Cave of Secrets by Morgan Llywelyn

When Tom feels rejected by his father, he finds a secret second family among the group of smugglers who trade in and around Roaringwater Bay. Though Tom doesn't know it, his family in the Big House is under huge pressure. His father has had savage losses in business; his mother is always sad and worried, and his sisters have no hopes for a good future. This is seventeenth-century Ireland when cut-throat interests control everybody and everything, and land-grabbing is the order of the day. Friend turns into foe, and loyalty counts for nothing. From his new family, Tom learns all about boats and smuggling -- and secret treasure. And then Tom discovers the best-kept secret of all ...


This is my first Morgan Llywelyn book in a very very long time.  It is through Ms. Llywelyn's books that I sated my curiosity and thirst for mythic storytelling based around Irish sagas when I was in high school and before we moved to the UK in 2000. 


When O'Brien Press asked if I would be interested in reviewing Cave of Secrets my jaw dropped.  Yes, I said, of course! I'm a big fan and I have to say, I still am, especially now that I've read Cave of Secrets. 


Written for a younger audience, the writing is spare but lyrical.  We meet Tom who is utterly miserable - his dad is a very unpleasant towards him.  He brings gifts for his wife and dotes on heavily on his daughters and he sees very little good in young Tom.  Tom is quiet, unassuming and initially we think a bit of a sissy and gormless, but then he's never really had much of a life, cloistered in the big house on the hill with his close family, he's never run around and acted out. 


Things change however when he by chance meets Donal as he's hiding in the cave he discovered by accident (he fell down the cliff!) to get away from his father's shouting.  Meeting Donal is the big change Tom's been waiting for.  He is soon roaming the beach with Donal, teaching himself to swim, and learning how different Donal's life is compared to his own.  Donal insists his father is a King and I loved his fiery temper and utter disdain for "soft foreigners", which, I think he initially counts Tom as being.  But Tom is a fast learner and soon he's gathering food from the shore along with Donal and his little sister, the irrepressible and very cute Maura.


Tom fits straight in with Maura and Donal and has the time of his life and soon he meets Donal's father and the man comes to admire Tom for his honesty and level-headedness.  Soon Tom is offered the opportunity to go out with Muiris (Donal's dad) and some others from their small clan, at night to relieve some ships of their cargo.

Muiris and his men are smugglers, hiding precious cargo to prevent it from being heavily taxed when it arrives in port.  Instead they hide the cargo in the caves and then it gets transported overland and sold at ridiculous amounts.

I know nothing of this period in history at all and found that Cave of Secrets was set so firmly in this era that by the end of the story, I knew quite a bit, but not because it was crammed down my throat, but because it was so integral to Tom's journey of self-discovery.

Set in the 17th Century it deals with the rumours of uprising against the King of England and the repercussions that faces Tom's family when his father makes a series of bad decisions or rather, decisions he thought would benefit his family, only to discover otherwise.

Cave of Secrets isn't really a big book by any means.  It packs a lot of wallop though, as it's a well written historical novel dealing with a period in English and Irish history few enough people I assume know very little about.  Ms. Llywelyn has a light touch, setting the scene and time period for us, and it never clutters the story.  Tom is a likeable main character and in the end, we are so keen for everything to work out for him.  The secondary characters don't blaze off the pages, except maybe for Donal and Maura whom I loved to bits, and the focus remains strongly on Tom and his family's predicaments.

It also does a bit of social commentary and contrasts well what Tom is used to living in the big house on the hill, compared to Donal and his family.  It also shows how, even though the Flynn's are minor gentry in their part of the land, as soon as Mr. Flynn gets to Dublin we see how he's treated without much respect, in direct contrast to how he's treated at home.

I enjoyed Cave of Secrets - it intrigued me and it's made me want to research this era more.  I'd recommend it for readers 10+ and definitely to those who like a smattering of history with their adventure.  The use of language is great, there are a few Irish words thrown in, but they are explained, so reluctant readers will definitely feel they've accomplished a great deal once they've finished reading it.

Find Morgan Llywelyn's link over here at the extensive O'Brien website and here is her personal site.  Cave of Secrets is available now in all good bookshops and online.

The Hum and the Shiver by Alex Bledsoe

No one knows where the Tufa came from, or how they ended up in the mountains of East Tennessee.  When the first Europeans came to the Smoky Mountains, the Tufa were already there.  Dark-haired and enigmatic, they live quietly in the hills and valleys of Cloud County, their origins lost to history.  But there are clues in their music, hidden in the songs they have passed down for generations….


Private Bronwyn Hyatt, a true daughter of the Tufa, has returned from Iraq wounded in body and spirit.  But her troubles are far from over.  Cryptic omens warn of impending tragedy, while a restless “haint” has followed her home from the war.  Worse yet, Bronwyn has lost touch with herself and with the music that was once a part of her.  With death stalking her family, will she ever again join in the song of her people, and let it lift her onto the night winds?

I saw this book last year in Forbidden Planet and didn't buy it.  Then, we went for lunch, I left my friends at the restaurant and ran back and bought it.  I could not stop thinking about the write-up and the gorgeous cover.  I had to have it.

It has however taken me ages to get up the courage to read it.  I think, if you love reading, sometimes you have to let books talk to you when they sit on your shelf.  You have to be ready to read them - maybe like good wine or good cheese, you will know instinctively when the time is right.  I have a great many titles exactly like that, waiting for me to be ready to read them.

My time came last week.  In the sun, I sat and read The Hum and The Shiver and magic stirred the air around me.  Or rather, that's what it felt like.

I cannot adequately express how much I loved The Hum and The Shiver. The words lift off the page and weave images in your head.  The location of East Tennessee is described in lavish detail and although I have never seen photos of East Tennessee or of the Smoky Mountains, it feels like I spent a week there, living with the Tufa and getting to know them.

It doesn't take us very long to realise that we are dealing with a separate race of people here, the Tufa.  Not of any of the Native American tribes, not part of the influx of Europeans into the New World, the mystery remains as to who these people are.  They are media-shy, yet they do not hide, going about their business in a quiet way.  They are an attractive bunch, thick black hair, strong white teeth and good skin.  It sets them apart from those Europeans who came after and they aren't quite dark enough to belong to the Tribes.

From the first page we realise that the characters believe in Something Else.  They are perhaps superstitious and believe in ghosts, but there is a something else, just below the surface we aren't privy to.  Interestingly, the entire novel is told from within the Tufa life.  We have no outsider we shadow who tells us pertinent things.  It's entirely up to us to draw our own conclusions as we meet Bronwyn and her family, who are pure Tufa.  But things aren't made easy for the reader either.  We aren't given any further deeper insight into their lives because some things aren't explained because they expect people to know things instinctively.

In lesser hands, the story may not have worked, but Mr. Bledsoe trusts his readers to understand the game.  We are being told and shown a story, something very special indeed, and all you have to do is sit back and let it unfold around you.

Ultimately, the story is about Bronwyn.  She left Needsville and the area a young woman who made her fair share of trouble and broke a helluva lot of hearts.  She joined the army, did her basic, was shipped out to Iraq and came back torn and broken, hailed a hero by the media.  We are never really explicitly told what happened to Bronwyn over there - it's alluded that she saved some of her army buddies but was ultimately captured and tortured by insurgents.  And being female...well, you can imagine what was done to her.

Bronwyn comes back to Tufa country to heal.  The media are having a field day.  They want to glamourise everything she did, they want to make a big scene about her, but all she wants to do is run and hide somewhere.  Safely back on the family farm, Bronwyn is faced with the reality that someone in their family is going to die.  The omens all point to death and oddly, everyone assumes it's Bronwyn's mum who will die.  If that's the case, Bronwyn has a new role to fulfil, one she is reluctant to even consider.  She screams and fights against the inevitable, that she has to step outside her comfort zone, to become fully Tufa.  But things are never as clear cut as any of this.

We pick up secondary character's story strands and as it is all interwoven with Bronwyn's and her family's stories, we sit back and realise that what we think is going on...is only the smallest part of a much bigger picture.

I realise I'm being a bit naff in my review but I genuinely don't want to give bits away.  It's the kind of book that easily turns into a keeper, because the more you think about it retrospectively, the more you go "oh, I get it!" and then you want to re-read it again.  In fact, that's what I did.  I finished it on commute and then opened it at page one again and started my re-read of it.

The Hum and The Shiver is definitely one of my top titles for 2012, although it was released last year.  Bledsoe gives us a brand new world to play in, with strong characters and well developed mythologies that make 100% sense.  Effortless writing like this deserves to be shouted about.

You'll enjoy The Hum and The Shiver if you like novels by Neil Gaiman, Ben Aaronovitch,  Kate Griffin and Charles de Lint.  The Hum and The Shiver is not loud, it's not bombastic.  It's a quiet, powerful novel with a strong voice and has some beautiful writing. It's one of those rare things: a literary novel with urban fantasy undertones that sort of defies pigeonholing, apart from having to to be shelved under "A Damn Good Read".

Find Alex Bledsoe's site here and do go and read the first chapter here.

The Fury by Alexander Gordon Smith

Cal, Brick and Daisy are three ordinary teenagers with one terrifying thing in common: today, without warning, the world will turn against them.

Every person they meet will become a bloodthirsty, mindless savage, hell-bent on killing them. And they do not know why.

..

With the Furnace series watching me accusingly from the To Be Read shelf(ves) and my ears ringing from all the good things I’d heard about the series, when The Fury dropped through the letterbox I pounced on it and claimed it for myself before Liz could.

As I say, I had heard lots of good things about the Furnace series, but made a point of clearing my mind before eventually sitting down and cracking the Fury open. What I discovered was that whatever I might have heard, it didn’t prepare me for the frenetic energy and sheer mad genius that Mr Smith would be squeezing into those 535 pages.

Reading chapter one was the literary equivalent of discovering that the wrinkly apple you just ate was actually a habanero chilli. Whatever I was expecting the Fury to be was turned upside down and inside out. I’d normally expect to say something along the lines of “the story starts off quite normally...”  but I can’t here. Smith starts with a bang, setting the tone for the rest of the story – having had a taste of the madness in store, it feeds a sinister tension into the background of all the seemingly normal day to day stuff that the three main characters are going through. I knew that the proverbial excrement was hurtling towards the fan, but what I didn’t appreciate was Smith’s capacity for ramping everything up that extra, unexpected notch. It kept things unpredictable – just when I thought I handle on what was really going on, I’d turned the page and be faced with another WTF! moment, but in the best possible way. It kept me turning the pages, the “just another few pages” syndrome that usually sees me suddenly realising it’s 2 a.m or that I've missed my station.

The three main characters each have distinct personalities, and as they try and survive long enough to try make sense of what is happening to them and why, Smith goes to town seeding the story with a palpable sense of impending doom and apocalyptic overtones. He’s not afraid to push the boundaries, and does so with both glee and a deft hand. Outstanding stuff. 

Find the madman Alexander Gordon Smith's website here, and also check out Gordy's new venture, The Inklinkg Studio that looks so much fun as well as the combined blog, Trapped by Monsters, that he shares with a group of other children's writers. 

A Midsummer's Nightmare by Kody Keplinger

Synopsis

Whitley Johnson's dream summer with her divorcé dad has turned into a nightmare. She's just met his new fiancée and her kids. The fiancée's son? Whitley's one-night stand from graduation night. Just freakin' great.

Worse, she totally doesn't fit in with her dad's perfect new country-club family. So Whitley acts out. She parties. Hard. So hard she doesn't even notice the good things right under her nose: a sweet little future stepsister who is just about the only person she's ever liked, a best friend (even though Whitley swears she doesn't "do" friends), and a smoking-hot guy who isn't her stepbrother...at least, not yet. It will take all three of them to help Whitley get through her anger and begin to put the pieces of her family together.

Filled with authenticity and raw emotion, Whitley is Kody Keplinger's most compelling character to date: a cynical Holden Caulfield-esque girl you will wholly care about.

After reading The Duff I couldn't wait to get my hands on everything else that Kody Keplinger had written. I haven't had a chance to read Shut Out yet but when A Midsummer's Nightmare appeared through the door yesterday I had to start it. So, 6.30 Sunday morning I opened it, just to read the first few chapters of course. I didn't put it down until I finished it later on that morning. I was drawn in by Whitley's anger. The story starts with the morning after the night before and she's trying to escape from her one night stand. Once home her mum isn't worried she's been out all night as she thought she was at Nona's house but Whitley hasn't been friends with Nona for four years. All she wants is to go to her dad's condo and spend the summer like they always do, drinking, chatting and lying in the sun.

When she meets her dad he tells her that they're not going to the condo, instead they're off to the small town of Hamilton. Not only that but when they get there she meets Sylvia, his fiancée - yet another thing he's forgotten to mention. Her son is Whitley's one night stand from graduation so things couldn't get any worse surely? Whitley has created a massive wall around herself and as the book develops we start to learn more about why she reaches for a bottle of tequila when things go wrong. It could be easy to dismiss her as bringing all her troubles to her own door but there's something very compelling about the rage inside her. I was desperate to find out what had happened to her after her parents divorce. I was touched by her relationship to Bailey, Nathan's little sister, who's nearly fourteen - the same age as Whitley when she had her first drink. Bailey is who Whitley could have been if she'd had some decent and compassionate parenting after the divorce. She's all lightness and innocence where Whitley is cynical and abrasive but their relationship works nonetheless.

Obviously in a story like this the reader is hoping for a great emotional story arc - for Whitley to grow and learn etc etc. Yes, I wanted that too - a happy ending, for her to be in a better place by the last page. But on this journey all sorts of things are thrown up. Why do we call a girl a whore when men are rarely criticised for the same behaviour? Why do parent's act like children then get surprised when their children don't do what they want? Why don't people understand that no means no means no? Why do we criticise the victims of abuse? Why do we insist on labelling people as this and that without even asking ourselves what's happened to them in their past?

What I love about Kody Keplinger is that her characters are real, they don't hold back in action or word and her books are all the richer for this.

Shattered Dreams by Ellie James

Trinity has never known who she really is. Strange dreams haunt her nights, and she has always been able to sense things that others can't. 


When Jessica, the most popular girl at school, disappears, Trinity realises she will have to draw on her secret abilities to help find her. 


Soon, Trinity is subject to visions that terrify her and make the police sceptical. As her dreams grow darker and the visions more frightening, Trinity realises she must risk her reputation and her sanity to save a girl who hates her.

Spoilers below and generally not a good review

The Selection by Kiera Cass

Synopsis

Thirty-five beautiful girls. Thirty-five beautiful rivals…

It’s the chance of a lifetime and 17-year-old America Singer should feel lucky. She has been chosen for The Selection, a reality TV lottery in which the special few compete for gorgeous Prince Maxon's love.

Swept up in a world of elaborate gowns, glittering jewels and decadent feasts, America is living a new and glamorous life. And the prince takes a special interest in her, much to the outrage of the others.

Rivalry within The Selection is fierce and not all of the girls are prepared to play by the rules. But what they don’t know is that America has a secret — one which could throw the whole competition… and change her life forever.

This has to be the prettiest book of the year and for that reason alone I wanted to get a copy. It also sounded like a fun read so I was looking forward to its arrive. The synopsis and the first few pages did bring to mind a kinder, softer alternative to many popular dystopian I've seen in the last couple of years. America Singer receives a letter offering her the chance to go into a lottery giving her a chance to be one of thirty-five girls making up The Selection which means she could be wife to the prince. She's not keen as she's already in love but due to her caste as a five there's a chance to improve the prospects for her family. Then there's Aspen, a six and America's secret boyfriend. When he asks her to enter she can't refuse. Of course, there's no way she can be picked - right?

Obviously she is and her life explodes into chaos. First she's whisked off to the castle, meets the thirty four other girls and so begins the competition for Prince Maxon's hand. From this point on it was a bit like a dystopian America's Next Top Model - I loved it. It's a whirlwind of makeovers, dresses, filming, girls being sent home and general shenanigans. Initially, America just wants to see the week out, expecting at any moment to be sent home. After a surprise meeting with the Prince her time at the palace changes from one of surviving for a few days to a different role. America also has to decide who she can trust and keep an eye of the girls vying to stab her in the back. All of this is filmed and streamed into every home so not only will America become famous but her prospects have improved overnight.

I really enjoyed The Selection. America is a good-hearted heroine who goes into the Selection with a set agenda. Of course, things change as America's plan unravels. It's not all froth - the country is under pressure from rebels and the royal family have married off their daughters to get allies. America's family struggle through seasonal work but the lower castes have a far more desperate life. By the time I'd got to the last third of the book I was reading faster and faster to see if she made the choice I wanted her to. At one point I was grinding my teeth as I was worried my hopes weren't going to come to fruition. So, I invested far more into a book that I was expecting just to be pretty and diverting. I can't wait to read the sequel.

Dead Scared by SJ Bolton

When a Cambridge student dramatically attempts to take her own life, DI Mark Joesbury realizes that the university has developed an unhealthy record of young people committing suicide in extraordinary ways.


Against huge personal misgivings, Joesbury sends young policewoman DC Lacey Flint to Cambridge, with a brief to work under-cover, posing as a depression-prone, vulnerable student. Psychiatrist Evi Oliver is the only person in Cambridge who knows who Lacey really is - or so they both hope. But as the two women dig deeper into the darker side of university life, they discover a terrifying trend . . . 


And when Lacey starts experiencing the same disturbing nightmares reported by the dead girls, she knows that she is next.

Along with Phil Rickman, I think SJ Bolton is one of our best British crime and thriller storytellers.  Her books are consistently well thought out, frightening, well plotted and character driven.  Along with Mr. Rickman, SJ Bolton is one of the few authors whose books I'd I would pick up without a moment's hesitation, not even bothering to read the write-up on the back because her name guarantees you a ride you will not forget.

In Dead Scared we travel to Cambridge for all the action.  I thought: secret societies, odd shenanigans amongst the stacks, that type of thing...and not to exactly spoilt it, it is both yes and no but not like you'd expect.  Ms. Bolton gives us a very creepy story to try and puzzle out, using three characters' POV - Mark Joesbury, to a lesser extent, and instead focussing mostly on Lacey and Evie's characters respectively.

If you've read the most recent two Bolton titles, you would have met Mark and Lacey in Now You See Me and Evie you would have encountered in Blood Harvest.  Having said that, these books are very much standalone in that the characters obviously make reference to their previous lives (adventures) to give new readers an idea where they come from, but this story is very much an open and shut case making use of previously established characters, which works very well indeed.

It's really hard to review any of her books - because of how tightly they're plotted it would be easy to give away some intricate plot-point and bah, I hate that.  So, when Lacey's asked to head to Cambridge to go undercover as a mature student, in order to help Evie figure out exactly what was going on, she doesn't really expect to be embroiled in something bigger than a few students committing suicide.  But as Lacey and Evie expand their search - much to Joesbury's annoyance - they start finding more students, more than your average amount anyway - over the past few years, taking their own lives.

As they try and figure out who is behind it, as they expect a group targeting vulnerable students, things get pretty hairy for them both.  Evie's story especially freaked me out.  Evie is very dear to my heart.  I really connected with her when I read Blood Harvest and I love how logical she is and how self-assured she comes across whilst really, she is this bundle of fears and doubts, like all of us, really.  And the thing about Evie is, she's disabled, so my fears for her is always that she'll get hurt even more and I think Ms. Bolton knows that, so she doesn't actually play on Evie's physicality, threatening her bodily, but instead she goes about attacking her mentally.  It freaked me out no end.  Lacey, on the other hand is very much the physical person, so she's preyed upon not just mentally but also physically.

As the story starts unravelling and we find our pool of suspects, we are flung headlong into a flight to save both women.  And what I love best about SJ Bolton's books and writing, is how strong her female characters are.  They are flawed yes, but they are also intelligent, resourceful and they don't break easy. And although the men are as lovely and strong, the women don't have to rely on them to save the day.  I love that to bits.

This is a rather vague review.  Needless to say, it's done on purpose because you gotta read it for yourself.  In fact, if you've not read any SJ Bolton, I'd recommend you pack your holiday bag with her books or load them onto your kindle and indulge.  Each book is different, set in a  different place in the UK and each book offers you something very different.   The consist thing you get though is superb storytelling.  Also, it makes you wonder how such a nice lady can write such frightening books.  Hmm.

A word of warning though, Blood Harvest especially is not a book you'd want to read in a remote village in the countryside.  It did nothing good for my sleeping patterns.  Dead Scared, by page forty, had me so freaked out, I had to close the book and I had to ring Mark to collect me from the station because I couldn't face the ten minute walk home alone at nine pm in the evening after a blogger event. And the sun was shining.  Honestly.  Really good thrillers like this are rare and far between and honestly, SJ Bolton gives good thrilling action.  You will not regret it.

Find SJ Bolton's site here.  Dead Scared is out now.

MFB interviews Cassandra Clare on her UK Book Tour!

This interview has spoilers for City of Lost Souls!

As part of Cassandra's City of Lost Souls UK Book Tour MFB were invited to Theatre Royal, Stratford, London (Foyles organised this wonderful event) to ask questions about Magnus and Alec. To say that I was excited about getting the chance to interview one of my favourite authors is an understatement. So excited in fact that I charged my camera, put it in my bag but then forgot to use it. Even worse, I sit down, get my phone set to record and turn to Cassandra and say, "I've got loads of questions for you about Marcus." Marcus? Marcus? Oh, *headdesk.* Fortunately Cassandra was absolutely lovely and I soon got over my nerves and was able to get on with the questions.

It's lovely to meet you. My first question is about Alec. I was shocked by what he was prepared to do to keep Magnus – do you think it was out of character?

It would have been out of character for Alec to follow through but not out of his nature to think about it but then not let it go any further. Camile has a strange hold over Magnus and Alec is insecure and looks to Camille to give him some insight into the secretive person he is. Alec is worried that he might be disposable and thinks he can find a better understanding through Camille, that it might even the playing field. He's tempted by the idea but doesn’t go through with it. After seeing Magnus’s mortality on the battlefield at the end of City of Lost Souls, Alec would definitely not have gone through with it. In the end he made a moral decision (brought on by) the realization of what he could be bringing down on Magnus if he did follow through. The tragedy of the situation is that he lost Magnus for having considered it but it was understandable that Magnus did it.


Poor Alec! But when he goes home the house interior is different every time and he doesn’t have any say in his surroundings and no control. Isn’t Magnus being a little unfair?


Magnus has been alone for a long time, he controls his environment, he controls what he does - no one tells him. There’s an imbalance of power in their relationship and he wants to keep it that way.

Is it possible that Alec might find a way to level the playing field?


I definitely think so. Alec has grown up massively. I’ve watched him grow up through the books! He’s matured, he knows himself better, he can articulate his feelings better. At the beginning of the books he wasn’t able to talk to his parents about his sexuality but now he can speak openly about it. He talks about how hateful it is to be rejected, the pain of the unconsioucs pressure that your family puts on you. Alec needs to show how strong he really is and when he does I think Magnus will feel more able … Magnus needs someone to lean on and rely on and when he opens up and tells someone the truth about himself he needs to do it with someone who’s strong enough, with someone there who can be supportive and at the moment they’re not quite there. The breakup may be the thing that gets them there.

Is this partly Camille’s fault – did she cause Magnus to be so closed?


Camille’s definitely part of it. Magnus has watched a lot of people that he loves die. He a sucker for lost causes - that’s his love for Will right there. He loves to mend broken things. And then Camille comes along and she breaks his heart. We see him change from being this trusting guy who tries to fix things and invest in relationships to the man who isn’t willing to put himself out there, more secretive and less giving.


At this point we chat a bit about the fact that Magnus set his step father on fire and how it changed him.


The step father realised that Magnus wasn't his child. Magnus was defending himself, not really understanding what his magic could do and killed him.

No coming back from that then?

Not for the step father! It was a pretty bad experience for Magnus too.

Did you make a conscious effort to include characters that aren’t the stereotypical white and heterosexual?


I tried to represent New York in its diversity. A book about New York where everyone is straight and white would be very unrepresentative. So I tried to include Jewish characters, gay characters and different races. In Infernal Devices I had to try harder for it as Victorian London was very white. I brought Jem in because I really didn’t want to write a book with all white characters.


What would you say to aspiring writers who are scared about bringing characters into their books who have a different racial heritage or sexuality to their own?
It’s a moral value to strive for diversity and inclusivity. If you don’t include any gay characters or any non white characters or any non able-bodied characters you’re not going to hear anything about it. If you do, you may get criticism about the way you portray them but that’s okay – take the criticism and learn from it. Understand that you’ve chosen the slightly more difficult thing to do and criticism is part of that, don't be afraid. You’ll also get lots and lots of lovely letters too from people who say thank you - and that makes it worth it.


Why can’t Magnus go back to Peru?


It’s a secret! I can’t tell!


Will we find out?


I’m having a lot of fun with people hinting at it. You know like in Frasier when Niles was married to Maris and we never saw her? I kind of relate the Magnus thing to that because in each book it gets worse, “Did you hear the story about Magnus in Peru? It’s the worse thing I’ve ever heard!” It’s building up to something really bad.

Warning: We go totally off-topic here as I wanted to talk to Cassandra about her tumblr piece about rape. We talk about rape myths, how they harm and the experiences of victims.

I wanted to talk to you about Clary and the piece you wrote on your tumblr about Rape myths, rape culture, and the damage done - I thought it was brilliant. I don’t think anything has changed since I was a teenager, the way that girls speak about other girls, and I find that quite sad. In fact it’s worse now that there's the internet and mobile phones.


Thank you. It’s one of the things that does concern me. My mother has worked her whole life with rape victims and she runs a charity now for rape victims, I volunteer with them. After writing that piece I have lots and lots and lots of letters that I’m trying to respond to - I want to give each one an individual thoughtful response. Some of them say that when they were assaulted, or when there was an abuse situation the reaction of their peers was difficult and in a lot of cases it was other girls. Girls have told me that they were raped by their boyfriends and then they’d go to school and people would be muttering, ‘Slut, slut, slut” behind their back in the halls and that’s the exact thing that I’m talking about.


We get these messages that come out of a place of fear that if you behave properly, that if you’re a good girl then this won’t happen to you and when it does happen the urge is to other them and push them away and say that they’re a bad person and that’s why this happened to them.

In my experience people strive to find a reason, to pinpoint the mistake that you made.


I think you’re right, I think that people say that that person was bad, that they made a mistake. There was a lot of fault finding with Clary. What was the thing she did that was bad that made this bad thing happen to her? What I was trying to say was that she didn't do a bad thing, it was a bad thing that happened. The other person was bad.

I also found it sad that people were pointing the finger at Clary and her response – that her response was somehow wrong.


Yes, and that Clary is a girl who did nothing wrong, that someone did something bad but she has a good relationship with someone else. She feels safe with that person - to be able to separate an assault which was not her fault, which had nothing to do with what she did from Jace. She's in a healthy relationship with a person who loves her, who's invested in her consent.

Thank you so much, it was lovely to speak to you.


And it was – it was honestly such a pleasure to chat with Cassandra. She put up with my longwinded questions, didn't make me feel for one minute that there were hundreds of people downstairs waiting for her. So much so that we nearly ran over! I got my book signed too which made my day as I was working the last time she came to the UK.

The next stop on the tour is 30th May Wondrous Reads with Simon and Isabelle

Followed by: -

31st May The Zoë-Trope Jace and Clary

1st June Dark Readers Sebastian

MFB supports Geek Pride Day 2012

Warning: this is a long rambling blogpost. Also, it contains pictures of stuff and I tell you about this guy called Andy Robb's book launch I attended last night.

In the meantime, the first part of the blog:

Mark, Sarah and I are geeks. We may not be geeks about the same things, but by Lord Vader's breathing apparatus, we are geeks to the max.

Sarah has a thing for Harry Potter books and paraphernalia and chickens. Oh, and Star Wars, lets not forget her talking at me in Yoda-voice giving sage advice. Even by email.

Mark can talk your ear off about David Gemmell and Druss the Legend and he knows about archery and fencing and sword fights. He knows various schools of magic and what critical stats are for most RPG games.

Me? My thing is Sandman, Supernatural, fairy tales and movies and books. Also, stationery. I am also an enabler. It is my superpower, I think.

So, with the help of my rather shoddy iPhone, I walked around our tiny TARDIS house and took photos of the obvious geek things Mark and I have on display.

Here is some of the stuff we've got.

My Sandman collection. Some of our comics too, along with a good view of the Punisher maquette and my Alchemist Unicorn from Filligree.

The best movie Spielberg ever made. In fact, the ONLY Indiana Jones movie in my opinion. Although Crusade was good fun too.

Some of our DVDs - zombie flicks, Star Wars, Supernatural - the usual suspects.

My favourite item in all the world right now - watercolour of Hellboy by the amazing Duncan Fegredo. Isn't it just gorgeous?

Again with the Punisher - this was commissioned by Mark from Lawrence Campbell whom we are both BIG fans of.

My limited numbered signed print of Captain America.

This is a piece of original art Mark and I bought at one of the GenCons we attended years ago now. The artist is Wayne Reynolds and Mark and I tend to have impulse issues when it comes to buying Wayne's artwork. This bit of art appeared in one of the newer editions of the D&D Monsters Manual. And yes, we may be bragging.

My time turner. Beedle the Bard. Death! Sandman! Mark's limited edition copy of Deathwatch. Pretty!

Our signed canvas of Solomon Kane. Signed by James Purefoy and Michael Bassett (director)

Two partial shots of two bookcases...

Now for the second yet important part to this blog:

Last night I attended the book launch of Geekhood by Andy Robb. Now, I've not yet read the book, but I will, and this blogpost was initially supposed to be US vs ANDY when it comes to geekery but things got a bit mad, so instead I give you a pictorial of the evening.

Delicious! Geekhood cupcakes. Noms!

The Games Workshop in the Plaza on Oxford Street kindly set up a display and taught some excited kids how to paint miniatures. I didn't have a chance to show them prowess. This saddens me.

This is Paul Black, the publicity person for Stripes Publishing. Yes, my friends, that is indeed a chest burster from Alien. There just aren't enough words...

Some great posters Andy and the team from Waterstones Oxford Street Plaza set up.

Philip Reeve and Sarah MacIntyre once again getting into the swing of things.

Andy (author and Hobbit impersonator) and his mate and "meta-reader" Rorschach from Watchmen-fame. Sadly, I do not remember R's real name.

Apparently the Empire needs me. Yes, Lord Vader!

Yeah, Andy tried cheeking Lord Vader and the old mouth breather just wouldn't have it. Poor Andy. He will be missed.

I am sure you've been threatened by me before, Lord Vader demands of a Waterstones employee. Employee too stunned to reply.

Lord Vader proves how easy product placement can be done.

Mummy, I want all these little men to come home with us so I can forge battle against the minions of the Dark Lord. And then I want my own axe.

No, sweetie, painting Orcs pink is not how it's done. Okay, maybe you can paint Legolas pink. He is the prettiest elf, after all.

As you can tell from the photos, everyone had a superb time. I can't remember the last time I laughed so much at a launch. Everyone who came dressed up did such a good job - I was in awe. We wish Andy the best of luck with Geekhood and we look forward to reading it.

As for Geek Pride Day today: we are all geeks at heart. Some wear it more openly than others, but it is there and dammit, today is the day to be proud but more than that, it should never be something to be ashamed of. Own it, my friends!

Sarah here and just to add to Liz's fantastic post that I read this just after putting up my new Deathly Hallows framed poster. Sorry for the bad photo but there - it proves the point. No hope for me there is. Sorry, I did just do that :)

Random Bits #9

Every year around this time of the year my wishlist grows by at least 10 titles and they all directly come from the Mythopeoic Awards list. 

This year's list looks like this:

Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature

• Lisa Goldstein, The Uncertain Places (Tachyon)
• Erin Morgenstern, The Night Circus (Doubleday)
• Richard Parks, The Heavenly Fox (PS Publishing)
• Catherynne M. Valente, Deathless (Tor)
• Jo Walton, Among Others (Tor)

Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children’s Literature

• Lisa Mantchev, Théâtre Illuminata series, consisting of Eyes Like Stars, Perchance to Dream, and So Silver Bright (Feiwel and Friends)
• Tamora Pierce, Beka Cooper series, consisting of Terrier, Bloodhound, and Mastiff (Random House)
• Delia Sherman, The Freedom Maze (Big Mouth House)
• Maggie Stiefvater, The Scorpio Races (Scholastic)
• Catherynne M. Valente, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making (Feiwel and Friends)

Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies

• Jason Fisher, ed. Tolkien and the Study of His Sources: Critical Essays (McFarland, 2011)
• Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull, The Art of the Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (HarperCollins, 2011)
• Carl Phelpstead. Tolkien and Wales: Language, Literature and Identity (Univ. of Wales Press, 2011)
• Sanford Schwartz. C.S. Lewis on the Final Frontier: Science and the Supernatural in the Space Trilogy (Oxford Univ. Press, 2009)
• Steve Walker, The Power of Tolkien’s Prose: Middle-earth’s Magical Style (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009)

Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Myth and Fantasy Studies

• Ruth B. Bottigheimer, Fairy Tales: A New History (SUNY Press, 2009)
• Bonnie Gaarden, The Christian Goddess: Archetype and Theology in the Fantasies of George MacDonald(Fairleigh Dickinson Univ. Press, 2011)
• Ursula K. Le Guin, Cheek by Jowl (Aqueduct Press, 2009)
• Darrell Schweitzer, The Fantastic Horizon: Essays and Reviews (Borgo Press, 2009)
• Jack Zipes, The Enchanted Screen: The Unknown History of Fairy-Tale Films (Routledge, 2011)

I am especially over the moon to see one of my favourite authors of all time - Catheryne M Valente on here twice.  I realise I've never actually reviewed the books on MFB and there is no real excuse for that - but if you're intrigued, just take my word for it: she writes sublimely well, with lyrical prose that makes your heart soar and your brain trip. 

I've highlighted / put in (black) bold the titles I have at home, which I'll definitely look forward to share with you in the near future.  The red bold titles are ones that have winged their way onto my wishlist, unexpectedly, and quite by accident.  How did that happen? 

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Onto some other very exciting news from Orion:

Cornelia Funke (her of the Ink Heart novels fame) has signed a contract with Orion for a new book series called GHOST KNIGHT: 

Eleven-year-old Jon Whitcroft never expected to enjoy boarding school. He never expected to be confronted by a pack of vengeful ghosts either. And then he meets Ella, a quirky new friend with a taste for adventure... Together, Jon and Ella must work to uncover the secrets of a centuries-old murder, while being haunted by ghosts intent on revenge. So when Jon summons the ghost of the knight Longspee for his protection, there's just one question - can Longspee really be trusted?

Cornelia Funke says of GHOST KNIGHT:

I already know the best Christmas gift I will find under my tree this year. I am so thrilled that Orion will bring Ghost Knight to printed life in the UK this winter! I very much hope that my story will bring children from many corners of the world to see all the beautiful places that inspired me to write this  knight's story- Salisbury, Kilmington, Lacock Abbey and of course Stonehenge:) I can't wait for them to hear about the fabulous Ela Longspee, who was the first female sheriff of Wiltshire in the 12th century, and to feel the enchantment of Salisbury Cathedral whose grace and beauty made me find this story. 

I actually yelped at the news because well, Cornelia Funke writes books only for me.  No, seriously.  *stares challengingly at screen* I believe this, no matter what others may say.  Her writing never fails to transport me and make me think.  

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Next up, some more grown up adult fiction news: 

The Desmond Elliott Prize shortlist of three first novels is announced today, Thursday 24 May 2012. The Prize celebrates the very best of debut fiction by the rising stars of the literary world.

The shortlist for The Desmond Elliott Prize 2012 is as follows:

• The Land Of Decoration by Grace McCleen (Chatto & Windus)
• The Last Hundred Days by Patrick McGuinness (Seren)
• The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce (Doubleday)   

This year’s shortlist has been selected from a longlist of ten, announced in April. The three shortlisted authors are: poet and academic Patrick McGuinness, whose novel The Last Hundred Days was inspired by his years in Bucharest in the lead up to the Romanian revolution; award-winning radio playwright Rachel Joyce, whose book The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry was originally drafted as a radio play for her dying father, and Grace McCleen with The Land Of Decoration, a story based on the author’s own upbringing in a Christian fundamentalist sect in Wales.

The judges were struck by the strong characters and coruscating language of Patrick McGuinness’ dystopian novel about the last days of the Ceauscescu dictatorship in Romania, Rachel Joyce’s beautiful storytelling, with its insights into human nature through the tale of an ordinary person motivated to perform extraordinary actions, and the original language and ideas in Grace McCleen’s vivid and life-affirming story of a young girl in a Christian sect who believes the Last Days have come. 

Sam Llewellyn, 2012 Chair of Judges and one of Desmond Elliott’s own protégés, commented:

‘It has been extraordinarily hard to choose a shortlist of three from such a powerful and diverse longlist. Desmond Elliott once told me that his ideal novel was a cross between a treasure hunt and a race. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry is both these things, and a lot more besides. The Last Hundred Days, written with wit and irony, is a really fine and original addition to the literature of disintegrating empires, and The Land of Decoration is unlike anything you’ve ever read. It’s a rollercoaster of a book that makes the reader laugh and cry at entirely unpredictable intervals.’

Sam Llewellyn is joined on the judging panel by Tom Gatti, Editor of The Times Review section, and Caroline Mileham, Head of Books at Play.com.

William Hill spokesman, Graham Sharpe, commented that ‘despite having dramatically varying themes, it is very difficult to differentiate between three brilliant debut novels’, but gave Rachel Joyce a narrow lead with the following odds:

• The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce - 5/4
• The Last Hundred Days by Patrick McGuinness - 7/4
• The Land Of Decoration by Grace McCleen - 2/1

This year marks the fifth anniversary of the £10,000 award for a first novel published in the UK, set up in memory of the celebrated publisher and literary agent Desmond Elliott to ‘enrich the careers of new writers’.

The winner will be announced on Thursday 28 June at Fortnum & Mason, London.  When choosing a winner, the judges will be looking for a novel of depth and breadth with a compelling narrative. The work should be vividly written and confidently realised and should contain original and arresting characters.

The 2011 winner was Anjali Joseph for Saraswati Park, published by Fourth Estate. Previous winners of the Prize were: The Girl with Glass Feet by Ali Shaw (Atlantic Books, 2010); Blackmoor by Edward Hogan (Simon & Schuster, 2009) and Gifted by Nikita Lalwani (Penguin Books, 2008).

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Over at The Guardian, they're looking for nominations for the Guardian First Book Award. You have the chance to nominate a book of your choice - debut - to be added to their list of books to consider for the prize.  The "competition" closes on 4th June.  Go nominate someone awesome!

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Heard about Magic Town? I didn't know of it until I got this bit of PR from Simon and Schuster about their superb Aliens love Underpants books: 

Simon & Schuster UK and Mindshapes today announced that Claire Freedman and Ben Cort’s bestselling Aliens Love Underpants series is now part of Magic Town (www.magictown.com), the first virtual world of picture books and stories for children aged 2 to 6+. There will be four Aliens Love Underpants stories in Magic Town.

In Magic Town, children meet Max and Izzy, animated guides who show them around a vibrant landscape of uniquely illustrated houses, each of which holds interactive stories and related puzzles and games, featuring fairy tales, original titles and well-known series. Magic Town’s virtual world uses games technology to provide each child with a customised experience. An algorithm presents relevant stories for each child, and daily visits to Magic Town unlock additional content. In the future, parents will be able to further personalise Magic Town by selecting specific brands and stories.

Each Aliens Love Underpants story in Magic Town is presented as a Livebook™, Mindshapes’ proprietary storytelling format designed to stimulate young children’s development through educational, interactive tasks. Magic Town was created with input from teachers and early childhood development experts, and has been tested with children, parents and educators.

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That's it from Random Bits for now!