January 28, 2014

From Australia with Love Blog Hop

Australian writers rock. We know it, and we love them. But it’s not always easy to discover the Australian talent that is right under our noses.

From Australia With Love Blog Hop introduces you to 18 Aussie authors across a variety of categories and genres. Each author is hosting three of their fellow blog hop participants between now and Valentine’s Day to let you find out more about them. So follow them on twitter, like their Facebook page and visit their blogs during the blog hop period to discover more great Australian writers.

There’s also a fabulous competition to win lots of prizes donated by the authors who will appear on my blog and on a host of others (see the list at the bottom of this post). Today I’d like to welcome LJ Clarkson, who writes a middle grade fantasy adventure for 9-12 year olds called the Mastermind Academy Series. The first book is The Silver Strand. Over to you LJ.

10 Things You Will Only Hear in Australia

Thanks for having me today, Jacqueline.

Sometimes it seems us Aussies speak an entirely different English language. We’ve grown up using made up words, given people nicknames, and created odd sayings. If I counted them all, I bet we’d have enough to fill a dictionary! I blame it on us being so isolated from other English speaking countries. Or fellow Aussies having their brains shaken too much from traveling in Kangaroo pouches! No, I’m just kidding. That myth isn’t true.

But what’s true, is that we talk weird. And in honour of celebrating Australia day on the 26^th January, I’m going to enlighten your international readers with a little lesson in Australian slang and nicknames, taking some examples from my novel, The Silver Strand and throwing in a few extra for fun.

Infamous Aussie Slang

If you can master these, you are a true Aussie at heart.

Don’t get your fringe in a twist – this is a play on the saying, “Don’t get your knickers in a knot,” and means “don’t upset yourself” or “calm down”.

Let’s go and have a cuppa – let’s have cup of tea or coffee.

Rack off – leave me alone or get lost.

Crikey – is what you say when you get a shock or surprise. It was made famous by the late Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter.

Plonk – to sit down heavily or collapse into a chair.

Thongs – are flip flops. Whoever changed the word just wanted to be different and confuse you.

Budgie smugglers – are an underwear style of swimming brief, and any man caught wearing them in Australia is teased relentlessly.

Nicknames

Now for some reason I don’t understand, Aussies like to add zzz’s on the end of names or o’s. Maybe it’s to sound cool. Who knows?

Mozzy – is a character in The Silver Strand. He’s a Cane Toad named after his favourite food, mosquito.

Sharon and Barry – Shazza and Bazza

Robert – Robbo

Now I could go on and on with many more, but you’d forget them all. While the selection might be small, I hope it has helped you understand the way us Aussies talk, and hasn’t scared you away from reading any amazing Australian books.

To celebrate Australia Day further, I, LJ Clarkson (aka Louo), Mastermind and champion of spider solitaire, hereby decree that any visitors leaving a comment with their favourite aussie slang or their new nickname, will henceforth be known as an honorary Australian.

Author Bio:

LJ ‘fibber’ Clarkson tells everyone she gave up her Environmental Engineering career to study a Creative Writing Degree and pursue her writing dreams. But that’s not entirely true. Ten percent of the time she sleeps in. Playing spider solitaire consumes 5% (bad, bad habit). Running Indicated, a promotional site for authors steals another 18.75%. In her remaining waking hours, she writes, laughs at her own jokes, reads and falls asleep whenever her boyfriend reels off geeky computer lingo (zzzzzz). If she were a Mastermind, she’d uninvent early mornings, grammar, broccoli, cleaning and her dog’s fussy eating habits.

The Silver Strand blurb:

Ever since twelve year old Isabelle Tresdon’s silver strand of hair sprouted, it’s been nothing but trouble: bleeding pink dust and sparking like a firecracker. Refusing to be known as the girl with the freaky, grandma hair, she wishes it never grew and the hair withers and tarnishes.

The only problem is, the strand is Isabelle’s source of magic, and she can transform particles of energy into matter. It’s also her ticket into Mastermind Academy, a secret school inside the earth’s core. Five days remain before the strand drains her magic and life, forcing Isabelle to enter into a deal with two trickster Masterminds to save it. But what she doesn’t count on is that there is more at stake than just her life.

The Silver Strand, a MG Fantasy Adventure for 9-12 year olds, is book 1 in the Mastermind Academy Series.

If you’d like to purchase a copy of the books or learn more about LJ click on the links below.

Author’s websites: www.indicated.com.au

Indicated is a site providing all the resources an indie or small press author needs.

Buy ebook and paperback (Amazon US)

Amazon US

Buy ebook Australia (Amazon Aus)

Amazon Aus

Autographed copies from the author’s website

Buy autographed copies

Buy paperback (UK)

Paperback copies