It’s just over one month until release day for my latest novel in e-book form. ‘Tread the Boards’ is one-third of a gorgeous printed anthology called ‘One from the Heart’ set in the fictional artsy town of Brachen that I partnered with Daniel de Lorne and Fiona Greene to write. In our minds, Brachen was […]
Speaking at the PIAF Publishing Seminar, Feb 18
I’m very pleased and excited to be booked for the 2016 Perth International Arts Festival at the “PIAF Publishing Seminar” on February 18th. I’ll be sharing panel-space with my colleagues Michelle Diener, Shona Husk and Clare Boston to discuss the changing face of publishing (then…and now). Tickets are available (through PIAF) — $75 (students $57) for […]
If you want it then put a ring on it
Happy Austrayaday, everyone. View image | gettyimages.com For those not from the southern hemisphere, Australia Day commemorates ‘the first landing’ of Europeans on Australian soil, which (given Dutch and Chinese ocean explorers had been popping by our coast for centuries longer) of course means the first official sovereignty to land. The British, specifically. Landed and […]
The longest minute
Two kids might have drowned yesterday…on my watch. I wanted to post this just to reinforce for everyone how true every single water-safety cliché we see on the TV actually is. View image | gettyimages.com But—first—everyone is okay and slept in their beds last night. Except me. I’m chugging on about 2 hours fitful sleep. […]
A Very Sweet-y Christmas
Look! I’m in a Michelle Douglas sandwich for Christmas. Gotta say there are much worse places to be for the holidays. My ‘Their Newborn Gift’ along with two of Michelle’s best Aussie Christmas stories just waiting to stuff the toe of your biggest Christmas stocking. Look for this great new Aussie release in an Aussie […]
Along rode a prince…
Wales is full of myth, legend and massively exaggerated truths. It’s what makes it so much fun to visit. Terrific tales of wonder or bravery or legend often tied to physical places so that a visit can be layered with extra meaning. Here are a couple of those places and the (greatly simplified) tales that […]
Wales’ ancient Yew trees
I bored my 6yo nephew senseless the other night when I had my family around to watch four hours of travel photos in a good, old-fashioned ‘slide night’. Many of my images were ancient wells and yew trees and I feel fairly certain I was the only interested one in the room after the first […]
Of vertigo, crazy drivers and deathly Welsh roads
I was in the UK recently to attend the annual conference of the Romantic Novelist’s Association which took place just a stone’s throw from the border to Wales, my ancestral home. So I decided to spend ten days visiting Wales. However, I was eager not to just visit the ‘hotspots’ and spend my time visiting […]
Arabian Oryx: numinous, luminous & ruminous
The Arabian Oryx was previously listed by the IUCN as extinct in the wild but was the first animal to have its status lifted to vulnerable thanks to conservation efforts, some of which I wrote of yesterday. (source: Wikipedia) Today they’re listed as endangered courtesy of setbacks in the wild release programs in neighbouring Oman. […]
Desert conservation
As I was driving in to Al Maha, my driver laughed when he heard that my interest in heading out into the desert was the wildlife. “There’s nothing out there,” he said, shaking his head. How wrong he was. Al Maha is situated inside the 225km2 Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve (DDCR) and operates in tandem […]