Wheee! My new rural romance The Falls has now officially hit the shelves.
Talking Books Blog had this to say about it:
Isn’t that cool? I’m so chuffed. You can read the full review on Goodreads.
Have you spotted any copies of The Falls out and about yet? I would love to hear if you have. Even better, maybe take a pic and share it on my Facebook page, Google+ or Twitter via @CathrynHein.
Now, to celebrate release day here are…
TEN SECRET THINGS ABOUT THE FALLS
1/. Teagan’s last name Bliss comes was taken from Bargain Hunt’s Kate Bliss. I’m a huge fan of this TV show. It’s always so interesting and I adore Tim Wonnacott.
2/. Lucas Knight bears more than a passing resemblance to actor Chris Hemsworth.
I had to study a lot of bare-chested photos of our home-grown Hollywood star to ensure I had the look just right. Ah, research. It can be such a chore sometimes.
3/. There are two songs I listened to over and over while writing and editing The Falls.
The first is Pearl Jam’s incredibly romantic Sirens. The words “I study your face and the fear goes away” seemed to encompass the way Teagan would come to feel about Lucas. Sigh. Makes me feel gooey just thinking about it.
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The second song is Karma Police by Radiohead. It seemed to offer a way into Teagan’s head, especially at the end of the song with the lyrics “I lost myself.”
4/. Vanessa’s dress sense and voluptuous looks were inspired by Mad Men actress Christina Hendricks.
5/. Merlin the Magic Ram is real. Or, rather, he was.
He’s based on Ram-Lamb, the completely psychotic ram my parents kept and who would attack anything, from people, to cars, to sliding glass doors. We used to have “I ran the paddock with Ram-Lamb races” where one person would keep hold of the ram until the other was halfway down the paddock and then let go. You had to sprint to make the other fence because that ram could really motor.
Ram-Lamb left us the day he took on Dad…
6/. Domenic Ashe looks like Richard Roxburgh, whom I adore. A verra sexy man.
7/. I wrote the first draft of The Falls in 34 writing days.
It was an experiment in changing my writing process, which is normally a pedantic edit-as-I-go style system. NEVER AGAIN. I might have produced a lot of words in a short period of time, but it took me the next 6 months to rearrange them into a decent order.
8/. At over 116,000 words, The Falls is the longest book I’ve had published. The next closest is Heart of the Valley at around 100,000.
9/. It’s also the first time I’ve introduced an extra character’s point of view in addition to the hero’s and the heroine’s. In this case, Teagan’s aunt Vanessa.
Telling Vanessa’s story through her own eyes was lovely. She’s such a great character.
10/. After deciding that Flopsy was just too naff a name for the rabbit that appears late in the book, I ran a Facebook competition to rename it.
Reader Jan came up with Nibbles, which I thought was really cute.
I hope you enjoyed these ten secret things. But most of all I really hope you enjoy the fun and romance of The Falls!
Keen to learn more? Visit The Story Behind The Falls for an insight. You can also hear me talking about the inspiration behind the book, my favourite parts and more on this video. For an excerpt, visit The Falls book page on this website. You can also read the entire first chapter at Penguin.com.au.
Feeling that itchy urge to buy right now? Then canter on down to your local book shop or Big W, or simply clickety-click on any of these retailers.
Right. I’m off to crack some celebratory fizz. Oh, perhaps not. It’s tad early. Never mind, there’ll definitely be some later!
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