“Here’s SpecFicNZ–Wellington”: Featuring Sally McLennan
Introduction:
On October 31 I began a new “mini-post” series titled “Here’s SpecFicNZ Wellington.” As explained, effectively my fellow SpecFicNZ-ers are introducing themselves using a series of common headings:
Here’s Who: a short, first person introduction to the member
Here’s Why: the member writes or works in speculative fiction
Here’s What: an example of the member’s work
Here’s Where: you can find out more about the writer and their work—and I really hope you will!
And now I am very pleased to introduce this week’s guest, Sally McLennan.
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Here’s SpecFicNZ–Wellington: Featuring Sally McLennan
Here’s Who:
I am a writer of children’s books, fairy tales for grown-ups, erotica, horror and more. I studied English at Canterbury University and went on to edit newspapers in Sydney. I have been writing fiction full time since the publication of my first book Deputy Dan & the Mysterious Midnight Marauder.
My passions are reading and my one and a half Clydesdales (my mare is pregnant!). I am addicted to (quality) documentaries and chocolate. I also love getting into hot water, or the sea, either will do.
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Here’s Why:
I can’t help it really. I loved words and puzzles ever since I first encountered them. Writing is like a combination of both: novels are the most complicated jigsaw puzzle you can get. You not only solve the puzzle to make a picture you get to invent each piece! I got my first award for writing when I was eight and I still have it. There is no going back.
I was that kid who staggered under piles of books when eventually emerging from the library and who was most often told off for day dreaming in class. My reveries were usually about the characters I had encountered in ink-worlds. Nothing is better than the opportunity to make books of my own.
Plus, what’s not to love? I sometimes work in my pajamas and I have written (published work!) while on the back of an elephant. The entirety of life is my story fodder and I try to live in adventures. Delicious!
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Here’s What:
Somewhere Else
In Else, the creatures of legend have read our fantasy novels. There, monsters believe the human children that appear are fairytale heroes, who must be recruited, or destroyed. This is because Else is a world at war. The teens washed up there will not survive this bloody and brutal conflict unless they escape and make a place of their own.
From the moment she is swept from a sheep farm in New Zealand into Else, a world where fiction and truth are hopelessly confused, Sarah struggles to regain her footing. She is seized and sent to a concentration camp — known as the Academy of Heroes — but often called Camp Flotsam. There Sarah must rapidly measure up to the expectations of those around her whether they be the dreams of Minotaur, and other creatures who staff the camp, or those of her human peers. But when Sarah’s little sister Lily appears in the camp, Sarah knows she has to come first. Sarah sets about trying to rescue her and get back home. She may die in the attempt.
Deputy Dan & the Mysterious Midnight Marauder
A crime spree so unfathomable that law enforcement agencies are stumped and the public is captivated.
A criminal so strange that no one can guess who the culprit could be. It’s up to the youngest policeman in the nation to follow a trail of clues and catch the criminal mastermind red handed. This is a whodunit about magic and regrets, about learning to feel more and judge less, and the true treasures in life.
Deputy Dan & the Mysterious Midnight Marauder won the Sir Julius Vogel Award for the Best Professional Publication in 2009 and the Conclave Award in 2006 for The Best Work in Fantasy Poetry.
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Here’s Where:
My website: http://www.sallymclennan.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SallyMcLennanAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Sally_McLennan
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The “Here’s SpecFicNZ–Wellington” series will be posting every Thursday for the next six weeks.