To prepare for the chat:
1. Download Skype
2. Request to contact rhiannonlassiter.
3. Find out what GMT (Greenwich Meridian Time) is in your timezone, this timezone converter will help.
4. At 14:00 GMT on Saturday 22 January 2011 send me a chat request and I will add you to the group chat.
Author chat starts in 15 minutes on Skype!
Edited to add: Author chat is now over for today. Thank you those who participated and I’ll post the transcript tomorrow.
Next Saturday I’ll be trialling a new idea: live author chat with fans. After chatting to one of my fans on facebook about my writing, her writing, and other authorial questions it occurred to me that it could be fun to offer a live chat session as a regular thing.
Questions about my books and my characters or how I got published are very welcome. Also please ask about my favourite authors, books, films, hobbies or recommendations of things I like.
I’m also happy to chat about your book ideas but I can’t offer to read your text and make comments, I’m afraid, so short questions only on that topic, please. Obviously no abusive behaviour will be permitted, so please don’t say anything to offend or annoy other chat participants. It will be text chat, not video chat, although I may arrange video another time.
To prepare for the chat:
1. Download Skype
2. Request to friend rhiannonlassiter. (It can take awhile to download and install skype so do this at least the day before!)
3. Find out what GMT (Greenwich Meridian Time) is in your timezone, this timezone converter will help.
4. At 14:00 GMT on Saturday 22 January 2011 send me a chat request and I will add you to the group chat.
See you there!
Thanks to everyone who participated in the Ghost of a Chance competition yesterday. It was a strong field with lots of great answers. But in the end I’ve decided that the winner is… ::: drum roll ::
CANDY GOURLAY!
Her answer was: “The best way to solve a murder is to be there at the time. Sadly this might mean you won’t be anywhere else for the foreseeable future.”
Well done, Candy! Email me your address (you can use the contact form on this website) and I’ll send you your signed copy of Ghost of a Chance. I’m impressed with your answer – and with your confidence that you would win!
If you competed but were unsuccessful, look out for another book giveaway in the LibraryThing early reviewers January batch when there’ll be ten more copies on offer.
Today is Ghost of a Chance day: my new book has been published. (Officially now, Amazon jumped the gun a bit.)
The wonderful, talented Sara Wallcraft has designed special friezes for my Ghost of a Chance webpage, one of the Chance house, one of some beautiful peacocks. Do make sure to check it out.
You can also find a sample chapter of the book. Hopefully once you’ve read it, you’ll be inspired to rush out and immediately buy a copy.
But for one lucky person there could be a free copy heading your way. To celebrate, I’m announcing a competition to win a signed copy of the book. For your chance to win, comment on my blog with your answer to the question “What’s the best way to solve a murder?” Winners will be announced tomorrow at 9am GMT, to give everyone time to take part. (Make sure to comment on the blog itself, not on the Facebook syndicated version.) If you’ve already ordered a copy, why not have a go anyway and win a copy for a friend or family member?
Happy Ghost of a Chance day to me and to all of you!
Edited to add: Ghost of a Chance is already Book of the Week at new crime blog Crime Central!
Competition entrants, please make sure to check back tomorrow to see if you’re the winner because I will need to get your street address from you to send you your prize!
I found this on the internet a couple of weeks ago but didn’t post about it until I could ask my Polish editor what it said. I had an email from her a couple of days ago and she says that it’s a good review (whew!).
According to Natalia: “They are talking about what’s there in your book, about the characters, the plot. But they are also saying that you’ve managed to write something new in spite of the fact that the genre which you used (horror) is not at all easy, because it is so conventional. And you – you wrote Bad
Blood in a very fresh way.”
So that’s all good. I’m glad the book seems to be doing well in Poland!
I have some exciting news for Hex fans. Ever since the trilogy was first published I’ve had letters from fans asking me if there could be a film of the books – there’s at least one thread on the forums about it. Last week I agreed the first stage of a film option for the Hex trilogy.
The film company developing the property is called Sweet Revenge and they are based in Hollywood. On the eve of the Clarke award ceremony I had a conversation with producer Isadora Martin-Dye who has loved the books since they first came out and is really enthusiastic about the project. This is great news for the fans because it means that the creative vision doesn’t involve making significant changes to the work. If Raven hits the screen she’ll be her own cantankerous self.
I say if because there’s a long way to go with this project. It’s in the earliest of early stages and there’s a lot of work to be done. Luckily for me, I’ve already done my bit – now it’s up to Isadora and the rest of her team to put in place the things one needs to make a major feature film. They will be keeping me informed and involved though so I’ll report more as I hear more news.
I expect fans will have a lot of questions and I’ll try and anticipate some of them here since some were things I wanted to know myself:
Q: Will there be one film or three (one for each book)?
A: The option will be for the whole trilogy. Right now we’re planning for one film but which would take elements from the world of all three books.
Q: Is this going to be a small or large production?
A: The plan is for a big budget film.
Q: Will Rhiannon be writing the script?
A: It’s usual for companies to bring in their own script writers. I’ll be in contact with those writers once they’ve been chosen.
Q: Who will play Raven?
A: It’s much too early to answer that but I know it’s the question everyone will want to ask. I’ll let you know more as soon as I can.
Meanwhile, if you’re a Hex fan, there’s something you could do to help bring this film into reality. Since Hex wasn’t an illustrated or graphical novel there isn’t any concept art. If you’ve created Hex fan art please post it on the fanart forum so that Sweet Revenge have an idea of how fans see the Hex series. Lots of people posted art back in the day but because they used photobucket many of those links have expired – please do repost your old art or any new art you’ve done. Your artwork and imagery will help establish a vision for the film so do please get involved.
And if you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to ask!
I’ve uploaded two Bologna videos to my You Tube account, one still to come.
So far I’ve uploaded some video of the illustrators wall and a video of the launch party for the Great Big Book of Families, written by Mary Hoffman and illustrated by Ros Asquith and published by Frances Lincoln.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BxBfltm8fw]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUYAbgC2Hmc]
I would have written this up earlier but I was in a tearing hurry to leave for Bologna! However we had the first Children’s Author Roadshow event in Abingdon on the 13th of March at The Bookstore in Abingdon.
The event was organised by the Oxfordshire branch of the Children’s Author Roadshow which is a new project of the scattered Authors Society to link groups of local authors for visits. Our group of authors were: Leslie Wilson, Joanna Kenrick, Mary Hoffman, Kath Langrish, Rhiannon Lassiter, Dennis Hamley and Mary Hooper.
With so many authors I was a bit worried we’d fill up the whole shop so customers couldn’t get in. But The Bookstore turned out to be surprisingly spacious almost Tardis-like in its ability to cram in so many of us and still keep plenty of room for people having books signed, people buying books and people simply browsing the shelves. We took up two tables with our books and the authors took turns behind the tables, meeting and greeting and handing out free postcards and bookmarks inside and outside the store. The staff members were very friendly and supportive and had put together a beautiful window display of all of our books and a swingstand outside the shop.
At this event I was promoting Bad Blood and the reissued Rights of Passage sequence, of which Borderland and Outland have been published so far. I handed out competition flyers with the opportunity to win a free copy of Borderland or Outland by answering the question “If you discovered a secret doorway into another world, what would you do?”
We had a number of entrants and almost everyone who answered included having adventures in their reply. Quite a few people would take a friend or family member with them and an honorable mention to the contestant who wanted to fill her world with music.
I chose the winner later that evening and can now announce the winner was Kathlyn, from Abingdon, UK with the answer: “Bring a friend with me so we could discover the world together and hopefully have adventures. And also meet interesting characters in the other world to be my friends.” Congratulations, Kathlyn! A copy of Borderland is on its way and should reach you by the end of the month.
The photos you see in this entry were taken by Sara Wallcraft, Monkeyflower Designs, who kindly helped me out at this event. She’s one of my cloest friends and if I ever do discover a door into another world I’m sure she’ll be close behind me. Thanks also to Jo Kenrick who did the lioness’ share of the organising (all the hard work of tracking down suitable prey and organising the pride of authors) and to Mary Hoffman for transporting me to Abingdon. Thank you as well to the rest of the CAR team who were a joy to work with. I hope to do more signings with the group this year.
Saturday 13th March 2010 - The Oxford branch of the Children’s Authors’ Roadshow, including Leslie Wilson, Joanna Kenrick, Mary Hoffman, Kath Langrish, Rhiannon Lassiter, Dennis Hamley and Mary Hooper will be talking to customers and signing books between 11am and 2pm at The Book Store in the Abingdon shopping precinct – come along and say hello!
Rhiannon will also be judging a competition to win copies of her books. For a chance to win, entrants must answer the question “if you discovered a secret doorway into another world… what would you do?”
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