Welcome to gillianandrews.com!
Here are some quick links to the first three of my books on Amazon, if you came here looking for the books. And my thanks to Amazon, for recommending them, among others:
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.... You can find me on Google+ if you want by clicking the button on the left. I don't post every day there, but I do usually check in once a day so I should get back to you reasonably quickly.
If you are looking for more details about the Valhai universe please visit the valhai.com webpage first, as most of the background to The Ammonite Series can be found there. This is really the author page, and is more about me than Six, Diva and Grace!
There is now a website for the second book, Kwaide, too - you can visit here
Xiantha, Book Three in the series, was released (finally!)1st September, 2012. You can find the new website for Xiantha here.
Pictoria, Book Four in the series, came out on 1st December, 2012, and you can find all the details here
I am currently finishing Book Five, The Lost Animas, which should be out around September 2013.
It feels strange to be writing about myself, I feel a bit like leaving a big blank space, and leaving it all to your imagination. So you will have to excuse me if I just talk about whatever comes to mind.
I've just finished a masters in astronomy and astrophysics (International University of Valencia . . . great course . . . www.viu.es). I originally went to university to study astronomy (many years ago, as you will have guessed from the photo). I gave it up after a week having got into an argument with the Tutor. For our first practical, which lasted all night long, he told us to go out to the park, lie on our backs and count the stars. Durr . . . I pointed out that a) that was impossible, b) that it was very cold outside and that the grass would be wet, and c) that I thought it was a stupid thing to ask. He told me to leave. So I pushed off to another university to study maths and economics. Riveting. And only now have found a course to pick up where I left off. It was great to be back, although I found struggling with IRAF pretty discouraging at first.
I can't really say that the above is much help in writing science fiction. I researched everything in Valhai way before I began the course. So any faults in the book have nothing whatsoever to do with Valencia! I do research all the books pretty thoroughly, because I want the science behind them to be a continuation of things they can Google easily on their own if they are interested enough to want to. That said, there is a world of difference between what is possible in the Binary System, and what is currently possible or known here! But I am fascinated by cosmology, which is why these books are what they are. Funny, exciting, and hopefully slightly mind-boggling. At least, that was the intention.
The semi-sabbatical meant that the follow-up novel, Kwaide, the second in The Ammonite Galaxy series, only came out a year after the first. I took a short break before starting the third book in the series, Xiantha, but then went straight on to Pictoria, which is in editing now, and due out on 1st December 2012. Hopefully the following year will see at least one further book.
I'm a fan of Star Trek, Dr. Who, and Janet Evanovich. Incidentally Janet Evanovich has written a great book of advice on writing. The most important thing I got out of it was that when she is writing a book she stops reading. Nothing. Zilch. I tried to do that with Valhai, and it worked really well. Though old habits die hard . . . I love reading and I don't think I could give it up for very long. My office has three Star Trek posters and one miniature Dr. Who police box! I hope that if you are a Trekkie or a Dr. Who fan you will like my books too. My favourite series is Deep Space Nine, with Quark and Odo, and the wormhole Aliens. (That was a long time ago - about time they began a new Star Trek series. Liked the film though, especially with two Spocks!)
There are a few pages on this site about various things I know a bit about, self-publishing, typesetting, having a bad back. Not that I know much about anything really, but maybe some of my experiences will serve to help somebody else out there . . . I finally found some things that work for me and you never know . . .
I would really like your feedback on the website, and of course, more importantly, on the books. Please take a moment to tell me what you think of my work. I would be thrilled if you like it, and I will take careful note if you don't, so both points of view will be greatly appreciated. The contact button is up and working, thanks to thesitewizard.com instructions about how to set them up correctly. If there any hangups, please email me direct to gill@gillianandrews.com. If you prefer, you can post on the Wordpress blog which is now working well at kwaide.com. You can find it at www.kwaide.com/blog
The Ammonite Galaxy series has taken me four years, so far, although I must have been thinking about it for another two years before I started to get down to the actual writing. It was originally planned to be a 4-book series, but it kept getting bigger and bigger, so I am now at a possible six-, maybe even seven-book series. I am well into year 4, which was supposed to see the end of the series, and I am currently (Easter 2013) writing the fifth book, under the working title of "The Ammonite Galaxy", which should be out towards the end of the year. I have a title for the final book "The Trimorphs", but there may be another book either before or after the Ammonite Galaxy too. The series seems to change as it progresses. However, I don't think it will be any longer than a seven-book total, and I may be able to pare it down to six! Whatever happens, it will have taken up at least five years of my life, so I hope that some of you enjoy reading it, and find yourselves being transported into this world which means so much to me!
I don't have very good people skills (as my family would be the first to tell you!) so you aren't likely to find me signing copies of my books at bookshops, or giving talks. (Not that I get asked to give many!) I really ... REALLY ... like writing. I wish I had been able to do it all my life, but other things got in the way. In any case I feel so good to be able to spend a few years doing something I have always loved so much now. It is a continual learning curve, in so many ways, but worth every single minute! If there is anybody out there, reading this, and wondering how he/she could ever get the book they have inside them out, then my advice is ... JUST LEAP IN! Make mistakes, get some things right, get some wrong, keep learning, keep writing. There are the odd moments of mortification when you see some terrible mistake in a brand-new book, and realize you will have to upload the whole thing all over again, but there are some memorable moments too, when perhaps somebody writes to you to say that they really love your book. That has no price! Good luck. I will always be grateful that I was able to take advantage of the system changing. I would never have written The Ammonite Galaxy series if I had had to tote it all around to hundreds of agents who dislike science fiction and hate young adult books!