Karina Author, Book

The literary friendships between us

In 2019, when the first two Karavan Press titles – Melissa A. Volker’s A Fractured Land and Shadow Flicker – went to print, I was travelling in Turkey and Austria and asked Penny Haw to assist with checking the printer’s proofs that arrived while I was away. Melissa and Penny worked together to make sure that all was in order. For me, it was terrifying not to be able to oversea everything myself as I was completely new to this side of things as a publisher, but I also knew that our books were in excellent care.

This year, when Penny’s novels, Nicko and The Wilderness Between Us, were looking for a distributor in South Africa, being a fan of her work, I did not hesitate to offer entering an agreement with her and Karavan Press’s distributor, Protea Distribution. In this way, the books and their amazing author belong to the Karavan Press family and I am delighted to be working with Penny.

And so it was wonderful to see that, when I could not attend Penny’s book signing at Exclusive Books Constantia (I was interviewing Nancy Richards at her Greyton launch of The Skipper’s Daughter), Melissa was there.

This is what I meant when I wrote on our submissions page: “We want to establish strong bonds between our authors and readers, so please join the community of writers, creatives and readers that is Karavan Press” – the literary friendships between us.

Thank you to EVERYONE who makes this possible!

Karina Author, Book

SALE: 4 for R550, including delivery

Order any four of the ten published Karavan Press books and pay ONLY R550, including delivery.

For book details, click here: KARAVAN PRESS BOOKS

To order, please send your list of the four titles and your delivery address to karavanpress@outlook.com, and we will send you an invoice for an EFT.

Delivery options:

Cape Town: next working day after payment reflects in our account, to your door within 20km of Rondebosch Common.

Rest of South Africa: within a few working days after payment reflects in our account, to your nearest Postnet office.

Contact us for other delivery arrangements, if required.

OFFER VALID UNTIL 14 MAY!

Karina Author, Book, Interview

Pamela Power interviews Melissa A. Volker for Go.See.Do.South Africa: “Shadow Flicker & Other Things”

I think I met Missy Volker, author of Shadow Flicker, on Twitter (quelle surprise) through author and publisher, Karina Szczurek where we bonded over our love of books and cats. I then met her IRL at Karina’s house and subsequently at the launch of my first novel Ms Conception at the Book Lounge where Missy was kind enough to paint my nails (yes, at the book shop) and mend a bra strap that decided to give up the ghost just before we began (it was an eventful launch). Missy has supported me on my writing journey right from the get-go and it gives me great pleasure now to return the favour – and not only because she is a friend – but because I really LOVE her writing. Her books could be categorised as up-lit – literature that uplifts and they are EXACTLY what people need to read right now.

Tell us about your day job and how it’s been affected during #lockdown. Also, any grooming tips for us like how to paint our own damn nails??

I’m a beauty therapist. I work from home, but we were closed in lockdown. The sector reopened on Friday but I decided not to open just yet as I work from home and have family members with comorbidities. Also the husband has set up his WFH office in my salon. Maybe it’s time to finish that pesky first draft? Grooming tips?  Always wear sunscreen and, if you decide to wax yourself, remember once it’s on there’s only one way to get it off. And it is not 123NOPE.

Missy-doing-my-nails-before-my-book-launch...

Continue reading here: Go.See.Do.South Africa – “Shadow Flicker & Other Things”

Karina Author, Book

Frosty and Salieri know best

Nobody does quarantine better than literary cats. They know how to stay at home and snuggle up in bed with a great book. Here are Karavan Press’s Frosty and Salieri with Shadow Flicker by Melissa A. Volker. Up Lit at its best! If you would like to follow in Frosty’s and Salieri’s furry footsteps, but don’t have a physical copy of the book yet, we offer the ebook version on Kindle at a special quarantine price. Happy reading! Stay safe. Furry love from all of us.

Karina Author, Book, Event

Blown Away by Books, Fish Hoek Library, 11-14 March 2020

Blown Away By Books 2020

Karavan Press authors Melissa A. Volker and Dawn Garisch will be participating in this year’s BLOWN AWAY BY BOOKS at the Fish Hoek Library. The festival is taking place between 11 and 14 March 2020.

Shadow Flicker launch at Book Lounge4Writing the Environment: where fact meets fiction

Novelists Lynton Burger (She Down There), Melissa A. Volker (Shadow Flicker) and environmentalists Colin Bell (The Last Elephants) and Richard Peirce (Orca: The day the Great White sharks disappeared)  talk to Robin Adams of World Wide Fund for Nature about telling stories that need to be written about our world.

Saturday morning, 14 March, 10:00-11:30, Fish Hoek Library.

Dawn Garisch at Open BookThis Writing Life

Tracey Farren asks novelists Dawn Garisch (Breaking Milk),  Qarnita Loxton (Being Shelley) and Trevor Sacks (Lucky Packet) where their stories come from. Do they arrive fully formed, or do uncontrollable characters dictate what will happen next? How do they write, and when, and why, and can anyone ever fully explain this writing life?

Saturday afternoon, 14 March, 14:00-15:30, Fish Hoek Library.

 

BLown Away by Books programme

Karina Author, Book, Review

Andy Martin reviews Shadow Flicker by Melissa A. Volker

Shadow Flicker_LR for web

“I should declare an interest. I have a special fondness for the part of South Africa where this novel is set: in and around St Francis Bay on the Indian Ocean side, down the road from J Bay, boasting some of the best waves in the world. And like everyone else I have an interest in trying to save the planet. So I am naturally drawn to a novel that pulls together a beautiful and moody coastline, a handful of lonely, messed-up characters, and a plan to build a wind farm. But, I’ve got to say, Shadow Flicker beguiled me way more than I could have expected. It’s a love story with a noirish edge …”

Read the entire review here: Goodreads

Surf Sweat and TearsAndy Martin’s is the author of the upcoming Surf, Sweat and Tears: The Epic Life and Mysterious Death of Edward George William Omar Deerhurst.

“I don’t normally read books about surfers, but this is like Truman Capote, with shorts.” — Lee Child

Karina Author, Book, Event

Two writers bump into each other on holiday…

Read this wonderful account of how Pamela Power, author of Miss Conception, Things Unseen and Delilah Now Trending, went on holiday and bumped into Melissa A. Volker, who was launching her latest novel, Shadow Flicker, at a family & friends event on the Kromme River…

Reading-SHADOW-FLICKER-on-the-beach-at-St.-Francis-Bay

My friends are verrrrrry accustomed to getting WhatsApps from me telling them they HAVE to come to this or that book launch. Usually, it’s a launch happening at my home away from home, Love Books in Melville. Occasionally, I will venture to Exclusive Books Rosebank or Hyde Park but that’s as far as I go. I certainly didn’t expect to get an invitation to a launch while I was on holiday, so I was thrilled to discover that writer Melissa A. Volker (Missy) was launching her novel SHADOW FLICKER on the banks of the Kromme River in St. Francis…

Continue reading on Go See Do Gauteng: Shadow Flicker by Melissa A. Volker: A book launch with a difference