Welcome to the New Year!

Hi everyone,

I've had a bit of a holiday in terms of blogging, but not in terms of writing. I've been crazy busy with my "The Sylvalla Chronicles" series. It's an amazing amount of fun to be immersed in a world so deeply. I can't wait to publish Prophecy and Omens but in the meantime - I've created a book magnet - a free book, "The Secret Child," in the Sylvalla Chronicles World. For fans it provides a bit of backstory about the wizards and how they relate to Sylvalla and the whole epic fantasy adventure!

The Secret Child is completely free and is as available through Book Cave - all you have to do is sign up to my newsletter - which is awesome, because it's the best way to keep an eye open for specials, and also for the link to the new video trailer for "Quest" that the talented Clem Winfield is about to put out. I hope you enjoy.

For poetry fans, I've got some cute little short excerpts sprinkled through Prophecy and Omens, that I think will be fun to share over the next few Tuesdays amongst maybe some more substantial works by beloved or interesting poets :)

A.J.

PS  I think that the tuatara eye Clem Winfield animated looks really creepy - do you?

Beside the Dark Pool by Dame Fiona Kidman

Review by Alicia Ponder.

Yes, I know, I usually leave these reviews to the people who know something about "serious" genres. But Fiona is such an icon, and as I have rather enjoyed her latest offerings I thought, why not? I mean I rather intended to get around to it some time ago, but sometimes life gets in the way and books get piled behind other books - but now I've finally done it and I'm pleased I did.

Then, because I know so little, I peeked at the other reviews. And I agreed with them, yes she's a fantastic author, and yes it's a very long list of books, yes it was a great historical encapsulation of the springbok tour and of writing events in the last twenty years, and finally yes it was written with clarity, humility and style.

But what I took away from it, as an ex-NaeNae College student was completely different. Forget the overbearing honesty, it's overrated, I agreed with Fiona's sentiment that fiction can be more can be more truthful than non-fiction -- what I saw was her caring, and her willingness to stand up for other people, especially writers, but this was made to seem inconsequential (although I'm sure it was not) compared to her husband Ian. Fiona shows that Ian is not just any man, he is a man who is prepared to give his time, and even put his body on the line for other people. His tough and almost lawless childhood is well worth reading about - and then at the last gasp he decides to educate himself, and takes himself on the path that would lead him to NaeNae College and refugees and the clash with police during the infamous Springbok Tour.

Yes, everyone who is interested in New Zealand writing, or Fiona Kidman will want to read this book, and I certainly count myself in that category, but I think a few ex-NaeNae College students will also want a read, maybe flicking through all the writery bits and getting to the bits starring Ian, just to see what he was up to as well.