Margaret Morgan: #Robinpedia

Author image found on Google Image Search, Imgflip has watermarked over the photographer’s watermark http://www.virginiaszaraz.com.au

Lawyer, scientist, scriptwriter and now author, Margaret Morgan is conquering the world one profession at a time. When she isn’t writing, and even when she is, Margaret resides in sunny Sydney with her trusted companion, Shadrak. Shadrak is an international scribe of mystery. He enjoys fingering parchment, sitting in comfy chairs, staring into the abyss, and refusing to eat his dinner.

Oh that Shadrak, he really boils my potato.

But enough about that charismatic bag of bones, let’s talk about Margaret’s debut novel, The Second Cure, published through Penguin Random House. Famed literary critic, Kerryn Goldsworthy, says that The Second Cure bleeds across at least five different genres; dystopian, political thriller, satire, domestic realism, and literary fiction. It has cats, a pandemic, some sex, political extremists, cats, a few laughs, lots of science and, most importantly, cats. It uses the idea that toxoplasma gondii has mutated to prefer human hosts and to become deadly to all species of cats. This means not only the end of cute cat videos, but also no lions or tigers or bears (oh my… okay, the bears are fine). At first people don’t seem too bothered by the feline death business, but once the effects on humans become more apparent, people losing their inhibitions and becoming way more into casual sexing up and wot not, political conservatives start clutching at their pearls.

It has been touted to get nods at next year’s Stella Prize, Miles Franklin Award, Aurealis, along with the various Premier’s Literary Awards. Although, Margaret is already no stranger to accolades having received acclaim for her librettos and television scripts, along with winning the 2010 3 Quark’s Daily Charm Quark Prize in Science.

Margaret came to be published after a chance meeting with Lex Hirst at Write NSW‘s Spec Fic Fest. Lex was an editor at Random Penguin House and Margaret took the opportunity to approach her and pitch. The rest, as you say, is history. Margaret went on to be published through Penguin Random House and Lex has recently taken up the role of Publisher at Pantera Press. So next time you see that the Spec Fic Fest is on, book your tickets and get on in there!

Find Margaret Morgan’s website here.

Find Margaret Morgan on Twitter here.

Find Margaret Morgan on Facebook here.

Find The Second Cure here or anywhere.

Find me twinning with Margaret Morgan in this pic taken by Pamela Freeman at the launch of The Second Cure held at Leadbelly through Better Read Than Dead below:

At the launch of THE SECOND CURE by @Monocotyledon and look at this crowd! pic.twitter.com/bGq1Ueq28F

— Emily Cook (@e_j_cook) August 15, 2018

Read more about Robinpedia here.

Read about my experience of being a dyslexic writer here.

Read about my opinion on author brandinghere.

Buy my shit here.

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Out There: Kerri Sackville Book Launch

In an act of pure genius Kerri Sackville held her Sydney launch of Out There, hosted by Better Read Than Dead, in a bar. Leadbelly in Newtown to be precise. A book on dating in your 40s is obviously best accompanied by wine and plenty of it so this really was the perfect pairing. The place was packed. All seats gone, all tables gone and the bar crowded. I have never attended a book launch with so many people. We can safely say that Echo publishing was right to think that a survival guide to dating in midlife would be warmly received.

The effervescent Benjamin Law lead the conversation. He refers to Kerri as a war correspondent and anthropologist who delves deep into dating, throwing her body on the line to meticulously document the ins and outs of dating. Not all heroes wear capes.

After some deep probing from BLaw Kerri admits that feeling antsy is what lead her to dive into dating after divorce. She tried to join EHarmony but it asked her too many questions and she wasn’t ready for that kind of commitment to an ap … so she downloaded Tinder and was treated to a bunch of photos of men straddling motorcycles or sitting next to sleeping tigers. She swiped left a lot. But she eventually went on a date and Out There is the bounty from her swiping right.

My dear friend Sinead tells me that this is the best book ever and just so relatable. She is new to the dating world and said she laughed out loud and could see herself making the same mistakes. This is a book about negotiating online dating with your sanity and dignity whilst loving yourself. So, take my friend Sinead’s word for it and-

Grab it from host of this book launch, Better Read Than Dead, here.

Find it on Booktopia here.

Actually, find it pretty much ANYWHERE!

Confessions of a Mad Mooer: the musical ( #bePNDaware )

Quick confession, the title is a tad misleading. My blog posts on postnatal depression, which I always start with Confessions of a Mad Mooer, are not being converted into a musical… but I have used them as a basis for a book! That’s right, a book. I have written a book about my journey through postnatal depression mainly focused on my month long stay in a psychiatric hospital with my twins when they were newborns. My first blog entry on this can be found here. And the good news is, that you will be able to get it in both print and e format.

So in honour of Postnatal Depression Awareness Week, which starts today Sunday the 13th of November, I am doing a dramatic cover reveal even though my book is not due to be released until December. TADAH!

Look at her. Isn’t she magnificent? The art and cover design were done by Sally Walsh from Sillier than Sally Designs. I’ve never loved an image containing my own melon so much. I simply showed her the linked blog post, said that the picture in it represented my time in the psychiatric hospital, mentioned that I liked orange and birds, then asked if I gave her monies could she give me a cover. She said yes and managed to create this amazing piece of art.

Confessions of a Mad Mooer will be out in December. Talk about the perfect Cristmas gift for the  hot mammas in your life. 
Keep your eyes on this page for more information coming up about the release of my memoir about postnatal depression and my month long stay in a psychiatric hospital. Excerpts and giveaways are coming your way this week, I promise.

I will be doing a blog post about postnatal depression everyday this week as a nod to Postnatal Depression Awareness Week. Please do check in regularly or all the news.

For more information on Postnatal Depression Awareness Week please go here.

And as always, any women who suffer from any form of depression or anxiety are welcome to join my own FB girl-tribe group which is pro mystical troll but doesn’t allow any nasty trolling.

https://facebook.com/groups/563402577109194

If you or anyone you know is depressed, here are some great links:

PANDA http://www.panda.org.au/

PIRI http://www.piri.org.au/

Black Dog Institute http://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/

Lifeline https://www.lifeline.org.au/

I’ve Started a Support Group… For MYSELF!

Full confession, I am a chronic self sabotager and procrastinator of the highest order. I’ve had both Book Club Part 3 and Confessions of a Mad Mooer sitting, ready, waiting to go to the copy editor and haven’t sent them. Every time I go to send them I have an anxiety attack, feel like I’m going to have a heart attack, and my stomach fills with acid. I’ve read through them both many times, I am happy with them, others have read them, likewise happy, and yet I couldn’t bring myself to hit send. This week I did it. I did it by setting myself a ridiculously hard goal to achieve which has lit a fire under the seat of my pants… I’m currently pantsless with a scorched A.

I have a dream, to hand the great JByrne a print copy of Confessions of a Mad Mooer, my recap of my time in the psychiatric hospital with postnatal depression, at the final taping of the Book Club ABC for this year. And by give, I mean leap over security and throw it at her screaming, “I love you,” before dashing off ninja style into the night. It’s in December. Luckily I engaged my cover artist months ago, before the dread sunk in, so I’m not completely toast. But given my self sabotagesque approach to life I have started a support group for myself on FB called Self Sabotage and Procrastination to get me through.

Yes, you read right, I’ve started a support group, not for the good of a marginalised group, for myself. I am a wretched toad of a thing. It’s a place we’re people can yell encouraging things at me, suggest blurbs, tell my cover artist that she’s a genius, read the draft, and generally be nice, to make me feel good and not dissolve into a puddle of self loathing.

So… hopefully in December I’ll have some pretty books that you can buy AND high self esteem. Wouldn’t that be nice? (Crawls off to corner and sobs.)

Jacqueline Harvey: #Robinpedia

Jacqueline Harvey is an Australian children’s writer and former primary school teacher, Deputy Head of Junior School, and Director of Development. She is known for her celebration of feminine traits, often depicted as weak in literature, and showing them as strengths.

The Alice-Miranda books, published through Random House, are Jacqueline Harvey’s first series. They are enormously popular both in Australia and overseas. This juggernaut series is already up to book number 14 and is frequently shortlisted for Children’s Book Awards. She has followed up this series with another internationally popular series, Clementine Rose, also published through Random House, which already has 12 books in the series. Jacqueline Harvey has also written a picture book, The Sound of the Sea, published through Hachette, which was an Honour Book in the 2006 Children’s Book Council Awards.

Book launches of Jacqueline Harvey’s are amongst the most anticipated in Australia. She doesn’t forget her target audience and makes it fun and fabulous for kids. Jacqueline Harvey has been known to host child friendly high teas for her book launches and as such has really upped the bar for book launches in Australia. She has certainly brought the fun and creativity into launches which is a reflection of her passion and enthusiasm for her subject matter and her readers.

Although Jacqueline Harvey is no longer a full-time primary school teacher she hasn’t left her trusty whiteboard behind. In true teacherly fashion, Jacqueline Harvey uses a whiteboard to plan out her novels. A trait that has been adopted by up and coming Australian writers such as Lisa Fleetwood.

Find Jacqueline Harvey’s website here.

Find Jacqueline Harvey on Facebook here.

Find Jacqueline Harvey on Twitter here.

Learn more about Robinpedia here.

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