Written by Sarah Gill
There are many new releases coming out in March, below is a just a few of the amazing, intriguing, and suspenseful stories to look forward to entering our bookshelves – or e-readers in March!
New Releases Coming in March 2016
Books News
My Top 10 Highly-Anticipated YA Novels in a Series For 2016
What will happen next? It’s a simple question that can drive readers certifiably insane. When a bombshell has just been dropped, a relationship is left unresolved, and evil has the upper hand, the dynamic of a story is stolen right from under your feet while you’re forced to wait another year for the outcome.
Fortunately this is going to be an amazing year for YA. So what are the 10 most highly-anticipated YA novels in a series for 2016? Here are my top picks.
About Anna Harvey
Anna Harvey's is an eccentric creative writer with a major phoenix obsession, who gets her best ideas from dreams, horror movies and hollywood heartthrobs. The ultimate goal is to become a successful YA author collaborating with music through transmedia platforms. Anna has a Bachelor in Contemporary Music and Performance at JMC Academy and a Masters degree in Creative Writing from Queensland University of Technology. When she isn't inventing new stories and writing songs, Anna can be found at the beach reading, setting off her smoke alarm from the delicacies she's creating in the kitchen, or online watching funny cat videos.
Profile: View Anna's profile here
In Brazil by Fran Bryson
Fran Bryson’s In Brazil is not so much a travel book as it is a collection of experiences carefully woven in to a love story of deep intrigue. For seven years Bryson travels through Brazil while taking us from the epicentres of modern Brazil to the remote and spiritual places that continue to flavour Brazilian life.
About Antony Isaias
Profile: View Antony's profile here
Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari in collaboration with Eric Klinenberg
It’s an undeniable fact that the art of courting and dating is changing with the times. Between websites like Tumblr, and the rise of online matchmaking services such as Match.com, OkCupid and Tinder, you would think we would be spoiled for choice, easily finding happiness in a loving relationship. But is this really the case? Aziz Ansari teams up with Eric Klinenberg – a professor of Sociology at New York University, to ask just that.
About Dylan Davies
Profile: View Dylan's profile here
The Red Rising Trilogy by Pierce Brown
Review by Sarah Gill
I am a huge fan of Sci-Fi and dystopian genres and since reading the first two novels in Pierce Brown’s Red Rising Trilogy last year, I have eagerly been awaiting the release of the final book in the series.
This month, the Red Rising Trilogy will come to an end with the release of the final book Morning Star.
Love May Fail by Matthew Quick
“A woman hiding in the bedroom closet, clutching a bottle of whiskey in one hand and a loaded gun in the other, peering through the louvre slats and waiting for her no-good husband to come staggering in with a teenage girl and his pants around his ankles.”
About Jane Freeman
Jane Freeman is a Sydney based freelance writer and journalist who has worked in Australia, London and New York. In the past she has written full time for the Sydney Morning Herald, as well as writing two novels and contributing to assorted non-fiction books. She is an obsessive reader and media consumer when she has time, between loads of washing, driving kids, drinking red wine and being trained by a poodle.
Profile: View Jane's profile here
Legend by Marie Lu
Review by Sarah Gill
Legend is a 2011 dystopian debut novel written by Marie Lu. It is the first book in a trilogy and is followed by Prodigy and Champion. It is a story of revenge, betrayal, love and control; it will have your heart racing and your fingers poised ready to turn the next page.
The Marble Collector by Cecelia Ahern
“Sometimes, it’s only by shining a light on someone else that you can truly understand yourself.”
In her latest novel, The Marble Collector, best-selling author Cecelia Ahern explores this statement in a heart-wrenching tale of unconditional love and self-discovery.
About Jackie Smith
Jackie Smith is a Brisbane-based freelance journalist and editor and proofreader whose work has been published through various media platforms including Cargo ART Magazine, Hush Hush Biz and Scenestr. As well as being an avid reader and writer, she has a keen interest in music, history, film, arts and culture.
Profile: View Jackie's profile here
The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald
The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend is the story of Sara, a young woman who travels from Sweden to the small town of Broken Wheel, Iowa, to meet her pen pal, Amy. On arriving in Broken Wheel, Sara finds the residents of the town departing Amy’s funeral. Despite this unexpected turn of events, Sara stays on in the town and turns it upside down with her love of books. Before long, Broken Wheel and its inhabitants find a new lease on life, while Sara herself discovers that not all people outside of her beloved books are as bad as she believes.
About Heather Croxon
Heather is a reader of just about anything she can get her hands on and it's rare she goes anywhere without a book. While she doesn't stick to any one genre, she has a preference for historical fiction, particularly anything set in the World War One era. Heather is currently working towards a B.A. in Professional Writing and Publishing and occasionally dabbles in writing her own historical fiction.
Profile: View Heather's profile here
I Take You by Eliza Kennedy
“Because I should love Will. He’s such a wonderful person. So very lovable. He possesses so many wonderful, lovable, admirable qualities. There’s only one quality that he lacks. The quality to be more than one man.” (pg. 50)
About Tara Motherwell
A Melbourne based writer, coffee drinker, day dreamer and occasional wanderer.
Profile: View Tara's profile here
A Guide to Berlin by Gail Jones
‘The death of any human was without metaphor or likeness … It was not a writerly event. It was not contained within sentences.’ A Guide to Berlin is Gail Jones’s first novel in five years. Written in her rhythmical, evocative style, the book follows the interactions of six travellers from the corners of the globe who meet in Berlin to share their stories and their passion for the work of Vladimir Nabokov.
A sudden act of violence then shatters the group and each member is affected in profound ways, the direction of their lives irrevocably changed. A Guide to Berlin is a fascinating, luminous study of human behaviour, set against the backdrop of an unforgettable city. It will delight all those who loved Five Bells, as well as readers who are coming to Gail’s work for the first time.
A Guide to Berlin by Gail Jones
Gail Jones is the author of two short-story collections and the novels Black Mirror, Sixty Lights, Dreams of Speaking, Sorry and Five Bells. Three times shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award, her prizes include the WA Premier’s Award for Fiction, the Nita B. Kibble Award, the Steele Rudd Award, the Age Book of the Year Award, the Adelaide Festival Award for Fiction and the ALS Gold Medal. She has also been shortlisted for international awards, including the IMPAC and the Prix Femina. Her fiction has been translated into thirteen languages.
Author talk – Danielle Shelley Carr
Where: Belgrave Library, Reynolds Lane, Belgrave, Vic.
When: Thursday April 16th, 1pm.
Danielle will be speaking about her background, education, inspiration, and the themes and stories of each of her published books.
Her most recent book is – Blom – A Woman’s Journey to Individuation – A novel in verse
Blom, meaning flower in German, is the incredible story of a woman who channels philosophies and music of legendary thinkers and musicians, in a subconscious language heard only in dreams.
As told through poetic form, a woman receives psychic communications, with a subconscious understanding and knowledge of German. The poetic form adds a musicality and lyricism to the novel, and evokes the symbolic quality of dreams.
The novel begins at a séance in the early 1900s, attended by Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung, where his cousin Helene Prieswerk as medium, summons the spirits of the dead.
Author’s background:
The author’s background includes a Master of Arts in Writing and Literature, and books available in libraries throughout Australia, including a psychological thriller novel, Blood for St Valentine, Ellipse – a collection of poetry, short fiction, Raiders of the Headland and other stories, the children’s novel, The Orphan of Botany Bay, and the thesis, Psychological Reflections on Post-Modernist Gothic Literature.
SECOND CHANCES ARE TIED IN PINK. DEDICATIONS FOR A BREAST CANCER ANTHOLOGY
By Joanne Efendi.
Recently a very close friend of mine underwent some serious breast cancer surgery. One minute she was healthy, holidaying with her family and enjoying what her life and future had to offer, then the next minute, after a routine scan, she heard those words: “I’m sorry, but you have cancer.” A few short weeks later, she was in hospital having life saving surgery, and Boxing Day saw her start months of chemo and radiation treatment. But not once did she complain and ask “why me?” She is one tough chick! Even when ‘the red devil’ was burning it’s way through her veins, killing all the cancer cells in it’s wake, she didn’t complain. It was merely a means to the end. And then there were the days after chemo, when she couldn’t lift her head off the pillow. But still she didn’t complain. Not to mention when she couldn’t eat because of mouth and stomach ulcers from the treatment, or the hot flushes she was experiencing because of the hormone therapy. And in her true spirit and nature, it was only when coffee started to taste different, that she cursed cancer, and was concerned that she would never be able to enjoy coffee again. Not the fact that she was now wearing scarves because she was bald, or all her eyebrows and eyelashes had fallen out and chemo was leaking from her eyes, but that coffee no longer tasted good! (fear not, we experimented and found that week two after chemo was the best time for coffee and burgers. And didn’t we take advantage of it!)
Through the whole ordeal, she stayed strong. It was only part way through her chemo that I saw a glimpse of her true suffering. And even then, all she said to me was: “I’m sick of having to be strong.” I couldn’t even go to her and see her that day, as I was sick with a head cold. Not that I was being pitiful, ‘wah wah I’m sick’, but, I had to stay away. The risk of her catching my cold was too great.
To her very credit and strength, the next day, she picked herself up and dusted herself off, and said, “Let’s get on with it.” And that she did. She came out the otherside. Her hair has returned, and thankfully, her tastebuds have too! She is back into coffee and chocolate with avengence. She is also back running and swimming, but in someone that has only truely been in her place can understand, life looks all that bit different. Trivial things that would have once been a priority, now take a back burner.
She has been given a second chance, and that is why I wrote my short story ‘Second Chance’ for ‘Tied In Pink’ a breast cancer anthology. My story was written for you Shaz. Now is your time, to do what YOU want to do but never had the courage.
I implore everyone to go buy ‘Tied In Pink’, because every time someone buys it, funds are donated, and it gives someone else with breast cancer the opportunity to have their second chance.
‘Tied In Pink’ is available for purchase on Amazon.
First posted on Joanne’s Blog ‘Just Another Self Published Author’
Keep an eye out for a review of ‘Tied in Pink’ in the upcoming Books Magazine
Books Interview – Jessica Shirvington
What made you want to become an author?
Oddly enough, I don’t know. Being a writer was never something I had thought or considered a possibility – especially when thinking of career choice. I came from a corporate background and it wasn’t until I sold my company in the United Kingdom and moved back to Australia to have my second daughter that I started to write stories. I guess if I had to say one thing – it would be that reading made me want to be a writer. Discovering stories and whether or not I enjoyed them and then, dissecting what exactly I did and didn’t enjoy became a pattern. One day, instead of reading a new book, I started writing a new story. It went from there.
What is your favourite thing about being an author?
That the only limitations are the ones you put on yourself. When you work in fiction, it is your job to think outside the box, to come up with new and interesting stories and characters. There is nothing that belongs in the no-go area – the job of fiction is to go everywhere.
Where did the inspiration for the Violet Eden and Disruption series come from?
The Violet Eden Chapters started with the name Violet. From there I researched everything to do with the word ‘violet’ until I stumbled across the rainbow mythology and then the biblical folklore around it and…to angels. It all flowed from there. One of the best things about that series was that there were so many possibilities thanks to all of the mythology at my fingertips.
Disruption started from a simple thought – wouldn’t it be interesting if we could just walk by a person and get a rating? Somehow, just instantly know whether or not we were compatible. But then, if that could happen, what are all of the other implications of a technology with that kind of power?
My stories always start with questions. My job is to answer them in a way not many would expect J
You made a successful switch from Urban Fantasy to Dystopia – how did your fans react?
My readers were great and happily came with me (as far as I know!). I don’t think I’ll ever just write in one genre. It just isn’t in me as a writer. I want to do a lot of different things. I have another novel, Between the Lives, which is more of a contemporary psychological mish mash with a dose of the unexplainable. I have a children’s picture book on the way and next, I plan to do something completely different again. Where is the fun in always being the same? 😉
Interview with Best Selling Author: Paula Weston
Check out this sneak peek of the upcoming interview with Best Selling Author Paula Weston in the next books magazine:
What made you want to become an author?
I’ve always been an avid reader and I’d been writing stories since I was in primary school, but it wasn’t until I was in my early twenties that I wrote my first manuscript. I loved the process of discovering characters and brainstorming plot ideas, and I became totally addicted to imagining and writing my own stories.
(It took five more manuscripts, two plays, a short-listed short story and a pile of rejections before I was finally a published author 16 years later. More on that below.)
Toowoomba Writers Literary Prize
Toowoomba Wordsmiths and Fellowship of Australian writers is accepting submission for:
Inaugural Literary Prize
Entries open 1 May and close 31 July, 2014.
Winning entries will be included in an anthology published by the Fellowship of Australian Writers.
Non-winning entries may also be chosen for publication.
Submit up to 3 works
Entry fee $5.00 per work submitted.
For more information visit: http://toowoombawritersfestival.com/writing-competitions/
