Chris Foster's Blog

Just a quick update to let everyone know my website has been drastically updated. Right now it is more a calling card, but please check it out and let me know if everything is working ^_^

www.chrisfosterwrites.com

Do you love books? Are you in Sydney next weekend? Would you like to be on the bleeding edge of big events in the literary world?

Book Fair Australia is almost here! Next weekend - 26-27th November 2022 - the newest, biggest, book convention is happening at Sydney Olympic Park. Not only is the weekend event filled with over 100 author stalls, there’s going to be panels, workshops and one shot D&d adventures! If this news doesn’t excite you, what are you even doing here??

So be sure to grab your tickets before it’s too late. Every ticket comes with goodies including, but not limited to, discount vouchers to spend at the event. So not only are most authors offering you cheaper than retail SIGNED copies of their work, but you can double down with extra discounts! Plus rumour has it there may be showbags included….

So what are you waiting for? Grab a ticket here and make sure to follow my instagram along with BookFairAustralia to get the latest news in the final countdown!

I love my Mum. (Most of the time) So much so I wrote a single line poem for her in my book Tango in a Teacup very creatively called…’Mum’. Now I am proud to announce I have taken the poem and redesigned it into a 3d hanging wall art you can give to that someone special (for those who haven’t read the poem, it is applicable to more than just mothers).

Be sure to check it out on my store here!

Have you heard the news? Have you seen the reviews? Diary of a Heartbreak is starting to get noticed!

There is no greater feeling as an author than knowing your words have moved someone, that you’ve managed to caress their heart or tickle their soul. It is why reviews mean so much. When someone reads your work and then writes a public declaration, it sets your heart aflutter. It helps quell the acid tongued craven of self doubt that clings with elongated claws to your screen, chittering away and reading your work upside down as it points out all the plot holes and misspellings and grammatical mistakes and oh my gosh did you use ‘and’ more than once? Yahooligan!

It also helps for those days when you’re writing in a frenetic blur, feeling as if you have found a loophole in the universe, tinges of guilt as you relish being able to pursue your dreams. For it doesn’t matter how successful you are, or how free you claim to be, there is always a part of you that feels better when someone else admires your craft. It’s human.

So please, review a book today. Whatever you’re reading, jump onto your favourite social media platform and talk about it. Authors spend years balancing the real world and imaginary ones, trying to succeed in both, while keeping track of who is who where and when. If you’re in need of a good book to review, you’re welcome to try Diary of a Heartbreak. As Eugen Bacon, editor of Aurealis Magazine, described it on Goodreads (along with a 5 star rating!)…

Exquisite heartbreak. Each closing line a knife edge.

She’s not the only one giving it 5 stars either!

Now if you pardon me, I’m off to float on cloud nine for a while that such a well read readers love my work.

Inhales deeply

You smell that? That, my friends, is the start of a new year, a new book and endless new opportunities. Time to wipe the slate clean and picture what you want this year to look like. Where will you be? Who will be with you? What will you be doing? Are the roses red, blue or purple? This is the time to envision what you wish to achieve.

Personally, there’s some great interviews coming up, more book signings and a fantasy novel that will certainly ignite something larger than itself.

Let me know in the comments what you really want to achieve this year! Let’s make it happen!

Yes, it’s true. Time has continued its ceaseless march forward and that means the end has arrived. Digital editions of Diary of a Heartbreak will no longer be at their intro price of a dollar. dramatic pose of angst and despair

In more exciting news, lockdowns are also ending! Conventions are reopening all around Australia which means one of the best parts of being author resumes: Book signings!!!

Sydney this weekend has OzComicCon - with some of the most prolific names in Australia appearing for events, you’re bound to see a favourite.

Next weekend Canberra hosts the Geek Markets - including an appearance by yours truly. Swing by to pick up a signed copy of any of my works, and score special discounts on limited editions!

Alright, time to reach the end of the washing and find my best shirt…. Til next time!

A massive thank you to everyone who made it to my book launch signing and bought a copy! I hope you enjoy your complimentary 3d printed bookmarks Oh, and the book of course!

For anyone who didn’t make it to the book signing, Diary of a Heartbreak is now available at all good bookstores. If you prefer flatscreens for your reading, the digital editions are at an intro price of 99 cents! Be sure to get a copy before they rise to a more suitable price for selling my soul (and personal moments) to the world.

Next stop, finishing the next novel (halfway there!)

There’s no sugar coating it, the last few months have been chaotic.

Between making & breaking relationships, dealing with ill health and learning how to live with lockdown rules that seem to change even more frequently than our government leaders (and that’s saying something!), you would be forgiven for thinking I’ve gone on hiatus, lost in a good book.

In a sense, you’d be right.

Except I wasn’t just reading. I was writing. An awful lot. So much, in fact, that there’s now a new poetry collection, more than double the size of my previous collection. Diary of a Heartbreak does what it says on the label, following the highs and lows of falling in love….then having your heart broken. It takes real diary entries (I often journal poetically) as well as a steady stream of fresh content. There’s even a couple of song lyrics and illustrations.

So if you want to read an open crucifixion er, I mean confession of the heart, please be sure to check it out! Like most of my work, everything is based on cycles, so it ends how it begins; fresh, uplifting, hopeful.

Not only does it end well, but the digital editions are only 99c as an introductory offer! Get in quick before the price goes up!

Diary of a Heartbreak is available on Amazon Here, or Booktopia Here, or direct from the author Here, as well as most good bookstores.

So much has been happening!

Keen eyed readers of Aurealis magazine may have noticed my name in a new spot; Interviewer! * party music blares, confetti explodes across the audience, streamers fly then drape over me like the cheapest, flimsiest, paper boas one could ever see *

That’s right. I was honoured to interview one of Australia’s most talented actors/writers/performers/Mathias Cormann impersonators, none other than Stephen Hall! It was not a disappointment, let me tell you. While we focused on his new comedy scifi book Symphony Under Siege, he also shared some of his time travel techniques, favourite things to do and what diabolical plans he has next (including possibly the best season yet of Mad as Hell on the ABC).

To read the full interview, as well as support Australia’s leading SciFi & Fantasy magazine, grab your copy of Aurealis #140 here

In other news a new poetry book is on the way! Be sure to keep an eye on my Instagram account for the latest sneak peeks, WIPs and general wordplay. Not sure you’re keen? Need a push to Follow? How about hearing one of Australia’s most prolific book reviewers Read3r’s Re-vu shared one of my poems in her Story??? I feel like I’ve won The Australian/Vogel Literary award. * swoons *

Alright. I’m off to finish another interview, this one with a fantasy author who could very well be the next big thing. Fingers crossed he’s maxed his Charisma stat and rolls a nat 20. Who is it? You’ll just have to wait and see!

Earlier this week I was passing through a small arcade in town when a young woman caught my eye. Relax, this isn’t going to transcend from blog post to me waxing lyrical with poetry*. What caught my attention, and even had me double back when my legs had carried me two stores down, was what was in her hands. Among the sea of people sitting in (socially distanced) groups in the cafe with their heads down, scrolling numbly on their phones, she sat alone with one of the biggest books I had ever seen.

Reading.

No phone in sight.

I’ve seen more unicorns in the wild than I’ve seen this.

It struck a cord deep within the very fabric of my being. In a world so fixated on having to get out and socialise, climbing the walls from the lock downs we are enduring thanks to the pandemic, it swelled my heart with joy to see a fellow traveller, someone else who slips from this place into another world between page and ink.

While I was on my way to an appointment and had no time to spare, I knew I had to reach out. Back I walked. Between time constraints, wearing a mask and the fact she, like most readers, probably didn’t want to be interrupted from the story, there wasn’t much I dared to do. Imagine if some random guy in a mask came in off the street and approached you in the heart of a busy cafe. Imagine now you’re halfway through the scene where the protag is about to realise insert world altering plot twist here.

Exactly. Dangerous ground.

Regardless, I went. Dropped my business card on her table and smiled the best I could through dyed cloth.

Then I walked away.

Not a word said.

Thinking of all the words I could have used.

Perhaps most critically

“What’s the name of that book?”

So here’s to you dear Reader. I hope my card turns out to be useful in some way. Perhaps a bookmark, or fuel to light your fire in this oddly cold weather. Regardless, I thought I’d share a poem I wrote for Tango in a Teacup. It’s on my Instagram too if that’s your thing.

*I lied.

Reader

I know not where she goes
Between ink and page
She travels she is not here
To forests and seas that don’t exist
I know not where she is
Planeswalker of the words
Present or gone matters little
To the flow of the river
This place between page and ink
Past her skin past her house
Past all that is
She goes and is gone and flies or swims or cries or lies or burns or plays games with kings
I know not but she has left
For a world between madness and dream
She travels like skin between sheets
Yet has not moved from in front of me.