Posts Tagged ‘ apps ’

The Mid Year Review

2012 has been an interesting year so far. By interesting I mean, of course, ‘astonishing’, ‘fantabulous’, ‘exhausting’, ‘exhilarating’ and, quite possibly, ‘TOTALLY ACE!”

2012, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

ONE. March 2012: Showtime

I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned how excited I was to have Twelfth Planet Press invite me to submit to their Twelve Planets series. It was nothing compared to how excited I was to have my submission accepted. After months of work with the publisher, Alisa Krasnostein (a World Fantasy Award winner for her work with TPP) and my editor, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Showtime was released on International Women’s Day. It’s had some great reviews, but more importantly, I’m personally very proud of the work that went into those short stories. For fans of The Opposite of Life, there’s a Gary and Lissa story set at the Royal Melbourne Show. The book also contains a zombie story, a ghost story and a more traditional vampire story set in Hungary, inspired by my travels to that country in 2010.

You can buy Showtime from Twelfth Planet Press.


TWO. April 2012: Melbourne Peculiar

When I’m not writing fiction (or doing the day job) I’ve been known to create apps. My first one, Melbourne Literary, came out a few years ago. Clearly a glutton for punishment, this year I finally finished my second app – Melbourne Peculiar, a guide to everything that’s a little bit strange about this town.

I’m fond of the tagline: Melbourne is stranger than you know. Because it really is.

The app is a fairly personal collection of the things I find odd: things like floral clocks, and hidden anti-consumer messages in shopping malls, and arcane shops and memento mori jewellery. You can even learn about the resting place of the inventor of Vegemite, discover where to get spam, get eggs and truffle oil for breakfast or find a famous composer’s whip collection.

You can download Melbourne Peculiar for Apple iDevices or for Android devices.

THREE. May 2012: The Witches of Tyne

A little while ago, I had the great good fortune to win cover art by the fabulous Les Petersen. Since all my other projects already had covers in the pipeline, I thought it would be the perfect time to release a special omnibus edition of my out of print fantasy novels, Witch Honour and Witch Faith, which had been released in hardback in the US in 2005-2007.

So in between writing and editing books and apps, I set about editing the two novels (doing a bit of an adjective and adverb cull, since I’d become a more concise writer since these were published) and adding several short stories and even song lyrics as extra. The result is The Witches of Tyne. It looks terrific, and I’m proud of the result. Extras will be forthcoming in the shape of an actual song to go with the song lyrics, in due course.

In the meantime, you can get The Witches of Tyne from Amazon.com

FOUR. June 2012: Walking Shadows

And hello June! On Friday 8 June, Clan Destine Press and I will be launching Walking Shadows, the long-awaited sequel to The Opposite of Life.

Walking Shadows will be available as an ebook as well as a print edition: stay tuned for links post-launch!

The cover blurb is from Charlaine Harris’s blog about The Opposite of Life:

“A most unusual vampire novel…if you can get this book, do. It’s really a refreshing take on a common theme.”

Which is pretty darned cool.

So thank you, first half of 2012, for being especially fantastic. The latter half may be technically a little quieter, but I’ll be hard at work on the third of the vampire books, so with luck 2013 will contains booky goodness as well.

Narrelle M Harris is a Melbourne-based writer. Find out more about her books, iPhone apps, public speaking and other activities at www.narrellemharris.com.

2012
06/06
CATEGORY
apps
e-books
Gary and Lissa
short stories
vampires
Walking Shadows
writing
4 comments

It’s not creepy, it’s research.

I like visiting graveyards. Some people think this is morbid of me. They suspect perhaps that I’m scouting for possibe monuments for my own passing, or wishing to dwell on the End of Things, especially since, as an atheist, I really don’t believe I have an afterlife to either look forward to or dread.

Others share my enthusiasm, like my friend Katherine who recently accompanied me on two visits to the Box Hill cemetery in search of a couple of gravestones. Two visits were required because we couldn’t find DJ Dennis or Cyril Callister the first time round. Luckily, on the second visit we bumped into some members of the Friends of the Cemetery who knew just where we could find them.

But seriously, I don’t find graveyards morbid. Sometimes they are very sad, especially the graves of children. Most graves are meaningful only to the families of the deceased. Sometimes, though, a little part of the person’s story is left behind for random strangers like me.

And that’s one of the pleasures of the graveyard for me. These places mark the end of everyone’s story, eventually (or, if you’re a believer, the end of volume one and the beginning of the sequel). From time to time, a little of that story is shared.

In Box Hill, Katherine and I found the grave of a woman from Brighton who had been a keen gardener. We knew this because her epitaph referred to her devotion to her garden and the joy she and her neighbours gained from her gifts with plants. Beneath the headstone, her grave contained a little panorama of plants and a bluebird made of porcelain, shielded under clear perspex. I never knew this woman, but for a moment I shared and understood her love of growing things, and sharing that love with her community.

The purpose for the visit was to take pictures for entries in a new iPhone app project I’m working on, so, see, research, like I said. Dennis and Callister were my destinations.

CJ Dennis’s grave bears a quote from one of his poems, and it was pleasant to spend a moment reflecting on the legacy of The Sentimental Bloke and his other works which I”m yet to read. At Cyril Callister’s grave, I took a moment to be thankful for Vegemite, which he invented, on which so many Australian children have grown up and which gave me a taste of home when I needed it while living on foreign shores.

It has to be said, as an editor in my day job, it’s also an occupational hazard that I spotted a typo on stone. I don’t believe in an afterlife or ghosts, but I swear I’ll come back to haunt anyone who carves a spelling or grammatical error into my final resting place.

Graves can be sad; they can even be morbid. I find them melancholy but restful, a reminder that every life, however, brief, has it’s own story, filled with love, drama, tragedy and joy. It’s a reminder that every story ends and that I want to fill mine with love, adventure, friends, exploration and the unexpected.

In case you’re wondering, if I end up with a headstone (rather than cremated and kept in a pretty jar) I’d like my epitaph to read: Here lies Narrelle Harris. Full stop.”

2011
08/23
CATEGORY
apps
writers
writing
4 comments

Not dead, but very tired.

Forgive me reader, for I have sinned. It’s been more than a month since my last blog update. I’m afraid I was preoccupied with editing the second vampire novel (working title Walking Shadows, though I suspect that will eventually change) and now I’m editing a short story for the Twelfth Planet Press anthology. Other, more mundane, parts of life have also intruded, but nobody wants or needs to know about that.

Instead: exciting new things!

I have declared myself a supporter of the National Year of Reading 2012! I hope to be more involved in the campaign, but generally – folks who love to read should do more of it! And they should encourage the kids and adults in their lives to do more of it too! To that end, please feel free to comment with your suggestions of great books to get as gifts for people who seem reluctant to open a book for fear they will be bored to death. For example, to encourage my young male nephews to read I used to get them books by Roald Dahl. One was so leery of books I got him The Mole Who Knew It Was None of His Business, because how can any self-respecting child resist a funny picture book about poop?!

I’m very pleased to see that Mary Borsellino’s The Wolf House is now available as a paperback at Amazon.com. Go and buy it, vampire-loving folks, because it’s full of surprises, wonderfulness, horror, sadness and life.

In the app side of things, my app, Melbourne Literary, was recently updated. My husband, Tim Richards, also released his latest app, Melbourne Getaways – the perfect app for those in Melbourne looking for ideas for day and weekend trips out of Melbourne, or visitors to Melbourne wondering what happens outside the Melbourne metropolitan area.  He also updated his Melbourne Historical app, with more of the city’s hidden historical secrets! The apps only cost about the same as a cup of decent Melbourne coffee and contain a wealth of personally-researched information. If you buy and like them, feel free to go and leave a review in the iTunes store, because we’d be thrilled if you did.

Tim has also released a new eboook -   We Have Here the Homicide: A Travel Writer’s Strange Affair With Poland. It’s a book of his published travel writing about Poland and is full of observations both witty and poignant about the country that is just about his home from home.

I hope to be back to a more regular blogging routine now that the edits are away. I have GaryViews to do, and rants about language, and all kinds of things, so I had better be!

2011
03/24
CATEGORY
writers
writing
1 comment

iPadding

Melbourne Literary iPhone appA few tweaks were made to my iPhone app, Melbourne Literary – and now it’s all formatted for the iPad as well! There are some screenshots of how it looks in that format in the app store, and it’s making me covet new tech!

If any of you have bought the app, either for iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch, it would be great if you could leave a review in the app store. It needs at least five reviews for the app to indicate it has any reviews at all, and of course having reviews will encourage people to have confidence in buying it when it comes up on searches for Melbourne guides!

The app has been well received so far, and I hope to do an update in around February next year. If you know of any Melbourne writers, books set in Melbourne, Melbourne literary locations or anything else that would be good to add, let me know!

2010
09/28
CATEGORY
apps
writing
2 comments

Melbourne Literary App: Guerilla Literary Launch!

It’s almost spring, the Melbourne Writers Festival is in full bloom, and here comes the Melbourne Literary iPhone app to crank up the literary vibe another notch!

Full details of the app are listed below, but we’re also having a last-minute literary launch to coincide with the Writers Festival.

Launch: 6pm on Wednesday 1 September 2010 at Softbelly Bar, 367 Little Bourke St, Melbourne.

It’ll be rough-hewn, last-minute, lots of fun and oh so literary. See you there! (BYO beret)

Even if you can’t make it, please let your friends, members, associates, customers, subscribers and/or literary heroes (delete as necessary) know about the Melbourne Literary app and its celebration of our word-obsessed city!

***

The iPhone app that uncovers Australia’s City of Literature:

MELBOURNE LITERARY

THE SHORT STORY
What? Melbourne Literary app for the iPhone
Why? To celebrate Australia’s only UNESCO City of Literature via an easy-to-use guide to the city’s bookshops, writers, publishers, literary events, literary locations, and literary-themed cafes, bars and public art.
How much? Only $3.99.
Where? From the App Store.
More? www.iwriter.com.au/apps

THE FULL STORY
Whether you’re based in Australia or in far-flung foreign climes, this app created by Melbourne writer Narrelle M Harris will take you on an inspiring journey down Melbourne’s literary byways.

You’ll encounter great writers and entertaining books at every turn, be they fiction or non-fiction.

This app can be used in many ways. On a rainy day, curl up in a armchair at home and read about Melbourne’s fine writers, or use the list of books set in the city to compile your next library list.

When the weather improves, head out on Melbourne’s streets to discover literary locations, funky bookshops, forgotten monuments and cool “hip lit” cafes.

What’s in the Melbourne Literary app?

For about the price of a cup of excellent Melbourne coffee, (just $3.99) you will get 161 entries about books, writers, publishers, bookshops, locales to visit and links to online bookshops where you can buy all titles mentioned.

Your purchase will also include regular future updates, providing more rich information on Melbourne’s literary history.

Download Melbourne Literary from iTunes via www.iwriter.com.au/apps, or directly to your iPhone from the App store.

MELBOURNE LITERARY allows you to search by category, including Literary Locations, Poetry, Bookshops, Cafes & Bars, Young Readers, Set in Melbourne, Writers, Events, Indigenous, Queer Lit, Publishers, and Monuments & Memorials.

Each entry includes a slideshow and descriptive text. If the entry is for a place you can visit, maps will guide you to the literary wonders.

Narrelle created Melbourne Literary in association with San Francisco-based Sutro Media. Narrelle lives in the city centre of Melbourne, Australia, with her husband, Tim Richards, and their apartment-bound cat Petra.

2010
08/30
CATEGORY
apps
Events
writing
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