Category Archives: Author Interviews
Out of Orbit Blog Tour – Guest post by author Chele Cooke
I had author Chele Cooke on my blog a while back to talk about her vampire novel Teeth – now she’s back with the third book in her science-fiction series Out of Orbit. On the 29th October 2015, Rack and Ruin continues the story started in the first two books, Dead and Buryd and Fight or Flight. (Click on the titles to find out more about each book).
Chele is on my blog today though to share her Top Ten Series (not including her own, which of course you are welcome to add to your top ten lists).
My Top Ten Series
Earlier in this blog tour, I answered the question of my top ten favourite books. I had to narrow down my possible choices, and in the end, I still ended up with an entire series as one of my answers. Luckily, hopefully choosing my favourite series of books will be a bit easier.
- The Harry Potter series by JK Rowling
This is the book series that I couldn’t choose a single book for. I love it. I first read Harry Potter as a teenager and I was one of those people who queued at midnight for the final books. These books are what started me writing (I started out writing fanfiction) and so they’ll always be very close to my heart.
- The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
I ploughed through this series in a matter of days. I was lucky that I waited so long to pick it up, because it meant I didn’t have to wait. Admittedly, I think the third book doesn’t stand up to the rest of the series, it felt a bit squashed to me, but it’s still a series I adore rereading.
- A Song of Ice and Fire by G.R.R Martin
I’ve listened to this series on audiobook, and at about 80 hours per book, I’ve put a lot of time into it already. I both love and loath the detail that goes into these books, and there are times when I really wish someone had taken an axe to all the excess characters and points of view, but never let it be said that G.R.R Martin doesn’t know how to make a detailed and interesting fantasy world.
- The Discworld series by Terry Pratchett
There is far too much to say about Discworld to put into a small paragraph. I actually started out with Discworld via a point and click PC game. It was, without a doubt, the most infuriating game I have ever come across. If anyone can get through it without looking up answers, I bow down to you! Also, getting through it without hating the phrase “That doesn’t work” is impossible.
Terry Pratchett is far more of a wizard than anyone in his books. What he has created is astonishing.
- The Wicked Years by Gregory Maguire
Not only did Maguire retell The Wizard of Oz, but he continued his wonderful story with three more fantastic books, turning what little we knew about Oz into a story far more interesting than the original tale. I love his detail and his willingness to roam into the darker sides.
- Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkien
We’re including the Hobbit in this! I don’t care what anyone says, I am including the Hobbit in this series because I love it, and I don’t think it should be discounted. Tolkien is one of the fathers of Fantasy, and I’d not be able to get through a series top ten without including him. Like Martin and Pratchett, the world he has created is beyond astounding.
- The Wool Trilogy by Hugh Howey
There’s something mesmerisingly claustrophobic about Hugh Howey’s Wool trilogy. Taking place inside underground silos, there is a closeness to it that Howey has recreated wonderfully in his language.
- Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind
Another epic fantasy series where the books are quite long by themselves. I’m still only about four books in (out of more than a dozen) because other books sometimes get in the way. They’re quite dense books, and can be a little hard going at times, but I love the complexity of the world, the magic system, and the history. Plus, Zed is amazing! How can you not love a crazy old wizard you first see standing naked on a stone holding a chicken?
- The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S Lewis
Yep, I’m going back to childhood! These, along with Roald Dahl, were some of my favourite books as a kid, and I get quite nostalgic for them.
- Books by Jane Green
A little bit of cheating here, because technically these books are not a series. They’re stand alone novels, but all by the same author. I love Jane Green and she writes most of my favourite comfort read books. I can pick up any one of them and know I’ll enjoy it. So, while they’re not about the same characters, and they’re not the same settings, they give me the same feeling, and sometimes that’s just what I need.
I only cheated once, hurrah! There are some other series I could have mentioned, but admittedly those are the series where I feel like one of the books let it down. For example, I really enjoyed the Divergent series, but I felt the last book and the one-eighty the story took, let it down quite a bit.
I’d also like to celebrate the fact I didn’t go into my top ten TV series, because that is another wide and interesting list.
So, how many of Chele’s favourite series have you read?
There is a tour wide giveaway.
The prizes include;
A full set of Out of Orbit series in paperback and a £25 Amazon giftcard
Ten ebook sets of the Out of Orbit series
Click on the link above to enter and check out the other blog stops below.
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Guest Post from Holly Webb – Author of Return to the Secret Garden
Today is my stop on the Return to the Secret Garden Blog Tour. I asked author Holly Webb to share her thoughts on writing with existing characters. Here’s what she had to say:
I dithered about the idea of writing a sequel to The Secret Garden for ages. It was suggested to me by my then editor at Scholastic, the lovely Zoe Griffiths, when we were discussing favourite books from childhood. That was a good five years before the equally lovely Lucy Rogers nudged me into thinking about it again! Apart from it just not being the right time, I think it was the idea of taking someone else’s characters that worried me.
If you know The Secret Garden, you’ll remember that Mary Lennox is fabulous. Grumpy and friendless, she arrives in England to find the whole place is wet and miserable and wuthering. She only goes out into the wintry gardens because she’s bored and there’s nothing for her to do and hardly anyone for her to talk to. But Frances Hodgson Burnett makes this unlikable child in a grim old house fascinating. For me it was the way the house, and especially the secret garden itself changed Mary that was the wonderful part of the book, and I wanted to recreate that feeling. So I cheated – even though Return to the Secret Garden is a sequel, and many of the characters from the original book reappear, it’s not a direct continuation of Mary’s story. It’s set just under thirty years later, at the outbreak of the Second World War, and another lonely child arrives at Misselthwaite.
I loved introducing Emmie to the garden – and those parts of the book were very easy to write. The gardens and the house are almost characters themselves in The Secret Garden, and I loved working with Frances Hodgson Burnett’s landscape (although I had to draw several maps to try and work out the geography of the gardens, and I still don’t think I’ve got it right…)
It felt very difficult, though, to make decisions about Mary, Colin and Dickon and what had happened to them. But one thing seemed obvious – The Secret Garden was published in 1911 (though it first appeared in 1910 as a serial in The American Magazine, which is really interesting, as it wasn’t meant to be a children’s book). Mary and Colin are 10, and Dickon is 12 – so towards the end of the First World War, Dickon at least would have had to fight. What would that have done to such a happy, friendly child, whose life was shaped by loving nature and his Yorkshire landscape? And even if they survived the First World War, those children would have been in their late thirties, possibly raising their own families, when the Second World War broke out.
So many opportunities to take their story on…
I’m really looking forward to re-reading the original and seeing how Holly has moved things on in her follow up. I really love the idea of the landscape as a character too – I wonder how the environment grows up too? Thanks to Scholastic for sending me a copy and to Faye Rogers for organising the tour.
There is a tour wide giveaway that ends today for a copy of both books (UK and Ireland only). Unfortunately I can’t embed the rafflecopter in my blog so just follow this link to enter.
If you can’t wait – ‘Return to the Secret Garden’ is available from book retailers now.
Check out today’s other blog tour post over at YA Under My Skin and catch up with the rest of the tour by following the links on the banner.
Coming Thursday 22nd October – Out of Orbit Blog Tour with author Chele Cooke’s Top Ten Series.
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Sun Catcher series – Character Interview – Maia – #countdownya
A couple of days ago I shared my reviews of Sun Catcher and Storm Chaser and now here’s an interview with 13 year old Maia – the series protagonist (Sheila Rance the author is here whispering from the silk too).
From the back of Sun Catcher
Maia dreams of being a Story Teller, or a Weaver, like her father, Tareth, but when the Watcher names her Sun Catcher, she must face a destiny that Tareth has kept hidden from her. For Maia is more powerful than she knows, and she is about to discover that though he sun’s fire may be dangerous… So is she.
Maia, in your world, the Watcher prophesies people to a number of roles, Sun Catcher, Storm Chaser, and so on. If you could go back to your Naming Day, what role would you want the Watcher to give you, and why?
I always wanted to fly an eagle like Tareth, the Warrior Weaver, so I hoped the Watcher would name me Sky Warrior or Eagle Hunter.
Razek and Kodo compete for your attention – what actions of theirs makes them worthy of it?
I’ve known Razek for as long as I can remember. We argue a lot and because he’s the Weed Master he always thinks he’s right. He’s not. And he did a terrible thing so I thought I’d never forgive him. He said I was the storm he chased. He risked losing everything when he followed me into the Vast because he thought I would be killed. Even when I said I hated him he tried to save me. It’s sometimes hard to be friends with Razek but I am.
Kodo is a loyal friend. He took the blame and kept Magnus, the eagle, safe from Ootey’s revenge when I broke the taboo and went to the lizard scrape to steal a baby lizard and Magnus killed a hatchling. And then he saved Tareth’s life twice, once from drowning and then from being discovered by the Wulf Kin. He tried to rescue me when he thought I was in mortal danger in Khandar.
Both of them are so different but both of them risked their lives for me. I don’t deserve such loyalty and friendship.
What is the most disturbing thing the silk has ever whispered to you?
It showed me the death of my sisters.
Being flame haired can draw negative attention to you in my culture too – what other things singles you out among the cliff dwellers?
Being different. Wanting different things. Not being afraid of the dark or scared of the lizards. Having a secret. Wanting to run free and not listen to the Cave Women when they told me what I should do. Having flame hair made it worse. I was often in trouble. How strange that red hair is considered bad in your culture too. Is your tribe very superstitious too?
Who do you consider to be more like family? Elin, Caspia and Xania or Tareth, Yanna and Zena?
Tareth. I thought I was his child and even though it wasn’t true he will always be my father. He is kind, wise, fierce and tried to keep me safe. I wish I’d known my sister Xania for longer. She was a warrior. I’d like to be strong like her.
What do you like about Khandar?
The mountains where the Eagle Hunters live.
Animals play important roles in your world, which animal is most important to you?
I love eagles. And I was given a beautiful horse called Fionn. But if I have to choose only one animal it would be Nefrar, the hunting cat, even though really he’s Yanna’s cheetah. He adopted me. Many of the Warrior Women have hunting cats. If Nefrar finds a mate I hope Yanna will give me one of the kits.
It is said the destiny of a Sun Catcher is to be blinded, what three things would you miss seeing most of all?
Everything. Too many things to count.
The flight of an eagle, Kodo riding his red-crested lizard, sunlight flung like a golden net across the sun-deeps, Tareth’s smile, Nefrar running free, a moon-moth dance, the hand-fast fires, stars and storm clouds.
I won’t think about a Sun Catcher’s fate. Perhaps I can change it.
The final book of the trilogy Story Singer is released on 7th May, if you haven’t read the first two books you’ve just got time.
kirstyes 