Category Archives: News

Books and rumours of books

Phew, are we nearing the end of the year, or what? We’re having to screw our thoughts to the sticking place in order to complete one job at a time of the fifty waiting. We’ve moved house but the books are waiting in boxes for shelves. The beds are waiting for legs, the garden for compost, the cooking device for an electrician. And while we wait, there are books to be launched and authors applauded.

Twister Book Cover

On Thursday evening, Jane Woodham’s Twister will be set loose on the world, starting at the Otago University Bookshop with the hard copy Mākaro Press have so beautifully put together (am expecting one to arrive in the mailbox any minute), with the ebook (and info and excerpts) available here. It’s a mystery/crime/love/LGBT genre-buster set in Dunedin. Here’s the interview with Jane, who’s very sensibly gone surfing this week.

Daughters-of-Messene-front-cover

We’re testing out RMB’s ability to manage ‘pre-ordering’ as we wait for the ebook of Maggie Rainey-Smith’s delectable Daughters of Messene to be prepared. If you buy one now, you’ll pay $1.50 less than the eventual NZ $12.

The Linen Way cover

In other RMB author news, Melissa Green recently went to St Lucia in the West Indies to visit and read poetry with her old friend and mentor Derek Walcott. Fantastic. Anyone who’s read her spellbinding memoir The Linen Way will know just how fantastic. I read this interview with her yesterday, marvelling at the intricacy of her poetry writing process, the way she handles each word and collection of words as though each were a living creature … which is, of course, the case.

Welcome to our new website

When Rosa Mira Books began four years ago, our list and website needs were modest. That list has grown and so has Rosa Mira’s modus operandi.

Ebooks: we’re still primarily about publishing exceptional writing in stylishly presented ebooks. We intend to go on filling our bookshelf with carefully selected ebooks for sale on this website and elsewhere.

Publishing: we’re creating a model that combines the best of both traditional and self-publishing approaches: while manuscripts are still carefully hand-picked, publisher and author are partners, sharing resources, expertise and marketing as well as income from sales.

We will sometimes collaborate with hard copy publishers such as Mākaro Press, sometimes republish out-of-print books in digital format — and we’re open to new ways of working. Talk to us about your ideas.

We have some exciting writing lined up for this year. The likely order of appearance keeps changing but four novels are in the wings, each showcasing the power and the promise of its author. A digital copy of Raymond Huber’s  Peace Warriors will appear this month, the first of several collaborations with Mākaro Press, and we’ll reprint four previously published works as ebooks.

We also offer writing services: from help with your manuscript to the possibility of publication, check out our menu for writers.

I’m waiting to see how often the rat will show up for the PR this year. He may have had his day and retire to the dim, cool, fairy armadillo burrows of Patagonia. We might need a critter that’s simpler to draw. A worm, perhaps, who will, anyway, resemble Ratty’s tail.

Meanwhile, pōhutukawa leaves.

2 leaves