Writing as N. D. Hansen-Hill...

Happy New Year! It's a little early, but New Zealand really celebrates family in summer, and it's our summer now (December, January, February). My family's going on holiday down island, and when I return it'll be time for a writers' retreat at the end of the month. Very exciting, all of it, and I can't wait to leave.

I imagine Auckland City will have fireworks for New Year's Eve, and I'm hopeful they'll have bands playing this year. It's so fun for the entire family and I really enjoy it.

In Flames is being released January 1st, but you can already find it and my February release, ErRatic, on Amazon!  I just discovered, too, that I have a number of titles in Kindle editions (17 or 18!). It's great to be part of a new technology.

I'll leave you with an excerpt from In Flames today:

She was standing in the middle of the biggest pen, which was filled with her cows. “I feel...” she paused, wanting to get the word just right, “needed.” She was standing there grinning, when her nose wrinkled. “D’you smell somethin’ burning?” She twisted, and Peri spotted it. The back of Sophie’s jacket was alight. Saffron-yellow and orange flames, thick and fierce, started small, at the hem, then fluttered and coiled and raced up her back. Sophie was screaming now, flapping at the flames she could reach, while cattle snorted and surged against her, their stomping feet trampling hers, while others bumped and butted, trying to get clear of the fire.

Peri got cow punched, rolled, and was back up, but she still couldn’t see Sophie. Sophie had to be down on the ground somewhere, in the dirt and straw. Peri clambered across cow backs, as they shifted and mooed and lowed and bounded beneath her. She got dumped off a wide hide practically in Sophie's lap.

Cheers, and best wishes for your holidays,

ND|Melody (for updates and more excerpts, add me as a friend at MySpace)