They call it the Windy City. It’s not
Chicago, it’s much closer to the Antarctica than you think, and when it blows
hard there you feel it right to the bone.
I guess the beginning of Weather Child was
an image I saw of Wellington in the 1960s. It was a windy day (hardly unusual)
but on this street, they had installed posts about waist high, with rope strung
between them. This woman, laden with grocery bags was hanging onto this rope
with all of her might, trying desperately to walk up the hill.
It was a perfect depiction of just how
powerful those winds from the south can be, and immediately my imagination was
going. What if a person could control that? What would it make them? What would
it do to them?
As always with authors it is the ‘what ifs’
that are most exciting.
I was also excited to be writing about my
homeland. I was born, raised, and lived most of my life in Wellington, New
Zealand. It was only three years ago I moved to Virginia for love, but it will
forever be part of me. It is the place my husband, and fellow writer, Tee
Morris and I will be retiring to.
I wanted to show other people how
wonderful, beautiful and yes…sometimes terrifying it can be there.
Wellington is at the bottom of the North
Island of New Zealand. It is a harbour town with lots of hills. In fact the
only flat land has been reclaimed from the sea, or is in the valley with the
Hutt river running through it. They have a saying for Wellington, ‘you can’t
beat it on a good day—or even a bad day.’ The weather is changeable, but on a
glorious day there is nothing like it. A large number of people work for the
government since it is the capital, and they also have given up on umbrellas,
since the wind shreds them in an instant. On a good blowing day you will see
the remains stuffed into trashcans on every street. It is like the city it most
resembles, San Francisco, prone to earthquakes, which the people cope with as
best they can.
It is also a very green city. The early settlers
of the city laid out a town belt of bushland around the city, that has a
convent on it to prevent any sale or development.
I wanted to capture some of that beauty,
but also some of the history that Wellingtonians—let alone foreign
readers—might not know about. I spent a lot of time pouring over old
photographs, which might possibly be my most favourite method of research. I
set my heroine, Faith’s father’s pub as a very often photographed popular pub
in Wellington. It is long gone, but it had these amazing—and slightly
creepy—carved wooden heads all along its roofline. Sometimes as an author you
find things in history that you almost couldn’t imagine. I was also able to
include the one street that comprised Wellington’s Chinatown, and delved into
some of the very real racial tensions in that area.
The area where Faith’s mother lives, is
just north of Wellington, and is actually based on the area my grandmother came
from. The hills there are pretty close to mountains, but in ‘the backblocks’ as
New Zealanders would say, plenty of farmers carved out their lives. I was able
to write this bit from experience, after a trip up into the hills. I remember
it was quite a drive, at quite an angle. Luckily Faith and her family all ride
horses because in a car, even in a four-wheel drive, it was rather treacherous.
Yet, as a writer everything is fodder for
the imagination, and I certainly hope those that read Weather Child will enjoy
traveling back with me to a New Zealand that is wrapped in history and my own
imagination.
Just I hope no one expects to see many
magicians there…we like to keep that bit hush hush.
The Awakened Epoch
Book One
Philippa Ballantine
Genre: Historical Fantasy
Publisher: Imagine That! Studios
Date of Publication: 1st March 2014
ISBN: 978-0615953489
ASIN:
Word Count: 105,000
Cover Artist: Alex White
Book Description:
Never alone. Never apart.
They are the Awakened, a unique breed of people in a remote corner of the world. Faith is one of these gifted carriers of the Seraphim; and in return of her unconditional love, her Seraphim grants her powers of incredible potential.
But not all carriers embrace their blessing.
Jack loathes being an Awakened. He never asked for it, his Seraphim keeping him alive even in spite of his desire to die. Not even a great war could rid him of this curse.
Now a magician of incredible ability and a walking dead man must find a way to work together to save the Seraphim. Someone covets the power of the Awakened, and will not stop until that power belongs to him.
About the Author:
New Zealand born fantasy writer and podcaster Philippa (Pip) Ballantine is the author of the Books of the Order and the Shifted World series. She is also the co-author with her husband Tee Morris of the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences novels. Her awards include an Airship, a Parsec, the Steampunk Chronicle Reader’s Choice, and a Sir Julius Vogel. She currently resides in Manassas, Virginia with her husband, daughter, and a furry clowder of cats.
Twitter: @PhilippaJane
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pjballantine
Website: http://www.pjballantine.com/
Feb 24 Guest blog
Jill Archer
Feb 25 Interview
Pembroke Sinclair.
Feb 25 Review
Who's Reviews
Feb 26 spotlight
Share My Destiny
Feb 27 Interview
Pressed Leaf Publishing
Feb 28 Guest blog
Eden Ashe
March 3 Interview
Paranormal Romance Fans for Life
March 4 Guest blog
Preternatura Blog
March 5 Guest blog
Fang-tastic Books
March 6 Spotlight
Roxanne’s Realm
March 7 Teaser Spotlight
The Writerly Exploits of Mara Valderran
http://maravalderran.blogspot.com
March 7 Spotlight
Midnight Musings with Bertena
March 10 Mama's Kitchen Mondays -
RECIPE & REVIEW
Cabin Goddess
March 10 Interview
Manga Maniac Cafe
No comments:
Post a Comment