Philippa Ballantine - Author

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

Pip news

The first Geist review…and it’s a Harriet!

This is a bit of a nerve wracking time for me. My first big New York City book, and I am gearing up for the reviews.

So when my Google Alert told me that someone had reviewed Geist, I was excited and nervous… and then I found out it was from Harriet Klausner

The key to this great horror-fantasy is the belief in the magical world of Philippa Ballantine summed up by the Guardian and the Pretender when she says “If wishes were horses,” and he finishes with “I would never have to walk again.” Little touches like this bring alive the prime element of the Bond, which make the realm of Geist seem genuine. Sorcha and her two comrades are terrific characters who keep the story line focused even as the plot entertainingly switches from fantasy to horror. This is a wonderful thriller.
And if you don’t know who she is- have a read here

All I can say is, thanks Harriet. I feel like I have already arrived, and it was a nice start to the month of October!

We’re still here

An email from a concerned fan, made me realise that I have not addressed the large earthquake in New Zealand that happened on the weekend.

I was in Melbourne, Australia on Saturday morning, attending WorldCon. To put it in perspective, that’s almost the distance from LA to New York- so I didn’t feel it. However back home in Wellington, it was. However nothing was damaged.

The city that really had the devastation was Christchurch, which is in the middle of the South Island of New Zealand. The fact that no one was killed makes the whole thing more bearable, although plenty of people in that part of the country will continue to deal with the effects of the quake for months and months. Many of the lovely older buildings, made of brick and unstrengthened have collapsed or been damaged.

For those outside the effected area who want to donate check out this page

And for more information on what is going on the New Zealand Herald Site and Stuff.co.nz have dedicated pages to the 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!’

The endless list

Week Two of professional writer and gentle reader, I do hope you have stuck with me. [CAUTION; this blogpost contains more than its fair share of brackets…see I already I am knee deep in them]

Here’s what I have been up to.

Dropped into LA, and this was the first time I have actually been outside of the airport! (Even if only briefly). I met [CENSORED] to talk about [REALLY CENSORED]- which as you can imagine was pretty cool. (As soon as I can possibly talk about this I will)

But because of all that I got a chance to hang out with three fabulous stars of the pod/vidcast community. Mark Jeffrey of the Pocket and the Pendant, Earl Newton of Stranger Things and Matthew Wayne Selznick of Brave Men Run. I’ve met Earl before (the details of how however stay in DragonCon) but never had a chance to meet Matt or Mark.

Mark was lovely enough to drive me to Venice where all of us sat down for a night of sushi and sake. Needless to say, we made Earl late for his late night LA meeting, but it was hella fun, and hopefully we didn’t wreck his chances of being the next (INSERT YOUR FAVOURITE DIRECTOR HERE)

Every time I meet with people from the podosphere I have a blast, and this was no different. I’ve come to the conclusion that aside from a few outliers, those in the community of creators are just as they appear to be online. It is always a delight to meet them.

I then flew to Virginia, and was on the road when I finally managed to get the first draft of Spectre to my editor at Ace. I don’t mind saying I was sweating bullets when I sent it to super agent Laurie. This is my first real sequel. (Yes Digital Magic is the sequel to Chasing the Bard, but only one character is the same, and the time elapsed is huge) And here’s the two things I realised.

  1. When you sign the contract, start immediately!
  2. Sequels are harder-because you just don’t have the flexibility you had in the original. The world rules are laid down, and you must abide by them.
  3. Relax and have fun within those rules

Luckily Laurie came back and said she loved it- now we just wait to hear from Ace. I am sure there will be plenty of edits, but I will enjoy the breather.

Since then I have been attacking the aforementioned endless list. You know all those- things that pile up while your concentration is diverted. The email. The promotional ideas. The opportunities you couldn’t afford to miss.

I wrote myself a long list at the beginning of this week, and am slowly getting through it. Each one I strike off (even if others do spring up like the heads of the Hydra) seems like a little victory. I am slowly whittling it down to just ‘the big things’- like write another book or two.

Some of the other things I have managed to get in motion are

  • Digital Magic back on track
  • Erotica a la carte itunes app in the pipeline
  • Applied for my free trial of Voices123.com (we’ll see how much professional work I can get there)
  • Got permission to make some Geist promotional items with Jason Chan’s awesome artwork for Geist
  • Started work on the website that will contain all the promotional and podcast work for Geist geistnovel.com
  • Started work on my three short stories for Books and Braun: Bookmarks from the Ministry
  • Sort out who I want to ask to write for me for the Geist podcast anthology.
  • Send out scripts for the 3rd quarter of Digital Magic podcast
  • Started planning and plotting for a third Order book to pitch to Ace

Ahead lie so many cool things, that I want to clear the desk a bit first.

I will be in New York City on May 17th, so if you follow me on Twitter or Facebook there will be an announcement of an casual get together. And then of course there will be a chance to catch me at Balticon– along with a clutch of other podcast authors. I’ll be at the DragonMoon Press booth, doing two readings, panels and participating in live recordings for other peoples projects. It’s going to be a fun weekend- so come along and say hi if you can.

Professional writer: Day 1

Today is indeed the first day of the rest of my life- well hopefully.

I said good-bye to the library world yesterday. It was tough because I have spent 13 years in the corporate library world working with some fabulous people. I had a wonderful morning tea, talked a lot, then packed up my things, hugged my now ex-workmates, and headed off into the world. A professional writer.

Today is all about packing bags, and getting the house ready for my brother. Yes, once again I am hitting America, with meetings, a convention, and plenty of time with friends. It’s a good way to start. I took my two Siberians to the cattery and was rewarded with two of the grumpiest cat stares.

Then I came home to this… my first professional narration work. Another string to my bow, and I am very excited. So I present to you the erotic science fiction audio…

Spaceport Security by Shelby Morgen

A dark corner of a seedy bar on the edge of nowhere. A woman who’s seen too much. A man who moves through the shadows with the grace of a cat.

She’s on his tail, and he’s determined to find out why. Once he might have been flattered to have her checking out his ass. Now he knows women are dangerous. And far, far too expensive.

But Commander Kala Decoltéir always gets her man, and she wants the space pirate they call Dancer — no matter who — or what — he is. This time, Dancer has no escape.

If you want to support what I do, here’s a chance. If erotica’s not your thing, don’t worry, there are other ways to do it- and more opportunities to come.