Tim Slee's Blog: How's the Serenity? - Posts Tagged "prize"
Wassup with republishing and reissuing in a new name SLEE?
Just got this question on another forum (in a slightly more polite form...)
Yes, I previously published five titles under the name TJ Slee on Amazon and then they were taken offline and now they are re-published under the name Tim.
WTF?
Well, after winning the Publishers Weekly BookLife fiction prize I got an offer of representation I couldn't refuse. I signed over representation rights to my prize winning novels and agreed to take the novels off Amazon and effectively 'disappear' from indie publishing.
We gave it our best shot finding a trad publisher but got no bites. Such is life!
But in the meantime the novels had been re-edited, much improved, and it seemed like a nice idea to relaunch them 'under new management'!
That's why they have suddenly reappeared, fresh and new and ready for new reader reviews. The first has just rolled in and was a full 5 stars, so that's a nice a start!
Thankyou 'ATX' wherever you may be!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079VL4DHD#...
Yes, I previously published five titles under the name TJ Slee on Amazon and then they were taken offline and now they are re-published under the name Tim.
WTF?
Well, after winning the Publishers Weekly BookLife fiction prize I got an offer of representation I couldn't refuse. I signed over representation rights to my prize winning novels and agreed to take the novels off Amazon and effectively 'disappear' from indie publishing.
We gave it our best shot finding a trad publisher but got no bites. Such is life!
But in the meantime the novels had been re-edited, much improved, and it seemed like a nice idea to relaunch them 'under new management'!
That's why they have suddenly reappeared, fresh and new and ready for new reader reviews. The first has just rolled in and was a full 5 stars, so that's a nice a start!
Thankyou 'ATX' wherever you may be!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079VL4DHD#...
Are you Reader Zero?!
Be the first person in the world to read the new novel from TJ Slee: The Æsirim (sequel to the BookLife Prize award winning novel 'Vanirim').
All proceeds go to Plan International, the #girlsrights organisation providing education and support to girls in 75 countries.
Check here: https://www.gofundme.com/readerzero
The winner will be the first in the world to receive a signed and dedicated first edition print copy of the new novel.
It's simple: every dollar donated gets you a ticket in the prize draw, so the more you donate, the more chance you have to win!
$20 can provide two weeks disaster relief for a girl and her family
$30 gives a child breakfast at school for a whole year. This will provide the energy and nutrition needed for a child to concentrate in class and make the most of their education.
$45 supports safety education for girls in cities to help them confidently navigate the streets.
$70 helps a young woman set up her own business.
$100 can set up a school garden in Cambodia. The garden will provide much-needed nutrition to help children’s development, and give students the energy to focus at school.
Help spread the word!
All proceeds go to Plan International, the #girlsrights organisation providing education and support to girls in 75 countries.
Check here: https://www.gofundme.com/readerzero
The winner will be the first in the world to receive a signed and dedicated first edition print copy of the new novel.
It's simple: every dollar donated gets you a ticket in the prize draw, so the more you donate, the more chance you have to win!
$20 can provide two weeks disaster relief for a girl and her family
$30 gives a child breakfast at school for a whole year. This will provide the energy and nutrition needed for a child to concentrate in class and make the most of their education.
$45 supports safety education for girls in cities to help them confidently navigate the streets.
$70 helps a young woman set up her own business.
$100 can set up a school garden in Cambodia. The garden will provide much-needed nutrition to help children’s development, and give students the energy to focus at school.
Help spread the word!
Goodreads Giveaway: Bless Me Father
On Goodreads this weekend, you can win an ebook copy of the PW BookLife thriller genre winner 'Bless Me Father''!
https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh...
Read the wonderfully tongue-in-cheek spy novel that topped the Publishers Weekly BookLife Prize shortlist for crime/thriller novels!
“This marvelous story, brilliantly written, chronicles the exploits of Charlie Jones, a former member of Australia’s Security Service and currently a novice in Mercy Sisters, where she is slated to soon become a full-fledged nun. When the Pope decides to visit, the Archbishop taps Sr. Jones to oversee security and what follows are highly amusing escapades that put this unorthodox and extremely intuitive nun on the trail of would-be Pope killers. This story has it all – a logical and credible plot, brilliant writing, engaging and well-developed characters, and an appealing heroine. 10/10” (PW BookLife Prize assessment)
Jason Pinter
Best selling Author:
“Highly original, well-written, with an engaging, sparkplug of a heroine in Security Service agent-turned-novitiate Charlie Jones. There’s a little Lisbeth Salander, a little Stephanie Plum, but Slee creates a world that is unique, immersive, and above all fun to lose yourself in. By the time I finished reading, I wanted to start from the beginning with Charlie Jones’s first story, and was eager to see what comes next.”
If you aren't lucky enough to win, just follow my author page - I often have dollar deals!
https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh...
Read the wonderfully tongue-in-cheek spy novel that topped the Publishers Weekly BookLife Prize shortlist for crime/thriller novels!
“This marvelous story, brilliantly written, chronicles the exploits of Charlie Jones, a former member of Australia’s Security Service and currently a novice in Mercy Sisters, where she is slated to soon become a full-fledged nun. When the Pope decides to visit, the Archbishop taps Sr. Jones to oversee security and what follows are highly amusing escapades that put this unorthodox and extremely intuitive nun on the trail of would-be Pope killers. This story has it all – a logical and credible plot, brilliant writing, engaging and well-developed characters, and an appealing heroine. 10/10” (PW BookLife Prize assessment)
Jason Pinter
Best selling Author:
“Highly original, well-written, with an engaging, sparkplug of a heroine in Security Service agent-turned-novitiate Charlie Jones. There’s a little Lisbeth Salander, a little Stephanie Plum, but Slee creates a world that is unique, immersive, and above all fun to lose yourself in. By the time I finished reading, I wanted to start from the beginning with Charlie Jones’s first story, and was eager to see what comes next.”
If you aren't lucky enough to win, just follow my author page - I often have dollar deals!
That one book to read before you go...
The English Patient by Michael OndaatjeMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
If a dying friend asked me 'what should I read before I go?' this would be my recommendation.
What I fell in love with, what I still love the most about the book, is the protagonist Almasy's hand written journal, scribbled among the pages of Herodotus's 'The Histories'. What a device, summing up in one small object his intensely private self, and at the same time as he passes it to his lover, the giving up of himself, his surrender to her.
And then of course, there is Oondatje's intensely cinematic writing, which to me he never really succeeded in beating in subsequent or prior works. I can't pick a single quote, but just browse here:
https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes...
So cinematic is his language that the film by the Brit Anthony Minghella was the most faithful reproduction of a loved novel that I've come across and unusually I've seen the film almost as many times as I've read the book, because now when I read the book, I see Ralph Fiennes and Kristen Scott Thomas. They've supplanted the images I may have had in my mind, so perfectly did they capture the spirit of the book.
I read it at least once a year, to remind myself that love really is all that matters and it's big, small, good, bad, sweet and brutal all at the same time.
What's YOUR 'one to read before you go'?
View all my reviews
Free Advance Review Copy: The Æsirim!
Dear friends!! Get a free Advance Review Copy ebook of the Midgaard Cycle, both vols 1 & 2, featuring the new episode: The Æsir, which will be going live on Amazon later this month! For Kindle, Nook, iphone/pad etc.
https://dl.bookfunnel.com/aq76hd755a
(Episode 1: The Vanirim, was grand prize winner of the inaugural Publishers Weekly BookLife Prize in Fiction!)
***
In India, a space launch is sabotaged with devastating effect. In New York, hackers shut down the subway system. In England, pirates take over the airwaves to broadcast insurrectionist propaganda. The human uprising against the Vanir is afire...
REVIEWS OF THE VANIRIM: MIDGAARD CYCLE VOLUME 1
"This superb novel has it all — a gripping and twisty plot, well-developed characters, and excellent writing. The story centers on Tully McIntyre, a "sanctioned" 19-year-old who is accused of killing a Vanir, one of the superior beings who rule Earth. The author skillfully keeps the reader guessing as to Tully's guilt or innocence, all the while creating a complex new world with its own set of laws and systems of justice. Characterization is strong, the story progression logical and original, and while the ending clearly indicates a new installment is to follow, the book stands alone and is complete. Extremely well done. 10/10."
- Publishers Weekly BookLife Prize
"I devoured The Vanirim in a single sitting, pulled in initially by the vision of life on Earth after an interdimensional alien invasion and driven forward by the twisty and mind-bending plot, centered on an enigmatic and compelling main character. This is a book of mysteries and wonders."
- Tim Pratt, best selling author
https://dl.bookfunnel.com/aq76hd755a
(Episode 1: The Vanirim, was grand prize winner of the inaugural Publishers Weekly BookLife Prize in Fiction!)
***
In India, a space launch is sabotaged with devastating effect. In New York, hackers shut down the subway system. In England, pirates take over the airwaves to broadcast insurrectionist propaganda. The human uprising against the Vanir is afire...
REVIEWS OF THE VANIRIM: MIDGAARD CYCLE VOLUME 1
"This superb novel has it all — a gripping and twisty plot, well-developed characters, and excellent writing. The story centers on Tully McIntyre, a "sanctioned" 19-year-old who is accused of killing a Vanir, one of the superior beings who rule Earth. The author skillfully keeps the reader guessing as to Tully's guilt or innocence, all the while creating a complex new world with its own set of laws and systems of justice. Characterization is strong, the story progression logical and original, and while the ending clearly indicates a new installment is to follow, the book stands alone and is complete. Extremely well done. 10/10."
- Publishers Weekly BookLife Prize
"I devoured The Vanirim in a single sitting, pulled in initially by the vision of life on Earth after an interdimensional alien invasion and driven forward by the twisty and mind-bending plot, centered on an enigmatic and compelling main character. This is a book of mysteries and wonders."
- Tim Pratt, best selling author
Author notes: The Æsir
I'll try to give a few insights into the creative process behind this new episode of the Midgaard Cycle.
I always conceived the Midgaard Cycle as a trilogy, and that idea was only strengthened when volume 1, The Vanirim, won the grand prize in the Publishers Weekly BookLife awards, the most important result being that the prizemoney enabled me to blow my charity fundraising target for that year out of the water. (All sales of my books go to charity, this year it is Plan International, the #girlsrights organisation).
The three volumes will be The Vanirim, the Æsir and finally, the Jötunn, each featuring a new faction in the universe of Norse deities. The first volume was written in the first person voice of the main protagonist, Tully McIntyre, a man who has had his ability to feel emotion cauterised, and whose psyche is fighting back. It was a unique viewpoint to examine what is essentially a crime story through.
But as I got about a third of the way into volume 2, the Æsir, I realised the storyline would not work if I wrote it in same first person voice. So I changed it to third person and the story is mostly seen through the eyes of another protagonist, Regin Investigator Stella Valiente.
There are many precedents for creatively playing with the POV through a series, not least of which is Lee Childs Jack Reacher series which is sometimes written in first person, other times in third. What drives this decision is often the fact that the protagonist is hiding a secret and it wouldn't be credible for him to keep it from the reader. This wasn't a problem in The Vanirim because although McIntyre had secrets, they weren't even known to himself.
In the Æsir though, McIntyre has a very important hidden agenda and I didn't feel he could narrate the story and keep his secret hidden at the same time.
If that change of PoV disconcerts you as a reader, fear not! McIntyre will be back as first person narrator in Volume 3, The Jötunn!
I always conceived the Midgaard Cycle as a trilogy, and that idea was only strengthened when volume 1, The Vanirim, won the grand prize in the Publishers Weekly BookLife awards, the most important result being that the prizemoney enabled me to blow my charity fundraising target for that year out of the water. (All sales of my books go to charity, this year it is Plan International, the #girlsrights organisation).
The three volumes will be The Vanirim, the Æsir and finally, the Jötunn, each featuring a new faction in the universe of Norse deities. The first volume was written in the first person voice of the main protagonist, Tully McIntyre, a man who has had his ability to feel emotion cauterised, and whose psyche is fighting back. It was a unique viewpoint to examine what is essentially a crime story through.
But as I got about a third of the way into volume 2, the Æsir, I realised the storyline would not work if I wrote it in same first person voice. So I changed it to third person and the story is mostly seen through the eyes of another protagonist, Regin Investigator Stella Valiente.
There are many precedents for creatively playing with the POV through a series, not least of which is Lee Childs Jack Reacher series which is sometimes written in first person, other times in third. What drives this decision is often the fact that the protagonist is hiding a secret and it wouldn't be credible for him to keep it from the reader. This wasn't a problem in The Vanirim because although McIntyre had secrets, they weren't even known to himself.
In the Æsir though, McIntyre has a very important hidden agenda and I didn't feel he could narrate the story and keep his secret hidden at the same time.
If that change of PoV disconcerts you as a reader, fear not! McIntyre will be back as first person narrator in Volume 3, The Jötunn!
Last days for Charlie Jones (thriller) Goodreads giveaway...
“Slee has a cheeky wit… There is also a sucker punch of a twist that ranks with the last line of Charles Willeford’s Pick-Up. An auspicious introduction to an unconventional new character in the spy game.”
- Kirkus Reviews
https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh...
- Kirkus Reviews
https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh...
Cool summer reads
Summer back catalogue sale now on! EBooks as low as $3, paperbacks $12.99. All proceeds to Plan International for #girlsrights!
https://www.amazon.com/Tim-Slee/e/B07...
https://www.amazon.com/Tim-Slee/e/B07...
Last day for giveaway The Æsirim
Last day! Signed print book giveaway for 'The Aesir', sequel to the award winning 'The Vanirim'. This special edition includes BOTH novels!
https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh...
https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh...
How's the Serenity?
A blog about the fun of balancing life, work, family, friends, writing and karma... mostly writing and karma.
- Tim Slee's profile
- 96 followers
