10 Questions... With Lauren E. James

1. Describe your new book in 3 adjectives.

Regency sci-fi romance.

2. What were the challenges of writing this novel?

I had to do a lot of historical research as the book contains two plotlines in the past, one in 1745 during the Jacobite Uprising and one in 1854 during the Crimean War. Writing it was a very messy process involving a lot of Wikipedia and trawling through history books.

3. Which new up and coming authors do you like?

I love Catherine Doyle, Alice Oseman, and Louise O’Neill. Brilliant young authors who are also very cool!

4. Who is your favourite character in your book?

I don’t know if I can choose between my main characters Kate and Matt . . . this is too hard! They are the best as a pair.

5. Do you have any weird writing habits?

I write at night. I’ve tried writing during the day, but I’m totally unproductive until the sun has gone down!

6. We've had vampires, witches and demon hunters – what do you think will be the next YA trend?

Mental illness seems to be the new trend, like the recent books All the Bright Places and I’ll Give You The Sun.

7. If your novel were to be adapted would you prefer movie or TV series? Do you have a dream cast?

I’d prefer a TV series just because I’m greedy and would want it to be as long as possible! I spend a lot of time thinking about my dream cast, it’s probably unhealthy. I see Kate Finchley as a young Gillian Anderson, Matt Galloway is Ben Whishaw and Tom Galloway is Dylan O’Brien.

8. Why do you think YA fiction is so important?

Young Adult fiction has the huge responsibility of being read by teenagers. The right book can shape a young person’s ideas about important issues like feminism, homophobia, sexual assault and mental illness for the rest of their lives. If you read the right book at exactly the right age it can stay with you forever, and YA does that really well.

9. What can you tell us about your next project?

Right now I’m working on the sequel to The Next Together, which has an LGBT protagonist! I wrote a blog post about it here. I can’t say much more than that without spoiling something though, sorry!

10. Recommend your novel in one sentence:

Love transcends time and space and social constraints, even when the world is working against it.

10 Questions... With Gary Meehan

1. Describe your new book in 3 adjectives.

Funny, exciting, traumatic (for me, if not the reader).

2. What were the challenges of writing this novel?

True Dark's the second of a trilogy so the hard bit was trying to make it a story in itself rather than just a bridge to third part. There's also the problem of not repeating what happened in the first book (True Fire), which means inventing a whole new raft of situations for your characters to escape from.

3. Which new up and coming authors do you like?

I hugely enjoyed Non Pratt's Trouble last year. I'm a great admirer of Alexia Casale and awaiting her second book, House of Windows, with much anticipation. And, as a fellow practioner of the getting-girls-into-hair-raising-situations genre, albeit way better dressed, there is Sarah Sky and her Jessica Cole books.

4. Who is your favourite character in your book?

Damon, because I can give him all the lines I'd never say in real life. He also has a certain ... moral flexibility that makes him interesting to write. While we all like to believe we'd react to horrible situations as Megan and Eleanor, but most of us'd be like Damon, running away and weasling out and doing the right thing only as a last resort.

5. Do you have any weird writing habits?

Not a habit as such, but I usually end up in a battle with the cat for control of my chair and my hands. And typos you find in my books I'm blaming on a feline friend head-butting my hand as I'm trying to type.

6. We've had vampires, witches and demon hunters – what do you think will be the next YA trend?

I feel the need to add a disclaimer at this point that my witches aren't real witches; we even changed the title (from The Witch Mothers) to emphasise this. :-)

As for upcoming trends, I don't know. However, I do think the big YA space opera has yet to happen. We've got Star Wars Episode VII coming at the end of this year, plus the third of Star Trek reboots and the continuing popularity of Doctor Who. I can see that spilling over into the book world. It may even be the thing that drags more boys into YA.

7. If your novel were to be adapted would you prefer movie or TV series? Do you have a dream cast?

While TV is where it's at these days for well-written drama, I still find there's something magical about the whole cinema ritual. When the lights go down and the curtains roll back and screen starts shimmering, I want to see the words "based on a book by Gary Meehan".

8. Why do you think YA fiction is so important?

It gets teens read and enjoying books, asking questions, and discovering that no matter what they're going through someone else has been there too and understands. (Obviously, True Fire is there for pregnant teens who have been hunted the length of the country by bloodthirsty fanatics.)

9. What can you tell us about your next project?

It's the final part of the True trilogy, provisionally entitled True Power. We find out if and how Megan wins the war against the witches, and if and how Damon wins the war against his conscience.

10. Recommend your novel in one sentence:

For readers who love dark humour, thrilling adventures and moral complexity.

10 Questions... With Rhian Ivory

This week we asked Rhian Ivory to answer our 10 Questions. Here are her answers:

1. Describe your new book in 3 adjectives.

Witchy, weird and weblike.

2. What were the challenges of writing this novel?

Getting it right. I've written more drafts of this novel than any of the others. It the first novel where I've got a character in the present and a character in the past. I've no idea why I decided to write something so complicated.

3. Which new up and coming authors do you like?

Eve Ainsworth (SEVEN DAYS), Clare Furniss (THE YEAR OF THE RAT), Steven Camden (TAPE), Anna McKerrow (CROW MOON), Kat Ellis (BLACKFIN SKY), Gary Meehan (TRUE FIRE), Lisa Glass (BLUE). I could go on...

4. Who is your favourite character in your book?

Argh! That's like asking me to pick my favourite child. Ok...if you're going to force me I'd have to say Beth because she is the first person to try and help Noah and make a difference in his life. She sees him as a person rather than a freak.

5. Do you have any weird writing habits?

Oh yep, loads. I'm not telling you any of them though...apart from my obsession with red fizzy laces. I have to eat those when I edit otherwise it all goes horribly wrong.

6. We've had vampires, witches and demon hunters – what do you think will be the next YA trend?

I think we're going to see a big swing back to historical over the next year or two. Also there's already a big focus on mental heath, sexuality and books based in the real world.

7. If your novel were to be adapted would you prefer movie or TV seriers? Do you have a dream cast?

After listening to a screenwriter talk about the benefits of the small screen recently I think I'd have to say TV. He talked about getting up close and personal with TV because it is more intimate and I really liked that. 

Dream cast - I've only got as far as 1 character with this because I know if I start this I'll lose days on google images and imdb.com so I'd pick the very talented Helena Bonham Carter to play my evil villainess, Emilia.

8. Why do you think YA fiction is so important?

Because everything happens all at once when you are a teenager. You're changing physically as well as mentally, you've got hugely important exams, people are asking you what you want to do for a job when you are older (how on earth are you supposed to know this?), you've just fallen in or out of love with someone and you've probably got a massive spot on your face the size of a small country so you need books to keep you sane.

I also think as a teenager growing up in the UK it is vital that you can also read about another teen growing up in the UK.

I remember how excited I got if I read about a character who was from somewhere I'd been or recognised. When you are a teenager you need to be able to read about yourself and the places that are familiar to you, this is why diversity in YA is so important.

9. What can you tell us about your next project?

Yes! My next book is another YA (thank you Arts Council for funding the writing of it I love you forever) is called 'Always, Hope' and it is about stalking, sexuality and singing.

10. Recommend your novel in one sentence:

Two boys, one village, the same curse. Can the future be redrawn or is history set to repeat itself?
If you like witches, water and want to know more about the workhouse keep an eye out for The Boy who drew the Future.

Thanks!
Rhian.

The Boy who drew the Future coming Sept 2015 from Firefly Press - http://www.fireflypress.co.uk/node/161

Twitter - https://twitter.com/Rhian_Ivory

Coming in March 2015

Avery, Tom - Not As We Know It
Black, Yelena - Dance of Fire
Carriger, Gail - Prudence
Crow, Matthew - The Brilliant Light of Amber Sunrise
Dawson, James - Under My Skin
Durham, Paul - Dishonour Among Thieves
Gardner, Sally - The Double Shadow
Gemeinhart, Dan - The Honest Truth
Grant, Helen - Urban Legends
Grey, Jacob - Ferals
Green, Sally - Half Wild
Haig, Matt - Echo Boy
Hartman, Rachel - Shadow Scale
Levithan, David - Hold Me Closer
McKerrow, Anna - Crow Moon
McLachlan, Jenny - Love Bomb
Mahoney, Karen - The Wood Queen
Marr, Melissa - Made For You
Oliver, Lauren - Vanishing Girls
Paige, Danielle - The Wicked Will Rise
Rattle, Alison - The Beloved
Reichs, Kathy - Terminal
Rubin, Lance - Denton's Little Deathdate
Rutkoski, Marie - The Winner's Curse
Sedgewick, Marcus - The Ghosts of Heaven
Stainton, Keris - Spotlight on Sunny
Terry, Teri - Mind Games
Toten, Teresa - The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B
Wallach, Tommy - We All Looked Up
West, Kasie - Pivot Point
Westcott, Rebecca - Five Things They Never Told Me
Wheatle, Alex - Little Bit

UKYA Extravaganza In Pictures

 

  

 

REVIEW: Remix - Non Pratt

GENRE: Contemporary YA
PAGES: 304
PUBLISHER: Walker Books
FORMAT: PB
RATING: 5 Stars

SUMMARY

Kaz is still reeling from being dumped by the love of her life... Ruby is bored of hearing about it. Time to change the record.

Three days. Two best mates. One music festival. Zero chance of everything working out.

REVIEW

The mark of a good book for me is an inability to put it down. Bear in mind I'm a painfully slow reader when I say that I read Remix in half a day - this for me is unheard of. It was part wanting to know what happens with the characters, and part nostalgia. It captures the feeling of being young and hopeful; being old enough to do adult things but too naive and inexperienced not to jump in headfirst because you think you should.

I remember my first festival like it was yesterday (not, sadly, nearly 10 years ago). The excitement of venturing out with your best friend believing everything would be magical and wonderful. The feeling that music can change the world and that those small moments of connection between you, the music, and the people you care about are perfectly written.

So much of the friendship between Kaz and Ruby rang true for me and my best friend, and I could understand and appreciate all the ways in which the characters had to choose between what they wanted and what was best for their friends, and how horribly wrong you can get it sometimes. That's the best thing about them, though, that nothing really works out perfectly. And that isn't a spoiler, just a reflection of real life relationships.

The characters are well drawn, flawed and selfish at times, but redeemable. It's a perfect weave of funny and serious, heartbreaking and gripping. It's full of popular culture references too (and perhaps a tiny nod to James Dawson's Say Her Name...?). It's raw in places, and not for the conservative or very young among YA readers but I like that, and Non Pratt is becoming known for not pulling her punches. I like that sex isn't glorified and there some really important scenes. I believe it is right to be honest and transparent in contemporary work, where truth is necessary. Yes it's a little convenient in places, but who cares? There's so much for readers to relate to, even if you've never been to a festival. That intense friendship and first love. And if you're a bit older I think you'll find as much in here that is nostalgic as I do.

Although the overarching theme is friendship, it's also about mistakes: how easy it is to make them, and how hard they can be to fix and forget. I loved Remix. It's going to be the perfect Summer read. So buy it in June, sit out on the grass and imagine the music surrounding you.

- Bex.

A Message From Melinda Salisbury

Hi all!

On World Book Day (5th March) we are thrilled to be hosting an evening with Melinda Salisbury! It's a free event, just reserve a seat by tweeting us @yabirmingham. Here's a little something she wanted to say to all you YA Birmingham followers out there:

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This is my first World Book Day on the other side of the pages, as it were. I love books. And I love World Book Day. And I love, love, LOVE that I’m going to get to spend it at Birmingham Waterstones YAHQ this year!

I’ve been following the @yabirmingham team for a while now, and I am frequently blown away by how excited and passionate they are about YA books, and how hard they work to talk to authors and readers about the things that mean the most to them in the book world. They tweet, they blog… For all I know they chase people down the streets screaming “READ THIS NOW! YOU NEED IT!” (I really hope that’s true). So for me, it’s an honour to be able to spend one of the most important nights of the bookish year with them. 

I can’t wait to meet them in real life and to hang out, and get to talk about books – both mine, and others we all love. I can’t wait to meet other YA fans, who will having FEELINGS about books and characters *cough – Sturmhond - cough*. It’s going to be an amazing night, and I feel really lucky to be part of it. 

I hope I see you there! 

Melinda Salisbury

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