A big thank you to Dani for inviting me to blog on Love Bytes! It’s great to be here. As this is my first monthly spot here, I figured I’d use it to introduce myself as it’s always helpful to know a bit about who is posting.

I’m Anne Barwell and I’m a MM author living in New Zealand. I also work in a public library, and am a musician so a lot of that stuff tends to sneak into my stories and my blog posts, depending on what’s going on at the time.

I write the same way I read—across a range of genres. Each genre comes with its own challenges and I love the opportunity to read and write from different perspectives. I have a weakness for anything set in the first half of the 20^th century, in particular the world wars and the decade following them. On the flip side I love stories with dragons, vampires, and the like. Throw in some psi powers, and time travel and hmm….

I’m a huge geek—if that last sentence hasn’t already given that away—so expect a few posts on comics books, pop culture and the like as well. I used to be more of a DC girl, but a friend introduced me to Young Avengers, and then all those movies came out so now I read both, although my weakness still tends to be anything Bat related, especially those guys who have worn the Robin costume AKA Dick Grayson and Tim Drake.

I need to introduce you to my helpers AKA my cats Kaylee and Frappy, who love to sit on my mouse when I’m trying to type. The two of them keep life interesting.  Although Fraps (on the left) is very laid back, Kaylee makes up for it in spades, and her size doesn’t prevent her from bringing home dog bones she’s stolen from neightbourhood dogs. These bones aren’t old and dug up, but fresh with meat on, and most likely stolen out of the poor dog’s dinner bowl!

I also have a couple of writing mascots. I picked up Augustus (on the right) in Dunedin at the Chinese Gardens a few years ago. I did a road trip of the west coast of New Zealand’s south island that year with an overseas friend. The scenery down that way is gorgeous and quite different to what we have here in Wellington. One trip on the gondolas at Queenstown was enough for me though. I hate heights so it was terrifying, although I did manage to take in some of the view, while trying to ignore just how far down it was.

Denys is a recent addition, and a gift from a friend last Christmas. He’s named after a character in my Dragons of Astria series—oops spoiler sweetie.

And yes I am a huge Dr. Who fan, why do you ask?

Anyway, enough about me. Is there anything you’d like me to blog about in future posts—within reason of course, and I retain the right to keep a few secrets 😉