About Me
- Satima Flavell
- Perth, Western Australia, Australia
- I am based in Perth, Western Australia. You might enjoy my books - The Dagger of Dresnia, the first book of the Talismans Trilogy, is available at all good online book shops as is Book two, The Cloak of Challiver. Book three, The Seer of Syland, is in preparation. I trained in piano and singing at the NSW Conservatorium of Music. I also trained in dance (Scully-Borovansky, WAAPA) and drama (NIDA). Since 1987 I have been writing reviews of performances in all genres for a variety of publications, including Music Maker, ArtsWest, Dance Australia, The Australian and others. Now semi-retired, I still write occasionally for the ArtsHub website.
My books
The first two books of my trilogy, The Talismans, (The Dagger of Dresnia, and book two, The Cloak of Challiver) are available in e-book format from Smashwords, Amazon and other online sellers. Book three of the trilogy, The Seer of Syland, is in preparation.I also have a short story, 'La Belle Dame', in print - see Mythic Resonance below - as well as well as a few poems in various places.
The best way to contact me is via Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/satimaflavell
Buy The Talismans
The first two books of The Talismans trilogy were published by Satalyte Publications, which, sadly, has gone out of business. However, The Dagger of Dresnia and The Cloak of Challiver are available as ebooks on the usual book-selling websites, and book three, The Seer of Syland, is in preparation.
The easiest way to contact me is via Facebook.
The Dagger of Dresnia
The Cloak of Challiver, Book two of The Talismans
Mythic Resonance
Mythic Resonance is an excellent anthology that includes my short story 'La Belle Dame', together with great stories from Alan Baxter, Donna Maree Hanson, Sue Burstynski, Nike Sulway and nine more fantastic authors! Just $US3.99 from Amazon.
Got a Kindle? Check out Mythic Resonance.
Follow me on Twitter
Share a link on Twitter
For Readers, Writers & Editors
- A dilemma about characters
- Adelaide Writers Week, 2009
- Adjectives, commas and confusion
- An artist's conflict
- An editor's role
- Authorial voice, passive writing and the passive voice
- Common misuses: common expressions
- Common misuses: confusing words
- Common misuses: pronouns - subject and object
- Conversations with a character
- Critiquing Groups
- Does length matter?
- Dont sweat the small stuff: formatting
- Free help for writers
- How much magic is too much?
- Know your characters via astrology
- Like to be an editor?
- Modern Writing Techniques
- My best reads of 2007
- My best reads of 2008
- My favourite dead authors
- My favourite modern authors
- My influential authors
- Planning and Flimmering
- Planning vs Flimmering again
- Psychological Spec-Fic
- Readers' pet hates
- Reading, 2009
- Reality check: so you want to be a writer?
- Sensory detail is important!
- Speculative Fiction - what is it?
- Spelling reform?
- Substantive or linking verbs
- The creative cycle
- The promiscuous artist
- The revenge of omni rampant
- The value of "how-to" lists for writers
- Write a decent synopsis
- Write a review worth reading
- Writers block 1
- Writers block 2
- Writers block 3
- Writers need editors!
- Writers, Depression and Addiction
- Writing in dialect, accent or register
- Writing it Right: notes for apprentice authors
Interviews with authors
My Blog List
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Favourite Sites
- Alan Baxter
- Andrew McKiernan
- Bren McDibble
- Celestine Lyons
- Guy Gavriel Kay
- Hal Spacejock (Simon Haynes)
- Inventing Reality
- Jacqueline Carey
- Jennifer Fallon
- Jessica Rydill
- Jessica Vivien
- Joel Fagin
- Juliet Marillier
- KA Bedford
- Karen Miller
- KSP Writers Centre
- Lynn Flewelling
- Marianne de Pierres
- Phill Berrie
- Ryan Flavell
- Satima's Professional Editing Services
- SF Novelists' Blog
- SF Signal
- Shane Jiraiya Cummings
- Society of Editors, WA
- Stephen Thompson
- Yellow wallpaper
Blog Archive
Places I've lived: Manchester, UK
Places I've lived: Gippsland, Australia
Places I've lived: Geelong, Australia
Places I've lived: Tamworth, NSW
Places I've Lived - Sydney
Places I've lived: Auckland, NZ
Places I've Lived: Mount Gambier
Places I've lived: Adelaide, SA
Places I've Lived: Perth by Day
Places I've lived: High View, WV
Places I've lived: Lynton, Devon, UK
Places I've lived: Braemar, Scotland
Places I've lived: Barre, MA, USA
Places I've Lived: Perth by Night
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Sunday 21 November 2010
In transit, with books
Sunday, November 21, 2010 |
Posted by
Satima Flavell
I'm currently in Adelaide en route to Mount Gambier, where I'll be for the next ten weeks. I like summer in the The Mount - daytime temperatures tend to hover around 30 degrees Celsius, with only an occasional day hitting the old century and rarely going higher. What's more, it's a clear, dry heat that I revel in. Water in the air, cold or hot, makes me very uncomfortable, and of recent years, Perth's summers have become more humid.
Even so, I'd like to move back to the West, and have almost decided to give up my flat in Mount Gambier, sell my worldly goods and move to a boarding house in or near Perth, if I can find somewhere suitable. After all, I've been commuting between Perth and Mount Gambier for the last four years, and have actually spent more time in Perth than in The Mount. I have, from time to time, missed a particular book or item of clothing, but by and large, I've managed fine on what I can lug around (with a bit of help from my friends!) in two suitcases and a motley assortment of supermarket bags. Many people on this planet live with far fewer personal effects.
So why does the thought of shedding books terrify me?
My name is Satima and I am a bookaholic...
I have bookshelves in every room except the wet areas, and more books in boxes and cupboards. Yet there is no information in them that I cannot get from a library or on line. Why do I find it so hard to think of parting with them?
I'm working on overcoming this attachment but it's painful. Books have been the one continuing theme in my life. There's never been a time when I did not own at least a shelf full. I've lugged them about from country to country and state to state for over fifty years, and the thought of getting rid of them hurts. Besides, on the rare occasions when I've cut down by giving a few dozen to charity or parted with them for a pittance to a dealer, I've regretted it the next week, because the very book I needed to consult was one of those I'd off-loaded. I might have owned the book for several years and never needed to look at it after the initial reading, but if I part with it, some extension to Murphy's Law comes into play and it will be the only book in the world that contains the information or the quote that I need, dammit.
But I cannot live in a boarding house with several hundred books, or even several dozen. If I am to move back to Perth, the books will have to go. I'll let you know how I get on with my fight against the book demons!
Even so, I'd like to move back to the West, and have almost decided to give up my flat in Mount Gambier, sell my worldly goods and move to a boarding house in or near Perth, if I can find somewhere suitable. After all, I've been commuting between Perth and Mount Gambier for the last four years, and have actually spent more time in Perth than in The Mount. I have, from time to time, missed a particular book or item of clothing, but by and large, I've managed fine on what I can lug around (with a bit of help from my friends!) in two suitcases and a motley assortment of supermarket bags. Many people on this planet live with far fewer personal effects.
So why does the thought of shedding books terrify me?
My name is Satima and I am a bookaholic...
I have bookshelves in every room except the wet areas, and more books in boxes and cupboards. Yet there is no information in them that I cannot get from a library or on line. Why do I find it so hard to think of parting with them?
I'm working on overcoming this attachment but it's painful. Books have been the one continuing theme in my life. There's never been a time when I did not own at least a shelf full. I've lugged them about from country to country and state to state for over fifty years, and the thought of getting rid of them hurts. Besides, on the rare occasions when I've cut down by giving a few dozen to charity or parted with them for a pittance to a dealer, I've regretted it the next week, because the very book I needed to consult was one of those I'd off-loaded. I might have owned the book for several years and never needed to look at it after the initial reading, but if I part with it, some extension to Murphy's Law comes into play and it will be the only book in the world that contains the information or the quote that I need, dammit.
But I cannot live in a boarding house with several hundred books, or even several dozen. If I am to move back to Perth, the books will have to go. I'll let you know how I get on with my fight against the book demons!
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4 comments:
I did it Satima, so can you. I got rid of hundreds of books when I moved back to Canada from the States. I too had been lugging them around from country to country, home to home. Its hard, I know, but there comes a time.....
Don't like the sound of a boarding house!!! Why not another flat?
Can't afford it, Jo:-( The reason I left Perth in the first place was that there came a "boom" time, which means that if you're in mining or real estate you have it made; if not, you're in strife, especially if you're a pensioner. Rents in Perth have easily tripled in the last six years! Now you cannot get a decent one bedroomed flat for less than about $200 per week.
I currently have a flat in Mount Gambier with 2 bedrooms, one of which is full of books. So the books have to go:-(
I think I'd stay in Mount Gambier in that case.
The very thing I want *not* to do!