Down Under Showcase Author: Meredith Shayne

Meet Meredith Shayne!

Meredith Shayne is the author of recent releases such as Cutting Out, Metal Heart, Equilibrium, and Whitewater.

To get to know Meredith Shayne a little better, the author agreed to an interview. Look for the interview below and the Down Under Scavenger Hunt word found somewhere within.

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A scientist in a past life, these days Meredith Shayne mainly uses her scientific training to poke holes in television pseudoscience. Originally from Australia, she moved to New Zealand to start a new life a few years ago and hasn’t regretted it for one minute, even if she frequently wishes that the New Zealand weather was a little better; if she’s forced, she’ll admit that the refreshing lack of animals that can kill you in New Zealand makes up for a little rain. Meredith travels a lot, so much so that she has developed a shameful love of airplane food and knows her passport number by heart. When she is at home, she enjoys baking, horrible music from the 1980s, reality television, and gloating any time Australia thrashes the living daylights out of New Zealand on the sporting field.

Contacts/Follow Meredith Shayne at :

Website: http://meredithshayne.com/
Blog: http://meredithshayne.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/meredith.shayne
Twitter: https://twitter.com/meredithshayne
Tumblr: http://meredithshayne.tumblr.com/

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Your Books
Novels/Novellas:

Cutting Out, published by Bottom Drawer Publications.

Blurb and Details: A twenty-year veteran of the shearing shed, Aussie Shane Cooper loves his job, and the home he’s made for himself in New Zealand. If he’s a little lonely, he’s got good mates to keep his spirits up. When a hot, cocky young shearer named Lachlan Moore catches his eye at a competition, he’s content to look but not touch, knowing the young man is out of his league.

Lachie wouldn’t mind a piece of Shane, but the gorgeous gun shearer from Australia is soon forgotten when the Christchurch earthquake hits, and tragedy strikes Lachie’s family. Lachie deals with it the best he can, cutting himself off from all he knows. A year later and he’s back in the shearing shed, out of practice and lacking confidence. That Shane’s there to watch him flounder doesn’t help his nerves.

As Lachlan struggles to re-acclimatise, Shane can’t resist giving him a hand to get back on his feet. As they move from friends to something more, Shane finds himself wanting to know everything he can about Lachie. But Lachie’s got secrets he desperately wants to keep, and when things come to a head, those secrets might just mean the end of them before they’ve truly begun.
ebook, 200 pages
Published October 11th 2014 by Bottom Drawer Publications
ISBN139780994157232

Whitewater, part of Under the Southern Cross Anthology published by Dreamspinner Press ( A Scavenger Hunt Prize)

Blurb and Book Details: Baker Luke Henderson loves his job, and owning a bakery at Coogee Beach makes it even better. When he opens the shop before dawn, he hears the waves. When he walks along the beach after sunrise, he admires the surfers—one in particular: Cameron Brown. A chef and café owner, Cameron secretly watches Luke right back. When Luke proposes a business deal, Cameron seizes the chance to get close. But Cameron’s ideal man is physically perfect, and Luke’s awkward limp could be the flaw that fractures their romance.

Part of the Under the Southern Cross anthology. (less)
ebook, 117 pages
Published March 13th 2013 by Dreamspinner Press (first published March 12th 2013)
ISBN 162380468X (ISBN13: 9781623804688)
edition languageEnglish
seriesUnder the Southern Cross

Metal Heart, published by Dreamspinner Press:

Blurb and Book Details: Scott King swore off rock stardom after his band, King Phoenix, crashed and burned. Now in his forties, Scott lives a quiet life as a music producer and session guitarist. But in a box hidden in his wardrobe lie the relics of the past he left behind—a past filled with drugs, booze, and broken hearts. For sixteen years, Scott has had no contact with his former bandmates, so when he’s asked to play at a benefit gig for King Phoenix’s old sound man, his world turns upside down. A King Phoenix reunion means a run-in with Scott’s ex, Ash Walker—and sixteen years ago, believing Ash wanted to leave the band, Scott OD’d and almost died.

Since then, Scott has ruthlessly suppressed his feelings. As a result, he’s completely unprepared for the impact of seeing Ash again, or for dealing with his emotions about the band’s demise. He definitely didn’t expect Ash to want to start up where they left off. Now Scott has to decide between his safe existence and the twenty-year-old love song that could cost him his sobriety—and his heart.
ebook, 264 pages
Published January 28th 2013 by Dreamspinner Press (first published January 27th 2013)
original titleMetal Heart
ISBN 1623803233 (ISBN13: 9781623803230)
edition languageEnglish

Equilibrium, published by Dreamspinner Press

Blurb and Book Details: Welcome to Burreela, New South Wales. Population: more animals than humans. Although most (human) occupants are trying to get out of Burreela, the tiny town is the perfect place for veterinarian Michael Stone to break out of the bad habits that almost cost him the most meaningful part of his life: his profession.

Michael is struggling to regain his balance after hard personal losses and two years of promiscuity and drug abuse. He’s not prepared to meet Ryan Mitchell, a nice guy who won’t take no for an answer, whose patient pursuit leaves Michael less and less inclined to keep refusing. But Michael’s bad habits aren’t that far behind him. Can Michael hold himself together enough to be the man Ryan needs, or will he lose his equilibrium while trying to be man enough to hold on to the one he loves?
eBook,Paperback, 1st Edition, 212 pages
Published June 24th 2011 by Dreamspinner Press (first published June 23rd 2011)
original titleEquilibrium
ISBN 1615819509 (ISBN13: 9781615819508)
edition languageEnglish
seriesEquilibrium #1

Shorts:

Truce (free at All Romance (ARe)
Reasonable Force published by JMS Books
Tinsel and Dust (Equilibrium sequel), published at Dreamspinner Press
Eyes Wide Shut (Flying Doctors #1), Torquere

Genre(s): Contemporary, paranormal

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Contests and Giveaways:

1. Today’s Giveaway (thank you, Meredith Shayne) is an eBook copy of one book from Meredith Shayne’s backlist. Enter using this Rafflecopter link here.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.

2. Down Under Scavenger Hunt – find the Hunt “word or phrase” in bold green . Collect all the words from each author and submit the list in writing no later than midnight on February 1st. Make sure you include an email address where you can be reached. Prizes will be given to 5 people selected, from 1st place to 5th! Happy Hunting.

 

Q. When did you start writing?

I started to write fanfiction in 2005, but the first original fiction I wrote was 2009. That was the short story Reasonable Force, for the Torquere Press Care and Feeding of Demons anthology.

Q. Were you a reader as a child?

Definitely! I always had my nose in a book back then. The Narnia books were big favourites, as were a series of books about a herd of brumbies (wild horses) in the Australian Snowy Mountains by an Australian author, Elyn Mitchell. The first was called The Silver Brumby; the Goodreads link to the series is here. Those books were amazing, I loved them to absolute bits.

I also read a lot of Stephen King. It’s possible those weren’t the most age-appropriate books I could have been reading. But I couldn’t get enough of them.

Q. What books as a child had the most impact on you?

I read Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot when I was in primary school, I think I was about nine or ten (see above re: lack of age appropriateness of my reading material). It scared the absolute crap out of me, and because of that it really stuck with me. To this day I believe that vampires should be how they were in that book. None of that sparkly, going out in the daylight crap!

Also, the Diary of Anne Frank had a big impact on little me. So much so that one of the first things I did when I went to Amsterdam was to visit the house where her and her family were in hiding. That was quite an experience, seeing the tiny space where all those people lived for so long. In the diary Anne talks about gluing pictures of movie stars onto the wall next to her bed, and those pictures are still there. Amazing.

Q. Do you have a favorite character that you have written?

I like all my characters, for different reasons, but I have a soft spot for Scott King, from Metal Heart. And Ryan Mitchell from Equilibrium. I know, I just cheated and named two!

Q. How do you think books written from authors in Australia or New Zealand differ in style, language, and culture?

I think they differ from books set elsewhere because of the culture of both countries, actually. On the whole, Australians and Kiwis are laid back, casual people who enjoy a laugh. Teasing the people you’re fond of is a way of life, and we dish it out as much as we take it. I’m not sure you could survive very long in either country if you couldn’t take a joke at your own expense. We swear a lot, and drink a lot; in both countries, politicians can be seen doing both on national TV, and no one bats an eyelid. In a book written by an Australian/New Zealander about Australians/New Zealanders, all those things spring from the page.

Q. My first impression of AUS/NZ was from stories and novels like Colleen McCullough’s The Thorn Birds or Nevil Shute’s A Town Like Alice as well as from movies like The Man from Snowy River, The Dish, Rabbit Proof Fence, Strictly Ballroom, and yes, Crocodile Dundee! There are so many out there. What is your favorite AUS/NZ stories and favorite Australian/New Zealand movies?

The book I’m going to recommend is not fiction; it’s Bryce Courtenay’s April Fool’s Day. Bryce Courtenay’s son, Damon, was a haemophiliac who contracted HIV from infected blood products during his treatment. He eventually died of AIDS, and this is his father’s tribute to him. It’s funny, and it’s sad, and overall it’s just one of those books that’s really worth reading.

In terms of movies, the following are delightful:

Better Than Sex: David Wenham meets a girl and goes home to her house for a one-night stand that ends up being not so one-night. David Wenham spends a lot of time naked or nearly naked, so it’s totally worth it just for that!

Cosi: A group of inpatients at a mental facility put on the Mozart opera Cosi Fan Tutti. Toni Collette is in this one. Just as oddball as it sounds.

The Price of Milk: One of Karl Urban’s early films, it’s fluff about a dairy farmer asking his girlfriend to marry him and the hijinks that ensue because of it. It’s not much more complicated than that, so it really is fluff. It’s cute fluff though.

Whale Rider: an absolutely beautiful New Zealand film where a 13-year-old Keisha Castle-Hughes stars as a Maori girl who wants to be the chief of her tribe struggling against the disapproval of her grandfather, who thinks only males should be chief.

Q. What are your current projects?

I’m currently working on a few things: the story of a music photographer meeting up with his best friend from high school after almost 10 years apart, and the story of a washed-up musician in his forties and the friend who’s stuck by him through thick and thin. With luck those will see the light of day sometime during 2015.