Jennifer Fallon's Blog

The Dark Divide is due out soon!

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 11:55:00 --0800

Finally! The Dark Divide will be in Aussie shops from 1 April 2012.

First look at The Undivided cover

Sat, 22 Jan 2011 03:14:00 --0800

It's getting closer... :)

In which we head off on our first NZ Writers? Retreat

Fri, 07 Jan 2011 03:42:00 --0800

GO here for details: http://reynox.wordpress.com/2011/01/06/first-nz-writers-retreat/

If I seem a bit quiet of late...

Thu, 07 Oct 2010 06:39:00 --0800

...it's because I have been sucked into the swirling vortex of social media and I'm on Twitter and Facebook and updating the Reynox House site and vet nursing for my daughter, while supposedly writing a book...

In the meantime, some profound thoughts to make you ponder. And maybe chuckle...

A mystic is someone who wants to understand the universe, but is too lazy to study physics

Anon

Success is when your name is in everything but the telephone directory.

Sam Ewing

Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lampost how it feels about dogs.

Christopher Hampton

Although it is said that faith can move mountains, experience has shown that dynamite works better.

Bumper Sticker

In the beginning there was nothing, and God said, "Let there be light." And there was still nothing, but you could see it.

Anon

It's not whether you win or lose, it's whether I win or lose.

Jacob Thompson

Writing Mentorships now available

Sun, 12 Sep 2010 03:47:00 --0800

In conjunction with the Reynox International Writers' Centre, an exciting opportunity has been opened up to be mentored by your truly, for a limited number of applicants.

For the record, I'm a qualified Adult Trainer, have a Master of Arts from the Queensland University of Technology and my works have now been translated into a number of foreign languages, including, German, Russian, French and Dutch. I may be of use to the odd yet-tobe-published authors out there looking for assistance. :)

The Reynox Mentorship Program is designed to assist promising speculative fiction writers from anywhere in the world to complete a polished (and hopefully publishable) manuscript which can be actively submitted to potential publishers.

For details of the program and how to apply, go here.

Sneak preview of The Undivided

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 08:08:00 --0800

Want to read the first three chapters of The Undivided? Follow this link http://www.voyageronline.com.au/books/extracts/V15_UNDIVIDED.pdf Sorry I can't make it live. I'm at Melborne Airport about to board a flight and my iPad doesn't like the blog app:(

Dutch Covers of the Hythrun Chronicles

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 12:38:00 --0800

Check these out... the awesome Dutch covers of the Wolfblade Trilogy (the first twoo books, anyway).

I likee bery much:)

Musing on the panels stuffup at Worldcon

Sun, 22 Aug 2010 06:36:00 --0800

At the risk of sounding like I'm looking for things to complain about after the Worldcon panel stuff up, it occurs to me that all the panels I was placed on (that I won't be there for) were with other Aussie/Kiwi authors. Now I love many of these people dearly, respect their work, think they are fabulous writers, count myself a friend of quite a few of them, and I'm sure we'd have had a rollicking good panel, but here's my question:

If you have writers attending from all over the world (and the list is spectacular), why put together panels made up of authors who all know each other, have probably all done this before, that you can hear at any con, any time, anywhere in the country? Are the riff-raff not permitted to mix with the hoi-polloi? Shouldn't this be a great opportunity to mix it up a bit and get perspectives from both local and international guests?

Just a thought...

PS: Worldcon organisers have offered to change my panels for ones happening when I'm, well, there, and I've had an offer to do a swap from another author (so generous, thank you Mary Victoria) but I haven't seen a program to decide what other panels I think I can make a contribution to.

I think I'm going to pick panels where I don't know any of the authors. I'd like to learn something from the panels, too, not just catch up with my mates for a weekend, regardless of how much fun that might be. :)

10 things authors should never blog about

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 07:00:00 --0800

I was asked for some advice recently, about authors and blogging, which made me think (never a good thing), and from which I compiled the following list

Never say rude things about your publisher online, even if they are irritating, slow, inefficient, unprofessional and flat-out unbelievable in their dealings with you. Even if every word of your tale of woe is true, they don’t think they are any of those things and they will demonstrate their resentment of your poor opinion of them by dropping you like a hot brick.
Never diss editors. (See Rule 1). Editors may not have the power to kill your writing career yet, but they move on. They move up. They remember.
Never blog about your bowel movements (unless you’re writing a medical blog about IBS symptoms)
Never rant about how much you deserved an award (whether you won it or not). Humble is good. Even if — in your heart of hearts — you believe your work is the greatest literary masterpiece ever committed to paper, it is uncool to say so. Shock, delighted surprise and humility are the best reactions. Fake it, if you have to.
Never identify friends and family without their permission. You can be the biggest publicity-hungry media-whore on Earth if you want, but your friends and family are not you. They deserve their privacy. Blog about them by all means, but do not identify them by name, where they work, link to their Facebook page, advertise where they hang out, or post their cell-phone number without their permission. It is the short road to losing friends and pissing off family.
Never blog endlessly about your chronic flatulence issues. Too much information, dude. The same goes for most ongoing non-life-threatening conditions. You will get sympathy at the outset for the poor quality of the pedicure that caused your problem, but after a while, blogging every other day about your ongoing (and mind-numbingly boring) battle with the yellow spotty fungus that is discolouring your toenails will turn people off.
Never provide specifics about how much you earn. There are some out there who think authors should talk about their income to get rid of the popular fallacy that all publishing deals are six-figure windfalls that will set you up for life. My approach is more pragmatic. There is a vast difference between an author's gross income and their net income due to things like currency exchange, tax-deductible expenses (of which I am an awesome collector), commissions, and a million other little things that go into calculating our earnings. So, do I brag that I grossed a million bucks last year, or explain how I finished up with a taxable income of $127? My solution – neither. We simply will not speak of it again.
Never blog about cleaning the kitty-litter tray. I mean... what’s to say?
Never attack reviewers who didn’t like your work. It’s OK to blog about the reviews, but it’s dangerous to start attacking reviewers. I will point out factual inconsistencies if they exist in reviews of my work, but I’ll do that for the good reviews as well as the bad. If the review is particularly silly, I might also question the credentials of the reviewer. I believe a reviewer's credentials are fair game, because when you set yourself up as a critic you are claiming some expertise in that area, so you should be prepared to stand by your opinions and back it up with something, like, you know... a basic command of the English language, for example. But the bottom line is, reviews are just reviews. They will be good and bad. Suck it up.
Never blog personal attacks on other authors. It’s OK not to like another author’s work; it’s not OK to diss the author. I am not a fan of Dan Brown’s books, but I’m sure he’s a very nice person and I am in awe of his storytelling ability, even if I’m not a fan of his writing style. I could (but I won’t) list a score of other writers whose work leaves me cold. That doesn’t make the authors bad people, it just means I’m not a fan. As some readers have trouble understanding the difference between a person and their work, it’s best not to give them any fodder for their paranoia.

Social media is time consuming...

Tue, 03 Aug 2010 08:07:00 --0800

As usual, I;ve been crazy busy, not the least of which is finally uploading photos onto my facebook page.

If you want have a look at them, I'm here.

Be my friend:)

The Rhythms of Ireland - My treat for finishing the rewrite

Sun, 18 Jul 2010 20:15:00 --0800

In case you're wondering why I've been quiet of late, I have been hammering through the inevitable rewrite of The Undivided. Anybody who thinks they can write one draft and the book is done, is nuts. This rewrite was extensive, thanks to some aweome feedback from my beta readers, and the book is much better for it.

I was on a deadline to finish it (about 2 weeks ago actually). But I was detemined to finish it in time for the Rythms of Ireland show last night. I had the tickets and nothing was going to get in the way. Turned out to be a great motiviator!

For the record, if you get a chance to see this troupe on tour, take it. They are awesome. The show was amazing. It wasn't full of flashy special effects, just a group of awesomely talented people who I suspect are fitter than marathon runners. I've seen the Lord of the Dance DVD heaps of times, but it is nothing compared to seeing these dancers live.

They were really nice people too, and I promised them I would give them a great rap on my blog, so here it is. And a big shout out to the dancers, too. You rock!

This should make all you Star Wars geeks smile...

Sun, 11 Jul 2010 14:16:00 --0800

Me and Terry Brooks - One of these things is... kinda like the other....

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 13:00:00 --0800

It could just be me, but there seems to be an awful lot of similarities between The Chaos Crystal cover and Terry Brook's new Shannara novel due out later this year.

Should be interesting when the hardcover US edition of The Chaos Crystal comes out next year sans border.

Will people buy his book thinking it's mine or better yet (for me, anyway...teehee) pick up my book thinking it's his?

I know you're going to say it's just a case of reading the name on the cover, but I know of at least 3 people who saw Kim Falconer's book and thought it was one of mine because it had a similar border.

Thoughts?

Fantasy Book Critic review of The Palace of Impossible Dreams

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 13:40:00 --0800

The Fantasy Book Critic site have posted the review of the US edition of The Palace of Impossible Dreams.

Among the nice things they say about the book...

...The pace of the book is unrelenting and you *have* to turn the pages to see what happens, while the continual switching of pov's is superbly handled, so you never feel a lack of balance. The twists and turns keep coming, alliances are formed and broken, power jostling is ongoing and the Tide is still going higher since as the uber-immortal Lukys notes, after such a long low tide, there usually comes the ultimate one in a million years "king-tide". As with the previous novels, some of the most poignant moments are given by the past stories of the immortals.

The series proceeds seemingly naturally from one scene to another, however looking back from the beginning of the first volume, the change in focus and the expansion of the storyline is quite visible and on every reread of the books I am still amazed how well the author pulls it off so looked from a distance "The Palace of Impossible Dreams" could be said to belong to a different series - though again it just flows from the previous volumes.

The only niggle about the novel is that it truly begs the next volume since the tension is raised so much and the plot-lines are ready to "explode" that not having "The Chaos Crystal" to read asap can lead to frustration. "The Palace of Impossible Dreams" is epic fantasy of the highest level.

Aren't they nice? The full review is here

Check out the German Book Trailer for The Immortal Prince

Mon, 05 Jul 2010 06:54:00 --0800

This is awesome...

Not as cool as the English language trailer but the sexy male voice over sounds cool. Just gotta wait until my German friend Matty pops over some time this week so I can find out what he's saying:)

You Tube Trailer here