I’m super happy to announce I signed a four book and two novella deal with Audible and the first audio book has been released today worldwide!
The first audio book released is BURNING FIELDS with the rest to follow shortly. I’ve recently found a love for audio books and I hope you enjoy them just as much as I do!
Happy listening!
My very first book launch – Readings Hawthorn (Melbourne), 21 August, 2014
Today is five years since the launch of my first book, Luna Tango. It had taken ten years, three manuscripts (that will never see the light of day), lots of workshops and conferences, thousands upon thousands of hours honing my craft and a dash of luck to get to the point of seeing my first book published and available in bookshops. It was a dream come true and I’ll never forget that moment of standing in a bookshop and seeing my book on the shelves for the first time. It was a magical moment and scary at the same time. My story was out in the world and people were going to meet my characters for the first time. It felt surreal and I really did have to pinch myself (after wiping away tears of joy).
Before I was published all I had focussed on was getting a publishing contract. What I never expected was the wonderful friendships I would make with other writers, booksellers, book reviewers, journalists, librarians and readers. I love that my non-reader friends get behind me as well, promoting any events I’m doing or new releases. I adore the publishers I work with, their passion for the written word shining through in everything they do, and I am so thankful every day for my wonderful literary agent, Lucienne Diver, who works so very hard and is brilliant at what she does.
Never in a million years did I expect to see my books translated into other languages or be published around the world. I never expected to release a new book every year, be a bestseller or have one of my books voted into Australia’s top 100 books. I never expected that I would get the opportunity to do book tours in Australia and overseas, to be invited to literary events, mentor, and to teach workshops and run writing retreats with one of my best friends who is also a writer. I never expected opportunities to take my storytelling to the screen. But all these things have happened and I am grateful for every single one of these magical moments.
A selection of books – more to come!
On this fifth anniversary, I wanted to thank each and every one of you for getting involved in this precious, uplifting, wonderful writing journey. Without you, I wouldn’t be where I am today.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Alli
GIVE AWAY TIME! Who would like a chance to win an advance reading copy of The Cinema at Starlight Creek? I’m giving away two and there’s two ways you can enter: answer my question in the comments below (1 entry) and/or sign up for my newsletter (1 entry). If you’ve signed up for my newsletter previously you already have an extra entry allotted! Yes, you can do both and give yourself a double chance! Entries close Tuesday, 7 May at 11.59 pm AEST.
Question: If you could choose to meet a favourite Hollywood star (past or present), who would it be and what would be the first thing you’d say to them?
Newsletter sign-up link: https://allisinclairauthor.wordpress.com/newsletter/
Good luck everyone!
More about the book (releases May 20 in Australia and New Zealand and 5 November the rest of the world as The Cinema of Lost Dreams):
A heart-stirring novel of loss, love and new hope set against the glamorous backdrop of 1950s Hollywood and a small Australian country town.
How far would you go to follow your dream?
Queensland, 1994: When location manager Claire Montgomery arrives in rural Queensland to work on a TV mini-series, she’s captivated by the beauty of Starlight Creek and the surrounding sugarcane fields. Working in a male-dominated industry is challenging, but Claire has never let that stop her pursuing her dreams-until now. She must gain permission to film at Australia’s most historically significant art deco cinema, located at Starlight Creek. But there is trouble ahead. The community is fractured and the cinema’s reclusive owner, Hattie Fitzpatrick, and her enigmatic great nephew, Luke Jackson, stand in her way, putting Claire’s career-launching project-and her heart-at risk.
Hollywood, 1950: Lena Lee has struggled to find the break that will catapult her into a star with influence. She longs for roles about strong, independent women but with Hollywood engulfed in politics and a censorship battle, Lena’s timing is wrong. Forced to keep her love affair with actor Reeves Garrity a secret, Lena puts her career on the line to fight for equality for women in an industry ruled by men. Her generous and caring nature steers her onto a treacherous path, leaving Lena questioning what she is willing to endure to get what she desires.
Can two women-decades apart-uncover lies and secrets to live the life they’ve dared to dream?
You can find out more HERE
One of the biggest thrills when a book is coming together is seeing the cover. I’ve been blessed by the cover fairies on every book of mine and just when I think they can’t do any better they come up with something like this …
Isn’t it beautiful? I’m very excited about my May 20 release date for The Cinema at Starlight Creek. This is for my Australian and New Zealand readers and shortly I’ll be able to show you the cover and announce the date for the international edition which will be titled The Cinema of Lost Dreams.
Would you like to know a little more about the book? Here you go!
A heart-stirring novel of loss, love and new hope set against the glamorous backdrop of 1950s Hollywood and a small Australian country town.
How far would you go to follow your dream?
Queensland, 1994: When location manager Claire Montgomery arrives in rural Queensland to work on a TV mini-series, she’s captivated by the beauty of Starlight Creek and the surrounding sugarcane fields. Working in a male-dominated industry is challenging, but Claire has never let that stop her pursuing her dreams-until now. She must gain permission to film at Australia’s most historically significant art deco cinema, located at Starlight Creek. But there is trouble ahead. The community is fractured and the cinema’s reclusive owner, Hattie Fitzpatrick, and her enigmatic great nephew, Luke Jackson, stand in her way, putting Claire’s career-launching project-and her heart-at risk.
Hollywood, 1950: Lena Lee has struggled to find the break that will catapult her into a star with influence. She longs for roles about strong, independent women but with Hollywood engulfed in politics and a censorship battle, Lena’s timing is wrong. Forced to keep her love affair with actor Reeves Garrity a secret, Lena puts her career on the line to fight for equality for women in an industry ruled by men. Her generous and caring nature steers her onto a treacherous path, leaving Lena questioning what she is willing to endure to get what she desires.
Can two women-decades apart-uncover lies and secrets to live the life they’ve dared to dream?
And good news is that The Cinema at Starlight Creek is now available for pre-order!
Harper Collins: https://bit.ly/2Cp1ywN
Amazon: https://amzn.to/2DenZ9o
Apple Books: https://apple.co/2FEcIAR
Booktopia: https://bit.ly/2TSL6fp
Kobo: https://bit.ly/2Mhf61G
Google Play: https://bit.ly/2Mlz8IN
I’m super chuffed to reveal the cover for the international edition of Burning Fields. And to celebrate, my USA publisher, Kensington Books, is giving away 100 copies prior to its November release. All you need to do is go over to Goodreads to enter. Good luck!
ENTER GOODREADS GIVE AWAY HERE
Here’s a little more about the book:
1948: Change has come to every corner of the globe—and Rosie Stanton, returning home to northern Queensland after serving the war effort in Brisbane, plans to rescue her family’s foundering sugarcane farm with her unstoppable can-do spirit. Coming up against her father’s old-world views, a farm worker undermining her success, and constant reminders of Rosie’s brothers lost in the war, Rosie realizes she wants more from life and love—but at what cost?
Italian immigrant Tomas Conti arrives at a neighboring farm, and sparks fly as Rosie draws close to this enigmatic newcomer. When an enemy appears with evidence of Tomas’s shocking past, long-held wartime hatreds rekindle . . . and an astounding family secret sets Rosie’s world ablaze. At the dawn of a new era, Rosie must make her own destiny amid the ashes of yesterday—by following her heart.
I have been anticipating this day! I am so very pleased to finally reveal the most gorgeous cover for my upcoming June release, Burning Fields. This is the Australian and New Zealand cover with my wonderful publisher, Harlequin MIRA and it is now available for pre-order (links below). For those of you outside Australia and New Zealand, I am very pleased to inform you Burning Fields will be available through my wonderful USA publisher, Kensington Books, in November this year (I’ll keep you updated as to when it is available for pre-order. So without further ado, here’s Burning Fields (Aus/NZ edition):
Isn’t it beautiful? And Rosie on the cover looks just how I imagined her. I am so very fortunate to have the wonderful Barbara Hannay provide such an amazing quote!
Here’s a little more about the story:
1948 The world is struggling to regain a sense of balance after the devastation of World War II, and the sugar cane-growing community of Piri River in northern Queensland is no exception.
As returned servicemen endeavour to adjust to their pre-war lives, women who had worked for the war effort are expected to embrace traditional roles once more.
Rosie Stanton finds it difficult to return to the family farm after years working for the Australian Women’s Army Service. Reminders are everywhere of the brothers she lost in the war and she is unable to understand her father’s contempt for Italians, especially the Conti family next door. When her father takes ill, Rosie challenges tradition by managing the farm, but outside influences are determined to see her fail.
Desperate to leave his turbulent history behind, Tomas Conti has left Italy to join his family in Piri River. Tomas struggles to adapt in Australia—until he meets Rosie. Her easy-going nature and positive outlook help him forget the life he’s escaped. But as their relationship grows, so do tensions between the two families until the situation becomes explosive.
When a long-hidden family secret is discovered and Tomas’s mysterious past is revealed, everything Rosie believes is shattered. Will she risk all to rebuild her family or will she lose the only man she’s ever loved?
PRE-ORDER LINKS:
PRINT:
eBOOK:
First real-life sighting of my book!
I’ve been very quiet on the blog lately, mostly due to deadlines (hooray – deadlines are good as it means I have books contracted!), plus a family holiday (cruises rock!), and the chance to fulfil a dream I’ve held close to my heart since I started this publishing journey many, many years ago – a book tour in Europe! Now things aren’t so hectic, I’ll be writing a series of blog posts about the cities I visited and I’ll include travel tips (the ex-travel agent in me can’t resist!). I hope you enjoy the journey!
When I found out that the translation rights for Under the Spanish Stars had been sold by my USA publisher, Kensington Books, I was ecstatic! The German publisher who bought the rights, Aufbau Verlag, are very well-respected and I was excited to see one of my books in a language other than English. The German market has always been in my sights as I had heard from German friends that their book industry is very strong as reading is a valued part of their lifestyle. Plus, German-language readers tend to like Aussie author’s stories. Always a bonus!
So when the opportunity arose to go to German speaking countries and visit booksellers, readers, authors and my publisher, as well as undertake research for future books – I couldn’t say no! I packed my bag and jumped on a plane (okay … three) and flew from Australia to Europe in a daze because I couldn’t quite believe I was about to tick a few items off my wish list.
First stop was Vienna and even though I was jet-lagged I had to find the nearest bookshop and get a copy of Die spanische Tänzerin (The Spanish Dancer). I found the biggest bookstore in Vienna (four floors!), called Thalia and went in search of my beloved book. Yes, I may have squealed when I found a copy and the shop assistants were so very sweet when they realised who I was and why I was there.
Inside the book
I had always hoped that one day a book of mine would be released in hardcover, but I didn’t expect to get so emotional to see if for the first time! The book designer at my publisher did such an amazing job, and the white on the cover feels like linen, and the graphics and type are glossy and raised. Inside is a gorgeous floral design and there’s also a built-in bookmark that is a lovely grey ribbon. One of my bookish German friends told me these bookmarks were very popular with the East German publishers and, as my publisher was originally in East Berlin (and was the largest publisher in the GDR), they’ve continued with this tradition. I found it very hard to stop gazing at this beautiful piece of art that my publisher had created.
The in-built ribbon bookmark!
After signing books I started my trek back to the hotel, exhausted but elated. As I walked through a gorgeous park and in front of a statue of Strauss, I found a group of people dancing tango. The DJ played music but it could only be heard by the dancers as they wore headphones. Given my first book was about the tango, I couldn’t help but take this as a sign that this trip would be unforgettable. Vienna had already captured my heart but that was just the beginning … Stay tuned for more!
If you’d like to keep up-to-date with new releases, give aways and author interviews, please sign up for my newsletter HERE.
Today it is my pleasure to welcome the lovely Jen J. Danna to Behind the Story. A scientist specializing in infectious diseases, Jen works as part of a dynamic research group at a cutting-edge Canadian university. However, her true passion lies in indulging her love of the mysterious through her writing. Together with her partner Ann Vanderlaan, they write both the Abbott and Lowell Forensic Mysteries and the FBI K-9s (as Sara Driscoll). Jen lives near Toronto, Ontario, with her husband and two daughters.
Jen/Sara, please tell us about your story behind the story!
Finding out what inspired an author to write a certain book or series of books is always an interesting peek inside that author’s mind. Sometimes it’s practical. Sometimes it’s a passion. The FBI K-9s series started as a combination of the two.
Ann’s five pit bulls
Both my writing partner Ann and I are animal rescuers. She has a current roster of five rescued pit bulls she has saved from shelters. I have four cats—one adopted from a rescue, one rescued off the streets after it had been abandoned when its owners moved away, and two kittens live-trapped in our backyard last month because they were slowly starving to death. So, to say we’re animal lovers is a small understatement.
Milo and Autumn
The idea for the FBI K-9s series actually came out a lunch our agent extraordinaire, Nicole Resciniti, had with Peter Senftleben, then an editor at Kensington Publishing. He was looking for a procedural with a service dog theme. At that time, Ann and I had published our first three Abbott and Lowell Forensic Mysteries, with a fourth in progress, and were looking to stretch our wings a bit. Nicole meets with a lot of editors and sends their requests to her authors. When we saw Peter’s idea, we knew it was a great fit. And where I hadn’t owned a dog since I was a child, Ann more than made up for my lack of knowledge at the time.
Launching into a new series also gave us a chance to open our horizons. I love writing Abbott and Lowell, but police jurisdiction can be a little constricting—every case had to take place in Essex county around Salem, Massachusetts. Any other city or county would have the same restrictions around jurisdiction. But we had the perfect solution, getting around this issue by setting our K-9 team within the FBI. Now the entire United States was our playground, as well as beyond under the right circumstances.
Luna and Nala
Within the FBI there are several different K-9 groups: criminal apprehension, explosives detection, and forensic applications. It was the last group that really caught our eye. The Forensic Canine Program consists of the Victim Recovery and Human Scent Evidence Teams. The Victim Recovery Team is made up of cadaver dogs who search for human remains. This is a crucial function, but it ran too close to the forensics of Abbott and Lowell. However, the Human Scent Evidence Team consists of handler and dog teams who search for live humans. We saw the possibilities of this team right from the start—from suspect tracking, to natural disaster rescues, to recovering the missing and lost, there were lots of realistic options for cases and stories. We were also excited to write not just the main K-9 team, but also a number of other handler and dog teams who feature prominently throughout the series. With a black Labrador, a German shepherd, a border collie, and a hound dog, this team has the dogs best suited to this type of rewarding and sometimes heartbreaking work.
Enter Meg Jennings and her search-and-rescue black Lab, Hawk. Meg was a K-9 patrol officer with the Richmond, Virginia PD until her German shepherd, Deuce, was shot and killed while apprehending a suspect. Meg returns to her parent’s animal rescue to grieve, and ends up bonding with a recently abandoned and extremely ill puppy. Nursing Hawk back to health gives her time to grieve and also allows for a steadfast bond to form between woman and dog. It is this bond that makes them such a great team. They intuitively understand each other and each would die for the other (and has come close, on occasion).
In this second book in the FBI K-9s series, BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE, Meg, Hawk and the rest of the Human Scent Evidence Team become entangled in a case where a serial killer plays a deadly game with them with victims’ lives at stake:
In this powerful K-9 crime thriller, FBI Special Agent Meg Jennings and her trusted search-and-rescue Labrador, Hawk, must race against the clock before a diabolical killer strikes again…
Somewhere in the Washington, D.C., area, a woman lies helpless in a box. Beneath the earth. Barely breathing. Buried alive. In Quantico, the FBI receives a coded message from the woman’s abductor. He wants to play a game with them: decipher the clues, find the grave, save the girl. The FBI’s top cryptanalysts crack the code, and Special Agent Meg Jennings and her K-9 partner, Hawk, scramble to follow a trail of false leads to the scene of the crime. By the time they solve the puzzle, it’s too late. But the killer’s game is far from over . . .
Soon another message arrives. Another victim is taken, and the deadly pattern is repeated—again and again. Each kidnapping triggers another desperate race against time, each with the possibility of another senseless death. That’s when Meg decides to try something drastic. Break the Bureau’s protocol. Bring in her brilliant sister, Cara, a genius at word games, to decipher the kidnapper’s twisted clues. Meg knows she’s risking her career to do it, but she’s determined not to let one more person die under her and Hawk’s watch. If the plan fails, it could bite them in the end. And if it leads to the killer, it could bury them forever . . .
BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE releases September 26, 2017 in hardcover, e-book, and audiobook formats. The first book in the series, LONE WOLF, is available now in hardcover, mass market, e-book, and audio.
Buy Links for BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE:
Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.co.uk, Chapters/Indigo, B&N, BAM, IndieBound, Target, Walmart, Hudson Booksellers
Website: https://jenjdanna.com/ and http://saradriscollauthor.com/
Today I’m delighted to introduce you to fellow Kensington Publishing author, Pat Esden. Pat would love to say she spent her childhood in intellectual pursuits. The truth is she was fonder of exploring abandoned houses and old cemeteries. When not out on her own adventures, she can be found in her northern Vermont home writing stories about brave, smart women and the men who capture their hearts.
An antique-dealing florist by trade, she’s also a member of Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America, Romance Writers of America, and the League of Vermont Writers. Her short stories have appeared in a number of publications, including Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show, the Mythopoeic Society’s Mythic Circle literary magazine, and George H. Scither’s anthology Cat Tales.
Thank you for stopping by to tell us your story behind the story. Take it away, Pat!
I’m so excited to be here today. Actually, I’ve been dancing on air since the end of June when REACH FOR YOU, the final novel in the Dark Heart series, came out.
Even though REACH FOR YOU is the third book in a trilogy, the concept for it came to me at the same time as the first book. My decision on how to end the series came directly from my love of fairy tales. More specifically, the idea came from tales where lovers are separated for a majority of the novel and the hero must battle dragons and chop their way through a walls of thorns to save their love. Well, in the case of REACH FOR YOU, there aren’t any dragons or princes and the one doing the rescuing is a woman, but the idea is the same. The only thing hard about using this fairy tale concept is finding ways for the couple to have sizzling romantic moments when they are apart for a large portion of the novel. It took some creativity, but believe me it’s possible and perhaps even hotter because of the emotional pain caused by the forced separation. I should add, I also included one of my other favorite concepts that fairy tales often lack. I love the idea of strong people being even more powerful as a couple, and that is how I chose to close the very last chapters of the series. A true HEA.
REACH FOR YOU
Her passion is her greatest weakness.
His legacy is his prison.
To reunite, both must fight the demons within.
A world of deception and danger separates Annie Freemont from her mother—and from Chase, the enigmatic half-ifrit with whom Annie’s fallen in love. But she vows to find her way back to them, before Chase succumbs to the madness that threatens his freedom. The only person who can help is the magical seductress, Lotli, a beautiful, manipulative woman . . . a woman who has disappeared.
Annie must stay strong, even as the future she imagined is slipping away. With the help of family and friends, she discovers that Lotli is being held against her will, by those who want to exploit her powers. But though weakened, Lotli remains a powerful alley and adversary. A bargain is struck. And now Annie’s only chance to rescue Chase could also tear them apart . . .
Loyalties will be tested, walls will be breached, and enemies will be fought, yet Annie’s greatest battle lies within her own heart—to trust her love for Chase to overcome its greatest enemy, and to save those she holds most dear from the terrifying realm of the djinn . . .
Alli Sinclair 