DarkSider News: August 2025 - Events!

"Prologue

Lyra 

Love makes you stupid. Not the sweet, tender kind they sing about in temple hymns-I mean the raw, reckless kind that burns through your veins and turns your brain to fucking ash. The kind that has me stalking through Wolfhaven at midnight, risking everything for a man who's my family's enemy."

– The Onyx Covenant, (multi author series, The Lunaterra Chronicles) by Mila Young

Grab a cuppa and your diary and check out the events our DarkSiders are attending....

(featuring upcoming events for the coming two months, updates to events, and new listings)

Oz Comic Con

Canberra, ACT

9-10 August

Donna Maree Hanson

Tickets

Annie Seaton library author talks

QLD

August

Bookings

Scroll for the individual library talks

Writer Wonderland Author Signing

Hobart, TAS

22 August

Cassie Laelyn

HM Hodgson

Leisl Leighton

Melanie Pickering

Rachel Armstrong

Tickets & website

Capricon 2025

Rockhampton, QLD

30 August

Cassie Laelyn

Tickets

Website

Facebook page

Facebook event page

September workshop: 

Getting Your Novel Published with Amy Hutton

Brookvale, NSW

4 & 11 September

Amy Hutton

Tickets

Gladstone PopCon

Gladstone, QLD

6 September

Cassie Laelyn

FREE ENTRY

Facebook page

Dark Delights Book Signing Event

Brisbane

20 September

HM Hodgson - pre-order form

Melanie Pickering - pre-order form

Mila Young - pre-orders closed

Rachel Armstrong - pre-order form

Tickets

Facebook page

Books, Gowns & Crowns: Chapter 4

Washington, D.C.

25-27 September

HM Hodgson

Tickets

TikTok

Website

Books & Beyond

Central Coast, NSW

28 September

Donna Maree Hanson - pre-order form

Facebook page

GLO (Gay Lit Oz)
Brisbane, QLD
28 September

TJ Nichols

Tickets

Facebook page

Website

Ghosted Book Launch
Mosman, NSW
1 October

Amy Hutton

Tickets

RARE (Romance Author & Reader Event) 2025

Melbourne, VIC

4 October

Claire Boston

Keri Arthur

Lana Pecherczyk - pre-order form

LJ Swallow

M.J. Scott / Melanie Scott

Mila Young - pre-order form 

TJ Nichols

Tickets 

Facebook page (all RARE)

Facebook attendee group

Sunshine Coast Fiction Festival 

(conference & book signing)

Venue 114 in Bokarina (Maroochydore), QLD

7-9 November

Keri Arthur

Leisl Leighton

Tickets for

Workshops & conference

Book signing events

Website

Facebook page

Meet Your Next Book Boyfriend
Hunter Valley, NSW
22 November

Bernadette Rowley - pre-order form

Donna Maree Hanson / Dani Kristoff

Efthalia - pre-order form

Keri Arthur

Leisl Leighton

Lilliana Rose - pre-order form

Mila Young - pre-order form

Rachel Armstrong

Tickets

Facebook group

~~

Congratulations to our DarkSiders!

Happy Reading everyone. Be safe & well.

Next on the DarkSider News: New Releases & Sales

DarkLight On... Mel Teshco!

 

Welcome Mel Teshco!

You write science fiction romance and contemporary romance. What attracted you to both of these genres?

I’ve always loved reading both these genres in all their forms (I especially love YA sci-fi and might even give it a go one day i.e. finish off a story I started years ago…), but though it makes sense to stick to one genre and build an audience I ended up paring my writing down to these two genres. I didn’t want to dull my creativity, so this was the best I could come up with ☺ 

Is it difficult separating the two?

Not at all. I’ve built up a bit of a readership with my sheikh and mafia contemporaries, and might stick with those to hopefully keep my fan base happy. My science fiction stories are much more diverse and range from aliens to dragons and DNA hybrids. I love the freedom of these and enjoy giving my characters superpowers and strengths as much as I do their weaknesses. 

 

You have such a busy release schedule. How do you maintain this?

I put up pre-orders and plan ahead so that I have no choice but to meet my deadlines. Having said that, as a mostly self-published writer now I don’t have a fixed word count, so as long as the story doesn’t lose any impact I’ll write shorter where necessary. I definitely write faster under pressure, though sometimes I itch to write a completely different story (which I often do, much to my peril lol!). I’ve begun making my pre-orders farther apart just so I have more freedom to write other bits and pieces as the mood strikes. I do have to remind myself to clean the house though so it doesn’t look like a bomb hit it. 

Are you a plotter? Panster? Or somewhere in-between?

Though I’ve plotted in the past for publishers (RE: my ghost writing where I’ve had to give a chapter by chapter summary) I don’t enjoy thinking too far ahead. I do at times have a bit of an inkling of the ending, or sometimes while I handwrite I’ll do a brief summary of an upcoming scene as it occurs to me. 

Do you have advice for aspiring writers?

Enter competitions (the advice can be invaluable, as can your ranking which gives a good idea of how close you are to being publishable). Do workshops, both online and at conferences. Read some of the bigger selling novels and look out for what readers want. Find a critique partner who ‘gets’ you and who helps make your work shine and vice versa. Above all don’t self-publish until you’re well and truly ready, you need a thick skin in this business at the best of times and there are some harsh critics/readers out there (some lovely ones too!)

How do you fill the creative well?

I take the time to read, even when I get home from work in the early hours of the morning I’ll usually read for at least 10 or 20 minutes. (Watching TikTok has also become a bit of an Achilles heel lol) I also tend to daydream a bit while driving to and from work. It’s a good time to think through storylines and dream up characters. I’ll often blast the music, put on my seat heater (good for my back muscles and general relaxation) and sift through all the ‘stuff’ in my head.

What is next in the future for you? 

I’ve got a whole series of sheikh stories to write (book 2 is out today). I’ve also started on my next sci-fi series with genetically altered characters, with the first book His Asset coming soon.  I do have a few books that aren’t up on pre-order as yet, which I really want to get to. These might be on next year’s schedule.

 

 

Tell us about your latest release and your inspiration behind it.

My latest release is actually a re-release—Incandescence—which is why it’s a paranormal suspense genre. This one was published through Totally Bound. I can’t remember the inspiration behind it, but I must have been going through a bit of a vampire stage. I’ve always enjoyed the alpha side of a vampire hero. I wrote this one in first person pov, which I hadn’t done a lot of until I started my mafia series. Some stories just seem to want to lean more into that style.

Latest release

Incandescence

Escaping the nest of their vampire master is an amazing triumph. Surviving will be the greatest challenge of all.

Alexander.

I've been a blood slave to my vampire master for forty-six years. My rare blood makeup gives my master the perfect nutrition. My addiction to the couple of drops he feeds me in return ensures I have no compulsion to leave. I'm a willing blood donor, an immortal slave. Then my master brings yet another blood slave to his nest, and I can't tear my eyes away from her.

Maya.

I can't believe I've been kidnapped. I definitely can't believe vampires are real. But I soon learn they're not just real, they're cold and brutal, and will do anything for their bloodlust. Everything within me burns to escape, and if I have to use the other blood slave to do just that, I will. If I'm all too quickly seeing past his addiction and good looks to the man beneath, that's just too bad. Survival is my focus. Love and desire have no place in this nightmare I'm living. Do they?

Buy

Amazon | Other

Mel Teshco

I’m an award winning author who loves to write scorching hot contemporary and science fiction romance—stories I love to read. I love working from home, where my office window looks out over our ‘block’ of fourteen acres with gorgeous mountain views. After enjoying a stint as a foster carer for cats, I now have seven felines to entertain me, along with two dogs and a horse. But only when I’m not distracted by my three gorgeous daughters and two grandchildren. As for my very patient husband…he’s still waiting for retirement.

Visit Mel's website: melteshco.com