Christmas is only two weeks away so here is a fabulous issue full of information, goodies and what some of our rural authors are doing on Christmas Day.
Scroll to the bottom for the contest! Be a winner!
Christine Gardner and her husband are going to Torquay for Christmas this year.
She says: Son no. 2 and his family have just moved there so I'm keen to see it. Christmas near the beach sounds good to me 
Only 99c for eleven stories!
|
From Suzanne Gilchrist
Christmas for me is all about family. My family circle is now a small one, due to the ravages of life and this makes it all the more precious to me. So its all about spending quality time together. And then there's all that scrumptious food! No matter where you are and who you are with, I wish everyone a very special holiday season and a safe one. Have you read The Homestead on the River?
From the vibrant colours of India to the meadows of Ireland to the harsh but beautiful Australian land, a family fight for their future. |
Rosie MacKenzie says: we are having a cast of 25 as our family come to us from around Aus for Christmas. I am setting up three decorated trestle tables with the eldest (85) up the top and youngest (14) at the far end.
All the grandchildren love to cook so there will be contributions from all of them for the buffet... and hopefully contributions from all of them with the washing up!
Rob and I look forward to a day of love, laughter, and memories.
All the grandchildren love to cook so there will be contributions from all of them for the buffet... and hopefully contributions from all of them with the washing up!
Rob and I look forward to a day of love, laughter, and memories.
From Sarah WIlliams:
My Christmas novella came out last month - Christmas at Brigadier Station. I also attended the McLeods Daughters Bush Christmas in Lismore and met the creator and some of the cast. I will be spending this Christmas at home with my four kids. We will cook up a traditional hot meal on Christmas Eve, then enjoy the day playing games and enjoying each others company. |
Hi! Jenn J McLeod
here, small-town storyteller. Where I’ll be this Christmas--in northern NSW--I’ll be rain dancing and I’ve found the perfect brolly for when the rains do fall. While we’re all wishing a big wet will fill the dams and douse the fires, I have a whole House of Wishes for your summer reading pleasure. Out now in ebook and print. www.jennjmcleod.com. https://books2read.com/HouseOfWishes |
Mary Anne O'Connor has a new book out in March...
'Where Fortune Lies' is all about bushrangers in the High Country in the 1880's. An interesting fact is that my great-great grandfather had an encounter with Captain Thunderbolt which is kinda cool - way up in the bush in the middle of the night and I fictionized the scene in the novel. Not sure if that's a little story that might be of use but here is the gist:
A very true story is wound into the fiction in this novel that centres on my great-great-grandfather’s experience when he spent the night deep in the Australian bush with his band-mate friends during this wild era. Sitting around the campfire chatting, they were suddenly met with the terrifying sight of a band of armed bushrangers melting out of the dark to stand mounted before them. Their leader surprised them by rather politely asking them to play an impromptu concert and so they did, albeit very shakily. Once the concert had concluded the leader shook them all by the hand and thanked them before they exited back into the night. And so rode off the gentleman bushranger Captain Thunderbolt and his gang.
'Where Fortune Lies' is all about bushrangers in the High Country in the 1880's. An interesting fact is that my great-great grandfather had an encounter with Captain Thunderbolt which is kinda cool - way up in the bush in the middle of the night and I fictionized the scene in the novel. Not sure if that's a little story that might be of use but here is the gist:
A very true story is wound into the fiction in this novel that centres on my great-great-grandfather’s experience when he spent the night deep in the Australian bush with his band-mate friends during this wild era. Sitting around the campfire chatting, they were suddenly met with the terrifying sight of a band of armed bushrangers melting out of the dark to stand mounted before them. Their leader surprised them by rather politely asking them to play an impromptu concert and so they did, albeit very shakily. Once the concert had concluded the leader shook them all by the hand and thanked them before they exited back into the night. And so rode off the gentleman bushranger Captain Thunderbolt and his gang.
Sandy Docker's Kookaburra Cafe is going to Germany!
How does Wendy Lee Davies
spend Christmas? A few years ago we organised a picnic, but instead of driving, we rode our push bikes. In the spirit of Christmas, we decorated our bicycles and helmets with tinsel and brought cheap Christmas t-shirts to wear. A friend "volunteered" to ferry the food (cold roast chicken, salads, mince pies, ginger beer, shortbread and chocolate). We received friendly toots, Merry Christmases and all sorts of other cheery greetings as we rode the 40km to our chosen sea-side park. But the best thing, by far, was the water pistol fight after lunch, something the whole park ended up getting involved in. That was a very merry and fun-filled Christmas indeed. :) 
How Nicki Edwards spends her Christmas... Just because it’s Christmas doesn’t mean people stop being sick or getting injured or being in hospital. Over the years I’ve worked as a nurse, I’ve worked part of almost every Christmas Day and Boxing Day in either the Emergency Department or the Intensive Care Unit. I consider it a privilege to care for people who are unfortunate enough to have to spend the Christmas season in hospital. I also consider it a privilege to volunteer to cover these shifts so my colleagues with young families can open presents on Christmas morning with their children. Last Christmas my family and I had our dream white Christmas in Canada and it became the inspiration for my latest Christmas story, Second Chance Christmas.
|
The lovely Alissa Callen has a new release on January 20th
From Renee Dahlia:
Every year my sister and her partner host an ‘orphan Christmas’ party. Her partner is a chef, and many people who work in hospitality find it difficult to go home for Christmas day for a bunch of reasons. Some are far from home, some have to work for part of that day, and others have a hostile family. All those people are invited to my sister’s back yard for Christmas Day. Every year they have a theme – the last one we attended was ‘Tropical’ and we dressed up as a family of tourists in the 1980s with bright floral shirts. The brilliant way my sister opens her home for people who can’t go home for Christmas was the beginning of the Rainbow Cove Christmas anthology. To write with a group of authors with all four books set at the same Christmas party was a wonderful challenge, both from a craft point of view to make sure all four books were logical in plot with each other, and because the idea of a group of people having lunch together on Christmas Day because they wanted to spend together is a beautiful one. This Christmas the Dahlia family will be doing nothing. Mr Dahlia arrives home from London (work trip) on Christmas eve, so we are planning to spend Christmas morning at the beach, then come home and relax with a movie. Anthology Reading Order 1. His Christmas Feast, by Nora James: Amazon AUS Link 2. Her Christmas Kisses, by Susanne Bellamy: Amazon AUS Link 3. Her Christmas Homecoming, by Shirley Wine: Amazon AUS Link 4. His Christmas Pearl, by Renee Dahlia: Amazon AUS Link 
|
Mary-Anne O'Connor: My late father told me the story as passed down through his family - he was a well-known artist - Kevin Best. We shared a great love of the High Country and he would paint it as I wrote about it back in the day. Here is one of his paintings of the HIgh Country. 
Annie Seaton LOVES a family Christmas Australian readers will know exactly what I am thinking about when I imagine the heat of Christmas day, the cicadas chirping in the hot still air, and the welcome sound of the summer surf breaking on the beach. I am blessed in that we live by the ocean, and it's like being on holidays all year round. But the Christmas break is special here in my town. Holidaymakers arrive, and the mood is happy. How do we spend Christmas day? We’ll get up very early, always ham and eggs for breakfast, and then we do the Santa Claus presents with the grandchildren. Then we’ll go for a lovely walk on the beach (if it’s not too hot!) followed by a swim. We’ll come home to a cold lunch of fresh prawns, oysters, and good old Aussie Pavlova and fruit! We’ll lie around for the afternoon, relaxing and reading our new Christmas books, probably with chilled champagne close by. This it will be my only day away from writing this holiday as I am mady finishing my next book for a February release. Pippa is a book about the importance of friendship. Available for pre-order here: https://www.annieseaton.net/pippa.html .
|
Now for our 2019 Christmas giveaway...be in it to win it!
WINNERS ANNOUNCED CHRISTMAS EVE
So here is the contest you've all been waiting for!
We have the most fantabulous, awesome and generous Christmas contest that will sort out the summer...and probably winter...reading for three lucky Australian winners.
Three packs of signed print books to be won by Australian readers.
(If an international winner is drawn, we will forward a pack of ebooks)
The giveaway books are listed below and entry is by email.
Email your response to:
oznzruralfiction@gmail.com
THREE FABULOUS GIVEAWAY PACKS
Signed Print Books: Book Pack 1
Tea Cooper - The Girl in the Painting
Sandie Docker - The Cottage at Rosella Cove
Annie Seaton - Undara
Meredith Appleyard - Home at last
Fiona Lowe- Home Fires
Trish Morey - Cherry Season
Kaye Dobbie - The Bond
Cathryn Hein - Eddie and the Show Queen
Nicki Edwards - Second Chance Christmas
Signed Print Books: Book Pack 2
Darry Fraser - The Good Woman of Renmark
Wendy Davies - Good Enough for Love
Barbara Hannay - The Summer of Secrets
Ann Marie Brear Beneath a Stormy Sky
Sarah Williams - The Outback Governess
Renee Conoulty - Don't Mean a Thing
Jenn J McLeod - House of Wishes
Pamela Cook -Cross my Heart
Signed Print Books: Book Pack 3
Penelope Janu - Up on Horseshoe Hill
Susanne Bellamy - Hard Road Home
Jennifer Scoullar - TurtleReef
Phillipa Nefri Clarke - The Christmas Tree thief
Wendy Altschwager - Behind the Door
Noelene Jenkinson - Whispers on the Plain
Two things for you to do... answer the question below, and then like our author pages.
THE QUESTION:
1. Where is an unusual place you most like to see and Australian or New Zealand Rural Fiction story set?
Email your response to:
oznzruralfiction@gmail.com
2. For a greater chance ... one more entry granted for each author you like and follow... tell in your email which of the following pages you liked.
Click on the links below and then like the page!
https://www.facebook.com/TeaCooper/
https://www.facebook.com/sandiedockerwriter/
https://www.facebook.com/AnnieSeatonAuthor/
https://www.facebook.com/FionaLoweAustralianAuthor/
https://www.facebook.com/authornickiedwards/
https://www.facebook.com/darryfraser0210/
https://www.facebook.com/BarbaraHannayAuthor/
https://www.facebook.com/annemariebrear/
https://www.facebook.com/SarahWilliamsWriter/
https://www.facebook.com/cathrynhein/
https://www.facebook.com/JennJMcLeod.Author
https://www.facebook.com/penelopejanu/
https://www.facebook.com/susannebellamyauthor/
https://www.facebook.com/AuthorJenScoullar/
https://www.facebook.com/PhillipaNefriClark/
https://www.facebook.com/wendyaltschwager/
https://www.facebook.com/noelenejenkinsonauthor/
https://www.facebook.com/ReneeConoultyAuthor/
THE QUESTION:
1. Where is an unusual place you most like to see and Australian or New Zealand Rural Fiction story set?
Email your response to:
oznzruralfiction@gmail.com
2. For a greater chance ... one more entry granted for each author you like and follow... tell in your email which of the following pages you liked.
Click on the links below and then like the page!
https://www.facebook.com/TeaCooper/
https://www.facebook.com/sandiedockerwriter/
https://www.facebook.com/AnnieSeatonAuthor/
https://www.facebook.com/FionaLoweAustralianAuthor/
https://www.facebook.com/authornickiedwards/
https://www.facebook.com/darryfraser0210/
https://www.facebook.com/BarbaraHannayAuthor/
https://www.facebook.com/annemariebrear/
https://www.facebook.com/SarahWilliamsWriter/
https://www.facebook.com/cathrynhein/
https://www.facebook.com/JennJMcLeod.Author
https://www.facebook.com/penelopejanu/
https://www.facebook.com/susannebellamyauthor/
https://www.facebook.com/AuthorJenScoullar/
https://www.facebook.com/PhillipaNefriClark/
https://www.facebook.com/wendyaltschwager/
https://www.facebook.com/noelenejenkinsonauthor/
https://www.facebook.com/ReneeConoultyAuthor/
We thank everyone who has been a part of this group to date. In particular we thank all our bighearted authors, all our very busy authors, all our very well-known authors for having their work available to showcase on our website, and to give you the reader, one place to call in, and see what's being published.
Happy reading and good luck!
Annie, Darry and Lizzie.
