Q&A with Patty Jansen discussion

What are you writing at the moment?

Reworking an old alt hist novel with Romans.

Well, hi there. And thank you for asking. I am about to dive into some Queanbeyan-based noir. Still working out whether it will have speculative elements or be straight noir...

I'm working on Lae Ossard, which is the final book of The Ossard Trilogy. I'm also plotting some alt history, but it has a distinct lack of Romans. ;-)

Fiddling with a paranormal noir which isn't quite working yet, just finished a piece of historical fiction about the Beatles' visit to Melbourne for the new "Trust Me!" anthology from Ford Street and trying to complete my prequel to Wolfborn, which is still a struggle since I suddenly realised my intended villain wasn't a villain after all and after 60,000 words I was stuck with no villain at all!

Since my life is still fairly upside down right now, I have gone back to 'House of Faegrim' and am editing.

"Peter and Wendy: What Happened Later" Peter is in a wheelchair after trying to fly off the roof of their suburban home in Neverland. Meanwhile Wendy is jealous of Tink who has remained young and beautiful where Wendy has put on a few pounds. This can't end well.

A paranormal romance starring a bunch of tigers

Plotting novel 8 for NaNoWriMo. Sci-fi/Fantasy all orbit around Haven.

A fantasy science fiction story and an article on diets for people with disabilities for Divine (www.divine.vic.gov.au) magazine.

@Graham I noticed you do a lot of work for people with disabilities. Good stuff.

@Darlene Argh! NaNo. I did it once, but never again!

@Greta a tiger romance? Do the tigers get hot & sweaty?

@Erik fanfic, no?

@Susan this is the same one you posted at OWW? You know I want you to write Rivers, don't you?

@Debbie what is going to be the alternative factor?

@Colin is this your first series?

@Lily I love fiction set in rural Australia. My story in Tales for Canterbury is set in Hay, and my story in Dead Red Heart is set in Paluma (which is in the rainforest N of Townsville). There's a lot of potential for interesting and authentic worldbuilding once you get past the rural Australian cliches.

@Sue erk I hate it when that happens. But on the other hand, non-villainous villains are more interesting

Hi Patty! Yeah, the Ossard Trilogy is my first series, it's a dark fantasy that starts with The Fall of Ossard and then continues through with the newly released Ossard's Hope. Lae Ossard is scheduled for June next year.

I noticed somewhere (Kindleboards, probably) that this was published elsewhere previously. Which publisher?

You might be thinking of references to Australian Realms magazine? Ossard originally ran as a series of pieces of colour fiction back in the mid 90s, telling a tale of a doomed city collapsing under the weight of its own corruption and destined to suffer a terrible doom. The original articles would have been well under a combined 10,000 words in length, but have birthed a trilogy that'll come in at over 400,000 words. It has been interesting watching it grow.

I publish Ossard now, drawing upon the experience I've gained from being involved in small press, publishing and book retail on and off for over 20 years.

Ah, Constantine gets killed at the Battle of Milvian Bridge and so there is no Constantine the Great. Too bad!

too bad indeed! ;-)

I did rewrite 'Rivers of Time', it sits with a few others on my hard drive. 'Faegrim' has a lot of potential but still needs some more oomph and that is in my opinion no one else's. It is just very hard to write right now. My focus has gone but that is partly due to stress. That is getting better if the BP will behave and give my energy back :)

I can imagine, but I presume the BP issues can be managed once the doctors figure out how. I think we take health for granted when you have it.

Yes, I think one does. By the time I have done horses and dogs now, when I get home I stare into space. But, my BP is ridculously high. I started medication today. Boring to talk about health :( but it does affect my writing. It isn't like I don't have the ideas, just not the focus to write them. A psycologist told me my BP won't come down until I stop asking why. Well, he can go jump. I am never going to stop asking why. Not why me, just why and how it happened, cos we still don't know.

Oh, that is just tactless! Remind yourself that one does not need a medical degree to become a psychologist, and he/she really shouldn't be saying stuff like this.
I found that when my oldest was a baby, a lot of damage was done to my feeling of well-being by self-righteous health professionals who had no medical training to say the things they did (and were just repeating old wives' tales).
Question all you want, Sue, but don't forget to look after yourself when you're questioning. I'd bet my bottom dollar that your BP was already on the high side and not caused by anything in particular other than your genes.

Ay well, Military Board of enquiries and all that. I was telling a mystery writer what had happened and he said, Sue, if I wrote about this, no one would believe it. So, it is no wonder I am stressed. But, I will incorporate some of it into a story. I began one but I am not ready to write it yet.

Hi Sue, hope you get some answers soon and that your health improves.

I'm currently working on the sequel to my fantasy novel, Treespeaker. It will probably be called 'The Song of the Jikhoshi' unless I change my mind, which I tend to do rather often. I've also got another YA fantasy finished, so I need to get that edited and decide what to do with it. Meanwhile I've got about three other stories whirling around in my head. There are just not enough hours in a day, especially when I have to work as well.

Hi Katie!

Speaking for myself, I'm trying to finish the fantasy Icefire trilogy before going back to hard SF. Book 2 is almost ready to go, and I have book 3 outlined.

Trying to finish any of a half-dozen half-written short stories--a new Gordon Mamon murder-mystery-with-puns, dinosaur racing in outback Queensland, a hard-SF asteroid interception story, a piece of alien porn, a missing spaceship story. OK, maybe not technically a half-dozen, but close ...

Go, go, go, Simon!

A few people get hot 'n sweaty. The MC is a were-tiger. They have those in India and the full moon has nothing to do with it. I had some fun incorporating the were-tiger into Indian mythology to give some depth to the back story. It worked well.

And I agree with the comments to Sue. Look after yourself - but keep asking why. No-one else will.

I don't think this novel wants to be written. And who am I to argue?

*funks*

A science-fiction novel about a space marine and an anthropologist marooned on a planet with an iron-age human population, the origins of which are a mystery. This happens during a centuries-long interstellar war with a malignant insectoid race. Since there's no FTL travel, our heroes have no hope of rescue, but they have a plan, and each other.

Well, I believe I am the only homoerotic sci-fi writer here, so I am hesitant to say what I am working on at the moment, but here goes...please don't get offended and ignore my post if you do get offended by such things.

I am writing a futuristic boxing story. Here's a brief synopsis:

Briant Latten is a boxer in the year 2070. The sport has been deemed too archaic and not entertaining enough for the modern audience. Only die-hard fans watch it, and with only one fight guaranteed to air left on the network schedule, boxing could become extinct.

But all Briant has ever wanted to do was fight both in and for the sport he loves.

The plan is to get his best friend Kaden to fight him...naked. Boxing is the last sport to go naked, as audiences crave for their combination of nudity and violence after many years of censorship under tight network control.

There’s one big problem with this plan, aside from convincing the International Boxing Guild, and that’s Briant’s growing attraction to Kaden. The one rule in any sport which will have live coverage, no matter the network, is no erections. Will Briant, and therefore boxing, be doomed before the first bell? Or will there be such a sensation over their naked fight that their success will make it impossible for them to be together?

Writing the sequel to WISHFUL THINKING, entitled CHARMED LIVES as well as a short story A PRINCE REBORN...

and about 100 sad poems.

Beginning a second novel, making edits to the first (which is set to be published in 2012), and trying to get some 6 or 7 short stories into reasonable shape.