About Me

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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 Dagger of Dresnia

The Cloak of Challiver, Book two of The Talismans

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.

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Places I've lived: Manchester, UK

Places I've lived: Manchester, UK

Places I've lived: Gippsland, Australia

Places I've lived: Gippsland, Australia

Places I've lived: Geelong, Australia

Places I've lived: Geelong,  Australia

Places I've lived: Tamworth, NSW

Places I've lived: Tamworth, NSW

Places I've Lived - Sydney

Places I've Lived - Sydney
Sydney Conservatorium - my old school

Places I've lived: Auckland, NZ

Places I've lived: Auckland, NZ

Places I've Lived: Mount Gambier

Places I've Lived: Mount Gambier
Blue Lake

Places I've lived: Adelaide, SA

Places I've lived: Adelaide, SA

Places I've Lived: Perth by Day

Places I've Lived: Perth by Day
From Kings Park

Places I've lived: High View, WV

Places I've lived: High View, WV

Places I've lived: Lynton, Devon, UK

Places I've lived: Lynton, Devon, UK

Places I've lived: Braemar, Scotland

Places I've lived: Braemar, Scotland

Places I've lived: Barre, MA, USA

Places I've lived: Barre, MA, USA

Places I've Lived: Perth by Night

Places I've Lived: Perth by Night
From Kings Park

Inner Peace Blog

Inner Peace Blog
Awarded by Joanna Fay. Click on the image to visit her lovely website!

Versatile Blogger Award

Versatile Blogger Award
Awarded by Kim Falconer. Click on the pic to check out her Quantum Astrology blog!

Fabulous Blog Award

Fabulous Blog Award
Awarded by Kathryn Warner. Click on the pic to check out her Edward II blog!

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Sunday 21 July 2019

Writing, Writing, Writing


Writing books - what fun! At least, that's what I thought at the age of five, when I was just starting to realise that books had to be written by somebody. Enid Blyton, Rudyard Kipling and Arthur Ransom were my favourite authors until I was about eleven, and when anyone asked what I wanted to be when I grew up I would say 'I want to be a children's authoress, like Enid Blyton'. I also had a yen to be a ballet dancer, but seeing as my parents wouldn't let me join a class, I read books about ballet instead. The Ballet Annual was my favourite, but anything with pictures of dancers would grab my fancy at the library.

By the time I was eleven, I was getting enough pocket money to pay for one ballet class a week, and when I was fourteen my teacher gave me free lessons in return for helping with the young children's classes on Saturday mornings.  I struggled through my exams,  rarely getting honours, while at school I was winning awards and high grades for writing. I also wrote stories and poems for the Chucklers Weekly - a magazine for kids and teens. They paid me a pound ($2) a time!

Dance-wise, by this time, the 'Balanchine body' was the one ballet companies sought - light build, a long neck, and legs half the total height. Prior to this time, most dance companies and musical shows had room for a few shorter girls to appear in character roles: they even had their own routines in musicals as the 'pony ballet'. Alas, Mr Balanchine's preference prevailed in all dance auditions by the time I reached my late teens, so professional ballet dancing as a career was a door closed to me.

However, I continued to excel academically, to the point I was able to matriculate a year early. I continued to dance, and eventually found work in cabaret (dancing the can-can three or four times a night keeps you fit, believe me!) while dancing occasional seasons with the Australian Dance Theatre a small contemporary dance company. With them, I danced before the Queen and Prince Phillip, dressed as a brolga! (See my post from December 2018 for more on this.)

In my forties I studied at the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts to 'update my expertise'. Hah hah! - when one is in one's forties, one's expertise does not enjoy being updated, and it was only with a struggle that I attained an Associate Diploma of Performing Arts. I also undertook Religious Studies (this was mainly in that glorious time when tertiary education was free in Australia!) and eventually I graduated Bachelor of Arts.

The BA with a Religious Studies major and a Dance minor has proved to be quite the least useful degree when seeking employment, but I was fortunate enough, due to a tip from one of the staff at WAAPA, to get a regular gig writing reviews of dance shows for Music Maker, and to my surprise I was head hunted by the Sydney Morning Herald to write for them, too. Since then I have continued to write reviews here and there, except for a three year break when I was traveling overseas in the late nineties.  When I got back from my travels, I went back into this line of work, writing for the Artshub website, balanced by teaching ballet to senior folk like myself until late last year, when I finally hung up my ballet flats, and have only written a few reviews in the interim.

Writing fiction, however, is a whole different kettle of fish. It was during my travels that I first thought of writing fiction since I was a little child. I had a tiring job as housekeeper at a hotel in Devon, UK, and every evening after work I would collapse in front of the TV to watch the soapies. But one night, before I turned on the TV, a sentence popped in to my head: 'To be left a widow at the age of twenty-one may sound like a tragedy, but, to be honest, I felt liberated by Reyel’s death.' I knew at once it was the start of a story. not one that I'd read, but a new one - my very own book! The next day I bought an exercise book, and every night after work  I would write for an hour or two. Of course, the result was not a very good book. First novels seldom are any good, but as the Bard of Avon said 'Tis a poor thing, but mine own'. 

So here I am trying hard to make sense of my third novel to complete The Talismans trilogy. The first two books have not sold particularly well - but for the creator, traveling hopefully is better than to arrive.



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