Maddie's Third Adventure Already!

It seems like barely yesterday I was dressing up in my black-and-purple Steampunk outfit for the launch of  MADDIE HATTER AND THE DEADLY DIAMOND, and wondering privately whether anyone besides family and Tyche Books staffers would show up to find out about this debut novel from a relative unknown.
Yet it was two years ago last week. 
 
How time... or in this case, taffeta... flies!

It hasn't happened in isolation. Although I write the stories, their production is truly a team effort. My heartfelt thanks go out to the following stalwart supporters of Maddie's adventures:  Steampunks of SASS and The Airship's Mess Deck; fellow writers from Sisters In Crime and Calgary Crime Writers; the dedicated production team at Tyche Books who keep on the hop getting everything together in time for launch day; Super-Fans Lex Robertson, Cindy Bedford, and Karen M. Owen; my agent and cheerleader Olga Filina of The Rights Agency; and of course Kevin, who handles a lot of daily life for months on end while I live in Maddie's world with Tweetle-D and the other talking clockworks.

From the Book Jacket: 

Maddie Hatter’s third Adventure finds her in Venice on an all-expenses-paid assignment: report on the season’s most extravagant Carnevale costumes. Determined to land an inside scoop, she enlists the help of her half-Venetian friend, Lady Serephene, to penetrate Madame Frangetti’s Costume Atelier in disguise.

Serephene is pursuing plots of her own: training in secret for a career that’s forbidden by her family, and flirting madly with a low-born Scottish inventor in his airship laboratory.  When the inventor’s fabulous new fabric is targeted by industrial spies, Serephene risks not only her family’s displeasure but her own safety to protect him and his work.

Pursued through the floating city’s legendary canals and squares, Maddie must draw on all her hard-won survival skills to keep herself and Serephene out of the spies’ clutches. With the help of unexpected allies among Venice’s underdogs, the daring young ladies just might reach Carnevale’s grand finale alive.

If you're in the Calgary area, you're very welcome to attend our LAUNCH PARTY on October 23rd at 7 p.m. at Owls Nest Books in Britannia Plaza (149th St & Elbow Drive SW). Costumes welcome but not mandatory. There will be prizes! Check out the details on Facebook.

Pre-orders of MADDIE HATTER AND THE TIMELY TAFFETA are now available at:

Barnes & Noble (Nook) https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/maddie-hatter-and-the-timely-taffeta-jayne-barnard/1127175003?ean=2940154941607

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07613F87Q

Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07613F87Q

iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/book/maddie-hatter-and-the-timely-taffeta/id1292381422

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/maddie-hatter-and-the-timely-taffeta

Launch Party for MADDIE HATTER AND THE GILDED GAUGE

It was May 10th, 2017, and dusk was creeping over Calgary when MADDIE HATTER AND THE GILDED GAUGE leapt from the printed page to party and parasol duel at Owls Nest Books.

 And from there to the #1 slot on the Calgary Herald Bestseller List for Fiction! 

Same as MADDIE HATTER AND THE DEADLY DIAMOND did 18 months ago!

Yay, Maddie! 

Friends and family in the packed store ate, drank, and made merry to the lively tunes of Calgary folk duo Hazel Gray. Their song, PAPER-THIN KINGDOMS, is a book-lover's classic!.



 We raised $100 for charity, to be split between CALGARY READS and GIRLS NOT BRIDES.

 Some characters from the book showed up:

Countess Olga, wearing the Dragon Draper Necklace which is our prize for the entire summer's charity fundraising.

Emmy Gat Ain't No Flat!

Cat Cheshire - Look at that GRIN!

Muffet, the littlest Urchin, and one smart cookie!

Tyche Books represented by Editor-in-Chief Margaret Curelas and substantive editor Adria Laycraft.

Fabulous food and wine was provided by Tyche Books and Owls Nest Books.

Some lucky folks took home a Steampunk Statue of Liberty Chocolate Bar.

The Urchins were never far from the food!

The March Pair (Rabbit and Hare) with Muffet and the snacks

These kids go nowhere without their crazy scooter.

In the white and black, the first World Parasol Dueling Champion, mentally preparing to face down Countess Olga, the World Street Dueling Champ!

 

Amanda and her daughter drove 5 hours to be there on the night.

 I told a tall tale or two of parasol duels by daylight and darkness.

Add caption

Emmy Gat and Cat Cheshire set to duel. Those far at the back of the store couldn't see the duelists well, but they were closer to the refreshments.

 

 

With great support from Steampunks of SASS and Madame Saffron Hemlock's Parasol Dueling League, and the warmest of welcomes from Owls Nest's Mike Hare, Judith Duthie and Sarah Johnson, MADDIE HATTER AND THE GILDED GAUGE got off to a great start!  Thanks, all of you!


Available at Owls Nest Books in Calgary or through any of the links below:  Amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XJ9YT31 
Amazon.CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B06XJ9YT31 
Amazon.UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06XJ9YT31 
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/maddie-hatter-and-the-gilded-gauge 
Nook & iBooks: https://www.books2read.com/u/bxgDJv
For up-to-the-minute news about Maddie and my other writings, find me on Facebook or Twitter 

It's Time to Find The Gilded Gauge!

Book trailer by Kevin Jepson of 4k Consulting, with his photos and stock photos. Music by Two Steps From Hell (Toys Come Alive). 

 MADDIE HATTER  and the GILDED GAUGE 

May 2017 from Tyche Books 

Amazon.com   Amazon.ca   Amazon.uk  Kobo  Other formats

A mysterious message from a midnight duelist sends fashion reporter and aspiring investigator Maddie Hatter to New York City's finest parasol dueling academy, where she foils a daring daylight kidnapping, saves the girl, and embarks on her most perilous adventure yet!

From the Back Cover:

"A mysterious message from a midnight duelist sends fashion reporter Maddie Hatter to New York’s finest parasol dueling academy, where she foils a daring daylight kidnapping.

The grateful rescuee, only daughter of an American Steamlord, offers Maddie a job as her bodyguard. Soon both young ladies are up to their lace gloves in industrial intrigue and irrepressible street urchins. Maddie’s clockwork bird faces danger too: hungry owls, curious inventors, even a clockwork foe that hides sneaky tricks behind its jewel-green eyes.

From the mansions of Park Avenue to the Statue of Liberty, Maddie hunts a fearless spy and confronts an unexpected power from her past."

 Amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XJ9YT31 
Amazon.CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B06XJ9YT31 
Amazon.UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06XJ9YT31 
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/maddie-hatter-and-the-gilded-gauge 
Nook & iBooks: https://www.books2read.com/u/bxgDJv

For up-to-the-minute news about Maddie and my other writings, find me on Facebook or Twitter 

Teaser Time: MADDIE HATTER AND THE GILDED GAUGE

 Maddie's back in action!

A mysterious message from a midnight duelist sends fashion reporter Maddie Hatter to New York’s finest parasol dueling academy, where she foils a daring daylight kidnapping and embarks on her most dangerous adventure yet!

 MADDIE HATTER  And The GILDED GAUGE 

May 2017 from Tyche Books

Pre-order here:
Amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XJ9YT31

Amazon.CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B06XJ9YT31

Amazon.UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06XJ9YT31

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/maddie-hatter-and-the-gilded-gauge

Nook & iBooks: https://www.books2read.com/u/bxgDJv

* Enter to Win  *

an Advance Copy

by SHARING or TWEETING
any or all

teaser covers 

with #MaddieARC

Maddie's first published adventure, MADDIE HATTER AND THE DEADLY DIAMOND (Tyche Books 2015) was a finalist for the Prix Aurora Award and the Books Publishing in Alberta Award, and won the e-Festival of Words Award.  

For up-to-the-minute news about Maddie and my other writings, find me on Facebook or Twitter 

2016 World Parasol Dueling Championships - next weekend!

In addition to the standard set of competitions - Compulsory Figures, Flirtation Trials, and Dueling Eliminations - there will be a tea table hosted by the Victorian Society of Alberta. Spectator activities before and after the combats include croquet, lawn bowling, and table games.

To see who may be competing and get a better sense of what the Gracious Combat is all about, check out Madame Saffron Hemlock's Parasol Dueling League for Steampunk Ladies

If you haven't heard of this delightful Steampunk sport for ladies yet, here's the Parasol Dueling Regional Championships report to get you up to speed:

2016 Prairie Spring Regionals

  Photo credit to Karlo Keet of Catstar Images

For even more information on Parasol Dueling rules, outfits and people around the world who are participating, see

Madame Saffron Hemlock's Parasol Dueling League for Steampunk Ladies

Aprops of a conversation happening now on Twitter at

#YASIChat

Here's the link to a story about Queen Victoria's chainmail parasol