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Carpe Librum!

Interview with Wanda Wiltshire, author of Betrothed

Author Wanda Wiltshire

It gives me pleasure to welcome Wanda Wiltshire to Carpe Librum today.  Wanda is the Australian author of Betrothed, a YA fantasy romance novel, published by Pantera Press this month.

I heard in an ABC interview recently that you only started writing 4 years ago, what gave you the confidence to begin?
Knowing it was what I was meant to do. Until a few years ago I was just dreaming my way through life, feeling like I didn’t fit and doing my best to be unconcerned by it. Then something happened that threw my world into chaos and began the most challenging time of my life – the kind of time that makes you question the meaning of it all. Eventually my questioning led me to God. It was quite literally like walking out of the storm and into the calm. Soon I realized that if He created me, then it had to have been for a purpose. It was a light-bulb moment. With no idea what that purpose might be, I asked Him to reveal it to me. Three little words came directly to my mind – ‘Write a book.’  I argued for a while, believing it far too big for me, but that quiet voice was insistent. Later that day I went to my daughter and said ‘God’s telling me to write a book.’ She rolled her eyes and said, ‘Whatever, Mum,’ but joined me in trying to come up with an idea. We came up with nothing. So that night I went to bed and prayed. ‘God, I hear you, but if you want me to write a book you’d better send me something because I’ve got nothing!’ The next morning, in that hazy time between sleeping and waking, Betrothed slipped into my mind. 

What was the hardest part of writing Betrothed?
I can’t say there was anything hard about writing Betrothed, but it was time consuming. It took around eight or nine months to complete the first draft which sat at around 126,000 words. I tucked it away and took it out six months later after I’d written the end on my second book. Then the real work on Betrothed began – all the editing and refining. 

Do you plan your writing in advance or does it unfold as you go?
With Betrothed, there was no planning at all. The story was given to me beautifully presented and complete – a gift. Even the characters came ready named and alive to me! As I wrote, it was almost as though the wrapping was being slowly peeled from the parcel as small details and surprises were revealed to me! With subsequent books, I have done a little planning, often in the form of notes which frequently get lost never to be found again.

When do you do your best work?  Where do you do most of your writing?
I do my best work when I begin early in the day – the earlier the better. Sometimes when I sit down to write at five or six in the morning, it’s nothing for me to still be going at midnight! But, if I procrastinate much beyond midday I’m lost and usually only endure til 6pm or so. I have an eight year old and need to be accessible to him, so I write in the family room. Although nowhere near as ideal as the lonely cottage by the sea of my dreams, it works well enough.

Why do you think the Young Adult (YA) genre is so popular at the moment compared to 10-15 years ago?
Hmm … The popularity of Harry Potter might have something to do with it. I clearly recall the criticism adult lovers of the first in J. K. Rowling’s series endured. These days however, it’s common to see older people reading books written for a younger audience. I’m not sure how accurate it is but I heard the target age for YA is now 13 – 55! With a greater number of people reading YA books, it stands to reason a greater number of people would choose to write them too. I love well written YA. It possesses a freshness and innocence lacking in adult literature.

What are you reading at the moment?
I’ve just finished reading Jane Austen’s, Persuasion – again. As always, I’ve been left wanting more!

What are some of your favourite books/authors?
I love books that pull me quickly into the story. They also must make me feel deeply and create a vivid picture with as few words as possible.  My favourite authors are genius at this and include Anne Rice, Melina Marchetta, Maggie Stiefvater, Markus Zusak and Jane Austen. These five all combine compelling story with exceptional writing – the winning combination. (I'm a big fan of Anne Rice too!)

Do you buy your books or borrow them from the library? Do you prefer paper or e-books?
The library doesn’t work for me. I can rarely find the book I’m after and when I manage to, I usually end up with a fine for not returning it on time! Nor do e-books appeal. I’m way too forgetful and disorganised. Within a month I would leave my kindle somewhere and lose my entire collection in the space of a moment! So, when I want a book, I borrow from a friend or go to the bookshop and buy the paper kind.

The Enchanted Wood
by Enid Blyton was
one of Wanda's most
loved childhood books

Do you have any literary influences or want to mention any books that had a significant impact on your life?
I think every book a writer reads has the potential to influence his or her writing in some way or other, almost as though each book contains a lesson – what to do or what not to do. This has been true for me anyway. 

As for impacting my life, I would have to say that when I was young, books in general saved me from loneliness. I was an awkward child but if I had a book, I had a friend. Enid Blyton was my favourite author, The Enchanted Woods, my most loved book. It taught me the possibility of a more exciting world and ignited a lifelong love of fairies and fantasy!

I understand Betrothed is the first in a six book series, what’s the next book called? What can you tell us about it?
The next book in the series is called Allegiance. Readers can expect to be surprised. They can expect to be caught up in a whirlwind of twists and romance and revelation. They can also expect to spend a lot more time in Faera, discovering the beauty, customs and challenges of this magical world. 

Anything else you'd like to add?
Only, thanks for having me, Tracey!

You're more than welcome, and thanks so much!

There is Nothing New Under the Sun: How Historical Fiction Illuminates the Present by J.L. Spohr

I'm proud to introduce a guest post today from writer J.L. Spohr, author of Heirs & Spares.  Today she'll be sharing her thoughts on How Historical Fiction Illuminates the Present; I hope you enjoy her insights!

I’d always thought historical fiction would be boring – like someone took the literary version of a bedazzler to history textbooks. And who cares about the past anyway? A bunch of crusty white men in various forms of tights. Yawn. But then I read Gore Vidal’s Lincoln.  All of a sudden I started to consume anything to do with the Civil War (thank you Ken Burns!) and minored in history in college. To this day, my favorite reads are historicals (and yes, I’m unabashedly lumping classics like Dickens, Austen, and Tolstoy in here too).  So it’s no surprise that when I started to write my own novel, Heirs & Spares, it was set in 1569. 

But loving historical fiction’s not just an escapist longing to the days where men were gallant, women wore fabulous clothes, and everyone had a horse. Digging deep into the past shines a light on our present. The old adage “history repeats itself” is an old adage because it happens. Sometimes we see this in families when the toddler has the same wonky grin as grandpa, and less pleasantly when cruelty is passed through generations. We see it globally, not only in repetitive wars (let’s not be a downer), but also in the sad fashion mistakes of the 80’s rearing their very ugly heads. Debbie Gibson hat anyone?  People, acid washed denim was horrid then. It is still horrid now. Please…just, please. But I digress. 

Even if history doesn’t repeat precisely as the past, we can still use it as a lens to better understand current events. Take for example, the new royal baby Prince George of Cambridge. Some may mock all the fervor swirling about, but many a woman used to lose her standing — if not her head — without the requisite boy and heir. When it boils down to brass tacks, Anne Boleyn was killed because she couldn’t give Henry a son. Now, nobody would’ve lopped off Kate Middleton’s head if the prince was a princess (since they passed the new royal succession law – phew!), but part of why we are glued to our televisions is because today’s royals carry the mantel of the past. A past that teams with scandal and sex and betrayal and violence and world-shaking events. And who wouldn’t want to read about that? 

People ask me if I do a ton of research. Actually, probably three tons, but I have a dirty little secret: the one constant that never changes, no matter what period one writes about, is human nature. While the context and content may, the motivations of love, greed, envy, hope, lust, power, safety, and wanting a really tricked-out ride (be it horse or car) that drive my characters in fictional Troixden—these motivations have carried forth the human race for as long as we’ve been stumbling around. And it is those motivations, in the hands of the powerful, that change the course of our present and our future. 

So will this Prince George, like monarchs of England before him, change the face of history? Odds are probably not, but one never knows. Even one hundred years ago, people didn’t think America would be the super power that it is. Fifty years ago, a person of color would never have been allowed to run for, let alone win, the White House. Ten years ago, who would’ve thought we’d all be cramming ourselves like sausages into Spanx? And who would have thought we’d see chartreuse in the Gap again, oh, excuse me “neon kiwi?” I’m still waiting for Esprit to make tote bags again, but while I wait, I’ll be plunging back a few hundred years to help me enjoy the next 100.  

Author J.L. Spohr

J. L. Spohr is the author of Heirs & Spares and several short stories. 

An incurable Anglophile, she turned her attention to historical fiction and fictional monarchies after studying the Reformation in graduate school. 

She is an ordained minister and lives with her brood in Seattle. 

Review: Heirs & Spares by J.L. Spohr

* From author for review *

Heirs & Spares is an historical fiction novel, but setting it apart from others in the genre is the fact that the setting is fictional. Set in 1569 during the reign of Elizabeth I, the main character Lady Annelore is based just north of France in a place called Troixden; a place which doesn't exist in real life.

It took me until 3/4 of the way through the novel before I realised it was complete fiction; Lady Annelore and King William weren't real characters from history, and I wish so much I'd known this at the beginning.

Generally historical fiction takes real characters from the past and the author plots a tale around them. Of course there are fictional characters as well, however in the case of Heirs & Spares there are no true historical figures in the direct plot, linking the tale to the past.

If I review Heirs & Spares as a fiction novel, I would comfortably say it was a good and entertaining read. For regular readers of historical fiction though, this was light in terms of court intrigue, betrayal and general action. Having recently read The Confessions of Catherine de Medici by C.W. Gortner probably ruined my complete enjoyment of Heirs & Spares, simply because it was so rich with plot, court activity and intrigue, betrayal, love and action.

Perhaps I'd recommend Heirs & Spares to YA readers of historical fiction, providing a gentle introduction to life at court during this period, two very likeable characters in Annelore and William and a pleasing romance.

Heirs & Spares is FREE for Kindle download today in honour of the new Prince George.

My rating = ***

Carpe Librum!

Stay tuned for a guest post by J.L. Spohr on "Tying Historical Fiction to Current Events" which I'm thoroughly looking forward to; particularly with the recent arrival of Prince George Alexander Louis of Cambridge!

Review: Property of a Lady by Sarah Rayne

* From author for review*

Property of a Lady is the first in a series of ghost stories written by one of my favourite authors Sarah Rayne, featuring characters Nell West and Michael Flint.

Michael Flint is an academic living in Oxford and is asked by friends based in the USA to look at an old house they've just inherited.  When Michael sees Charect House, he becomes interested in its history and stumbles across a mystery that goes back generations.

Michael enlists the help of local antiques dealer Nell West who is buying back the original furniture belonging to the once grand house, and the two begin to dig into the past together.  Nell's daughter is having terrible nightmares about a man with no eyes, the same dream that is terrorising the daughter of his American friends.

Property of a Lady is a modern day ghost story with characters employing straight forward sleuthing techniques to get to the bottom of the tragedies that occurred inside Charect House several generations ago.

Together they discover letters, diaries and other source material that is expertly drip fed into the story in a believable fashion and at just the right time.  The connections and mysteries take Michael and Nell to a prison, and to an asylum both of which give the novel a creepy ghostly feel, but mostly it's about unravelling sad tragedies of the past.

I read Property of a Lady at lighting pace, and from a reader's perspective felt it was perfect in every way.

But, decide for yourself!  You can read the first chapter of Property of a Lady here.

My rating = *****

Carpe Librum!

Review: Dragonclaw: Book One of the Witches of Eileanan by Kate Forsyth

I received my signed copy of Dragonclaw: Book One of the Witches of Eileanan in a competition being run on author Kate Forsyth's website earlier this year.

I absolutely adored her novel Bitter Greens and thoroughly enjoyed The Wild Girl, and so came to Dragonclaw (the author's first published novel) with high expectations.

I knew before turning the first page that Dragonclaw is a YA fantasy novel, however in the very beginning when two witches are discussing the events of the land in front of an open fire, I found I had no idea what they were talking about and even wondered if I'd missed a book.  I felt lost until I realised that the main character is feeling the same way, and the reader isn't supposed to have knowledge of the events being discussed.  It was after this scene that I was able to let myself fall completely into the story.

My signed copy of
Dragonclaw by Kate Forsyth

Dragonclaw is a rich tale full of witches, magic and dragons, and it isn't long before our protagonists are on a significant quest.  There is much backstory to learn and Kate does a great job of drip feeding it into the plot although I was hungry for more.  It was clear midway through the book that their quest would take them beyond book one of this series in much the same way that readers of Eragon realise they're settling in for a great journey a few hundred pages in.

My favourite part of the book were the few scenes with the dragons; I found their characteristics and view of human life fascinating and I hope they appear again later in the series.  In summary, I recommend Dragonclaw to readers who enjoy fantasy novels and quest-driven plots where good and evil must battle for control of the realm.

My rating = ****

Carpe Librum!

The complete series contains the following novels and they all rate above 4 stars on GoodReads:

The Witches of Eileanan (The Witches of Eileanan 1) 

The Pool of Two Moons (The Witches of Eileanan 2) 

The Cursed Towers (The Witches of Eileanan 3) 

The Forbidden Land (The Witches of Eileanan 4)

The Skull of the World (The Witches of Eileanan 5) 

The Fathomless Caves (The Witches of Eileanan 6) 

Review: Books Do Furnish A Room by Leslie Geddes-Brown

No surprises here why a book-lover and book-blogger like myself would pick up a book called: Books Do Furnish A Room by Leslie Geddes-Brown. For the pictures of course!

This beautiful coffee table type book is broken down into chapters along the lines of functionality and rooms of the house. There are some interesting interior design tidbits disbursed amongst a great deal of logical information and it makes for good reading.

It must be said that the hero of Books Do Furnish A Room though are the stunning photographs that feature on each page. The owners of the bookshelves and gorgeous libraries are mostly well to do, designers or architects, although I guess these are the types of people an author would come across when sourcing photographs of beautiful bookshelf designs and home libraries.

Books Do Furnish A Room is the perfect book for book-lovers to dip into and I enjoyed drooling over the various styles of bookshelves and dreaming about the day I have that much space for all of my bookish treasures.

My rating = ****

Carpe Librum!

Sneak peak inside Books Do Furnish A Room by Leslie Geddes-Brown

Review: One Zentangle A Day - A 6-Week Course In Creative Drawing For Relaxation, Inspiration, And Fun by Beckah Krahula

For those of you who have never come across the art form called Zentangle, here's a definition: 

"Zentangle is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns."  (Source: zentangle.com).

In this beautifully illustrated book One Zentangle A Day, Beckah Krahula shows the reader step-by-step how to create and draw the many zentangle patterns used in this relaxing art form.

Drawing in this way is said to be a meditative experience, and furthermore: "studies show that this type of activity increases mental retention, stimulates creativity, improves one's mood, can be calming during stressful situations, and can be used as a tool for anger management." Page 9

Traditional Zentangle shape

All you need to get started is a pen and a piece of paper, and you can decide to upgrade to better felt pens and nicer paper if you really want to get into Zentangling as a hobby.  The possibilities are endless.  

I found the instructions in this book super simple to follow, which was extremely important as I cannot draw to save myself.  Each pattern has a name and you can see these patterns used by other Zentangle artists the world over. This is what differentiates Zentangle from mere doodling.

Here are some Zentangle creations from the internet to give you a better appreciation of this beautiful artwork.

Zentangle bookmark

Zentangle book spines

I thoroughly enjoyed exploring this art form, and have completed a few Zentangles myself now.  It's a world I would love to lose myself in if I had the time, but I just can't give up my bookish pursuits.  If you'd like to explore this artform online, I discovered Tangle Patterns which is a comprehensive site dedicated to Zentangle, and you can visit author Beckah Krahula's own blog here.

My rating = *****

Carpe Librum!

Review: Betrothed by Wanda Wiltshire

*From Publisher for Review*

Betrothed is the debut novel from Australian author Wanda Wiltshire and is the first in an 'enchanting faery series'. 

I had the pleasure of meeting Wanda Wiltshire at a Pantera Press Book Launch event in April this year and was immediately impressed by her love of books and writing.

Betrothed is about 17 year old Amy Smith, a sufferer of chronic allergies who's been having weird dreams about the name 'Marla'.  Amy finds out that she's been connecting telepathically with the drop dead gorgeous Leif, a Prince from another land with so much to tell her.

Amy asks her friends to call her Marla and her best friend Jack supports her but her feelings for Leif make it hard for Jack and Marla, who seem to mean more to each other than just best friends.

My copy from Pantera Press

Betrothed is the perfect fantasy romance for young readers and is a very quick and enjoyable read.  There are questions about identity, and I thoroughly enjoyed the construction of the Fae world and its inhabitants; my favourite parts of the novel.  

I also found it refreshing that Marla told her sister and parents what was happening with Lief straight away.  It's so cliche when the main character can't share their news for some reason, or it has to remain a "secret".  I was so glad that everyone could see Lief and Wiltshire did not fall into the same narrative traps that plague many other authors in the YA genre. 


While romance isn't really my cup of tea, I have to remember the audience Betrothed is written for and I'm confident it'll be popular amongst YA readers. Well written and without a single error - extremely rare in this day and age - the cover of Betrothed is a delight and the storyline is well positioned for the next in the series.

My rating = ****

Carpe Librum!

Review: John Saturnall's Feast by Lawrence Norfolk

John Saturnall's Feast by Lawrence Norfolk reads like a blend of historical fiction and fantasy, and had enormous potential but didn't quite hit the giddy heights I was hoping for.

Set in 1625, John Sandall and his mother flee their small town after the villagers claim his mother is a witch. Seeking shelter for the winter in an abandoned stone building in the woods, his mother shares with John the story of an ancient Feast; elegantly illustrated in a book his mother has always held dear and the only possession they have left.

John later finds himself in Buckland Manor and is given a job in the mammoth kitchens. It was here that John Saturnall's Feast really took off for me. I was enchanted by the goings on of the kitchen: the dishes being prepared, the utensils and methods used, the expanse of rooms and the seemingly organised chaos required to prepare the meals every day for Sir William Fremantle and his family.

His daughter refuses to eat when she is upset and soon begins one of her fasts and it falls to John to tempt her to break her fast with one of his dishes. This is an exciting plot line in of itself but soon the household is off to war and the novel lost me after that.  

The chapters in John Saturnall's Feast are occasionally broken up with the most gorgeous medieval style recipes and I thoroughly enjoyed reading these. With cooking instructions like: "A Pig is cooked when its Eyes pop out," from page 164 and from page 237:

"Next take cold Cream, warm Honey and a Ladder. Climb the Ladder. Pour the Honey and Cream at a Fall into a Pot of Gascon Wine and let it froth, the higher the better. Whisk the sweetened Cream until it stands in melting Peaks."  Page 237.

I wanted this book to be so much more, but sadly it just didn't get there for me.  I wanted more time spent in the kitchens and less time on the battlefield, however this is just one reader's opinion.

My rating = ***

Carpe Librum!

Review: The Book of Lists by David Wallechinsky & Amy Wallace

The Book of Lists - The Original Compendium of Curious Information by David Wallechinsky and Amy Wallace is a clever non-fiction collection of trivia and interesting stories and information broken down into the following chapters:

• People
• Movies
• The Arts
• Food and Health
• Animails
• Work and Money
• Sex, Love and Marriage
• Crime
• War, Politics and World Affairs
• Travel
• Literature
• Words
• Sports
• Death
• Miscellaneous

The book gets its title because all information contained within each chapter is presented in list form.  For example, in Chapter 1, People, we have a list of 6 People Whose Names Were Changed By Accident; which happens to include: Buddy Holly and Oprah Winfrey.

Here are some of my favourite lists from the book:

• 8 Memorable Lines Erroneously Attributed To Film Stars (Movies)
• 10 Famous Insomniacs (Food & Health)
• 10 Really Unusual Medical Conditions (Food & Health)
• The Cat Came Back: 9 Cats Who Travelled Long Distances To Return Home (Animals)
• 15 Famous People Who Worked In Bed (Work & Money)
• 11 Most Unusual Objects Sold on eBay  (Work & Money)
• Witticisms of 9 Condemned Criminals (Crime)
• 29 Words Rarely Used In Their Positive Form (Words)
• 10 Celebrated People Who Read Their Own Obituaries (Death)
• 16 Famous Events That Happened In The Bathtub (Miscellaneous)

The Book of Lists is the perfect book to have on the coffee table so that others may enjoy the obscure trivia and hilarity within its pages.  I also found it a great accompaniment to a novel I was reading at the time; enabling me to interchange quite easily depending on my mood.

The Book of Lists contains a wide variety of interesting tidbits, and I just hope I can remember them all.

My rating = ****

Carpe Librum!

Google+ Hangout with author Honey Brown and The Reading Room

Last night I had the great pleasure of participating in a Google+ Hangout with Australian author Honey Brown.  Organised by The Reading Room, the video conference went for twenty-eight minutes and was recorded and uploaded to YouTube and The Reading Room today.


You can watch the video (above) and will notice I am the panel member on the far right.

It was my first Hangout courtesy of The Reading Room and it was such a joy to have the opportunity to speak live with Honey Brown and fellow blogger Shelleyrae of Book'd Out.

If you haven't read any books from this bestselling author, I can thoroughly recommend her novels to those who enjoy thrillers that keep you guessing.

Carpe Librum!

Biography (courtesy of The Reading Room)
Honey Brown lives in country Victoria with her husband and two children. She is the author of four books: Red Queen, The Good Daughter and After the Darkness. Red Queen was published to critical acclaim in 2009 and won an Aurealis Award, and The Good Daughter was longlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award and shortlisted for the Barbara Jefferis Award in 2011. After the Darkness was selected for the Women's Weekly Great Read and for Get Reading 2012's 50 Books You Can't Put Down campaign.

Her new book is called Dark Horse.

Review: The Confessions of Catherine de Medici by C.W. Gortner

Catherine de' Medici (pictured below left) was born in Italy in 1519 and at the age of just 14 was married off to the second son of Francis I of France, Henry, Duke of Orléans.

Catherine became Queen Consort in 1547, and C W Gortner writes about her life in this historical fiction novel: The Confessions of Catherine de Medici.

Catherine de' Medici has a reputation in history of being ambitious in her later years, and guilty of planning the massacre of St. Bartholomew in 1572, where somewhere between 5,000 - 30,000 Huguenots were killed in the streets of Paris.

Portrait of 
Catherine de' Medici

In The Confessions of Catherine de Medici the reader hears from Catherine in the first person and is privy to an entirely new perspective of history as we know it.  We see a young girl orphaned, a woman whose husband loves another, a mother who cares deeply about her children, a woman who strives for peace and who becomes Queen Mother to three French Kings.

Author C W Gortner succeeds in lifting the French Wars of Religion from the history books and bringing it to life through Catherine de' Medici's eyes in The Confessions of Catherine de Medici. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, with all of the blood, betrayal and lost opportunities that leave this reader wishing she could change the past.


My rating = ****1/2

Carpe Librum!

Review: A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

I haven't read any YA (Young Adult) fiction for a while, so I was looking forward to reading Libba Bray's A Great and Terrible Beauty; the first in her Gemma Doyle series of historical fiction novels.

We first meet Gemma in 1895 India, where she suddenly loses her mother in a traumatic market place death although the family decide to tell people she died from cholera. Gemma is subsequently shipped off to Spence boarding school for girls in England which turns out to be quite a culture shock for her.

Watching Gemma trying to fit in and steer clear of the 'mean girls' 1895 style was quite amusing, however the novel's plot soon deepens when Gemma begins to ask one of her teachers questions about the mysterious charm her mother gave her on the day she died, and a group called The Order.

A Great and Terrible Beauty was a truly YA read, and while I was looking for a dark, gothic boarding school read with a mysterious student cult at it's heart, this wasn't it. Instead this was a gentle coming-of-age tale told with well drawn characters and a touch of humour and longing thrown in. Perfect for the intended YA audience.

My rating = ***

Carpe Librum!

Interview with Kristy Chambers, author of Get Well Soon! My (Un) Brilliant Career as a Nurse

Recently I reviewed Get Well Soon! My (Un) Brilliant Career as a Nurse written by Australian Kristy Chambers.  Her memoir was moving and funny and I didn't hesitate giving it 5 stars in my review.  After contacting Kristy to tell her how much I enjoyed her memoir, she was kind enough to agree to an interview.

Australian author Kristy Chambers

Thanks for joining me at Carpe Librum and congratulations on the publication of your memoir last year.  How has Get Well Soon! My (Un) Brilliant Career as a Nurse been received by readers and the medical community?
Well, I think! I've received a lot of lovely emails from people, which really amazes me. I've never written to an author to let them know I liked their book, but I should! Social media is pretty great in that regard. Some have been from nurses saying that they can really identify with the stories and others are from people who have no personal ties to nursing but ended up reading the book and liked it. I'm really touched that readers have made the effort to contact me and let me know how they felt about Get Well Soon! As a first time author, someone who swears a lot and given the nature of the topics covered, I wasn't sure how the book would go down, but the feedback has been really positive. 

What did you think of the cover design the first time you saw it? (At first glance I wasn't sure if the blood spots were real or part of the design and was too scared to check, lol!).
The first version of the cover design was very clean (my scrubs never looked that pristine) so the designer dirtied it up a bit, added some gore, and I think it's much more representative of my nursing experiences now. I really like the cover. Nursing can be a messy business, and the coffee stains are particularly apt. 

How did you decide what to include and what to leave out?
As the book basically follows a chronological order, some events and experiences jumped out at me more than others. The more infamous moments of my nursing career are going to be stuck in my brain forever and there are a lot of patients who made such an impression on me (both good and bad) that I felt compelled to write about them. I think it's just the limitations of my memory that caused me to leave things out, or else I could have written a book about nursing that was a thousand pages long, and I don't think the world is ever going to be ready for that, although I am planning to write a sequel to Get Well Soon! in another year or so. 

What was the hardest part of writing Get Well Soon!?
The hardest part was just fitting writing time in around work and the rest of my life, although writing about nursing while nursing probably helped keep details fresh in my mind and made it easier in some respects. The hardest part about writing in general is just getting started, as I am an excellent procrastinator and there is always the internet to distract me, or cleaning my house, or a million other things. I'm still amazed I managed to write an entire book sometimes. 

What are you doing now?  Are you still nursing?
I am still nursing, working in Drug & Alcohol Detox again, but I am taking a year off shortly and heading overseas to work on my second book (about travel). I'm really looking forward to writing about something besides nursing. I have collected a lot of travel stories over the years and I'm excited to spend a chunk of time turning them into a book. 

What advice would you give readers who find themselves in hospital under the care of nurses?
I would tell people that chocolates are always well received. And also that ward nursing, especially, is very hectic and there is always more work to do than time to do it in so please be patient, patients. Nursing is a difficult job for a lot of reasons. There aren't many occupations where people you come to know well die at regular intervals and you just go back to work the next day and carry on. Shift work is pretty hideous, too. 

When buying books, do you buy them online or from a physical bookshop?
I LOVE bookshops! I only buy books online that aren't available in Australia and I try to avoid e-books if possible. I spend enough time on my computer as it is and love the look and feel of actual books. Bookshops with coffee, like Avid Reader in Brisbane, are the BEST- my two loves together. 

One of Kristy's fav
books: Are You There
God? It's Me Margaret
by Judy Blume

What are some of your favourite books/authors?
There are so many books and authors that I love. I'm a huge fan of David Sedaris, JD Salinger and Judy Blume, but the list is endless. The Basketball Diaries by Jim Carroll and Paradoxia by Lydia Lunch sit in my bookcase next to Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume and Rob Lowe's autobiography, so my taste is quite eclectic. I have very fond memories of reading as a child. Enid Blyton's The Magic Faraway Tree and the Narnia books especially let me escape into vivid fantasy worlds, but I tend to gravitate towards non-fiction writing as an adult. (I remember reading Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume when I was in High School and loving it!)

What's next?  Is it true you're working on a second book? What can you tell us about it?
Yep, I have started writing my second book, but it's very skeletal at the moment! I have a lot of scribbled notes that I've amassed while travelling over the last 15 years, and I'm using them as the basis. It's going to be another non-fiction book, a travel memoir really, but also exploring some underlying themes, such as the fantasy versus reality aspect of travel and how the best stories often come from crappy experiences.  I'm also writing about the depression I've had since I was a teenager and how that has often left me craving escapism and fed the myth that the grass is greener, and happier, elsewhere. 

Anything else you'd like to add?
Thanks for the interesting interview questions! :) 

You're more than welcome Kristy and best of luck with your travel book.  If Get Well Soon! is any indication, I'm sure it'll be a quick favourite with readers.  Carpe Librum!

Two Reviews Published in the Crime Guide of the June 2013 Edition of Good Reading Magazine

June 2013 cover of
Good Reading Magazine

I'm thrilled to announce that Good Reading Magazine has published not one, but two of my book reviews in the Special Crime Guide of their June 2013 edition (pictured left and below right).

My photo and review of Blackwater
Moon, and The Collector published in
the June 2013 edition of
Good Reading Magazine

A number of weeks ago GR staff invited readers to submit a review of their favourite crime novel for the special crime guide, and I decided to submit two.  I wasn't sure what other readers might submit and thought I would increase my chances of being published if I chose to review a contemporary crime novel and a vintage classic.

I love supporting Aussie writers, so I decided the first had to be Australian, and there was no question I would be submitting a review for crime novel Blackwater Moon by B. Michael Radburn.

For balance, the second review I chose to submit was a vintage classic in the form of The Collector by John Fowles (4 stars).

I was both surprised and ecstatic to find out a few weeks later that both reviews would be published, and included in the guide alongside a photo in an article called Caught Reading.  Woohoo!!  Without gloating, I've now had a review published each year since 2011 and I'm so proud of this accomplishment.

The special June crime edition of Good Reading Magazine is out now!

Carpe Librum!

Caught Reading article on page 24 & 25 of June 2013 edition of Good Reading Magazine

Review: Get Well Soon! My (Un) Brilliant Career as a Nurse by Kristy Chambers

I just finished a brilliant memoir from Australian nurse and first-time writer Kristy Chambers, entitled: Get Well Soon - My (Un) Brilliant Career as a Nurse.
Kristy has a typically down to earth personality and an Aussie sense of humour that shines through in the pages of her memoir.  In Get Well Soon!, Kristy primarily discusses her nursing career, and includes some moving accounts of looking after patients suffering from terminal illnesses or patients from the various departments she has worked in over the years.

However, sprinkled in with these sobering accounts are the funnier moments of nursing which had me snorting and laughing out loud with relish. Her chapter called 'Shit' was quite memorable and the story called 'The Tampon' is also worth a mention.

At a mere 248 pages, I breezed through Get Well Soon! and was incredibly moved by many of the patient stories Kristy shared.  I'm so glad she achieved a healthy balance between humanity and humour and her natural down to earth writing style made her memoir so accessible.

I've been recommending Get Well Soon! widely since I turned the last page, and everyone I've talked to about it seems to want to get their hands on a copy.

My Rating = *****

Carpe Librum!

Interview with Christopher Kemp, author of Floating Gold - The Search for Ambergris, The Most Elusive Substance in the Natural World

Today, scientist, writer and ambergris hunter Christopher Kemp stops by for a virtual chat about his book Floating Gold - The Search for Ambergris, The Most Elusive Substance in the Natural World, his love for ambergris and some of his favourite authors and books.

Interview Questions
For the benefit of those who haven't read your book, what is ambergris?

Author and ambergris hunter Christopher Kemp

Ambergris is a strange and intestinal secretion produced by an estimated one percent of sperm whales. It forms in the hindgut, binding up hard and durable squid beaks that the whale has ingested and cannot digest. Most whales regurgitate this indigestible slurry but, in a few cases, it makes it through the whale's four cavernous stomach chambers and into the small intestine instead. It begins to chafe and irritate the gut lining. In response, the whale's intestine secretes an oily, cholesterol-rich substance that forms a stratified boulder. Once expelled at sea, it drifts on ocean currents for months and years -- and perhaps even decades. As it floats, it ages. Cured by the saltwater and oxidized by sunlight it becomes a white waxy substance. Its odor profile, which was once fecal and fairly aggressive, softens and becomes unique and indescribable. 

What is it used for?
For centuries, it has been used as a principal ingredient in perfume, acting as a fixative -- a stabilizer that makes the scent last longer on the wearer's skin. But it has also been used as a drug, an aphrodisiac, an ingredient in cooking, a commodity, and all sorts of other things too. In many instances, companies have replaced genuine ambergris with synthetic compounds, but it is still used. When it washes ashore, the highest quality ambergris is worth up to $20,000 USD a kilo. Across the world, people still hunt for it, collect it, trade it clandestinely, and dream about it always.

A Molecular Biologist by trade, how did you first become interested in ambergris?
I was working in New Zealand in 2008. One night, I switched on the TV and on the evening news there was a report about a mysterious object that had washed ashore near Wellington, the capital city. Some people claimed it was a meteorite; others thought maybe it was an enormous boulder of Brie cheese. It weighed an estimated half-ton. At some point, someone must have suggested it was ambergris and within hours a crowd of a hundred or so people had descended onto the beach, armed with garden tools. They hacked it to pieces, each trying to claim a piece of it. A group of students used a bed sheet to carry a large piece of it home. I'd never heard of ambergris before. But from that moment on, I was pretty hooked. So the book really tells the story of my educated and infiltration into the ambergris world.

A piece of ambergris
Credit: Christopher Kemp

The pursuit of ambergris has taken you all over the world, even living in New Zealand for a while with your family. Do they share your interest, tolerate your interest or do they think you are obsessed?
My family has always tolerated, and mostly shared, my obsessions. Quite quickly, I began to realize that the possibility of finding ambergris really presented a reason for spending time outside on the coastline with my son, who had just recently been born. It was a portal. I spent so much time outside, exploring the world that, had I not been searching for ambergris, I might never have experienced. The temptation, especially when you have a three-month-old baby who doesn't sleep much, was always to lounge in front of the TV. In search of ambergris, I was always forced, even on rainy, windswept spring days, when the trees are bent over in the wind, to go out after high tide to look for beach cast ambergris instead.

Do you think the value of ambergris will increase or decrease in the future, given many companies use synthetic forms of ambergris now to fix their perfumes?
It's hard to say what will happen. On one hand, one of the larger companies are using synthetic ambergris. On the other hand, more people than ever are becoming artisanal perfumers who make handcrafted fragrances in their home laboratories. Many of them use all-natural products and rely heavily on ambergris.

Can you share some of the more unusual resource material you've consulted or research you've undertaken?
It all seemed to be unusual. The time I spent on remote Stewart Island was very special. The trips to museums like Harvard University's Museum of Comparative Zoology in the US was an amazing opportunity. I was lucky in so many ways to go to the places I did.

What message (if any) would you like readers to take away after reading Floating Gold?
Hmmm. I think I'd like readers to remember that the natural world is an amazing place, which is still filled with mystery. Google and Wikipedia cannot tell us everything. I wrote the book mostly because, after first watching that news segment in 2008, I logged onto my computer and expected to learn everything about ambergris that I needed to know in the next ten minutes. But there was almost no information out there. The few sources that did exist all seemed to contradict one another. I wrote the book simply because no one else had. There are still mysteries out there. And many of them are wonderful.

The ending of Floating Gold was one of the best non-fiction endings I've read in years!  But I've gotta ask, (I have to know) yes, or no?
No.  But I would rather say: not yet. One thing that the book sort of acknowledges is that nothing really ends, or not as neatly as many books would have you believe anyway. (Tracey breathes a sigh of relief.  The suspense was doing my head in.  You'll have to read the book to know what I mean, no spoilers here.)

The Founding Fish
John McPhee
one of Christopher's
fav books

What are some of your favourite books/authors?
I read everything. In the non-fiction category, I loved anything and everything by an American writer called John McPhee. He has a very kind and inquisitive view of the world and writes beautifully. One of my favorite of his books is The Founding Fish. Otherwise, I read a lot of Martin Amis, Salman Rushdie, Julian Barnes, Norman Mailer, Kurt Vonnegut. I like Paul Theroux's travel writing a lot. I'm enjoying David Quammen's new book Spillover. For a long time, I've read everything by the Beats: William Burroughs, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, etc. I also have a secret weakness for war reporting (probably because I'd never by brave enough to do it myself), including my favorites, Michael Herr's Dispatches and John Laurence's The Cat from Hue.

What's next?  Are you working on anything else at the moment?
I'm doing things backward. Most people start small, trying to write for progressively larger magazines that more and more people read and that pay writers better. And then eventually they try to get a book deal. Instead, I wrote a book, and now I'm starting to write for a few magazines. Almost no one ever got rich writing a book. But it's possible to do okay writing magazine articles. You get paid more and they don't swallow up years of your life. It allows you to sort of screen subjects and potentially find another one with the breadth necessary to support a book-length project. Ironically, my book on ambergris was supposed to be a magazine article. I researched it for a few months and pitched it to editors everywhere I could think of pitching it. By the time I realized no one was interested in it, I'd written half the book.

Anything else you'd like to add?
If you think you've found some ambergris, you can let me know at ambergrishotline@gmail.com

Thanks so much Christopher!  I'm certainly more in awe of mother nature having read Floating Gold, so thank you for sharing your expertise and knowledge in an otherwise secretive industry.  It's fascinating stuff!