the Book of Enoch, which talks specifically about the nature of angels and those angels who were sent to Eden to watch and guide humanity--The Watchers, aka the Grigori--led by Semjaza, and how those angels developed a desire for human women and fathered children with them--the Nephilim.

Semjaza is in the film, played by Nick Nolte, which I find an intriguing choice, so I'm quite interested to see how he does in the role. In the Archangel Chronicles books, particularly No Shadows Fall, I've written Semjaza as being wholly self-absorbed and completely obsessed with his goals of running Earth and claiming Ishtahar back as his wife, along with his Nephilim sons, Hiwa and Ahijah. In No Shadows Fall, I've written Ishtahar as being unwilling to return to him and his sons not wanting to have anything to do with him.

The Watchers appear in "Noah" as beings of stone who guard Methuselah because he helped them. This is also from the Apocrypha. I chose not to devle too deeply into early Biblical theory for the Archangel Chronicles, because I didn't want to get bogged down in theology and theological debate at the expense of the story I wanted to tell. The romance between Gabriel and Michael is the primary story and the trials and challenges they face are the things that bind them closer together, and in turn, bring them closer to the rest of the Brotherhood of Archangels. The secondary romances, Uriel and Raziel, Ishtahar and Remiel, Lyudmila and Piotr, Kokabiel and Baraqiel, and, introduced in The Wind-up Forest, Liam and Baxter, Declan and Angelique, Lily and Danny, Minnie and Max, are just as important. They are in the story to illustrate that all love and romance is important and that the capacity for love that sentient beings possess is what distinguishes us.

"Noah" is therefore interesting to me as something featuring characters that I've written about and loved, hated and felt indifferent about; it's a film I want to see because of its relationship to the Apocrypha and because of the ongoing story about angels and humans and how the divine reacts and interacts with the mortal.


The Wind-up Forest
Blurb: Sequel to No Shadows Fall
Archangel Chronicles: Book Four

Archangel Gabriel is hoping for a quiet period in his life to enjoy his relationship with Archangel Michael, but someone has other ideas.

New dangers arise when the Holy Grail is stolen. Gabriel, Michael, and the rest of the Brotherhood of Archangels and their allies must somehow thwart the twisted desires of the thief.

Their search for the Grail takes them all over the world, calling on old friends like Uriel and Raziel, and forging powerful new alliances. Though they face a fresh set of perils in pursuit of the thief, the enduring comfort Gabriel needs so much, that of his beloved Michael, never abandons him.

Ebook | Paperback.

The Archangel Chronicles

Book One: No Quarter.
Book Two: No Surrender, No Retreat.
Book Three: No Shadows Fall.

About: Archangel Gabriel, Archangel of War and Sanctification, has developed feelings for Archangel Michael, chief of the Brotherhood of Archangels. Discovering these feelings are returned, Gabriel sets out to woo Michael, and the two fall deeper in love as their relationship blooms. But the path of love is never easy, even for an Archangel, and there are many dangers and tests to face and overcome. From Archdemons, Lucifer, and war to murderous angels, egomaniacs wanting to become supreme dictator of Earth and more, there is a new trial to overcome.

With their Brotherhood, the rest of angelkind and allies, including shifters, witches, shamen, and Michael's elite squad of shifters called the Venatores, and a small group of Archdemons, Michael and Gabriel face each new challenge head on, determined not to fall and not to lose each other and their love.

The Whole Series in Ebook and Paperback.


Link of the Now: Learn Chinese at the BBC. A great resource to learn Chinese online. It's not updated any more, but it's archived, so it's still a great place to start.

I'm at Michael Rupured's blog today, talking about Arthurian legends and the Archangel Chronicles, so do drop in and say hi!

And I was a guest at J. P. Barnaby's blog, where I talked about the Archangels and what's gone before to lead to what's happening now.

February is going to be a very busy month release-wise for me. I have three releases! They say that good things come in threes, don't they? :) So here we go, upcoming releases and their dates, links for preording, and the like. Very exciting, all told.

Ice

Koby is a graduate student specializing in the cohabitation of dead and living cells in a single body, a course of study that requires he spend two years working in the labs at the parium mines in Antarctica, where he will assist in experiments conducted on the vampire prisoners kept there.

Expecting little more than a tedious assignment, despite the dangers of the environment and the dangerous vampires sentenced to the mines for life, Koby instead discovers a dome of horrors, where the persons in charge cannot be trusted and the greatest victims are the prisoners—and the most incongruous place to discover a new love. If he cannot solve the problems destroying the dome from the inside, the vampires won't be the only ones to die.

Novella | Release date: 5 February | Preorder here.

***

Rocking Hard, Vol. 2

Less Than Three Press presents the second of three volumes of amazing stories along the theme of rock 'n roll. Authors familiar and new combine for a collection of stories all about music and love.

-- Fallen Angel | Kayla Bain-Vrba
-- My Truest Love | Mell Eight
-- Capsicum Head | L.J. LaBarthe
-- Song of the Soul | Cassandra Pierce
-- Acceptance | Alessandra Ebulu

Anthology | Release date: 11 February | Preorder here.

***

The Wind-Up Forest

Sequel to No Shadows Fall
Archangel Chronicles: Book Four

Archangel Gabriel is hoping for a quiet period in his life to enjoy his relationship with Archangel Michael, but someone has other ideas.

New dangers arise when the Holy Grail is stolen. Gabriel, Michael, and the rest of the Brotherhood of Archangels and their allies must somehow thwart the twisted desires of the thief.

Their search for the Grail takes them all over the world, calling on old friends like Uriel and Raziel, and forging powerful new alliances. Though they face a fresh set of perils in pursuit of the thief, the enduring comfort Gabriel needs so much, that of his beloved Michael, never abandons him.

Novel | Release date: 17 February | Preorder paperback here | Preorder eBook here.

***

Phew! And there's more to come later in 2014.

Good news and frustrating news (for me, at least!) is that the first three books of The Archangel Chronicles have gone into second edition. They've all been edited--and I'm working on book three, No Shadows Fall as we speak--and re-released. What does this mean for those who have read the first editions? Well, there's some new scenes and conversations and other scenes have been tightened up. The third book is going to have the most changes done to it, I think, although I'll be able to say for sure on that when I've finished the edits. :) In any case, it's very exciting for me and very gratifying to fix up those things that have niggled at me since original publication.

I've also started working on edits for book four, The Wind-Up Forest, which will be out in early 2014. This is the first book of the second trilogy of The Archangel Chronicles, and I'm very excited about it. The universe of the Archangels is rocked by two things--the theft of the Holy Grail and the fact that the Holy Grail (in the book's universe) actually exists. Even Raziel, Doctor Science, Archangel of Secrets and Mysteries, who thinks he knows (nearly) everything, was surprised that the Holy Grail wasn't a myth!

As with all things in life, there have been dramas, and in my case, those dramas have been related to the pressures and stresses of moving house. I've moved from one side of town to the other and while the house I'm in now is lovely and has a great back garden, there's a few issues that need to be dealt with by landlords, so those are things that we're thinking of quite a bit. Having said that, the neighbors are lovely, the nearby facilities are fantastic, and there's a lot of community awareness and activities that I find really interesting and I'm keen to look into that further, probably in the new year. Which is when I can finally get back into my non-writing love: weaving. I'm very excited about that too.

My contemporary paranormal, Mythica is out with Bottom Drawer Press, an Australian publisher, in 2014, and that's something else to look forward to. All new characters and M/M romance, set in country South Australia, in the towns of Ardrossan and Tiddy Widdy Beach, if you're keen to Google those and see what the area looks like. It's very pretty, right by the beach.

Unfortunately, with the moving has come internet issues, which are all relating to technical situations with the lines and the copper wiring of those lines. It's taking some time to get a connection set up as a technical dude is coming to visit--hopefully soon--and install an ethernet line and a few other things. So I'm limping along on air-internet, aka the dongle of doom, and trying not to use all my allowance up before I have to top it up is very, very hard.

Anyway, it's nearly time for the festive season to be upon us, so I wish you all the best for the season and for the new year and hope that 2014 is wonderful, safe and brings you nothing but joy and good things.

Love you all,

L. J.