Philippa Ballantine's Blog, page 14

Huzzah to the Hybrid

I've been silent awhile, dear reader. Personal life, including my husband getting laid off from his job right after the holidays have drawn my attention away from the blog. While he continues to run the gambit of interviews, we've turned our attention to providing for the family with our writing. (Yeah saying that is pretty scarey)

So we've set out on a new venture of digital publishing with Tee's company ImagineThat! Studios. It means there will be a lot of short stories and novellas coming out of ITS, and I'm doing the business side of it, while Tee does beautiful covers.

You'll find ITS covering in the next few months romance, horror, thriller and Young Adult. We're pretty excited to bring these new stories to you.

Right now, my story Magic by Gaslight is new out. This is a story that I wrote as a novella, and pitched to an erotica market. Their terms weren't quite to my liking, and I tucked the story away. Now, thanks to digital publishing I can bring it out. I have reworked it slightly to be more of a paranormal steampunk, rather than erotica, but the story still sings to me.

If Magic by Gaslight sells well enough, I may find time in the later half of this year to return. I can see more short stories, novellas, and maybe a novel in this world. It's available from Kindle, Nook, and with Smashwords all for the princely sum of $1.99

Sir Julius time!

That time of the year again!

Nominations are now open for the Sir Julius Vogel awards back in New Zealand (think our version of the Hugos).

They are open to any writer of fiction who is a resident or a citizen—but anyone can nominate.

Looking at the list of writers eligible, I am delighted to see the field is bigger and brighter every year.

For myself, I have several works eligible. Including, Spectyr, Phoenix Rising, and the Tales from the Ministry series. So if there are some you think worthy, then please do take the time to email the committee sjv_awards@sffanz.sf.org.nz

 

The Janus Affair Cover

It's been a time for cover revelations, and here's another one.

The adventures of Eliza and Wellington continue in the Janus Affair, coming in late May this year.

Evildoers beware! Retribution is at hand, thanks to Britain's Best-kept secret agents!

Certainly no strangers to peculiar occurrences, agents Wellington Books and Eliza Braun are nonetheless stunned to observe a fellow passenger aboard Britain's latest hyper steam train suddenly vanish in a dazzling bolt of lightning. They soon discover this is not the only such disappearance…with each case going inexplicably unexamined by the Crown.

The fate of England is once again in the hands of an ingenious archivist paired with a beautiful, fearless lady of adventure. And though their foe be fiendishly clever, so then is Mr. Books…and Miss Braun still has a number of useful and unusual devices hidden beneath her petticoats.

I love this cover because it conveys the adventure and energy of the book. Eliza looks hell bent for leather on adventure, while the joke of Wellington's face remaining concealed continues.

Behold the covers!

It is a beautiful moment when an author sees that covers that will wrap around their words, and in the last two days I have seen one new and been able to reveal the other.

One is the cover of the German edition of Phoenix Rising—which being from a foreign publisher I didn't get to see in advance. The second, for Hunter and Fox from Pyr Books, I have seen evolve as Lou Anders editor and art director extrodinaire, kept me in the loop. Now I am able to reveal it.

The artwork is by Cynthia Sheppard who has a wonderful talent for making the bizarre truly beautiful. You can preorder Hunter and Fox on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

And here is the cover for the German version of Phoenix Rising. The Germans have gone with the series title Books and Braun. Unfortunately I have no idea who the artist is, but I love the different take on Eliza and Wellington.

 

 

 

 

Christmas with the Ministry

It's a busy time of year for everyone, and the run up to the final days before Christmas are crazy. So I'm ever so pleased that Harper Voyager picked Phoenix Rising as one of ten books that they are discounting for a limited time to 99c.

And best of all this is a cross platform promotion. The book is available in all formats at 99c. Yep, it's a Penny Dreadful…at least for a time.

Kindle — http://amzn.to/o31YFI

Nook — http://bit.ly/rBBrT7

Kobo — http://bit.ly/ulBPet

iTunes — http://bit.ly/uuQ0XS

This book has done wonderful things…more than we could have ever expected; won the Airship Award for best written work, and got into the finals for top Science Fiction novel of 2011 on Goodreads.com. So please buy, enjoy and spread the word. This is a great deal, a great way to introduce people to steampunk, and a great way to prepare for the arrival of the Janus Affair which is coming in late May 2012.

The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences will be finishing up the Tales from the Archives, and dropping a Christmas episode before the end of the year. In 2012 we'll be releasing a new book trailer for the Janus Affair…and what we have and who we have helping us make this happen is super exciting. So hold onto that bowler—next year is going to be a big one!

Help the Ministry

Phoenix Rising is nominated for best science fiction of 2011 over on Goodreads.com. This is a big deal, and getting into the first round of competition is delightful and unexpected, but we need your help to get further.

Getting the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences as much attention as possible goes toward getting more novels and keeping us writing in this world. If you want to see that happen, and you enjoyed the book, please take a second to vote if you're a member of Goodreads. (if you're not, it is genuinely a great community for readers to connect)

Thank you!

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2011 Goodreads Choice Awards: Best Best Science Fiction

Vote now for your favorite books!

 

News on three fronts

It's raining details over here right now…so here's an update.

Check out my appearances page for where and when I will be around. We have a selection of cool events Tee and I will be attending in 2012- the largest (so far) is DragonCon. It's been awhile since I've dropped into the madness in Atlanta—2008 in fact—so I am looking forward to it.

I chose DragonCon over World Con in Chicago next year, because by then my book with Pyr will be out. Hunter and Fox is part of the Shifted World series, and the book that I landed my agent Laurie McLean with. Thanks to an upswing in high fantasy we found a publisher for it, and I hope you enjoy this tale of twisted loyalties and epic scope. Look for Hunter and Fox in July 2012.

Wrayth the third book of the Order series (after Geist and Spectyr) is due out in September 2012. So in time to find out what those geistlords and Deacons are up to before next Halloween.

And finally we have a new title for the second book of the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences. It will be called The Janus Affair- a title more in keeping with the series. It should be out in Summer 2012.

In the coming weeks and months I'll be sharing the cover art for these three books. I what I have seen so far is beautiful work.

Thanks once again to all you readers and listeners who have helped me get this far.

What a week…

As you probably- or possibly- know I got married last week to my co-author Tee Morris. You'd think that would be enough of a week…

But then we went to Comic Con. See my post for all about that.

Then we started to hear whispers about the Airship Awards. Now, after a convention those volunteers who organise it, are usually pretty beat. So when we looked into who had won and found nothing, we weren't that surprised.

Then the Steampunk Scholar himself, said that we'd won. He was there presenting, but still we managed to hold in the excitement. Then the Airship Ambassador confirmed it.

Yes, Tee and I are now award winning steampunk authors!

The other nominees included The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack (Pyr), Camera Obscura (Angry Robots), and The Half-Made World (Tor). All heavy hitters, all amazing books..so we are beyond ecstatic!

Previous winners of this award include Phil & Kaja Foglio, Alan Moore, and Abney Park. This is an award voted on by the attendees of Steamcon, and that matters a great deal to us. We've always said Phoenix Rising is a romp, and we want to make people smile.

Now we feel like we've done our job…and that's a great feeling.

Oh yes, and as part of applying for my change of status here in America I found out I don't have leprosy! So all in all, a fantastic week!!!

Kiwi in Comic Con and New York

Tee and I just got back from New York Comic Con.

To say that it was an assault on the senses would be an understatement. Previous to this DragonCon was the biggest event I've ever been to. NYCC made that look like my Nana's tea party.

Held in the Javits Convention Centre, there were a few niggles- like the Shuttle Buses finishing at 8.30 while the programming went until 10- but on the whole it was a great event. With over 2,000 booths from mega players like Marvel, to single artists trying to get more exposure for their work.

Getting anywhere in the push of people was tricky, but there was so much to see. We did catch a glimpse of a banner saying 'Podcast Arena', but never actually got there. Yeah, it was that kind of event.

On Friday we finally got to the event itself after a series of irritating and frustrating delays. We raced around, found our badges and the Harper Collins booth. It was only a few minutes until our signing, but there was this line of people. Our first reaction was 'oh well, another author mustn't be done yet…' Then we found out that it was for us. For the next twenty minutes we shook hands, personalized books and had a ripping time. We'd given fifty copies away, and signed another fifty for the booth. After Tee did his panel, those fifty went by Saturday morning as well.

The next day it was the same for me and Geist at the Penguin booth. A line of people, and all the books gone.  Fifty books in twenty minutes. It was not what I had expected.

Neither was the panel "Winter is here: Epic Fantasy takes the Throne'. It was a packed house, over two hundred people, and I was on a panel with Brandon Sanderson, Peter Brett, Rae Carson, David Chandler and Nils Johnson-Shelton. Ron Hogan did a fantastic job of moderating, and everyone got a chance to answer every question. I've been on plenty of panels were that wasn't the case, and I was delighted that on such an important day everything went smoothly.

We also had two meetings with my two editors Diana Gil and Danielle Stockley. Two great meals, and some interesting thoughts. The title of the second book Of Cogs & Corsets is going to change- but Tee and I came up with some great options that I think are even better. Then Danielle opened my eyes to some possibilities in the Books of the Order series, that I hadn't even considered, or thought were an option. Exciting chances that I am still mulling over.

We left Comic Con on Saturday, and took the train home- but the fun wasn't over yet. A very nice gentleman helped us get our luggage up in the rack, and he had also been at Comic Con. Before we knew it we were networking on the train, and a bunch of other possibilities began to ferment.

So from this event which was just supposed to be about signing and participating in panels, we came back with a whole lot of new directions to investigate. The takeaway for authors is, always be open to new chances, and always have business cards on hand for those moments.

We sure hope to go back to New York Comic Con, and next time we'll be prepared for the madness!

 

Cats…and getting to know you.

One of the first things that we warn folks before they come to our house is 'we have cats…five of them.'

It's a strange thing that folks (readers and listeners) who don't know me personally know about me. I share quite a bit about my life, and I was worried that I talked about the aforementioned cats a little too much. Then I went to FenCon.

Two seperate people asked about my cats. Then I got an email asking about them- wanting to know why there were no pictures of them on the site.

It made me think about what we are all seeking in this day and age of instant access with people all over the world. The same thing humans have always wanted. Connection with other human beings. We like to know personal details no matter how silly they may seem.

It's a curious thing about being a podcaster; you're in peoples ear drums, in their car, in their bedroom, entertaining them. It's a very personal thing. You start to wonder about folks and feel a personal connection with them. It's something about someone reading to you.

I have not (as yet) had a bad personal experience with listeners or readers. I've been very lucky that so far, everyone I have met has been kind, generous and very sweet. They talk, not just out about my writing, but about my life. I am still sorting out that boundary for myself, but so far the most intriguing question is about the cats.

This weekend at FenCon in Dallas, Texas I realised perhaps it wasn't just me. It was revealed in the art show. Cats are big in fantasy. We like them on covers. We like them with jetpacks. We like them dressed up like people. It's a thing…and I as a fantasy writer am almost required to have cats. Luckily five have chosen us to carry out their orders.

Who am I to fight the power. So, I think I will just post a picture of Sebastian and Viola, and let you judge what kind of person I am from that…

 

Now I am off to hang up a picture of a cat wearing a jet pack…