Ramblings of an Australian Writer

Photo is of the Great Australian Bight, South Australia/Western Australia border.


"Pleasure," said Uriel in a voice that suggested that it was anything but. He flicked a quick, almost contemptuous glance at James. "You're the human who hears demons. Lucky you."

"Yeah, it's real awesome," James drawled. "I really love hearing Hell in my head; it's a fucking laugh a minute."



From Sunburnt Country.

⋄ Evening Greetings from Australia! First post.

⋄ "Life and Nothing But" Excerpt and giveaway.

⋄ "Sunburnt Country" Excerpt and details.

⋄ "City of Gold" Excerpt and giveaway.

⋄ "Fire, Burn" Excerpt and details.

⋄ "Life and Nothing But" & "City of Gold" Giveaways reminder and chatter.

⋄ Winners of the giveaways.

I'll be at The Romance Studio this weekend with a lot of wonderful authors, and I'll be talking about odd things I've researched and doing a give-away of Life and Nothing But and City of Gold. The End of Summer Bash lasts from midnight to midnight, so do come along and join in the fun!

*~*~*

Today is also the release day of Sunburnt Country, which is a contemporary paranormal m/m romance story set in Australia by yours truly. It is out in serial at Less Than Three Press; signup for serials happens here and the serial my story is in is Something Happened on the Way to Heaven.

Summary:

This is the story of James, an Australian man living and working in the outback who hears demons and Archangel Raziel, who has lost his book of magic to an Archdemon.

An excerpt of Sunburnt Country is beneath the cut. The excerpt is rated PG; story overall rating is NC17.

( Sunburnt Country excerpt )

I'm still very tender and sore, still very tired, so I'm not blogging/writing or anything at full capacity yet. But I had to do a Six Sentence Sunday, so here it is!

This week's Six Sentence Sunday is from my short story Sunburnt Country, out in serial form in the Something Happened on the Way to Heaven serial published by Less Than Three Press and out at the end of August.




He was about to say something when Raziel stopped dead in his tracks and stared, pointing.

"What on earth is that?"

"It's a big blue whale," Tommy said calmly.

"I can see that, but ... why is it here?" Raziel stared at it.

"It advertises beer, mate," Tommy stifled a laugh behind a cough.

"It's made of solid concrete," James added helpfully, grinning broadly at Raziel's astonishment.



*~*~*

erastes posted a link of 15 YA/Children's books you should read, and then posted a list of her favourites. Before I passed out last night, I pondered this myself and below is a list that is a little bit longer than fifteen - mainly because I couldn't choose. Oops!

Books I loved as a child/young adult:

1. The Stone Cage - Nicholas Stuart Gray
2. Black Beauty - Anna Sewell
3. Carbonell (trilogy) - Barbara Sleigh
4. Star Ka'at - Andre Norton
5. Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis (esp. The Last Battle bc of Jewel the Unicorn.)
6. The Phantom Tollbooth - Norton Juster
7. Gobbolino the Witch's Cat - Ursula Moray Williams
8. The Water Babies - Charles Kingsley
9. V - A. C. Crispin
10. The Silver Brumby - Elyne Mitchell (and the rest of the Brumby books.)
11. Cats in the Belfry - Doreen Tovey (and all her other books.)
12. The Famous Five books / The Malory Towers books / The ...of Adventure series - Enid Blyton
13. Watership Down - Richard Adams
14. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - Ian Fleming
15. The Phoenix and The Carpet trilogy - E. E. Nesbit
16. The Black Stallion - Walter Farley
17. Charlotte's Web - E. B. White
18. Born Free - Joy Adams
19. The Green Grass of Wyoming - Mary O'Hara
20. Forever - Judy Blume.

A lot of books featuring magical and/or talking cats and other animals. It's a mixed bag, really. What are some of your favourites from childhood/teenagerhood?

Coming on August 24th: "Sunburnt Country" by LJ LaBarthe at Less Than Three Press.




Sunburnt Country is the story of James, a young man working in outback Australia. One day, Archangel Raziel appears and tells James that he can hear demons. He needs James's help to find his book of magic that has been stolen by an Archdemon named Adramelech. After convincing James that Raziel is who and what he says he is, they set out to try to find the book and Adramelech. James is deeply unnerved by the events leading up to getting the book back. However, James cannot deny that he is attracted to Raziel, an attraction that is mutual and eventually consummated. Archangel Uriel arrives, telling Raziel to protect James and the town while he fights Adramelech. Adramelech manages to outmanoeuvre Uriel, confronting Raziel and James in James's home. As Raziel and Adramelech prepare to fight, James grabs the book. Uriel arrives to fight Adramelech and Raziel goes to James. James and Raziel spend time together and come to an understanding: to pursue a relationship together.

Read an excerpt here.

Sign up for the serial anthology release here.