Introduce yourselves! Showing 901-950 of 9,625

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

Jeffrey wrote: "Looks like Queensland is making news with 100 year rains. I forgot this is your summer rainy seasons. When I homesteaded we would get cut off every summer. Creek rose 15 feet and we just waited ..."

We are only 2 hours from Taree, Jeffrey...south of there..:)

[[deleted user]]

Look at this group grow!!!..A huge G'day to all the new peep's. (-:

[Harper]

Hi All!
Its so great to find a place with so many like minded 'bookworms' like me. I am from the South Coast of NSW - Shoalhaven area. Currently studying to be a primary school teacher..only 6 months until I finish..Whoop!
I hope to instill a love of reading in all my future students, it has been a love of mine for as long as I can remember.
I try not to be too much of the 'book snob' type but admit to scouring literary reviews prior to purchasing books.. My favourites are ALL of Tim Wintons books (isnt he just amazing!!), I loved the Kite Runner and the Poisonwood Bible, White Tiger, Shantaram. I also enjoy Zadie Smith ( with the exception of her second book Autograph man which was pretty bad). I tend to read not so much for the story itself but to revel in the beauty of words and the craft of writing. I view writing as the ultimate craft and take so much pleasure in reading superb authors who astound me with their craft. I am now reading Freedom by Jonathan Franzen which I am enjoying but am unsure if it is worthy of all the hype.
I have realised I should broaden my tastes somewhat and would like to explore more thriller/crime novels, but novels which are still beautifully and creatively written.. Any suggestions on this?
Happy New Year to you all and happy reading!
HarperTim WintonThe Kite RunnerThe Poisonwood BibleWhite Teeth

[Gerry]

Harper wrote: "Hi All!
Its so great to find a place with so many like minded 'bookworms' like me. I am from the South Coast of NSW - Shoalhaven area. Currently studying to be a primary school teacher..only 6 mon..."

Welcome Harper. You are in good company :)

[Tracey]

Hi all and welcome to the newcomers.
Thanks also for all the well wishes, my blood count is now at 70, almost half of what I need and rising steadily so Yeah I might get out of here soon.

Re: the rain - all my uncles are old bushmen from way back and the eldest, now 78, swore blind by the middle of winter that we were in for a long, hot, very, very wet summer. Never known him to be wrong yet but didn't expect quite that MUCH rain.

[Mandapanda]

Hi Harper! Big welcome to the group. We have a 'Crime/Mystery/Thriller' shelf in our group bookshelf where you can find lots of Aussie crime fiction. Plus we have a discussion thread on crime fiction further down on this page.

If you're looking for some literary fiction with a crime story (or a crime novel with great literary merit) perhaps you could try Peter Temple's novel Truth. It won the Miles Franklin Literary Award in 2010.

[Jeffrey]

Brenda wrote: "Jeffrey wrote: "Looks like Queensland is making news with 100 year rains. I forgot this is your summer rainy seasons. When I homesteaded we would get cut off every summer. Creek rose 15 feet and..."

My daughter went back to Australia to visit the place where she was born. The house I built in Elands is still standing and the old English bugger who was with us on the land still lives there as the local hermit. He uses my house as an art studio.
Are you getting a lot of rain there as well. I bet the Doyles River rose 20 ft or more this year.

[Dianne]

Hi! My name is Dianne and I live in Hervey Bay, Queensland. I am an (unpublished) writer, an avid blogger and would love to start podcasting sometime soon. I prefer to down my fiction via audiobooks and podcast formats.

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

Jeffrey wrote: "Brenda wrote: "Jeffrey wrote: "Looks like Queensland is making news with 100 year rains. I forgot this is your summer rainy seasons. When I homesteaded we would get cut off every summer. Creek r..."

No, not much rain at all here, it's been skirting us! But they have forecast some heavy rain for us for the next few days, so whether it'll happen or not?? :)

[Mandapanda]

Dianne wrote: "Hi! My name is Dianne and I live in Hervey Bay, Queensland. I am an (unpublished) writer, an avid blogger and would love to start podcasting sometime soon. I prefer to down my fiction via audiobook..."

Hi Dianne! Great to meet you and welcome to the group! You might be interested in a couple of our discussion threads in particular: Audiobooks. Do you listen to them? Is there a good selection of titles? and Australia‘s Best Book Blog sites!. Enjoy.:)

[Laurel]

Tracey wrote: "Hi all and welcome to the newcomers.
Thanks also for all the well wishes, my blood count is now at 70, almost half of what I need and rising steadily so Yeah I might get out of here soon.

Re: the ..."

I'm glad you are getting better, Tracey. No one wants to be in hospital longer than they have to. You and your family have had a worrying time. Laurel

[Dianne]

Mandy wrote: "Dianne wrote: "Hi! My name is Dianne and I live in Hervey Bay, Queensland. I am an (unpublished) writer, an avid blogger and would love to start podcasting sometime soon. I prefer to down my fictio..."
You can download a lot of the classics free of charge from volunteer-based communities such as LibriVox. As for podcast fiction, podiobooks is your best bet. For speculative fiction short stories, I recommend Terra Incognita Australian Speculative Fiction podcast (lots of great fiction from Australian and NZ writers), Clarkesworld Magazine, Dunesteef Audio Magazine, Castlepod (fantasy), Escapepod (mish-mash of spec-fic), Pseudopod (Horror), The Moth podcast (true stories), Wily Writers Speculative Audio Stories, and Lightspeed Magazine. You can find a bunch of awesome history podcasts as well.

[[deleted user]]

Tried to dowload some music from itunes (to my wifes Christmas present an ipod shuffle) last night & was at the point of throwing the computer, ipod & everthing onto the road, trying to go from 'purchased items' to her shuffle, anything & everthing I did would not work....result......my daughter is coming on Saturday to show me, why do they make these things so bloody hard!!

[Dianne]

Dianne wrote: "Mandy wrote: "Dianne wrote: "Hi! My name is Dianne and I live in Hervey Bay, Queensland. I am an (unpublished) writer, an avid blogger and would love to start podcasting sometime soon. I prefer to ..."

Don't feel discouraged, David! We all have to start somewhere. Did you highlight and drag the desired grouping of files over to your ipod? Give that a try and get back to me if you still have issues.

[[deleted user]]

Yes, Dianne, I actually had my daughter on the phone & tried whatever she said, I am very techo challenged, I am still comming to grips with the dvd player we were given for Christmas 2 years ago (-:

[Dianne]

It sounds like an annoying problem, but you'll get there. :-) It does sound like you've got some nice presents these past few years though. However, until you're able to figure them out, they are only useful as paper weights.

[Dianne]

Dianne wrote: "Dianne wrote: "Mandy wrote: "Dianne wrote: "Hi! My name is Dianne and I live in Hervey Bay, Queensland. I am an (unpublished) writer, an avid blogger and would love to start podcasting sometime soo..."

I just thought of something: Have you used Youtube as a source for tutorials yet? If not, it might be somewhat helpful if you run into technical problems in future. My husband actually learned how to build his current computer using the tutorials he watched before making the purchase. There is a lot of other stuff available as well, such as guides for using software. :-D

[Dianne]

Dianne wrote: "Dianne wrote: "Dianne wrote: "Mandy wrote: "Dianne wrote: "Hi! My name is Dianne and I live in Hervey Bay, Queensland. I am an (unpublished) writer, an avid blogger and would love to start podcasti..."

It can be quite a good resource. However, you'll have to wade through a host of rick-rolled and crap information to find worthy tutorials. You can also find a good site that has the tutorials already embedded.
If you are looking for course materials, than iTunesU is your best bet. It draws from thousands of different colleges across the globe, offering anything from audio, video, powerpoint files, pdf's, etc... from subjects ranging from zombies in literature to Quantum physics.

[Deb]

Mandy wrote: "Hi Harper! Big welcome to the group. We have a 'Crime/Mystery/Thriller' shelf in our group bookshelf where you can find lots of Aussie crime fiction. Plus we have a discussion thread on crime ficti..."

Hi Harper, Mandy's suggestion is a good one. I really enjoy Peter Temple's writing, you can try The Broken Shore: A Novel as well as Truth. Both are good and Truth is a sequel to the Broken Shore.

[Harper]

Thank you Mandy and Deb. I have added Peter Temples books to my to read pile! Hope to get around to them soon.

[Dianne]

Harper wrote: "Thank you Mandy and Deb. I have added Peter Temples books to my to read pile! Hope to get around to them soon."

I have a bit of a backlog of books to read as well, but I will probably give Peter Temples a read for the Aussie reading challenge. As it is, I think that reading more in the mystery genre will help improve some aspects of my writing.

[Deb]

That's great Dianne. I'd be interested to hear what you think of Peter Temple's style when you get round to reading his books, it's unusual and generally gets a love it or hate it reaction.

[Neko]

Welcome to all the new people have joined...Kick back and relax with an enjoyable book and your favorite drink! ;)

[[deleted user]]

Jeffrey wrote: "Looks like Queensland is making news with 100 year rains. I forgot this is your summer rainy seasons. When I homesteaded we would get cut off every summer. Creek rose 15 feet and we just waited ..."

I have an Aunt and Uncle that live in Elands, it is a beutiful part of the world.

[Bryn ((B2/B.P))]

Hiya, I'm Bronwyn. I will be turning 16 in exacity two weeks. I live in Tasmania, and I have for my whole life.

I am a massive read, have been for all my life. At the moment I'm really into Paranormal romance and dystopian novels. Here are some of my favourite books/series.
* Harry Potter
* Narnia
* Vampire academy
* Twilight
* Hunger Game
* The mortal instruments
* Infernal devices
* Perfect Chemisitry
* Morganville Vampires
* Memiors of a teenage anesiac
* Tomorrow, when the war began
* Beastly
* I am number four

I devote most of my time to read, so I don't watch much T.V, but the T.V I do watch mainly consists of teen dramas.

[[deleted user]]

Big welcome to the group Bronwyn!

[Gerry]

welcome!

[Rob]

Hi All,
I'm a Sydney boy, run a poetry group DiVerse, hopefully someone has heard of us. http://diversepoets.blogspot.com/

I'm also a writer, I've posted some of my stuff on here, but most all of my writings can be found here http://robjkennedy.blogspot.com/

So hi to everyone aan I'm sure I'll enjoy talking to as many as people as possible.

[Gerry]

gday and welcome!

[Rob]

G'day to you too Gerry, how you finding this group?

[Gerry]

very friendly indeed - and nice to be among fellow Australians. :)

[Rob]

Peter Temple - Just finished reading his Truth, for a book club in my unit complex. Can't say I enjoyed it. The language was straight from all those US B&W crime movies of the 40's.

The last bit about the Melb fires was well done, but most of it was for me, pretty typical of so many older crime writers. But I have to say, this is the first crime novel I've ever read. Actually I adore all those old Bogart crime movies, but reading the genre, hmmm, that didn't work for me.

That said I know lots of very together people who think he is the bees knees of crime and story telling.

[Elizabeth]

Hello! I've just found this group via Dave Delaney, Cairns poet and fellow member of Tropical Writers. Thanks Dave for inviting me and hi to everyone here! I love Australian books and movies, especially ones with a strong sense of place, like Richard Flanagan's The Sound of One Hand Clapping. Just recently, I published my first novel, The Coffeeholic and the Cafe, a romantic comedy set in Cairns and Far North Queensland. It's in the style of Marian Keyes and Sophie Kinsella, who I love to read for a feel-good distraction from heavier reading. I wanted to write a rom-com/ chick-lit type of story but with a strong local flavour. At the moment I'm reading a Marian Keyes (The Brightest Star in the Sky) but have Mr Pip on order from the library.
Elizabeth Martin.

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

I have just addedThe Coffeeholic and the Cafe to my TBR list, Elizabeth...had our first visit to Cairns in August 10, and loved it...will enjoy the book I'm sure..:)
Welcome to the group...you'll have lots of fun here...:)

[Mandii-lee]

Hey everyone I'm Amanda ,mandii for short (there seems to be quite a few mandy's on here haha) i'm 18 in April and I live in Perth Western Australia

I love YA sci-fi /fantasy/paranormal romance <-that's a mouth full haha but it's classified differently everywhere I go

Some of my favourite series /books are:
-vampire academy by richelle mead
-the mortal instruments by Cassandra clare
-house of night by pc pc abd Kristen cast
-the drake chronicles by alyxandra Harvey
-the shifters series by Rachel Vincent
-the faeriewalker series by jenna black
-paranormalcy by Kristin White
-unearthly by cynthia hand
-nightshade by Andrea cremer
and more haha

the first book I ever read was by an Australian author who came my highschool to talk about her books she was amazing the books called
destroying avalon and it's by Kate McCaffrey , it's the most 'real' fiction I've ever read

[[deleted user]]

Eh! g'day Lizzie (-:, glad you could make it.

Guarantee you will enjoy Elizabeth's book Brenda.

[[deleted user]]

Welcome Rob,Elizabeth and Mandii-Lee. We are very glad you could join us.

[Moxxi]

Ah after months of goodreads membership I've finally found where all the Aussies are hiding. Hello to all, I'm Jane from Newcastle. It's good to be here and I hope to get into some great discussions.

[Gerry]

welcome Jane!

[Moxxi]

Thanks for the welcome Gerry & Carmel!

[Elizabeth]

Thanks everyone for such a great welcome! I hope you like the book Brenda, and Carmel too, and will recognise a few good coffee spots.

[Rob]

Hi Carmel,
Thanks for the comments. The reason that That Night is written in reverse order of events is the lead couple's relationship is going backwards and not forwards.

Adds a dramatic touch I feel.

[[deleted user]]

Hey I'm Michaela. I'm from NSW Australia. I like most books, especially ones by Charles Dickens.

[Gerry]

Gday!

[[deleted user]]

Welcome to the group Mickey, so glad you could join us. I'm a huge Charles Dickens fan too. :D

[[deleted user]]

Wow!!..more newies, G'day, G'day, G'day. (-:

[[deleted user]]

Carmel wrote: "Big hello to Melissa & Michaela, hope you enjoy the group, plenty of fun chatting about books, etc:)

Melissa your blog looks great!!"

I am tempted to delete her message she came in here posted the blog message then left the group!

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

Earl Jane Grey wrote: "Ah after months of goodreads membership I've finally found where all the Aussies are hiding. Hello to all, I'm Jane from Newcastle. It's good to be here and I hope to get into some great discussions."

Hi Jane, welcome! I'm from Newcastle too....:)

[Brenda, Aussie Authors Queen]

Gail "cyborg" wrote: "Carmel wrote: "Big hello to Melissa & Michaela, hope you enjoy the group, plenty of fun chatting about books, etc:)

Melissa your blog looks great!!"

I am tempted to delete her message she cam..."

Well, that's just RUDE!!!!

[Mandapanda]

Hi Bronywyn, Rob, Elizabeth, Mandii-Lee, Earl Jane Grey, and Mickey! Big welcome to the group.:)