Dr Karl Signing - Friday 3rd Dec at 12pm

Dr Karl Kruszelnicki

Will be signing copies of his new book

Curious & Curiouser

At Angus & Robertson Edwardstown

On Friday 3^rd December at 12.00 noon

Please see in store for more information

Angus & Robertson Edwardstown

Shop T54 Castle Plaza Shopping Centre

992 South Road Edwardstown

Phone: 08 8277 8857

Game Guides

 We have in stock these great game guides!

Every secret, every side-quest, every mini-game, every bonus, every Achievement
and every Trophy revealed and explained in a dedicated Extras chapter

•Dedicated walkthrough charts the most rewarding path through this epic adventure

•Strategy & Analysis chapter exposes hidden mechanics, advanced battle
tactics and techniques for obtaining optimal rewards

•All-encompassing Inventory and Bestiary chapters feature exhaustive 

•Complete step-by-step mission analyses, illustrated with maps and screenshots.

•All hidden items and secret missions are exposed, with tips for completing strenuous side challenges.

•Complete lists of bonus modes, attack combos, and other extras.

•Full charts explore the mission ranking system, giving players the details and the exact scores needed to get the highest rank.

The highly anticipated Devil May Cry 4 immerses gamers in a gothic supernatural world, where a new protagonist clashes with series mainstay Dante. As new leading man Nero, players will be able to unleash incredibly powerful and stylish attacks as well as nonstop combos using a combination of the Devil Bringer arm and the Exceed system, both of which are new gameplay mechanics for the series. Fans of Dante won't be disappointed, as he too will be playable during the course of the game.

Trent Jamieson Signed Bookplates

 

To celebrate the release of Trent Jamieson's Managing Death, we have signed bookplates for everyone who buys a copy of his books. Only while stocks last!

Trent Jamieson Interview

Trent Jamieson is the author of the Death Works series. Set in Australia we follow the Pomp (Pomp is short for Psychopomp) Steven de Selby in his second book Managing Death which is in store now. 

It's not easy being Death. For starters, people keep dying. And then, they keep getting up again.

Steven de Selby got promoted. This makes the increasing number of stirrers (and the disturbing rumors of a zombie god rising sometime soon) his problem. That time management seminar he keeps meaning to take would also remind him that he's got a Death Moot to plan, a Christmas party to organize, and an end-of-the-world thing to avert.

Steven must start managing Death, before Death starts managing him, or this time the Apocalypse will be more than Regional.

A&R: Can you please explain your world and the premise of your novel! 

The world of the Death Works books is modern Australia, mainly Brisbane. It’s our world with a few twists.
Steven de Selby is a Pomp, an employee of Australia’s Death. He helps souls cross over into the afterlife and stops Stirrers from inhabiting the bodies. It’s a job that sounds more exciting than it is, and a family trade. He’s been doing it all his life, and, to be honest, he’s a bit over it.
But when he meets a mysterious dead girl, and someone starts killing Pomps, his friends and family, he has to run for his life. What he uncovers will change his life forever.

A&R: Are the names of your characters are important? And what do they mean?

They’re always important. Some are nods to characters in Death Mythology. Neti, Charon, and Morrigan. Others are nods to other books about the Afterlife de Selby is the name of a philosopher who features in The Third Policeman by Flann O’brien.I spend a lot of time working on names, and quite often change them, I think the most important thing is that they fit the character, and sometimes that’s more of a feeling than a conscious choice, you can’t explain why a name works, just that it does. 

 

A&R:How do you react to a bad review of one of your books?

Alastair Reynolds told me this, I can’t remember who he was quoting because, well, I was talking to Alastair Reynolds! But he said a bad review should only spoil your breakfast not your dinner. And I reckon that’s fair enough.
As much as you’d like everyone to love you, that’s not even remotely reasonable. We all have different tastes and different expectations of a book.
Thing about most people, me included, it doesn’t matter how many good reviews you get, it’s the bad stuff you zone in on. Still I seem to enjoy my dinner most of the time, so maybe I’m getting better.

A&R:Are there any occupational hazards to being a novelist?

Too much sitting around tap-tap-tapping at a keyboard isn’t very healthy. It hasn’t bothered me too much because I’m always getting up and down from my desk.

You really need to make sure you exercise, or you can put on weight in a flash! Walking’s a great one to clear your head, but you have to make sure you’re concentrating on where you’re going or you can get into trouble, I’ve nearly been run over several times.

And it can be a lonely business at times. Having another job can be really good for your sanity.

A&R:Can you describe your desk or office/writing area. Also, do you write at a certain time of day?

My desk is pretty small, not much room for more than a computer. And I have a lot of bookcases filled with all sorts of books, dictionaries, histories, and books of poetry as well as fiction. I love having books around me, comes from working for years in bookstores, too.

I write best in the morning, and late at night. But sometimes you just have to write when you can.

A&R: What excites you about writing?

Writing is just so much fun. I love playing around with words, I love making up worlds, and my characters really entertain me. There’s just something so satisfying about writing, I’ve found it exciting since the very first time I tried to write a story.

A&R: How do you start for the day?

COFFEE!!!! Then I make my wife’s lunch, and when she heads off for work I go down to my desk and get a start on. Some days are more productive than others, but that’s the usual way it begins.

A&R: Can you explain why you chose this theme for your book?

Death (and the Afterlife) is a bit of an obsession of mine. So I don’t know if I chose the theme or if it chose me.

A&R:Ever dispatched someone and then regretted it?

No, because I’m an extremely mean person! But I try not to waste a good death scene.Doesn’t mean I don’t feel sad about it. A couple of scenes in these books actually make me choke up. I don’t want to say which because I’ll give too much away!

A&R:Who would play you in a film of your life?

Buster Keaton

A&R:What are books for?

Mind reading. Stephen King said that literature is the closest thing we have to mind reading. When you open a book you enter someone else’s head. That’s kinda exciting.

A&R:Which character was the hardest to write? Which one was the easiest? Are any of your characters based on people you know or purely imaginative?

Steven’s the hardest and the easiest character to write, because all of the Death Works books are written from his perspective. Everything you see is how Steve sees things, and often he just sees things wrong. I love writing scenes with him and Lissa together, and I love writing scenes with Wal in them. Aunt Neti, who is introduced in Managing Death is one of my favourites.
Ah, I love writing them all!

A&R:If you could invite 3 famous people (living, dead, fictional) to a dinner party who would they be and why?

Gandalf (though he’d have to smoke his pipe outside). Hope Mirrlees, because she wrote the best fantasy novel ever (Lud-in-the-Mist), and Ricky Gervais. because I think he’s funny and bright and has an infectious laugh (much, much better than an infectious cough).
Yeah, it’d be a bit of an odd party, but we’d bumble our way through.

A&R: Do you think that fiction brings something to peoples lives?

If I didn’t I don’t think I’d write. Well, I’d still write because I think it’s so much fun. Fiction’s important because it helps you imagine other people’s perspectives. Empathy is something we could all do with a lot more of and good stories are always about empathy. 

SF writer and Silent Motion Picture Actor, Trent Jamieson should be 107 years old, but is only 37 on account of TEMPORAL RADIATION. He lives in Brisbane with his wife, Diana. He is currently writing a series of novels called Death Works. The first Death Most Definite was released in August 2010, the second, Managing Death, is due for release in December 2010. The third, The Business of Death, is due for release in April 2010. They’re about Death – you know, the Grim Reaper.

Trent can be contacted at teacupthrenody at hotmail dot com or check out his blog here

Gourmet Pilgrim - Italy

The gourmet pilgrim series is a captivating journey through the world of food, exploring the recipes and cuisines of cultures around the globe.
The first book explores the regions and cuisine of Italy. Contains inspiring and simple recipes from the kitchen tables of three generations of Italian native cooks, each recipe is exquisitely photographed.
Discover risotto in Milan and real pizza in Naples!
Read the fascinating stories of food. How the tomato got to Italy as a strange, yellow fruit; and that coffee - reaching Italy from Ethiopia via Turkey in the Middle Ages was banned by the Catholic Church as The wine of Islam.

This beautiful book comes with a FREE biscotti tin for you to store your own tasty treats in.

Crazy Week at the Bookshop

This is going to be a crazy week - we get all of our new releases in soon!! It feels a little like Christmas coming early when we delve into the boxes.

Already we have received Traci Harding's new book 'The Universe Parallel' Don't forget to read Traci's Blog Post on her inspiration behind her novels here.

Also Juliet Marillier's 'Seer of Sevenwaters', Stephen Kings 'Full Dark, No Stars' Will Adams 'Eden Legacy'

We can wait to see what else comes in!! On the 3rd of December we have Dr Karl coming in for a book signing and on the 7th December the new Vampire Academy comes out!!

Traci Harding's Inspiration behind her latest books!

With Traci Harding's new book due for release in December, I asked Traci what was the inspiritation behind her lastest series.

                     Traci Harding on ‘the Triad of Being’

                        and the books that inspired it.

My current trilogy, The Triad of Being, was strongly influenced by two books by the same author - both of which were equally insightful.

‘The Field – the Quest for the secret force of the universe’ by Lynne McTaggart.

Anyone who knows my work will realise that I was bound to be attracted by this title. All the esoteric knowledge I had gleaned over the years, in an attempt to explain my take on the universal scheme, I found laid out in this book in fairly easy to understand scientific terms. A large portion of the research and experimentation herein is focused on the Zero Point Field - an ocean of microscopic vibrations that appear to connect everything in the universe.

Zero Point Field Theory was a little known area of research that I have been looking into since I wrote ‘the Alchemist’s Key’ back in 1998 and discovered the work of David Hudson - which I was very excited see explored in the latter part of this book.

Of course many of these frontier scientists were not being taken seriously in academic realms, and some were completely outcast for attempting to turn outdated Newton theory on its head. Still, as Lynne McTaggart discovered, if you put all the individual findings of these scientists together, it is clear that these men and woman are breaking new ground in the great quest of discovering how reality, and the universe, works!

There are some fairly gruesome experiments in ‘the Field’, but the mysteries they shed light on, compelled me the start writing ‘Being of the Field’ and gave me a whole fresh take of the universal mysteries I had been studying for years.

The trouble with writing ‘Being of the Field’ was that, I got all inspired and five chapters into the story – right before that hot and steamy scene on Oceane, for those who have read the book – I was called to a meeting at my publishers. At that meeting we discussed the possibility of making ‘Gene Of Isis’ a trilogy, which of course we did - ‘Being of the Field’ was put on the backburner.

Two books and three years later, I finally got back to my hot and steamy moment on Oceane, and Lynne McTaggart had released another, even more insightful and inspiring, book!

‘The Intension Experiment – use your thoughts to change the world’ by Lynne McTaggart.

This book took all the research from Lynne’s previous book and turned it into a living, breathing experiment. ‘The Intension Experiment’ could be followed on the internet and readers of the books were invited to become involved. Some of the case studies herein were completely mind-blowing and presented wonderful scenarios for a science-fiction book.

The plant hooked up to the lie detector and then threatened with harm, in an attempt to prove a ‘plant telepathy’ theory, is very revealing! The lie detector registered a reaction from the plant, but only once the person threatening it truly engaged an intension to harm - mere words didn’t register a reaction at all - the plant didn’t need a lie detector to know its assailant’s true intension. Also the plant registered a reaction to the intent to harm before the physical act was carried out. 

The plant could even sense the stress of the bacteria in the sink in the kitchen, every time boiling water was poured down the drain. When you consider this on a much larger scale, you have wonder what we are doing to ourselves, each other and our world with, what most consider to be, harmless thoughts. I borrowed from that gem of an experiment for a scene in ‘the Black Madonna’ – but that’s another series.

Still, I think the experiment that was the most mind-boggling for me, was the one intended to prove that we can effect the past as easily as we effect the future. There were many case studies in these books, involving sick patients receiving healing from others through prayer, meditation etc. Half of a case study group received healing and half did not - the half that did receive the healing always showed significant improvement and in this study the results were uniform.

The big difference was that the healing was sent from the healers to their patients several years after their healing had already taken place. What a lovely paradox and the implications are mind-blowing! This could be likened to a composer hearing his score performed by an orchestra, long before he’d ever set pen to paper on its composition. But then, didn’t Mozart and Beethoven always hear the completed score in their head while they were composing? I know when I write, I feel like I am taking diction of an already completed work, which plays out before my eyes like a motion picture – is that just my consciousness picking up on a future reality? Only time will tell. 

 

The work of this small group of scientists is gradually vindicating what I have believed for most of my life - that we do create our own reality and that our own good intensions are our most powerful tool for doing so. 
 

Even readers who are not particularly scientifically minded can’t fail to be intrigued by how these truly great minds work and what their discoveries now could mean for the future of science, mankind and our little planet.

If, however, you would like to take in this scientific information with a good dose of adventure, mystery, love and fun, then why not give my new trilogy a read?

The Triad of Being :

Book 1 - ‘Being of the Field’ released December 2009

Book 2 - ‘The Universe Parallel’ released December 2010

Enjoy!!

All the very best

Traci Harding

Please check out Traci's website and join in the lively discussions on her message board or even join Trazling.

New Events Page Added!

Events

This page is to let everyone know of our events that are happening.

Dr Karl Kruszelnicki will be signing at 12.00 noon on 3rd December!!

Great Christmas Ideas

An Australian music industry legend, Chuggi has been promoting, managing, courting, bullying and championing rock acts for over 40 years.

Hey, You in the Black T-Shirt is his story

Published by Macmillan Australia

From the ridiculous to the sublime. From down and dirty rock 'n roll mayhem to million dollar deals with industry heavyweights. From gossip and desperation to undeniable truth and outrageous fortune...Chuggi has been there, done that.

Michael Chugg was only fifteen years old when he began managing and promoting artists in his hometown of Launceston, Tasmania. That was in 1962. Fast forward to the present, and 'Chuggi', as he is affectionately known, is a pioneer in bringing the newest, biggest and baddest musical acts to Australia. Back in the day, Chuggi was there for the explosion of overseas stars touring in Australia, working with acts such as Fleetwood Mac on their 1977 'Rumours' tour, Frank Sinatra, Guns n' Roses, Bon Jovi, Pearl Jam, The Police, Richard Clapton, Gary Glitter, AC/DC, Roy Orbison, Billy Thorpe, The Skyhooks, David Bowie, ABBA...the list is endless.

AC/DC

 Formed in 1973 by brothers Angus and Malcolm Young, AC/DC has become one of the most popular bands in history. This massive new title follows the band from its roots in Sydney, Australia, to its most recent releases and sold-out world tours. No stone is left unturned, from the band's formation and early club gigs to its astounding worldwide success. More than 400 illustrations include handbills, posters, backstage passes, and vinyl from around the globe, as well as rare candid and performance photography.

 How to Make Gravy

 This extraordinary book has its genesis in a series of concerts first staged in 2004. Over four nights Paul Kelly performed, in alphabetical order, one hundred of his songs from the previous three decades. In between songs he told stories about them, and from those little tales grew How to Make Gravy, a memoir like no other. Each of its hundred chapters, also in alphabetical order by song title, consists of lyrics followed by a story, the nature of the latter taking its cue from the former. Some pieces are confessional, some tell Kelly's personal and family history, some take you on a road tour with the band, some form an idiosyncratic history of popular music, some are like small essays, some stand as a kind of how-to of the songwriter's art – from the point of inspiration to writing, honing, collaborating, performing, recording and reworking.

World from Down Under 

In his bestselling books THE WORLD FROM ITALY and THE WORLD FROM ISLAM, George Negus gave us his unique, ′Australian internationalist′ perspective on issues as varied as football and the Muslim faith. Now, in the forthcoming THE WORLD FROM DOWN UNDER, he tackles the big issues of the day, the things which concern, perplex and provoke us. George takes on climate change, poverty, war, indigenous affairs, politics, philanthropy, the role of women - and some lighter stuff. He talks about how Australia is regarded by the rest of the world and how the rest of the world is seen by us. He draws on his own travels and his extensive journalistic background, and he brings in some of the things he′s learned from the world′s movers and shakers. He will tell you what you wanted to know about world′s big issues - and all the things no-one else has told you.

Booky Wook 2

In the sequel to Russell's best-selling biography 'My Booky Wook' we follow the now sober but still scandalous, sex-fuelled star on his electrifying rise to international fame. A roller coaster ride through tours, films, stand up and tabloids – this time, it's personal.

Rarely has a sequel delivered on the promise of the original with such literary and comic gusto. In Booky Wook 2: This Time It's Personal, Russell Brand takes off where his international best-seller My Booky Wook left off. Brand is sober and, after dedicating his life and compromising his sanity in the pursuit of fame, he has had his first taste of national notoriety. Does fame bring happiness and inner peace? Not exactly, but it does mean a lot of sex. It also ushers in an unforgettable and raucous ride through chat shows, tabloid scandals, and Hollywood, all the while detailing Brand's search for the contentment that fame can't quite grant. Booky Wook 2 is a ‘celebrity memoir’ unlike any you've read before: more clever and inventive than ever, Russell Brand explores the consequences of massive stardom just as he demonstrates the power of language and wit to make sense of it all.

Kevin 'Bloody' Wilson - Dilligaf

A long time ago, a long way from anywhere, in a West Australian mining town called Kalgoorlie, the legend of Kevin Bloody Wilson was born. It all started innocently enough – just a guy with too much time on his hands changing the words to other people’s songs, and writing a few of his own, purely for the fun of it.
Twenty years, countless live gigs and millions of album sales down the track, Kevin Bloody Wilson has not only found his niche, he’s grabbed an esky and a deckchair and made himself really bloody comfortable in it! These days his recordings can be found everywhere from Outback Australia to Antarctica, from big-rig road trains to the console of Prince Charles’ Aston Martin. And, remarkably, many albums have turned platinum with barely a momen’ s airplay.
DILLIGAF (Do I Look Like I Give a F***) will catapult you on a remarkable, side-splitting roller-coaster alongside a unique Australian icon. If you buckle up and enjoy the ride, you won’ t ever want it to stop. But when it’ s finally over, you almost certainly will be changed forever with the positive, inspirational and pretension-hating spirit of the DILLIGAF philosophy coursing through your veins.

Jaci Burton Interview

If you like romance with a great plot, great sex and alpha males, then this is the author for you! Jaci Burton has given us an interview on her work and how she remains sane as a writer..

 

          A&R: What led you into a writing career?

Actually it was my husband. I used to dabble in writing, but never seriously. When we married, he told me I should try to get serious about it again, so I did, and finally finished my first manuscript. Then I wrote another, and another, and the rest is history!

A&R:What are the most important attributes to remaining sane as a writer?

Writers aren't sane. Heh. 

Okay, seriously. I think the most important thing is to always look at the big picture and not get bogged down by the minutae. I'm often guilty of this myself. I get overwhelmed, and think there are things I can't do, or tasks I can't accomplish. Small details or day to day crises can be overwhelming sometimes. It's important to have a schedule, and to know that if you apply some organization, you can push through and get the job done. A book can be written--it just takes sitting your butt down in the chair and working hard at it every day, while also knowing there are times you have to step away and clear your head. Helps to refresh the well.

A&R:While writing, do you eat, drink or so anything special to get the mojo flowing? Like sports people wearing lucky socks etc.. 

Bubblegum. I can't work without bubblegum.

A&R: How do you start for the day?

I have coffee, check email, Twitter, Facebook, chat a bit with friends, then I get to work. I'm not one of those writers who can open up the book and start writing first thing in the morning. I have to ease into the day.

A&R:Which character was the hardest to write? Which one was the easiest? Are any of your characters based on people you know or purely imaginative? 

They're all hard to write. I can't recall any particular character being any more difficult or easier than any other. When I'm working on a book, that's the book that's hardest to write. Characters are tempermental creatures and don't always cooperate. All my heroes have some facets of my husband in them, because he's my personal hero. Otherwise, no. I don't base characters on people I know.

A&R:Are there any occupational hazards to being a novelist? 

Sitting too long in a chair writing is a health hazard. It can make for sore neck, shoulders, back, hips, knees, etc etc etc. Writers need to get up and get exercise periodically throughout the day. 

Also, you have to be self disciplined to be a writer. You're your own boss, so if you want to be successful, you have to push yourself to do so. If you're not self motivated, this might not be the career for you. 

A&R: What excites you about writing?

I love the absolute creativity of it, the ability to start from nothing and end with a book that's filled with my imagination. I'm living my dream and am very lucky to be doing it.

A&R:If you could invite 3 famous people (living, dead, fictional) to a dinner party who would they be and why?

Roarke and Eve from JD Robb's In Death series, becuase they're two of the most fascinating characters I've ever read. Roarke is such a sexy, dynamic, honorable hero, and Eve is gutsy, yet vulnerable. And Nora Roberts, who writes the In Death series, and because she's Nora and one of the best authors of romance. What a fun dinner party that would be!

A&R:Who would play you in a film of your life?

Angelina Jolie, because she looks so much like me....hahahahaha

A&R: What adventures will be next for your characters?

I have a sweet Christmas romance releasing from Carina Press in December. 

In February 2011 is the start of a new sexy sports series from Berkley Heat, starting with The Perfect Play in February and Changing The Game in August.

Inn November 2011 I have a debut romantic suspense series with MIRA with Heart of a Killer. 

So excited about all my upcoming books!

Jaci lives in Oklahoma with her family, she is a multi published author who writes in many genres. She writes for Bantam Dell, Berkley, Ellora's Cave and Samhain Publishing. Also Jaci has been fortunate to win several awards, including the Romantic Times BookReview Magazine's Reviewer's Choice Award for Best Erotic Paranormal.

 

Her website is here Jaci Burton Website

Reader Reviews

If any readers out there have read a really good book and are just bursting to tell someone about it, just send us an email (with your review) and we will start putting some reader reviews up on the blog and in our monthly newsletter.

arbooks@hotmail.co.uk

I will email you back to let you know if and when your review will be used.

Questions and Answers from Robert Muchamore - Cherub & Henderson Boys

I contacted Mr Muchamore the other day and asked him a few questions. Robert Muchamore is the bestselling author of the 'Cherub' and 'Henderson Boys' teen series. 

CHERUB is a series of young adult spy novels, written by Robert Muchamore, focusing around a division of the British Security Service named CHERUB, which employs minors, predominantly orphans, as intelligence officers.

Initially, the series follows James Choke, or James Adams, which is his CHERUB name, as he enters CHERUB and performs various missions. However, the focus later turns to his sister Lauren and several other characters who get vital roles in the novels. The initial series of twelve books runs from the recruitment of James Adams through to his retirement from CHERUB at age 17.

              A&R: Can you explain what gave you the idea for CHERUB?

 My Aussie nephew constantly moaning that he had no interesting books to read!


           
  A&R:Which character was the hardest to write? Which one was the easiest? Are any of your characters based on people you know or purely imaginative?

 Err dunno which one was hardest. James is easy cos he's a cool version of myself. I never base characters on real people in case they beat me up!

          A&R: What excites you about writing?

  Money, fame, but most of all not having to get out of bed and go work in an office.



         A&R: What adventures will be next for your characters?

 That would be telling, but there's a new website online at
www.aramov.com

Name: Robert Kilgore Muchamore

Best Friend: Invisible Eric, who lives in my toilet cistern

Ambition: To become the 4th Powerpuff Girl

First Book Published: The Recruit, April 2004

Lives: London, UK

Previous Jobs: Camera salesman, Private Investigator

Robert Muchamore Website 

Check out Shadow Wave, it is the last year James Adams has till he graduates Cherub!!

Ben Cousins - My Life

Ben Cousins has one of the most extraordinary stories in modern Australian sport. He's perhaps the most gifted player of his generation a former captain of the West Coast eagles, a Brownlow medallist, a premiership winner, voted the AFL's Most Valuable Player but he's best known for what he's done off the footy field rather than on it. Ben is a self-confessed drug addict, whose drug binges would last for days and involve incredible amounts of cocaine, crack and ice. But what's really remarkable about Ben's story is that the two sides of his life the captaincy, the premierships, the Brownlow, the accolades, and the frenzy and squalor of the drug scene were actually done at the same time, side by side.

Ben's book is an account of this double life, and what it's cost him, his family and his friends. It's also an account of his battles to beat his addiction, and his battle to keep playing football which was his lifeline against the entrenched opposition of a large number of people in the game. And as if the story is not extraordinary enough, what distinguishes it above all else is the approach Ben's taken to writing it. It is a work of searing emotional and factual honesty. Ben hides nothing, and the result is one of the most remarkable sporting memoirs ever published in Australia.

RRP $ 35.99

Books I have read recently

There have been a couple of books that I have read recently that I haven't put up here. Well that changes now!

1) Misguided Angels - Melissa de la Cruz

2) Iron Witch - Karen Mahoney

                    BLUE BLOODS #5 MISGUIDED ANGELS - MELISSA DE LA CRUZ

This is like Vampire/Angel Gossip Girl in a way. I love it! The Blue Bloods are fallen angels turned vampires. They are responsible for the arts, science and anything beautiful in human lives. The Silver Bloods are the Blue Bloods who follow the Morningstar - Lucifer. They want to free him completely from his seal but everyone thinks the Silver Bloods are just a myth...

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

After inheriting the dark Van Alen Legacy, Schuyler fled to Florence--with her forbidden love, Jack. Now the two of them must embark on the mission Schuyler was destined to complete: to find and protect the seven gates that guard earth from Lucifer, lord of the Silverbloods.

As the Blue Blood enclave weakens yet further, fate leads Schuyler closer to a terrifying crossroads--and a choice that will determine the destiny of all vampires.

                                 IRON WITCH - KAREN MAHONEY

FREAK. That’s what her classmates call seventeen-year-old Donna Underwood. When she was seven, a horrific fey attack killed her father and drove her mother mad. Donna’s own nearly fatal injuries from the assault were fixed by magic—the iron tattoos branding her hands and arms. The child of alchemists, Donna feels cursed by the magical heritage that destroyed her parents and any chance she had for a normal life. The only thing that keeps her sane and grounded is her relationship with her best friend, Navin Sharma.

When the darkest outcasts of Faerie—the vicious wood elves—abduct Navin, Donna finally has to accept her role in the centuries old war between the humans and the fey. Assisted by Xan, a gorgeous half-fey dropout with secrets of his own, Donna races to save her friend—even if it means betraying everything her parents and the alchemist community fought to the death to protect.

This book comes out in Febuary 2011 and I can't wait for people to read it. It is different to some of the paranormal stuff that is out there. It has its good and bad characters, but it also has that grey area. What if what you were brought up to believe wasn't the whole truth? I highly recommend reading this next year!

Amelia Peabody #8 Hippopotamus Pool Review

When a masked stranger offers to reveal an Egyptian queen's lost tomb to Amelia and Emerson in 1900, they are intrigued to say the least. But the guide mysteriously disappears, leaving them to sail to Thebes to follow his trail. The fact that Ramses and Nefret are along on the journey both helps and hampers efforts to solve this mystery. Soon all four are risking their lives as they foil kidnappers, grave robbers and ancient curses. And intrepid Amelia finds herself faced with a surprising new villain who is every bit as clever and resourceful as she is!

The title of the book comes from an ancient Egyptian tale about warring princes Apophis and Sekenenre, wherein Apophis sends Sekenenre a message: "The roaring of the hippopotami in your pools prevents me from sleeping! Hunt them and kill them, that I may rest." There are also several references to the goddess Taueret, who is represented as a hippo.

As Amelia tries to untie the mystery of who is doing what to whom, she and Nefret begin to refer to Riccetti's group as the "Hippopotamus Gang".

I really love this series, you get everything in one book. History, Adventure, Crime and Romance.

Amelia is such a great character, in this book you get to see the softer more maternal side of her. Ramses gets himself into a bit of trouble (which is no suprise) Neferet has come out of her shell, and you can see the affect both Amelia and Ramses that she has. The one character that really comes into her own is Evelyn, after dealing with a tragic death she sort of hibernates into herself then when she is pushed a strong woman comes to the fore and this affects her relationship with everyone around her. Thrilling and suspenseful the plot drives you with enough action to make you not want to put the book down.  

This series is highly recommended!!

Raymond E Feist Interview

 
Well I did it! I asked Raymond E Feist for an interview...and he said yes! Mr Feist has written many books of fantasy which started with 'Magician'

"At Crydee, a frontier outpost in the tranquil Kingdom of the Isles, an orphan boy, Pug, is apprenticed to a master magician - and the destinies of two worlds are changed forever. Suddenly the peace of the Kingdom is destroyed as mysterious alien invaders swarm through the land. Pug is swept up into conflict but for him and his warrior friend, Tomas, an Odyssey into the unknown has only just begun. Pug's destiny is to lead him through a rift in the fabric of space and time to the mastery of the unimaginable powers of a strange new magic ..." (Magician synopsis)

Now here is the interview:

       CPB: Can you please explain your world and the premise of your novels!

The world is Midkemia, a somewhat feudal fantasy world that was created originally in the early 1970s as a gaming environment while I was at university.  I began dabbling with storytelling while there and it was a natural to use to the world created for the game for the stories; why build a second world when we had a perfectly good one we had put so many hours into building?  As a result, I like to think I write historical novels about a place that doesn't exist.

CPB: Are the names of your characters are important? And what do they mean?

I have no idea what this is supposed to mean.  Names?  A person yells your name out in a crowd, you turn to answer: it works.  There is nothing in my world's culture that's involved in "secret names and getting power" sorts of things if that's what you mean.  There are cultures where that particular belief is important, but not in mine.

CPB: How do you start for the day?

Usually complaining bitterly that's it's morning again.  Then coffee, lots of coffee.  I'll drink coffee from 6 am until as late as 2 in the afternoon.  I like working first thing in the morning.  I'm pretty much over it by 1 to 3 pm.  Sometimes I'll get on a roll and plow into dinner time, but mostly I use my afternoons to watch news on TV, do a little reading, run errands, etc.

CPB:How long will it take to set up a book?

If by "set up" you mean get the notion and start writing, that goes on all the time.  I'm always chew up bits of story or character here and there.  If you mean the actual writing, that's gotten pretty efficient in the last twenty years.  I can probably write a book in thirty to forty days, but those days are spread out over six or seven months, given how much time I think about things.  I'm unusual that way, compared to the other writers I know who pound out x pages per day.  I go in bursts.

CPB:Ever dispatched someone and then regretted it?

Sent them on an errand?  Oh, you mean kill them.  Nope.  Characters are easy.  I've killed off a bunch and there are always new ones to take their place.  Keeps things interesting. Now, I've upset a few readers on more than one occasion by killing of a favorite.

CPB:What was the name of your first typewriter/computer?

Never bothered to name inanimate objects.  If you mean brand, my first novel killed two typewriters so I wrote it over three.  I destroyed a Remington-Rand portable electric I had managed to get through all of college with, then a used Royal Standard I bought for about $50 in 1977, then that died about 2/3rds of the way through Magician.  I bought another Royal electric and that died about the time I got my first computer, an Apple ][c.  My first printer cost more money than my current laptop, if you can believe it.

CPB:What are the most important attributes to remaining sane as a writer? 

Don't take yourself seriously.  Take the craft seriously and don't condescend to  your audience.  Write the best you know how, but don't think that you're somehow curing cancer, saving wester civilization, or going to win a Nobel Prize.  Have fun, or find a different job.

CPB: What excites you about writing?

I like the surprises.  My characters are often taking off in unexpected directions that lead into unexpected sub-plots.  I attribute it to my subconscious working overtime, or my brain is haunted.

CPB:Has the dog ever eaten your manuscript?

No.  No dog.

CPB:Do you feel any of your heroes or villains could possibly exist in the real world?

Absolutely, except for the magic stuff.  Personality-wise, I try to craft characters that are easily recognizable by the modern reader.  In Magician, Tomas was captain of the football squad, and Pug was his best friend, the short kid who didn't get bullied because his best friend was the really cool kid.  Arutha was president of the student body, but he wasn't a nerd because he was also a really fine basketball player.  Carline was the queen of the prom.  Those personalities are what I think is my strongest attraction to the modern reader, characters they can relate to in a way they can't in the old style heroic milieu.

CPB:What makes you laugh?

I'm a sucker for the absurd (up to a point; loved Blackadder, hated Mr. Bean).  Good physical comedy, but not so much slapstick (loved Chaplin; hated Three Stooges).  Crazy one offs of real life, like Blake Edward's film B.S., or Robert Atlman's The Player.  I laugh a lot with my kids.

CPB:Which character was the hardest to write? Which one was the easiest? Are any of your characters based on people you know or purely imaginative?

Bits and pieces are borrowed from real life, a tone of voice, a mannerism, or a pattern of speech, but no one in my books is based on anyone in real life.  As for hard/easy, they're all the same.  Any character fills a story telling function and once you understand that role in the narrative, you just get on with writing it.

CPB:As a child, when colouring, did you colour within the lines or outside the lines?

Outside, mostly because I was afflicted with a small muscle control problem that made my hands shake a lot.  It was something the doctors said I'd outgrow, which I did, as it was a development issue, but didn't make early childhood a lot of tun at times.

CPB: Do you think that fiction brings something to peoples lives?

I try not to think much on that.  I tell stories, ripping yarns, and my sole purpose is to entertain.  When I meet a reader who claims they gained an important insight into their own life, or something I did caused them to make a meaningful change, I hasten to point out to them that this was their doing.  Maybe something I wrote acted as a bit of a catalyst, but it was a time in their life they were ready for that change or insight and if it hadn't been my work, it would have been someone else's.

Thank you very much for answering these questions for us!

Tarran

You're welcome.  Hopefully I'll be Downunder again one of these days.  I love to visit Oz.

Best, R.E.F.

----

www.crydee.com

Never attribute to malice what can satisfactorily be explained away by stupidity.

Raymond E. Feist (full name Raymond Elias Feist), is a Southern Californian by birth and a San Diegan by choice.A New York Times, and Times of London Best-seller, he is the author of Magician, Silverthorn, and A Darkness at Sethanon, the three novels comprising The Riftwar Saga, the first series in the Arc that has become known as the Riftwar Cycle. Other works include the Empire Trilogy (co-authored with Janny Wurts), Krondor's Sons, comprising Prince of the Blood and The Kings Buccaneer, and Faerie Tale a dark-fantasy set in contemporary America. Subsequently he wrote  the Serpentwar Saga, and The Riftwar Legacy series which is based in part on the hugely successful computer games set in his universe, Betrayal at Krondor and Return to Krondor.

 Hobbies include collecting movies on DVD, fine wine, books on the history of Professional Football, and the works of American Illustrators.