All posts by Adele

Cookie Cuts

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Recently I had the privilege of participating in the “live and local” program in corroboration with the Sydney Writers Festival, The Lighthouse, and TRC. Joined by fellow authors, Nola Lorraine and Jessica Kate, we were invited to speak on the topic of “considering a faith-based life from an author’s perspective”. We also got to sit in on some great live-feed sessions, including with the renowned Trent Dalton.

As I sat listening to Trent’s extraordinary life story, he said something that set off a cracker in my brain. He shared about the moment he realised how incredible his family story was, and how this (very personal) story needed to be told.

In that moment it struck me how readily we take onboard and celebrate other people’s stories, yet seldom do we sit in the honesty and familiarity of our own journey to “here and now”, and allow ourselves to truly reflect on the key heroes and turning points in that world. None of us are made from a cookie cutter.

I have been, and continue to become, increasingly conscious of the individuality and uniqueness of each person’s journey and our swiftness to dismiss our own story as relevant and impactful. Yet, we are all positioned in this place-in-time for a purpose, making each of our stories extraordinary – whether we realise this, or not.

This raised for me two questions: Who am I? Who are you?

I ask these questions again, encouraging each of us to sit and reflect on the ordinary and familiar (to us), whilst celebrating the heroes that have paved the road to our now. What is our story?

The beautiful reality of humanity and our coexistence, is that each of us carry a voice that is our own, and no matter how loud or influential you (or I) feel our voice is, it is our mandate to not leave that voice unheard.

You and you alone possess your voice, in all its uniqueness, purpose, and power for this moment in time. For I quote: “Truth needs your voice” ~J. Enlow

Don’t let it go unheard.

Reading Reflections

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Like any civilised book launch, as part of the programme I will always read an excerpt from the new release. Easy right? I mean, it’s just picking the right place and pressing go, yes? Well, until I was involved in recordings for an audio book, I would have agreed. Nothing to worry about. But that was then. This is now … (Cue ominous music …)

Photo: Jill Wellington from Pixabay

Last year we began the machinations of producing Immortal Mistake as an audio book. Despite this process not turning out quite as expected, with a couple family emergencies thrown in for good measure, it was an excellent learning opportunity to really explore the nuances of storytelling.

Fast forward to the Immortal Mistake book launch and imagine me standing up with novel poised to the scene of focus. Eyes of attendees are homed, awaiting their first taste of the story. I launch in, and then realise there are multiple characters in this scene. And I haven’t paused to think about how I’m going to represent them. Sweet high pitch? Growly low pitch? Deeper than the previous character? And here they are again. Was that the low-pitched, softly spoken voice, or the more abrasive, pointed one? Conundrum!

Through the audio book work, I had become acutely aware of the need for consistency throughout the reading—from start of book to end—and how important it is to pre-plan how each character will be vocally represented and then keeping this consistent scene-after-scene. I had not given this a milli-second of thought before starting, for it had never been an issue in the past. But like I said, this is now …

For this reason I now have heightened respect for the talent of my parents, who feature in my earliest childhood memories of bedtime stories with me and my siblings. Night-after-night, they could get bold and bouncy T-t-tigger the T-t-tiger who looooves to b-b-bounce with just the right resonance, pitch and pace, whilst hesitant and worried Piglet was easily recognised before a page could be sighted. Pace and pitch were adjusted to suit mood and motion, so when the little chick is trying to find it’s mother, we didn’t need to guess which character was speaking. All around we delighted in those storytelling moments.

In reflection, this is more of a skill than I’d previous considered. (You know, back then.) Maybe I should ask Mum and Dad for some professional development before my next audio book attempt. 😉

Book Party Anyone?

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Everyone likes a good party, and what better kind of party than one to celebrate a newly released book! Maybe that’s not everyone’s idea of fun. Some might even thing book launches can be a little dull, but I think it’s one of the best kinds of parties! So, last weekend a bunch of people gathered for frivolity and fun to officially launch Immortal Mistake and the re-release of Integrate (2nd Edn).

Those who have read Immortal Mistake will understand the significance of the Jelly Belly theme—and those who don’t should grab a copy and get reading, lol. 😉 There were temporary glow-in-the-dark spider tattoos to claim and games that included “find your word match”, model making, graffiti art, and more.

Themes from the book were segues for each aspect of the party, while reviews and readings (more on that later) set the tone. One activity even sparked a spontaneous Conga line (of two … okay, that one didn’t quite take off). All up, it was a great afternoon that left me feeling grateful for those who made it such a special occasion.

I’ll finish with a partial quote from an online review of the novel, with a link to the full review. 😊❤️

Rennie Parker has not had an easy life …

The story draws you in and you will find yourself willing Rennie to use all his street and computer smarts to save his own life, and that of his family …

This is a full-on, engrossing science fiction story, set in a realistic scenario, with themes of family violence, substance abuse, youth crime, mind control, complex bioethics including violence, as well as challenging family relationships, self-acceptance and self-worth.

Link to full review

Integrate Re-Release

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Yesterday was an exciting day. With the focus on the release of Immortal Mistake, this date kind of slipped by without much accolade, but it was the re-release (second edition) of my debut novel Integrate. Yay!

Now, I love Blaine as a character and I loved writing his adventures the first time around. However, what people may not realise is when I first wrote Integrate, it was not planned as a trilogy. Replicate only happened right before the first release of this novel. I managed to get out a draft of Replicate before Integrate was published, but I would have liked to go back and draw out certain elements for some characters, foreshadowing, and logistical-legislative aspects.

I never thought I would get the chance, but then … Second edition!!!! 😊

This was like the ultimate redo. As I reworked the novel, I realized I still loved it and the characters, but I was being given an opportunity to make it even better. As I said at a recent function, Integrate first edition was “good”, but the second edition is “gooderer”.

If you’ve not yet read this story and would like to purchase a copy of Integrate, 2nd Edn, it’s available from many bricks and mortar stores and e-book sellers:

And if your country or favourite bookstore isn’t in this list, grab the ISBN number and search for Integrate 2nd Edn in a store near you. 😊

Finally, you can also purchase my novels direct from Rhiza Edge Press. I know you’ll love this re-release as much as I enjoyed revisiting Blaine’s beginnings. ❤️

Immortal Mistake Launch Day!

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It’s been a while coming, but finally it’s launch day for my new novel Immortal Mistake …😊

A DANGEROUS WEB OF ACCELERATED CLONING AND MIS-IDENTITY

When teenager Rennard (Rennie) Parker discovers a high-tech vault buried in his backyard, a bionic stranger pulls him into a world of forced experimentation that erases 24 hours of memories. Along with his half-brother, Blaine Colton, Rennie becomes embroiled in a complex cloning and child trafficking nightmare, one where feelings and memories can be extracted like digital files and sentience, consciousness and knowledge can be implanted.

Immortal Mistake provides an amazing balance of science fiction with a story of a boy, a casualty of family abuse and neglect, child safety services, foster homes and searching for a place to belong, in a story that is ultimately hopeful. This gritty, science-fiction thriller set in Brisbane, Australia, propels Rennie on a high octane rollercoaster ride of his life where the non-stop thrills are accompanied by plenty of spills as he searches for identity, belonging, love and his place in a confusing world that couldn’t be more complicated.

Coinciding with the release of child trafficking feature movie Sound of Freedom and mounting community concern about youth crime in Australia, the release of this story couldn’t have been timelier. An edge of your seat page-turner available from all good booksellers or online from wombatrhiza.com.au.

An immortal quest. An unreachable memory. An impossible choice.