Black Arts by Prentice & Weil

I'm reading this at the moment and I'm loving it. It's out today so I thought I'd share the book trailer with you:

And this is the write-up:

Black Arts
Book I of the Books of Pandemonium
by Prentice and Weil
published by David Fickling Books

Music by Nicholas Singer
Original Art by Adam Brockbank


Elizabethan London: a teeming city of traders and thieves, courtiers and preachers, riff-raff and quality, cut-throats - and demons. When scrunty Jack the 'Judicious Nipper' picks the wrong pocket at the Globe Theatre, he finds himself mixed up in an altogether more dangerous London than he could have imagined - a city in which magic is real and deadly.

An outbreak of devil-worship has led to a wave of anti-witch fervor whipped up by the Elect, a mysterious group of Puritans recognizable from their red-stained right hands, led by the charismatic Nicholas Webb, a growing power at Court. Rumour has it that he wants to purge the city entirely and build a New Jerusalem. Jack has his own reason for hating him: he saw him kill his mother.

Helped by Beth Sharkwell the Thief Princess of Lambeth, Kit Morely the Intelligencer and Dr Dee the Queen's Wizard, Jack pits himself against Webb's Puritans. But this is no straightforward struggle. Things are not as they seem. In fact, ever since his encounter with Webb, there has been something wrong with Jack's vision. He keeps seeing things. Demons.

Black Arts is the first in a series of thrilling time-travel adventures, each bringing the past to glorious life, as Jack and his companions hurtle from one epic struggle to the next.

The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan

Synopsis

Rollrock island is a lonely rock of gulls and waves, blunt fishermen and their homely wives. Life is hard for the families who must wring a poor living from the stormy seas. But Rollrock is also a place of magic - the scary, salty-real sort of magic that changes lives forever. Down on the windswept beach, where the seals lie in herds, the outcast sea witch Misskaella casts her spells - and brings forth girls from the sea - girls with long, pale limbs and faces of haunting innocence and loveliness - the most enchantingly lovely girls the fishermen of Rollrock have ever seen.

But magic always has its price. A fisherman may have and hold a sea bride, and tell himself that he is her master. But from his first look into those wide, questioning, liquid eyes, he will be just as transformed as she is. He will be equally ensnared. And in the end the witch will always have her payment.

From the first few pages I knew this was a very special book. We meet the witch at the end of her years and see her through the eyes of children. Before long we are transported back to the witch's childhood when she was just Misskaella, smallest of a large family. As she grows it becomes obvious that she's not the same as the rest; she has an affinity for the seals and they for her. As she gets older her gift becomes more pronounced and she can see the life in things, lights that flicker around the edge of her vision which are totally distracting. The oldest in the community of Rollrock know what she is but the rest just know that she's different and treat her as an outcast. Such treatment, even from her own mother, gradually makes Misskaella bitter.

What happens next is like a lesson in how not to treat people. Once she discovers that she's different and that the community have decided that she's to be avoided then Misskaella becomes a loner. Her talent is something that she uses to get her revenge on the island of Rollrock. The wonderful thing about Margo Lanagan's beautiful writing is that the whole time I read Misskaella's chapter I was with her and totally empathetic. For the rest of the book we see her through everyone else's eyes and my loyalty waned. With each chapter I completely agreed with the narrator - I'm either very fickle or this is powerful writing. I'm going with the latter!

This story is somewhat circular (not entirely but bear with me) as it starts in the just before present, rewinds and then we follow the tale back to the present day following different narrators. Not once did I feel the loss of the narrator before as the new one gathers you up, you hook your arm over theirs and they show you the same places, the same people through their eyes. Generations pass and things change on Rollrock. I reread earlier parts of the book before continuing as we meet someone's son or someone's granddaughter and I wanted to revisit the older relative, glimpsed in an earlier chapter. Because the island is so small I felt as if I knew them all and I felt sad and a little in awe of what the island had come to and what Misskaella had achieved.

This book is magic from the first page to the last. Just when I thought I'd definitely turned my back on Misskaella something happens to make me change my mind. I was completely bewitched by this book. The night I finished it I dreamt of selkies all night long and woke up wishing I could read it again for the first time.

Random Bits #3 - The Demon's Watch by Conrad Mason

Now, ages ago (a few months, in other words) the lovely Cat Clarke and Non from Catnip warned me about this young upstart called Conrad Mason who has "written a book you will utterly love Liz".

It's called: The Demon's Watch <-- I can hear the capital letters and the dramatic tum tum music, can't you?

Needless to say, I was intrigued. Then, the proof arrived and it looked fabulous and I put it on my bookshelf to get to nearer release date (March, btw). Today, whilst wasting my time on Twitter, I saw David Fickling Books tweet a trailer to The Demon's Watch. And it looks fantastic - also, the music is great.

This is the write-up:

'We're the Demon's Watch, son. Protectors of Port Fayt. Scourge of all sea scum. Don't tell me you've never heard of us?'

Half-goblin boy Joseph Grubb lives in Fayt, a bustling trading port where elves, trolls, fairies and humans live side by side. Fed up of working at the Legless Mermaid tavern, Grubb dreams of escape - until a whirlwind encounter with a smuggler plunges him into Fayt's criminal underworld. There he meets the Demon's Watch and learns of their mission to save the port from a mysterious and deadly threat. Can Grubb and his new allies uncover the dark plot in time, or will they end up as fish food in Harry's Shark Pit?

And this is the cover:

And this is Conrad's home on the web and do follow him on Twitter as @conradwrites.

Heart of Stone by M.L. Welsh

Synopsis

After a wonderful summer sailing, Verity Gallant just wants life to stay the same for ever. But as she should know by now, not everything in life turns out as we would like. The land is shifting beneath the ancient harbour town of Wellow, causing mysterious caves to appear in cliff faces, terrifying rock falls and dangerous landslides. And the earth isn't the only thing crumbling...Verity is thrilled that Jeb has returned, but their feelings for each other threaten her friendship with Henry and Martha. Once again Verity and her friends are embroiled in a tale of evil, intrigue and lost love, as a powerful force works its way towards Wellow, hell-bent on putting an end to all happiness. "The Heart of Stone" is the key, and the race is on to find it..

I love Wellow - in fact M.L. Welsh's books about Verity and her friends make me wish I was a different person - the sort that lives by the coast and has their own boat, who's confident in the water and knows Things About The Sea. I adored Mistress of the Storm and did worry if I would enjoy Heart of Stone quite as much. Well, so much for that fear - book two is even more awesome than the first. Verity is that little bit older and her confidence has grown so that she's happy to stand up for herself and the school bullies don't upset her anymore. A cliff fall and some minor accidents make it clear that Verity's peaceful summer is definitely over. Once back at school she, Henry and Martha find that there's a new science teacher - the rather pathetic figure of Brother Povl who is obsessed with the Gallant family and takes a rather creepy interest in Verity and her grandfather. It becomes obvious that the land abnormalities are more than just the result of a hot summer and everyone's future happiness is at stake.

The Mistress of the Storm wasn't the only powerful being who had an interest in Wellow. What I found fascinating about this book is that that the presence isn't a physical being in the same sense as the first book but I found it even more scary. Just because Verity and her friends can't see what is causing the disruption and unhappiness doesn't mean that there is a lack of menace - far from it. At one point I really wasn't sure who I could trust, and like Verity I wasn't sure where help would come from. The ending was breathtaking - again, I was flipping through the pages desperate to see what would happen at the end. I enjoyed hearing more about the Original Stories and these add a real lyrical edge to the book.

Apart from the main story the subplots were really engrossing. Verity and Jeb obviously have a connection but where does that leave Henry? Watching the three of them was heartbreaking and I honestly couldn't decide which one would be right for Verity - I despair at how this can ever be worked out. Although I understand that everyone is under great stress through the story I found myself getting really worked up over a comment that Martha almost made to Henry. I don't know if the question that was raised in my mind is going to be answered in the next book but I hope so! Because the three main characters are all growing up then there's going to be conflict and I found it engrossing and very bittersweet. The author has really caught that awkward time of uncertainty and first romances.

M.L. Welsh has a really wonderful website too which I spent some time looking at and getting interesting information on the influences behind the books. I'm obviously hoping for another one soon. I was lucky enough to have a proof but will be buying a finished copy at this is another book for my keeper shelf.

Red Spikes, Margo Lanagan - Baby Jane

UK cover

Red Spikes is ten short stories by Margo Lanogan in a deceptively slender yet powerful volume, aimed at young adult readers.  I read and fell in love with the opening story - Baby Jane - in which we meet Dylan, our main character, and his family as they leave their house in the middle of the night.  We're not entirely sure why they are doing this, but it isn't for fun.

The story unfolds and it turns out that Dylan had picked up miniatures by the rocks earlier the day - intricately carved and painted, he decided to keep them and carry them home.  He had put them under his pillow and during the night, these miniatures had come to full-size life, basically ousting his family from their own home.

A fantastic concept! I loved it.  We were also made aware of the nightmares Dylan suffered as a younger child.  He had nightmares about creatures jumping out of his wardrobe making jabbering noises.  This all ties in with the miniatures that have come to life in the here and now.  And one of those miniatures is a heavily pregnant queen who is dressed in pregnancy battle armour.  Naturally something weird is going on here and Dylan copes admirably well under the circumstances.  This really is a superb vignette, a cut scene from a longer book, in my mind and short story I wish would be far far longerer!

Vivid storytelling here - just glorious.  Part fantasy, part dystopian something, wholly its own thing, Baby Jane blew my socks off.  It was shortlisted for the Aurealis award in 2006 (which btw, was won by Shaun Tan's The Arrival) and really is worth reading if you are in the mood for a bit Lanagan fantasm.

Australia cover - just gorgeous!

Mistress of the Storm by M. L. Welsh

Synopsis

Verity Gallant has always struggled to fit in. Outshone by her perfect sister and tormented by her schoolmates, she knows there is nothing special about her.
But everything changes when the Storm docks at the quiet harbour town of Wellow, and Verity receives an ancient book from a mysterious stranger. It tells the chilling story of the Mistress of the Storm – a story that has been kept from Verity all her life.
Suddenly Wellow is stirring with long-hidden secrets and bitter rivalries. As dark clouds roll menacingly above and Verity begins to uncover the truth about her family’s past, she becomes dangerously entangled in a web of dark magic and powerful revenge.

My first review for Under 14's Only month and I'm absurdly excited. I was kindly given a hardback copy of this book at the Random House book bloggers brunch earlier this year but as the paperback was coming out in June I thought I'd save it until now. As a huge fan of Susan Cooper I've got a soft spot for coastal adventures and the synopsis really intrigued me.

From the synopsis I expected to feel sorry for Verity, pity her even. She's a bit of an outcast at school and finds comfort in her local library where she tends to hide out. Unlike her sister she describes herself as sturdily built and can't find pretty clothes to fit. As a result she's low on confidence but has a quiet strength that I admired. Far from feeling sorry for Verity I was cheering her on from the first few pages when she stoically ignores the boys who steal her schoolbag or put her gym skirt up a tree. Hope comes in the form of Henry, a boy at her school and soon her only friend. Also, her perfect sister may be adored by all around but she's an incredibly sweet character who supports Verity and tries to help her.

Verity's life is jolted into the extraordinary when a stranger gives her a book and her Grandmother comes to stay. The latter is a poisonous woman who clearly hates Verity from the beginning. I was reading with clenched fists as she steals Verity's room and throws away all of her out-of-print and first edition books. At first the grandmother simply throws snide remarks at Verity but soon she shows a more supernatural side and when angry starts to look almost skeletal. The passages that involve the grandmother are totally gripping and eerie. Soon Verity starts to find out more about her own past and with Henry and later Martha at her side she is able to discover how her family history could be tied into current events.

There's so much to love about this book. Firstly, watching Verity grow in confidence as she builds friendships and discovers sailing. Also, this book is so creepy. Verity's mother is pregnant and the book covers three seasons. As the pregnancy progresses so does the feeling of menace. Towards the end I was flying through the pages, almost too scared to continue! I honestly couldn't think of a better book to kick this month off for me. If you like stories that are full of adventure, magic but with a firm footing of solid friendship try this - a wonderful book.

Mezolith by Ben Haggarty and Adam Brockbank

The world of MeZolith awaits.

10,000 years ago, the Kansa tribe live on the western shores of the North Sea Basin, where danger is never far away. Each season brings new adventure, each hunt has its risks, and each grim encounter with the neighbouring tribe is fraught with threats. Poika, a boy on the verge of manhood, must play his part and trust the strength and wisdom of his elders. This is a tale of beasts and beauty, man, magic and . . . horror. 


I have dragged my feet badly about reviewing this excellent book purely because I can't put into words how much I love it.  But I was spurred to action because of meeting the illustrator very briefly at Thoughtbubble in Leeds this weekend past.  I caught poor Mr. Brockbank at a bad time, as he was quickly eating a sarnie as the crowds around him surged and swayed.  I gushed at him, confessing my utter love for the story and the artwork.  I think I may have scared him.  I felt a bit bad about it and thought that the best way to make up for my lunatic behaviour is to review it on MFB. 


Mezolith is one of the books from DFC - the David Fickling Comics books.  It is also, by far, my most favourite of all of them that I've received to review.  


Ben Haggarty, the author is an incredible storyteller.  The man should be feted and treasured. And then sent to my house to live in the cupboard under the stairs so he can tell me stories.  I digress.  


MeZolith tells the story of Poika, a young boy who is a bit of a dreamer, and who is a bit of a storyteller himself.  One day, as he is strolling through the forest, he comes across a bison grazing quietly by itself in a clearing.  He runs to tell his father and the rest of his clan and initially they make fun of him, but then realise he's telling the truth.  They set out to hunt the animal and warn Poika to stay behind.  Of course, our dreamer would not have that, so he runs off after them.  There is an incident and Poika is badly hurt and taken home where he lies in a deep fever.  An old shaman / medicine woman arrives and offers her help. As Poika balances on the edge of fever dreams and reality, she tells him the story of a three brothers who go hunting and then one day, they come across an abandoned baby. The youngest brother, a boy maybe a bit older than Poika takes the child and cares for it, but soon it is revealed that the child is not what it seems, but a bloodthirsty monster bent on devouring the humans who had taken him in.  The youngest brother immediately takes action and saves the day.  Poika's fever breaks shortly after this and we realise the medicine woman's magics and story helped him turn the corner and he survives the ordeal the gods set before him. 


As you read further you find yourself truly immersed in this ancient landscape that is so familiar yet so alien.  It is the artist, Adam Brockbank, who is to thank for these set pieces that draws the reader in.  It is rare to find an artist and writer who just sync so well together.  Brockbank's palette makes use of matte colours that are predominantly earth colours, to reflect the deep relationship Poika's tribe has with nature around them.  It is when his palette changes slightly to accommodate Haggarty's story that you realise how deeply visual this graphic novel is.  The images stayed with me for far longer than I expected and some of the frames are perfect enough to put in a frame for display. 


MeZolith consists of interlocking stories or chapters rather, that introduce us to various members of Poika's small tribe and their day to day lives.  And each chapter can be seen as life-lesson for Poika and to be honest, not all of them are pleasant. My favourite however has to be the story of the Swan Bride.  It is a retelling of a very very old fairy tale about the young man who falls in love with a beautiful young woman who also happens to be a swan.  The story is so deeply archetypal and touching, so that every time I open the book, I am lost in that specific chapter and I cry a little at its sheer magic. 


I cannot recommend MeZolith highly enough - even if you have never read a graphic novel before in your life, this book will change your opinion.  It is deeply evocative and will make a wonderful gift for someone who is perhaps a reluctant reader.  The art and the words are married incredibly well and even if reading wasn't your favourite thing in the world, the pictures are strong enough to be taken on their own merit to tell the story. 


It is rare for me to slaver at the mouth about a graphic novel but this one is remarkable. It is one of my most treasured books and lives with all my other books on fairy tales and fairy tale retellings.  No one else is allowed to touch, and if they do, it is with permission only and with very clean hands.  If you have the opportunity to look at it in a local bookshop, do so.  Find the chapter with the Swan Bride and read it.  And then come and tell me you couldn't resist buying it. 


I am incredibly grateful to David Fickling for sending me this to review.  I am also deeply apologetic to Adam Brockbank for slavering at the mouth when I spoke to him, but I do think I managed to handsell a copy to that young man who stood listening to me gushing. 

The Toymaker by Jeremy de Quidt

Synopsis:

What good is a toy that will wind down? What if you could put a heart in one? A real heart. One that beat and beat and didn’t stop. What couldn’t you do if you could make a toy like that?

In The Toymaker we meet someone we should all really like, especially if we are children: the toymaker, Menschenmacher. His creations sound amazing, creations we would all want to play with. Very soon, within a page, we do realise however that the toymaker, the "people maker" is not a cuddly friendly type of elderly uncle whom we can run to with a broken doll to fix. No, here's someone who is part scientist, part explorer, part nightmare maker. His toys are automatons, beautiful creations that the rich and famous strive to own. But there is that element of where he wants to meld the inanimate with the animate that is just shiver-inducing.

The Toymaker is set in an undisclosed European country over a short span of time for the reader - with that comes the bitter cold, the distant almost unfriendly populace and a feeling that really bad things can happen to good people. It's a harsh winter, wolves prowl the woods and people's lives are hard.

We also meet Matthias, a young boy who works as a Conjurer's assistant in a travelling circus. Well, he doesn't really work as anything to be honest. He's more a dog's body, doing things his grandfather, the conjuror wants, and then gets treated abysmally, beaten, starved and shouted at by everyone else in the circus; in other words, Matthias's life is hell. That is until his Grandfather suffers some kind of attack on stage and then dies. Matthias is in shock. A man he doesn't know walks up and starts searching his grandfather for something and Matthias realises that his grandfather may not have been the man he thought he knew. The well-dressed stranger leaves to speak to the owners of the circus and Matthias discovers a crumpled piece of paper in his grandfather's mouth that he was keen to hide...

Matthias and all his grandfather's belongings are "sold" to the mysterious man, Dr. Leiter and Matthias is bundled into a coach and driven through the night to an inn where he's questioned by the doctor and the odious coachman, Valter, a mishappen dwarf with the strength of ten men and a heart blacker than the abyss. One of the girls working at the inn, Katta, realises these two men are hurting Matthias and rescues him after he is thrown out of the window of the inn and together they go on the run.

Soon they throw in their lot with the mysterious and ruthless Koenig who is keen to figure out what Matthias's secret is and ultimately what the strip of torn paper is that he carries with him.

The Toymaker is beautifully written by Jeremy de Quidt. It's deeply dark and disturbing with touches of the macabre that will scintillate younger and older readers alike. The action is vivid and moves the story forward as much as the quest to find out the secret of the scrap of paper. The ending is a twisty turning thing that had me re-reading it because it took me that much by surprise.

I'd recommend The Toymaker to read out loud too - there is a dark magic to the writing that just begs to be heard aloud. And some fantastic news: The Toymaker has been short-listed for the Waterstones Children's Book Award 2010 which is excellent. I am so happy for Mr. de Quidt who clearly had a great time writing this wonderfully evocative and dark piece of literary horror for the younger folk.

The Toymaker is out now in paperback from David Fickling Books.

Mini-Review and Musings: Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan

As you may know I have never done a mini-review before - until now. So maybe this isn't actually going to be a mini-review after all, this is more somewhere where I'm putting down my thoughts on this novel with is powerful imagery and reworkings of arcehtypes.

I'm very much aware of the press which lashed out Ms. Lanagan for the violence, horror and awful things that happen in Tender Morsels. I am aware that the publishers had to defend their publishing this novel that pushes the boundaries of children's literature.

But this blog post is only partly about that. I had some coffee with a friend last night and we were chatting about the furore about this novel and I admitted that I had been blown away by the skilled and beautiful writing, the creation of an "other" world that has these strong dreamlike images contained within. Then I admitted that I didn't actually finish reading the book. My friend - let's call her Jane - immediately wanted to know why: was it the violence? was it the things done to the characters?

And I had to admit that no, it was none of these things, at all. What made me stop reading was this feeling of tremendous sadness and loss more than halfway through the novel. I could guess the way it was going to pan out and I didn't want to face up to it. I had become quite attached to one character in the novel - one of the secondary characters who happened on Liga and her daughters whilst they were living in the "other" world. And his story just affected me so much I didn't want to find out how it panned out. Cowardly yes, that's for sure. I'll utterly admit to it. I will finish the novel, but later this year, when I personally feel courageous enough to do so.

Jane and I chatted more about the book, about the central themes and I pointed out that I am surprised by how negatively a lot of people reacted to it. It's not like violence has ever been portrayed in a novel before, especially a children's novel! Has no one read Kevin Brooks or Melvin Burgess or even Kate Thompson? The amazing cover - above - should be a clear indicator to parents and children alike that this is not something to be tackled lightly - and the warning on the back cover. Walk away if you feel it's going to offend you or read it within its context. If you arent' prepared to be challenged as a reader, why pick up something that you suspect you may not be able to cope with

I am not sure how many adults who had read Tender Morsels had ever come across the adult fairy novel anthologies put together by three of the most amazing women working in the industry at the moment - Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling* with Terri and Midori Snyder jointly runningn the simply groundbreaking Endicott Studios website. TM would not have been such a shock to their system then, or if they had ever actually read the original Brothers Grimm in the context of the time or if they had ever thought to delve deeper into the so-called fairy tales from across the world or read any of Angela Carter's novels and short stories and realised that fairy tales are not pretty and sweet and cute - they are not Disney representations of how the world was or is. Fairy tales were never intended for children and it was during Victorian times that the lewd and rude stories were dumbed down for general public consumption and suddenly we had teeny tiny creatures with wings and magic dust.

Tender Morsels is a book not to be tackled lightly - it has some of the most beautiful and disturbing imagery I have ever read. The dreamlike quality, the almost cottony soft scenes of Liga and her girls as they live their simple life is a massive pointer the author is using to let us know that all is in fact, not well.

Tender Morsels is something I would recommend to the parents of intelligent, well informed older children who aren't afraid of a challenging read. And of course, to the parents themselves. Some may find it too brutal, which is fair enough - but please, don't be hypocrital and pretend that your children are never exposed to violence and the awfulness of real life, which is why you are not letting them read it. We would all prefer to live in a violence free decent world where there are no predators but to be honest, it will never happen, unless it's a Disney version of life. Books and themes should be discussed and this novel should be seen as an opportunity to do just that.

And remember, more importantly something crucial about Tender Morsels and the author: it is a book, a story, which the author has worked on, to the best of her ability and knowing Ms. Lanagan's work, (and that of her publishers) she's not someone to do something stupid like try and destroy her own career by producing something that will get her blacklisted by her publishers and readers. Be calm, be reasonable - books have taught and riled up readers for a long old time. But in the end, it's up to you to take it or leave it.

I've taken the liberty of putting together a reading list of books and authors whom I've personally read and know of that deal competently and in a mature fashion with fairy tales, their retellings and reworkings. By no means is this list the last word - there are hundreds more books in the same vein and they make for very interesting reading.

*A suggested reading list:

By Terri Windling and Ellen Datlow

Black Thorn, White Rose

Black Swan, White Raven

Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears

The Coyote Road

The Beastly Bride

Snow White, Blood Red

A Wolf at the Door and other retold Fairy Tales

Swan Sister - fairy tales retold

Other authors:

The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter

Angela Carter's Book of Fairy Tales

The Annotated Brothers Grimm by M Tatar

The Hard Facts of the Grimm's Fairytales by M Tatar

Deerskin by Robin McKinley

Beauty by Robin McKinley

Spindle's End by Robin McKinley

End of weird and odd mini-review and musings.