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.
The Dagger of Dresnia
The Cloak of Challiver, Book two of The Talismans
Available as an e-book on Amazon and other online booksellers.
Mythic Resonance
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. 
My Blog List
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Medieval Jobs That Disappeared - If you go back to the Middle Ages, you’ll find numerous professions—some requiring skill and learning, others chosen out of desperation—that have since van...2 hours ago
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Top 10 Fantasy books I’ve read in 2024… - Top 10 Fantasy books I’ve read in 2024. I realised, after posting the children’s, young adults, younger children’s, and historical fiction books, that I’d ...12 hours ago
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Book Beat: Regency Dragons, a Sci-Fi Mystery, & More - Book Beat aims to highlight other books that we may hear about through friends, social media, or other sources. We could see a gorgeous ad! Or find a new-t...18 hours ago
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Thoughts On “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” - When I first saw a trailer for the newest Lord of the Rings movie, I was incredibly excited because it was an animated movie. I could hardly believe they w...1 day ago
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Meaningful economics - [image: Image of blue sky with white clouds and sun shining] Meaningful economics Human beings mean. We just do. Human beings contemplate the importance or...1 day ago
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The London Under London by Miranda Miller - This is a photo of the Great Hall of the Guildhall which has been the City of London’s civic and ceremonial centre since the 12th century. In the M...
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The Great Discworld Retrospective No. 30: The Wee Free Men - After the success of The Amazing Maurice And His Educated Rodents (2001) it was inevitable that Terry Pratchett would turn his hand to another Discworld no...4 days ago
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Katie Tallo - Katie Tallo has been an award-winning screenwriter and director for more than three decades. After winning an international contest for unpublished fiction...
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5 Weird Tricks To Help You With Your Grammar & Punctuation - Weird Tricks For The Win Grammar and punctuation can be dry AF, which is why I always tell my ‘Bang2writers’ to use these weird tricks. They are memorabl...6 days ago
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5 Edits to Strengthen Your Writing, Right Now - *By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy * *Making some simple word edits can turn a flat scene into one that sings.* Back when I was first learning how to write,...
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On Watching YouTube! - I do enjoy watching YouTube. There is such a variety of channels. I download Andre Rieu concerts for my mother. There are quite a few films and TV shows...1 week ago
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Time, what even is it anyway? Newsletter 9th December 2024. - Hello fiends I really am rubbish at this newsletter frequency thing, huh? If it’s any consolation, I’m even worse at keeping my YouTube channel up to dat...1 week ago
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Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light in six documents - Explore some of the historical records used to inform the second series of BBC's Wolf Hall. The post Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light in six document...2 weeks ago
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A preview of my end of year round up - This post is based on an email I sent to the CSFG group. It has been amended. We came back from the UK end of February 2024 and I hit the ground running. I...2 weeks ago
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A preview of my end of year round up - This post is based on an email I sent to the CSFG group. It has been amended. We came back from the UK end of February 2024 and I hit the ground running. I...2 weeks ago
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Are You Dysdexterous? - “That’s not a word!” Yeah, you’re right. The word doesn’t exist. … YET! But maybe it should exist. Maybe there is a massive blind-spot...3 weeks ago
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Spawn 2: More Weird Horror Tales… Release Day! - Spawn 2: More Weird Horror Tales about Pregnancy, Birth and Babies, is out! You can get both the e-book and paper book at Amazon, at other bookstores, or a...3 weeks ago
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About Holly - There is no way to soften the blow of this and Mom never liked euphemisms, so I’m just going to speak plainly. Mom died due to complications from cancer on...1 month ago
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WRAP UP OF HORRORFEST POST, OCTOBER. - Hi all! Thank you so much for posting to WEP's Horrorfest in October. I'm sure everyone enjoyed reading the entries. So good to see so many of the 'oldi...
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Introducing Maneyacts Media - At Maneyacts Media, we specialize in professional video recording for events, seminars, and competitions. With a diverse selection of standard and PTZ (pan...2 months ago
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Little, Big - Web Goblin here. Two years and five blog posts ago, we were introduced to the 25th Anniversary edition of *Little, Big or, The Fairies' Parliament*, by J...3 months ago
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PhD Milestone 3 at Curtin University - Yesterday I had the pleasure of doing my Milestone 3 presentation for my PhD at Curtin, which is in its final stages before it goes off to be examined. App...3 months ago
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A personal thought on the passing of publishing legend Tom McCormack - The passing of publishing giant Tom McCormack makes me recall the interaction he had with my father, Leonard Shatzkin, from the very beginning of Tom’s p...6 months ago
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My Spring Tour 2024 – Part 2: From Turku back to Kiel - Helsinki also offered the chance for a day trip. Turku, the oldest town in Finland, is only about two hours bus ride away, and a nice ride through an inter...
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How to Approach Influencers in Your Niche: Twelve Crucial Tips - The post How to Approach Influencers in Your Niche: Twelve Crucial Tips appeared first on ProBlogger. Do you want to connect with influencers in your nic...6 months ago
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Henry of Lancaster and His Children - The close bonds which Edward II's cousin Henry of Lancaster, earl of Lancaster and Leicester, forged with his children have fascinated me for a long time...8 months ago
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Questions from year 9 students - Recently – actually, not very recently but I somehow forgot to write this sooner – I did what has become an annual online Q&A with the Year 9 girls at Bedf...1 year ago
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Flogometer 1180 for Christian—will you be moved to turn the page? - Submissions sought. Get fresh eyes on your opening page. Submission directions below. The Flogometer challenge: can you craft a first page that compels me ...1 year ago
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Storny Weather - I've just been out fixing up the damage from last night's storm. This is pretty much the first time I've been able to spend much time outside and do any...1 year ago
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another review for the Christmas Maze - *The Christmas Maze by Danny Fahey – a Review by David Collis* Why do we seek to be good, to make the world a better place? Why do we seek to be ethi...2 years ago
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Publishing Contracts 101: Beware Internal Contradications - It should probably go without saying that you don't want your publishing contract to include clauses that contradict one another. Beyond any potential l...
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Non-Binary Authors To Read: July 2021 - Non-Binary Authors To Read is a regular column from A.C. Wise highlighting non-binary authors of speculative fiction and recommending a starting place fo...3 years ago
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ATTENTION: YOU CAN’T LOG IN HERE - Hey YOU! This isn’t the forum. You’re trying to login to the Web site. THE FORUMS ARE HERE: CLICK THIS The post ATTENTION: YOU CAN’T LOG IN HERE a...3 years ago
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Grants for Writers Masterclass Online - Grants For Writers Masterclass Online Winner of 6 grants, author Karen Tyrrell shares her secrets to Grant Writing for Australian writers and authors. ...4 years ago
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Productivity - If you're looking for a post on how to be more productive in your writing, this is not it. However, if you're looking for a discussion of how we conceptual...
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#332 - Question: I wrote LOST IN LA as a retelling of Pretty Woman with “modern” social issues, but I don’t know whether to focus on the characters, the fake rel...5 years ago
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Subtext in scene/dialogue - I'm looking for examples of subtext within a scene, especially in dialogue. Any ideas? Here's one- Let's say that Tommy is keeping a secret from his co-wo...5 years ago
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Al Milgrom’s connection to “Iron Man” - Via the Ann Arbor online newspaper - I felt it was worth repeating as a great example of Marvel doing the right thing by a former employee and without the ...
14 years ago
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
Sydney Conservatorium - my old school
Places I've lived: Auckland, NZ
Places I've Lived: Mount Gambier
Blue Lake
Places I've lived: Adelaide, SA
Places I've Lived: Perth by Day
From Kings Park
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
From Kings Park
Inner Peace Blog
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Versatile Blogger Award
Awarded by Kim Falconer. Click on the pic to check out her Quantum Astrology blog!
Fabulous Blog Award
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Wednesday, 11 January 2017
Sad ending for Satalyte
Wednesday, January 11, 2017 | 
Posted by
Satima Flavell
I had an email this morning, as did all Satalyte authors, telling me that the enterprise is closing down. It was always a brave venture and maybe a forlorn hope. People are reading fewer books, it seems, and maybe some prefer to borrow from libraries rather than paying out for books they can keep.
Most books are ephemeral. Maybe a complete works of Charles Dickens shelf is a nice-looking addition to your lounge room, but most contemporary works will be read once then passed on to someone else or to the local op shop. Very few books come out as hardbacks these days: soft covers and even ebooks are the way modern publishing has gone. I think maybe I'll go down the e-book route. I have several friends who've done that and are doing quite well out of it. After all, the writer gets to keep the money if s/he does the work alone.
I'm still feeling confused, let down, and sad for Satalyte. They set out with such great ideas three or four years ago, but they've gone the same way as many small press outfits - five years is the limit for many of them. By that time they are probably exhausted and possibly out of pocket.
I am still working on a novella that is a spin off from book two, and I might wind up serializing it on the blog. Watch this space - I'll keep you posted on developments.
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3 comments:
Oh, dear! That is sad. Sorry to hear about your book. I'd say that ebook is the best way to go with a novella, and consider self publishing for that. A number of authors have done that when a series has gone down the gurgler for one reason or another. Felicity Pulman did that with her last two Janna novels and eventually found a new publisher who has been reprinting the lot in ebook. Rhiannon Hart self published her final volume in the Lharmell trilogy, which was nice for the readers, as the previous one had ended on a cliffhanger!
Satalyte did some nicely-printed volumes. I bought a copy of Gillian Polack's Wizardry Of Jewish Women and you couldn't tell it was a small-press book, it was so professional-looking, with the beautiful matte cover and the paper not the usual thick stuff that small press uses. What's going to happen to that one now? It only came out last September!
I only buy physical books I know I will re-read. It's not lack of interest, it's that I've run out of space. I gave away over 100 books to Continuum last year, as prizes, and I STILL have overflowing shelves. Most purchases these days have been ebooks. I can carry them with me to work and I don't have to find shelf space for them. That is no reason with younger readers.
Mind you, if you don't enjoy an ebook, you can't give THAT away. ;-)
My second book came out at the same time as Gillian's, with a very low-key launch at Continuum. I haven't started writing book three yet, but the novella is nearly at the finishing line. I might try that one out as a giveaway on Amazon, just to test the waters. Marieke is an excellent cover designer, so I hope we might be able to come to some arrangement re self-publishing. At the moment, the Satalyte site is still up, so people can, I expect, still buy books there. I guess we writers will just have to wait and see what happens.
PS - Satalyte is no longer selling books and has withdrawn from Amazon. I hope to be able to purchase remaining stock, and I intend to get the existing books online as e-books ASAP.