Halloween in Christmas Hills: The Legend of Stingy Jack
by Karen Tayleur
illustrated by Heath McKenzie
When Miles Cameron was allowed to go trick or treating for the first time, everyone warned him to stay away from Stingy Jack’s house.
If only he had listened.
Let’s take Halloween back from Hollywood!
Watch the trailer here …

Saving Pandas
by Carla Litchfield
Just in time for the arrival of the two new giant pandas at Adelaide Zoo comes Saving Pandas – a look at the life cycle of Pandas and what is being done to save them.
The first book in the new ‘Rare Earth’ series.
Watch a video with Carla here …

A History of Cricket
by Catherine Chambers
For die hard fans or those just new to the game this is the perfect introduction to cricket. Charting the history of the game from its humble beginnings through to the excitement of the modern Twenty20 game this will be an essential guide for young fans and players everywhere!

Hostage
by Karen Tayleur
Tully walks into a chemist shop on Christmas Eve and is taken hostage after a bungled robbery attempt. Or so she says.
“A compelling and well-written tale of dubious teens, home truths and getting the answers you seek.” — Persnickety Snark
Watch the trailer here …

and new from Red Dog Books
Christmas Carols from the Kennel
by Santa Paws
I can has Christmas Carol!
All of your favourite Christmas Carols complete with images of the cutest little doggies in one book.
The ultimate Christmas Gift – perfect for stocking stuffers and Kris Kringle.

Winners of the Melbourne Cup 2nd Ed
by Costa Rolfe
A revised and updated edition of last year’s bestselling title with a foreword by racing legend Bart Cummings!
Completely updated to include last years Melbourne Cup Winner.

Visit us at ASLA

Maryann and  Karen are off to ASLA so if you are there make sure you stop by Stand 28 and say “Hi”!

Or come and see one of our talks or launches:

On Wednesday September 30 during the morning tea break Karen Tayleur’s new book Hostage will be launched by Libby Gleeson.

Hostage will be launched in front of the stand and will be available for sale on the day.

Check out the awesome trailer here…

Karen is also one of the guest speakers at this years ASLA conference. Join her on Wednesday at 3.50pm for her lively presentation ‘Keepin’ it Real: How to Develop Teens in the YA Novel’

Also on Wednesday, Maryann Ballantyne will be taking you behind the scenes of the publishing industry with her presentation ‘Turning Stories into Books’ at 2pm. This will be a fascinating insight into what it takes to develop that idea into a great book.

Ben Beaton will also be presenting at 2pm on Wednesday. Ben’s first book Mama’s Song was released this month and he will be talking about the challenges – and triumphs – a debut author faces. Mama’s Song will also be launched at ASLA on Thursday at 10.30am in front of the stand. Check out a preview of Ben’s presentation here

But the fun doesn’t stop there!

On Friday we will be launching another of Karen’s books Halloween in Christmas Hills: The Legend of Stingy Jack in front of the stand at 10.30am.

Check out the spooky new Halloween page on our website here – watch the videos, enter the comp, have some fun!

See you at ASLA!

Meet Carole Wilkinson!

Do you love Dragonkeeper?

Then come along and meet the author, Carole Wilkinson, at Angus and Robertson, Bourke Street, Melbourne on Saturday October 3.

Carole will be doing a reading from Dragonkeeper and then you can meet Carole and get your book signed!

Don’t miss out on your chance to meet everyone’s favourite Dragon Keeper!

Carole will be at
Angus and Robertson
360 Bourke Street
Melbourne
On Saturday October 3
From 12.30pm

All enquiries should be directed to Kristen at black dog books on 03 9419 9406 or Angus and Robertson Bourke Street on 03 9670 8861

Ben Beaton- guest blogger

On the eve of the release of Mama’s Song it’s been great to speak to people who’ve read the book and talk about the ideas, issues and characters.

It’s been interesting answering the same question over and over again – “how does a middle aged guy end up writing a book about a teenage girl, from her perspective – and get it right?”

It’s a good question. The first book I wrote (the one that I practiced on that’s hiding at home) was a nice little story about a teenage boy who starts a band with some mates and falls in love for the first time. Black Dog wisely asked if I had written anything else.

I had an idea about a guy who remarried and has a child and a grandchild on the same day. I was going to tell the story from his estranged daughter’s point of view and look at the intergenerational aspect and the impact of how this event might go some way to healing old wounds.

I took a minor character from that first book – a lost flawed girl who was looking for someone to lover her, and started to think about setting the story exclusively in the maternity hospital. Essentially, I wanted to challenge myself and tell a story that was interesting, relevant, and fictional ie not something from my life.

Then George started talking inside my head. She was there already fully formed, vulnerable, pissed off with her predicament and blaming everyone else for her situation.

All I had to do was write down what she said and tell her story. That was the easy part. Luckily I’d done some research holding my wife’s hand at the birth of our own children, and while I know that’s not the same as going through it yourself, if you read the book and it works for you, then I’ve done my job as a writer.

We’re launching the book soon, and I really enjoy talking about it with people, so hopefully we can do that soon.

I’ll check back soon and let you know how the launch went, and what’s on the horizon.

xx Ben

You can follow more of Ben’s adventures at his blog http://benbeaton.wordpress.com/

Charlotte McConaghy reports on her first writers festival

Well I’ve just returned from my first ever Writer’s Festival! After biting my nails down to the quick from nerves, I set off, firstly to Ipswich for the Children’s Literature Festival. A whole bunch of wonderful authors and illustrators stay together out in a secluded mansion in the bush, (sounds a bit like the setting of a horror movie) and despite the fact that most of the others probably thought I was just the daughter of writer who’d come along for the ride, they were all lovely and welcoming.

From there I travelled around to some of the schools in the area. I was seriously stressed, never having done a school talk before, nor anything even remotely similar, but after the first day I started to get a feel for it and figure out what actually had to happen. Most of the students were really great – well behaved and seemingly interested, so it made it all a lot easier for me. It’s strange to think that a lot of writers actually make most of their income from school visits, seeing as how we’ve all chosen a very introverted, isolated profession – to go from sitting at home in front of the computer to getting up in front of classrooms of children and turning myself into a comedian/entertainer/teacher is pretty full on.

Once I’d spoken to the whole festival on the final day breakfast session, explaining how difficult it can be to be taken seriously as an author at my age, everyone finally realised who I was, and I got a lot of empowering “You’re one of us now!” statements. Yes!!

From there it was up to Brisbane, staying in a beautiful hotel, being treated like a queen, escorted everywhere, pampered and fussed over, not to mention being introduced to a whole list of famous writer’s that I love. I had to keep reminding myself that I was allowed to be there with them! I had a couple of sessions at the State Library to groups of school kids, and afterwards was the craziest thing ever… wait for it… kids lined up for my autograph!! It was totally surreal to think that there were actually people who’d read and enjoyed my book, or even just my presentation, and it will probably be the closest I ever come to stardom.

Then came a panel session with Jack Heath and Tristan Bancks, which was a good laugh (the boys are both very funny) and finally an interview for the tv show ‘The Shack’.

All in all, an amazing, exciting, overwhelming introduction into the life of an author. I spent the whole time in an exhausted daze, and now that I’ve left I miss it! My life seems so boring now! It’s certainly made me realise how privileged I am to be a part of it all, and if any of you kids out there are thinking of becoming writers, then don’t waste a minute of time – every aspect of this job makes it the best in the world!

Charlotte McConaghy

Lili Wilkinson talks about ‘Angel Fish’

It’s 1212AD. The Crusades aren’t going so well if you’re on the Christian side. There’s a lot of annoyance among the people of Europe – the farmers and servants and peasants whose taxes are paying for the Crusades. Why isn’t it working? Why is the Holy Land still in the hands of the Saracen?

So one day, a 12 year old shepherd boy called Stephen gets a message from God. And he leaves his sheep behind and decides that the only thing that’s going to save the Holy Land is the purity and innocence of children. So he visits towns and villages and cities all over France and raises an army of 10 000 children.

They march over France, over the Swiss Alps where many of them die because they don’t have Important Hiking Gear like, you know, shoes. And they end up in Genoa, in Italy. Stephen tells them that he’s going to part the ocean with his magic, and they will walk across the ocean floor to the Holy Land. There are a couple of flaws with this plan, but the biggest and most important flaw is this: it doesn’t work.

But before the kids have time to get angry, two men turn up, called William the Iron and Hugh the Pig. And they tell the children that they are rich merchants who totally believe in their mission, and that they have chartered seven merchant vessels to carry them to the Holy Land. And Stephen says “yes, well, when I said I was going to part the ocean? That’s what I meant.”

Except William and Hugh aren’t rich merchants at all. They’re pirates.

That’s the basic story of the Children’s Crusade, and the backbone of Angel Fish. Did it really happen? That’s a complicated question. The best answer I can give you is maybe. Something certainly happened, at that time. Was there really an army? Yes. Were they really children? There were certainly some children. But history is a slippery thing. Just like a fish.

One of the really interesting and challenging things about writing Angel Fish was portraying medieval Christianity. The Crusades were probably the moral low point of the Christian religion, and I wanted to be able to portray that realistically, without making the reader hate the characters (and also not offending anyone who is a Christian). When I planned the book, it had a very different ending. But once I got there and had done a lot of research about the time and what it was like being a Christian in France, compared to being a Muslim in Jerusalem – I just couldn’t see how I could end the book how I’d planned. – Lili

Thanks Lili!

Lili has just returned from overseas where she was a guest of the The Edinburgh International Book Festival Outreach Programme.

You can visit Lili’s website at http://www.liliwilkinson.com/a/home.html

Saving Pandas launch

Where to find us at the Brisbane Writers Festival

We have two authors – Charlotte McConaghy and Carole Wilkinson – as guests of the Brisbane Writers Festival this year.

You have three chances to see Carole!
Once on Wednesday …The Dragon’s Keeper
When: Wednesday September 9 12.15 – 12.55pm
Where: State Library of Queensland The Studio
And twice on Thrusday …
That Jerilderie Letter
When: Thursday September 10 10.00 – 11.00am
Where: State Library of Queensland Queensland Terrace
The Dragon’s Keeper
When: Thursday September 10 12.15 – 12.55pm
Where: State Library of Queensland The Studio

Join Charlotte as she talks about what it is like to ‘arrive’ on the literary scene after the publication of her first novel The Strangers of Paragor Book One: Arrival
Arrival
When: Wednesday September 9 10.45 – 11.25am
Where: State Library of Queensland Auditorium 2
Can’t make it on Wednesday? Don’t worry — you can catch Charlotte again on Thursday!
Arrival
When: Thursday September 10 9.45 – 10.25am
Where: Gallery of Modern Art Cinema B
Plus you can also catch Charlotte in a panel discussion with Jack Heath and Tristan Bancks as they talk about the trials and triumphs of being a young writer.
Get a real job … the Cost of Cool
When: Wednesday September 9 1.15 – 1.55pm
Where: State Library of Queensland Auditorium 2
For more information or to book tickets visit the festival website at http://www.brisbanewritersfestival.com.au

Sue Lawson talks about writing ‘After’

After – the writing.

Most of my books start as a question, which I then develop into a story. For After that question was;

How does a teenage boy cope when he plummets to being the coolest kid at school to the most hated? What type of incident would bring about that change? How does he recover?

Before I start writing, these questions sit in my head for a while, or compost as my friend and editor KT calls it, until I can see a story thread.

Once I’ve composted for a while and the story feels ‘right’, I start planning. I do this by hand in an exercise book so I don’t lose all the bits and pieces and scraps of paper. I’m a bit, okay extremely, obsessive in my planning. I draw maps of towns, plans of homes and schools, collect photos of what I imagine places to look like and write character profiles for all my main characters.

For After, I drew plans of Callum’s house, the town of Winter Creek, Winter Creek School and Marrook. I collected not only pictures of country towns and country schools, but also of sheep properties.

Doing this helps me to better develop my story and characters, which in turn makes the writing easier. Some of the planning details don’t make the novel and some details change as I write, but all of the planning has a huge influence on the plot and how my characters behave.

As well as planning details, I keep my research notes in this exercise book. For After, I researched wool properties, grief and teenage behaviour. Even though I grew up on a sheep and cattle farm and understand the day to day workings of a farm, I needed to do extensive research as practises have changed – and my memory is dodgy! My best research for After came while I was on an author visit to Balmoral High School, situated in the heart of sheep country in Victoria. After my talk, I asked the students questions. Their generosity and knowledge was a fantastic help. Once student in particular, Paul, who I mention in After’s acknowledgements, wrote me pages of information that I constantly referred to.

At some stage in all that planning, I start writing. The research and planning still continue, but most of my time is spent writing. I complete my drafts on the computer, writing the first draft without editing until I am done. I used to write a bit, edit, write a bit, edit, but now I ‘just write it, edit it later’ – it’s become like a mantra.
Once that first draft is completed, I print it out and edit by hand, then rework it on the computer. My first draft is always very different from the final draft.

Once I’ve had a few goes at the draft, my editor Karen and publisher Andrew read it. (This is always a nerve wracking time!) We then have an editorial meeting, where they ask questions, point out the work’s strengths and weaknesses, plot and character holes and over-written pieces. These sessions are always fantastic. My books wouldn’t be what they are without Karen, Andrew and Maryann’s feedback.

Even though I write fiction, there is always a sprinkling of my own experiences in my books, but I never do this deliberately. Quite often I don’t see the similarities to my own experiences until quite late in the process – say the fifth or sixth edit.

During one of the last edits of After with KT, I picked up a few of these. Millington City Oval is very like Melville Oval, Hamilton, the town where I grew up. The line Grandpa uses to describe a fly blown sheep is one I heard my dad use. Graphic, but effective in describing the situation. And the description of the sheep attacked by dogs is similar to my memory of how a ram on our property had looked after it had been mauled by dogs. It horrified me that family pets could do that.

So that’s a little of the ‘behind the scenes’ story of After, my latest young adult novel.

Congratulations Mark Norman!

Congratulations to Dr Mark Norman whose book The Great Barrier Reef Book: Solar Powered received a Certificate of Commendation at this years Whitely Awards!

The Whitely Awards are given by the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales each year to commend those works that contain information about Australia’s fauna.

This is the second time that Mark has been a recipient. Last year he received a commendation for his book The Shark Book: Fish with Attitude

Both books are available now