Today I am so pleased to welcome Anne Barwell to Joyfully Jay. Anne has come as part of our Beach Read Bonanza to talk to us about her release, Slow Dreaming. We also have a big giveaway going on for the event. Please join me in giving Anne a big welcome!
Living in Wellington, New Zealand, I don’t have far to go to find a beach, or to see the ocean. We’re surrounded by water here. I love the beach as somewhere to go and think. One of my earliest memories of it is skimming shells with my dad along the water, and seeing them bounce along the waves before they finally sunk, and disappeared from view.
So, when I decided to write a time travel novella set in Wellington, I didn’t hesitate in setting part of it on a local beach. I’ve always visualised time travel as a large body of water. As it ripples out and has the potential to change everything.  Like the shells Jason and Sean skim along the waves at Petone beach, Jason’s presence in present day Wellington changes a version of his future. The cover for Slow Dreaming reflects this perfectly.
The photo is one I took there just before I started writing Slow Dreaming. It’s the exact location in the excerpt I’ve included. Here you can see Somes Island, with the smaller Ward Island on its right. The islands sit in the middle of Wellington Harbour, and you can see the airport in the distance.
There are different types of beaches in the Wellington area. Some are more for sunbathing on and enjoying the summer, others are still wild, and more in touch with nature, as they are mostly left alone by man. The beach at Petone is somewhere in the middle, depending on the season. It’s great for swimming during summer, but can be very cold and exposed during winter.
Excerpt
The next morning found Jason on the foreshore once more. It was warmer than the day before, and he took off his jumper, knotting the sleeves around his waist as he crouched down on the damp sand, skimming round shells across the waves.
The ocean was calmer, the sun glistening off it in different shades of green. A small raft bobbed a short way out from shore, anchored there to provide swimmers with somewhere to rest or sunbathe once summer came.
He smiled, remembering the previous day, his fingers curling around the mobile phone in his pocket. He’d bought it so he could trade numbers with Sean, surprised when it was his new friend who had suggested it.
So much of the area had changed, would change, during the next two hundred years, some of it down to nature, some not. Sean hadn’t asked any more questions Jason couldn’t answer, for which he was thankful. Lying didn’t come naturally to him, but unfortunately, telling the complete truth was not something that could be allowed to happen, at least not yet.
Jason shrugged. It was doubtful Sean would believe him, anyway. There was no point in ruining the short time they had left.
He picked up a flat stone, skimming it along the same path as the shells. One, two, three jumps and it sank, ripples spreading outward as it disappeared from view.
Blurb
As an agent for the Tempus Institute, Jason Adams’s task is to observe the past, not change it. But when he’s sent to 21st-century Wellington, New Zealand, during the last week of aspiring songwriter Sean Henderson’s life, Jason finds he can’t just watch from a distance. He and Sean quickly become friends and then lovers, and when the song that’s haunted Jason for years connects them in a way he never anticipated, he’ll risk changing history for the chance of sharing a future with Sean.
Buy link: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=2991&cPath=55_426
Bio
Anne Barwell lives in Wellington, New Zealand. She shares her home with two cats who are convinced that the house is run to suit them; this is an ongoing “discussion,” and to date it appears as though the cats may be winning.
In 2008 she completed her conjoint BA in English Literature and Music/Bachelor of Teaching. She has worked as a music teacher, a primary school teacher, and now works in a library. She is a member of the Upper Hutt Science Fiction Club and plays violin for Hutt Valley Orchestra.
She is an avid reader across a wide range of genres and a watcher of far too many TV series and movies, although it can be argued that there is no such thing as “too many.” These, of course, are best enjoyed with a decent cup of tea and further the continuing argument that the concept of “spare time” is really just a myth.
Two of Anne’s books have received honourable mentions in the Rainbow Awards, and two reached the finals.
- Blog: http://anne-barwell.livejournal.com/
- Website: http://annebarwell.wordpress.com/
- Coffee Unicorns: http://coffeeunicorns.wordpress.com/
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/anne.barwell.1
- Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/115084832208481414034/posts
- Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4862410.Anne_Barwell
- Dreamspinner Press Author Page:Â http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/AuthorArcade/anne-barwell
Giveaway
This post is part of our Beach Read Bonanza! Every comment on any Beach Read Bonanza post enters you to win the grand prize at the end of the month – an awesome beach bag full of goodies, including a kindle! There are 12 posts and so you can earn 12 entries! Just leave your comment to enter. (Rules and full details can be found here)
New to me author. Â Looking forward to reading this book. Â Thanks for the chance!
🙂
That’s a beautiful beach in the photo. New Zealand is one of those countries I really want to visit. Thank you for sharing the photo, and the giveaway
Thank you 🙂
Cool photo. Thanks for the giveaway.
Thanks. It’s one of my favourite spots on that beach.
Great picture I live near the sea to it’s wonderful to get the lovely breeze off the ocean. Thank you for the giveaway.
ShirleyAnn(at)speakman40(dot)freeserve(dot)co(dot)uk
Thanks. The breeze is great in summer but can be freezing in winter. Hard to escape the southerly.
Bonanza… the o’ good days, hehe!
🙂
I read SLOW DREAMING a while ago, it’s very intriguing!
Thank you. I want to write some more Tempus Institute stories at some point.
Time travel…not one of my usual reads. Â Thanks for the addition to my wish list. Â
🙂
Sounds interesting. I look forward to reading it.Â
Thank you 🙂
Ah, the dilemma for Jason!
He’s in a difficult situation. 😉
Anne – interesting premise. I just bought it. Now to go tell the three year old to give me time to read it lol.
Thanks, Andy. I’m amazed at all the reading and writing you get done with a three year old. Most of my reading went on hold when my children were that age.
Anne is new to me. I am looking forward to reading a book from her. I like to find new writer’s to read from gives me a chance to give me more reads. So I thank you Jay for the intro.
🙂
Congrats on your release. Â Sounds interesting. Â Placing on my TBR list.
Thanks 🙂
Sounds like a great read. Â TBR listÂ
Thanks 🙂
This sounds like an intriguing premise for a book! Thanks for hosting the giveaway.
🙂
Very interesting. Can’t wait to see how this gets resolved. 🙂
Thanks 🙂
Thanks for the post and the great excerpt!
Glad you enjoyed the excerpt 🙂
The book sounds interesting. Thank you for the excerpt! Beautiful picture too.
Thanks 🙂
Thank you for the interesting post! Â I will look into the book further.
Thanks 🙂
This book sounds interesting! Thanks for excerpt!
Thanks 🙂
The short excerpt makes me thinking about the  change of time and its impact on geography. It is indeed visible when living close to water what with erosion and rising sea water lines. It does not even have to be that many years gone by for it to be visible, a few decades, or less, are enough sometimes. As beautiful as it is living close to the waterline may not be the best of choices anymore.Â
Rising sea levels is definitely an issue.
I love beaches and hope to visit the ones in New Zealand some day. Â Thanks for the post and the excerpt!
I hope you can some day. 🙂
I really liked Anne’s bokok On Wings of Song. I like the blurb and excerpt of Slow Dreaming. Thanks for this post.
bokok has to be book LOL
Thanks 🙂
Interesting take on time travel. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks 🙂
New Zealand setting?! Can’t wait to read this!
🙂
Congratulations on the new release! Looking forward to reading it!
Thanks 🙂
I am looking forward to reading this book. Â Thank you for the post and giveaway!
🙂
The cover does do a marvelous job. This sounds like a great (and emotional) beach read.
Thank you!
I love beach-combing and rambling along the beach looking for fossils, semi-precious gems, bits of amber and bits of sea glass.
I like the sound of your new book, as I often wonder what I would do if I had the power to change something in the past and would I do it 🙂 Thank you for being part of Jay’s beach read bonanza 🙂
It’s something I’ve thought about too, but often one change changes other stuff you don’t want changed so it’s got a real double edged sword potential.
The beach looks so nice. I live about 30 minutes from the beach but never go. It gets to crowded. When I was a teenager I enjoyed the beach . Thanks for bringing the book to my attention.
🙂
Sounds interesting.
I generally only sunbathe when I got the beach nowadays, but I used to love swimming in the ocean as a kid.
I tend to just walk along beaches these days, but I enjoy doing that. Oceans here are chilly, got to be a really hot day before I’ll swim in the sea.
Growing up in southern California, it’s all about the beach.
Never too far from a beach here either. I’ve heard the beaches in California are lovely.
Beautiful. Sounds great
🙂
This seems like a crossover between the Beach Read Bonanza and Time Travel Week! Sounds like an interesting story, though.
Lol, yes I thought that same thing when I read her post!
🙂
Oooh time travel week. Must have missed that one. Will have to go look. Thanks!
Here is a link to all the posts: https://joyfullyjay.com/tag/time-travel-week/
Thank you! I’ll have to make a list and read the ones I haven’t. I love both time travel and historical stories.
looks great definitely putting on my tbr list
Thank you 🙂
I have never been to New Zealand! I love how the Internet alows you to connect with people from literally anywhere in the world. The picture you shared looks awesome!!! So peaceful and serene – a perfect place to read a good book!Â
I love that about the internet too. 🙂
This is an interesting idea. I am off to add this to my wishlist riight now.
Thank you 🙂
Oh time travel! That sounds really cool.
Thank you 🙂
What a gorgeous setting!
Thank you 🙂