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Posts Tagged ‘South African fantasy novel’

Who won the fantasy fiction giveaway?

11 Oct

The Tale of the Lifesong fantasy seriesMy new fantasy novel, Second Sight, is causing quite a stir on Goodreads. I ran a giveaway for a free book during September and received 980 entrants! If you haven’t tried the Goodreads giveaways before, it’s worth checking them out: the freshest fiction, free, and all you have to do is to rate the books. Sharanya Soori from Canada was the lucky winner of a signed copy.

At the same time, Dave-Brendon hosted a giveaway in South Africa for a free signed set of the two books in the Tale of the Lifesong fantasy series. It’s great to meet such an proactive bookseller (Dave-Brendan runs the SFF section of the Exclusive Books store in Pretoria). If all booksellers were this enthusiastic about South African fantasy novels, we’d be able to redefine the fantasy genre in a few short years. The winner of the South African fantasy giveaway is: Sarah Bibi Setar!

I’d love to have everyone reading my books, but if I gave all of them away I wouldn’t be able to afford to write any more. So there are no more free copies available, but if you order books from my website I can offer you some special deals.

 
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Posted in Science Fiction Fantasy News

 

The Riddler’s Gift gets a dusting of stars

07 Sep

A five star book reviewAnt over at Sfbook.com runs an impressive site crammed full of science fiction and fantasy book reviews. In the 5 star review class, there’s a great selection of top fantasy books, like David Gemmel’s Legend, Robin Hobb’s Assassins Apprentice and Stephen Donaldson’s Lord Foul’s Bane. So I’m in the best company … Sfbook awarded five stars to The Riddler’s Gift.

“There are moments in this novel that are sheer magic … ”
“A very unique and individual style, I am at times reminded of Robert Jordan’s work alongside JRR Tolkien’s but only really in passing, The Riddler’s Gift is very much on its own …”

Read the full review here

 
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Posted in Lifesong, Reviews of my fantasy novels, The Riddler's Gift

 

South African fantasy and scifi blog

05 Sep

magic, fantasy and smokeStaggering into a dark side-alley to avoid the ravenous throng of screaming fans during my recent fantasy book tour, I came to a looming building, a great towering wall of grim concrete, upon which someone had defiantly painted a masterpiece of graffiti. It said ‘DaveBrendon’s Fantasy and SciFi weblog‘. Something squeaked under my boot. Strange smoke swirled around me. I rubbed the motes from my eyes. Was I at the right address? They said I’d be safe here. I reached down, grabbed the mouse and threw it against the wall twice. A new window opened above the street. And the light that spilled out was glorious. Sprites danced in down a lamppost and whispered about my head. And inside the window, I could see … oh, I could see … oh, look for yourself:

I left a full set of The Tale of the Lifesong books at Dave-Brendon’s pozzie so if you’re South African you get a chance to be epic and win a personalised signed set. Check out the new fantasy book giveaway.

 
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Posted in Science Fiction Fantasy News

 

In conversation with author Nerine Dorman

14 Aug

On shadows, dens of iniquity, magic, and the influence of South Africa

Tea with Nerine Dorman

Nerine Dorman is a South African author, sub-editor and fiction editor. She débuted with the dark horror series of Khepera Rising and Khepera Redeemed, but has many strings to her bow – travel writing, young adult fantasy and erotic fiction. How she keeps this caleidoscope of creativity going while working a full-time job with a national South African newspaper is beyond me. I got to know her during one of her projects last year: giving an editorial polish to my fantasy novel Second Sight.

1. Can you give us a glimpse of what writing projects you have bubbling in your pot?

Right now, writing as Therése von Willegen, I’m completing another work of contemporary erotic fiction involving a young lass’s entanglement with a bad-boy celebrity. I am, however, very excited about the next dark fantasy I’ll be releasing under my real name after I’ve completed the revisions. The story follows a botanist turned reluctant vampire who has an unfortunate habit of being shipwrecked. After that I’ll be rebooting a YA urban fantasy for the adult market. Not to give too much away, the story features a carnival-style travelling circus, which I’m really looking forward to as I’ll be consulting with a friend of mine who is a performance artist. In the meanwhile I’ve been researching the old freak shows that were so popular years ago. Yes, there’s a vampire, but another favourite character of mine is a 1948 Hudson Commodore called Rose, who may be a little more sentient than people expect. Read the rest of this entry »

 
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Posted in Science Fiction Fantasy News

 

A reading of Second Sight

13 Jul

Sometimes, it is really lovely to be told a story. I recorded an audiobook of The Riddler’s Gift, which plays out over 22 hours. But I’m not planning an audiobook for Second Sight, because of the many tricky voices and dialects involved in the story. I think I need the professionals on this one, to do it justice. I’m happy to offer you a reading from the first chapter, nonetheless. Join me for a few minutes of fireside story-telling.

 
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Posted in Greg Hamerton, Lifesong, Second Sight

 

A reading of The Riddler’s Gift

12 Jul

Writing a fantasy novel involves years of silence, and talking to the small stone dragon on the top of my keyboard would probably get me committed to the loonybin. So I don’t utter a word, for a very long time. Now that The First Tale of the Lifesong is released, I’m delighted to share a few spoken words with you from the first chapter of The Riddler’s Gift.

 
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Posted in Greg Hamerton, Lifesong, The Riddler's Gift

 

The real magic of fantasy writing

22 Jun

When I was thirteen, I went to the College of Magic, to learn all I could. It was kind of a Harry Potter school for stage magicians – there are rabbits coming out of hats, white doves flapping about and silk scarves that turned into ropes. I sat down eagerly to my first class, apprentice wizard that I was. I was told there is no magic. I was told it is all illusion, all trickery, all a sham. I couldn’t have been more disappointed.

What followed were three years of interesting sleight of hand techniques, visual effects and misdirection. They were right; there was no magic in it. They only used clever dyes, trick card decks and boxes with false bottoms. But I did not believe them that there was no magic at all. It was just that they had no magic to offer.

I believe in magic, and so I found a way to work with it, or rather, it found me.
Read the rest of this entry »

 
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Posted in Writing Fantasy

 

The new hardcover books leave India!

02 Jun

Two pallets of books departed from India today, bound for South Africa and the UK. Thomson Press did the printing again, and I’m expecting the same excellent quality that they delivered with The Riddler’s Gift. I’ve seen the advance copies and they look amazing! I’m so glad I chose to go with hardcover for this limited first edition. It’s light and feels solid. Shiny!

Here’s a sneak preview of what’s coming on August 1.




 
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Posted in Lifesong, Second Sight

 

The Tale of the Lifesong

01 Jun

A new fantasy series that will weave music through your soul.

There is a song that drifts on the breeze through all the world. Its rhythyms are echoed in our breath, the music is caught in our laughter, hidden in our language, woven through our life. Singers reach for the melody, but it is too delicate to hold and too elusive to remember. As the Ages pass, so the Lifesong retreats under the sounds of our time, its potent beauty and danger ever more a mystery.

Few know how the Lifesong has shaped our world, for those who hear its tune would rather sing than write, and to grasp its tale we must go back, far back beyond our brief and incomplete history, to when the world was changing; when life was shadowed by a mighty legend.

Epic fantasy novel The Riddler's Gift
READ A SAMPLE		 New fantasy novel Second Sight
READ A SAMPLE
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“A highly recommended fantasy novel … enormous fun to read”
FANTASY BOOK REVIEW
 
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Posted in Lifesong