I’m in celebration mode this week. The first three books of my Husband Series are currently shortlisted in the ’Favourite Erotic Romance of 2016’ award by the Australian Romance Readers Association. A fabulous validation from readers – many thanks!
For those who haven’t read the series yet, I’ve created a bargain opportunity: my Kindle box set containing all four Husband Series books has been discounted to .99c USD for a limited time.
In other news, I’m closing down this blog soon so I’m hoping you’ll switch over to my newsletter where I’m currently running a competition. Everyone who’s listed as subscribed to my newsletter on Valentine’s Day, is in the draw to win a $50 Amazon gift card. If you have a friend who likes erotic romance and you think they’d like to subscribe and be in the draw as well, please share this blog with them so they can follow this link to subscribe: http://louisecusack.us14.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=d4bd0873e9ccf2a31dd31f1c5&id=c0dfa0c583
Do have a great lead-up to the most romantic day of the year, and if you don’t have a ‘significant other’ to share romantic treats with on Valentine’s Day, can I suggest that you spoil yourself? Despite all the glamor of romance, the love you have for yourself will be the most significant love in your life, and it’s also true that you can’t give what you don’t have. So love yourself up so much you feel pampered! And then you’ll have heaps of love to overflow onto those around you.
Amazon has a new website: Kindle Scout where Amazon customers can ‘scout’ through unpublished books and nominate those they like for publication. This is reader-powered publishing where you get to choose what gets published and what doesn’t…
…which brings me to SILK.
Authors will tell you they love all their “babies” equally, but most will have one project that’s the book of their heart, and this series is mine. The Florentia series began it’s life over ten years ago when I first came up with the idea for a portal that joined our world with a lost world that DaVinci had discovered. Then I imagined what would happen if DaVinci’s patrons, the Medici, stole the device from him, conquered the lost world and had been ruling it for 500 years. What sort of society would they have by now? And what would happen if someone from our world stumbled into it?
During the last decade I’ve written many iterations of this story, moving it from straight Sci fi into Fantasy and now firmly into the Fantasy Romance genre. I undertook a research trip to Rome and Florence where I met Medici scholars and even stayed in a building where lesser members of the Medici had lived during DaVinci’s lifetime. In my two decades of writing, this story is the one I’ve loved the most and had the hardest time selling (maybe there’s a correlation there!)
In any case, when Kindle Scout came along, I realized this was an opportunity to share details of the Florentia series with the public to see if it has the sort of wide appeal I’m hoping it will. That’s where you come in!
As someone who subscribes to my blog, I’d love to share this with you. If you are an Amazon customer and have time during December, please pop over to Kindle Scout here: https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/GDATHRYHT8YR where you can see the cover, read the first 5000 words of the story and nominate SILK. You can also check out other books you might like to nominate, and become part of the process of readers deciding what they want to see published. And if you want to share this blog post or the link to SILK on Kindle Scout with your social networks, you will earn my eternal gratitude!
As a reward from Amazon, if your nominated books are published, you’ll receive a free copy for taking the time to support them.
Thanks so much for reading this, and for being part of my journey. Writing is a solitary job, which I love, but it can feel lonely at times. So your interest in my career helps me with moral support to keep going through the tough times and the momentum to surge ahead when opportunities arise. You’re much appreciated!
I was asked at a weekend workshop I was teaching, “What one thing has inspired your creative writing the most?” and it really made me think. There have been many formative books and movies: Alice in Wonderland, Edgar Rice Burroughs Princess of Mars, Frank Herbert’s Dune, but when I get right down to it, the thing that really inspired me to create fantasy worlds was wanting to escape my own. Not because my childhood was terrible, but simply because I was alone a lot, and had so much time to think about how life could be more exciting.
A rare pic of me playing with someone else – telling my cousin stories
I did read books, but instead of constantly losing myself in someone else’s created world, I fantasized about my own, inventing bizarre landscapes, allies and enemies, and most importantly, a reason to be in that world – a well motivated goal. My first fantasy (which became my Shadow Through Time trilogy) was about a girl called Catherine leaving our world behind in a quest to find her missing twin brother. That goal drove her actions for most of the story which was about love – the love of a brother, of a family, and ultimately of a kingdom.
I’m not sure if I craved love as a child, but I certainly fantasized about it, created stories about it, and later turned those fantasies into best-selling novels. Being alone so much when I was in a family of four children didn’t feel strange at the time, but I think I was considered a loner or at least a child who was happiest playing alone.
To a lot of adults, that would appear to be an imperfect childhood, and I can imagine helicopter parents wanting to ‘socialize’ a loner child, to fill their day with activities that involve other people. But now that I’m so much further along in life, I can see how unhelpful that would have been for me. The childhood I experienced, perfectly shaped my creativity. I couldn’t have asked for better.
Just wanted to share that insight, for what it’s worth! If you’re curious about that first fantasy series I wrote, the opening book Destiny of the Light is currently FREE as an ebook, courtesy of my publishers Pan Macmillan. Enjoy! And let me know in the comments below whether you’ve had insights into your childhood, especially if you’ve experienced something “‘seemingly bad” that’s turned out to be perfect for you as an adult.
I’m late blogging this, but I wanted to share the awesomeness of the very first Indie Authors Down Under mass book signing event organized by book bloggers Jodie O’Brien of Fab, Fun and Tantalising Reads, and Jess Savage of A is for Alpha, B is for Books. Jodie and Jess are dynamos who pulled together a professional and fun event at the luxurious OutriggersResort in Surfers Paradise. Prior to the event, the seventy authors who attended shared the joy across their social networks and that resulted in over 400 readers and book bloggers attending, many of whom traveled interstate for the chance to socialize with their favorite authors.
There were big lines to the tables of International bestselling independent author Abbi Glines from the US, USA Today best-selling Australian romance author Kylie Scott, and Australian young adult sensation Jessica Shirvington who organized a special early release of her new novel Disruption to reward loyal fans. There were authors of Young Adult, New Adult, Romance, both Historical and Contemporary, Fantasy, Erotica, Paranormal, Suspense and Science Fiction, and the organizers thoughtfully positioned authors of the same genre beside each other so readers who loved a particular genre could just move on down the line!
Catching up with Kylie Scott
I grabbed a photo with Kylie Scott when she was having a break. Her latest novel “Play” was about to be released, and heaps of fans were beating a path to her table.
Early in the day some pretty scrumptious firemen turned up (terribly distracting) selling the Fireman’s Calendar to raise funds for burns victims. But Jodie and Jess weren’t finished with the distractions. Oh no, they had Richard Lawrence (UK personal trainer and cover model) roaming around shirtless for the entire day happily posing for pictures with readers and authors alike. This snap is of Richard with Novels on the Run book blogger Michelle.
It was just a fabulous day and I wish, wish, wish I’d been able to stay at Outriggers for the weekend, but other commitments meant I could only attend the actual signing. However I want to send a shout-out to all the readers and bloggers who came over and said hello! It was a busy day with very little down-time, and lots of great networking, laughs and book chat. Big thank you to Jodie and Jess, and when I get the date for next year I’ll keep the weekend free!
As a fantasy author, I’m occasionally required to put on a cartographer’s hat and sketch out a map of the world I’m creating. This helps me with continuity of distances between kingdoms, how long treks/flights should last, relative temperatures during various seasons etc. The current fantasy world I’m working on is a duplicate earth, a parallel world, and to give you an idea of how I was planning it, here is an early map I created:
I’m writing new scenes at the moment where my protagonist Dan, who comes from our world, has just entered a palace that has a mosaic on the floor detailing the continents on this new world he’s entered. It looks a bit like this:
European segment of the “Jewel of the Universe” mosaic by Chris Chamberlain
Our boy Dan immediately recognizes Europe and realizes he’s on a parallel world, but it’s his next insight that changes everything. He has knowledge of geography, climate, mining history and food production from our world that might also pertain to this one. That moment of recognition changes the balance of power between himself and the prince who wants him dead, and alters the trajectory of the story.
With that pivotal moment plotted in, I really didn’t need to do much more on the subject, but I couldn’t help myself wondering how the people of that parallel world would feel when they realized that what they’d believed about the size and shape of their world was incorrect. They didn’t have satellite mapping or sophisticated cartography, so they couldn’t be expected to have pinpoint accuracy. But we did. And that confidence in our own technology led me to do a bit of research into our latest maps to appease my curiosity and see the shape of our world as accurately as we were now able to show it.
That, friends, is when I opened a can of worms. In case you’ve missed it on Facebook and Twitter (I had) there’s a huge controversy ongoing about the maps we use in atlases and how inaccurate they are from a land-mass perspective. Apparently most textbooks still use the Mercator projection map which was created in 1569 to help sailors navigate from landmass to landmass along a straight line. The continents were deliberately skewed in size to translate a 3D globe onto a 2D map and keep the maritime routes straight. Landmasses at the top and bottom of the map were expanded to allow it to sit flat, and the landmasses in the ‘middle’ of the earth were shrunk proportionally to keep everything neat! What this has eventuated in (and incredibly is still being taught in geography) is a world view that shows some landmasses as being up to fourteen times larger than they actually are!
Let’s compare. The first map I’m going to show is a typical current version of the 1569 Mercator with skewed landmass size. The bottom map is the 1973 Peters map that corrects the landmass sizes and actual position on the earth:
Can you believe that? Let me sit these babies side by side so you can really get the full impact of how totally incorrect our world view has been for almost 500 years:
The white patch on the Mercator projection map (left) is Greenland, and it looks almost as big as Africa. When in fact, Greenland is 14 times smaller than Africa! South America is actually double the size of Europe, not smaller. And while Alaska appears to be three times the size of Mexico in the Mercator map, in reality Mexico is the larger landmass.
Apparently this was ‘outed’ in an episode of West Wing in Feb 2001, and if you’d like to see the section of that episode pertaining to the maps, it’s here:
Honestly, this was the last thing I’d expected to uncover, and it’s now making me wonder if the guys on my fantasy world actually have a more accurate map of their world than we do. That would be a surprise to my poor protagonist. Clearly I have some more thinking to do on the topic!
I’m passionate about perspective and looking at the world in a new way, but this has really thrown me. What do you guys think about this? Does it change anything for you?
I work with writers a lot, helping them hone their stories, find agents and publishers, then guiding them as they launch their books, physically and across social media. So I’m well acquainted with the tasks most authors undertake during various parts of the publication process, and I wonder if readers realize how much ‘work’ away from the actual writing itself, is necessary to produce a successful novel.
This year so far I’ve assessed manuscripts, conducted writing workshops, mentored clients, judged a major writing competition, and completed two computer game company residencies developing fantasy world-building. I’ve also restructured my two websites and spent approx 120 hours on social networking promoting my own work and that of fellow authors.
So… not as much time for writing as I’d like. However, this week things are different.
I’ve just embarked on a month dedicated to completing my Lost World fantasy Silk and I’m reveling in the deliciousness of having carved out a slab of time simply to write. No manuscripts to assess, no workshops to present, the babbling stream of Facebook and Twitter have been replaced by the silent sweep of imagination, and I’m in nirvana.
Really. I dream of this being my whole life (perhaps with some therapeutic gardening and obsessive clothes washing tossed in). And when I discuss this idea with other writers they get a glazed look, coupled with an almost-smile as they imagine what life would be like if they could simply write their stories and do nothing more. It’s like dreaming of winning the lotto. I mean it! Most writers I know spend far more time than they want to on promotion. And if they have to do something other than writing, I’m sure they’d rather be nosing around a bazaar in Istanbul, the bright lights of Vegas, or exploring the Medici Chapel in Florence for research.
Although that might be just me.
Still, no matter what we cram into our lives, the reality is that good books need time to incubate, time to be lovingly drafted, carefully edited and painstakingly proofed. Yet there are SO many books on the market, with thousands more being added each day. The sheer volume of novels in cyber bookstores like Amazon overwhelm readers who are looking for quality, and that volume also bludgeons the hopes of writers who become ever more desperate to find an audience for their work amid the bustle and confusion of the Internet. Writers are told to be a brand, and promote that brand relentlessly, often at the expense of time and energy. But little time and low energy equals crappy output, so it’s not an optimal situation for writers who want to build a readership.
I don’t have definitive answers, but when the question of what to do becomes loud in my mind I remember NY agent Donald Maass visiting Australia several years ago and telling the audience at the Romance Writers of Australia conference that “The best form of promotion an author can do is to write a good book. And the next best form of promotion is to write another good book.”
So that’s what I’m doing. I’m writing a good book. Luckily for me, every second with the characters is thrilling me. It’s like a clandestine affair where the real world is on hold while I pander to my desire for excitement, emotion and drama. I adore that, and it’s my intention that readers will too. So if you don’t see a lot of me on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads or Google+, it will simply be because I’m not in this world. I’m ona Lost World based on Renaissance Italy helping a young ambassador choose between the prince she despises who can save her world, and the engineer she loves who can destroy it. Nirvana, pure and simple.
I’m happy to admit I’m a sucker for romance, and in the same way that chocolate should be a part of every meal (it is one of the important food groups after all) I’d love to see romance having a place in every story.
Because whether I’m deep into reading sci fi, fantasy or a zombie apocalypse, I still want a hint of a sniff of a love story. Star Wars – where would it be without Han and Leia, not to mention Buttercup and Westley, John Carter and Dejah Thoris, Katniss and Peeta, hell, even Ron and Hermione. I love the fantastical elements of speculative fiction worlds, but unless there’s a romance in there, the story isn’t enough for me. I adore the attraction, the pursuit (no matter how clumsy or unlikely to succeed) the tender awkward moments, then there’s the surety and confidence that characters experience when they know their love is returned.
But why is romance such an important element for so many women? Not to mention the men who have a soft spot for love stories and who don’t mind a bit of schmaltz mixed in with their blood and guts. Terminator is full of hide-behind-the-hands violence, but when Kyle Reese says to Sarah Connor “I came across time for you, Sarah. I love you. I always have,” I just melt.
BTW, if you’re a sucker for the Kyle/Sarah love story, here’s a tissue-worthy recap:
So why do we love a good love story?
The easy answer would be that we’re love starved, but statistically that doesn’t hold up. In fact, romance writers as a group have one of the highest levels of happy relationships, which may have something to do with writing love scenes on a regular basis. Many’s the time I’ve heard of a romance writer phoning their partner for a little “romance” after having written a scene that’s gotten them all hot and bothered. And surely that makes for happier marriages. But does the same thing happen for readers? Do women call their husbands after devouring a bit of Fifty Shades and tell them to come home for lunch?
Sex aside (I know, you got a visual there, but I was saying aside not astride) what is it about romance that makes a story feel complete? Do we have any philosophers out there? I’d love to hear your thoughts…
Welcome to the Hapless Heroes collection of stand-alone romantic comedies, available exclusively on Amazon Kindle and free on Kindle Unlimited. These hunky heroes might be hopeless when it comes to romance, but they’ll do any crazy thing to make their sassy heroine swoon and win her heart.
Marriage and the Mermaid:
Adorable Winifred Malone may or may not be obsessed with Baz Wilson, but one thing she knows for sure is that they belong together. So she’s not about to let a mermaid come between them, or a demented father and the internet scammer who’s trying to steal his fortune. Not a kleptomaniac cleaning lady and the messy mermaid she’s cleaning up after. Not an OCD marine biologist and certainly not the harried constable trying to make sense of it all. Wynne only cares about marrying Baz, and she’s not prepared to let anything get in her way!
Praise for Marriage and the Mermaid (a full length novel): “Louise Cusack has boldly gone where no romance writer has gone before. The book starts with one hero and ends with another. Highly recommended. 5/5” — Romance Book Haven
PURCHASE Marriage and the Mermaid at:
Goddess and the Geek:
Cranky oyster farmer Natasha Barri has enough trouble with a fallen-down house and poachers stealing from her lease. The last thing she needs is a big, helpless landlubber like Julian Wilde turning up on her island with his dewy, green eyes permanently stuck on her swimsuit. Romance is so far down her priority list, it needs its own basement room, but Julian insists on meddling and ‘trying to help’. One more catastrophe, however, and she’ll be acquainting him with the pointy end of her gutting blade. Voodoo won’t save him from that!
Praise for Goddess and the Geek (a novella): “GODDESS AND THE GEEK is fresh and fun. It is filled with amusing dialogue and witty comebacks. Author Louise Cusack has brought a refreshing story filled with hilarious and unusual characters.” — Romance Book Haven
PURCHASE Goddess and the Geek at:
Sex and the Stand In:
Marianne’s divorce has just come through, and instead of celebrating the opportunities in front of her, she can’t stop thinking of the past and the drop-dead-sexy man she should have married. Complicating matters is Justin who works in her office. He may or may not be gay, but he looks so much like her long-lost love she can’t help wondering… will he help her recreate that moment where she should have lost her virginity? And if he says yes, what’s his motive?
Praise for Sex and the Stand In (a novella): “A quirky romance, a hapless hero, an irresistible premise (he loves her but she thinks he’s gay!). Not to mention snappy dialogue and memorable characters.” — Romance Book Haven
Today I’m guest blogging at Romance Writers of Australia in their A Day in the Writing Life of… series. If you’re curious about how and where writers work, this will give you an insight into my personal process:
Running late with this: a quick roundup of last weekend’s a fortnight ago’s Australian convention of all things sci fi and fantasy: Continuum8 in Melbourne. A big slice of the Aussie speculative fiction community turned up to hear their favourite authors speak, and my contribution was to sit on panels about fantasy world-building, romance writing, mentoring writers and digital technologies. I also did a reading from my work-in-progress erotic novel (which was fun – my first time reading erotica aloud), chatted in the hallways, wandered a couple of blocks down to Lygon Street and ate amazing food while (again) discussing all things literary with other authors, and hung at the bar. A lot. (although in my defence, often drinking coffee). The bar and adjoining restaurant were quiet places away from the bustle where you could catch up with mates and make new friends. Networking. Of course, it isn’t a con without costumes, and although I missed seeing Rachael Holkner as Wonder Woman, Tansy Rayner Roberts caught this great photo of her above which I’ve borrowed (there are more photos of the con on Tansy’s blog). I did bump into Donna Hanson (left) who is one of the organisers of the Canberra Con Conflux. She was pitching her con for 2013 looking all very Victorian/Steampunk.
Another item on my agenda was attending Twelfth Planet Press’s launch of Jason Nahrung‘s fabulously moody novella “Salvage” which I bought and had signed. It’s an awesome read and I can thoroughly recommend it. Here’s a photo of Jason (below) offering wine and cupcakes to punters at the launch:
More photos below of ‘networking’ around the bar and restaurant areas of the con where all sorts of issues about writing were raised and discussed. I sat in on a few discussions about bookstores and how they’re adapting. Apparently publishers are looking at the idea of selling marginally more expensive print copies of books that include an eBook code in them, so readers can ‘bundle’ their purchase to have both print and digital copies of a book. I also discovered that ‘classics’ are having a resurgence in sales as people download them free as ebooks and fall in love with them, then turn up at a bookstore to buy a print copy. Jane Austin, Dostoevsky, Homer, all getting fresh reprints, which is both lovely and interesting – ebooks driving print sales.
As well as indulging in deep-and-meaningfuls, we had a lot of fun, and to the left is a a pic of two people who gave us a lot of laughs. Ian Mond and Kirstyn McDermott won a Ditmar and a Chronos award for their podcasts of The Writer and the Critic.(if you haven’t heard them, check them out) They were also co-presenters of the awards ceremony and they gave the night some real pizzaz. I was also very impressed by the way the spec fic men scrubbed up in their suits. Not too shabby! The plastic octopus Ian is holding was a stand-in award as the proper trophies hadn’t arrived in time. Bonus, they squeaked! I’m reliably informed that the lurid plastic octopi will be exchanged for proper Ditmar awards in the near future.
Just a few more photos to round out the collection. Me on Lygon Street hunting down desserts, a homage to the fabulous architecture (and trams) of Melbourne, and a collection of amazing pocket watches I found in The Junk Shop on Elizabeth Street (very cool Steampunk accoutrements).
And for those who are lovers of movie/tv sci fi and fantasy, here’s the Opening Ceremony video highlighting the Craftinomicon aspect of the con – making costumes. I’ve got a soft spot for Dr Who’s dog K9 so keep your eyes open and you’ll see him in the mix. Just be aware that it has a fairly loud soundtrack!
Hello and welcome to a shiny New Year!
Do have a great lead-up to the most romantic day of the year, and if you don’t have a ‘significant other’ to share romantic treats with on Valentine’s Day, can I suggest that you spoil yourself? Despite all the glamor of romance, the love you have for yourself will be the most significant love in your life, and it’s also true that you can’t give what you don’t have. So love yourself up so much you feel pampered! And then you’ll have heaps of love to overflow onto those around you.
