On writing

This year’s Pets in Space Line-up

ByGreta 14 August 202427 October 2025

Presenting the pets for this year’s Pets in Space 9. Can you match the pet to the story?

R.J. Blain ~ USA TODAY Bestselling Author ~ “Failed Colony”
Demelza Carlton* ~ “Daedalus”
Leslie Chase ~ USA TODAY Bestselling Author ~ “Royal Cargo”
Kenzie Kelly* ~ “Khanet”
Evelyn Lederman* ~ “The Purrfect Trip”
E.G. Manetti* ~ “Sabotaged”
S.J. Pajonas ~ USA TODAY Bestselling Author ~ “Winta’s Perfect Pair”
Honey Phillips ~ USA TODAY Bestselling Author – “The Lone Cyborg”
Greta van der Rol ~ Award-Winning Author ~ “The President’s Daughter”
Carol Van Natta ~ USA TODAY Bestselling Author ~ “Starlane Crossroads”

* new to Pets in Space

Pre-order your copy now…

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History | On writing | Reviews

Why is ‘The King’s Speech’ a good movie?
ByGreta 25 February 20122 December 2025

I’ve just watched the movie ‘The King’s Speech’ and thoroughly enjoyed it. For me to enjoy a movie is in itself a rare and wonderful thing. I don’t as a rule watch movies and my taste is limited. I loved the original ‘Star Wars’ films and the LOTR films. And ‘Bambi’. So now, days later,…

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On writing

What’s with the name?
ByGreta 12 April 20124 November 2025

More than one person has asked me why I called the book Die a Dry Death. Why not “The Wreck of the Batavia” or something equally prosaic? For a start, Batavia means a few different things; the Roman occupied area which eventually became part of the Netherlands, the capital of the Dutch East Indies which…

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History | On writing

Who was the other woman?
ByGreta 28 April 201227 October 2025

After the Batavia ran aground on Morning Reef before dawn on 4th June 1629, the captain ferried as many people as he could to nearby islands and then decided to head for Batavia to fetch help. When the Batavia’s longboat left the Abrolhos islands where the survivors from the shipwreck had been landed, she carried…

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History | On writing

Dealing with the mucky bits
ByGreta 1 September 201227 October 2025

I recently wrote a post on my other blog concerning the bits authors leave out of time travel. With my tongue firmly in my cheek, I called it ‘the sexy side of time travel’. Imagine yourself going back from the 21st century to (say) Elizabethan London. What would your impressions be? A lot of it…

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On writing

Are Voldemort and Sauron good villains?
ByGreta 24 December 201022 May 2018

If your hero is up against a villain, better make sure that villain’s powerful. Sure, you need conflict to make a story. Or should I say, an interesting story. But the writer of a post iI just read used Voldemort and Sauron as her two examples of good villains.

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On writing

The Rules of Writing. The crucial first chapter.
ByGreta 13 February 201127 October 2025

I’ve become a tad introspective about the Rules of Writing. You know the ones, my authorial friends; thou shalt not use adverbs, thou shalt minimize adjectives, thou shalt not reveal Back Story in the first chapter, thou shalt mesmerize your audience from the first word.

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