I think I love it even more than the Blood Song cover, and I didn't think that could be possible.
Showing posts with label Blood Storm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blood Storm. Show all posts
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Exclusive Interview with Zeraphina and Rodden at Eleusinian Mysteries
Want to read the ONLY between-the-novels piece I've written? Then go here, to the Eleusinian Mysteries blog and read Brodie's lucky last Valentine's Blog Event post. There's some hints about Rodden's past and a chance to see Zeraphina from another's perspective. The interview takes place shortly before the events of Blood Storm. I can't wait for you guys to read book two!
Also, COVER NEWS. I have seen it, dear readers. The cover of Blood Storm. It's absolutely gorgeous. So atmospheric, wild and beautiful. I didn't imagine anything could top the Blood Song cover, but this blows it out of the water.
My designer is adding the final touches of fairy dust and dragons' blood (it's very technical, what these designers do) and running it past a battery of love spells and courage potions, and then you'll be able to gaze upon it too.
Also, COVER NEWS. I have seen it, dear readers. The cover of Blood Storm. It's absolutely gorgeous. So atmospheric, wild and beautiful. I didn't imagine anything could top the Blood Song cover, but this blows it out of the water.
My designer is adding the final touches of fairy dust and dragons' blood (it's very technical, what these designers do) and running it past a battery of love spells and courage potions, and then you'll be able to gaze upon it too.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Things I'm looking forward to in 2012: writing and otherwise
The release of Blood Storm in August
I can't wait for this! The editing (about to start), the cover (not begun yet, but I have an idea of what it's going to have on it!) the actual release ... It's going to be awesome. I HOPE YOU ALL LOVE IT.
Finishing three books
THAT'S RIGHT I'M GOING TO FINISH THREE BOOKS THIS YEAR. I've started them all and I know how they all finish. So now just to get them out of my head and onto the page. They are: Blood Queen (12K in people, and it's lookin' good so far. This one takes priority of course), a standalone UF set in Melbs (30K or so done. I heart the characters so much. I am just having a leeeeetle trouble seeing the climax. I know what should happen but not WHERE. I began this book in 2009. Time to bloody finish it, eh?), and the standalone scifi I began at the beginning of 2011 (30-ish-K done ... I can't remember exactly. That's bad right?? Whatevs. I love this book. Multi character view points. Stuff that makes me angry. Stuff that's hot. Stuff that makes me cry. It's going to rock.
I don't mind too much if neither of the standalones sell (but that is, of course, the intention), I just need to finish them. And then I will be WORKING ON COMPLICATED FANTASY WORLD IN WHICH TO SET SERIES AS WELL AS STANDALONES THAT MIGHT BE CAREER DEFINING. "Oh, you know Rhiannon Hart, right?" "She's the one who wrote the blah-blah books, yeah?" "YEAH. Don't they rock?" Which is like, uber exciting. And is one of the things I'm looking forward to REALLY starting in 2013. Over the next year it will be PERCOLATING.
Dressing properly this winter
Winter always sneaks the hell up on me and I'm not ready for it and I find myself wearing the same stupid acrylic jumpers that I've been wearing since uni. And I can't be arsed shopping because it's so cold and dark and there are couches and books at home. BUT THIS YEAR I WILL SHOP IN AUTUMN. THERE. I SAID IT. MAKE IT SO.
Learning to shoot a bow and arrow, riding a horse again
One of the two. Possibly both. They're expensive activities and I do need to save money for travelling. I have never shot stuff with a bow and arrow (unless you count the homemade bows of hibiscus and rubber bands my brother and I made as kids...which were AWESOME) and I haven't been on a horse since high school. I took lessons. I wasn't too bad and it was fun.
Being a bitch-arse public speaker
Currently I am a fraidy public speaker. I am determined to do all my speaking ad-lib, though, as I really dislike hearing the stilted voice of someone who's reading from notes. So far so good. (i.e. not dead yet.)
Visiting south east Asia for the first time as a sentient adult
HOLIDAY! I have book three weeks in Thailand and Cambodia from the end of May. It's cheap and cheerful and I'm just going to relax. I'm meeting up with one friend in Thailand and we're going to the islands and generally just chilling. Then I'm visiting an ex-pat friend in Phnom Penh who's just had a wee babby. (I went to Borneo when I was 2 or so, but don't remember much except I was sick. Some lung thing I got in Australia.
Getting my British Passport
OH YES THIS IS THE YEAR. <-------Been saying since I was 18. Shuddup.
Op-shopping
This ties in with not spending a lot of money and dressing properly for winter. It will cut into my Saturday morning writing time, but it needs to be done. Also: will help me in cultivating the slightly mad frizzy-headed author look that will undoubtedly catch up to me by the time I'm 37.
My first short story published in an anthology
I'll have title and release dates for this project shortly! It's a ghost novel written in 12 short interconnected stories by four Melbourne writers. Worldwide release. We're about to start editing and I'm so excited!
So this is sort of a New Year's Resolution list but not really. Resolutions are hard and painful. It's a list of things I'm going to ENJOY. YEAH! Bring on 2012!
I can't wait for this! The editing (about to start), the cover (not begun yet, but I have an idea of what it's going to have on it!) the actual release ... It's going to be awesome. I HOPE YOU ALL LOVE IT.
Finishing three books
THAT'S RIGHT I'M GOING TO FINISH THREE BOOKS THIS YEAR. I've started them all and I know how they all finish. So now just to get them out of my head and onto the page. They are: Blood Queen (12K in people, and it's lookin' good so far. This one takes priority of course), a standalone UF set in Melbs (30K or so done. I heart the characters so much. I am just having a leeeeetle trouble seeing the climax. I know what should happen but not WHERE. I began this book in 2009. Time to bloody finish it, eh?), and the standalone scifi I began at the beginning of 2011 (30-ish-K done ... I can't remember exactly. That's bad right?? Whatevs. I love this book. Multi character view points. Stuff that makes me angry. Stuff that's hot. Stuff that makes me cry. It's going to rock.
I don't mind too much if neither of the standalones sell (but that is, of course, the intention), I just need to finish them. And then I will be WORKING ON COMPLICATED FANTASY WORLD IN WHICH TO SET SERIES AS WELL AS STANDALONES THAT MIGHT BE CAREER DEFINING. "Oh, you know Rhiannon Hart, right?" "She's the one who wrote the blah-blah books, yeah?" "YEAH. Don't they rock?" Which is like, uber exciting. And is one of the things I'm looking forward to REALLY starting in 2013. Over the next year it will be PERCOLATING.
Dressing properly this winter
Winter always sneaks the hell up on me and I'm not ready for it and I find myself wearing the same stupid acrylic jumpers that I've been wearing since uni. And I can't be arsed shopping because it's so cold and dark and there are couches and books at home. BUT THIS YEAR I WILL SHOP IN AUTUMN. THERE. I SAID IT. MAKE IT SO.
Learning to shoot a bow and arrow, riding a horse again
One of the two. Possibly both. They're expensive activities and I do need to save money for travelling. I have never shot stuff with a bow and arrow (unless you count the homemade bows of hibiscus and rubber bands my brother and I made as kids...which were AWESOME) and I haven't been on a horse since high school. I took lessons. I wasn't too bad and it was fun.
Being a bitch-arse public speaker
Currently I am a fraidy public speaker. I am determined to do all my speaking ad-lib, though, as I really dislike hearing the stilted voice of someone who's reading from notes. So far so good. (i.e. not dead yet.)
Visiting south east Asia for the first time as a sentient adult
HOLIDAY! I have book three weeks in Thailand and Cambodia from the end of May. It's cheap and cheerful and I'm just going to relax. I'm meeting up with one friend in Thailand and we're going to the islands and generally just chilling. Then I'm visiting an ex-pat friend in Phnom Penh who's just had a wee babby. (I went to Borneo when I was 2 or so, but don't remember much except I was sick. Some lung thing I got in Australia.
Getting my British Passport
OH YES THIS IS THE YEAR. <-------Been saying since I was 18. Shuddup.
Op-shopping
This ties in with not spending a lot of money and dressing properly for winter. It will cut into my Saturday morning writing time, but it needs to be done. Also: will help me in cultivating the slightly mad frizzy-headed author look that will undoubtedly catch up to me by the time I'm 37.
My first short story published in an anthology
I'll have title and release dates for this project shortly! It's a ghost novel written in 12 short interconnected stories by four Melbourne writers. Worldwide release. We're about to start editing and I'm so excited!
So this is sort of a New Year's Resolution list but not really. Resolutions are hard and painful. It's a list of things I'm going to ENJOY. YEAH! Bring on 2012!
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Introducing Ana, the Blood Song cover girl
A few weeks ago I got an email from Zeraphina!
Well, sort of. It was the girl who portrays Zeraphina on the cover of Blood Song. Which you've undoubtedly seen. But here it is again.
I'm still in love with it just as much as when I first saw it. I don't know how Blood Storm is going to top it. At this stage I have no clue as to what the cover of book 2 is going to look like. I am going out on a limb, though, and saying that it's going to be stormy. And dark.
First of all I was stoked that there was actually a REAL GIRL on the cover of my book. I didn't know where she came from, but wondered if it could be an illustration rather than a photograph. Here's the original:
Awesome pose huh? And isn't she beautiful.
This is what Ana had to say about the shot:
Doesn't her neck look just perfect for a vampy book? And the fact that she's looking over her shoulder like there's something behind her? Something scary! The cover captures perfectly a scene towards the end of the book, when Zeraphina is lost in Lharmell and wearing a ball gown. It's a different colour ball gown, but I've never minded as the red is just so gorgeous.
Ana takes these photos herself, and then uploads them to a website where artists use them to create beautiful, haunting artwork. Here's what the artist did with the photo:
I am thinking of ordering a print and framing it. So beautiful.
My cover designer, Astred, then worked her magic on it. A designer friend got the files from Random House to use them to create my launch invitations with, and she told me there are at least four different fonts used in the heading. So much work goes into these things and you don't realise.
Ana's post on receiving her copy of Blood Song is here. She's since told me that she really likes the book. (Phew. Imagine being stuck on the cover of a book you hated.)
Well, sort of. It was the girl who portrays Zeraphina on the cover of Blood Song. Which you've undoubtedly seen. But here it is again.
I'm still in love with it just as much as when I first saw it. I don't know how Blood Storm is going to top it. At this stage I have no clue as to what the cover of book 2 is going to look like. I am going out on a limb, though, and saying that it's going to be stormy. And dark.
First of all I was stoked that there was actually a REAL GIRL on the cover of my book. I didn't know where she came from, but wondered if it could be an illustration rather than a photograph. Here's the original:
Awesome pose huh? And isn't she beautiful.
This is what Ana had to say about the shot:
I was trying to do some Very Dramatic Sitting With Flouncy Skirt type shots and, thinking I'd got the pose I wanted, hit the remote to start the timer. At some point during the countdown, I tried to move my leg, my heel got caught in the netting under the skirt, I tried to get up so that I could unhook my shoe, lost my balance, and as I was looking over my shoulder to see what I should I aim for when I fell over, I heard the camera click.
Doesn't her neck look just perfect for a vampy book? And the fact that she's looking over her shoulder like there's something behind her? Something scary! The cover captures perfectly a scene towards the end of the book, when Zeraphina is lost in Lharmell and wearing a ball gown. It's a different colour ball gown, but I've never minded as the red is just so gorgeous.
Ana takes these photos herself, and then uploads them to a website where artists use them to create beautiful, haunting artwork. Here's what the artist did with the photo:
I am thinking of ordering a print and framing it. So beautiful.
My cover designer, Astred, then worked her magic on it. A designer friend got the files from Random House to use them to create my launch invitations with, and she told me there are at least four different fonts used in the heading. So much work goes into these things and you don't realise.
Ana's post on receiving her copy of Blood Song is here. She's since told me that she really likes the book. (Phew. Imagine being stuck on the cover of a book you hated.)
Ana posing with the book. Love it!
Monday, September 26, 2011
Blood Storm Book #2 Teaser
Hey y'all, happy Monday! It's an oxymoron, right? But it's a brand new week, and after a very strange and stressful week last week in which I undid all the good my chiro snapped and crackled into my spine, I think we need some looking forward!*
And YE GODS I am looking forward to this! Did you get a second edition copy of Blood Song with the teaser for Blood Storm? There were only 1000 printed so PRAPS NOT. Some lovely person has typed it into Goodreads and I'm going to reproduce it here. It's got one of my favourite quotes from the book.
Zeraphina's got some new mad skillz, eh? And Rodden, what's up with him and his dark, shadowy crankiness? And this prince Renata's got her eye on ... well, I'll give you a hint. He's no Prince Charming, let me tell YOU.
You can add Blood Storm on Goodreads here. Available August 2012.
*Going on dates the month your book comes out, turns out...an *interesting* idea. And yet I've just agreed to another this week. (What can I say. I have a weakness for handsome French men. Who the hell doesn't.) A different young man, whom I was introduced to at a BBQ last night while another friend was PEGGING ME INTO A BLANKET. True story. (I was cold.)
And YE GODS I am looking forward to this! Did you get a second edition copy of Blood Song with the teaser for Blood Storm? There were only 1000 printed so PRAPS NOT. Some lovely person has typed it into Goodreads and I'm going to reproduce it here. It's got one of my favourite quotes from the book.
The rain wanted to be ocean; the ice in the mountain caps wanted freedom. I never knew that water held such longing. The clouds above my head rumbled like a growling wolf, impatient to release their burden. I held the rain there a moment longer. I turned to Renata, heard her gasp and knew my eyes glowed blue.
I spoke a single word. ‘Rain.’
In the Second Book of Lharmell, Zeraphina and Rodden must travel across the sea to find the elusive ingredients that will help them to win the coming battle against the Lharmellin – but shadows from Rodden’s dark past may come back to haunt him. And while she learns to harness her new abilities, Zeraphina still fights the hunger that makes her crave the north – not to mention avoiding her mother, who wants to see her wayward daughter married to a prince at all costs.
Zeraphina's got some new mad skillz, eh? And Rodden, what's up with him and his dark, shadowy crankiness? And this prince Renata's got her eye on ... well, I'll give you a hint. He's no Prince Charming, let me tell YOU.
You can add Blood Storm on Goodreads here. Available August 2012.
*Going on dates the month your book comes out, turns out...an *interesting* idea. And yet I've just agreed to another this week. (What can I say. I have a weakness for handsome French men. Who the hell doesn't.) A different young man, whom I was introduced to at a BBQ last night while another friend was PEGGING ME INTO A BLANKET. True story. (I was cold.)
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Blood Song in the Wild
I have been quiet, haven't I? It's been four weeks exactly since Blood Song was released. What a month! It's attracted over 100 ratings on Goodreads and nearly half of them are 5 star reviews. THANK YOU ALL!
There have been some roastings, too, and I've been bracing myself for those. You can't please everyone, right? The upside is that every criticism the book has received has been something I did deliberately that turned out wasn't to a particular reader's taste. It was my intention to make Zeraphina a little bratty--real teenagers are often bratty. I deliberately eshewed complex world building because I find it tedious. It was my worst fear that I would bore my readers, as I loathe being bored. And no one's complained of anything of the sort!
One criticism that I spotted this morning is that Blood Song is somehow "un-Australian". I find that rather amusing! I'm not entirely sure, but I think they mean it's not literary enough, compared to other Australian fantasy novels. If it was my style I'd write like Melina Marchetta or Margo Lanagan, but clearly it's not. Who wants to read a copycat author anyway?
Haters gonna hate and all that. I'm backing off Goodreads a bit, though the following technique has helped a little: reading negative reviews of my favourite books by authors I adore. There's something reassuring about knowing that even the books I and so many others love attract negative reviews.
Two awesome things:
I got my first honest-to-gods fanmail the other day. I think she was using her dad's email account. SO LOVELY. And I hope it's not patronising to say so, ut pretty cute too.
Blood Song is being made available in Large Print and Braille editions, which I think is pretty damn cool!
More soon! Let me know what you think of Blood Song if you've read it this month, or where you've seen it in the wild.
And did I announce it officially? Blood Storm, book two, will be out August next year. Huzzzaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!
There have been some roastings, too, and I've been bracing myself for those. You can't please everyone, right? The upside is that every criticism the book has received has been something I did deliberately that turned out wasn't to a particular reader's taste. It was my intention to make Zeraphina a little bratty--real teenagers are often bratty. I deliberately eshewed complex world building because I find it tedious. It was my worst fear that I would bore my readers, as I loathe being bored. And no one's complained of anything of the sort!
One criticism that I spotted this morning is that Blood Song is somehow "un-Australian". I find that rather amusing! I'm not entirely sure, but I think they mean it's not literary enough, compared to other Australian fantasy novels. If it was my style I'd write like Melina Marchetta or Margo Lanagan, but clearly it's not. Who wants to read a copycat author anyway?
Haters gonna hate and all that. I'm backing off Goodreads a bit, though the following technique has helped a little: reading negative reviews of my favourite books by authors I adore. There's something reassuring about knowing that even the books I and so many others love attract negative reviews.
Two awesome things:
I got my first honest-to-gods fanmail the other day. I think she was using her dad's email account. SO LOVELY. And I hope it's not patronising to say so, ut pretty cute too.
Blood Song is being made available in Large Print and Braille editions, which I think is pretty damn cool!
More soon! Let me know what you think of Blood Song if you've read it this month, or where you've seen it in the wild.
And did I announce it officially? Blood Storm, book two, will be out August next year. Huzzzaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Blood Storm announcement and release date
It's here it's here huzzah! The Publisher's Marketplace announcement for Blood Storm, the Second Book of Lharmell, which is my cue to splash the news all over the interwebs.
If you own a second edition copy of Blood Song you already know its official thanks to the teaser for Blood Storm within...but STILL. Delicious officialness!
I've been keeping my fingers crossed for a release date before next September and it's just scraped through. Blood Storm will be released next August! Exact date TBC. I can't wait to start copyedits.
Pictures from the launch of Blood Song up shortly.
***EDIT: You can already add it on Goodreads.
If you own a second edition copy of Blood Song you already know its official thanks to the teaser for Blood Storm within...but STILL. Delicious officialness!
ANZ rights to Rhiannon Hart's BLOOD STORM, the sequel to BLOOD SONG, again to Zoe Walton at Random House Australia, by Ginger Clark at Curtis Brown.
I've been keeping my fingers crossed for a release date before next September and it's just scraped through. Blood Storm will be released next August! Exact date TBC. I can't wait to start copyedits.
Pictures from the launch of Blood Song up shortly.
***EDIT: You can already add it on Goodreads.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)