Philippa Ballantine - Author

Award-winning Author of fantasy, science fiction, and steampunk

Blog

Personal Effects; Dark Art

…and a cast of authors to make you drool- and me. Here’s the kick-arse vlurb for JC Hutchins kick-arse novel Personal Effects; Dark Arts.

JC has been using vlurbs to great effect- have a look right here and don’t forget to rush out and buy your copy


The cast of characters in the vlurb (excluding myself of course) are

Mama I’m coming home

OK.. confession time. I have always concentrated my efforts on marketing and connecting with Americans, since they are the primary market for my writing. I need to correct that.

Hanging out with Tee Morris and going to the Conscription Con, I have made more connections and realised that there are indeed podcast and genre peers right here.

So here’s some payback. Two recommendations for writing and genre work in the Land of the Long White Cloud.

  • The Podagogue is a kiwi Dan Rabarts reporting on the world of podcasting, podiobooks and other fiction. Dan was asking about podcasting rigs, so I have high hopes that he will join me in the ‘sphere. Who knows- he could be doubling the number of podcasters in NZ.
  • And for all those kiwi writers out there don’t forget the Southern Cross Writing Challenge is on. 50,000 words in a month- sounds easy, right…

 

 

Radio what’s new…

I was able to drop Tee Morris in for his interview today with Radio New Zealand. He talked Social Media with them and had a blast.

I got to sit backstage and listen- so it was almost as much fun… almost.

Have a listen right here

My friend Julius

Conscription was a great con, well organised, full of enthusiastic people, and I got to share it with my good mate Tee Morris. So when I went to the awards ceremony for the Sir Julius Vogel awards I was in a zen place about winning one. (Here’s an explanation on the award)

Digital Magic was in a tough category, and was beaten to best novel by Russell Kirkpatrick’s latest book. And then came the fan production category. Now Chasing the Bard was the first podiobook to be nominated for the Sir Julius Vogel award, and finding a category that it would fit into was a problem. The awards committee stuck with it and found a way to allow CTB to be nominated.

Well when they asked Tee Morris to present, I had my suspicions, but then when he opened the envelope and yelped ‘I can’t say that’ I kinda knew. His big smile confirmed it, and getting the beautiful award from someone who has helped me so much with publication and podcasting, just made it all the more special. Of course, he had to try and run off with the award, but I tackled him and got it back.

And I was surprised. Genuinely surprised to win. I was up against some very funny spoof videos, and worried that CTB was so different from them. I believe my comment was ‘Wow, and here I was thinking only Americans listen to my podcasts.’

It was a sweet moment, and that lovely award is going to sit proudly next to my mic, reminding me visually that people do enjoy what I do.

Now, about those Parsecs….

Talk about it, talk about it….

I’ve had plenty of fun this past week, hanging with my peers online.

I got to talk with the Dead Robots and Helen Madden, Nick Scipio and Nobilis about writing erotica. It is a subject I am just learning about, but it was a fun time. (WARNING- you may have already guessed, but this is NSFW or children, or those with a sensitive disposition to subjects of a sexual nature). We cover lots of saucy stuff, so have a listen.

And then I had a great interview with Michell Plested of Get Published where I talk about my 12 year journey to this point of having a book deal with a New York Publisher. Have a listen here.

Fix a date

Well if I thought it was all just a mad dream, here is evidence that I am not. From May 2009 edition of Locus confirmation that the Ace deal is a go.

So I sent the contract by fast plane to New York, and now I have a date of publication. Geist will be out November 2010 and its sequel the following year.

I can’t wait to get start on final edits. Geist 2 (still have to come up with a satisfactory name) is about 15,000 words done and it is a lot of fun to get back to this world.

So apart from that writing here’s my calendar of things to get done

  • Finish podcasting Weather Child.
  • Begin planning and then podcast Digital Magic
  • Write, edit, produce and podcast Books and Braun
  • Write and podcast a series of perhaps 10 episodes of short stories in the Geist universe.