This past weekend was the ‘Magic Casements’ speculative fiction festival at the NSW Writer’s Centre. It was a good day. There was a decent turnout of people and lots of great discussions and workshops. RealmShift was being sold there along with loads of other great spec fic by the good people from Infinitas Bookstore.
I got to meet lots of other great authors and editors in the genre, including Sean McMullen (and his writer daughter Catherine), David B Coe, Terry Dowling, Cat Sparks, Jaiden Glendenning, Richard Harland, Donna Hanson, Robert Hoge and more.
RealmShift sold a few copies during the day, which was great. Now hopefully those people that bought it will enjoy it and tell all their friends. That’s the way the wheel keeps turning. I also gave away loads of little cards bearing all the details about the book – I was on a mission of shameless self-promotion.
At the end of a long day I went to dinner with a bunch of the people mentioned above and others. It was a real treat to be able to talk about our passions in such a relaxed atmosphere and to talk about things other than writing too, for the first time that day. I was honoured to be in such company.
Next on the agenda for me now is a holiday. I’ve got about ten days away coming up, leaving on Thursday. The time will be spent resting my aching body and enjoying the first real break of more than a few days that we’ve had in a couple of years. I’m looking forward to having some space to think and make more notes for the follow-up book to RealmShift, which I haven’t had a chance to work on for a while. And it will be great not to train or teach for more than a week and let all these little niggles and aches in my muscles recover.
So if you don’t hear anything on the blog here for a couple of weeks, don’t panic. I’ll be back, fresher and sharper than ever. ‘Is that possible?’ I hear you cry. By the gods, yes it is.
