I always get a thrill when Melbourne author Ashleigh Oldfield announces a new book in her steadily growing repertoire and I'm especially pleased to see the long awaited sequel to her 2017 dragon fantasy "Fyrebyrne Island" has finally landed in the laps of her fans. Titled "The Lost City", this second entry in Oldfield's Rachaya series, builds upon the rich mythos from her debut and goes in some really interesting directions that are pleasantly unpredictable. Of course, before I say more, let me give you the guff on Book 2;
"You play a dangerous game, dragon, you and all your friends. I will not forget that you have spurned my advice and refused to meet with me in parley. You will come to rue this day, of that I can be certain." Rachaya is well on her way to becoming a fully-fledged dragon and she is determined that when the time comes, she will also be a queen that her people can be proud of. But when dangerous secrets surface from the past, Rachaya realises she is running out of time to help her people return to the fierce, powerful and proud dragons that they once were. So, as with any second act of a three act play, the objective is to deepen the characters, situations and mythology that have been established. Oldfield has achieved this in spades and has added some really innovative dramatic elements that provide tension and gravitas. Aiming her stories at young adult readers, Oldfield doesn't talk down to them and her writing is really intelligent and thought provoking. It is also tightly woven, with no wasted narrative or unnecessary exposition. Oldfield gets to the point from the get go. There's a great cinematic quality to the story and her visualizations and world building just cry out for a big screen adaptation. There is much here that would translate effortlessly to the screen. I guess the only bad point to make about this book is that I now have to wait for Book 3 to see how Ashleigh Oldfield wraps it all up.
Ash Oldfield & friend at Supanova, Melbourne, 2018.
Ashleigh Oldfield is a fantasy fiction and children’s writer from Melbourne, Australia. Always having a love for the written word, Ash wrote her first stories by moonlight at the tender age of five, long after her parents thought she had gone to bed. To this very day Ash still prefers to write by the light of the moon long after any sensible person has succumbed to sleep.
with Steve De Niese of The Book Stash podcast.
When she is not working on her latest piece of fiction, Ash enjoys drinking good coffee, taking her dog for walks on the beach and hanging out with her two cats. This year, Ashleigh kicked off a weekly podcast with her husband Steve De Niese. Called "The Book Stash", the podcast is a great little show about reading and writing in which Ashleigh and Steve talk about the craft and what inspires them in the journey. For new writers with an eye to improving their own method, The Book Stash is a must listen. The Lost City: Book 2 of the Rachaya Series is out now where good books are sold. Buy The Lost City here. Visit Ashleigh Oldfield here. Connect with Ashleigh Oldfield here. Tweet with Ashleigh here. Tweet with The Book Stash here. The Book Stash is on iTunes here. DFA.
Among the small community of independently published authors I've come to know here in Australia in recent years, Melbourne based fantasy scribe Ashleigh Oldfield has stood out to me as an individual of immense talent. Bursting with imagination, enthusiasm and commitment, Ashleigh has worked studiously over the past few years to hone her craft, producing literature across a number of genres that showcase her abilities. I'm proud to say that I have sought out Ashleigh's keen eye on my own books, contributing important ideas to both Gifts of the Peramangk and The Recipient. Now, Ashleigh has achieved that most special of milestones with the arrival of her first major release, Fyrebyrne Island.
Here of course, is the guff first and foremost; With a thunderous roar it fell from the sky, all gleaming yellow scales, talons the size of broad swords with fanged teeth to match, wings held out from its sides like sails, magnificent and glorious. The time has come for thirteen-year-old Rachaya to embrace her dragon heritage. Not everyone is pleased by her arrival on the dragon sanctuary, Fyrebyrne Island, however, and her mother's enemies may well have become her own. Will Rachaya live long enough to take on the mantle of Queen of the Dragons or will her enemies prevail? I had the opportunity to beta read an early draft of Fyrebyrne Island and, even its early stages, it was clear that Ashleigh Oldfield had crafted an exciting opening salvo in a projected three book cycle, bristling with a kind of old world literally magic that is essential to the fantasy genre. Central to this coming of age story is 13 year old Rachaya a human girl with trans-formative abilities that conceal a dragon persona - a key trait of most of the cast in Oldfield's meticulously constructed world. Rachaya is plucky, wide eyed and eager to harness the legacy of her kind on the sanctuary island of Fyrebyrne Island but her journey will be tumultuous as she finds herself at the center of an epic struggle that will threaten her future and test her resolve to the extreme. Featuring vivid characters, sprawling, medieval inspired landscapes and a cinematic narrative that crackles, Fyrebyrne Island: Book 1 promises a thrilling adventure that will keep readers, young and old, on the edge of their seats from the first page to the last.
(image credit: A. de Niese.)
Ashleigh Oldfield is a fantasy fiction and children’s writer from Melbourne, Australia. Always having a love for the written word, Ash wrote her first stories by moonlight at the tender age of five, long after her parents thought she had gone to bed. To this very day Ash still prefers to write by the light of the moon long after any sensible person has succumbed to sleep. When she is not working on her latest piece of fiction, Ash enjoys drinking good coffee, taking her dog for walks on the beach and hanging out with her two cats. In 2012 she took the plunge, quit her day job and has been writing full time ever since. Fyrebyrne Island is out now. Purchase Fyrebyrne Island from The Book Depository. Purchase Fyrebyrne Island from Amazon. Connect with Ashleigh Oldfield here. Tweet with Ashleigh Oldfield here.
“Shar ran. Just kept running, unaware of where her feet were taking her.
She kept shaking her head, trying to erase what she’d heard…she just couldn’t believe it. Memories started to spin in her mind, memories of Greg swinging on her swing when she came home from school.
Birthdays, Christmases, all lies. Every single day of her life was a lie. Deceit, every word he’d ever said. Tears blinded Shar as she ran deeper into the woods. She was numb to the pain of
branches pulling her hair, raking across bare her skin.
The pain from inside blocked everything out.”
from "Birth By Fire's Embrace" by Ashleigh Galvin (SPMG Ltd.)
Continuing my look at rising Australian authors this week, I'm pleased to introduce an exciting young scribe from Queensland - Ashleigh Galvin, whose debut novel "Birth By Fire's Embrace" from Spectacle Publishing Media Group launched across all the major etailers back on May 9th - with a print release scheduled for quarter 2 this year. A rich mix of fantasy, action adventure that treads a line between our own modern world and a fantastical realm filled with classical archetypes, "Birth By Fire's Embrace" marks the first in an intended 8 book cycle from Ashleigh under the heading of the Amethyst Series.
The guff on this first entry is thus; A taut fantasy for all ages, Birth by Fire’s Embrace explores how drastically things can change when the world that lies just beyond our senses begins to surface. Sharrlette Moore is an ordinary young woman on the cusp of academic success, happy and satisfied in her relationship with the best guy in the world and looking forward to all that life has to offer. When all that is familiar vanishes from Sharrlette's life, she begins to look inside and find the strength and courage to carry on in a harsh world, and look towards another world that lies ahead. The further away modern, popular literature moves from the Twilight series, it seems that the better and more original those literary offerings become. I've made no secret of the fact that I have struggled with the fantasy genre in the past, simply because there has been so much of it and not all of it has been very good. Where the genre does work, however, is in those stories where the author has clearly stepped out of the genre's comfort zone by offering an original element that immediately piques curiosity and promises an tantalizing alternate take. And Birth By Fire's Embrace is no exception, proving that there is life in the fantasy genre yet. Ashleigh Galvin brings to the table a dense and nuanced world which she juxtaposes skilfully with a modern real world setting. This kind of world creation, to me, is an appealing and important aspect of this kind of writing. It takes a kind of artistic flair to pull it off well. Galvin's balancing act between the real and the other worldly are visually accessible, keeping you invested in the environments and situations. Galvin's characters, lead by the fully realized heroine in Sharrlette rise from the page vividly and with an attention to their individual details that make them convincing. I especially found Sharrlette's arc engrossing. She represents the "every person" really well, allowing us as the reader to access the story through her eyes in such a way that we feel her reactions to what is taking place. Again, because Sharrlette is grounded in our own real world to begin with, this device makes for a much more compelling story. As a work whose design is to set up a series, this first entry succeeds really well in introducing us to the universe Galvin has created and she has achieved the two important functions such a entry has to satisfy. It offers a contained story that sits on it's own while offering enough tangible threads that will entice the reader to invest in further instalments the eventual series. Ashleigh Galvin has written an exciting tale that refreshes the genre and offers an accessible journey with classic elements worthy of exploration and contemplation.
Having had the opportunity to take an early glimpse of the novel, one of the things that impressed me about it was the relative youth of Ashleigh herself. She writes in a voice that, to me, seemed so worldly and - *ahem* - mature, that I knew that I wanted to delve a little further into the voice behind this accomplished work.
I started by asking Ashleigh a little about her herself and where she's at now. Ashleigh has an impressive resume to her credit both in business and modelling, while she also dabbles in digital art. A.G. - I live with my fiancée, Michael in a little unit in Brisbane, Australia. While I’d love to be a full time writer, eventually, I currently work at HBM Lawyers as an IT/Admin Assistant. I've been working there for roughly 3 years. I've been doing Modelling on the side for roughly 4 years. It’s great fun. Particularly the themed shoots. It lets you step away from reality for a little while. I also draw in my free time. Mostly digitally now days. I normally draw Manga style characters. It’s great fun and, if being an author doesn't work out, I’d like to be an illustrator. But I have a lot more practise ahead of me before that.
DFA - As an author, you've made an impressive splash into that pool. Where did your journey as an author begin and how did it progress? A.G. - I started writing when I was still in primary school. I was going to write ‘the best novel ever’. It was called ‘The Scar of Athens’ and, needless to say, when I read it now, it’s extremely boring and lacks structure. But it inspired me to continue writing and refining my skills. DFA - I was really taken by the visual quality of your writing. Where does the inspiration for your vivid story telling come from? A.G. - My usual reply is daydreaming - (laughs here) - I daydream a lot! I like to call them epic daydreams because I can have one daydream that will last a week or longer. Whenever my mind is idle, I just pick up where the story left off. I get most of my novel ideas this way. DFA - You've created a compelling set of characters for the novel. How do you arrive at your characters and what elements do you infuse into them?
A.G. - I don’t actually base most of my characters on people I know. I don’t like to do that because I feel it can make the characters too predictable. I create most of my character from the ground up. Sharrlette is probably the exception. She was based mostly on myself, with a dash of my sister thrown in. My fiancée Michael also provides a lot of inspiration and ideals. He is a Games Designer so we are both very creative. DFA - It's clear that the work which has gone into your debut novel has been considerable. With the release of Birth By Fire's Embrace, how do you feel about the achievement and what are your hopes for the future? A.G. - I'm very proud that I've actually written a book worth publishing. I know very few people get published at my age so I'm happy about that too. I'm very happy with the universe I've created for this series. It’s a great place that I can set many different stories in. It’s just bursting with potential. As Ashleigh Galvin works towards more stories in the series, expect the Amethyst Series to attract a lot of attention. Her skill as a story teller is considerable and her relative youth affords her a particular edge in the production of future stories that crackle with everything that is great about talented indie authors. Purchase "Birth By Fire's Embrace" here (Amazon) and here (B and N). Connect with Ashleigh here. Tweet with Ashleigh here. Visit Spectacle Publishing Media Group here.
The Regenesis Cluster - the stunning new novella from Dean Mayes - out now.
