One of the best trilogies I've read in a long time is Jo Abercrombie's very first effort, entitled The First Law. I am so impressed with this man's writing I just can't wait to see what he comes up with next. Add to this the fact that the guy is drop-dead gorgeous and you quickly realise he has a Future with a capital Fu. Juliet Marillier has done an indepth interview with him at Writer Unboxed, and you can read part one here. Part two will go up this Friday and part three the Friday after that, to coincide with the US release of the trilogy's finale, Last Argument of Kings. I hope Mr Abercrombie reveals the secret of his magic, because I want to write like him!

As well as interviewing the wonderful Joe Abercrombie and doing guest spots at the Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers Centre here in Perth (see under the KSP Mini-con entry below for one of them, coming up this Sunday) Juliet Marillier is busy with books of her own. Soon to be released is another in her famous Sevenwaters series, the first in several years. It's called Heir to Sevenwaters and having had the privilege of beta reading it, I can tell you in advance that it's brilliant. It's a beautiful love story centred around an epic journey and involving one of the most unusual characters you're ever likely to meet: a very special baby. And late next year will see another Marillier treasure in print, an atmospheric gothic-style romance called Heart's Blood.

In between those two we'll have another book or two from Karen Miller, and about the same time as Juliet Marillier's Heart's Blood is released we'll finally get to read book one of Glenda Larke's Random Rain trilogy, which is going to be published by HarperCollins Voyager Australia. This one will be out in September 2009, with the other two books scheduled to follow in 2010. I've been dying to read this series ever since Glenda read a bit of a very early draft at Swancon 2004! Good things, it seems, eventually come to those who wait for publishers to stop dithering and start publishing.

I've always wanted to read Glenda Larke's ill-fated first novel, Havenstar. You've probably read the story of how it was one of the novels chosen to launch Virgin Publishing, only to die a premature death when the company folded after only a few months. Copies are as rare as chooks' teeth, changing hands on Amazon for three figure sums! However, my good e-buddy Hrugaar has tracked down an ex-library copy and sent it to me all the way from the UK! And not only Havenstar: Ru was also able to send me another out-of-print book I've been wanting; Marcus Herniman's The Seige of Arrandin, book one of his Arrandin Trilogy. I have started to read both of these gems and will really get stuck into them once the mini-con is over.

Even though I've been flat out with preps for the mini-con, the Specusphere deadline and the five spoilt chookies these three weeks past, I have actually been writing regularly. When I was last in Adelaide, my friend Annalou Larsen lent me a book called From Where You Dream, by Robert Olen Butler. Butler is an academic but also a fine writer, and he has devised a system to help writers contact the unconscious depths where the creative energy lurks. He recommends writing first thing in the morning, before breakfast. And guess what - it works! I've been getting up at 6.30am, making myself a drink of hot water with grated ginger and lemon juice and then sitting down to write until 8.30 or 9.00am. The progress I've made in three weeks of this regime is amazing. Barely awake, and not taking my usual two cups of coffee, I find that I'm still partly in the dream space, where Butler says you have to be in order to write successfully. It works for me. You might like to give at a go as well if you have trouble getting the flow going.

I think I've caught up on all my blogging news now. Next time, I'll have a report on the mini-con. Help me pray for a fine day on Sunday, will you?