CWD Highlights July-October 2017

Christian Writers Downunder is a diverse group of writers, editors, bloggers, illustrators. As a group we support each other through our facebook page and blog. Today's blog will highlight some of the achievements of our members from July-October 2017

Awards

Congratulation the winners and runners up of the CALEB prize

On Saturday night at the Omega Writers Conference, the 2017 CALEB prize was announced.

Overall winners: 

Winner:
Charlie Frank is OK by Cecily Anne Paterson

Runner Up:
Small and Big - Karen Collum illustrated by Ben Wood

Category winners:

2017 CALEB ~ Published Non-Fiction

Winner:
Burn My Letters: Tyranny to Refuge - Ruth Bonetti

Finalists:

Heaven Tempers the Wind - Hazel Barker

Becoming Me - Jo-Anne Berthelsen

Burn My Letters: Tyranny to Refuge - Ruth Bonetti

2017 CALEB ~ Published Fiction

Winner:

Charlie Frank is OK - Cecily Anne Paterson

Finalists:

Daystar: The Days are Numbered - Anne Hamilton

Forgiving Sky - Jenny Glazebrook

Amazing Grace - Elaine Fraser

Charlie Frank is OK - Cecily Anne Paterson

2017 CALEB ~ Children’s Picture Books

Winner:

Small and Big - Karen Collum illustrated by Ben Wood

Finalists:

The Mighty, Mighty King Christmas Book - Penny Morrison illustrated by Lisa Flanagan

Small and Big - Karen Collum illustrated by Ben Wood

My Imagination - written and illustrated by Ellen Wildig

2017 CALEB ~ Unpublished Manuscript

Winner:
Siren’s Fight - Kristen Young

Finalists:

In the Middle of the Whirlwind - Hannah Currie

The Gryphon Key - Elizabeth Klein

Siren’s Fight - Kristen Young

Holy War - Anthony Peterson

Other Awards

In other news - Susan Preston received an a Finalist Award in the IAN Book of the Year Awards for Light of Truth, Book 3 in her Apostle John Series. Book 4 of the same series, Keep the Flame was a finalist in the Christian Historical Fiction section of the 2017 Readers Choice Awards. 

Amazon link https://www.amazon.com/Susan-Preston/e/B00BDY9BQ6/

New releases

Melissa Gijsbers - Lizzy's Dragon

Melissa released children's book, Lizzy's Dragon in September. The Launch was on September 7 at Reading's Children's Bookshop in Carlton.

When Lizzy finds an odd looking egg in the forest behind her house she decides to hide it in her bedroom in the hope that it will hatch into a lizard. What she gets is ‘Bubbles’, the oddest, fastest growing lizard she has ever seen. It doesn’t take long for her annoying little brother to discover her secret pet. It also doesn’t take long for Bubbles to grow out of her room. Lizzy begins to wonder whether Bubbles is a lizard at all, or something even more amazing. But how will Lizzy keep Bubbles a secret? And what will happen to Bubbles if anyone finds out about him?
Title: Lizzy's Dragon
Publisher: Stone Table Books
Buy link: http://stonetablebooks.com/product/lizzys-dragon/

D J Blackmore - Folly

D J Blackmore released book 2, Folly on October 2 2017

In 1822 the colony bells of Newcastle chime for a wedding but Emma Colchester's cousin is nowhere to be found. The family face their worst fears and fingers of blame are pointed too close to home. Emma's future with Tobias threatens to unravel. The walls of a homestead standing by The Hunter River hold the clue, and Emma risks everything in finding out the truth.

Folly is a sequel of Charter to Redemption. Although not strictly a 'stand alone sequel' it's not necessary to pick up book one to enjoy book two.


Publisher: D. J. Blackmore
Links: djblackmore.com.au
Biography: Often at a dirt track watching my husband race motorcycles, with a laptop in my arms and a head full of ideas.


Deidre is offering a Giveaway: The first reader to send an email to the author via her website will win an author signed copy of Folly.

TP Hogan - Extinct

T P Hogan released Extinct on 7th October. 

Everyone knows Thylacines are extinct. The truth is more complicated. Thylacines are real but the secret that hides their existence has trapped them in a half-life, and only one person can set them free.

Sent to live in Tasmania, Australia, with a father she’s never met, Ginny Martin’s mission is to lay low and get through the school year. That is until she sees that first ghostly creature. Refusing to believe she’s going crazy, Ginny will not stop until she’s unearthed the truth behind the silver apparitions.

Bio: TP Hogan writes speculative fiction. This allows her to escape...and explore hidden worlds, inhabited by the creatures of her imagination, and she invites you to join her in these realms.

Buy Link: Amazon.com - http://amzn.to/2y4lggn

Author: Catriona McKeown - The Boy in the Hoodie

Cate McKeown, Omega 2016 winner, is releasing The Boy in the Hoodie November 1st, 2017

Kathleen Morrow is a Pastor's kid struggling to find her place in the world. To protect a friend she lands herself in detention, where she meets a boy with a serious reputation. As an unlikely friendship develops between the two, Kat realises her own problems are insignificant compared to the ones this boy hides under his grey hoodie. And now he's asking for her help. How far is she prepared to go to help him? Kat must choose between the future she wants and a friendship unlike any she has ever known before.

Catriona McKeown is a teacher in country Queensland, where she lives with her husband and three daughters.

Publisher: Rhiza Press
Purchase link: https://www.koorong.com/search/product/the-boy-in-the-hoodie-catriona-mckeown/9781925563207.jhtml

Jeanette O'Hagan - Akrad's Children

Jeanette O'Hagan released Akrad's Children, the first novel in her Akrad's Legacy series. 

Four young lives, a realm ravaged by war, a haunting legacy

Four young lives are bound together in friendship, love, rivalry and tragedy. A realm ravaged by civil war, a ruler scarred by betrayal, a legacy that haunts them all.

Caught between two cultures, a pawn in a deadly power struggle, Dinnis longs for the day his father will rescue him and his sister from the sorcerer Akrad’s clutches. But things don’t turn out how Dinnis imagines and his father betrays him.

Does Dinnis have a future among the Tamrin? Will he seek revenge for wrongs like his sister or forge a different destiny? 

Publisher: By the Light Books

Buy link: https://www.amazon.com/Akrads-Children-Legacy-Book-ebook/dp/B075BK8436/

Other News:

Adam David Collings also released Earth's Remnant the first in his Jewel of the Stars series 

Christine Dillon will release her debut novel Grace in Disguise and released a non-fiction book Stories aren't just for kids: Busting 10 myths about Bible storytelling in October 2017.

CWD members have also had stories and poems accepted in a number of anthologies:

Nola Passmore, Raelene Purtill and Jeanette O'Hagan in Futurevision (1231 Publishing, Sept 2017)

Raelene Purtill, Jeanette O'Hagan and Jenny Woolsey in Redemption (BentBanana Books, Oct 2017)

Jeanette O'Hagan has stories in Tales From the Underground (Inklings Press: Oct 2017) and Quantum Soul (Oct 2017)

Lynne Stringer, Adele Jones and Jeanette O'Hagan had a stall at Oz Comic Con Brisbane in September.