Category: News

Chasing the Valley was launched at Wheelers Hill Library on Wednesday night. It was a lovely evening and I’m so thankful to all the friends, family and colleagues who came along to support the book.

Special thanks to the lovely Sandhya from Monash Public Library Service and Mike from Dymocks Glen Waverley.

Here’s a photo gallery of the event. Click any image to enlarge:

Chasing the Valley cake!

Books for sale

Guests begin to arrive

Biplane table decorations

Cupcakes with mini books on top

Signing a copy of the book

Edible bookworms for each signed book

The queue for book signing

Cutting the cake

The cake at the end of the night. Yum!

I have a couple of public events coming up:

• My ABC3 interview will air on TV next Wednesday (10 July). It will be the second segment of a 6:30am breakfast show called Studio 3.

• I’m signing books at Glen Waverley Dymocks (Melbourne) this Saturday 6 July from 1:30pm. All are welcome!

* * *

In other news, reviews for Chasing the Valley are starting to appear online. I must admit that I was nervous about reviews, but I’ve been lucky enough to receive some lovely feedback from blogs and review sites.

Eg.

• “‘Chasing the Valley’ could be the next dystopian hit… [It] will leave you wanting more.”
  — Marama Whyte, Hypable

• “Action-packed and entertaining.”
  — Emily Gale, Readings

• “An insanely glorious blend of Steampunk Adventure and Dystopian Fantasy with a touch of Romance and the promise of a great series to follow. In other words… awesome!” — Sarah McDuling, Booktopia

• “[A]nother great young adult debut… Even as an adult I’m looking forward to book two.”
  — Jen, the Co-op Blog

Thanks again to all readers who have sent me emails or messages. It’s great to hear from you and it means a lot that you enjoyed the book.

Exciting news! Chasing the Valley has been selected as a “Kids & YA Highlight” for July at Readings: http://www.readings.com.au/collection/july-kids-and-ya-highlights

It’s also “Book of the Month” for July at Random House: http://www.randomhouse.com.au/books/book-of-the-month.aspx

And to top it all off, I walked into Collins at Fountain Gate and saw it in a bookstore for the first time (see pic).

All in all, it’s been an amazing day!

It’s been several years since I wrote the first draft of Chasing the Valley: a flurry of frantic words before my mid-year exams. Since then, I’ve finished my degree, traveled to Europe and New Zealand and drafted five or six other fantasy manuscripts.

Many thanks to those who have encouraged me along the way: family, friends, teachers and colleagues. Thanks also to my agents, Rick and Anjanette, and the amazing team at Random House.

And now (*insert drum roll here*), I can finally say it…

Chasing the Valley is OUT NOW!

Yesterday, the lovely Tracey Eldridge tweeted this picture:

Hey @SkyeOhWhy look what I just spotted!!! pic.twitter.com/Qa19BOYaiu

— Tracey Eldridge (@Tracey_E) June 29, 2013

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Tracey’s photo is my first glimpse of Chasing the Valley in a bookstore! The official release isn’t until tomorrow, but a few places are already offering the book for sale. Needless to say, I’m skipping around in excitement.

ONE day to go!

Although Chasing the Valley won’t officially hit bookstores until Monday, I’m excited to announce that the eBook is available early for Android, iOS, Kindle and Kobo.

You can purchase your digital copy through the links below. Happy reading!

Google Play:  https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Skye_Melki_Wegner_Chasing_the_Valley?id=krHWFOs9rrkC&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImJvb2sta3JIV0ZPczlycmtDIl0

iBookstore (Australia):   https://itunes.apple.com/au/book/chasing-the-valley/id622404729?mt=11&uo=4

iBookstore (New Zealand):   https://itunes.apple.com/nz/book/chasing-the-valley/id622404729?mt=11&uo=4

Kindle:   http://www.amazon.com/Chasing-the-Valley-ebook/dp/B00BVR9WGY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1372152159&sr=8-1&keywords=Chasing+the+valley

Kobo:   http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Chasing-the-Valley/book-XvhJz604aka-Eo0pAUYLWQ/page1.html

It’s hard to believe, but Chasing the Valley is just over a week away! One of my awesome students, Melissa, recognised the cover in this catalogue for Robinsons Bookshop. It’s the first time I’ve seen my book in a retail catalogue.

PS: Many thanks to the early readers who have sent me emails; I love hearing from you and I’m so excited to hear that you enjoyed the book!

Today, I visited the ABC studios to film my first ever TV interview! I was so excited that I even took a picture with the sign outside:

The interview was for ABC3, so the studio was incredibly colourful. Here’s a snapshot with the awesome interviewer, Amberley:

The interview will air in two weeks’ time on Studio 3, which runs in the morning before school. It features an intro package filmed at my house, starring my dog (and featuring me in funny costumes)!

If you’re interested, tune into ABC 3 from 6:30am on Wednesday 10th July.

Two pieces of news today:

1. Although Chasing the Valley won’t be released to the general public until July 1st, early copies will be available for sale at the Random House stand at Supanova Sydney this weekend.

2. To meet demand, the book is going into a second printing before it hits the stores. Hooray!

A couple of months ago, I visited Sydney to meet the team at Random House. We filmed a short Q&A session about Chasing the Valley, which is now available to view online:

In other news, I’m attending a real TV studio next week to record an interview for ABC3! We filmed the introductory segment at my house today; I’ll update with more information as soon as I know the air date.

16 days to go…