I was so pleased to read Geoff Woodland's fantastic review of my new book, Journey from Walara. He's been very generous.
Check out Geoff at his webpage www.geoffwoodland.com
Discover his new book, 'Ice King'. A saga set during the dying days of the African slave trade.

Journey from Walara - review written by Geoff Woodland

After reading Wind from Danyari I had to read the sequel, Journey from Walara, by West Australian author, Laurel Lamperd.
The Hennessy boys go to war, Danny to England to be trained as a bomber pilot, and Will joins the Australian Army and is sent to New Guinea. The story begins in the time of innocence in Australia of 1939. The author showed me the lives of people in outback Australia of that time, and how their innocence changed as the war progressed.
Lamperd has the knack of describing the conditions of north west Australia to such an extent that she has my mouth dry from wind blown sand, only to be washed clean in the next chapter by watered down beer in a London pub on a damp wet night, after a bombing raid over Germany. Her description of the Kakoda trail, the mud, the tropical heat and rain, with the expectation of fighting the Japanese brings to life the bestiality of man when at war.
It is not a story of war, but a story of a family caught up in a war. How relationships are made and broken, some deliberate others beyond control of the character. I read the book on a Kindle and after I’d finished, the characters and the locations stuck in my mind for days, even though I was travelling and seeing new places. A well told story.

Love Came at Christmas

Love Came at Christmas, a short story, is my free read this week. Two homeless teenagers meet at Christmas. You can read the complete story on my website at www.authorsden.com/laurellamperd

The park was small and on the edge of the city block. Further down the hill, the river could be glimpsed, blue and sparkling in the morning sunshine. Three yachts, their white sails gleaming, followed each other like sentries on guard.

Yesterday, the girl had sat on the same bench in the park, watching the last minute rush of Christmas shoppers. They all seemed to have a destination to go to and carried their brightly coloured Christmas bags with a jaunty air.

Now, the city was almost deserted except for the boy stretched out seemingly asleep on a bench a few metres away. He was a tall rangy boy, too thin for his height. Fifteen minutes earlier, he'd been eating a pie. The girl had felt a twinge of hunger watching him. She wasn't a pie eater but she was hungry enough to eat anything.  

As if conscious of her watching him, the boy sat up. "Hi," he called across the small area of grass between them. "What's new?"

"Nothing much." She didn't feel like talking to him. She didn't feel like talking to anyone.

Download from www.kindlebooks.com

Find an Editor

Find an Editor

Do you have an editor?

 Read what Susannah says on her blog http://writeitsideways.com about getting an editor if you are lucky enough to find an editor. I must admit that I've never been lucky to find one.

The closest I've had is when I've sent a piece to a magazine; the editor likes it and asks to make some changes which I've usually gratefully agreed to. The other writers who have helped me so much with my novels are the marvellous novelists on the IWW blog novel group http://internetwritingworkshop.blogspot.com who have edited all my books.

So do think that you need an editor? Read what Susannah says on her blog and check out Erika Liodice's post on How to Find an Editor on Susannah's site.

download Crossroads at Isca from www.kobobooks.com

Set in Roman Britain in the time of Hadrian, two young British girls' lives are changed forever when the meet two tribunes from the great Roman fort on the plain.

 Death of a Species 

Southwards

To the west country

he said he was going.

The petrol gurgled in the tank.

In place of heat waves

Above the saltbush

came visions of forest country

moss and lichen

running water.

Once my country.

Dieback's got the jarrah

He said

as he handed me fifty dollars

and roared off in the BMW. 

I thought how dreams could change

From soft green to stark grey. 

Laurel Lamperd

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Download Substitute Bride from www.omnilit.com
When Miss Emma Napier helps Abby, her friend, escaped a forced marriage, she little thought she would meet the dashing Lord Desborough. His lordship is looking for a temporary wife so he can gain control of his inheritance. Emma seems the perfect choice.
A gay and frothy Regency romance packed with lively incidents and dramatic situations. 

Writing Stories

Read the rest of the article at http://writeitsideways.com

As if you don’t already know, Taylor Swift is a country music sensation, with numerous hit songs, a growing fan base and even more on the horizon. But the reason she’s made it this far isn’t just due to her vocal and songwriting abilities, but also to her knowledge of what it takes to be successful.
She’s a marketing genius and an inspiration to all writers, whether she knows it or not.
Here are five things all writers can learn from Taylor Swift and her massive success:

1. Have A Story to Tell

Swift’s songs are like mini stories. Each one tells of love won or love lost or some other aspect of life. She draws her inspiration from her life and all the things that happen to her.
If you’re going to be a successful writer, you need to have a story to tell. You need to dig deep and write about things that have happened to you (remember, you can fictionalize, that’s what makes it fun).
Or write about things that have happened to other people, like Swift does.
The key is to pay attention to what’s happening around you, to you and to other people. This is where great stories lie.

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Download from www.sonybooks.comStories suitable for children 4 - 10. Jenny, a lonely only child, meets up with the Rainbow children and has an adventure.

Walking to School

Check out my website www.authorsden.com/laurellamperd for my short short story, Walking to School. What risks does a eight year old child take, walking to school.  Excerpt below....

The rain, which her mother said would hold off, didn't. It came on an angle, striking her eight year old legs like a thousand little whips.

She looked desolate, a bundle of red trudging along the dirt road. Her long raincoat, two sizes too big, protected her brown skirt and jumper but not her shoes and socks as she squelched in the mud, avoiding the puddles appearing magically before her.

The car stopped: a black car with grey blinds at the little square-shaped windows. She especially noted the little fringes on the blinds. Even after the vehicle had stopped, the little fringes still danced.

The man opened the door behind him. "Get in, little girl."

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Buy The Battle of Boodicuttup Creek from www.feedaread.com

Suitable for 6-11 Readers

Shane, Mitch and Leanna discover an injured cormorant at the Boodicuttup Creek. They are shocked when Old Charlie Buckle plans to dam the creek which will destroy the water birds environment.

Read how the children try to prevent the dam. Will Uncle Rolly's bullroarer and a mysterious goanna be of help or hindrance to the efforts to save the creek? And how will Shane and Mitch avoid a fight with the Gasper boys.

Epilogue of a Romance

             EPILOGUE OF A ROMANCE

Narcissus

    Camellia

        prunus 

Three flowers of spring

the Chinese said

symbols of new life

new beginnings. 

They ate plums

The deep wine fruit

oozing upon the lips.

She carried daffodils

dripping with bridal creeper.

He wore a pink camellia

in his lapel. 

When winter struck

Baring the branches of the plum

he was living with a divorcee

in Joondalup.

She had gone home to mother. 

Laurel Lamperd

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Download from www.apple-ebooks.com

Jenny goes to stay with her Aunt Gwendoline and meets a family of children who live at the end of the rainbow. She encounters an echidna whose house is being destroyed by a bullroarer. Fantasy plus six other stories suitable for children 5 - 11. 

The People’s Book Prize is a national competition aimed at finding, supporting and promoting new and undiscovered works : a truly democratic book prize decided exclusively by the public.

YOU, the public! YOU choose "Britain's Next Bestsellers"

Voting for the Spring collection new entries now taking place until 20 May 2012: fiction, non-fiction, children's

Register to vote click here

Award Ceremony -30 May 2012 - Announcement - Order form

Submissions: Publishers can submit NOW until 1 May 2012 for the Summer collection 1 June 2012 to 31 August 2012 : Click here to download Call for Entries Form : 

Join us on

Winners and Finalists of The People's Book Prize 2010/2011 2nd Award Ceremony
Winners and finalists for The Peoplesbook Prize 209/2010 1st Award Ceremony

There are also monthly prizes for 12 lucky readers,
including free tickets to the awards ceremony at the end of July 2011.

So, get reading, get voting!Frederick Forsyth becomes patron..

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Buy a copy of my book, Wind from Danyari from www.feedaread.com

Joe Hennessey builds a sheep station near Carnarvon, Western Australia, from the proceeds gained from working a gold lease on the goldfields of Halls Creek.

 

Little Egypt short story

Read my short story on my website www.authorsden.com/laurellamperd
excerpt below

Little Egypt  

Hubble was always going on about the belly dancer who fleeced his granddaddy in Cairo when he was there with the Anzacs though there was some doubt whether his grandfather ever got to Gallipoli. I heard he'd stayed behind in the fleshpots of Cairo where he made the Hubble fortune even though the belly dancer, Little Egypt, managed to get her fingers into some of it.

I met Hubble at his favourite bar, well known for its high betting poker games that I'd discovered to my cost. I sat down opposite Hubble.

"Ready for another game of poker?" Hubble said with a snigger when I greeted him.

I shook my head and hid my nasty thoughts. "I've come about something else. I found a belly dancer for you, Hubble."

Hubble's eyes sparkled with expectation.

So there was something of his granddaddy still left in Hubble. "She's straight from the fleshpots of Cairo. Her name is Little Egypt."

"That was the name of my granddaddy’s belly dancer.” Hubble held up two fingers to the man at the bar to bring him a couple of beers.

"All belly dancers are called Little Egypt," I said. “You’ll like this one. Black hair, blue eyes. She’s a ripper”

"Blue eyes all the way from Egypt?" Hubble said as the barman set two foaming lagers in front of him.

I caught the suspicious look in his eyes. "Yeah, her granddaddy was an Englishman. She inherited his blue eyes. I guess you've got a few blue-eyed cousins running around the country yourself," I said, alluding to Hubble's granddad's amorous adventures in Egypt. I picked up the beer he'd bought me. "Drink your beer then I'll take you to see her." I glanced at my watch. "She's due to do her belly dancing act in half-an-hour."

 Read the rest on my website.

Download the second book in my Walara series. It is 1940. Danny and Will Hennessy leave Walara to join the forces, leaving Jack and Rosa to run the station. 

www.barnesandnoble.com

What happens when characters from one book invade another? Read what enterprising writers Edith Parzefall and Francene Stanley, authors of Wind Over Troubled Waters, and Rosalie Skinner, author of the Chronicles of Caleath, have done.  Then read their books.




Beware! When serial snapshots collide mid-fiction, the future will never
be the same. Find out what happens as ... Caleath Invades Troubled Waters
Check out the tale on their blogsites below.

http://blog.edith-parzefall.de/
http://rosalieskinner.blogspot.co.uk/
http://francene-wordstitcher.blogspot.com/

May's Calamity's Corner available for free download from calam@live.com.au
For Readers, Writers and Movie Buffs.
Discover how Francene Stanley & Edith Parzefall collaborated on their recent published book, Wind Over Trouble Waters, the first book to be published in their futuristic fantasy saga of Corn World set in what used to be Britain before disaster struck earth.

Read Katie Rogers excellent review of Kathryn Stockett's The Help, the book everyone is talking about.

Thriller writer, Carlos J Vella, tells the tragic chilling story of Belchite, once a vibrant small town in Aragon, Spain before Franco's forces bombed the place in 1937, killing 5000 people. A lone cross now marks the site where they were buried in a mass grave.
Congratulations to Wendy Laharnar whose young adult novel, The Unhewn Stone, finished third in the Preditors & Editors Poll of 2011.
I can't end unless I mention the two cats taking it easy. All which is missing is a swimming pool!!!!

www.sonybooks.com