So many new things...

on the horizon

Dearest Lovely Readers,

I know it’s March, but I haven’t spoken to you since last year, so Happy New Year! I hope you had a lovely Christmas and break. I had an insanely awesome time in Norway and Finland, and although I didn’t see the Northern Lights, the husky rides, hikes and snow were everything I imagined they would be. The scenery was to die for and if I ever had to chose another place to live, Norway would be it.

Unfortunately our whole tour group came down with a very bad flu and it was difficult to go outside in -20 and lower temps, which is why I didn’t catch the lights. This photo was taken by Dana (or Jen!) from our tour group and was just outside our hotel.

And apologies for the rest of the photos to follow. Everyone else’s holiday snaps can be a bit tedious, can’t they? But I’m ignoring this piece of knowledge!

We had the best group, so many Aussies (three from Perth!) and a couple of American’s thrown in for good measure. We laughed and talked and travelled well together. I made a lot of friends, some who will stick for a long time. A huge shout out to Lisa, Manny, Austen, Judy, Jo and Shaz. Shaz kept us entertained with her singing after a couple of reds! And the Huskies… Oh the huskies, well I would have stayed there and cleaned out their kennels for free if I could have. Shadow would have been annoyed with me, but I LOVED the huskies. If you want to see a couple of videos, click here and here and here.

Minus 20 and less temps were insane! My hair froze and when we all had the flu, our noses were running, except then the snot froze and every time we tried to blow our noses, we could feel and hear the crackle of frozen snot inside! Weird!!

And here’s the snowy photos:

Now if you’re still reading this after tedious holiday snaps, YAY and guess what? I have a new website design. Thanks so much to Kelly from Looking Glass Creative. You can check out her work here or look at my website here. I’m really keen to hear what you think about it. We are still in the process of creating a subscribers hub for the website where you’ll have access to me personally as I try to bring my social media presence back over to the website. I’m really worried about all the deep fake AI images going around, the inaccurate news that is being broadcast over social media and the fact that it’s a creative zapper. Plus the algorithms are getting harder to get around, so many of you won’t see my posts and I don’t want you missing out. But don’t worry, I’m not getting off those platforms just yet and I will give you all plenty of warning.

Now, that’s the first new thing. The second is The Witness is coming out in 28 days! Excited much? Yes I am! I’m also nervous because as with every new release, I want you to like it. All authors are needy and self loathing and the thought of bad reviews is scary. I’m hoping you’ll love The Witness. Preorders are open now and this time we’re directing everyone to Booktopia. We like to share around the advertising of the preorders to many different book sellers, because we love them all and need to promote them all. If you’d like to preorder, click HERE.

And on The Witness, have you seen this STUNNING cover?

I’m heading away on tour in April. New South Wales, Victoria and some of Western Australia is where I’m hitting this time. See below for places, dates and times. I can’t wait to get back on the road and see you all.

In saying that, as much as I’d like to be able to visit everyone, that’s not possible and some places miss out. As it is, this tour I’m away for nearly a month. (Poor Shadow!) But for the first time (another first) in a while, I’m going to tour regionally during November, when the next book is out, so if you want me to visit your town, please reply to this email and tell me where and we’ll do our best to get to you.

Here’s all the places I’m visiting (and please note that the Boya Library event is starting at 10:30am not pm. If you turn up at 10:30pm, I can promise you I won’t be there, I’ll be asleep!).

Shadow was very pleased to have me home after my overseas adventures. I feel a bit mean in running off again so soon, but she’s always well looked after.

Plus, she’s going to spend a lot of time along side me in the plane as I finish off my training. A couple of weeks ago my instructor, Sam (who insisted on looking at the controls, while I took the below photo - I really don’t know why!) and I took the plane to Northam for its annual service. This time Shadow had to stay home because I couldn’t bring her home on the train with me, but that won’t always be the case.

So this year has got off to a cracker of a start. I’m nearly finished the next book, which will be published in November, all going according to plan and in case you haven’t caught up with the news; I’ve signed another contract with HarperCollins for more books to come your way.

So now, I’ll get out of your in-box, with all my photos and annoyance and get back to work. But please remember, answer this email if you have a place you’d like me to visit in November. We probably will focus on regional VIC, NSW and QLD this time, but next year all the other states will be included.

With Love,

Fleur and Shadow.