And The Excitement Builds …
So we’re in the final countdown now, looking toward the Big Day on Sunday 24, with the excitement starting to build for this long awaited event. I’ll definitely be flying north for it—wouldn’t miss it for worlds in fact—and am looking forward to a bit of excitement and razzmatazz.
The final of the Rugby World Cup?
Oh no, I’m talking about the launch of Mary Victoria’s third novel, Oracle’s Fire (Harper Voyager), which is the also the final book in her Chronicles of the Tree trilogy. The launch is at 12 noon this Sunday 23 October at the Weta Cave (cnr of Weka and Camperdown Roads) in Wellington—and I am delighted to be officially speaking some good words, as a friend and fellow author, for Mary on such an important occasion.
But you’re quite right, Sunday is also the day—although fortunately the game will be in the evening—on which the Rugby World Cup final will be played out between New Zealand’s All Blacks and France. A bit of deja vu there, as of course the first Rugby World Cup final in 1987 was also played out between New Zealand and France, at Eden Park in Auckland, with the All Blacks famously winning. So it’s probably fortunate Mary’s launch for Oracle’s Fire is in the middle of the day, as otherwise there’d be no one available to watch this famous re-match. ๐
Speaking of launches, there’s a couple happening here in Christchurch over the next few weeks, both to commence at 5.30 pm, in the CPIT Students’ Association (CPSA) Hall, 5 Madras Street in the City (or what’s left of it—sorry folks, couldn’t resist that!)
On Wednesday 26 October Tim Jones will be doing the Christchurch launch for his new poetry collection, Men Briefly Explained (Interactive Press.) By way of adding to the celebration, I hope to feature one of Tim’s poems from the collection as my Tuesday Poem next week.
And on 9 September, Barbara Strang will officially launch her second poetry collection, The Corrosion Zone (HeadworX)—and again I am honoured to be asked to officially launch the book. You may recall that I featured Indigo, a poem from The Corrosion Zone, as my Tuesday Poem on September 20, here.
LOL. And apart from the scheduling woes of launch vs game, imagine the veiled threats Frank is receiving at work, all for being French. ๐
Last night I dreamed I’d dressed up in red, white and blue and was taunting NZ fans. This is SO not me! What the hell, subconscious??
Looking forward to seeing you good folks soon.
No, no, Mary, you’ve got it all wrong—it’s the ABs and Les Bleus that are worried, so much so that the IRB and management for both teams insisted on scheduling the big game for evening, so as not to clash with your launch!
As for the WETA crowd, p’rhaps we’d best hope that the ABs win … ๐