Philippa Ballantine - Author

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

Pip news

Cat in the snow…

2013-03-06 16.33.47It’s the untold joys and disappointments of the writing lifestyle that I have to get used to. Sometimes you are a cat lying in the sun, sometimes you are dumped in the snow. Sometimes both happen in one day..

On one hand. Got to see the new cover for Dawn’s Early Light. It’s awesome, and come May 29th we’ll be revealing it. Yay!

On the other, trying to get a handle on a new series that I am putting together and finding a home for it. Boo!

On a second hand. The Janus Affair won the Steampunk Chronicles Reader’s Choice Award for Best Fiction. Yay!

On another. Trying to find a home for the book I love set in New Zealand that seems to be a hard sell to America. Boo!

And so on…and so on…

I have to keep reminding myself that in a regular job there are ups and downs to. I am still living the dream of making a living off writing, but I would caution writers hoping to do the same, you’re going to have days like these.

However, on the plus side, I am developing a new historical fantasy series, a new YA series, and a new high fantasy series. At this stage it is up to the point of seeing which one publishers like the look of.

In the meantime, plenty of new short stories coming out, so if you are in the mood for supporting my independent projects, check out Imagine That! Studios offering.

Now, I am off to wrestle with a whole new fantasy world, magic system, and a batch of screaming sisters. Hopefully there are no more cats-dumped-in-the-snow moments…

Foreword into the future

So…this just happened…

I am with a new agency. If you know how much I love working with my agent Laurie McLean you might be shocked. However, I am still with Laurie, it is just the Laurie has launched into a this venture. Foreword Literary is a brand new venture in agencies, one that looks at the oncoming changes in publishing and meets them, not with fear but excitement.

Laurie has always been full of ideas, and with her experience working in with technology and marketing, she has a great handle on what is happening right now in publishing. Reading her reasoning behind starting Foreword explains it all. And I am sure its going to go to be a fun and exciting ride. I’m very happy to be on this new adventure.

Here’s the press release and the website to check out the awesome coming from this team.


FOREWORD LITERARY DEBUTS IN SAN FRANCISCO

New agency to concentrate on traditional and emerging aspects

of book publishing for their author-clients

 

March 5, 2013—San Francisco Bay Area—A new literary agency was formed today in California’s Silicon Valley…one focused on technology and innovation in addition to the more traditional aspects of publishing. Laurie McLean and Pam van Hylckama Vlieg, both former literary agents with Larsen Pomada Literary Agents, along with Gordon Warnock, formerly a senior agent at Andrea Hurst & Associates, have joined forces to create FOREWORD LITERARY, INC. with headquarters in the Silicon Valley and offices throughout the country.

“My background for more than 20 years before I entered publishing was in high tech marketing,” McLean said. “So in 2008 I recognized the emergence of Smashwords, Kindle, self-publishing, and ebooks, as a disruptive force that would revolutionize the publishing industry. I’ve seen this type of transformation many times before, and I know how to take advantage of the opportunities that are cropping up everywhere. This is where I want to make a difference for authors and publishers.”

Foreword Literary will be a virtual agency with professionals in the San Francisco Bay area, Sacramento, Chicago and the Central Coast of California to begin with. But geographic limitations will be swept away through the use of cloud-based technology.

“Like the name says, Foreword Literary was created to move our clients’ careers and publishing forward. We keep abreast of all current and upcoming technology and plan to utilize every aspect of publishing to our clients’ favor, be it print, digital, or the newest thing since Gutenberg that hasn’t been invented yet,” said van Hylckama Vlieg.

New York Times and USA Today bestselling YA fantasy author Julie Kagawa, who landed three seven-figure deals while McLean’s client, will make the move to Foreword, as will 24 of McLean’s clients, 23 of van Hylckama Vlieg’s clients, and all of Warnock’s clients.

Warnock said, “I’m excited about what this means for our clients. We all have writing backgrounds, and we bring that passion and understanding to each of our projects. We’re also very aware that we can only be successful when our clients are successful. We’ve created an environment that is conducive to building promising writing careers, and I honestly think they’ll be some of the best served in the business.”

Counting those blessings…thank you 2012

Originally this post was going to be all about how 2012 was a roller coaster of a year. I know that many folks have felt that way in 2012. With two lay offs for Tee, and the financial and emotional stress of that, things haven’t been easy for us. However, I also know plenty of folks that have had it worse, so I determined not to complain in this post.

Baltimore Book Festival 2012Once I decided to do that, I thought about 2012 with a bit more of a balanced eye, and I realized something. We’ve in fact been very blessed this year in one amazing respect. Friends.

Tee and I have met and made friends with some amazing folks in 2012. I shall preface this with we were already surrounded with amazing folks that we met through the podcasting community. Ever since I started podcasting in 2006 I have felt the warmth, generosity and kindness of that community. Having a friend in practically any American city I have gone to has made this country a far more welcoming place than I ever could have imagined.

However, in 2013 Tee and I made the conscious decision to go beyond our usual convention circuit, and particularly go to more steampunk conventions. We found there were a bunch more wonderful folks that we hadn’t connected with before, who were just as welcoming and kind as our podcasting friends.

Many of these new friends, stepped up to help us in ways that blew our minds this year. I’m going to give shoutouts to some folk, but there are so many more than I can fit on one blog post.

Sarah and Thomas of Brute Force. They helped Tee and I out with the Janus Affair book trailer, welcomed us into their house, and made an impression that will last forever. I look forward to more madness and delight at their manor in 2013.

PJ Schnyder. A dear friend who cooks far too well, and leads us into temptation because of it. Another project coming in 2013 we have trusted to her hands, and I know she will knock it out of the park.

Kate Cross. Kate Locke. She of many names. We met this delightful fellow author at New York Comic Con in 2011, but got some time with her at DragonCon that made me wish she didn’t live so far away.

The sweet Professor Upsidasium, Doctor Q, Steampunk Boba Fett, Karina Cooper we all met at DragonCon as well, and welcomed us into their steampunky world. I hope 2013 will mean more time with them.

Not to forget the darling Peter Woodworth, who it turns out has connections with our friends Jared Axelrod and JR Blackwell. He quite charmed us—and Sonic Boom. We won’t forget that in a hurry.

We got to meet some fine folks in New Orleans at Authors After Dark. It was a convention we never expected to go to, but thanks to Stella Price we were able to jump at the chance. Very much looking forward to Savannah in 2013!

All new wonderful friends. Added to those clever, witty, generous, and kind friends in our neighborhood and in podcasting, and I realize Tee and I have an embarrassment of riches in friends. Every one of them made a difference this year. So it feels a little churlish to complain about the bumps in 2012.

So many exciting things lie ahead, plenty of books in the summer, anthologies, roleplaying games, conventions we’ve never been to, and a trip back to New Zealand. Yet so many of these would not have been possible without our friends.

It also means, I will never run out of people to dedicate books to.

If you’re reading this, then you are probably someone I owe thanks to as well. Without listeners, readers, supporters, none of these things would have happened. I hope 2013 is kind to us all.

Line of books 2012

Kindred and Wings- COVER REVEAL

I hope however you celebrate and whatever holiday you observe, that you had a good time.

I got a little present for you myself. The cover for Kindred and Wings. Yes, the pre-order is live, and the book should be available on 6th August 2013.

Cynthia Sheppard has done a wonderful job of capturing my very first dragon cover! Wait until you see what Wahirangi CloudLord can do. He’s been a lot of fun to write.

Roll on 2013!!

Kindred and Wings

News from near and far

December is going to be a fun month. I hope everyone recovered from their turkey (I cooked my first one!) and ready for the next assault on the waistline.

With all that lies ahead in 2013 my husband and I are on a new regime of healthy eating and exercise, and I highly recommend it for keeping the creative juices flowing. I’m currently finishing off the first round of edits of Harbinger, and as always my wonderful editor at Ace, Danielle Stockley has done a bang up job of pointing out the weaknesses of the story.

That’s the funny thing about editors, they usually end up telling you things you already knew in the back of your mind. The nice bit is they usually give you suggestions how to get around that blockage. I think Harbinger is going to nicely tie up loose ends for Sorcha, Merrick and Raed. I don’t think I am doing spoilers by saying Danielle might have teared up at the ending…

Harbinger has no cover yet, but does have a release date of July 30th 2013 over on Amazon.

However there is more Sorcha news sooner than that. First the Science Fiction Book Club now has the order page up and running for the hardcover Omnibus edition of the first three books. It’s called the Order of Deacons. I haven’t got a really good quality version of the cover image, but what I can see I approve. It apparently was not done by Jason Chan, but the artist has done a great job of capturing Sorcha, Merrick and the Rossin in all their glory. I can’t wait for January when the hardback arrive.

You can pre-order from here—but you have to be a member. (I really enjoy my membership!)

In more news from the Order, the German edition of Geist is now also available for pre-order. Interestingly the German publisher decided not to go with the American title, and instead it is called Der verfluchte Prinz (The Cursed Prince) which I am totally fine with. The series is also called something different Die Runen der Macht (The Runes of Power). And then there is the cover. Personally, I nearly always love the German covers. There is something of a different sensibility to them, and luckily this is one of those times when I was blown away.

The hair colour is darker than in the American version, but that really doesn’t bother me, because of the totally Sorcha attitude on display. The little details, the background, and the sense of movement and purpose in it, very much captures my heroine.

You can pre-order Der verfluchte Prinz from here

 

And in December the Janus Affair comes out in Germany.

 

And finally, the anthology I have a novella in is available for pre-order on Amazon. Clockwork Fairytales: A Collection of Steampunk Fables should be out in June.

Phew! Looks like 2013 is going to be as busy as 2012—if not more so. So what do you think of the covers?