Tamrin Tales

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January Update 2017

Hi – a quick update of happenings in January.

Lakwi’s Lament Launch

I’m thrilled to be hosting a e-launch of Lakwi’s Lament on Facebook , Saturday 4th February at 2-4 pm (Queensland time, UTC +10).

There will be competitions, giveaways and glitter (well, maybe not the glitter). We had a hoot at the Heart of the Mountain launch last August. This time I will be joined by other fantastic authors. I would be chuffed you and your friends can join us – to accept the invitation follow this link.

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Lakwi’s Lament: a short story (By the Light Books, Jan 2017) follows the adventures of Princess Lakwi. Suitable for ages 12+ it is set in the world of The Herbalist’s Daughter & the Akrad Legacy Series. It is aimed at a younger audience than my other stories, though entertaining for older readers too.

Lakwi would love to read the books in the Royal library, but girls aren’t allowed inside. Her passion for books attracts the attention of her dashing older brother, Prince Rokkan, and her suave cousin, Lord Haka. Will her drive for knowledge lead her into more trouble than she can handle?

Lakwi’s Lament is available as an e-story on Amazon, Draft2Digital, Kobo, Barnes and Noble and other distributors.

Lakwi’s Lament originally appeared in Like a Girl Plan Anthology (Far Horizons, 2015). Like a Girl celebrates and supports education and opportunities for girls and women. Like a Girl anthology is also available on Amazon, with stories from a range of Australian and International authors.

My stories and books can be accessed at Amazon Central page .

January Doings

Apart from getting ready for the launch of Lakwi’s Lament – I’ve been participating once again in the Month of Poetry (see here) – writing a poem each day in the month of January. I’ve also deep in edits of Akrad’s Children (Book 1 of the Akrad Legacy Series) with view of publication later this year.

This coming Saturday I’m attending a workshop by award winning Karen Tyrrell – author of Me and Her: A Memoir of Madness, Bailey Beats the Blah, Songbird Superhero and other books.

On February 11-14 – I’ll be joining with over a 100 authors will be showcasing their books on Facebook at the Our Books Are Not Free.  You can participate here

The sequel to Heart of the Mountain – Blood Crystal is also in progress, as well as a couple of other short story ideas. Watch this space!
Looking forward to seeing you all at the launch 🙂

Jeanette O’Hagan

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Heart of the Mountain is here.

I’m thrilled to announce the launch of Heart of the Mountain: a short novella.

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Count down to Launch

I hosting an E-launch of Heart of the Mountain on Facebook

2-4pm Australian EST, Saturday 30th July 2016.

Join in the fun on the FB event page for competitions, prizes, and release details. https://www.facebook.com/events/596826930491016/

Love you to join the event if you’re a lover of fantasy or fantastic adventures 🙂.

Heart of the Mountain: A Short Novella

Twins Delvina and Retza’s greatest desire is to be accepted as prentices by their parents’ old crew when they stumble across a stranger. Trapped under the mountain, young Zadeki’s only thought is to escape home to his kin. Peril awaits all three youngsters. Will they pull apart or work together to save the underground realm?

YA Fantasy Adventure in the lost realm deep under the mountain.

The adventure continues with Blood Crystal, Story 2 in the Under the Mountain series.

Heart of the Mountain now set up on Goodreads 🙂
https://www.goodreads.com/…/…/31276257-heart-of-the-mountain

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Reflections

I originally wrote Heart of the Mountain for the Glimpses of Light anthology, but it soon took on a life of its own and grew too big for the designated word limit. I loved the story and have developed it into a short novella (or long short story).

It is the first in the adventurous tales of young Zadeki. The events of this story occur many years after ‘Ruhanna’s Flight’ (my eventual successful submission for Glimpses of Light) but a few centuries before the events of the Akrad’s Legacy series and the other Tamrin Tales (such as ‘Fever’, ‘The Herbalist’s Daughter’ and ‘Lakwi’s Lament’).

The story, in part, is inspired by other great story tellers such as J R R Tolkien, Jeanne DuPrau’s City of Ember, Frances Hardinge’s A Face Like Glass, Christopher Paolini’s Eragon and my own vivid memories of descending into the depths in an Underground tour of Mt Isa Mines, Mt Isa. I have endeavoured to make this story my own.

My heartfelt thanks to my wonderful editors, Nola Passmore (of The Write Flourish), Paula Vince and to my redoubtable critique partners and beta readers Nicole Nugent, Kathleen Hillenberg, Suzanne Hay-Bartlem, Raelene Purtill, Julian Green.

I also had fun with the cover design and appreciate the tough and truthful critiques of my young artists in residence, as well as suggestions from Suzanne Hay-Bartlem, Kathleen Hillenberg, Christina Aitken, the Swinburne Creative Writing Critical Friends and the Omega Writers Science-Fiction and Fantasy Groups.

I’m especially grateful for my family—my loving husband Tony, my precious children, my parents Tom and Jean Curtis—who instilled in me a love of faith and fantasy—and siblings, Tom Curtis, Frank Curtis and Kathleen Hillenberg, whom I’ve shared many wonderful adventures.

Most of all, I’m grateful to my Maker in whose creative footsteps I can only hope to follow.

 Jeanette O’Hagan  July 2016

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Catching Up

JennyJuly15bx200A big apology for taking so long to write an update. Okay, so I have no real excuse other than being rather busy. What have I been doing since February?

Finished

Last month I complete the final unit of the Master of Arts (Writing) at Swinburne University of Technology. Hard to believe it gone so fast. I started the Masters in 2012. The very first unit inspired me to dust off the novel I’d written decades ago, and start again after a long break from writing fiction. Now, three and a half years later, I have four books close to or beyond first draft, a few others plotted or started, and countless poems and short stories written. I’ve made a bunch of new friends, discovered a whole community of writers and learned so much about the craft. It has been, as they say, a blast – and is only just the beginning of my writing journey.

Launch

I was thrilled to learn that two of my poems Thunderstorm and Floating will be published in Poetica Christi’s 2015 Inner Child anthology. The launch of the anthology will be on Saturday July 25th at the Lutheran Hall, 711 Station St, Box Hill. It’s a bit far for me to travel but I can’t wait to get a copy of the anthology in my hands. Copies will be available at the launch or directly through Poetica Christi.

Accepted

I’ve currently got three short stories accepted for publication – one contemporary and two secondary world fantasy:

‘Sandy: Perfect Plans’ in Let the Sea Roar anthology (to be published by By the Light Books in August)

‘Broken Promises’ – part of the Barrakan Tales set in the Northern Hemisphere of Nardva – is to be published in a historical themed anthology by past and current Swinburne students called Another Time, Another Place to be published this year.

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‘Ruhanna’s Flight’ – connected to the Tamrin Sagas – in Glimpses of Light anthology to be published in November this year by By the Light Books in conjunction with Christian Writers Downunder.

I’ve been involved in the editing and publishing Glimpses of Light and Let the Sea Roar.

I’m also hoping to release on Kindle my short story / short novella Heart of the Mountain later this year.

I am following up professional edits on Akrad’s Children.

I’ll post publication details once they become available.

July Camp NaNoWriMo

This July I’ve teamed up with some friends to form 2 cabins in the July Camp NaNoWriMo. This is a cut-down version of the NaNoWriMo challenge. For one thing, you can set your own goals. And NaNo rebels are not frowned upon. I decided it was time to finish Mannok’s Betrayal (the third in the Akrad’s Children‘s trilogy). I’ve been working through gaps that need filling in, and editing. Following the rubric – one hour of active editing equal 1000 words, I’ve done 21700 words in the last 12 days – and have had to increase my goal from 20,000 to 25,000 to 30,000 words. I’m thoroughly enjoying immersing myself in the story and loving it. I had to tear myself away from the Five Lands to write this post.

Well that’s enough about me for now.

Three Rivers Road

THREE RIVERS ROADI would however also like to give a shout out to my friend ‘Jane Batholomew’ – who has written an Australian contemporary drama Three Rivers Road. This is not a Young Adult book. It follows the adventures of a nurse in the remote communities in the Kimberley, Western Australia – and gives insight into the people, the challenges and the landscape. It includes romance and drama but doesn’t sugar coat the realities. ‘Jane’ draws from her own experiences of nursing in remote communities across Australia. You can purchase a copy here.

As you can see, quite a lot has been happening. I’ll won’t wait so long next time to give you the news. And once I get the chance to catch my breath, I’m planning to put another short story in from the Tamrin Tales on this website – this time following Haka or Rokkan’s perspective – as requested by our Scavenger Hunt winner.

Watch this space!

Jeanette O’Hagan

 

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Tied in Pink Giveaway

TiedinPinkx200 Writing in January

It’s hard to believe it’s February already. I completed the Month of Poetry 2015 having written 33 poems – some serious, some humorous, some long, many short. I posted the poems up on my Facebook page each day. As always, it was a lot of fun and I blog about it here.

I also finished a first draft of “Broken Promise” – a fantasy adventure set in the same world as the Akrad Legacy series and Tamrin Tales – but on a different continent. I am hopeful of having a few stories published this year in anthologies.

The Big News – Tied in Pink GoodReads Giveaway

But the big news is the that you have the opportunity to win a beautiful print copy of Tied in Pink. As I mentioned before, my story “The Herbalist Daughter” features in this anthology – and it takes up Anna’s story though both Naetok and Rokkan also feature. Tied in Pink is available in Kindle or print form (more info here).

Tied in Pink is a charity anthology – with all the profits going toward Breast Cancer Research – and each story has an Easter egg – the mention a pink ribbon. Each of the 14 authors added a dedication to their stories. I gave a copy of Tied in Pink to two best friends whose lives have been significantly touched by breast cancer – and look forward to giving a copy to another couple of friends similarly affected soon.

For the next 9 days, we are running a GoodReads Giveway of Tied in Pink. It finishes on the 10 February 2015 – 4 days before Valentine’s Day. It’s easy to sign up HERE if you are already in GoodReads. And I’d love you to visit and follow my author’s page as well which includes a regular update on blogs from Jeanette O’Hagan Writes among other things.

If you are not a member of GoodReads – you might just want to join up. It’s a wonderful community of readers, a great way to keep track and review your favourite books and authors and to discover new books to read. (I blogged about GoodReads here).

So best of luck on the giveaway.

And if you do win the book or buy it and read it – we would love you to leave an honest review on Amazon, GoodReads, BookLikes and/or your blog (if you have one).

My first box of books arrive.

My first box of books arrive.

Jeanette

3 February 2015

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Winner of the Scavenger Hunt

The winner of the scavenger hunt – for the best answer submitted – is Nicole N. from Melbourne. Congratulations Nicole on winning a $50 US book voucher from Amazons.

Nicole has suggested that  ‘A story about either Naetok, Haka, Rokkan or Martal Kapok would be very good. They are the crux of the kingdom and the power.’

That gives me plenty of scope – so keep an eye out for a new story about one of these characters.

As for what items were stolen, the identity of the thief and the motivation behind the theft – all is revealed in Part Two of The Missing Necklace.

Read Part One here.

Part Two: The Missing Necklace

Anna stood as still as a statue, a crimson cushion in her hands. Surely the Kupanna’s precious lapis luzuli necklace couldn’t have be stolen. There were guards at almost every door.

The Kupanna shook her head. ‘The necklace must be mislaid.’

‘Maybe a maid took it, Mama, like Anna or Rianda.’

Young prince’s Naetok’s piping voice jarred Anna. A shiver ran down her spine. What would happen to her if she was blamed? Dismissal, a whipping or worse. How like Natok to shift blame.

Prince Rokkan stared at his younger brother. ‘Really? Anna doesn’t have a reputation for sneaking off with things or getting up to mischief.’

Naetok squirmed and scowled. ‘I didn’t take it. Maybe you did, Rokku.’

‘Come let’s not squabble. Surely no one in this room would take my necklace.’ Kupanna Suraya tucked her distraught daughter on her shoulder and patted her back to soothe her. Another gust of wind blustered its way into the room, swaying the tapestries against the lime-washed wall and rustling the leaves of the pot plants. ‘Please, could someone please close the doors to the balcony?’

Rokkan’s golden eyes narrowed. ‘You know, mother, my blue stone ring went missing the other day.’

Anna put down the cushion she had picked up looking for the necklace and closed the balcony doors. Now that the Prince mentioned it, it wasn’t the only thing that had gone missing. She turned around. ‘Yes, your Highness, and Princess Lakwi’s rattle went missing on the day of the picnic.’

Rianda brought her fingertips to her mouth. ‘And my wool.’

The Kupanna shook her head. ‘Why would anyone be interested in stealing wool? And what thief could get past the guards to sneak into our chambers.’

Prince Rokkan’s eyes brightened. ‘I think I know, mother, where to find the thief and your necklace.’

READ MORE

 

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Scavenger Hunt

The Necklace Thief

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Over several days items of value – and some not so valuable – have been disappearing from the palace. Have they been stolen and if so by whom? The clues are hidden in the following stories

To participate in the Scavenger Hunt you need to:

1)      Name all four items that go missing from the palace.

2)      Identify what these items have in common.

3)      Identify the thief.

4)      State in 25 words or less who you would like to feature in the next short story and why.

The best answer to the above questions submitted either as a comment to this blog post or as comments on my Facebook Fan Page will win a $US 50 Amazon Voucher.  (The winner will need to notify me of his/her email to receive the prize within 10 days of notification of the winning. The decision on the winner is final with no correspondence will be entered into concerning the winning entry.)

Entry to the contest is free.

The contest will be open from 9 am Monday 10 November to 5 pm Wednesday 19 November 2014 (Brisbane time). The winner will be announced on Wednesday 26 November 2014 along with publication of Part Two of the Missing Necklace.

Please read Terms and conditions

If you enjoyed reading about the adventures of Anna, Rokkan and Naetok, their adventures continue in The Herbalist’s Daughter to be published in Tied in Pink anthology (due to released 14 December 2014) and in the Akrad Legacy series (as yet unpublished). Profits of Tied in Pink go towards Breast Cancer research.

 

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A Prince’s Prerogative

by Jeanette O’Hagan c 2014

Another Tamrin Tale

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The horn blasted from the front gates of the palace, shattering the stillness of the morning. The dogs in the royal kennels erupted into a flurry of barking and a flock of mountain doves went wheeling into the eggshell blue of sky. Rokkan’s stomach clenched. He leant against the blue roan’s withers, counting the blasts under his breath. As the second long note faded away, he let his breath out and rubbed Eclipse’s velvet nose. His stallion nickered and blew into his ear. ‘Not Father then, Eclipse.’

Not that he had really expected his father to rush back from his impromptu hunting trip once he got the news of Lakwi’s illness. Despite a couple of anxious nights, Rokkan’s little sister was recovering well under Anna’s ministrations. Gripping the brush, he pulled it in long strokes through Eclipse’s coat. The horse’s flank quivered as the burs amassed on the morning ride snagged the bristles. His dogs, Tracer, Rivet and Grip, lying under the railings, thumped their tails in a slow rhythm. Two blasts meant a Markan, but which one? Ah well, never mind. Bitjanan could deal with it. This was the first moment he had had to relax since little Lakwi fell ill.

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Rokkan turned his head at the clatter of hooves on the pathway. A handful of warriors trotted around the corner of the tack room…

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Fever: Part One

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Part One: In The Herbal Shop

Anna slammed the stone pestle into the mortar, her eyes blinded by tears. The afternoon sun beamed through the open servery hatch and lay in patches of light across the counter and work benches. Outside, the woman standing at the shop counter shifted the weight of the listless toddler in her arms and sighed. Behind her ramshackle shops and adobe houses squatted in a jumbled heap on the ridge across the empty street.

Dipping her head, Anna swiped the unshed tears from her eyes and continued to ground the dried bitterroot into a fine powder. Why was she the one to be sent away and not Nerra? Her pretty older sister was far more interested in boys and pretty furbelows than she was in the family’s herbal business. However nimble Nerra’s fingers were with the needle and the loom, it was Anna who, even at sixteen, could recognise the different plants almost as well as Ma and knew how to prepare and mix them.  She should be the one to stay.

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October Happenings

BirdandSunx400A quick catch-up with recent events:

  • I’ve written a few short stories set in the world of Nardva, one of which I’m hoping will appear in the Tied in Pink Anthology. The profits of this romance anthology will go to Breast Cancer research. I’ll keep you posted on details. If you want to help towards this project you can purchase some beautiful T-Shirts and other merchandise here.
  • Flight (a short story I wrote) placed second in the Intermediate category of FaithWriters. You can read it here.
  • I have a fabulous time attending a Writers Conference in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria (Australia) last weekend, attending workshops and catching up with old and new friends.
  • I’m signing up for NaNoWriMo again this November – to work on Jared’s Choice.
  • I’ve now started a related Instagram site
  • And finally, I’m publishing on Jeanette O’Hagan Writes (and a new Tumblr site By the Light of Two Moons) some Tamrin Tales – stories that fill in some background of the characters of my books in the Akrad’s Legacy series. The installment of the first story Fever is due tonight.
  • Clues for a Scavenger Hunt will be scattered through out the stories. Details, including prizes, will be announced by Monday 10th November.

Jeanette O’Hagan

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With Adele Jones (author of YA thriller Integrate) and Jo Wanmer (author of Though the Bud Be Bruised), Bachus Marsh 2014

With Nola (from the Write Flourish editing services) and Pamela, with Adele in background

With Nola Passmore (from the Write Flourish editing services) and Pamela (with Adele in background) Bacchus Marsh, 2014