Rolling with the Punches
I read a review of Ghost of Ping-Ling yesterday in a magazine called "Magpies", which is a kind of round-up of children's books and writing for children in general. All I can say is I'm glad the...
View ArticleMapmaker's Apprentice
For some reason I had in my head June 1 as the release date for Mapmaker's Apprentice, but I'm reliably informed the release date is actually the 1st of May, which (I'm slightly shocked to say) is just...
View ArticleShort Story
My short story "Dead on the Doorstep" has just been published in the Spring issue of Kaleidotrope. You can find it here http://www.kaleidotrope.net/home/dead-on-the-doorstep-by-peter-cooper/. I'll be...
View ArticleFive Minus Two Makes Three
If you've been reading the blog for a while, or if you read back far enough, you'll see that Tales of the Blue Jade was originally supposed to be 5 books. That was my intention right from the time I...
View ArticleOn Rejection
Every so often I get reminded of how subjective the whole publishing business can be. Most recently it happened when I had a short-story knocked back for a magazine and the comments from the two...
View ArticleShowing Up in Public
The Children's Book Council of Australia is having its biennial National Conference in Adelaide next month, and I've been asked to chair a panel on the topic of 'Other worlds, other values?', with Eoin...
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First Ever Cackling Scribe Giveaway Extraveganza
Today I had another delivery of a big box of books (BBB) and it was just as magical as it was last time. This time I don't have as many beta-readers to give copies to so I thought I'd be kind to my...
View ArticleA History of the World's Most Unsuccessful Competitions
So, perhaps we'll say no more about that then... However, should anyone anywhere still fancy a free copy of Mapmaker's Apprentice, I'll send it to the first person to put a comment under this post. Any...
View ArticleQuite Frankly, I'm Stressed.
I could probably say "stretched" instead of "stressed" but I think both words express the same thing accurately enough. At work I've been given a new task and it's not something I've done before...
View ArticleInterviews Galore
Well, two actually. Firstly, my fellow writer in the trenches Pete Aldin has interviewed me for his new (and very schmick) website www.petealdin.com. Definitely worth checking out, not just for the...
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CBCA Conference 2012
I had a great time last week chairing the "Other Worlds Other Values" panel at the Children's Book Council of Australia conference. I was pretty nervous beforehand, being decidedly out of practice with...
View ArticleShort Stories (Again)
I have a continuing love-hate relationship with short stories. Whenever I read a great short story, or an anthology of great short stories (such as Magic Dirt, by Sean Williams, which I recently...
View ArticleNose to the Grindstone
This weekend my wife and sons are heading off for a week's holiday with the in-laws, sans me as we decided it was better for me to save some leave for the end of the year. This means that, in between...
View ArticleNose Off the Grindstone
My wife and children come back tomorrow from a week's holiday interstate (thank goodness, I've missed them horribly). While they've been gone, as per my previous post, I've been beavering away trying...
View ArticleNew Things
Wow I can't believe it's been two months since I last posted here. I guess that says something about how busy I've been, and also how time is mysteriously speeding up with every year that goes past. I...
View ArticleWhere Did That One Go?
Another year draws to a close. It's been a busy one, and an eventful one. The highlights for me (from a writing point of view) were the publication of Ghost of Ping-Ling in Feb, Mapmaker's Apprentice...
View ArticleMan of Leisure
Sort of. On Monday I emailed off (yes, emailed off! That old print and post-office thing is so last year) the manuscript for book 3 of Tales of the Blue Jade. Now I have the nervous wait to hear what...
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