Philippa Ballantine - Author

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

Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences

Tick Tock…Tick Tock

Waiting for a book to hit the shelves is a curious thing.

You’ve spent a long time with it, through edits, covers, conferences, more edits, worrying about it, and yet more edits. At times it seems it never will come out.

Then one day the Advanced Reader copies come out and you think perhaps this isn’t all a dream. Then the box of finished books arrives…and then you start to worry.

Unlike my co-author on Phoenix Rising, I saved all my panic for the final month. It’s a crazy moment, but it is here.

Phoenix Rising; A Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences

Yes, Phoenix Rising hit the shelves yesterday, so please go in to a local bookstore if you have one, and pick it up. Or if you prefer ebooks, then it should be available in all your favourite formats.

Once more into the breach dear friends…

 

This week the final chapter of Digital Magic will drop, and while I am excited about that, I barely have time to breathe before plunging into another podcast frenzy.

Yes, the very first Tales from the Archives has dropped. The story read and written by me is called The Evil That Befell Sampson. It is the story of how Agent Eliza D Braun ended up exiled from New Zealand and working in the London Head Office of the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences. There are suffragists, clockwork and nefarious goings on.

Listen here and/or subscribe

All these stories are about the Agents of the Ministry- including some tales about Eliza and Wellington that predate events in Phoenix Rising.

A new story will appear every two weeks, and you can look forward to stories from the like of OM Grey, Nathan Lowell, Starla Hutchon, PC Haring, and naturally Tee Morris.

In other news from the Ministry, Phoenix Rising will be included in the Science Fiction Bookclub so for those of you who are members, please check it out when it comes.

Two tiny tidbits

Already 2011 has begun with a bang.

First off- Geist’s trailer (which Tee Morris produced) won Best Overall Adult at Parajunkee’s View.

I am so delighted with this as Tee (and me to a certain extent) put such a lot of work into it. If I can wax lyrical about book trailers for a second. I like them to be like movie trailers. I don’t like to have to read a whole slew of text, and I think in this case a voice over worked really well. Wait until you see what Tee has planned for Phoenix Rising!

Speaking of… my other bit of cool news. Phoenix Rising has been sold to a publisher in Russia! So that is the fourth country it will be available in; Australia, New Zealand, Germany and Russia. I am so excited, and can’t wait to see what they do for covers and titles.

But Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences is Ministerstvo Osobaya nahodok according to Google translate. If there are any Russian speakers out there that know different, sing out.

Gute Nachrichten

Often I want to share news with you. Often I want to express my excitement. However these days I cannot just drop news, as I have publishers to consider.

So I pretty much end up looking like a total tease.

Then there are those times when I get the go ahead and I can share the whole story.

This thankfully is one of those times.

*drumroll* So here goes…

The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences will be available to more than just Americans. Yes, Germany, Australia and my homeland New Zealand will all get editions of both books.

This is not only great news for readers…but also for Tee and I. When you get an advance for a book, it is essentially a loan from the publisher to you, saying this is how much money they expect you to make. As an author ‘earning out’, means paying back that loan. It hangs over your head, and if you don’t earn out, selling new books is that much harder. Kinda like having a bad credit score.

So selling foreign rights helps pay back that loan, and get you one step closer to earning that thing you get once you have earned out– royalties!

So this news is very gute nachrichten (good news)!

Joining the Ministry

The big news- the news we announced at Balticon- is now out there.

Coming in summer 2011 the project Tee Morris and I wrote and talked about many, many times whose working title is Books and Braun, will be published by Eos Books.

Diana Gil will be working with us to whip this steampunk romp into taunt, terrific shape, and both of us are very excited about that. Eos is an imprint of HarperCollins, so you will be able to find this book on your shelves. This is a two book deal, so the title of the book will most likely be the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences: Phoenix Rising.

The second book is being written, and once again I am having a blast being in this universe. These characters have snappy dialogue, fabulous fashion and tend to make things go BOOM!

There will be a complimentary short story podcast planned- where many backstory threads will be explored- including why exactly Eliza got exiled from New Zealand, and what sort of childhood made Wellington into an Archivist.

Keep an eye on the website ministryofpeculiaroccurrences.com where these things will appear, and an introduction to the Ministry and its Agents can be found.

Eliza and Welly are also continuing their sparring on Twitter- and also sharing a daily news story in the world of steampunk. Follow them on BooksandBraun

This is big news- especially after my recent move of leaving my librarian day job, and to say this is a thrill is an understatement. As Super Agent Laurie McLean says so often ‘ONWARD!’