Today I’m excited to welcome author Stephanie Burgis to Bart’s Bookshelf, to discus, The Unladylike Adventures of Kat Stephenson a Regency fantasy trilogy for ten- to fifteen-year-olds. The first book in the planned trilogy: A Most Improper Magick; will be published August 1, 2010 in the UK and April 5, 2011 in the US (as Kat, Incorrigible).

Keep reading at the end of the interview for news of how you can win your own copy of Kat’s first adventure!

Stephanie Burgis: I’m 33, a happy book addict with a wonderful writer-husband, border collie, and young son, and also many, many bookcases overflowing with books (plus a whole bunch more still packed in boxes from our last move). I live in a small town in Wales and spend as much time as possible in coffeeshops.

Stephanie Burgis: Kat is loyal, loving, headstrong, smart, skeptical, energetic and brave. She’s determined to solve her family’s problems no matter what it takes – even if she has to learn forbidden magic and battle highwaymen along the way!

Stephanie Burgis: Some of her adventures include: breaking into her late mother’s cabinet of magical secrets (which was locked up by her stepmother many years ago); chopping off her hair and dressing up as a boy; and matching wits with an ancient and secretive magical order.

Stephanie Burgis: Yes, constantly! I started the book knowing only the first couple of paragraphs, but was swept along by the adventure all the way through. The most surprising moment for me was when the highwayman showed up – I really wasn’t expecting him at that point!

Stephanie Burgis: I love all three of Kat’s siblings. We don’t see much of her brother Charles in this book, but her older sisters, Elissa and Angeline, are both important characters, and my favourite scenes to write involved all three sisters together. All three girls are strong and intelligent, and of course they all love each other, but they all have completely different ideas of how to solve their family’s problems, and they each think they know best…so in other words, there’s a lot of fun conflict to write!

Stephanie Burgis: I do most of my writing while lying on the couch with my laptop on my knees, a cup of Earl Grey tea and a bar of dark chocolate sitting on the floor beside me, and printed-out manuscript paper scattered all around me. I also have a Jane Austen action figure standing nearby as inspiration, and on days when I’m feeling insecure, I wear the sparkly tiara from my wedding to give myself a boost of confidence!

Stephanie Burgis: The most rewarding part for me is writing first drafts, when I get to just have fun and explore the world alongside my heroine, throwing her into more and more trouble and more exciting adventures, which I discover at exactly the same time she does. (I generally have a very vague outline in my head – I know the important issues that will need to be resolved by the end of the book – but I find out what happens along the way just by writing the story.) After that, I do loads of revision for consistency and smoothness, which is less fun to do but just as important.

Stephanie Burgis: A MOST IMPROPER MAGICK is the first book in a trilogy, The Unladylike Adventures of Kat Stephenson. Right now, I’m nearly finished revising Book 3 in the trilogy (verrrry tentatively titled A RECKLESS AND DEADLY MAGICK), and Book 2, A TANGLE OF MAGICKS, will be published in the UK next year. Kat goes to Regency-era Bath and gets swept up in an adventure with scandalous rakes, Stepmama’s snobbiest relations, her brother Charles’s disreputable university friends, and the dangerous wild magic tied into the old Roman baths…

Stephanie Burgis: Thanks for having me! And I’d just like to make sure everybody knows that you can read the first chapter of A MOST IMPROPER MAGICK online on my website:

A Most Improper Magick is released on 1st August 2010 in the UK; buy a copy from your local bookshop or buy online from The Book Depository.

Stephanie can also be found on her website, blog, twitter, facebook, lj & goodreads

Giveaway!

With thanks to Stephanie’s UK Publisher, Templar Publishing, I have a brand new, ARC (Advance Reader Copy) edition of A Most Improper Magick to giveaway!

Entry is very easy, simply check out the rules and enter your details into the form below.

• Answer the simple question. (The answer can be found in the interview!)
• Entry is international!
• Contest closes midnight GMT on 3rd August 2010.
• Entries only accepted via the competition form, entries via comments will be ignored.
• Please read my full contest policy.
• Please read my full privacy policy.

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Teresa Flavin: Hi, Darren! Thanks for inviting me. I’m a children’s book illustrator who got a notion to write illustrated novels. I had been illustrating picture books and chapter books written by other authors, and decided that I’d like to have a try at writing my own stories to illustrate. After writing several picture book manuscripts, I got this voice in my head saying that I should attempt a longer story. I have no idea where this came from, but one day I was stuck at home with a winter cold and, feeling very bored, I starting writing The Blackhope Enigma. I wrote 12,000 words over a few days and sent it to my agent thinking it would be shot down, but she encouraged me to go on with it.

Teresa Flavin: Nice question! I think that Sunni would be a big fan of Sandro Botticelli, especially his Primavera painting, and she would also like Pieter Bruegel the Elder, the Flemish artist who painted scenes with loads of small people and animals in complex landscapes. Blaise would definitely be a fan of Hans Holbein the Younger, who painted the large enigmatic painting, The Ambassadors. He’d love Holbein’s mastery of lifelike detail and the puzzles that this painting presents to the viewer. I think Blaise would also like swashbuckling Caravaggio’s work. Caravaggio made incredibly dramatic paintings and had an equally dramatic life.

Teresa Flavin: I first thought of Angus, because he is a colourful character who was great fun to write. But then I decided that Marin is at least as interesting. For me, he is the most complex character in the book: he is extremely handsome but feared and distrusted by others; he is driven and never gives much away, though underneath he is seething with emotions.

Teresa Flavin: Very satisfied. After Templar Publishing acquired The Blackhope Enigma, I worked with their editors on closing up any last holes in the plot, clearing out any clunky writing and double-checking on historical facts. When all this fine editing was done, I felt I had done the very best I could with it, and that was a great feeling. Now I am starting to get enthusiastic feedback from children who have been reading advance copies, which is a phenomenal feeling!

Teresa Flavin: The first draft and the final draft are very different from each other. When I started writing, I just went on instinct and didn’t know how to structure a story to grip the reader from the first page. The basic plot was there but I had to restructure it over several drafts. And as I did historical research, I learned things that influenced the direction of the story, which was unexpected but exciting. New characters popped up and moved the plot in unforeseen ways. I have heard other authors speak about their characters “arriving and demanding to have their stories told”. I think that’s true in my case, too.

Teresa Flavin: I tend to outline the plot first, using flow charts, or “mind maps”, to try out different ideas. I like mapping out the possibilities visually, being an artist, and to draw little doodles and notes to myself. I stick all my research materials and outlines in a big binder to keep everything together. The most rewarding aspect of writing for me is the feeling I get when I am in full flow and the words are coming thick and fast. Even though they might all be culled later, I love being oblivious to time and the outside world because I am so absorbed in the world I am creating. Oh, and the other most rewarding thing is, of course, being published and having children love the book!

Teresa Flavin: Just off the top of my head… Arthur Conan Doyle (I am a huge Sherlock Holmes fan), Sally Gardner (author of The Red Necklace and The Silver Blade), Neal Stephenson (author of the historical science fiction trilogy The Baroque Cycle), Philip Pullman (His Dark Materials children’s trilogy) and Samuel Pepys (17th century diarist) and Mary Shelley (author of Frankenstein). I hope they like pizza.

Teresa Flavin: Another adventure for Sunni and Blaise, chock full of more adventure, art, fantasy and history.

Teresa Flavin: Just a bit of advice to any aspiring writers and illustrators: if doing this work is your heart’s desire, give it everything you have and see it through. I never thought I would write a children’s novel – not in a gazillion years. But once the idea struck me, I worked away at it, learned everything I could about the writing side of the publishing industry, asked advice and made sure I finished my book, for my own peace of mind. Even if I hadn’t been published, I would have had the satisfaction of completing my project and learning incredible things in the process. If I can do it, you can do it! For people who are getting started as illustrators and writers, I have a lot of great information on the Links page of my website. http://www.teresaflavin.com And please do visit The Blackhope Enigma website from July 1st! http://www.theblackhopeenigma.com Buy, The Blackhope Enigma from all good bookshops from 1st July, or order it online from The Book Depository.

Don’t forget to call back tomorrow to discover more about The Blackhope Enigma, and read my review!

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I am positively thrilled that my novel is finally reaching an audience.  After writing in the dead of night for many years, and dealing with the self-doubt that likely attends just about every fledgling author at some point, it is immensely gratifying to finally have readers who are (hopefully) enjoying what has been a huge labor of love.  Crossing is about a Chinese immigrant teen – Xing – growing up in an all-white community.  His existence is a lonely one, and at one level the novel works as young man’s desire to find a place of acceptance, a place to call home.  Students at his school start to mysteriously disappear, and the whole community is flummoxed by the events.  Xing, however, on the periphery of society observes certain things which, while terrifying him, also might suggest who the perpetrator is.  As the identity of this person becomes slowly apparent to Xing, a noose of suspicion begins to enclose around him.

I worked for a few years with immigrant teens in Manhattan’s Chinatown.  What really struck me was how acutely they felt isolated from society at-large.  Shoved out of the way, really.  And they shared a real disenchantment with America.  One Sunday, a group of us – we were traveling in upstate New York – decided to attend church.  It turned out to be an all-white church and I still remember the cold looks of suspicion and icy stares cast our way throughout the service.  Just because we were Chinese, just because we looked different.  Those cold stares haunted me for a long time afterward.  It got me thinking: what if an immigrant teen had to grow up all alone in this kind of community?  And what if something terribly, mysteriously awful started to happen in that community? Xing didn’t start out being “unreliable” as a narrator.  But I have very little control over my characters, especially the protagonist.  Xing had a will of his own, and he did not like one bit being portrayed in a cutesy and charming way – every time I wrote him that way, he lashed out at me on the page.  I began to “not like” him a little, to suspect him, even, and eventually I saw that he might have some hidden agenda – one hidden even from the writer.  So, in answer to the question, I didn’t start out thinking Xing was unreliable, but once he took on a life of his own, suspicion (both towards and emanating from him) became part and parcel of his very being.  Part of the joy (and challenge!) in writing Crossing was figuring out Xing: why was I suspicious of him, why did I consider him to be unreliable?  He was an intriguing dude to deal with, to say the least.

That’s really interesting, I always like hearing about characters who know better than their authors, what they’re about. It has to be one of the delights of writing; discovering something even you did not know! Talking of which, what is the most rewarding aspect of writing for you?

There are certain joys that come with writing.  Certainly,  the very act of creation – of a character, a moment, a world – is a thing of beauty, and, when it comes together well, is immensely satisfying.  But I think for me, one of the matchless pleasures comes after publication when somebody reviews your book or sends you an email that really demonstrates that (s)he just got it.  Not the flashy or obvious points of the book, but the nuances, the subtle touches that only an empathetic and sensitive reader would get.  Let me give you an example.  One reader told me that he was immensely touched in the Chinatown scene when Xing’s father, instead of getting furious at Xing (those who’ve read the book will know this reference point), was instead gentle and understanding.  This really got to the reader, made a impression on him, and he took the time to let me know.  As a writer, you write for yourself, to make the words meaningful and significant to you without worrying so much about the mass readership.  So it’s gratifying to hear when someone is, in fact, pulled along as well.

Miss Durgenhoff is my favorite, in the sense that of all the characters I’d want to spend the day with, it would be her.  Although I delight in the three-dimensional complexity of Xing and have a (not-so-secret) crush on Naomi, it’s actually Miss Durgenhoff I’d love to meet in real life.  She has an aspect that draws me to her.  There’s something about the softness and sweetness of her soul that, because of the circumstances of her life, would have, for other people, turned to bitterness.  Kathryn Stockett said “When a person has that much sadness and kindness wrapped up inside, sometimes it just pours out as gentleness.”  That’s Miss Durgenhoff to a T, and I can easily see why the lonely Xing would find such warmth and comfort in her.  Plus, if I did meet her, I know she’d cook me up a feast.

You talked on your blog about your writing and how the book was a surprise to a lot of your family, friends, and work colleagues, how did you go about writing your book? From what I’ve heard, writing can be an all consuming passion?

It was a lonely journey, let me tell you.  Because I was working full time, the only part of the day when I could write was at night.  I burned many a midnight hour, tapping away into the wee hours of the morning.  Virtually every time I sat down, I had a dozen reasons why I should instead be sleeping or watching TV or reading or . . . But I really felt that I was creating a novel that was both unique and tantalizing, and as Xing took shape and I grew to be intrigued by him, I realized this was a person I wanted the world to know.  That kept me pushing on through the years.  After a decade – yes, it took me that long – I can honestly say that it was more perspiration than inspiration that got me through.

I’m actually quite intimidated by authors.  And I tend to think (and yes, perhaps I am guilty of stereotyping here) that authors make bad conversationalists.  They tend to be more observers and listeners, students of life and the world rather than verbose analysts.  Truth is, I think I might want to avoid a long, drawn-out, and awkward lunch with an introspective bore.  But maybe just so that I could solve the mystery once and for all, I’d have lunch with William Shakespeare.  I’d ask, “Bill, level with me.  Did you write all the plays or not?”

East of the Mountains by David Guterson, In the Fall by Jeffrey Lent, and Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (a misunderstood masterpiece).

At the moment, I have the opposite of writer’s block: two stories have tumbled into my head and heart, and both, apparently, are jostling to be written before the other.  They are completely different genres involving drastically different writing styles: one is literary romance (this caught me by surprise) and the other is a YA novel with a neat spin on the dystopian genre.   It’s a bizarre experience; if I spend too much time on the one, I feel unfaithful to the other.  Both are flowing so well that I dare not put either aside out of fear that that might somehow dry up the creative stream.

Crossing is not meant to be a “message” novel, one that teaches you a “life lesson.”  I’ve found that “message” novels are often preachy and didactic, and I tend to avoid them like the plague. So one of the last things I wanted to do in a novel with such strong racial overtones was to come across as preachy. What I do hope readers take away fromCrossing is a sense that they’ve crossed over and stood in someone else’s shoes and lived inside his skin for a few days. To feel his fears and the fragility of his hopes, to really understand someone so different from themselves. And that’s one of the reasons why this novel is a thriller – it’s difficult to really get to know a character in stasis – you need to see them in conflict, in moments of uncertainty, in naked fear, dealing with irrational thoughts, before you really get a feel for them. Hopefully, Crossing succeeds in snagging readers into its pages and into the life of a Chinese immigrant teen named Xing Xu.

Andrew can also be found on his blog, twitter & facebook

Buy: Crossing by Andrew Xia Fukuda from The Book Depository

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I reviewed Wintercraft a few days ago (click on the link to check out my thoughts on this entertaining read). Today I’m pleased to welcome the book’s author Jenna Burtenshaw to Bart’s Bookshelf to chat about her new novel.

Hi Darren. Thanks for inviting me!

My names Jenna Burtenshaw.  I’m a writer of young adult fiction and I have three dogs and two rabbits who all battle against my writing for my time.  Wintercraft is my first published book and mixes together everything that I love reading myself danger, darkness and the supernatural.

It took a long time for the story to come together in the form you see it now.  Pieces of it were taken from short stories written when I was younger and I auditioned different characters in the main roles before settling on the final group.  One of the main changes to the characters was the introduction of Silas Dane.  The part he plays was originally taken by someone very different.  In early drafts something just wasnt working.  Then Silas came in and took charge.  He pulled it all together and everything really started to shine.  I rewrote the story many times before I sent it out to agents.  Writing Wintercraft was like putting together a puzzle and Silas was the final missing piece.

It’s interesting that it took Silas to pull the book together, because Wintercraft is populated by some really great characters as well as just himself, is there one that interests you the most and could you tell us a little about him or her? And maybe a little nugget of information about them that doesn’t appear in the book?

One of the most interesting characters for me has to be Edgar.  Edgar is Kate Winters best friend.  He’s a nervous character who reveals hidden bravery when the people he cares for are under threat.  Edgar has learned to live on his wits but he would much prefer a peaceful and simple life.  Because of a bad past experience he is scared of deep water, but like many of his fears he keeps it well hidden.

Once I signed with an agent everything started moving very quickly and a few publishers were interested in Wintercraft right away.  I was very lucky.  I travelled to London for meetings and the book went to auction two weeks later, which was a very nerve-wracking day!  After years of writing other books, submitting to agents and collecting rejection letters, last summer was definitely a rollercoaster.

I loved it right from the start.  Headline showed me drafts as it was being created.  The spirit wheel was one of the last features to be added and with it in place I thought the entire cover suited the story perfectly.  The colours are beautiful and if you look at it from a distance it looks a bit like a skull.  I don’t think that was intentional, but I like it!

My desk is covered in piles of paper, pens and sticky notes to remind me about plot points and exciting ideas that I want to slip in somewhere.  I work in a constant state of gentle chaos.  I always have music playing when I write and I know things are going well when I start tuning it out.  I never write in public – I’m a bit of a people-watcher, so Id be too distracted – and I like having unusual things around me that I’ve collected.  A few things on my desk right now are a stone dragons head, a steampunk-inspired necklace and a robotic talking parrot.  If they creep their way into a story one day, now you’ll know why.

I have a few books on the go right now: My Swordhand Is Singing by Marcus Sedgwick, Shadowmagic by John Lenahan and Verdigris Deep by Frances Hardinge.

I’m in the middle of editing the second book in the series and I’m also working on the first draft of book three.  If any of your readers decide to try Wintercraft, I hope they enjoy reading it!  There is still a lot more to come from Kate, Silas and their world.

Thanks again for inviting me to your bookshelf!

Many thanks, Jenna for taking the time to answer my questions today, and I wish you every luck that Wintercraft will do well.

Wintercraft is released on Thursday, why not pick up a copy from The Book Depository!

You can also find Jenna on twitter, her blog & the Wintercraft website.

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Today I’m pleased to welcome popular thriller writer, Patrick Woodrow to Bart’s Bookshelf.

Patrick is the author of two exciting adventure yarns, but I should really let him tell you about himself…

Patrick Woodrow: Thank you. I’m delighted to be here. FIRST CONTACT is the second novel in my series of adventure thrillers. In many ways it’s a conventional mystery with a couple of stiffs and a big old hook at the end of the first chapter. But it’s also about ordinary people having to overcome extraordinary circumstances.

I have a hunch that the thriller market is oversupplied with world-weary detectives chasing serial killers around the rain-soaked streets of American cities so I was determined to write something fresher and more original. I’m passionate about the great outdoors and I love adventure so the idea of a bird-watching trip that goes horribly wrong struck me as the perfect vehicle for my story.

Patrick Woodrow: I guess the internet makes it possible to write about places you’ve never actually been to but there’s no substitute for firsthand experience. I killed two birds with one stone by combining my research trip with my honeymoon.

My wife is very adventurous and had studied anthropology at university so Papua New Guinea was an ideal place for her to visit too. PNG is opening up to tourism more and more, but it’s still a poor and occasionally dangerous place to visit. In the middle of our holiday, we undertook a five-day hike to a village in the Tari highlands, where many of the kids hadn’t seen white skin before.

We lodged in bush accommodation and were constantly on the lookout for snakes and spiders. Sleeping on a damp reed floor wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea but we wanted to experience the real Papua New Guinea. On one occasion we found ourselves in the middle of a village court session. A woman had been accused of adultery and the village elders were deliberating over how many pigs her lover would have to pay to the cuckolded husband by way of compensation.

The village chief treated us as guests of honour and anyone who came too close to us was beaten with a bamboo rod. At times it was quite a frightening experience.

Patrick Woodrow: You’re right to say that the main plot was in place before I started to write. It’s very hard to plant clues or introduce twists retrospectively without it seeming contrived. But half the fun of writing is adding the detail and allowing the characters to evolve as you go.

Birds are a big theme throughout the book. Neither Carmen’s tattoo nor Tom Chuter’s parrot featured in the original synopsis. And the more I wrote of Melanie, the more impetuous she became. Hers were the easiest scenes to write because most of the time she’d decided what to do or say long before I could approve it.

Yes, I can imagine Melanie have a lot to say to you!

Patrick Woodrow: The morning hours are crucial. Assuming I’m well-rested and not hungover I can often write a chapter a day, which typically means 1,500 to 2,500 words. The first hour is a splurge of content, thereafter it’s a highly iterative process of writing and rewriting until I’ve got it sounding how I want. I always read what I’ve written out loud as this is the only way of checking how my stuff is going to sound in someone else’s head.

If I’m lucky I can be in pretty good shape by lunchtime, which allows me to walk the dog in the afternoon and then return to my desk for a few more hours of gentle editing, when my brain is beginning to tire. If I’m stuck for an idea, I go into town for a coffee and take my notebook with me. A change of scene can be enormously productive.

Maps were very important to the accuracy of my first two novels. And I’m currently spending a lot of time looking at charts of the Himalayas and measuring distances on Google Earth for the opening scenes of my third book.

Patrick Woodrow: I’d have Matt Groening for his biting insight into contemporary life. Sitting next to him would be Louis L’Amour: one of the world’s all-time great storytellers. I’d put Richard Dawkins next to Gerard Manley Hopkins – just to watch the fireworks, and I’d plonk Edward Lear in the corner, where he could spout utter nonsense for as long as he liked.

I’ve always fancied Ben Jonson as a bit of a hell-raiser so he’d be at the bar getting the drinks in. I’d also have Carl Hiaasen and PG Wodehouse to take the piss out of the other guests and make me laugh. But most of the time I’d be talking to Wilbur Smith about big game fishing in the Indian Ocean.

Patrick Woodrow: I’m just over half way through my third novel, which features a bad-ass alpinist with a thirst for revenge. We start in the Pakistani Himalayas and then move to a secret location in the South Atlantic via London and Buenos Aires.

I still have a few business interests to manage – not to mention some hefty bills to pay – but I will be writing full-time again over the summer with a view to having it finished in the second half of the year.

Patrick Woodrow: As a matter of fact, there is! Your blog demonstrates a fairly wide range of tastes so I’d like to introduce your followers to a book called The Journal of Dora Damage, published by Bloomsbury in 2007.

It received rave reviews from the Independent, Spectator and Guardian (among others) and is one of the finest examples of historical fiction you’re ever likely to read. The plot concerns a bookbinder’s wife, who is drawn into the world of Victorian pornography, following her husband’s demise from arthritis.

It is an exquisite achievement and a must-read, not only for fans of the genre, but for all fans of world-class literary fiction. The author, Belinda Starling, was a friend of mine. She died shortly before her book was published but she has left us all a jewel.

Patrick Woodrow: My pleasure. Thank you for having me.

Buy, First Contact from The Book Depository with FREE world-wide shipping!

You can also find Patrick at his website, twitter & facebook

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YA & Dystopian… Well it should come as no surprise that I was instantly interested! You can listen to the book, Twenty Years Later, right now! (Well once you’ve read this post of course!) As Emma is currently releasing a podcast of each chapter weekly on her site. I’m addicted.

To meet her characters, find out what her new publisher thinks of her podcast, and the quirky route they took to work with each other, and more. Keep reading.

Emma Newman: Starting with the tricky question first eh? I hate talking about myself! Suffice to say that I live in Somerset, England, and I am a writer. (I feel like I’m introducing myself at an addiction support group for writers… hey, that’s not a bad idea…)

I drink lots of tea, I write lots of words and I have far too many ideas. I run my own B2B writing business, but my heart is in fiction writing. I have officially won the prize for “Woman most disproportionately excited within the environs of Somerset”, a title I have held since September last year when I finally got a publisher for my debut novel Twenty Years Later. I’m uncertain whether I will ever stop grinning, but I have managed to stop cheering out loud now. It’s a long process of recovery… I take one day at a time. I run a short story club from my website too.

As for the novel, perhaps I should start with the blurb I have on the site:

“Gangs, blood oaths and loyalty test three teenagers searching for a kidnapped sister in post-apocalyptic London, unaware that as they unravel the mystery of her whereabouts, they are uncovering London’s darkest secret.

Zane, Titus and Erin discover the connection between a wheezing giant sighted in an abandoned hospital and the secretive gang holding Titus’ sister captive. When they learn the reason she was kidnapped is related to the disease that almost destroyed humanity, the rescue of one girl becomes the struggle to save many.”

Zane, Titus and Erin discover the connection between a wheezing giant sighted in an abandoned hospital and the secretive gang holding Titus’ sister captive. When they learn the reason she was kidnapped is related to the disease that almost destroyed humanity, the rescue of one girl becomes the struggle to save many.”

What I’d like to add to that is that the book is also about loyalty and adhering to oaths that are sworn by the protagonists under different circumstances, but end up changing the world around them.

Emma Newman: Zane is a true innocent. He has been brought up by his over-protective mother, spending his childhood in an idyllic garden in the centre of a terribly harsh post-apocalyptic London, filled with dust and bones of the dead and ruled by disparate gangs. As a result, he simply doesn’t perceive danger in the same way as his new friends, and always seeks to find the best in people. I love his story, as despite his mother’s best efforts to keep everything terrible out of his life, the world comes to him instead. And that takes it toll on him… but I won’t spoil the book by saying what happens!

Titus was brought up by his older sister, and when she is kidnapped he is lost without her. It takes him a long time to trust Miri and Zane when they take him in, but he eventually relaxes his guard. Titus is incredibly intelligent, has a photographic memory and can think with razor sharp logic. He can be ruthless when he needs to be too.

Erin grew up in terrible circumstances; with the Gardners, one of the most vicious gangs in London. As a result she is tough but brittle, and she too finds it difficult to form a close friendship with Titus and Zane. She is fiercely loyal to them once the bond has been established however. Erin is desperate to impress her father, who she has only known for a matter of days at the beginning of the book, and is torn between the pull of the gang that her father is in (The Red Lady’s Hunters) and the loyalty she has to her new friends.

What I love about all three is the way they influence each other. Through their friendship, Zane exposes Erin and Titus to compassion, whilst they in turn teach him that the world outside of his mother’s territory is dangerous and that people can be cruel. Titus brings logic and strategy to Erin’s raw determination, and drives the three to solve the mystery of his sister’s whereabouts. They are all so different from each other, but combined they form a powerful unit.

As for something that doesn’t make it to the book… hmmm, I’ll think about that…

Emma Newman: In short, that quirky route was Twitter!

People either bounce up and down or roll their eyes when someone mentions Twitter, I am one of the former.

Early last year I was followed on Twitter by another post-apocalyptic genre fan, and he mentioned a new press (@dystopiapress) in a tweet, before the press had even been launched. Over the following months I chatted with the founder over Twitter and formed a positive impression of him. When the press was officially launched and submissions were called for, I sent mine in. He requested the full manuscript three days later and a month after that the contract was on the table.

I had received almost 30 rejections from publishers and agents before that point, and it still amazes me that in the end, I secured a home for Twenty Years Later with a brand new independent press on the other side of the world. Without Twitter, it would have taken a lot longer for the press to hit my radar, and I feel that a personal connection was formed, so writing the query letter was a lot more pleasant as an experience.

Oh dear. I’m grinning like an idiot again…

Emma Newman: Well, I had already started to podcast the book before the contract came along, so I felt I had a commitment to the listeners who were already very keen on it. I explained my rationale behind starting to podcast to the publisher, and that I didn’t want to let people down. He listened, agreed that it wasn’t a threat to hard copy sales – and may increase them – and so the clause to continue was written into the contract. I was very pleased, I don’t know about surprised.

I’ve been listening to, and really enjoying the podcasts – you’ve got a great reading voice by-the-way – But what I’d like to know is that has recording the book affected the writing of it in anyway? Made it easier to find out what works and what doesn’t?

Emma Newman: Ooh, how lovely, thank you! The book was finished long before I started podcasting it, but even now I see things I would tweak in my prose. I guess that’s the curse of every writer. I could fiddle with it a hundred times and still see something the next time!

Reading it aloud hasn’t changed my idea of what works or not, but it has reconnected me with the world and characters, making the writing of book two a lot easier. Reading aloud is a critical part of my editing process by the way, so it’s been read aloud in several incarnations before – this is the first time it’s been recorded though!

Emma Newman: I love Bradbury, Wyndham, Orwell, HG. Wells and lots of other dystopian authors; I can’t attribute a single book as an inspiration as I am deeply in love with so many dystopian worlds. I favour Ray Bradbury’s attitude to inspiration; everything a writer is exposed to; films, books, real world experiences etc, goes deep inside and becomes a ‘creative mulch’ out of which stories grow.

Emma Newman: My Short Story Club is my solution to three great problems that writers have: procrastination, lacking ideas and having a readership. Every month I put out a call for prompts such as opening lines, titles or concepts. I pick a winner, write a short story from it and the winner gets to read it before everyone else. Then I e-mail the story to all of the members for free. There are just shy of 120 people in it now and it’s been wonderful. It has also reassured me that I can write under pressure, which is something I was secretly fearful of on the brink of becoming published.

The feedback they give me is fantastic and I love the stories that have been born from their ideas. It has also made the last few months the most productive ever in terms of my short story writing, and as a result I’ve been able to collate 11 stories together for my first e-anthology, mix of short stories and flash fiction. It’s called “From Dark Places” and is available from Smashwords. I am thrilled with the reviews and response to it so far.

The e-book was a real challenge as I had to make a huge psychological leap in actually asking people for money in return for my fiction. I put a great amount of effort into preparing the book, getting a professionally designed cover and creating a secret area on my website that contains notes on all of the stories that buyers of the book can access, so I feel they get good value for money.

My goal is to release one every four months, and then at the end of the year collate them into a print-on-demand version as lots of people have asked for that.

That just leaves be to thank Emma for stopping by to chat!

Emma can be found on: Smashwords | Twitter | Facebook | Blog

If you are an author or a publisher and would like to arrange an interview with Bart’s Bookshelf,  just use my contact from to get in contact!

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Today I’m pleased to welcome best-selling writer, Alex Bell to Bart’s Bookshelf. Author of The Ninth Circle and Jasmyn. Lex Trent versus The Gods is her first foray in to YA comic fantasy.

I also have news of a fantastic giveaway from Alex and her publisher, Headline, after the interview, so be sure to keep reading!

Alex Bell: Hi Darren. I am an escaped law student, an avid reader, a compulsive writer, and a proud Great Dane owner.

Lex Trent versus The Gods is my third novel, and the first to be YA and comic fantasy. It’s a fantasy adventure story about a good-for-nothing scoundrel who lies, cheats, swindles, and gets away with it.

Alex Bell: As a child, Lex suffered for a brief while from terrible nightmares about octopuses.

*Blinks* Actually that doesn’t totally surprise me… Now as you say Lex is “a good-for-nothing scoundrel who lies, cheats, swindles, and gets away with it.” But what about his less redeeming features. Surely there is a ‘good boy’ in there just waiting to escape?!

Alex Bell: Er . . . well, you never know, but I seriously doubt it!

Alex Bell: Lex didn’t change a huge amount during the editing process but, aided by the notes I got from my editor, I think the story became more exciting than it had been in the first draft. I added some new scenes and polished certain sections that were already there – and past experience obviously helps with all of that.

Alex Bell: Lex’s next adventure will be even bigger and better than the last one! He will face stiffer competition, come up against greater perils, and perpetrate more outrageous frauds. And he will find himself evenly matched with his next companion, who is almost as much of a rascal as Lex is himself. There will be more Gods, more strange beasts, more weird & wonderful locations, more cheating, and more scams!

Alex Bell: I mostly write at my desk at home, preferably early in the morning or late at night when the house is quieter. I can’t listen to music whilst I write, although I do enjoy writing in coffee shops sometimes (when I can afford it!)

As for inspiration and prompts, I have a noticeboard on the wall above my desk which I cover with pictures, photos, maps, postcards, and anything else I think might inspire me. I also have an extremely untidy desk that is covered with weird and wonderful things that I’ve been known to mess about with when I’m trying to work out how to move the story forwards. And I have a big skeleton named Erin in my room who I will talk to if I’m getting really stuck.

It’s also important for me to have lots of cats around me when I’m writing. They release happy enzymes in my brain, and help me think! Especially my little Siamese who spends most of each day on my lap. I don’t think I could write very well without cats, which is why my three are all duly acknowledged in the acknowledgement section of every one of my books!

Alex Bell: I’m working on another serious adult book at the moment, but I would certainly jump at the chance to write more Lex Trents, or more books that are like Lex Trent, as I have so much fun with the comic fantasies. I have lots of ideas for funny books I could do in the future.

Alex Bell: I think all that’s left is to thank you for the great questions, Darren!

Lex Trent versus The Gods by Alex Bell is out Now!

Alex Bell, can also be found: Blog | Twitter | Publisher

GIVEAWAY!

Anti-Hero: In fiction, an antihero (feminine: antiheroine) is a protagonist whose character or goals are antithetical to traditional heroism…

Alex’s publisher has agreed to giveaway a SIGNED copy of Lex’s first adventure to THREE lucky readers of Bart’s Bookshelf!

Entry is very simple and there are two ways to win:

First: Simply comment on this post and let me know who your favourite literary anti-hero is, at the end of the entry period, I’ll pick TWO random winners.

Second: Tweet the following to help spread the word of the giveaway, and once the entry period is over, I’ll pick ONE winner.

Win a copy of Lex Trent versus the Gods a brand new YA comic fantasy by Alex Bell. Enter at @bartsbooks http://bit.ly/cmk33b

Headline have kindly agreed to send worldwide. Contest is open until midnight GMT on Monday February 15th 2010.

Winners will be notified by email or twitter.

See: Contest Policy

No related posts.

A Blue so Dark is the authors debut novel, even so she’s already had another two novels accepted for publication, but rather than get ahead of ourselves lets let Holly tell us about herself and her book(s)!

Holly Schindler: I’m an incurable book addict who decided, after obtaining a master’s degree, to devote myself full-time to my writing.  Nearly eight years and half a dozen or so worn-out computer keyboards later, I sold my first book, a YA novel, to Flux.

In A Blue so Dark (due out May 1, published by Flux Books), Aura Ambrose is terrified that her mother, a schizophrenic and an artist, is a mirror that reflects her own future.  As the novel opens, we find Aura struggling with her overwhelming desires to both chase artistic pursuits and keep madness at bay.

As her mother sinks deeper into the darkness of mental illness, the hunger for a creative outlet keeps drawing Aura toward the depths of her own imagination—the shadows of make-believe that she finds frighteningly similar to her mother’s hallucinations.

Convinced that creative equals crazy, Aura shuns her art, and her life unravels in the process…

Holly Schindler: I have a disease: metaphor-itis.  Once I get started, I can string more metaphors together in a draft than I really know what to do with.  It gets kind of goofy sometimes—three, four metaphors piled on top of each other to describe the smallest turn of events.  I’ve also got What-if-osis.  As in: what if I put these two characters together, or what if “x” happened to this person, or what if…I get ideas for novels all the time.  I literally have STACKS of notebooks full of ideas for novels in my office.

…Creativity has always fascinated me.  Where do ideas for novels and metaphors COME from?  What’s the source?  How do you balance creative ideas—allow just enough in to stay productive, but cut off the others when they start to become a distraction?

Essentially, for Aura, creativity and madness are inextricably linked.  And there’s no denying that many of our great artists have been mad, so she really gives readers something to chew on…

Holly Schindler: Once inspiration struck, I drafted the novel quickly—in just two months!  I cleaned the text up and began to submit.  But the number one critique I was getting from editors was that the book was too internal.  So I had to insert scenes, put Aura out in the world to interact with characters other than her mother.  Give her a life beyond being her mother’s caregiver and even beyond her art.

Aura became, as I rewrote, and rewrote, and rewrote, a friend, a granddaughter, a student.  She had a crush, fears, and a sense of humor.  I don’t know that she misbehaved so much as she became clearer.  It was kind of like going to the optometrist—first you can’t see a thing when you put your face against that giant black gadget and look at the eye chart, but after a few different lenses drop into place in front of your eyes, the details start to pop.  The world comes into focus.  That was what it was like fleshing out Aura’s character.  (See what I mean about those metaphors?)

Holly Schindler: I’ve got a real soft spot for Aura’s grandmother.  She’s a tough one—a real straight-shooter, no b.s.  And she’s got kind of a wild history herself—I find her every bit if not more interesting than Aura’s mother.  Yeah, I’d have coffee with Aura’s grandmother.  Definitely.

Holly Schindler: Goose bumps.  Deep gasp.  Tingly scalp.  The more I look at it, the more I love it.  I honestly can’t imagine another image that more accurately depicts the emotional content of A Blue so Dark.

Holly Schindler: There’s something about a notebook and a pen.  SO much kinder than a blinking cursor—especially when dealing with a rough draft.  When drafting my novels, I have a tendency to flesh out characters, write passages, outlines, etc. on notebooks, in longhand, before I sit at my computer.  Then I feel like I’m not starting from absolute ground zero.

Revisions are so MUCH more fun.  And I’m not talking the cut-and-paste a few paragraphs kind of revision.  I mean global revision, where chapters get axed, new characters invented, subplots invented.  THAT’S the most exciting stage of writing a novel, because that’s when a book really starts to take shape.

Holly Schindler: I’m a music junkie.  I’ve loved metal to bluegrass and just about everything in-between.  And I really don’t know what, in this world, is more thrilling than a well-crafted three-minute pop song.  I’m exactly the same way I was as a teen about music.  I find something I like, and I’m obsessed, playing the same tunes until everybody on my street knows the words.

Holly Schindler: You bet!  Playing Hurt, my second YA novel (due out in ’11), follows the flowering of an intense summer romance between two former athletes who have both endured game-related career-ending tragedies.  But by playing hurt—entering into a love match with already-broken hearts—are they just setting themselves up for the kind of injury from which they could never recover?

Fifth Avenue Fidos (also due out in ’11) will be my first adult novel, and is definitely the lightest book in the bunch.  This romantic comedy offers laugh-out-loud humor, quirky, lovable characters, and is a kind of fairy tale in which dogs, not dragons, rule the land…

Holly Schindler: While much of A Blue so Dark is finalized, Playing Hurt and Fifth Avenue Fidos are very much works in progress.  Because they’re so new in development, anything can change—titles, release dates, and neither has a cover yet.  I post exciting book developments all the time at my blog: hollyschindler.blogspot.com.  I’ve adored getting a chance to know and interact with my followers, and always look forward to meeting new bloggers and YA fans!

Due out 1st May 2010, you can pre-order: A Blue so Dark, right now from all good bookshops, including The Book Depository.

You can also find Holly at the following places: Website | Blog | Facebook | MySpace | JacketFlap

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1. Review: Tithe by Holly Black
2. Review: Blue Noon [Midnighters #3] by Scott Westerfeld
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Well, when I was given the understandably rare opportunity to interview an author, who was still working even though he is long past this mortal coil, I immediately said yes!

As you can imagine, conducting such an interview is fraught with difficulties, and I can’t thank, Christopher Wiley, Mortimus’ good friend and assistant enough for acting as a go-between, and making everything run as smoothly as possible!

So, Christopher, over to you!

Christopher Wiley here, interviewing my dear deceased friend, Mortimus Clay, for Bart’s Bookshelf. Thanks Bart for providing the thought-provoking questions. The alternative – naturally – are questions that do not provoke thought – and we know you would never be so thoughtless. So here we go!

Mortimus Clay: Hmmm now, where to begin? Partly it came from my first reading of Plato’s Republic under the strict tutelage of my childhood teacher, the Earl of Bustleworth. (Long, painful story. No time, thankfully.) Many things to like in the Republic, and many to recoil from. Particularly distasteful are the inhuman views on the family and childrearing. If you have ever read it you know what I am addressing: mothers blindfolded at birth, fathers unknown because of copulation on rotation, children fresh from the womb thrust into state run orphanages that make no provision for affection and familial contact. Plato saw the family as the primary threat to the integrity of the state, you see. You could say Plato was an inspiration for any attempt to pit progeny against parents. Creepy stuff rife with story line possibilities!

Then I died and met Plato personally and I knew I had to write my little book. The other inspiration for the story was a beatific vision of the end of the story. I cannot tell you anything about that without finding a way to have you join me on this side of the Jordan.

As to the second part of your question – well, it is not done yet – so I cannot say. Easily 3-5 books to tell the tale of the Weirdling. I am nearly done with the second installment and have an outline for the third.

Mortimus Clay: Oh yes! Any author who loves his characters knows he cannot make them do what they’re not inclined to do. One must listen to them and try to persuade without recourse to violence. Plot is just character in action you might say. If you don’t see plot as character working out in circumstances then your plot will be flat, wooden, dull and contrived.

Some characters are stronger than others – their personalities I mean. When they enter the room they tend to set the agenda. If two such characters meet – there are fire works! In the beginning of The Purloined Boy, Trevor is very much the character who responds to what others are doing. By the end of book one we see him beginning to be an agent to be reckoned with. His transformation is really what the book is about. I have heard it said that when you tell a story you should tell it from the point of view of the character with the most to lose. I think that is right.

Mortimus Clay: When Finster Press commissioned Justin Gerard I was very pleased! The way he works with light and shadow reminds me of London in my day. I knew he could capture the mood of my book. Here is a link to his website.

He actually shared some of his initial concept work with me. I admit, at the time I didn’t agree to the direction he wanted to go. He thought a collage of images from the book would work best and I wanted a scene from the book – something like the cover art for book two. But he insisted and I’m glad he did – it turned out wonderfully. Currently he’s working on a set of illustrations of The Hobbit that I think are very good.

Mortimus Clay: Well I did try to get into something by Dickens if you recall but he snubbed me. Oh he’s sorry about it now but when it counted I was persona non-grata.

Having been accused of being a fictional character I have a certain sympathy that your readers may not share. Reading exciting stories is wonderful. Actually being in an exciting story is another matter. I think I should like to be a character that is loved and respected by all and introduces a story then steps out of it only to reenter at the very end when all the fighting is over. I suppose Elrond fits the description. Yes, I should like to be Elrond.

Mortimus Clay: As you note – I am in a unique position. Time is no object. Unfortunately it is for my personal secretary, Christopher Wiley. Once he’s gone I’ll have to find another assistant. Either that or get on with the business of being dead.

Mortimus Clay: Holding a pen. Zombies manage for a while but eventually they go the way of all flesh. Dead of the insubstantial sort such as I find lifting anything – even a pen – beyond our ability.

That is why the internet is such a wonderful development! Why it is practically magical. The postmortem community is most grateful to Al gore for inventing it. Of course many of us suspect that the former Vice President of the American Colonies is actually one of us passing as a living person.

Mortimus Clay: Tutoring wayward knitters was not terribly rewarding I’m sorry to say. The factory girls had no interest in Chaucer. (Byron, if you explained him to them.) All they ever wanted to talk about was men and ale. I aspired to publication but was thwarted at every turn. I’d say two things to living authors. First, don’t quit your day job and second, take heart in the truth that your chances of success go up exponentially after death.

Mortimus Clay: Certainly. Anything written by me.

About the Author

Mortimus Clay is the most prolific author writing posthumously in the world today. Dead since 1885, Professor Clay’s first book was published in 2009.

While alive Mortimus Clay was a dismal failure as an author. Scorned by editors, laughed at by fellow writers, Mortimus spent his life trying to emulate his hero Charles Dickens, but instead ended up living like a character in a Dickens novel.

During the day he served as Professor of Arts and Letters at Her Majesty’s Knitting College for Wayward Girls, but his evenings were spent writing late into the night in his unheated Manchester flat.

After fifty years of teaching Beowulf and The Faerie Queene to unappreciative knitters, Professor Clay died in 1885, half-starved and grasping the shards of a poorly crafted poem entitled, “Ode to a Grecian Fern.”

It was the best thing to ever happen to the old boy at his writing took and immediate turn for the better.

Mortimus Clay has managed to create his own website (and it doesn’t even stink, which is amazing since it was created by a dead guy) and you can check it out HERE.

• Useful Links: Other TLC Tour Dates | Finster Press | Mortimus Clay’s Website
• Purchase From: Amazon

Related posts:

1. Review: The Purloined Boy by Mortimus Clay
2. Review: Clay by David Almond
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Rosemary and Peter, welcome to Bart’s Bookshelf, please make yourself comfortable, and don’t worry, you can be as honest as you like, James has promised not to listen too closely to your answers!

Rosemary: Well, my life has changed a lot since you asked that question, with the biggest change being that Peter and I are married! Yes, the marriage certificate has a bit of a hard-to-believe date on it, but we went before a priest, and that’s what matters, in my opinion. We’ve known each other for, what? Six years? He’s been my best friend that whole time. He’s kind, smart, sweet, encouraging. He… um… he makes me feel special. Is that what you’re looking for? I didn’t expect to be psychoanalysed!

Peter: Well… yeah, I didn’t expect to be psychoanalysed either. Rosemary is… Rosemary. She’s smart, kind, brave… I just like being around her; I like that I can help her. If she lets me.
Rosemary: When have I not let you help me?
Peter: Well, there was that time we first entered the Land of Fiction. You hit me rather than let me follow you in.
Rosemary: I hardly knew you back then, Peter!
Peter: I didn’t say you hadn’t grown since.

Peter: I don’t know. I really liked our first apartment.
Rosemary: Peter! It didn’t have electricity or running water!
Peter: Yeah, but it was _ours_. And it was better than some of the student housing we’ve been able to avoid.
Rosemary (grimaces): Point.

Rosemary: (winces)
Peter: The Zeppelin?
Rosemary: Yeah.
Peter: You know, he _did_ come back after.
Rosemary: I know, but…
Peter: Yeah.
Rosemary: You?
Peter (winces): Arial.
Rosemary: Oh, yeah.

Rosemary: What’s normal? Is the fact that we’ve gone to different worlds or gone back in time abnormal? Maybe. But we’re at University, now. We’re together. How do you separate that from the stuff that happened to us before?

Peter: Look, before I met Rosemary, I’d lost my parents. Would I like to change that? Maybe. Yeah, I would. But then I wouldn’t have come to Clarksbury. I wouldn’t have met Rosemary. I wouldn’t want that taken away from me. You got to take the bad with the good. In the end, we’re happy, and that’s what matters.

So Peter, how’s Rosemary’s dancing getting on these days?

Peter: I assume you’re not talking about our ballroom dancing, are you? We take classes; once a week. We started the spring after we came back, when Rosemary’s parents made us get married a second time.
Rosemary: They wanted a ceremony for the family.
Peter: You mean the stepdancing, don’t you? Well…
Rosemary (growls): Peter…
Peter: She’s still pretty good at it. It’s just not something she does publicly, is all. Only in private among friends, after _much_ cajoling. She should take it up, though. She’s very good.
Rosemary: (slaps the back of Peter’s head)
Peter: Ow!

Rosemary: Oh, camping with Peter is an interesting experience. He’s a real trooper — something he reminds me about on an ongoing basis. (sighs) I shouldn’t tease him. If he stopped going camping with me, who else would lure away the mosquitos and black flies?

(Peter and Rosemary look at each other)
Peter: We’ve got to get jobs first.
Rosemary (nods): Establish our careers.
Peter: Still…
Rosemary (nods): Kids would be nice.
Peter: Yeah. (gulps) Just maybe not now.
Rosemary: No. A while from now.
Peter: Yeah. A while.
Rosemary: A little while.
Peter: Little?

Rosemary: If we could avoid going in, I think we would. I mean, why walk into danger like that?
Peter: Yeah. You’re assuming we had a choice.
Rosemary (to Peter): You had a choice. You didn’t have to enter the Land of Fiction.
Peter: No. I didn’t.
Rosemary: Yes, you did.
Peter: Did you have a choice about not rescuing Theo?
Rosemary: That’s different.
Peter: How, exactly?
(silence for a moment)
Rosemary (to interviewer): Anyway. If we could _see_ the gate, I don’t think we’d walk in.
Peter (nods): Yes. Unless we really had to.

(Peter and Rosemary look)
Rosemary: And who are you again?

Erm… Well you see… I’m erm… Oh, is that my phone, really sorry about this, I’m going to have to take the call, if you stop by the desk on the way out, they’ll give you my card, and thanks once again for stopping by!

Intrigued by what Rosemary and Peter had to say in this interview? Want to know more? Want to meet them properly? Then catch up on their adventures!

Buy: The Unwritten Girl from The Book Depository and get FREE Worldwide Delivery!
Buy: Fathom Five from The Book Depository and get FREE Worldwide Delivery!
Buy: The Young City from The Book Depository and get FREE Worldwide Delivery!

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