Philippa Ballantine - Author

Award-winning Author of fantasy, science fiction, and steampunk

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Christmas with the Ministry

It’s a busy time of year for everyone, and the run up to the final days before Christmas are crazy. So I’m ever so pleased that Harper Voyager picked Phoenix Rising as one of ten books that they are discounting for a limited time to 99c.

And best of all this is a cross platform promotion. The book is available in all formats at 99c. Yep, it’s a Penny Dreadful…at least for a time.

Kindle — http://amzn.to/o31YFI
Nook — http://bit.ly/rBBrT7
Kobo — http://bit.ly/ulBPet
iTunes — http://bit.ly/uuQ0XS

This book has done wonderful things…more than we could have ever expected; won the Airship Award for best written work, and got into the finals for top Science Fiction novel of 2011 on Goodreads.com. So please buy, enjoy and spread the word. This is a great deal, a great way to introduce people to steampunk, and a great way to prepare for the arrival of the Janus Affair which is coming in late May 2012.

The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences will be finishing up the Tales from the Archives, and dropping a Christmas episode before the end of the year. In 2012 we’ll be releasing a new book trailer for the Janus Affair…and what we have and who we have helping us make this happen is super exciting. So hold onto that bowler—next year is going to be a big one!

Help the Ministry

Phoenix Rising is nominated for best science fiction of 2011 over on Goodreads.com. This is a big deal, and getting into the first round of competition is delightful and unexpected, but we need your help to get further.

Getting the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences as much attention as possible goes toward getting more novels and keeping us writing in this world. If you want to see that happen, and you enjoyed the book, please take a second to vote if you’re a member of Goodreads. (if you’re not, it is genuinely a great community for readers to connect)

Thank you!

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Vote now for your favorite books!

 

News on three fronts

It’s raining details over here right now…so here’s an update.

Check out my appearances page for where and when I will be around. We have a selection of cool events Tee and I will be attending in 2012- the largest (so far) is DragonCon. It’s been awhile since I’ve dropped into the madness in Atlanta—2008 in fact—so I am looking forward to it.

I chose DragonCon over World Con in Chicago next year, because by then my book with Pyr will be out. Hunter and Fox is part of the Shifted World series, and the book that I landed my agent Laurie McLean with. Thanks to an upswing in high fantasy we found a publisher for it, and I hope you enjoy this tale of twisted loyalties and epic scope. Look for Hunter and Fox in July 2012.

Wrayth the third book of the Order series (after Geist and Spectyr) is due out in September 2012. So in time to find out what those geistlords and Deacons are up to before next Halloween.

And finally we have a new title for the second book of the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences. It will be called The Janus Affair- a title more in keeping with the series. It should be out in late May/early June 2012.

In the coming weeks and months I’ll be sharing the cover art for these three books. I what I have seen so far is beautiful work.

Thanks once again to all you readers and listeners who have helped me get this far.

What a week…

As you probably- or possibly- know I got married last week to my co-author Tee Morris. You’d think that would be enough of a week…

But then we went to Comic Con. See my post for all about that. (Tor.com wrote up this review of the panel I was on Winter is Here)

Then we started to hear whispers about the Airship Awards. Now, after a convention those volunteers who organise it, are usually pretty beat. So when we looked into who had won and found nothing, we weren’t that surprised.

Then the Steampunk Scholar himself, said that we’d won. He was there presenting, but still we managed to hold in the excitement. Then the Airship Ambassador confirmed it.

Yes, Tee and I are now award winning steampunk authors!

The other nominees included The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack (Pyr), Camera Obscura (Angry Robots), and The Half-Made World (Tor). All heavy hitters, all amazing books..so we are beyond ecstatic!

Previous winners of this award include Phil & Kaja Foglio, Alan Moore, and Abney Park. This is an award voted on by the attendees of Steamcon, and that matters a great deal to us. We’ve always said Phoenix Rising is a romp, and we want to make people smile.

Now we feel like we’ve done our job…and that’s a great feeling.

Oh yes, and as part of applying for my change of status here in America I found out I don’t have leprosy! So all in all, a fantastic week!!!

Kiwi in Comic Con and New York

Tee and I just got back from New York Comic Con.

To say that it was an assault on the senses would be an understatement. Previous to this DragonCon was the biggest event I’ve ever been to. NYCC made that look like my Nana’s tea party.

Held in the Javits Convention Centre, there were a few niggles- like the Shuttle Buses finishing at 8.30 while the programming went until 10- but on the whole it was a great event. With over 2,000 booths from mega players like Marvel, to single artists trying to get more exposure for their work.

Getting anywhere in the push of people was tricky, but there was so much to see. We did catch a glimpse of a banner saying ‘Podcast Arena’, but never actually got there. Yeah, it was that kind of event.

On Friday we finally got to the event itself after a series of irritating and frustrating delays. We raced around, found our badges and the Harper Collins booth. It was only a few minutes until our signing, but there was this line of people. Our first reaction was ‘oh well, another author mustn’t be done yet…’ Then we found out that it was for us. For the next twenty minutes we shook hands, personalized books and had a ripping time. We’d given fifty copies away, and signed another fifty for the booth. After Tee did his panel, those fifty went by Saturday morning as well.

The next day it was the same for me and Geist at the Penguin booth. A line of people, and all the books gone.  Fifty books in twenty minutes. It was not what I had expected.

Neither was the panel “Winter is here: Epic Fantasy takes the Throne’. It was a packed house, over two hundred people, and I was on a panel with Brandon Sanderson, Peter Brett, Rae Carson, David Chandler and Nils Johnson-Shelton. Ron Hogan did a fantastic job of moderating, and everyone got a chance to answer every question. I’ve been on plenty of panels were that wasn’t the case, and I was delighted that on such an important day everything went smoothly.

We also had two meetings with my two editors Diana Gil and Danielle Stockley. Two great meals, and some interesting thoughts. The title of the second book Of Cogs & Corsets is going to change- but Tee and I came up with some great options that I think are even better. Then Danielle opened my eyes to some possibilities in the Books of the Order series, that I hadn’t even considered, or thought were an option. Exciting chances that I am still mulling over.

We left Comic Con on Saturday, and took the train home- but the fun wasn’t over yet. A very nice gentleman helped us get our luggage up in the rack, and he had also been at Comic Con. Before we knew it we were networking on the train, and a bunch of other possibilities began to ferment.

So from this event which was just supposed to be about signing and participating in panels, we came back with a whole lot of new directions to investigate. The takeaway for authors is, always be open to new chances, and always have business cards on hand for those moments.

We sure hope to go back to New York Comic Con, and next time we’ll be prepared for the madness!