The Andrakis Trilogy
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The Andrakis Trilogy was published in 1992-3 by Pan Macmillan Australia, as Guardians, Kingmaker, Dragon Lords, then re-released in 2006 as a Print-on-Demand book set by Altair Australia. The most recent versions, retitled with their original manuscript titles, are available as hard copy and as ePubs through Amazon. Click on the images to go to the Amazon site where they can be purchased online.
The tale follows the fortunes of two central characters:
The novels contain many traditional fantasy tropes - dragons, magical swords and artefacts, different magical races, elf-like Aelendyell, dwarf-like Dwarven and orc-like Haagii - and the ethical/moral codes of courage against adversity, loyalty and betrayal, and heroic sacrifice. The cover artwork for the Pan Macmillan publications was created by Mike Worrall. The artwork for the Altair POD re-release and subsequent Amazon Kindle covers is by Kirsi Salonen. |
The Last Wizard
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Aurealis Awards: Best Fantasy Novel: Short-listed finalist 1995
Pan MacMillan Australia published The Last Wizard in 1995. Currently out-of-print. Although The Last Wizard is Inspired by my daughters, Jaimee and Kim, and set in a medieval fantasy culture, The Last Wizard pays homage to coming-of-age as a teenage girl in a world that places restrictive gender expectations on girls. It also explores the gender myths created in a male-centric community. I have written three sequels to the original novel and will explore publishing the four books as a series. |
The Ashuak Chronicles
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Aurealis Awards: Best Fantasy Novel: Short-listed finalist 2002: Blood: The First Ashuak Chronicle
The Ashuak Chronicles were first published in 2002-3 by HarperCollins Voyager division. The novels are now available on Amazon Kindle. Click on the images to the Amazon site from where they can be purchased. The motivation for the Ashuak Chronicles was a homage to my favourite 'heroes' of the real world - Gandhi, Mandela, Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King, Christ - people who resisted tyranny and oppression, not with swords or power but with reason and love. It also looked at how and why people must not tolerate oppressive regimes of any kind. The aim was to create a fantasy story in which the central hero is as much pacifist as possible. The novels follow the stories of three central characters - Shana the gladiatrix, Sukaal the general of the ruling regime, and Alwyn the philosopher who seeks freedom for his oppressed people. Their human scale struggles are played out against a titanic struggle between the dragons that were released in the time of the Andrakis trilogy and the Alfwyn. While the common themes and tropes of fantasy abound in the books - heroism, loyalty, magic, dragons - they are also socio-political explorations of human cruelty and greed for power. There are deliberate reflections on the impact of the Roman Empire and the British Empire on native populations. Cover artwork for the original HarperCollins imprint was by Shane Parker whose work can be found via http://www.fantasygallery.net/parker/ |
Dreaming in Amber
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HarperCollins Voyager published the Dreaming in Amber quartet from 2006-8. They were released as e-books in 2011 on Kobo. The series is currently out-of-print and is a project for me during this year to get back into print.
This series began with five key ideas or motivations. The first was the Bob Dylan/Jimi Hendrix song 'All Along the Watchtower'. I love it, because it tightly encapsulates a fantasy story in three verses. Readers will see the faint echo of the song in the storyline of this series, and there's deliberate references to 'The Joker' and the thief. The second motivation was to create a character who ages over the length of the series, which Meg does, from a teenage girl, through motherhood to old age. The third concept was to draw together the 'histories' and events of my previous fantasy series - Andrakis and Ashua - into this series to create a ten novel saga. The fourth challenging concept was to introduce Australian landscapes, flora and fauna into a fantasy setting. The final motivation was to give a favourite character from the first series - A Ahmud Ki - a chance at redemption. The Dreaming in Amber novels follow the struggles of Meg Farmer to accept her fate, her destiny, in a world that is both rapidly changing and facing doom at the hands of religious fanatics. Initially caught up in events, and unable to control the power she has inherited, she eventually learns what she must do and that she cannot have the 'normal' life she longed for as a mother and a grandmother. Cover artwork for the series was by Les Petersen, whose work can be found at http://www.lespetersen.com.au/ |