Category: Blog

Queensland winter: the wind is chilly and goes straight through me, but the sun is bright and the sky is an intense, crystalline blue. 

August Update
 
Oz Comic-Con is Go!
 

We finally have the communications issues sorted (they were very apologetic) and I am confirmed for Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne next year. Lock it in – we don’t know dates yet – but I will be there – with copies of ‘Serpent Princess’, my new Dark Heavens novel!

Brisbane and Sydney September 2024
In more immediate news, I will also be at Oz Comic-Con Brisbane and Sydney this year. I doubt I’ll have ‘Serpent Princess’ ready for the shows (it’s in editing right now) but I’d love to see you at the show and say hello.
I’ll be in Brisbane on September 14-15, and Sydney September 21-22, so come on up, say hello, and yell at me for not having ‘Serpent Princess’ out yet!
I’ll be in touch with the high-tier patrons soon to arrange for their passes to the shows so they can come and help me out for the day. It’s always fun to have someone along to help!

‘The Sentimental Blonde’

Elle launching ‘The Sentimental Blonde’ at Avid Reader in West End
One of the most rewarding parts of being an author is helping others. I was delighted to assist Elle Croxford, through her residency at the Queensland Writers Centre, to release her fabulous historical romance, ‘The Sentimental Blonde’, direct to consumer.
The first thing anyone says when they see the cover (on the left) is… ‘She’s not blonde!’
That’s because it’s the story of Australia’s first movie blockbuster, ‘The Sentimental Bloke’, a film from the silent era. For fifty years it was thought lost, until it was found – in New York – mislabelled as ‘The Sentimental Blonde’ (probably because they thought the word ‘bloke’ was a meaningless typo).
Elle tells the story of Lottie Lyell, the pioneering woman who produced, directed, and starred in this film, and I was immensely proud to help her to reach her goal of having her fabulous story in print.
More info at ellecroxford.com, and if you know someone who wants to self-publish their novel or memoir and doesn’t know where to start, then send them in my direction – I’m only too happy to help!
See more about ‘The Sentimental Blonde’ at Elle’s page.

Winter is here, and every time I settle onto the couch to play one of my games on the Playstation, Pixie nestles under my arm and puts her paw on the controller to help. 

July Update

‘Serpent Princess’
Thanks to everyone who’s been waiting so patiently for the update on ‘Serpent Princess’, the new Dark Heavens novel. I finished this book at the end of last year, and gave it to Harper-Collins in January. Last week, after a number of emails where I received no reply, I contacted the publishers by phone, and my lovely editor, terribly apologetic, said that they had to reject it. My sales haven’t been strong enough for them to gamble on it.
This is actually good news for the fans! If not so great for me.
It means that I can self-publish ‘Serpent Princess’, will have complete control over how the cover will look (no bad martial arts or Japanese gi, for example), and I will be able to have some really special hardcover limited editions printed to present to my beloved Patrons (and to sell on my website and at conventions).I’ve always wanted special editions of the Dark Heavens novels – and I know you guys would love boxed sets – but Harper-Collins have never considered them, as they’re not economically feasible. Harper-Collins 100% own the rights to all the previous Dark Heavens novels, and I don’t have the right to print anything myself.
I am also talking to them about getting the rights back for my novels, and if that happens I can print them myself all the same size. Boxed sets could also happen. Note that 90% of the time they don’t reply to my emails, and this would require them to do a great deal of contractual work and lose the income they gain from my books, so I’m not holding my breath about it.
It felt really strange to go from ‘published author’ to effectively ‘unemployed’ and I admit it was a blow, particularly at this stage of my life. But after building a completely new base in Subnautica and discovering a new galaxy in No Man’s Sky I am back to doing what I love, adding to the sequel to Serpent Princess (which I’ve started already) and I’m well on the way to finished ‘Bodies of Stone and Water’, the sequel to ‘Minds of Sand and Light’. (Harper-Collins have made it very clear that they aren’t interested in anything else that I write, so I’ll have to self-publish that as well.)
I’m not stopping, I’m changing direction. As my friend Traci Harding said, ‘You were the last Voyager author standing, and that’s an achievement.’ (She means the last author recruited by the legendary Stephanie Smith in the heyday of Voyager, when she successfully built Australian speculative fiction from nearly nothing.)
I’ll continue writing what I love, and thank you for loving it as well. Watch this space as I have ‘Serpent Princess’ edited and arrange for the cover design! Next time you see me at a convention, I’ll have new Dark Heavens for you, and not before time. And the Patrons will be getting their own, special, versions of everything!

Five minutes earlier, the prismatic cloud had the full range of colours. As it was sunset, it showed mostly the red end of the spectrum. Winter at the Gold Coast has special moments like these.

June Update
Sincerest apologies to both Adelaide and Melbourne now (as well as Perth). I couldn’t make Oz Comic-Con in either of these cities for a variety of reasons, but I will definitely be in Sydney and Brisbane in September!
I know Perth hasn’t seen me in ages, and I’m looking at a way to get over there before next year. I will keep you updated.
I haven’t heard from Harper-Collins about Book 10 of ‘Dark Heavens’ – ‘Serpent Princess’ (I sent them a reminder last week) but if it happens, I will have a new book to show everyone later this year and will have a good reason to visit you. It normally takes about six months for them to accept/reject a novel I send them, and I sent it to them in January, so I should hear soon – and you will all be the first to know.
Brilliant Experience in Kyogle

The library decked out in fairy lights for the launch of the writer’s festival.

Thanks so much to Kyogle Readers and Writers, who were fabulous hosts and looked after me so well. Special thanks to Ruth and John, who hosted me in their gorgeous Balinese-styled country home and took me around to see the sights of Kyogle. The sky, without the Gold Coast’s light pollution, was breath-taking.
My half-day self-publishing workshop was tremendously well received, and some people there are doing wonderful things – one local writer has produced a guide to everything hospice and assisted dying, and another is a local artisanal miso producer who has written a user manual in calligraphy on rice paper, and wants to publish it to give to workshop attendees! So much inspiring creativity and originality.
Here’s a link to the local newspaper’s story about the festival’s opening night, and there’s more articles there (one about my workshop)!
https://indynr.com/writers-and-readers-have-arrived-in-kyogle-for-festival/

Gold Coast Talk this Saturday: Writing Scripts for Games

I’ll be at Burleigh Waters Community Centre at 11am to give a talk to the Gold Coast Writer’s Association on ‘Writing Scripts for Games’. It’ll be about the Haven ‘The Keeper’ experience that I wrote the script for, and should be mind-blowing for anyone who thinks game scripts are anything at all like movie ones. There will be screenshots of the Unreal Engine back-end for the game, and I’ll do a quick slide of the process of taking the script and making it into an interactive experience.
Short version: It was really hard!
Here’s a link to the meeting, and all are welcome, you don’t have to be a member of the GCWA to show up:
https://goldcoastwriters.org/about/gold-coast-writers-association-whats-on/
I have uploaded a new extract from ‘Serpent Princess’ for $5+ a month Patrons on the Patreon, and a new addition to book 2 of the Council of AIs, ‘Bodies of Stone and Water’, for Patrons who subscribed for at least $1 a month.

Cooler weather means steamboat! Also called hotpot. BEST winter warmer and the Thai ‘Sukiyaki’ dipping sauce I found at the local Asian Grocery is wonderful. So tasty!
May Update

Oz Comic-Con
Sincerest apologies to my Perth fans, due to a mixup at Oz Comic-Con I was unable to make the show. I really wanted to go, but there were some administrative issues and communication failures, and I wasn’t informed about the show until it was too late to attend.
If I go overseas (!) for work related to my HavenXR contract later this year, I will try to stop in at Perth on the way back. I do want to visit you! I could possibly arrange with Stefan at Stefan’s Books and/or White Dwarf to do signings there, it’s just a matter of sorting out the travel and schedule. Stefan wrote a glowing review for ‘Minds’ in the premier Australian trade publishing magazine, ‘Books+Publishing’, so I definitely owe him a visit. I will do my best to get to Perth some time this year, and will definitely make Perth Oz Comic-Con next year, regardless!

Cons for the Rest of the Year
Oz Comic-Con still have Adelaide and Melbourne in June, and I’m hoping to hear from them soon about doing these shows. I will keep you updated, so watch the June newsletter (and my Facebook page) for confirmation about them. Then I have Brisbane and Sydney later in the year!

‘Serpent Princess’
I am still yet to hear from Harper-Collins about it, but a six month delay for acceptance is normal. I have started work on the next one in the series, which will invert the ratios: ‘Serpent Princess’ is about 75% Simone and 25% Emma/John; the next (untitled, maybe ‘Dark Empress’?) one will be 25% Simone and 75% John/Emma. As those Patrons who have read ‘Princess’ know, Simone again has a great deal of aftermath to deal with!
Thanks for staying with me while we sort this out, and I do want to visit all of you in person! Fingers crossed I can work out the Con issues and visit you all to share the excitement.

Pink sunset with a storm on the horizon, and a rainbow fragment in the middle of it. Autumn is brilliant!

 
April Update
I delayed updating the blog because I was waiting for confirmation from Oz Comic-Con about the possibility of doing their Perth con in May, but I haven’t heard anything back so let’s assume for now that it’s not happening – and if I do hear otherwise, I will send another email out.
I will update everybody about other cons as I find out about them, so watch this space – and the new Facebook page at facebook.com/kylie.chan.writer.
Aurealis Finalist!

‘Minds of Sand and Light’ has been shortlisted for ‘Best Science Fiction Novel’ at the 2024 Aurealis Awards, to be held in Melbourne in May. I won’t be at the ceremony, I’ll be at the regional writers festival in Kyogle, so wish me luck!
I’ve only been shortlisted one other time, and never won one, but this one will be hard because the field is full of wonderfully talented Australian authors and everybody deserves to win!
Kyogle Readers and Writers
I adore regional festivals and I will never say no when invited to one. Kyogle is in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales and I’m very much looking forward to spending a couple of days there with my literary hat on.
I’ll be giving a half-day workshop on self-publishing (followed by a workshop titled ‘Making it Good Enough To Publish’ by Melaina Faranda!) on Saturday May 18 at 9.30 am. The workshop will need to be booked separately so pop over to the Kyogle Festival site if you’re interested in attending.
This festival is punching way above its weight in terms of literary accomplishment and varied panels. There’ll be something there for everyone, and an exciting lineup that includes some of Australia’s greatest literary talents.
Serpent Princess
I forgot to ask my editor about ‘Serpent Princess’ when she emailed me to congratulate me on the Aurealis Finalist announcement! Hopefully we’ll hear from them soon. The Patrons have already read it and are asking about the next one. This one hasn’t even been released yet, guys!