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Goodreads Giveaway ~ House for all Seasons

Bookmarks House for all SeasonsTime to celebrate…

To celebrate one month to go (not that I’m counting … much!) until the official March 1 release of House for all Seasons (in one month’s time, or have I mentioned that already?), I am giving away another copy of House for all Seasons WITH one of my lovely bookmarks. And who doesn’t love a book giveaway — not to mention a matching bookmark?!

Unlike the Blog Hop giveaway last week, this time you don’t HAVE to DO anything to be in the running. Just enter using the Goodreads widget below. (If you’re not a Goodreads member, I recommend you sign up. It’s easy, and Goodreads is a great service for people who love to read.) Entries remain open until 25 February, so no rush.

Of course, should you feel like sharing some country love by telling your friends about the giveaway, or sharing this givaway on Facebook, Twitter, etc, karma may reward your goodness. (Besides, if your friend wins tell them they will have to share with you!) I have trusted karma all these years and it has brought me to this point … to one month to go (in case I hadn’t mentioned that already!!) I am so into karma, I named one of my characters Karma.

Yes, I am a tad excited and cannot wait to mail out a copy of my novel on March 1, hot off the press, to one lucky person.

About my March 1 Online Event …

It will be a big day here on the blog too with special guests all the way from Canada to help kick the celebrations along. Put the 1st of March in your diary so you don’t forget (or subscribe to my blog and I’ll be sure to remind you!). In the meantime, enjoy Author Harvest’s next guest. One of my Simon & Schuster buddies, Kate Belle, whose book The Yearning is also due for release this year.

Enter now …

Goodreads Book Giveaway

House for all Seasons by Jenn J. McLeod

House for all Seasons

by Jenn J. McLeod

Giveaway ends February 25, 2013.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Take it away, Kate …

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Author Harvest ‘bales up’ Tony Park~adventurer extraordinaire

Tony Park

You don’t get much blokey than my token Author Harvest bloke – a leopard loving, rhino revering, Tony Park

So Tony, tell me, is it scones and tea or some other homemade delight you have whipped up for me today?

Beer and biltong (dried beef or game meat.  An acquired taste, but addictive once you’ve fallen)

(Ahh, gee, thanks, you shouldn’t have. I’ll have to pass and take your word for it! New Years resolution to lose weight, you know … )

At home… 

My mum says garden gnomes make a house a home! Are you loud and proud in your love of garden gnomes at home, a closet gnomer or with a strict ‘no gnomes’ policy at your place?

My wife, Nicola, and I live in a two bedroom flat in Sydney for six months of the year, so no room for gnomes there – our flat is full of carved wooden giraffes, rhinos, elephants and other African creatures.  In Africa we’re on the road a lot of the time, but also recently bought a holiday house in a game reserve.  We have a leopard that loiters out the back of our house so a gnome wouldn’t last a night.

(I knew I was going to love this Harvest!)

What vegetable (or fruit) have you always wanted to grow at home?

I don’t eat enough of either, but I do like tomatoes fresh off the vine.  (They do grow on vines, right?).

(Yes, Tony! Can’t believe this man knows the mating ritual of the rhino but not how a tomato grows.)

If I came to your home and looked in the refrigerator, what would I find?

In the flat in Sydney, not much.  In the house in South Africa enough beer, wine and red meat to feed an army – our nearest supermarket is 40km away.

(Ha! Beer and wine – hold the meat – and you are talking my language!)

If you sorted your wardrobe by colour, what colour would stand out? (Ahh, do you sort your wardrobe by colour?!)

Green.  We do wear a lot of safari clothes in Africa, not so much to blend into the bush, although you don’t want to be wearing bright red around an angry buffalo, (Oh, right, yes or course. Why didn’t I think of that?) but because it hides the dust. (Hmm, yes, hiding the dust would be my number one reason for not wearing red.)

What are you wearing now? (Be honest!)

Running shorts, T-shirt and runners.  I’m in Sydney now and have just been for a run to the beach.  This is the best thing about being back home in Sydney – the beach that is, not the running.

Whose home would you like to housesit and why?

Wilbur Smith’s so I could know how the other half lives.

(Nine books, Mr Park! You must be getting into theDark Heart swing of things by now. PS. You have THE best covers–stunning.)

Country curiosities…

We love a sunburnt country (slip, slop, slap and all that). What’s your ideal hat? Or are you a boots person?

I’m usually a green baseball cap person in Africa, but I also have the camouflage bush hat I wore when I served with the Army in Afghanistan back in 2002.  It reminds me of how good it is to be home.

If you were a tree (or animal) what kind of tree (animal) would you be?

I identify strongly with the white rhino – pudgy, skinny legs, poor eyesight, but likeable and generally placid.  Tree-wise my favourite is the African Leadwood which, like me, grows very tall.

(Hmmm — pudgy, skinny legs, poor eyesight, but likeable and generally placid!)

Now for the big question… Why did the chicken cross the road?

Because my resident leopard was after him.

About you…

Your turning point: when was that point in your life that you realized that being an author was no longer going to be just a dream but a reality and a career?

I was in Afghanistan with the army, in 2002, when I got an email from Pan Macmillan telling me my first book, Far Horizon, was going to be published.  All I’d wanted to do with my life for as long as I could remember was write books and at that moment I knew I’d not only fulfilled a dream, but that this was all I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

(That’s a wonderful call story.)

What is the hardest part of writing for you?

I don’t find writing hard at all.  I hate getting to the end of a book and saying goodbye to it.  I also agonise when I submit it to the publishers and wait to hear back.

If someone was to write your biography, what do you think the title should be?

I like my life.

What question have you always wanted to be asked in an interview? How would you answer that question?

Question: Are the sex scenes in your book based on real life experiences?

Answer: I wish.

(Well, having just read a particular scene in African Dawn I don’t think I will look at motor bikes in quite the same way again. I also now feel incredibly old … and inflexible!)

Fun stuff …

What does your protagonist think about you? Would he or she want to hang out with you, the author, his/her creator.

I don’t have a favourite of all the protagonists in all nine of my novels, but I like to think we would all get on famously over a couple of beers or red wines.  They might even see a little bit of me in them, except for Sonja Kurtz, from The Delta, who is hot.

If you could trade places with any other person for a week, famous or not famous, living or dead, real or fictional, with whom would it be?

Robert Mugabe, tyrannical president of Zimbabwe.  I’d hand over power to the opposition (who won it rightfully at the last election), resign from office and hand myself in to the international criminal court and plead for mercy for all of the crimes I committed in my more than 30 years of misrule.  Hopefully I’d be locked away for the rest of my life.

(Beautifully put.)

I am almost too terrified to ask…. If I said to you, “Just entertain me for five minutes, I’m not going to talk,” what would you do?

Sing you some Elvis.  I do like to sing and I love Karaoke, but the problem is I’m not good at it.  You would not be entertained, unless you had ear plugs (my moves are sensational).

(Sensational moves with “pudgy, skinny legs”. You’re eyesight is obviously worse than you thought. I’m guessing I won’t be getting ‘All Shook Up’ any time soon.)

What food would you be?

Kudu steak, medium rare (it’s a big African antelope, and very tasty).

(You mean it was a big African antelope. Did I mention the no meat thing yet?)

What was the best thing before sliced bread?

Kudu biltong.

(Perhaps I didn’t mention the vegetarian thing strongly enough!)

Name 5 uses for a stapler that has not staple pins.

(I can’t believe Tony didn’t answer this question. I mean, there must be a dozen or more uses for such a device while on an African safari.)

How weird are you out of ten – with 1 (not) to 10 (very).

8.5.  I just bought a house in South Africa while tens of thousands of people are trying to leave.  I love it there, and I love having a leopard out the back of my house.   I just wish the lions would visit more often.  Is that weird?

(Yes. You win!)

What a great sport. Thank you….

Leave a comment: Let’s tell Tony how a stapleless stapler might come in handy on African safari.

Tony’s website is quite something: www.tonypark.net
Blog: www.tonyparkblog.blogspot.com

 

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Author Harvest ‘bales up’ Lisa Walker for some Sex, Lies and Bonsai

Author HarvestA quick trip from my place (up the east coast highway) and I found the lovely Lisa Walker, author of two wonderful, witty reads.

Lisa, my Author Harvest tradition requires you start by telling me if it’s scones and tea or some other homemade delight you have whipped up for me today.


Soy chai and a banana – that’s the way we roll here on the north coast.

(Very appeeling!)

 

Lisa, at home…

My mum says garden gnomes make a house a home! Are you loud and proud in your love of garden gnomes at home, a closet gnomer or with a strict ‘no gnomes’ policy at your place?

Strictly indoor gnomes here, I have seven Japanese gnomes on my desk.

What vegetable (or fruit) have you always wanted to grow at home?

I have the opposite of green fingers but dream of growing basil. Sadly, my love affair with basil is unrequited – as soon as I plant it, it dies.

(I am philosophical about my basil battle. I do my best Kung Fu stance and say, ‘Ahhhh, Grasshopper…bon appetit!)

If I came to your home and looked in the refrigerator, what would I find?

Defrosting marinara mix which my husband will do something fabulous with I hope (because calamari and I don’t get on at all) and a lifetime’s supply of pre-made garlic bread which fills a hole in my two enormous sons.

(You mean feed their creative streak!  (Anyone who hasn’t seen the trailer Lisa’s very clever son put together, you are missing a treat. I love that trailer. See her website detail below)

If you sorted your wardrobe by colour, what colour would stand out? (Ahh, do you sort your wardrobe by colour?!)

Blue polka dots are breaking out all over the place at the moment.

(Funny, I was certain you would say yellow stripes!)

What are you wearing now? (Be honest!)

I’m naked (as per question one, that’s the way we roll…)

(I was meaning to talk to you about that…!)

Whose home would you like to housesit and why?

Nanook of the north – I am trying to work an igloo sex scene into my next book though the clothing layers are proving challenging (unlike here on the north coast…)

(Umm, Lisa, my dear, another Author Harvest tradition is that the guests answer the question only. They do not add the witty bits–okay? (‘Cause that’s how WE roll in the not quite so north coast!)

Country curiosities…

We love a sunburnt country (slip, slop, slap and all that). What’s your ideal hat? Roaring 20s 2011Or are you a boots person?

Hats!! I love them and have way too many, but am still on the lookout for the hat of my dreams – I’m thinking 1920s cloche.

(Ooh, ooh, here I am in my DIY cloche from the 2011 RWA cocktail party. Wow! Never thought I’d have the opportunity to use THAT pic again! You are back in the good books.)

If you were a tree (or animal) what kind of tree (animal) would you be?

Dolphin (as per question one)

Now for the big question… Why did the chicken cross the road?

There was a hat shop on the other side and it thought, this time…

(Is that a dig at the old chook above in the cloche hat?)

About you…

Your turning point: when was that point in your life that you realized that being an
author was no longer going to be just a dream but a reality and a career?

After many, many years of trying to get published, my long-awaited book contract mysteriously morphed from a one-book to a two-book deal. It was a total surprise and I signed it quickly before they realised there’d been a mistake!

(LOL – I know that feeling!)

What is the hardest part of writing for you?

Writing the first draft is a time of incredible self-doubt. Just because I’ve written a novel once, doesn’t mean that I know how to do it again. Alas!

(But you did!)

If someone was to write your biography, what do you think the title should be?

Is it Just Me?

(Another version might be…. Is it just me or is there a draught in here?
Can I pass you a nice little polka dot number from your wardprobe, perhaps? You got me so flustered I also spelled draught wrong!)

What question have you always wanted to be asked in an interview? How would you answer that question?

Q: How did you get to be such an amazingly insightful and funny writer while still being so impeccably groomed and talented in the kitchen?

A: The cheque’s in the mail.

Fun stuff …

What does your protagonist think about you? Would he or she want to hang out with you, the author, his/her creator?

I think she would probably want me to put some clothes on, (we both do actually. It is a little chilly for so far north by the looks!)  but after that we could settle down, play monopoly, chat about Japanese literature (or Japanese gnomes) and invent some ridiculous euphemisms to use in our erotic writing.

(Errr…erotic? Your book … it’s about bonsai. It’s a gardening guide, right?)

If you could trade places with any other person for a week, famous or not famous, living or dead, real or fictional, with whom would it be?

I like the way you say ‘with whom’ Jenn, I think I’d better go back and check my grammar.

(Well, here we go again with the DIY witty comments, again. Sheesh!)

If I said to you, “Just entertain me for five minutes, I’m not going to talk,” what would you do?

(Please, whatever it is, can it involve clothes?)

If only you’d given me a bit more notice, I would have learnt some card tricks.

What food would you be?

Creamy Tuna Pasta – there’s a very sexy recipe on page 272 of ‘Sex, Lies and Bonsai’.

(Oooooh, so it’s a recipe book. Phew!)

What was the best thing before sliced bread?

Cloche hats. Definitely.

Name 5 uses for a stapler that has not staple pins.

That’s a great question – in my house we have at least five staplers with no stapler pins which are performing no useful function at the moment. I now feel inspired to take them out and use them as : paper weights, cockroach whackers, objets de art, percussion instruments and mobiles.

How weird are you? Rate yourself on a scale of 1 (not) to 10 (very).

1 (it’s just everyone else who’s out of step)

What fun! Thanks Lisa. Seriously, folks, the lovely Lisa Walker is a funny lady. Check out her books:

Here is the blurb for Sex, Lies and Bonsai.

Have you ever felt the need to start again?

Dumped by text message, Edie flees Sydney for the refuge of her childhood home, taking only a wilting bonsai to remind her of her failure. But in this small coastal town, shy, awkward Edie has always lived in the shadow of her surf champion father. How can she move on from her ex and from her past?

Her best friend and life-coach, Sally, is full of dubious advice, but Edie finds there are many ways to mess things up all by herself.  A new-found talent for erotic writing, a job-drawing crab larvae, unrequited lust for a professor with hidden depths and a maddening musician with troubles of his own add to her bulging swag of problems. And then things get complicated…

A tender and witty tale about finding your voice, falling in love and… crab sex.

Connect, buy, etc

Website: www.lisawalker.com.au
Blog: http://lisawalkerwriter.wordpress.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lisawalkerhome
Twitter: @lisawalkertweet
Buy on booktopia
Buy on amazon

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Thank you for dropping by.