BeachReadBonanza_FBpostToday 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.

Petone BeachThere 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

Slow DreamingAs 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.

 


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)