WORLDSHAKER LAUNCHES
First launch coming up very soon - for SF/fantasy fans. We're doing a launch in Adelaide at Conjecture, 5.30 on Saturday 6th June. Conjecture is the national SF/fantasy convention, which runs from Friday 5th to Monday 8th. D.M. Cornish, who's been a great supporter of Worldshaker all along, will be the launcher. (It's mutual: I love his Monster Blood Tattoo books …)
The big formal launch with TV will be at the Port Kembla steelworks in Wollongong - the perfect setting for a steampunk novel. Plenty of massive industrial machinery! David Campbell, who's the NSW Minister for Transport, will be doing the launching on July 18th.
WORLDSHAKER HITS THE SHOPS
It's in the shops - and it looks great! Great production values, say the people in the trade, and they should know. They've also been telling me something I never thought much about before - that it's also excellent value for money. They're right - 365 pages for $17.99 compares favourably to most books around. It's quantity as well as quality!
MORE U.S. NEWS
Now we can name names. The U.S. publisher is Simon & Schuster, the revisions are already under way - nothing too drastic, in fact, all good changes for the american market. With a bit of luck, it'll be out early next year!
BIG U.S. DEAL FOR WORLDSHAKER!
Worldshaker goes to the top of the page! It's finally time to make the big announcement. My steampunk fantasy novel has sold to a major US publisher. And for a big advance too - well, bigger than all the advances for all my previous fourteen novels added together. Yippee!
WRITING TIPS SITE NOW UP!
I don't know what to say first - about the new material going up on this site, or all the material now finally up on my separate website, www.writingtips.com.au
I guess it's time to give Writing Tips a turn. The old material is still on this website, about two thirds of the total - but all 145 pages of my full guide to writing fantasy and genre fiction is now on the separate website. It's separate because it's more of a community service than self-promotion. (My books get a mention from time to time, but only as examples.) I had to take 4 months out of my writing year to produce it all, but I'm proud of the result.
Best of all, it's totally free and available to everyone!
Check it out - 
www.writingtips.com.au
Here's a poster for teachers, librarians, anyone who wants to let other people know about the site. There's a monochrome version for black & white printers, a colour version for colour printers.
COLOUR>
MONO>
ONE MONTH TO GO!
Meanwhile, back in the world of fiction - it's only one month to go before Worldshaker hits the bookshops! And I've started to put up material on this site (which has been re-organised, to focus on recent books and Worldshaker, while older books all come under the OTHER BOOKS button).
With a fabulous cover by Oscar-nominated film-director Anthony Lucas, this is the ultimate in steampunk Victoriana. Think Philip Pullman, think Phillip Reeve - even think Charles Dickens!
The book has already received a great 4-star review in Bookseller & Publisher (the magazine that everyone in the book trade reads). Here's the back cover blurb, including a couple of raves from Ian Irvine (best-selling australian fantasy author) and D.M. Cornish (internationally published, and recently nominated for a Nebula Award).
Col lives on the Upper Decks of the juggernaut Worldshaker, a mobile city as big as a mountain. He has been chosen as next Supreme Commander – but then a girl Filthy escaped from Below appears in his cabin. ‘Don’t let ‘em take me!’ she begs.
Will he hand her over or will he break all the rules? Col’s safe, elite world is about to fall apart.
'Worldshaker is a terrific adventure, full of sly humour, weird and wonderful characters, and plot twists I never saw coming. More, more!'
Ian Irvine
‘I loved Worldshaker! A claustrophobic setting of rivets, iron and
steam, rustling silks and stiff collars and even stiffer manners; dark,
twisting, bustling, brilliant. I was very, very glum when it came to an
end.’ D.M. Cornish
I've already started putting up information and background material. And here are 4 audio files of the author - that's me - reading the first chapter and extracts.
YEARS BEST FANTASY #9
The year just keeps getting better and better for me! David G. Hartwell wants to include "A Guided Tour in the Kingdom of the Dead" in his Year's Best Fantasy # 9. That's the anthology from Tor, America's biggest fantasy publisher. So I can finally say I've made it in the US. I've had stories published in several US magazines, but this is the first time I've hit the very top level. Yippee! "A Guided Tour in the Kingdom of the Dead" came out in Jack Dann's Dreaming Again Australian anthology at the end of last year.
NEW WRITING TIPS
Well, it's up - a resource for writers, students, anyone in who can use a few tips on writing! I've written 145 pages, as long as a small book. On this website, here and now, it's the first 75 pages, covering Action, Setting, Dialogue, Inward Thought, Characters, Story and Understanding Publishers. Check it out HERE.
The full site will be up very soon, at a separate address: www.writingtips.com.au.
WOLF KINGDOM WINS AUREALIS AWARD
Out of the blue! On Saturday night, the Wolf Kingdom quartet took out the Aurealis Award for its category, Children's/Illustrated Speculative Fiction!
Wow-oooooo! Wolf-howl of delight! I'm still over the moon. I thought the competition was too strong, I honestly never thought Wolf Kingdom stood a chance. I celebrated with champagne on Sunday, emailed friends on Monday, spent Tuesday travelling around bookshops with the Allen & Unwin reps for the NEXT book (Worldshaker) - now at last I've had time to come into uni, which is where my only computer with website software lives - and at last I can put the news up on the website.
Rightly and properly, the award isn't just to the author. It's a double award for the author AND the illustrator. So wow-ooooooo! for Laura too! And very very well deserved, if I may say so. I hope Laura and I get to work on another book by and by, she's been just fabulous.
Here's what the judges had to say -
JUDGES REPORT
Richard Harland & Laura Peterson, The Wolf Kingdom Series, Books 1 -4 WINNER
The illustrations help to bring alive aspects of the story - muscular pictures for a muscular
tale. Laura Peterson has shown attention to detail in all the artwork pertaining to the wolves and helps to support the atmosphere of peril that Richard Harland has created.
WOLF KINGDOM REVIEWS
All four WOLF KINGDOM books are now out – 1. ESCAPE! 2. UNDER SIEGE, 3. RACE TO THE RUINS, and 4. THE HEAVY CROWN are now 
in the bookshops. All published by Omnibus/Scholastic, all $9.99. (They'll be appearing in the Scholastic Book Club at the start of next year).
Here's a wonderful review of Escape! and Under Siege that just appeared in READING TIME.
"What a magical treat for young readers. Here are the first two books of adventure fantasy that are Robin Hood styles of tale. The wicked ones are an army of wolves led bu the evil General Krang while the goodies are the Free Folk who live in the forest. The young heroes are Tam and Nina, who are assisted by a magical belt that camouflages anyone who wears it and a magical bag that loves to eat metal. These stories are fast paced and immediately appealing. Just like the metal-eating bag I sat and gobbled up each one at a sitting and wanted more. Richard Harland is on a winner with these tales. Age: especially for primary schoolers. Don’t miss out." JC
That's what I call a positive review! And here's Fiona Purdon on Escape! in the Brisbane Courier-Mail:
"Escape! is a fast-paced 83-page book with interesting characters and a satisfying story which is written in short chapters and illustrated by Laura Peterson to encourage young readers, especially boys. Even though this book is aimed at early readers from nine years of age, I have to confess that it is so well written that on more than one occasion I sneaked a peek at the remaining pages because I wanted to know what would happen next." (Courier-Mail)
Love that last little bit!
Like earlier quartets in the ‘Fantastica’ series (by Ian Irvine, Fiona Mcintosh and Kim Wilkins), they’re for readers age 8 to 12, and each book is fairly short in itself. Yet Wolf Kingdom is a whole world, and there’s a whole history and story arc building up across the four novels. At the same time, each book contains a separate adventure that can be read entirely on its own (except perhaps Book 4).
This is a world that’s under the brutal rule of an army of wolves. Tam and Nina join up with an outlaw band in their secret hideout … and gather magical objects to help in the fight against the wolves. All that and much, MUCH more!
The icing on the cake is the artwork by Laura Peterson. I’m very very lucky that she was chosen to do the illustrations – they’re so dramatic! And the wolves are so wolfish!
