Category: Blog

The volunteers had a Christmas tree and ginger bread house decorating competition at Oz Comic-Con, and my volunteers didn’t win. Robbed!
December Update
The last newsletter for the year and it’s been one of the best years ever.
Serpent Princess was so warmly welcomed by everyone, and I am hard at work on the sequel, ‘Queen of Hell’ – which the Patrons on my Patreon are already reading. Fan favourite return incoming!
The TAFE/University of Queensland projects were a massive success, and we’re in the process of bringing at least one of the game demos online into a web-playable version so everyone can have a try.

The volunteers had an absolute blast with them.
So: On to 2026! I have big plans.

The games were made as a part of a unit called ‘Professional Practice 1’. First semester next year is ‘Professional Practice 2’ and we’ll be taking these projects even further – and applying for a grant to make the games or animations that the students have started.
I’m in the process of regaining the rights to the original Dark Heavens series. I’m planning to re-edit them to something closer to my original version, have new covers made for them and re-release them in both paperback and special edition hardcovers.
If I do regain the rights, I’ll be able to do something about having the final three books of ‘Dark Heavens’ released as audiobooks here in Australia.
I’ll be presenting a workshop, engaging in two panels, and hosting a chatter session at Genrecon in Brisbane in February. More details on that in the January newsletter.
I’ll be at Oz Comic-Con for nearly very show next year, and hopefully I’ll have the new Dark Heavens editions ready to go! (The publishers are being slow to return the rights to me.)
My self-publishing business at https://www.essentialselfpub.com.au has been going so well that I’ll be redesigning the site and raising my rates over the Christmas break. Send me your books for self-publishing!

Thank you all for being so wonderful and supporting me throughout the year. Time to slow down and relax for a while, and I hope everybody’s holiday decorations are as awesome as those by the Oz Comic-Con volunteers, even though they didn’t win when they should have!

I will have the keyrings and stickers at Melbourne Christmas Comic-Con on December 6-7, so see you there!
November Newsletter
Thanks to everybody who came along to Supanova Brisbane to try out the games. We had three games at the show for everyone to judge, and the students were super excited to share their projects.

Yes, one of our games producers was Spider-Man. This is the wonderful Dark Heavens Explored team, fretting because their game wasn’t at optimal resolution on the wide screens provided by TAFE.
The final three games we showed were:
Dark Heavens Explored

This is a 3D pixelart game. The students asked me about Heavenly Wudang, and I scribbled a map of the facility for them, and they built it. This is a bridge leading over the water to the main square surrounded by the three main halls. Master Liu is waiting there, in his Shaolin robes, ready to give Emma some special training in True Way hall. Note that the students even managed to do the black banners with the motif of the Big Dipper on them.

Inside True Way Hall, Emma learns some basic martial arts moves, and destroys a dummy. She then walks to the stairs behind the hall, and proceeds up to the Golden Temple, which the students have recreated on the top.
This game won people’s choice, so congratulations to the Dark Heavens Explored team! (Prizes were provided by the Australian Computer Society, who helped develop the Level Up program at Supanova).
Celestial Banishment: Journey of the Jade Dragon
Itta did a poster for this game, and look how it turned out! (He gave me a printed on to put on my stand at Oz Comic-Con as well).

The students based their design of Jade on Queenie’s design from ‘Small Shen’ – and Queenie was delighted to see it.
This game is a sidescroller with lovely lush colours. Jade has to travel to the Celestial Palace, to try to steal the scroll that banishes her from the heavens…

She has to fight random guards, and then faces a big boss which is an original design from the students – and they had a bunch of lovely original designs!

The game itself was super popular, and the Nine Dragon Wall was a fun feature. Jade’s health bar is a pearl held in a dragon’s claws, and as she takes damage, the pearl itself is shattered.

This game won Creator’s Choice Award, because myself and my business partner thought this one was terrific.
Detective Cheung – Investigating the Chen Family
This wasn’t my idea, but I’m so glad the students thought of it. This is a game in the style of Ace Attorney (OBJECTION!) where Detective Cheung is convinced that Emma murdered John and wants to take his fortune. They completely and accurately recreated the actual building where I placed the Hennessy Road Earthly Wudang Academy – the diamond-shaped cutouts on this building to the left are real.

Cheung here is standing next to a Hong Kong bus stop, and although the designs are mostly roughed out at this stage (they only had one semester!) they did a fabulous job of recreating the streetscape down to rubbish bins and bus stops. And their design of the family itself is flawless.
This team won Highly Commended and I honestly think all three teams were winners.

Melbourne Oz Comic-Con
I don’t usually do the December Melbourne pop-up but this time I have the merch ready (keyrings and stickers as shown at the top of the newsletter) and I’ll be selling them from my stand. I’ve also asked for my table to have power so I can take my laptop along and give you a chance to play the actual games! So if you’re in Melbourne, come and check out the games and the lovely merch that the students designed and produced for me, and that will be available online soon. (We’re thrashing out a licensing agreement and that’s a LOT of paperwork.)
So see you in December, and if you’re in the other states I’ll have plenty of merch for you next year!

Very happy to have me home.
October Newsletter
Thanks to everyone who came to say hello at Oz Comic-Con Brisbane and Sydney. Here’s a photo of me with Chloe from Long’s Tea who had a stand there, and recognised my name from all the orders I’ve made!

She also gave me a bunch of tea samples that I’ll be sharing on the newsletter over the next few months.
While I was in Sydney I visited Kaligraphic Print, who are making my foiled special editions. There are so many beautiful books being made there:

Many thanks to Katya and the team for being so welcoming and showing us her trophy shelf of gorgeous books she’s made!
I’ll be at Oz Comic-Con Melbourne in December (December 6-7) at the Melbourne Convention Centre, and I’ve already ordered more copies of the foiled ‘Serpent Princess’ Special Editions. Patrons are reading the sequel to ‘Serpent Princess’, titled ‘Queen of Hell’, already!

Click to hear the ‘Snake/Turtle’ concept theme

Mario at TAFE Qld / University of Canberra is working on themes for the ‘Dark Heavens’ animation and I am Kermit flailing. Click to listen!

September Newsletter
A very busy couple of weeks coming up for me!
Oz Comic-Con

I’ll be in Brisbane this weekend the 13-14 at the Convention Centre, find me at GA 12 in Artist’s alley!
I’ll have plenty of copies of all the books (including the foiled special editions) and a folder of some of the concept art from the students at TAFE Qld/University of Canberra (It’s a joint course from the two institutes).

Next weekend 20-21 I’ll be in Sydney at Olympic Park, so come along and say hello (and buy books) there as well!
TAFE Qld/University of Canberra
The students at the course have been working hard to produce some interesting media works based on ‘Dark Heavens’. So far we have:

A ‘Jade the Dragon’ side scrolling game where she’s running across the rooftops of the Forbidden City trying to find and steal the scroll that exiles her from Heaven (with bonus dragon transformations planned)
An ‘Emma on Wudang Mountain’ 3D pixelart game where Emma will have to fight her way through a training regiment of demons on Heavenly Wudang Mountain (I scribbled a map of the Mountain for the designers!)
A really interesting take on a game like ‘Ace Attorney’ where you’re Detective Cheung (who pops up occasionally through the series), convinced that Emma and Leo murdered John’s wife and now have plans to murder John and take his fortune. Crack the case and find the truth!

There are a few others, but come up to me at Oz Comic-Con and I will show you concept art and explain some of the ideas.
QWC Self-Publishing Workshop
I’m giving a workshop at QWC in Brisbane on the 27th on Self-Publishing, so if you’re interested in self-publishing your work, definitely come along. I’m hoping that someone will have a completed manuscript that we can self-publish on the day!
I’ll have more to share in October, when the students have made more progress.
Patrons are listening to all four of the music themes, and are seeing pictures from the concept designs!

The TAFE/University of Canberra students learning about project management. The pitch sessions for their ‘Dark Heavens’ projects happen next Tuesday.
 
August Update
Last Tuesday I spent the afternoon helping the TAFE QLD/Uni of Canberra (it’s a joint bachelor’s program) students to define the projects that they want to submit for the Dark Heavens assignment. They were talking games, animation, and even character designs and concept artwork, which of course I am very excited about.
There are plans to have a showcase at Brisbane Supanova in November, so that everyone can view what they’ve produced (and vote on a people’s choice). So much fun!
Oz Comic-Con Brisbane and Sydney
I have Pixie booked into the cattery for the weekend, and I am good to go! A couple of Patrons have taken me up on the offer to sit behind the table and help me out in Brisbane, so that will be marvellous.

I HEARD YOU BOOK ME INTO THE CATTERY AND I AM NOT TALKING TO YOU
(She’s sitting on the printer and it is covered with multiple layers to protect it from the cat hair. This has substantially prolonged its life – and helped me avoid reprinting. It’s her favourite sunny spot.)
Oz Comic-Con Dates:
Brisbane: September 13-14
Sydney: September 20-21
Note that I will also be at Oz Comic-Con Melbourne Christmas Pop-Up in December!
Upcoming QWC Workshop

On Saturday September 27 I will be presenting a full-day workshop on self-publishing at the Queensland Writers Centre. I love doing this one, because hopefully someone will bring their manuscript and we can publish it on the day.
More details on the workshop are here: https://queenslandwriters.org.au/events/self-publishing-from-manuscript-to-publication
Self-Published Book of the Day

As a sideline, I help people self-publish their books through my platform ‘Essential Self-Publishing’. One of my first clients was the remarkable Elle Croxford, who had an outstanding story to tell.
‘The Sentimental Bloke’ was one of Australia’s first full-length feature films. It was a silent movie made in 1919 and the producer, owner and lead actress was a woman called Lottie Lyell (pictured on the cover, and yes she was not blonde). All copies of the film were thought lost until one was found languishing in a New York film archive, mislabelled as ‘The Sentimental Blonde’ because the staff of the archive hadn’t heard of the word ‘Bloke’.
Elle tells the story of how the film was rediscovered, and the tragic romance at the heart of its making in 1919.
My business page has more info about the book, and an link to where you can discover more about Elle’s work, and purchase it.
 

Subscribe to my Patreon to receive out-takes, special editions and the latest Dark Heavens before it’s published!