Occasionally I’ll write about an author rather than a book. Because I want to write about four books at once I’m rather confused about how to write. So, why not start with the author. Oldfield writes middle-grade fantasy, which has me confused about what constitutes middle-grade and adult. These books I’m going to talk about sound like they’re adult to me. Although, maybe I just didn’t buy the middle-grade books.
Oldfield is a Melbourne author, and that made me pause during Witches of the Dead Kingdom because some of that book is set in Melbourne, Australia. I read so few books set in Australia as a child that it always makes me pause when I read a book set in my home town. I find it odd to see places I know in fantasy world. It’s no different in any other setting, it’s just odd, but not jarring.
I met Oldfield at Oz Comic-Con 2025. As she states in her Facebook Page the authors were placed really close to each other. It made it good for me as I had a couple of friends in that area selling their books. After talking to them I sidled along to the other book people and found Oldfield. I only bought four of her books that time.
I really love Witches of the Dead Kingdom. Not only because part of it was set in Melbourne but just because of the concept and the writing. This is the first book and I look forward to seeing her again in the future to buy more books in the series.
I also bought The Shadow of the King and The Girl Who Never Lived being book 1 and book 2 in the Ethereal Bridge series. I read them in the wrong order because I didn’t notice the 1 and 2 printed on the spine. In my defence the numbers are printed within a scribble and I have really poor eyesight. And reading them out of order worked well for me. It was lovely to read the first book second and see how everything fitted in nicely.
What interests me is that I now have two authors who have similar writing techniques. They both research the hell out of their topic, making vast notes and writing extensive outlines. Then they handwrite their first draft before putting it onto the computer and making editing easier. It’s fun to find out how other people do things. I feel Karen Carlisle and Ash Oldfield should meet one day. One lives in Adelaide and one in Melbourne, but I’m sure it will happen.
The last book I bought from her is Folktales From Wales and Beyond. It should be good, but I found the delivery very dry and didn’t even finish it. Oldfield took a number of folktales and compiled them into this book. I will probably give it away to someone else without reading any more. It was nice to see how she’s used some of these folktales in her books. The magic happens somewhere between the folktales and her brain to produce some fabulous writing. I will buy more of her fiction writing, but may not spend money on her folktales.
If you want to find her and buy her books you can find a list of events she’s doing in 2026 here. I won’t be seeing her at the first one at Kryal Castle as I’ll be at Book Fair Australia at the same time. I know Melbourne and Ballarat are fairly close together as these things are judged, but I don’t have wings that actually work and can’t be in two places at once. I’ll keep an eye on the Indie Bookworm Event in August, I might be able to get there.