Kathryn's Inbox

Thank you to everyone who visited my stop on the blog hop and an extra thank you to those who commented and/or enter the competition.  And, finally, a big congratulations to the winner ...  Dale Furse. Thank you again to everyone who entered. Dale, your books will be arriving in the post this week.

I wonder if Lucy could get a refund? Seriously, of the Peanuts gang, Lucy would appear to be the one who is not only the most reactionary and self-centred, but the one least able to apply common sense or logic to the situation at hand. (Though in some comics Sally Brown can run a close second.) Poor Charlie Brown, as usual, knows that Lucy is wrong, but seems too stunned to be able to say anything.

A few years ago, the novels of L.J. Smith made a bit of a comeback thanks her series  The Vampire Diaries  being made into a popular television series. I can recall these books being around when I was a kid, sharing the same shelves and dark, trashy covers as books by horror YA novelists like R.L. Stine, Diane Hoh and Christopher Pike. A huge part of the appeal was always the cheap, trashy, and melodramatic feel that can probably be summed up by this cover: Equally popular as the Vampire Diaries back in the early 1990s was the pictured L.J. Smith series  The Secret Circle  I was a little surprised to discover that this one has also been made into a television series recently and this intrigued me. I remembered very little about the dramatic adventures of a young woman who discovers that her destiny is to be a part of a coven of witches and decided to reread the first book just for fun. Book one,  The Initiation follows the dramatic adventures a...

Welcome back to Writers on Wednesday. This week I am chatting with Australian author, Brian Kavanagh ... Tell me a bit about yourself … I’m what is known as ‘retired’ but in fact, seem to be busier than ever. I was a film maker, that being sometimes one of the following; producer, director, editor, writer and dogsbody. This was all in the Australian film industry, which up until the 1970’s had been moribund. A group of local filmmakers agitated for the Government to be supportive of the industry; our request was acknowledged and finally there was recognition for local films. So my background has been story telling in a visual form. About ten years ago work began to dry up and to fill in time until the telephone rang – it didn’t – I began to write and decided that mystery books were among my favourites, so it seemed natural to begin to write them. Tell us about your most recently published book? A WICKED DESIGN follows the central character in my mystery series, ...

Love & Other Lies  is a thoroughly entertaining lightweight romance with a somewhat surprising backstory. Veterinarian Abby Benson moved to Belgulla, a small Australian town eighteen months ago. Putting a dark past behind her--which centres around her problems with compulsive lying--Abby is determined to make good and not to tell any more lies. All seems to be going well until tourist Rue Benson appears in town and Abby finds herself telling just one little lie ... I loved this one for its unique premise. I found Abby to be quite a realistic and believable character, give her past and circumstances. Rue's attempts to reinvent himself to appear more desirable to Abby were quite amusing--especially as he is not terribly good at playing the part of the stereotypical 'bad' boy--and it was fun to watch the characters develop, grow and reveal the truth about themselves. The opening chapter--where Abby and Rue meet and rescue a dog that has been caught in a fence--is q...

This funny looking chap (or chappette,) appeared in Rundle Mall in December outside the Myer Centre (near the western entrance,) and has been frightening shoppers and passersby ever since. I am not sure that I like this one, though I do appreciate the way it forced me to react and respond.

Image courtesy of  stockimages at FreeDigitalPhotos.net I read this article on Cosmopolitan recently and it really pissed me off. (So much so that I have decided to write a blog about it.) The story is about a young woman who has a negative self belief that she is ugly and about a bad experience at a nightclub. On the surface, this article looks like a sad story about a woman who has been discriminated against. Look a bit closer and you'll see that it is intended to inspire fear of rejection and of "being ugly" among the target readership, as well as the idea that a woman's self-worth comes from the validation of men.   Here's a better idea. How about writing an article encouraging women to empower themselves, and how to have a good night out without giving a fuck about what other people think? In fact, here are some tips on how to be an empowered, independent woman at a nightclub: 1. Pay your own bloody entrance fee, and buy your own bloody drin...

For the third year running, I am participating the the Australia Day Book Giveaway Blog Hop . Hosted by Book'd Out this blog hop is a great initiative and an awesome way to connect bloggers with some great Australian fiction. (And once you've finished here, don't forget to head to Book'd Out to see the full list of participants.) This year, I will be giving away three prizes, all of which are books written by yours truly, mostly because I am into blatant self-promotion like that. The books are: An autographed copy of Everybody Hates Abigail, my latest book which about a girl growing up in a small, South Australian town in the mid 1990s. An autographed copy of Cats, Scarves and Liars, an unlikely tale that features murders, a red scarf and a talking cat. An autographed copy of Behind the Scenes, which is about a young woman who scores a role on her favourite TV soap but soon discovers that the real dramas are the ones that occur behind the scenes. ...

An action packed tale, The Mime Order is sure to please fans of Samantha Shannon's debut novel The Bone Season . Picking up where The Bone Season left off, we find Paige taking part in a daring escape back to London. But life in the criminal underworld of London is not easy for Paige, particularly when she has an employer that she cannot trust, someone is committing some gruesome murders and the government have named her as a most wanted criminal ... The Mime Order has plenty of action with a strong fantasy element, coupled with more than the occasional nod to Victorian Literature. As was the case with The Bone Season, the most remarkable element to this book is the author's imagination and the fact that she can make many complex ideas work into an interesting and readable story. At times, the story felt as though it flowed together a bit too easily (Paige's quest to become underqueen for example,) and the meeting at the end could have been a bit meatier. I do won...

The debut novel by Brisbane based writer Leisa Rayven is an amusing sexy, tale that teases readers as it moves between the past and the present to tell a story of two actors whose relationship seems every bit as doomed as the characters they play. Six years ago, Cassie Taylor and Ethan Holt met and were cast opposite one another in a student production of Romeo and Juliet.  The sexual tension was obvious, but it was not long before bad boy Ethan broke Cassie's heart. Now both professional actors, Ethan and Cassie have been cast opposite one another in a Broadway production. Ethan wants Cassie to give him another chance, but Cassie is not so keen. Will she take a chance and risk Ethan breaking her heart ... again? I enjoyed reading Bad Romeo . Though the novel was a little slow, and the time slips could be confusing at times, I found myself intrigued and wanting to know more about how Cassie and Ethan got together, and what had caused their eventual, bitter break up. (Though...

Note: D'oh! I wrote the following post in late December 2014 and somehow I saved it to my draft file instead of publishing it. This is what happens when you try to hold down a job, write books, update your blog daily and drink far too much coffee in between.  I am pleased to announce that in 2015 that I will be participating with the Eclectic Reader Challenge which is being hosted by Book'd Out, one of my favourite book blogs. The aim of the challenge is to push readers out of their comfort zone by reading 12 different books in 12 different categories. This year, the categories are: Retellings A book set in a country starting with the letter 'S' PI Crime A novel published before you were born. Contemporary Romance Fiction for foodies Microhistory Science Fiction set in space Featuring Diversity Epistolary fiction Middle Grade/YA Adventure I am having a lot of fun coming up with some ideas about what to read. I can't wait to see what...

North Terrace is the part of Adelaide where we pay tribute to many great South Australians. A number of beautifully crafted statues are dotted along the northern side of North Terrace, including this one of Dame Roma Mitchell. Apologies for the poor picture quality, Dame Roma proved very difficult to capture in the afternoon sun. 

NOWHERESVILLE, AUSTRALIA--TweetyTuff, a self-appointed food critic who posts semi-anonymous restaurant reviews online had admitted to one of our reporters that her one-star review of Bob's Takeaway Restaurant may have been, 'a bit harsh.' In her review, which was shared on Whelp, a site where any member of the public is invited to review local businesses, TweetyTuff gave a scathing rundown of the food and service, that allegedly left 'a bad taste in my mouth.'  "I didn't realise that the restaurant concerned was actually a local take-away joint," TweetyTuff explained. "I was expecting a sit down meal and I thought that the people who worked there were just being rude when they wrapped my fish and chips in newspaper and then expected me to walk to the counter to collect them. And when I asked for cutlery, they just pointed at a tray that was loaded with plastic knives and forks. So, naturally, I felt that I had no choice but to write four tho...

The competitive world of men's tennis provides the backdrop for Australian author Indigo Bloome's glitzy and, at times, uncomfortably erotic romance, Match Pointe . Eloise Lawrence is a twenty-two year old Australian ballerina living in London. An orphan who has survived on scholarships and a determination to succeed, Eloise is struggling to come to terms with the sudden loss of her career. When she is approached by the charismatic (and manipulative) sports agent Caesar with a shocking, yet enticing, offer to dance as an inspiration to the top ranking men's tennis players for two years, she feels that she has little choice but to say yes. Eloise soon finds herself playing a deadly cat and mouse game with Stephan Nordstrom the current ranking number one, who like to control all areas of his life, particularly his women ... I am having a lot of difficulty forming a strong opinion about Match Pointe.  Certainly, it is an interesting glimpse into the dark side of sexual...

Source: Go Comics I am sharing this one purely because it was one of my very favourite Garfield comics from when I was a kid. It was one of the comics featured in a book that my mum bought me when I was a kid--one of the large, landscape format ones that Budget Books used to publish during the late 1980s. Anyway, my mum found the book on special at a local bookstore that was having a closing down sale and it ended up providing me with some great moments of hilarity. 

American author Gayle Forman's seventh novel  I Was Here is a beautiful but sad tale of a young woman trying to find closure after the suicide of her best friend. Cady never knew that Meg was unhappy, after all, Meg was the one who came from a loving family, had the opportunity to study at college and who had a loving, charismatic personality. However, when Cady travels to the college where Meg studied to collect her belongings, she begins to discover that there were many things that she did not know about her friend's life, things that eventually lead her to the bad boy musician who dumped Meg and an encrypted computer file that contains a shocking truth ... Clever plotted  I Was Here contains realistic characters (Stoner Richard, a drug addicted Christian deserves a special shout out,) and situations and, though emotional, it never goes over the top. The author also examines, quite intelligently, the nature of groupthink and how vulnerable people may be easily exploi...

Welcome to another Writers on Wednesday post. This week, I am chatting with the very lovely Juliet M. Sampson, author of Bon Voyage ... Tell me a bit about yourself … I love life and try to embrace every day and make the most of living. I love the simple things like coffee with friends, spending time with my family, caring for sunflowers, walks on the beach, dancing and movies just to name a few. I love being a writer and also travelling to new places. Tell us about your most recently published book? My most recently published book is Bon Voyage! It was released in November 2013 nearly a year ago. As I have travelled to many countries around the world, I was inspired to write Bon Voyage! The story is about a young woman who is travelling for the first time around Europe on a coach tour. The themes in Bon Voyage! are adventure, mystery and romance. Tell us about the first time you were published? Behind the Mask was my first book. It is a woman’s su...

Family, mental illness and letting go of the past are the major themes of Amy Hatvany's Outside the Lines, which is being published for the first time in Australia this month. Local readers may already be aware of Hatvany through her thought provoking novel Safe With Me . Travelling between two eras and two different characters, Outside the Lines tells the story of a man with a severe mental illness and the impact it has on his young daughter, Eden, who at ten years old witnesses a tragic suicide attempt. As an adult, Eden finds herself searching for her long-lost father, who is now a poor artist living on the streets, but finds herself learning more than she expected, including one heartbreaking life lesson. Although I found this novel to be quite tough going in places (it felt very emotional,) I also found that it was one very much worth staying with. Through David, we learn about the complexities of living with a mental illness and why taking pills is not the easy optio...

Welcome aboard! This is a train service to Noarlunga Centre ... Anyone who has travelled to or from Noarlunga Interchange by train since 2004 would have seen this colourful mural that sits atop of the kiosk. It was painted by a group of young artists and replaced an older memorial that was starting to look a little dated. The picture depicts a number of people enjoying their train ride along the southern coast of Adelaide. A number of other colourful paintings by the same artists have been placed around the interchange. At the time that the mural was unveiled, Noarlunga Centre was the final destination on the line, however, since 2013 the line runs to Seaford and is the only major Adelaide train line to be serviced by electric trains.  A tribute to the old mural remains at the station and is pictured below. (If you look close, you'll see that one of the rail cars painted by Jimmy C is an old red hen, a distinctive diesel rail car manufactured whose engines were manufactu...

Pemberley, the great manor owned by Mr Darcy becomes home to a murder in Death Comes to Pemberley , author P.D James cleverly plotted continuation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice . Six years have passed since the Fitzwilliam Darcy married Elizabeth Bennett and the marriage has been a success. The pair are the parents of two boys and, each year host a ball at Pemberley in honour of the late Late Anne. This year, however, things take a strange twist when on the eve of the ball, Elizabeth's wayward sister Lydia, arrives uninvited and announces that a murder has just taken place. Is Mr Wickham guilty of murder, or can Mr Darcy prove that his old rival is innocent? Through crime and murder are not really the subject of Jane Austen novels, this one was highly enjoyable and it is not surprise why, considering the author. P.D. James combines her skill of writing tightly written crime novels with an exceptional amount of research and understanding of Pride and Prejudice --i...

Hmm, maybe that could work ...

Today, I am bringing you a guest post by the wonderful Debra R. Borys whose most recent novel Box of Rain was released in December 2014. Debra is talking with us about the process of birthing a book. I found this post to be quite inspirational and hope that you do, too.  Birthing a Book If you've ever been pregnant, you know how much work you do beforehand to prepare for the new arrival.   You take Lamaze classes, read books, plan decor for the nursery.   You pack your suitcase, take the multi-vitamins your doctor prescribes, and faithfully attend scheduled wellness checkups. When you are anticipating the creation of a new book, there are several stages all writers go through.   Methods may vary, but the general framework remains the same: conception,   research, development, labor, and the final reward, holding your newly birthed book in your eager little hands. For Box of Rain , the concept happened when I came across an article written by a ...

Welcome back to Writers on Wednesday. This week, I am chatting with O.N. Stefan, author of The Deadly Caress ... Tell us a bit about yourself … I live in Sydney, Australia and find inspiration for the characters in my books from everywhere and anywhere.  The car chase scenes are from memory because as a child, I witnessed many car accidents as I lived near a bad T-intersection. Nearly every weekend vehicles miscalculated the sharp corner and either ran into a light post, an oncoming car, flipped over or spun out hitting other cars in the process. My dad would run over to see if an ambulance needed to be called as they were the only family in the street to have a phone. He'd take blankets over if anyone was badly injured and I would help him.  Tell us about your most recently published book? The Deadly Caress is a fast-paced story set in California. Suspenseful and thrilling, it is holds a mystery that Amanda Blake, a freelance photographe...

Penned by the author of the sweet and thoroughly likeable Anna and the French Kiss , Lola and the Boy Next Door trades Paris for San Francisco, and Anna (who appears as a minor character,) takes a backseat to Lola a colourful individual with a passion for fashion design and a deep resentment of the Bell twins, Cricket (a wacky, budding inventor who broke her heart,) and the manipulative, professional figure skater Calliope. On the whole, Lola's life is pretty good--she has been raised in a loving family unit by her adoptive fathers and she has found love with the older Max, a budding rock star. But when Cricket comes crashing back in to Lola's life she finds herself asking a lot of questions about love and loyalty. Although the settings and themes were a bit different from the first book in the series, I found myself thoroughly enjoying this one. I quite enjoyed the domestic, family side of the story in particular, the fact that Lola does not come from a family unit th...

Mural, Adelaide Central Markets This week's street art is an eye catching mural that sits inside the Adelaide Central Markets, almost completely surrounded by tables, chairs and posters. This mural is easily missed, though those prepared to stop for a while and look will appreciate the strange, surrealist beauty of this one. 

About ten or so years ago, I used to work as a checkout operator for Coles. The store that I worked at was (at that point time,) on of the busiest in South Australia. One Friday afternoon/evening remains particularly memorable for me, as it was the day after the Australia Day holiday. By about seven o'clock in the evening, with two hours of trade still to go, the store had completely run out of milk. The day had been busier than anticipated and the reality is this: once a supermarket runs out of those items, that is it. There is no more milk.  Through fielding a huge number of customer complaints that evening, I discovered that there is a huge misconception from some members of the public about how supermarkets source their milk. Some crazy people think that because milk comes in a carton or bottle, that it was probably pasteurised and packed in a factory, and then loaded in the back of a cool truck before being delivered to the supermarket, and that the quantities supplied a...