Interview with Andy Briggs, author of Tarzan: The Legacy of Greystoke

After reading Tarzan: The Legacy of Greystoke I was burning to chat to Andy about bringing one of my childhood heroes up to date and am so grateful to him for agreeing to this fantastic Q&A with MFB.  I cannot recommend reading the T:TLoG enough - it's well written, superbly pacey and packed full action and adventure.  It will suit boys and girls who are looking for more meaty reads and it might entice reluctant readers too, especially as the action is very cinematic and it will definitely make them feel like they have experienced the book, rather than just read it.

But, I'll calm down now and let Andy chat to us instead:

1. How did it come about that you got the opportunity to reboot the Tarzan franchise and bring it up to date for contemporary readers?

I was a huge Tarzan fan and simply noticed that he didn’t appear to be around any more. I approached the ERB (the Edgar Rice Burroughs estate) who own the rights and explained my idea of bringing the classic character back to life for a whole new generation of readers. They liked it and the whole project was suddenly a go!

2. What was it like going back and looking at these books now that you were an adult? Did you feel nostalgia at all and were you concerned that your vision for Tarzan would somehow change your own memories of the books?

I had a very firm memory of the old books so I wasn’t too concerned that my own version of Tarzan would have altered my opinion. My biggest memories of Tarzan are the TV shows and movies which were always on TV when I was off school - so it was a great chance to regress back to those times when it was a bank holiday or summer holiday and Tarzan allowed me to escape into the wilds of Africa...

3. How many books will there be in the series?

There is TARZAN: THE LEGACY OF GREYSTOKE which is out now and next January there will be TARZAN: JUNGLE WARRIOR. We are looking to get at least one more out next year and after that, who knows?

4. When I devoured your new reboot of Tarzan, (which was on an awful dull and dreary day) I was struck by the setting of the jungles of Africa and I wondered if this was somewhere you’ve been yourself as I honestly felt as if I was there, experiencing the heat and the rain with the characters?

That’s great to hear! I took the opportunity to travel to Africa to experience as much as the wild as I could. Some areas of Africa are real no-go areas, so I also travelled to the jungles of South America to soak in that experience. Regarding the gorillas, I was lucky enough to work closely with the keepers at Bristol Zoo who helped me with the finest details of living with the wild apes.

5. Tarzan remains such a strong central character, only slightly civilised, with this very focussed perception of what is right and what is wrong in his world. Did you find it difficult to portray at times?

I found Tarzan surprisingly easy to write. His morals and beliefs are black and white. He leads a simple life without the complicated baggage we all carry. Robbie and Jane, being modern teenagers, have such a more complex perception of right and wrong, which inevitably leads them into trouble of their own creating. They were more difficult to write as they had to come across as modern teenagers living in a remarkable environment.

6. Jane Porter, the “Jane” character is a thoroughly modern young teen, addicted to her iPod and hating her dad for dragging them into the jungles of Africa. I understood where Jane’s prickliness came from but I struggled to identify with her at first. Was she a difficult character to write / to get into her mindset?

I think she is a difficult (and prickly) character as she starts out as a very resentful person who dislikes here current situation. She is clinging on to the ideas of civilized life and that’s what she misses... until she starts to embrace and accept the new world around her. She also has to be an equal to Tarzan, while that’s impossible physically, Jane is his moral compass and allows him to see reason on a different level. I think she would be equally difficult to write if she was boy. Jane was always a character who slowly draws you in, rather than somebody you immediately identify with from the outset - hopefully Robbie will do that for the reader.

7. Did you have to do a lot of research, not just into animal and gorilla behaviour but also political research into the area and various factions that are currently vying for control in the region you’ve set Tarzan?

I was lucky enough to travel to Africa to get some firsthand experience of life there. The areas of jungle I wanted to explore are in politically volatile regions, so I also travelled to the jungles in South America to get a feel for the seething humid landscape. It was terrific fun. Researching the history and politics of the DRC and the surrounding countries was fascinating. There is so much to use, yet Tarzan would only be able to scrape the surface of it all. However, it makes the Congo a more thrilling canvass to have adventures on that I would have thought possible.



Christopher Lambert in Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes

 8. Did you ever watch any of the Tarzan movies, as part of your research? And what did you think about the differences between the original source material and the movies?

I read as many Tarzan books as I could and watched every film and TV show I could lay my hands on. The books and the films are very different and there have been no real faithful adaptations (the Christopher Lambert Greystoke movie was the closest, and even the latter half of that movie meandered).

The public’s image of Tarzan comes from the movies more than the books and I wanted to capture the best parts of each and distill it into a “super Tarzan” that would appeal to older fans as well as new readers.

9. What was it like, sitting down to update the Tarzan books and his adventures to be more contemporary? What did you find were your biggest stumbling blocks?

Times have changed since Tarzan’s first appearance, and so have social and racial attitudes - however, Africa is still a huge adventure playground for any writer and I don’t think we have lost much of the magic that was inherent in the old stories.

The only real stumbling blocks were fans that complained that Tarzan couldn’t be updated - despite the fact they would happily watch contemporary Tarzan movies and forget that when Tarzan was written in 1912, it was a contemporary story.

10. Were you ever concerned that showing the savagery of Tarzan’s life in the jungle might concern new readers who might not have read the earlier works and thought it would be quite a “sanitised” look at the King of the Jungle’s adventures?

Not at all! I think most people who delve into the world of Tarzan expect some level of “tooth and claw” violence. There’s even some dark savagery in the Disney cartoon. I probably could have gone further with the level of “violence” in my book, but I am quite happy to leave it to the reader’s imagination - in my book most of that happens “off the page”, or I quickly gloss over the details, and you are left filling in the gory blanks yourself. I think a sanitized version of Tarzan would have been an injustice to the character.

11. Do you have any advice for aspiring writers out there?

We need writers! I look forward to being entertained in the future by other people, so you all better get writing! The key piece of advise I can give is “don’t give up”. Another piece of advice comes from the wonderful move, “Throw Momma from the Train” - it’s simply: “A writer writes, always.”

Tarzan: The Greystoke Legacy by Andy Briggs

Synopsis:

What lies in the depths of the jungle?


Escaping a dark secret, Robbie Canler joins an illegal logging team in the Congo jungle. Now they’re under siege from a sinister force.


When the daughter of the camp’s boss, Jane Porter, goes missing, they assume bloodthirsty rebel soldiers have kidnapped her. Robbie sets out on a rescue mission - unaware he is being watched ...


Are the rumours of a feral man raised by wild apes true? If so, can the mysterious untamed savage be trusted to help them?


On the Saturday I received my copy of Tarzan, by Andy Briggs, I lay myself down on the couch, after breakfast and tidying the house and shelves and got reading.  At around 2pm, Mark started complaining about starving but I ignored him, deaf to the world and his plea of malnutrition.

I was having this incredible adventure and I really didn't want it to stop until I had read every single word. I'll fully admit to not expecting to like Tarzan's new updated adventure.  I was quite attached to the older stories by Edgar Rice Burroughs and of course, my true love was the Christopher Lambert Tarzan in Greystoke: Legend of Tarzan Lord of the Apes.

But I completely fell for Andy Brigg's updating of this timeless legend.  He's created a Tarzan very much in line with the original, focusing on the savagery of living in the jungle, without really making it overly dramatic or unbelievable.

Robbie, one of our main characters is a nice kid.  He's run away from home and found himself in the Congo, having joined an illegal logging operation.  It sounds really bad and I was worried that Robbie's reasons would be a bit dodgy and that the whole thing would be unsavoury but instead we've got a very plausible reason for it all.  We even learn the very mundane reason for Jane's dad to be part of the illegal logging operation and the risks he's decided to take to make a better life for him and Jane.

I liked that their reasons were legitimate but that the means they go about it, was wrong.  It really did make you war with yourself and your own perceptions of the right and the wrong of it.

Jane's character is far more disagreeable than Robbie's.  She comes across as spoilt and indulged and a bit of a brat.  She's forever sulking and quite nasty to those around her, including Robbie.  I admit to not liking her at all, at first.  I could see completely where Andy was coming from, having created her to be our actual window into this very different dangerous and foreign world.

The logging operation basically relies heavily on local guerillas to not interfere with them.  They pay them a stipend to prevent attacks and raids on their camp, yet the workers in the camp are continuously finding items missing or broken and of course, they blame unhappy spirits and the gorilla fighters for these.   There is also a rumour of something else out there, something watching the encampment.

Between Robbie and Jane we get a comprehensive idea of what it's like being in the jungle, living and working there.  In a place that no one could prepare you for, you have very little to rely on, except for yourself and your forward thinking.

When, during some heavy rains, Jane disappears everyone goes a bit crazy.  Jane's dad isn't around, as he's gone off with his friend to confront the rebels about sabotaging the camp.   Things are left in a bad way with the gorillas and when they return to the camp and discover that Jane's gone, seemingly "taken" they are thrown into turmoil.

Jane in reality is swept away by the river as she tripped and fell, trying to get water to the burning outbuilding.  By the time she wakes up she is in the middle of nowhere with no recognisable landmarks, except for the jungle, all around.

This is the point we get to meet Tarzan.  And he's not urbane or charming.  Instead, he is very much part human and part a product of the jungles.  He helps Jane to his lair which he shares with some real gorillas - the animal kind - and Jane does her very best to not run away screaming.

But slowly and surely, she comes to realise who Tarzan really is - he is the mysterious watcher everyone in their camp talks about.  He's the one sabotaging the machinery and scaring the workers away.  She also discovers more about him, how he got to be in the jungle and slowly pieces his story together.  She is however horrified when he brings her bloody meat to eat and quite happily tears into himself, eating like an animal.  When she refuses to join him he shrugs and later on brings her fruit and nuts that he gathered from the jungle.

Tarzan reveals that he hates the people who come into his jungle to poach animals or steal the forest away.  He does not understand their reasons and sees everything in a very simplistic black and white way.  I liked that.  He is a super simple creature and it is Robbie and Jane's point of views that are made up from various colours of grey.

I won't say more except to say: it is a bloody good book.  It really remains true to the original works in spirit and adventure.  I started out not liking Jane but by the end of the book I really appreciated her stubbornness and her spirit.  I also like that her character underwent the biggest development arc and how the ensuing story affected her.  Robbie also grows rapidly as a character and I think he comes to realise that acting out of loyalty and friendship is not always the best of things.

I'd recommend Tarzan: The Greystoke Legacy to confident readers from 9+ upwards.  There are some mature themes though and some of the descriptions of battles and violence had me biting my lip in anxiety as they were quite stressful! But this is a great book for younger (and more mature readers) and it has not been sanitised at all for the modern audience, which I think is fab.  It holds true to the original novels in its sense of scope and adventure.  It's underlying eco-message is there if you look for it and it does drive the story, in a way, but I think Mr. Biggs has managed to not be pontificating so without really realising it, the reader is shown far more than she may realise and that, people, is what good books do.

Tarzan: The Greystoke Legacy is out now from Faber & Faber.  This is Andy's great website.  Be sure to pop by tomorrow, when we've got a great interview with the author himself.

Doctor Proctor's Fart Powder by Jo Nesbo

Doctor Proctor has finally created something to help him fulfil his dream of becoming a world-famour inventor- a super-strength fart powder than can propel people into outer space!

DPFP opens with a young girl named Lisa watching new neighbours moving into the house where her best friend used to live, and meets 10 year old Nilly, who’s the smallest boy she’s ever seen. Nilly’s heard every joke and comment about his name and his size, and wants nothing more than to play his trumpet in a marching band on the upcoming Independence Day parade. But then Nilly meets Doctor Proctor, an eccentric scientist whose most recent invention was a powder that makes your body glow a luminous green, a meeting that leads to the first test of what will become a super strength version of his Fart Powder.

But while Lisa, Nilly and the Doctor are trying to survive the explosive, pants-ripping results of the tests and find a way to make the Fart Powder a commercial success, there are others who want to get their hands on the Fart Powder and claim the rewards for themselves.

There’s a lot more going on in the background though, with an escaped anaconda on the loose, a bitter music teacher, playground politics and a daring escape from jail all adding to the chaos. Nilly and Lisa are likeable, distinct characters throughout, and Nesbo doesn’t let them stray into becoming annoyingly precocious. The story has a lighthearted, fun feel to it and with short, punchy chapters punctuated by Mike Lowery’s quirky artwork, it reads incredibly quickly and won’t intimidate younger readers.

While some of the humour has a.. Norwegian flavour to it, and perhaps loses something in translation, it’s hard not to laugh when everything revolves around a revolutionary fart powder.

Blood Magic Competition Winner

The winner of an advanced reader's copy of Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton is ……

Jemma

Congratulations and I've contacted you by email to get your address.

Million Dollar Mates: Catwalk Queen by Cathy Hopkins

Pop diva Tanisha comes to live at Porchester Park, where she's mentoring a modelling competition.  Jess is encouraged to enter.  It's her chance to stand out from the crowd and get the attention of the boys in her life.  But competing on the catwalk brings out all her worst insecurities.  Has she really got what it takes to be a catwalk queen?


I am such a girly fan of Cathy Hopkins's books and writing.  Which, if you know me, should come as a big surprise.  I am not a girly girl but there is something about Cathy Hopkins and Cathy Cassidy's writing that really just gets under my skin and I love their writing and the stories they tell to bits.

For some reason I've not read the other Million Dollar Mates books, so I thought to read the newest one to see how easily I could get into the existing series.  I am happy to report that although the books are a series, it looks to me like each book can be read as a standalone.  You are briefly caught up with the minimum of fuss as to who Jess is, what's going on in her life and who the boys are she's currently crushing on.  (And I have to say, I do think JJ sounds like a honey!)

Jess, our main character, is just an average normal girl whose dad is the caretaker and manager of the very prestigious Porchester Park apartments in London.  She lives with her dad and her brother (who sounds so lovely but is a bit clueless) and she is best friends with Alisha Lewis (the daughter of an American actor) Pia Carslon and good friends with Flo and Meg from school.

When they discover that a new resident moving in to Porchester Park...the girls are all in a fizz! Who could it be - Pia and Jess dash upstairs to chat to their friend Alisha who, as the daughter of the super weathly and super famous Jefferson Lewis, is far more in the "know" than they are.  Alisha reveals that it is none other than the pop diva Tanisha and the girls all swoon and fall about as they all love her to bits.

When they meet her in Real Life, it turns out that Tanisha is actually as nice as they could have imagined.  And it also turns out that she was in town to promote a new modelling competition and when she suggests that Jess definitely should give it a go Jess and her friends are all excited and thrown in turmoil.

In a flurry of excitement, and a bit of a "what's the worst that could happen" Jess and Flo go about wearing pretty clothes and make-up and have the various boys in their lives take photos of them upstairs in Alisha and JJ's apartment.  It turns into a bit of a party and what starts off as a joke gets quite serious when it transpires that both Jess and Flo are chosen to be part of the competition.

The book uses the super popular TV shows like Britain's Next Top Model and America's Next Top Model as a framework but Ms. Hopkins has made it her own, concentrating heavily on Jess's relationship with her friends and family, grounding her firmly in reality.  There are various ups and down and as Jess as our moral compass we are shown what a tough life aspiring young models have, being told that they are fat, their noses are too big, their ears too outy, their tummies to saggy or their bums too big.  Both anorexia and bulimia are touched on but not really investigated or dwelled on.  Instead we are shown these things and left to make up our own minds.

Jess's discomfort with the whole selection process is interesting as between her and Flo they talk about the astonishingly pretty girls who seem to crumble before their critics as the selection process continues.  Girls who appear so full of confidence and who could literally have anyone and anything they want, suddenly see themselves the way others see them, as somehow lacking in minor department.  The process makes both girls uncomfortable and they aren't sure how to deal with it.  So at the end of the competition, when they have a chance to sort of show off what they've learned, they put all they can into a fashion show at their own school, asking Tanisha to help them with it.  And it's unlike anything that has ever been portrayed before and I loved it.

It really is a very interesting book and Ms. Hopkins writes in a heartfelt and real way about the way media portray young women, upholding unrealistic photoshopped models and comparing them to the real girls of the world - who are lumpy, funny, charming, too tall, too skinny, too fat, to sport, too clever, too bespectabled, too big-boned...and asks the question who would we rather be?

I really do think, that even if you've never read Cathy Hopkins and if you are a girl (aged six to sixty) this book will speak to you about self-worth, confidence and dealing with what nature has given you.  It also will speak to you about being a girl, about having good friends and how sometimes you have to buck the trends of the world around you, not even to be rebellious, but to be true to yourself.

I cannot recommend Million Dollar Mates: Catwalk Queen enough.  The final scenes are so great, clever and empowering, I can't urge you enough to pick it up.  It's writers like Cathy Hopkins that lift your soul and make you feel a bit...floatier than you ought to be, like you can do anything if you set your mind to it and if you had the right kind of friends on your side and from experience, I heartily approve.

Million Dollar Mates: Catwalk Queen is out now and is the third book in the series, with Million Dollar Mates being the first and Paparazzi Princess being the second.  Find Cathy's fab website here and this is the official Million Dollar Mates website here.   And a big thanks to Simon & Schuster who feeds my addiction of Cathy Hopkins books.

K.A.S. Quinn - The Queen Must Die Blog tour

Synopsis:
A magical, thrilling, time-travelling adventure trilogy for for 9-12 year old readers.

This is the story of Katie Berger-Jones-Burg.

One minute, she’s under the bed of her New York apartment… the next she’s in Buckingham Palace, at the height of Queen Victoria’s reign... A dangerous place to be.

The Royal Family is in mortal peril. In the secret passages of the palace, a plot is afoot. Suspicious figures huddle in the gas-lit streets of London. And Katie is not the only time-traveller in the city…

Grove Atlantic have put their left foot in, then their right foot in...and now they are shaking it all about with the first release of their very first book for younger readers: The Queen Must Die by the mysteriously named K.A.S. Quinn. Ms. Quinn has agreed to give us some information about The Queen Must Die, timetravelling and also an exclusive excerpt. But, before we get on to the blogpost, from the bio on the Atlantic Books website I personally love this line: "She still reads children’s books in bed, after lights out, with a torch." She sounds like my kind of girl.

You’re a time traveller…so prove it!

What if you found someone under the sofa in your house and they told you they’d travelled from the future? Right. I wouldn’t believe them either. I’d call the police.

Katie comes from contemporary New York. But it turns out she’s part of The Tempus, the chosen, and can travel through time.

Princess Alice wants to believe Katie. She likes her immediately, and is excited by this new friend, not chosen through royal protocol. James O’Reilly thinks Katie is a fraud. He is a very loyal subject to the crown, and believes Princess Alice is in grave danger. Alice thinks she can take care of herself. In this part of The Queen Must Die, they are all getting to know each other. They also meet James’ little brother, Riordan, and learn some sad things about James’ life.

When I write, I become very attached to my characters. When I finished writing The Queen Must Die, I became very sad. I had spent over a year with Katie, James and Princess Alice. I missed them. So I was thrilled when my publishers said they wanted to publish a trilogy. Two more books! This meant at least two more years with some of my favourite people.

The second book in this trilogy, The Queen at War, will be published in the spring of 2012.

Katie thought for a moment. She could talk to them about cars, airplanes and rocket ships –– fantastic inventions yet to come. But it could all be taken for fantasy. She had no proof. She couldn’t exactly rustle up a computer out of thin air. And while computers and TV were great, some of the things in the future – well, they weren’t that great. She even knew bits and pieces of their own futures. Wars, looming in the decades to come, and diseases they couldn’t cure, and death. Perhaps she should start with what she’d seen here, that night.

‘Do any of you understand what’s wrong with Prince Leopold?’ she asked.
‘We know he has the bleeding disease, haemophilia, and that Dr O’Reilly is trying to find ways to strengthen his blood vessels.’

‘It has nothing to do with his blood vessels,’ Katie explained. ‘It’s the blood itself. It doesn’t clot.’ Alice looked confused, so Katie tried to explain in simpler terms. ‘When you cut yourself and bleed, the blood quickly changes from liquid to solid. The platelets in your blood bunch together around the wound to form a kind of plug to stop the bleeding. Prince Leopold’s blood doesn’t do this. If he lived in my time, we could give him injections of the bits he needs to make clots in his blood, but I don’t think you can do even the simplest blood transfusions in your time, I don’t think you can…’

‘Will we find the cure?’ Alice asked, looking earnestly into Katie’s face. ‘Can we learn from you, and save him?’

Katie looked down at her green wool socks. She didn’t like what she had to say.

‘I don’t know enough,’ she replied finally. ‘And you don’t learn enough in time… the cure doesn’t come in time…’

Alice’s eyes filled with tears, but James’s eyes showed only distrust and anger. ‘Your diagnosis and analysis of the case are sheer foolishness,’ he protested, ‘made up words and total fiction. Dry your tears, Princess Alice, it’s a hoax. She is a foreigner, bent on badness. I really do insist…’

They were interrupted by a cooing cry followed by the soft slap of bare feet, as a very round-limbed toddler padded around the corner, laughing at the sight of James O’Reilly.

‘Blast,’ said James, ‘the nursemaid must have dozed off again.’

‘He obviously knows you,’ said Katie, as the small child wrapped himself around James’s legs.

James picked him up and hugged him tightly. ‘This is my brother, Riordan
O’Reilly.’

‘That’s a funny name,’ said Katie, forgetting briefly that her own name was Berger-Jones-Burg.

‘It’s an Irish name,’ said James. ‘My mother chose it. She died soon after Riordan was born.’

Everyone else in the room was silent. James held his little brother tight to his chest and turned his face away from the girls. No one knew what to say. James’s anger and distrust, Alice’s hauteur and Katie’s fear evaporated. They seemed petty and silly in the face of death. James O’Reilly might not be likeable, but Katie felt deeply sorry for this stiff, dour, motherless boy.

Alice broke the uncomfortable pause. ‘First things first,’ she said gently. ‘Baby Riordan simply must be returned to his cot. It’s very cold, and he’s only wearing a nightshirt. Then, Jamie, you must leave too. We will all think more clearly in the morning. Katie and I shall meet you tomorrow. If her story is true, and I believe it to be so, then we must try to send her back to her own time as soon as possible. Your family must be frightfully worried.’

Katie thought of Mimi, drinking margaritas in her honeymoon suite in Acapulco. She didn’t see the need to share this picture with the other two. James bowed again to Princess Alice. ‘I will settle Riordan, and then I will be in the corridor, directly outside your door. One call and I will be at your side.’

Alice sighed. This wasn’t how subjects behaved towards her mother. ‘Fine,’ she replied curtly, ‘if you wish to spend the whole night in a chilly corridor that’s up to you.’

Giving Katie one final, furious look, James shouldered his little brother and left the room. Alice turned to Katie.

‘Now to bed,’ she ordered, running her eyes over her new friend as if she were trying to remember every detail. ‘And if you are a dream, as you say you might be, then let me tell you this before you disappear. This day has been the greatest adventure of my entire life.’ And with that the Princess climbed into bed and fell fast asleep.

PBS #6 FArTHER by Grahame Baker-Smith

When a father who dreams of flying goes off to war and does not return, his son decides to make the dream come true. Grahame Baker-Smith’s moving story, with stunning illustrations, shows how, with love and a bit of ambition, you can reach seemingly impossible goals.

For our sixth Picture Book Saturday we received FArTHER and I am very grateful to Templar for sending me a copy to review and to hold and love.

Only a few days ago this gorgeous book won the Kate Greenaway Award 2011 and a more worthy winner would be hard to find.

Not only are the illustrations whimsical and creative and beautiful, the story is wonderfully touching.

It is completely from our main character's point of view.  In a few words he explains his father's obsession with flying.  He is always thinking about it, puttering around in his workroom making fantastical flying contraptions that somehow just just lack the ability to fly.  The boy says how he then crawls into his father's lap until his father remembers that he's there.  Then his father would grab him, and run with him and they would spend time on the beach, laughing and playing and flying kites.  But that is until his father gets that look in his eye.  And once again the boy is left to his own devices as his father starts tinkering with his creations yet again.

The story moves on from there, but to tell it here would be unfair.  FArTher is meant to be read by parents to their children.  It is meant to be read by adults so that they can remember where they come from.  It is meant to be read by teens to remember that once upon a time, not so long ago, they were that small and that  confused by their parents lives and that following your dreams may not be a bad thing.

I adored FArTher (a lovely play on the words further and father that you will understand once you've read the book) and it made me really miss my own dad with his own crazy ideas and whimsical dreams.  But even more important is the core central message of "never stop dreaming" and I heartily approve.

I think that FArTHER has become my picture book of the year thus far and I will definitely want some of the whimsical pieces of art by Mr. Baker-Smith for my walls here at home.  Do visit here, for a look at some of his illustrations.

MFB hosts Under 14's Only - July 2011

Mark, Sarah and I are so excited to bring you our second annual Under 14's Only month this July.  Last year's event was a great success and so popular with readers, parents, teachers and kids, that we decided to do another one this year.

In July we will be focussing on books for younger readers - picture books, silly books, cool books and crazy books will be featured.  Books for boys and girls, for readers of all ages, and even some monstrous books.  Books full of adventure and tears and monsters and wild things not safe to be let out from between covers. 

We are embracing all kinds of books and shenanigans in July and at the end of the month, there will be a box of the featured books to be won.  Scrap that.  There will be two mega big boxes of books to be won.

So, if you'd like to link to Under 14's Only by using the picture above, please let us know and we can send / display the html code.  The more we spread the word about these books for younger, and often reluctant readers, the better!

A big thanks goes out to the publishers who supported us for this fantastic month long celebration.

• Walker Books
• Random House Kids Books
• Bloomsbury
• Simon & Schuster
• Frances Lincoln
• Hodder
• MacMillan Children's Books
• Catnip Books
• Barrington Stoke
• Templar 
• Atom 
• O'Brien Publishers 
• Faber & Faber Kids 
• Orion Kids
• Quercus Kids
• (more publishers will be added as we work our way through the book piles)

And an even bigger thanks to the dedicated authors who spend so much time perfecting these books for younger readers.   You guys really are the best.  And especially to my fellow bloggers and reviewers who have agreed to do guest reviews and blogposts = you guys really are the awesomest.

A big thanks goes out to Ana and Thea from The Booksmugglers who kindly gave me their "picture guru's" contact details.  Her name is Kenda is she may possibly be the most talented person I have met in a long old time.  Find her blog here.

We will be adding a post every day - EVERY DAY - sometimes more than one, so be sure to visit often!  Follow us on twitter with this hashtag: #U14SO all of July.

True Immortals by Zoe Marriott

Zoe Marriott is a reader's dream author. Funny, heartfelt and always happy to talk about writing and reading and geeky things like how hot Andy Lau was in House of Flying Daggers and other sundry topics, so when we were asked to do something with Zoe to celebrate her brand new novel: Shadows on the Moon, we were hesitant.

Yes, you read that correctly. We were hesitant. We were heading towards Under 14's Only Month in July and not thinking straight and we were so worried that we weren't going to be able to get Zoe to hold court on MFB at such short notice. And you know what? Sarah came through with this awesome review from earlier today and Walker put together some cool things for us to give away and Zoe came up with this awesome blogpost about fairy tales and fairy tale retellings and storytelling...and my heart soared. And to top it all off, later this afternoon, we are hosting an extract from Shadows on the Moon.  Sometimes you just have to close your eyes and believe in serendipity!

***

The first stories that the first people told each other were fantasy. We can see these stories in cave art, where human and animal spirits meld with each other and with features of the landscape, creating an astonishing picture of a world where men were part of nature, not separate from it. Despite the life or death struggle that must have formed their existence – or perhaps because of it – those first people took immense care to immortalise their stories. These extraordinary carvings and paintings can still be viewed today.
  

Art by Arthur Rackham

As time went on and humans divided the world to form countries, cities and civilisations, our stories gradually changed. Now, instead of seeing ourselves as part of the wonder and magic of nature, we began to believe that we were different – special – with a wonder and magic all our own. Our tales were more sophisticated fantasy, stories of human-like Gods and monsters who created and ruled the world, alternately tormenting and aiding humanity. These myths and legends still influence our society today.

Still later, when religion became even more formalised - and even more contentious - humans turned from tales of Gods in human form to tales of other immortals. We thrilled to stories of dragons, witches, fairies, pixies, wizards, elves, goblins, vampires and werewolves, and these creatures still show up in everything from children’s books to T-shirt slogans today.

The true immortals of our world are not Gods, monsters, fairies or even dragons (I know, I’m disappointed too) but stories. The human ability, and more than that, NEED to weave the gleaming gold thread of narrative in among the ragged and bloodstained tapestry of our day to day existence is the reason why (I think) we probably developed language, art, music – and the written word. In other words, without stories? We’re just apes with clever fingers.
 

Larry Elmore's Dragon Scout


Stories aren’t going anywhere.

Maybe that’s why today, books that draw on the rich tradition of inherited fairytales, myths and folklore from all cultures are some of the most popular in the YA market. I certainly pounce on new retellings or folklore inspired stories with wild enthusiasm whenever I find them. Here’s a list of some of my favourites, both new and old:

Eight Days of Luke by Diana Wynne Jones. This is a novel aimed at 8-12s but I recommend it to everyone – it’s based on Norse Myth and was actually the inspiration for Neil Gaiman’s very famous adult fantasy American Gods (told you, stories are immortal). It’s the darkly hilarious tale of a neglected young boy who accidentally manages to summon a certain mythological being into the modern day world, and isn’t sure if he’s made the best friend of his life or unleashed Ragnarok. Or both.

Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini. This is probably my favourite retelling of Greek myth ever. I’ve been obsessed with the Illiad and Greek myths ever since I was a kid (you can ask my teachers – I got a gold star for my project on it in year five) so I went into this book feeling slightly hostile and sceptical about someone messing around in my territory. Four hours later I was sending the author tweets cursing her for leaving me hanging and begging her to write the sequel faster. This is a YA paranormal fantasy with a strong, principled heroine, a breathless romance and a cunning, multi-layered plot.

Beauty by Robin McKinley. Most fairytale enthusiasts will offer you this version of Beauty and the Beast as their very first recommendation if you ask for a great retelling. It has probably influenced my writing choices more than any other with its lushly romantic tone, hypnotic, lyrical prose and bookish, commonsensical heroine. It’s a classic.

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine. This book takes on Cinderella in much the same that my own Shadows on the Moon does, and attempts to explain just why any girl with an iota of spine or heart would allow herself to be made a drudge in her own family home. The sprightly heroine and humorous tone have made this a library favourite, and although I’d say it’s aimed at the younger end of YA, I still enjoy re-reading it very much.

The Perilous Guard by Elizabeth Marie Pope. What can I say about this brilliant, Elizabethan-themed Tam Lin story, except ‘Get it now’? If ever you longed for another heroine like Jane Eyre – strong, resolute, morally focused and pragmatic – then this is the book for you. In fact, just typing this gives me an intense urge to get it out and read it again!

The Iron Witch by Kaz Mahoney. This modern YA paranormal novel deals with the not-terribly-well-known Germanic folk tradition of the Maiden with Silver/Iron arms, and does so in a unique and beautifully written story that mixes alchemy, fairy-folk, and romance.

Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale. A unique retelling that takes on the form of a journal written by one of the servants from the fairytale of Maid Maleen or the Maid in the Tower, this historical fantasy features a delightful, plump, food-loving heroine and a culture which I believe takes inspiration from the rise of Gengis Khan and the Mongolian steppes.

The Door in the Hedge and Other Tales by Robin McKinley. I didn’t want to repeat any authors on this list, but I simply couldn’t resist adding this collection of short stories. When I think about my childhood, the language of this anthology – rich and whimsical and magical – is what defines all my memories. I borrowed it from the library so many times that eventually the librarians gave it to me as a present! The story contains two original tales by Ms McKinley, which draw strongly on folklore, and two retellings of classic stories The Princess and the Frog and The Twelve Dancing Princesses.

***

Walker Books and Zoe have kindly offered the following items to be given away to one lucky competition entrant. Please note that the competition is open to UK entrants only and will run from today, the 30th June till July 7th when we'll be choosing random winner via Random.org. The goodies: scented fan (lovely!), magnet and also postcards.

Thank you to both Walker Books for letting me play with Zoe and thank you to Zoe for indulging us with this awesome blogpost.

Zoe Marriott's Shadows on the Moon - Extract 1

     “Sometimes I wonder…” she whispered.

     “Wonder what?”

     “Why I lived, when everyone – Mother and Father, even the baby – died of the fever. Why I lived to come here, and annoy Oba-san, and be a burden to Oji-san.”

     I pressed my lips together to hold in the angry denial that wanted to escape. Instead I put my arm around her, and hugged her fiercely.

     “Perhaps,” I said, when I had control of myself. “Perhaps the Moon took pity on me…”

     “What do you mean?” she asked, surprised.

     “I was so lonely before you came. I used to pray for a brother or sister – someone to talk to and play with. Most especially I prayed for a sister: a kind, beautiful sister. Perhaps the Moon heard my pleas and spared you when my aunt and uncle died, not for your own sake but for mine. If so, I cannot be sorry. Though you might be, to have such a sister forced on you, and such a mother as mine.”

     “Suzume!” she said, a little amused and a little shocked. “What would your father say?”

     “Oh, he never says anything. That is part of what makes Mother so cross all the time. Father knows that if he scolds me I argue, and arguments are so noisy, and—”

     “ ‘A quiet house is a happy house,’ ” she chorused with me.

     She was smiling now, the sweet, happy smile that I loved to see. I congratulated myself, though I had said nothing but the truth. I was about to suggest that we walk back to the house, when I heard hoof-beats on the road. Lots of them. Travelling at a gallop.

     We exchanged interested looks. Mother? No – why would she be in such a hurry so close to home? Besides, we could not afford so many outriders.

     As I leaned forward to look down at the road, the troop of riders broke out of the forest. Aimi made a sound of wonder. There were an even dozen of them, and they wore black lacquered armour and rode dark horses. The spring sunlight gleamed on the horses’ gear and on the silver edges of the armour. They made a glorious picture.

     I expected them to carry on along the road, but instead the leader, who had a crest of white feathers on his helmet, pointed, and they wheeled their horses and turned on to our little road. The thunder of hooves shook the ground as they rode under the ranks of blooming trees, and pink and white petals showered down, catching in the dark flowing manes and tails of the horses. They looked like an illustration from one of Father’s books.

     Yet, as the leader passed us in our hidden place, a cold finger touched my back and I shivered. I did not like the feeling. Sometimes it came when we were about to get bad news.

Shadows on the Moon by Zoë Marriott

Synopsis

Trained in the magical art of shadow-weaving, sixteen-year-old Suzume is able to recreate herself in any form – a fabulous gift for a girl desperate to escape her past. But who is she really? Is she a girl of noble birth living under the tyranny of her mother’s new husband, Lord Terayama, or a lowly drudge scraping a living in the ashes of Terayama’s kitchens, or Yue, the most beautiful courtesan in the Moonlit Lands? Whatever her true identity, Suzume is destined to capture the heart of a prince – and determined to use his power to destroy Terayama. And nothing will stop her, not even love.

I've been looking forward to getting stuck into Shadows on the Moon for ages so when I saw on Zoë's blog that it had been seen in the wild already I set aside the weekend to read it. Suzume is initially happy with her family and cousin Aimi at their home and her privileged lifestyle. Her mother has been long absent visiting a family member when soldiers come and kill her father and Aimi. Suzume manages to escape by accidentally using a skill she didn't even know she had - that of shadow-weaving. Alongside this and the help of an old man (and fellow shadow-weaver) called Youta she manages to escape them. When her mother finally reappears she is whisked off to live with her and an admirer of her mother, Terayama-San. From this point on the book takes a darker turn and Suzume starts a long journey that will test her to the very edge of her capabilities.

I loved Suzume, she's both brave and resilient. Within her core is an absolute desire to survive and this drives her along as her life takes various twists and turns. Although her mother is keen to forget their previous life and embrace her new marriage, Suzume is loyal to the memory of her father and wants nothing more than the truth. This truth takes her from her comfortable life to that of a kitchen drudge and then away to start over again as a courtesan. Along the way she meets the quite frankly awesome Otieno - a boy she meets on a boat to the Moonlit Lands. He can see through Suzume's shadow-weavings and through the wall she has put up to protect her soft interior. In her every reincarnation he recognises and supports her despite the fact that she doesn't always treat him fairly as she is so focussed on her quest. Another character who I loved was Akira who rescues Suzume from a tight spot. Akira is wonderful, strong yet caring and I absolutely adored her back story which I won't go into so as not to spoil the plot. Needless to say I was praying for a good outcome for her.

One of the themes of Shadows on the Moon is that of self-harm. At no point is this subject trivialised or glorified, in fact it's one of the most sensitive approaches to it that I've read. The origins of Suzume's self-harm is clear; her mother never lets Suzume speak about the death of her father which she witnessed. Instead, from the age of fourteen, she is urged to keep her memories inside. As the book unfolds Suzume remembers other things that her mother did: forcing her to keep her love of music to herself, constant criticism and a lack of warmth and support. Keeping all this within with only a desire for revenge for company affects Suzume deeply and her rage turns inwards. As the years roll by Suzume becomes stronger but at times still resorts to self-harm.

Everything about this book is beautiful from the passing seasons, the food (which had me starving as I read) to the clothes. Although the plot is fast-paced and exciting it was underlined with a gentle sort of rhythm as Suzume goes through her various reincarnations. I would highly recommend this book and it has convinced me to check out Zoë's other books too.

Guest Review - Author Julie Bertagna talks Divergent with MFB

MFB jumped at the chance to host this thoughtful review/guest blog by Julie Bertagna, author of the dystopic trilogy: Exodus, Zenith, Aurora.

***

DIVERGENT review by Julie Bertagna

By 2012, the tide of apocalyptic and dystopian fiction that is taking the YA publishing world by storm will be a veritable tsunami. Pick your apocalypse, disaster or dystopia. Asteroid hit? Moon crash? A world short of water? Flooded by rising seas? Running out of oil? Scarce on oxygen? Or scarce on basic freedoms, ruled by sinister powers who decide your fate?

Divergent by Veronica Roth is the latest, much-hyped debut on the dystopian scene, marketed as a natural successor to Suzanne Collins’ massively successful Hunger Games trilogy. I was interested to discover that Divergent was optioned for a film adaptation by the makers of the Twilight movies even before the book was published, because I often felt I was reading the script of an action mov-ie, rather than a novel - and that, for me, was both the book’s weakness and its strength.

In this dystopia world, devastating war has been followed by a ‘great peace’. I had to guess that this war had been global as Beatrice Prior’s world and references are limited to a future Chicago, where society has been divided into five factions, each cultivating the various virtues which, it is believed, will save humans from further war.

The strangeness of this idea gripped me right away. It’s a scenario worthy of Margaret Atwood. YA readers, stressed out by exams and life choices, will identify with the tests sixteen-year-old Bea-trice is put through and her pressurised decision over which faction she will belong to for the rest of her life: Candor, Dauntless, Amity, Erudite or staying with her family in Abnegation? Beatrice becomes Tris and makes a choice which wrenches her from a safe but dull existence and all she has ever known. And for the next few hundred pages, Tris is immersed in a brutal initiation trial: a gang world of extreme violence, where every day is a fight to survive the murderous tests deemed essential in order to become a true member of her chosen faction. In The Hunger Games it’s clear from the outset that Katniss is fighting for her life and for her loved ones, but it’s only in the final hundred pages of Divergent that the real plot kicks in and Tris’ torture begins to make sense.

Yet amid the over-long violence some characters of real depth emerge and Tris has to grapple with difficult moral choices - and an overwhelming attraction to a boy who becomes central to the real battle ahead.

It’s a thrillingly fast-paced and action-packed story, but ultimately the relentless violence wea-kened the book for me because it had a cartoon quality that strained my credibility too far, too often. One one occasion Tris is beaten unconscious, in another she is shot and has a bullet lodged in her shoulder - episodes which would floor ordinary mortals - but Tris’ discomfort is fleeting and soon she is back on her feet, battling on regardless. The unending brutality became repetitive and numbing, and Tris’ one-dimensional reaction to most events is to want to kick, punch or strangle someone. So when the really tragic episodes occur, what should be heart-wrenching is diminished, losing its power to shock amid so much page-by-page violence.

Divergent is an intriguing addition to the welter of futuristic visions of the current dystopian craze and Tris is a gutsy, unpredictable girl character. Often perplexing, hard to like or understand, it was these very flaws that kept me interested in her when the violence became tedious. Tris may take bravado and girlpower to unrealistic extremes, but this plain, long-nosed, selfish, gung-ho girl is a welcome divergence from some of the more bland, beautiful and needy heroines of YA fiction.

***

This is another very interesting artice Julie had done for The Scotsman on Dystopic Fiction, which is definitely worth a look at.

Thank you so much to Julie and to MacMillan for thinking of MFB to host Julie's rounds around the internet. Aurora, the third book in the trilogy is out now.

Divergent by Veronica Roth

She turns to the future in a world that’s falling apart.

For sixteen-year-old Tris, the world changes in a heartbeat when she is forced to make a terrible choice. Turning her back on her family, Tris ventures out, alone, determined to find out where she truly belongs. Shocked by the brutality of her new life, Tris can trust no one. And yet she is drawn to a boy who seems to both threaten and protect her. The hardest choices may yet lie ahead…. A debut novel that will leave you breathless.

I am loathe to be another person banging their drum about Divergent and how good it is.  I read Divergent some months ago, because Zoe Marriott could not shut up about it.  She won a copy directly from Veronica Roth and the copy was annotated with these tiny yellow stickys in which Veronica had given glimpses about things like music she listened to whilst she wrote certain scenes etc. I discreetly asked Zoe for her copy and she in turn told Lynsey Newton to pass it on to me to read and it was eventually sent to me with a sticker that said this:

I mean, how on earth could I resist?

And I subsequently read the book in one sitting, cover to cover and adored it. I loved it so much that I started handselling it to everyone I spoke with.  But do you think I could sit down and write a review about it?  It was hard.  It hurt my brain.  So instead I continued to handsell it on Twitter and to my SCBWI friends and to their kids.

This book is superb.  It deals, in quite an adult fashion, with an incredibly difficult choice at a very young age.  How do you choose somewhere to spend the rest of your life? I mean, you are still growing up and don't have all the tools to make this overwhelming decision.  Here, I remembered what it felt like being 15 and having to decide which subjects I wanted to take for the rest of my school career that will ultimately guide me to what I will study when going to university.  It blew my mind.  And it certainly blew Tris's mind as she stood there, having to wait and decide which of the factions she will be going for.  Even though the choice was limited to Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent) they seemed far too many choices and yet, equally, far too few.

I am sure most of you know which choice Tris makes but it makes for interesting reading to see her fulfil that choice, the repercussions and the consequences, the lies and the subterfuge that takes place surrounding her choice.

And of course, from this, the whole story hinges on Tris becoming part of her group, figuring out the hierachy of this world and learning about the untruths about the various factions they are told for a variety of reasons.

If, for any reason, you've been looking at Divergent and thought: too much hype, not my thing, girl protagonist, nothing is as good as Hunger Games, I urge you with all my heart to re-look at Divergent and to give it a go.  The writing is superb, as is the world Ms. Roth has created.  Tris is an amazing character and grows so much in Divergent.  Yes, there is a bit of a love interest, and Four is a great match for Tris.  He is a real boy, a strong and independent young man and you can see why Tris falls for him.  And before you put up your hand and say: "eeew, kissing" - I'm happy to say, there is more action, more tooling up with weapons and doing crazy stunts, than there is kissing or staring at each other in a loving fashion.

I feel that I've not done Divergent the justice it deserves with this write-up.  My heart still swells too much thinking about it and I know I want to re-read it soon.  I'm linking to a few others here as I want to give you a taste of what others thought about it.  Here is Zoe Marriott's review which I loved because, as a published writer, she has the opportunity to see the mechanics behind the story and yet, it did not put her off and she loves it.  And this review is from The Booksmugglers whose opinions I value highly and then finally, a review from My words Ate Me (who may just have the coolest blog name EVER!) and who I don't know from a bar of soap, but would like to.

Divergent is one of those books that makes you think.  You read it, put it down and pick it up again.  The good news is that the second book in the series is called INSURGENT and that it is out soonish, but that is all we know right now.  *bites knuckles* Am looking forward to reading the second book very soon indeed.

Haunting Violet Competition Winner!

Using Random.org I've picked a winner from the comments and the winner is …….

Bella

I'll be contacting you shortly by email to sort out where to send your copy of Haunting Violet to.

Congratulations!

Cornelia Funke's Reckless Blog Tour

As one of Ms. Funke's biggest fans, I swooned with joy when ChickenHouse asked me to be part of the Reckless blog tour. I jumped at the chance and worked my butt off on the questions and the interview below is the result.

I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did!

***

Reckless drips with dark fairy tale menace, and several of your other books also have a ‘fairy tale’ feel. Are you a big fan of fairy tales and can you perhaps tell us which have influenced you the most?

Funnily enough, I never liked fairy tales. I preferred myth and folk tales that are much older. But, as a German child of my generation, I was brought up on Grimm’s fairy tales, and they haunted me and proved to be quite unforgettable. Reckless is also about my experience of living in two worlds: in America, which is in so many ways the younger and more modern world, and in Europe, where we still meet the past at every corner and our own romanticised interpretation of it. Fairy tales talk so much about a lost past, about human nature and all its darkness and light, that the more I explored them the more I was fascinated by how much they have changed and how they were sometimes used as a tool to transport beliefs and social rules.

In Reckless, your writing style is far darker, more mature, than in, say, your Inkheart books. Was this a deliberate change in tone and how did Lionel Wigram co-writing with you affect your writing voice?

When I was editing Inkdeath I started to feel that the style did not fit me anymore. The last few years brought vast private changes for me: my husband of 27 years died, I moved to America, and my daughter left home and now lives in London - which makes me travel a lot. I felt I needed a less ‘baroque’ language; less sentimental, less wordy, more modern. I also felt that there were stories stirring in me that were older. With my being 52 that’s probably not a big surprise; even my ‘young’ son is now 16 and taller than me. When my friend Lionel Wigram [producer of the Harry Potter movies] came to me with the initial ideas for Reckless, he was the perfect collaborator for helping me find that new voice. Lionel and I were soon working so closely together that we were ruthless when it came to criticising each other’s ideas. It feels different to be edited by a close friend who is also a well-respected creative partner. I am much more protective of my characters and stories when editors criticise them, as they only spend a few days or weeks with them while I have been living with them for years. Lionel, in contrast, had created them with me and therefore sometimes knew them even better than I did, especially the male characters. It was also vastly inspiring (and refreshing) to discuss characters and motives not only in my own head but with someone else. It was like I could paint a rather brilliant Yellow and Lionel, a beautiful Blue. But together we could suddenly paint this quite magical Green – rich and dark and unlike anything we could have come up with alone.

I recall Lionel mentioning at your hardback launch last year in London that he had learned a tremendous amount writing Reckless with you. Do you think any of Lionel's script-writing skills have rubbed off on you?

First of all, he taught me how to collaborate, to enjoy the inspiration of another imagination colliding with my own. Guillermo del Toro [producer of Pan’s Labyrinth] asked me to work with him on an animation project this year and I realised how much I had learned about collaboration during the past five years.

Lionel is used to telling a story in a very disciplined and lean way as he has only two hours to fill on the screen. I, in contrast, am a storyteller who can get easily distracted by every minor character who stumbles out of my imagined forests. Lionel learned from me, I think, to sometimes follow those random intruders and I learned to sometimes stay away from them and follow our main hero instead. Lionel is sometimes more insistent on asking a character some quite uncomfortable questions (Jacob hated him for that). On the other hand, Lionel enjoyed spending a whole chapter inside a character’s head – something that is impossible to do in a script. Some readers mistook my new voice for something more movie-like, whereas I personally find it more literary with its inner monologues.

I recently read one of the interviews you gave and you mentioned that your characters sometimes scare you. Who in Reckless had the greatest impact on you and your nerves?

I think that character will fully appear in book three. I only discovered him while I was promoting Reckless in Moscow. I took a walk across the Red Square with my literary agent, Andrew Nurnberg, and suddenly I stopped and murmured something like: “Heavens. I had no idea! So he is behind this.” Writers are used to this kind of fictional ‘encounter’, but Andrew had probably not witnessed it before and was quite amused.
Of course the Tailor, whom we meet in Reckless, is very scary, and two of the characters in the second book aren’t the kind of company you might wish for, but I don’t think they are any competition for the character I met in Moscow. Let’s see…

I loved your two female characters in Reckless (Fox and Clara), and was wondering how much time you spent creating these characters or did they simply turn up, fully formed, ready to be written into the storyline?

Fox turned up fully formed and ready, but only because Lionel fought me when I wanted to turn Valiant into an almost dog-like devoted companion for Jacob. “No!” he said. “If you want a dog, give Jacob a dog; let it be a talking dog if you want, but the dwarf is mean!” A talking dog… hmmm… that was interesting.

Suddenly, all the foxes popped into my head that we meet in the Grimm’s dark forests. They always talk and they are wise and very helpful. So… there was Fox. I only realised that Fox was a woman a few chapters later. That came as quite a surprise. Fox is my alter ego, more than any character ever was; she is the alter ego of my female side.

Clara, in contrast, hid from us. We had endless discussions about her before we could see her clearly, and what finally made me understand her was how she related to Fox.

As for the female characters in Reckless, I admit my secret favourite (aside from Fox) is, for sure, the Dark Fairy, and many girls, even very young ones, love her passionately. But I was once asked to kill her…

You have written extensively for teen and younger readers. Have you considered writing exclusively for the adult audience?

No, I love the fact that as a writer for children I can tell a story for three or four generations, and that they can travel together through the world I offer them. As I am now 52 and my children are both quite grown up I have started having ideas for ‘older’ stories – quite natural I guess. Reckless is a step in that direction, though I have heard from 10-year-olds who loved it. I will for sure write another three or even four books in the Reckless series, and I have plans for stories that are for a younger audience. But I also love the fact that some stories just come my way and won’t leave me alone until I write them. So let’s see who and what will show up in the next few years.

What are some of your favourite reads as an adult? What are you currently reading?

At the moment I mostly read books that are research for Reckless – books on the 19th century and on fairy tales. One is The Conquest of Nature, by David Blackbourn, about the straightening of the Rhine river, completely fascinating. And then, just for fun: Forests and The Dominion of the Dead by Robert Pogue Harrison; The History of the World in 100 Objects by Neil MacGregor; Mirror of the World by Julian Bell; and Citizens by Simon Schama – which may be research for a possible new project. Additionally, I love to listen to the audio version of Ten by Maugham: A Collection of Short Stories by Somerset Maugham. He is still one of the greatest storytellers for me.

For all the aspiring writers out there, can you share with us any advice you received as an aspiring writer that stuck with you?

I didn’t receive any advice, as I just started writing one night because I was a very bored illustrator and desperately longed for different stories from those the publishers sent me. I developed my method and rhythm of writing over the years myself, as I think that every writer has a different way to find the right story. I tell children who want to be writers that they should always carry a pen with them (one that also writes on skin in case they run out of paper), as the best ideas tend to show up in the most impractical places and dissolve in our minds as easily as soap bubbles. I also recommend that they only choose to write stories that they feel passionate about – passionate enough to spend many months or years with them – and that they should allow their characters to sometimes surprise them and show them what their story is truly about. But, as I said above, for every writer there is a different path through the labyrinth.

***

Thank you so much to ChickenHouse and to Cornelia for this great interview.

Do follow the rest of the tour!

Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton and Giveaway

Synopsis

For Nick Pardee and Silla Kennicot, the cemetery is the center of everything.

Nick is a city boy angry at being forced to move back to the nowhere town of Yaleylah, Missouri where he grew up. He can’t help remembering his mom and the blood magic she practiced – memories he’s tried for five years to escape. Silla, though, doesn’t want to forget; her parents’ apparent murder-suicide left her numb and needing answers. When a book of magic spells in her dad’s handwriting appears on her doorstep, she sees her chance to unravel the mystery of their deaths.

Together they plunge into the world of dark magic, but when a hundred-year-old blood witch comes hunting for the bones of Silla’s parents and the spell book, Nick and Silla will have to let go of everything they believe about who they are, the nature of life and death, and the deadly secrets that hide in blood.

This is yet another of my hotly-anticipated books for 2011. I've followed Tessa's Livejournal for a while and couldn't wait to get a copy. I hoped it would be dark and magical so dived in as soon as it arrived. I'm a bit worried I won't be able to do it justice in this review but I'm going to have a go. Firstly, there's Silla who before the suspected murder/suicide of her parents was a happy-go-lucky girl. Before, she was pretty, open and popular but now it's after and she has lost weight, cut her hair, has few friends and is barely recognisable as her former self. The result of this is that she's an outsider and the source of gossip in a pretty small town.

Nick's come from Chicago and isn't over the moon to find himself in Missouri in the middle of senior year. After taking a walk to get away from his awful (totally hateful!) stepmother he comes across Silla in a graveyard, cutting her thumb and rejuvenating a dried up leaf. This moment of blood magic causes Nick to remember his mother who always had plasters on her fingers and taught him the basics of her craft. The next day at school Nick gets a chance to introduce himself properly and I have to say, wow, he is seriously charming. He has a sort of casual way about him that enables him to make friends but be confident enough to stand apart from them and disagree if needs be. Silla and Nick together are a great, sexy couple. So often in young adult books I feel that the relationships are unnaturally chaste. I mean, I'm not suggesting that everyone should be getting in deep and heavy every five seconds but I appreciate it when two teens actually kiss and mean it and there's no heavy moralistic vibe behind the relationship.

Silla isn't totally alone though. She has a solid support in the form of Gram Judy, who stepped in after her parents died, and Reese - her brother. Whilst Silla won't believe that her dad murdered her mum Reese does and is struggling with his anger. Despite this his love for Silla is clear. Together, with the help of Nick, they try to unravel the secrets in their dad's magic book as they explore how far blood magic can take them. Interspersed through the book are excepts from the diary of Josephine Darly. Although her story starts in 1903 it becomes apparent that what she has to say has relevance to the present day. Josephine is a fantastic character; selfish, passionate, jealous and - to be frank- an out-and-out bitch. Tessa Gratton has done some brilliant videos of Josephine's chapters and I implore you to check them out.

Needless to say Silla, Nick and Reese get deeply involved before they realise how much danger they are in. I was totally surprised by the outcome and didn't see it coming at all. I sense I'm rambling even more than usual so I'll wrap this up by saying that Blood Magic is one of my favourite books of the year so far. It's bloody and at times bleak yet full of hope and self-discovery and I loved it.

GIVEAWAY

We have one advanced proof copy of Blood Magic to give away. This competition is open to UK people only and a winner will be chosen using random. org from the comments. Please leave your email in the comments and we'll contact you on or after the closing date (Monday 4th July) if you've won to get your address so we can send out your prize. One comment per entry only please!

Good luck!

Join An Awfully Big Blog Adventure

These guys are one of my all-time favourite sites to visit for writing, process and authorly advice. Made up out of a revolving group of authors and industry peeps, ABBA are hosing a big old online literary festival this weekend to celebrate their third year on the webosphere.

If you're interested in writing - in all its many facets - do pop over to their site and check them out:





Here's the programme:

Saturday 9th July

9.30am Anne Cassidy Post: To Blog or Not To Blog?
10.00am Jo Cotterill 
10.30am Anne Rooney & Mary Hoffman Video: Italian Inspiration
11.00am Celia Rees Post: Scattered Authors, the Beginning
11.30am Elen Caldecott Competition: Win ‘Operation Eiffel Tower’
12 NOON Sally Nicholls
12.30pm Gillian Phillip Competition: Win ‘Bloodstone’ and ‘Firebrand’
1.00pm Liz Kessler Competition: Win ‘A Year Without Autumn’
1.30pm Sam Mills Video: Interview with Tyger Drew-Honey
2.00pm Adele Geras
2.30pm Jane Eagland Post: The Ups and Downs of Research
3.00pm Enid Richemont 
3.30pm Malcolm Rose Post: What teenagers really think
4.00pm Lucy Coats Video and Competition: The Hero Dog Story
4.30pm Susan Price & Katherine Roberts Post: Kindles and Kids Books
5.00pm Wendy Meddour Post: On Not Being a Famous Actress
5.30pm Miriam Halahmy & Savita Kalhan 
6.00pm Catherine Johnson Post: Rastamouse, the Moomins and Me
6.30pm Penny Dolan
7.00pm Linda Newbery & Julia Jarman
7.30pm Andrew Strong 

Sunday 10th July

10.30am Emma Barnes
11.00 am Dianne Hofmeyr & Miriam Moss
11.30am Kath Langrish Post: Secret Rooms in Children’s Fiction
12 NOON Nicola Morgan Competition: Win ‘Write to be Published’ and a crabbit bag.
12.30pm Julie Sykes Post and Competition: My Favourite Bears
1.00pm Leila Rasheed Competition: Win a critique
1.30pm Joan Lennon Post: The Flamingo and the Writer
2.00pm Hilary McKay Competition: Win ‘Caddy’s World’
2.30pm Fiona Dunbar & Keren David Video: In Conversation
3.00pm Josh Lacey Competition: Win ‘Island of Thieves’
3.30pm Marie-Louise Jensen & David Calcutt 
4.00pm Candy Gourlay Video: Creating a Legend
4.30pm Karen Ball Competition: An Inspiring Giveaway
5.00pm Linda Strachan & Cathy MacPhail Video: In Conversation
5.30pm Malachy Doyle Post: The Happy Book
6.00pm Michelle Lovric Competition: Win ‘The Undrowned World’
6.30pm Sue Purkiss Post: What the Dickens?
7.00pm Julie Day 
7.30pm Lynne Garner