Author Interview: The Self Esteem Team
I am very pleased to be welcoming The Self Esteem Team to Novel Kicks today. The team, Natasha Devon, Grace Barrett and Nadia Mendoza work to challenge stereotypes, reduce the stigma surrounding mental health and they aim to educate young people (as well as teachers and parents) about self esteem. With individual experiences of their own, the team have just released their book, The Self Esteem Team’s Guide to Sex, Drugs and WTFs!? We catch up with them to talk about their book, what they do and their writing process.
Welcome Ladies. Can you tell us about The Self-Esteem Team and how it originated?
Tash: In my teens I struggled with an eating disorder. Despite having been a ‘straight A’ student with ambitions to be Prime Minister, my illness gradually chipped away at my potential, so that by the time I was 25 I had no job, no money, no friends and no life.
After I recovered, I was determined that no other young person should suffer the same fate and began devising a self-esteem lesson that I took to schools and colleges all over the UK. This was the class which went on to create the building blocks of SET. Demand was soon so high, I recruited Nadz and Grace. Now we visit four schools a week working to improve students’ confidence and have also branched out into mental health, offering classes not only in body image, but bullying, exam stress, self-harm, and how to handle difficult feelings, too. We’re also campaigning for wellbeing to be at the centre of the curriculum, instead of tacked on as an afterthought. After all, if you don’t have your health, grades mean nothing.
You all have your own story to tell. Can you each tell us a little about your own experiences?
Nadia Mendoza
Nadz: When I was younger, there were troubles at home which led me to hide away in my bedroom a lot rather than confront them. As I became more and more withdrawn from life, by the time I started secondary school, I was a timid and easy target for bullies because I never bit back.
Lonely, frustrated, and with a complete lack of emotional vocabulary to talk about my feelings, one day I locked myself in my room and cut myself.
What started as an impulsive act on a random day in my first year at secondary school, went on to have a hold over me for two decades. I used self-harm as a ‘friend’ to turn to when my head went black. Only now, having recovered, can I see how self-destructive it was and how I treasured it more than it ever did me.
With the help of CBT [Cognitive Behavioural Therapy] and a very lucky break in journalism, I eventually found my feet after university. Now, I hope to speak for every kid who feels they’re not ‘cool’ enough and let them know it’s okay to be different. And that different can actually be fun.
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Rhodia Essentials Box Review/Competition
I was over excited when the Rhodia Essentials box landed on my doorstep. It’s stationary. Enough said really. I have a slight obsession with notebooks, pens and pencils in particular (it’s getting out of control in fact,) so this box is right up my street. Up until now, I have been unfamiliar with this French brand but I am pleased I’ve discovered it.
The box itself is good quality and I like the orange colour scheme. It’s bright (which makes a change from all of my black covered notebooks.) It contains one A5 size notebook (the cover flips upwards.) There are two A6 size notebooks and there is also a shopping list style notebook. Completing the box, is two Rhodia pencils with an eraser on the end. I write with pencils a lot and always carry one in my bag. I’ve been carrying one of these around for a while and it is very durable and smooth across the page. It’s lovely and so comfortable to write with. I like that you get two pencils too.
by Blog Tour: Mile High by Rebecca Chance – Author Interview
I am very pleased to be welcoming author, Rebecca Chance to Novel Kicks today. Her novel, Mile High was released on 13th August 2015 by Pan.
First class is about to get dangerous . . . Pure Air’s new LuxeLiner is flying from London to LA – its inaugural journey – with a first-class cabin packed with A List celebrities. As the feuding crew compete to impress their famous passengers, the handsome pilot tries to win the attention of a pretty young stewardess.
But one VIP singer is battling something seriously sinister: watching her every step is a very determined stalker, someone who will go to any lengths to get the star to satisfy their desires. At thirty thousand feet there is nowhere to run, and nowhere to hide . . .
As part of her blog tour for her new novel Mile High, we got to chat with Rebecca.
Welcome Rebecca. Thank you so much for joining us. Your new book is called Mile High. Can you tell us a little about it and where the idea originated?
It’s a glamorous thriller set onboard a night flight from London to LA, on a very luxurious plane whose first class cabin is absolutely gorgeous! Because it’s a new route for the airline, there’s a whole gaggle of A-list celebrities aboard to publicise it – a beautiful singer who’s going through heartbreak, a very randy chef, an Oscar-nominated actress. And the airline boss too, who’s modelled on quite a famous one… But there’s also a stalker on board who’s determined to join the Mile High Club with the singer, so the tension builds all the way through to a very dramatic ending.
What planning did you undertake before beginning this book? Did you get any first hand accounts of what it is like to work as cabin crew?
OH yes! I have several flight attendant friends and they were fantastic at giving me advice and telling me all sorts of saucy behind-the-scenes stories! I sat down with them over drinks and listened for hours before I even started to outline as I wanted the book to be as accurate as possible.
What is your writing day like and where do you like to write? Do you have any writing rituals?
Get up around 9, have a very strong cappuccino, read through my Facebook and Twitter, read what I wrote the day before, tell myself I have to start writing before I turn on Judge Judy. Turn on Judge Judy….
Continue reading
by Blog Tour: Ally Hughes has Sex Sometimes by Jules Moulin – Review
Life is a juggling act for single mother Ally Hughes. Between the classes she teaches at the local university, a monster of a boss, a home that’s falling apart at the seams and a young daughter who doesn’t miss a trick, there isn’t time for anything else in Ally’s life. Especially romance.
Then she meets Jake, and for one incredible, mind-blowing weekend, anything seems possible. But timing is everything and as the weekend draws to a close, fate is not on Ally’s side.
Ten years later, and fate has Jake knocking at Ally’s front door. Now the one that got away is back, and Ally has some serious decision-making to do…
Is there such a thing as perfect timing? Or is love always a game of chance?
The premise for this book intrigued me so I was excited when asked to be a part of the blog tour for Ally Hughes has Sex Sometimes. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this novel but the title is brilliant. I love it. I feel that this book is exploring the idea that it is never too late to seek a happy ending. You just need to have the courage to take it.
It took a while for me to get into this novel but once I got into my stride, I found myself falling into it in a big way. I couldn’t stop reading. I got involved with the characters specifically Ally and Jake (I really liked them as a couple. Jake, even at twenty-one seemed a mature voice.) Ally is now in her forties. She has spent most of her time either raising her daughter or looking after her ailing mother. At the beginning of the novel, her daughter is now twenty and her mother has passed away and she finds herself at a point where she doesn’t know what to do – a situation many people find themselves in at some point in their lives. She can’t quite let go of the responsibilities that don’t exist anymore.
by Writing Prompt: Parents
Tuesday 11th August 2015: Parents.
Today’s prompt: When going through a parent’s things, you find a letter to you from them. The circumstances surrounding this are up to you. Could the parent still be alive and the letter unearths something prematurely? Who knows. Try and write a minimum of five hundred words.
by Book Haul: Six Books with Beautiful Covers
I can’t believe we are almost in the middle of August already. Time is really flying. I thought it was time for another book haul. I’ve been sent or brought some great books over the last month and here are six of the ones I am looking forward to reading and six books where I love the covers.
All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven (Penguin, 8th January 2015.)
I have heard so many good things about this book. It’s been recommended on You Tube as well as friends who have read it and said that it’s good. It’s a book I’ve been looking at for a while and so I brought it. The premise of it sounds interesting and relatable in that it deals with mental health. I am really interested and itching to read this book. The cover is pretty too. It’s due to be made into a film so I want to read it before it’s released.
Theodore Finch is fascinated by death, and he constantly thinks of ways he might kill himself. But each time, something good, no matter how small, stops him.
Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister’s recent death.
When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school, it’s unclear who saves whom. And when they pair up on a project to discover the ‘natural wonders’ of their state, both Finch and Violet make more important discoveries: It’s only with Violet that Finch can be himself – a weird, funny, live-out-loud guy who’s not such a freak after all. And it’s only with Finch that Violet can forget to count away the days and start living them. But as Violet’s world grows, Finch’s begins to shrink. How far will Violet go to save the boy she has come to love?
by Author Interview: Scott Mariani
Hi Scott, thank you for joining us. Could you tell us a little about your writing process?
It’s pretty simple, really. I wish I could make it sound exciting and glamorous, but writing is just a job like most others – there’s no special mystique to it. I don’t take long walks on windswept beaches in search of the muse, or anything like that. Six days a week, after breakfast and feeding the dogs and other sundry duties, I go up to my study, coffee in hand. As I climb the stairs I start getting my brain in gear thinking about what I need to do that day. It could be an action scene, or it could be a scene between two characters involving lots of dialogue, or it could be something with a lot of geographical or historical content. In the latter case, I might need to have various reference books or maps around me to refer to. In the former case, I may have nothing at all to rely upon other than my poor overworked imagination. Then I sit down and spend the next few hours trying to do whatever it is I need to do, as effectively as possible. I don’t like to leave the desk until I’m happy with what I’ve set down, which means I might sometimes have a very long working day. Some days are hard, others fly by and I’m able to hit whatever word quota I’ve set myself and stop early to go and attend to the thousand other things I invariably have to do, living out here in the country, like cutting wood or strimming the meadow. Oh, yes, and trying to have a life.
Tesla was a great inventor. What do you wish you’d invented, and why?
He was responsible for, or at least instrumental in pioneering, many technologies that we find essential and take for granted in the modern world (apart from also being, very possibly, a dangerous lunatic). But you don’t necessarily have to be a scientist or an engineer to be an inventor. I think that writers, as designers of stories, are inventors too. I regard what I do as a kind of industrial design job, blending technical and creative abilities in the same way that an automotive designer might come up with the sleek, beautiful form of a new Ferrari or Porsche, or some other end product aimed at appealing to the public. And being a writer, I can’t think of anything I’d rather have invented than a fictional character like Ben Hope, the hero of my books. Readers say they feel they know him like a real person, a friend even, someone they love to share time with, in whose world they love to dwell a while. That’s good enough for me.
by Novel Kicks Fiction Friday: CSI Writing Prompt
Friday 7th August 2015: CSI
Fiction Friday is our weekly writing prompt. The aim is to write for a minimum of five minutes and then keep going for as long as you can. Once you’ve finished, don’t edit, just post in the comments box below.
Today’s prompt: Your character, male or female is a crime scene investigator and they have just got to a botched crime scene. What happens next?
by Blog Tour: Rembrandt’s Mirror by Kim Devereux
Kim Devereux
I’m very excited to be welcoming author, Kim Devereux to Novel Kicks. Her novel, Rembrandt’s Mirror was released on 6th August by Atlantic Books. As part of her blog tour to celebrate the release of her book, Kim talks to us about what drew her to write about Rembrandt and the challenges and research she faced. Over to you, Kim.
I remember seeing Rembrandt’s Self-portrait at the age of 63 in my early twenties. I remained standing in front of it in the National Gallery for a long time and tears came to my eyes. There is something so moving about Rembrandt’s relentless depiction of his own aging face and his steady gaze amidst the wrinkles and sagging flesh. All this he must have observed so carefully in a mirror. He has painted his own decay and yet it is somehow magnificent too, the pose full of dignity and strength.
Imagine what it must have felt like for Rembrandt to scrutinize his face for weeks or even months on end. This is how long it took to paint a large self-portrait. Throughout his lifetime he painted and drew himself at least seventy-seven times.
Who would take a selfie these days that highlights their own decrepitude and still manage to turn it into an absolute triumph? The late self-portraits do just that. I started to puzzled over the fact how, despite suffering heavy blows of fate towards the very end of his life, he still managed to paint breath-taking images full of love and beauty such as The Jewish Bride. It is this question – how he arrived at the late works – that drove me to write Rembrandt’s Mirror and what it would be like to see the world through his eyes. I feel he had an unconventional way of seeing. He was able to put pictorial conventions and prejudices to one side and see things afresh. I feel that he is able to home in on what it is that makes us human. He never objectifies anyone. You always get a sense of the person. He seems to empathize with his subject or he’s very good at painting a face in a way that makes us feel we can get a felt sense of the character on display.
by Blog Tour: The Hiding Place by John Burley – Review
We are happy to be welcoming back John Burley to Novel Kicks today and his blog tour for his novel, The Hiding Place. The e-book was released by Avon on 30th July 2015 with the paperback following on 27th August 2015. Here’s a little about the book:
Dr Lise Shields works alongside some of the most dangerous criminals in America. As a psychiatrist she goes further than many, trying to work out what motivates these depraved and deadly individuals. When she gets close to one patient, Jason, she realises that his story isn’t black and white, and perhaps they’ve got the wrong man. But in letting Jason in, and believing his story, Lise soon realises she has put herself in terrible danger as she uncovers secrets, lies and unanswered questions. Is Lise living on borrowed time? And when she reaches the point of no return – where will she hide?
The Hiding Place is set in a psychiatric hospital in the US which houses some of the most deadly prisoners in the country. It’s a dead-end where none of the patients ever leave as they are all guilty and incurable.
Dr Lise Shields works with some of the most difficult. One day a transfer patient arrives with no paperwork and no patient history. This patient, Jason Edwards, causes Lise to ask questions and seek answers to perceived injustices leading her further and further down the rabbit hole, into a web of concealed truths and covert observation.
Laura had read No Mercy, the previous novel by John Burley and had really enjoyed it so I was looking forward to reading The Hiding Place.
This book is a well written and throughly enjoyable psychological thriller. All the clues are there from the start but I didn’t see the end coming until a few pages from the end. It kept me turning the pages and drew me through the book, always tempting me on a page further. The mystery of the novel drew me in.
by Courses and Competitions: Mslexia Novel Competition 2015
Mslexia’s Women’s Novel Competition is still open. If you’re a previously unpublished woman’s novelist then you can submit your novel for the chance to win £5,000.
Mslexia are looking for novels of 50,000 words and over in any genre as long as it is written for adults or young adults.
The closing date is 21st September 2015. At this point, they are asking for the first 5,000 words by the closing date. The full manuscript will then be required in October if your novel makes the shortlist.
The fee to enter is £25 per novel.
Judging the competition this year is novelist, Marina Lewycka, literary agent, Juliet Mushens and Di Speirs, the Books Editor at BBC Radio & Music.
by Writing Room – Secrets Writing Prompt
Tuesday 4th August – Secrets
Today’s Prompt: Use the following line as your first sentence and then try to write for a minimum of 500 words and a maximum of 1,500 words. You should have at least three characters in your story but what they are doing is up to you.
‘We had all kept the secret but now there was no going back.’
by Blog Tour: Masquerade by Joanna Taylor – Review
Masquerade by Joanna Taylor.
We’re happy to be a part of the blog tour for Masquerade, the latest release by author, Joanna Taylor. It’s due for release by Piatkus on 6th August 2015.
1786: Regency London. Everyone is hiding something. But someone is hiding everything.
Lizzy Ward never meant to end up working the streets of Piccadilly. So when a mysterious noble pursues her, it seems her luck is changing. But though Lord Hays offers to grow Lizzy’s fortunes, his price is unexpected. She must masquerade in the sumptuous gowns and social mask of a true lady.
With the stakes so high, love is out of the question. But as Lizzy navigates the fashion and faux-pas of the London elite, she finds her tough facade failing her. Lord Hayes wants to show her that nobility is more than skin deep . . . and as the connection between them grows, it’s no longer certain who’s wearing the mask. As the street-girl and the lord collide, Regency London is poised for scandal . . .
Lizzy is a country girl who never wanted to end up in Piccadilly. It’s something she has found herself doing and she doesn’t know how to escape her life. When she meets Lord Edward Hays, she sees him as nothing more than another customer. However, when Edward asks her to be his companion over the week he is in London, her life changes completely.
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Fancy a book surprise through your letterbox? Welcome to August’s Which Book is This Anyway?
Many of us judge books by their covers and make our choices based on that and the accompanying blurb. Our competition adds a little mystery.
The prize for this competition is a book but the identity of that book will not be revealed until the lucky winner receives it. It could be a recent new release or a well-known classic. Who knows? We may reveal the genre but the book title is a surprise. If you feel like having a guess in the meantime though, that’s OK, just comment below (you don’t need to guess to enter. You just need to leave your name. The guessing is just for fun.)
All we will reveal about August’s choice is this book is contemporary fiction. It’s a whimsical tale of romance, good friends, Mr Right and dreams. I loved this book when I read it. Plus it has a BEAUTIFUL cover.
How to enter:
Comment on this post before the closing date which is Sunday 30th August 2015 at 23.59. One winner will then be chosen at random from the entrants and announced on the Novel Kicks blog on Monday 31st August 2015. If you fancy having a go at guessing what book it could be, that’s OK too although it’s not compulsory.
by Author Interview: Rosie Millard
Hello Rosie, thank you so much for joining us. Can you tell us a little bit about your route to publication? Had you always wanted to write a novel?
I think every journalist longs to write a novel, not least because our work is fish and chip paper the next day! I signed up for a Fiction Writing course with the University of East Anglia which I did every Tuesday night in London for six months, and The Square came out of that.
Can you tell us a little about your book, The Square and how the idea originated?
I wanted to write a satirical novel based in the present day and the garden square where I live in London seemed to be a very fertile starting point! I also wanted to make it a bit racy and fun.
What’s your favourite word?
Babies.
If you were to enter a talent show, what would you perform?
I would sing Any Dream Can Do from Joseph.
What song best describes you?
You Never Feel Happy, Until You Try, by c2c.
If you were only allowed to own three books for the rest of your life, which three would you pick?
A Little Princess, by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray. Middlemarch, by George Eliot.
by August’s Book Club: Paper Towns by John Green
Bloomsbury Childrens Tie in edition, May 2015
Book Corner is our monthly online book club. Anyone can join.
How it works…
We love books and we love chatting about them even more. Every month, we pick a new book for discussion. We will post a question to kick things off and then you can talk about any of your thoughts about the book in the comments box below. The best thing about our book club is that EVERYONE CAN TAKE PART. It’s open to all. You can read the book at any point in the month or if you’ve already read it, tell us what you think.
This month, our pick is: Paper Towns by John Green.
About the book…
Quentin Jacobson has always loved Margo from afar. So when she climbs through his window to summon him on an all-night road trip of revenge, he cannot help but follow. But the next morning, Q turns up at school and Margo doesn’t. She’s left clues to her disappearance, like a trail of breadcrumbs for Q to follow. And everything leads to one unavoidable question: who is the real Margo?
by Competitions: Winner of July’s Which Book is This Anyway?
It is time to announce the winner of July’s Which Book is This Anyway? Did you guess which book it was? June’s book was The Honey Queen by Cathy Kelly but what book was it this month?
All we said about it was that ‘this book has been described by one reviewer as the perfect book. It’s about rediscovery, a trip of a lifetime, determination, falling in love and everything going wrong.
Well done to Emma Miller from the West Midlands who is our winner this month. The competition for August will be open soon.
About ‘Which Book is This Anyway?’
Many of us judge books by their covers and make our choices based on that and the accompanying blurb. Our competition adds a little mystery.
by Novel Kicks Fiction Friday: Childhood Occupation
Friday 31st July 2015.
Fiction Friday is our weekly writing prompt. The aim is to write for a minimum of five minutes and then keep going for as long as you can. Once you’ve finished, don’t edit, just post in the comments box below.
Today’s prompt: Think of the occupation you wanted to do when you were a child. Now give your character that occupation. What if your character woke up one morning and found out he could talk to animals or was due to go up into space or was a fireman? Have fun.
by Blog Tour: My Sister’s Secret by Tracy Buchanan
Tracy Buchanan
I am VERY excited to be part of the blog tour for Tracy Buchanan’s new novel, My Sister’s Secret. The e-book was released by Avon on 21st July 2015 and the paperback is due for release on 13th August 2015.
About My Sister’s Secret:
Willow’s memories of her parents are sun-drenched and full of smiles, love and laughter. But a mysterious invitation to a photographic exhibition exposes a secret that’s been buried since a tragic accident years ago.
Willow is forced to question everything she knew about her late mother, and the aunt she’s lived with since she was a child.
How was the enigmatic photographer connected to Willow’s parents? Why will her aunt not break her silence?
Willow cannot move forward in her life without answers. But who can she really trust? Because no one has been telling the truth for a very long time.
I’ve reviewed the book below but first, to celebrate the release of My Sister’s Secret, Tracy and Avon have shared an extract with us. Enjoy!
Chapter One
Willow
In the middle of the Aegean Sea, Greece
August 2016
My friend Ajay reckons the Aegean Sea is named after Aegea, queen of the Amazons. My aunt Hope disagrees. She says it’s named after a famous sea goat. I know which one I prefer. In fact, I feel like I’m channelling a female warrior when I do dives like this, all swaddled up in my diving ‘armour’, ready to do battle with the sea and unearth its treasures. I feel it now as the dive boat we’re on bounces over the waves, the sea spreading out around us, the island of Rhodes just a shimmer of land behind us.
by Bella’s Scribblings: Am I a Writer? (Part Two)
My last post was about what title you should have if you are a person who puts pen to paper (see how well I avoided the whole writer/author debate there?) and it got me thinking.
You can call yourself whatever you like but at the end of the day (sorry that was very corporate speak – apologies) it doesn’t matter what you call yourself but it does matter what you do.
I can tell you have that stunned mullet expression again so please let me explain. If you are a singer then you sing, if you are a saxophonist then you play the saxophone, if you are a runner then you run – I think you’ve got the hang of what I’m trying to say. So if you are an ink slinger or writer working under some other title then what you need to be doing is writing.
I own a Saxophone. It is a beautiful instrument and it lives in a lovely leather case in my loft. I bought it on a whim, as I had always wanted to play one. Little did I know how hard it was and therefore how much time and dedication would be required to achieve this. So I may own a saxophone, but I am most definitely not a saxophonist.
Someone once introduced himself as being a drummer. I was obviously impressed and immediately scrutinized their features for anything familiar, perhaps they had played with world famous artists, been on stage with great legends or even been part of a well known group. However, on further questioning it appeared that he had had a short stint in a local band three years before but was now working in an office, although he was still very ‘into’ music. I asked further if the band was still together and no it wasn’t. I asked if he still had the drums, which he did and if he played them to which his response was , ‘no, not really. I don’t have the time’. Which all begs the question as to whether or not he is a drummer – in mind he is not. I know that sounds harsh but think about it…
by Novel Kicks Fiction Friday: Write it in a Letter
Friday 24th July 2015.
Fiction Friday is our weekly writing prompt. The aim is to write for a minimum of five minutes and then keep going for as long as you can. Once you’ve finished, don’t edit, just post in the comments box below.
Today’s prompt: Tell a love story in a letter. It could be a current love, a long lost love or a relationship between elderly relatives or friends. It could be a series of letters. It’s up to you.
by Blog Tour: Tracer by Rob Boffard
A huge space station orbits the Earth, holding the last of humanity. It’s broken, rusted, falling apart. We’ve wrecked our planet, and now we have to live with the consequences: a new home that’s dirty, overcrowded and inescapable.
What’s more, there’s a madman hiding on the station. He’s about to unleash chaos. And when he does, there’ll be nowhere left to run.
In space, every second counts. Who said nobody could hear you scream?
(Orbit, 16th July 2015.)
We are happy to be welcoming Rob Boffard to Novel Kicks today. We review Tracer but first, we asked Rob a few questions about his new novel and his writing process.
Hello Rob, thank you so much for joining us. Can you tell us about your novel, Tracer?
Thanks for having me. Love what you’ve done with the place. Anyway, Tracer is a sequel to Breaking Bad, and it’s the story of how Walter White faked his death and found another stoner meth cook to… oh no, wait, I wasn’t supposed to tell you about that. Forget I said anything. What Tracer is really about is a courier named Riley, ferrying packages across a city-sized space station that holds the last of humanity. She gets ambushed, and discovers that she’s carrying evidence of a deadly conspiracy.
by Competitions: Red Queen Winners
As part of the blog tour for Red Queen and to celebrate the books release, Orion and Victoria gave us THREE copies of Red Queen to give away. To read our review and an interview with Victoria, click here.
Well done to Debbie Patrick, Susan Carruthers and Karis who have all won a copy of Red Queen.
About the book:
This is a world divided by blood – red or silver.
The Reds are commoners, ruled by a Silver elite in possession of god-like superpowers. And to Mare Barrow, a seventeen-year-old Red girl from the poverty-stricken Stilts, it seems like nothing will ever change.
That is, until she finds herself working in the Silver Palace. Here, surrounded by the people she hates the most, Mare discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy the balance of power.
Fearful of Mare’s potential, the Silvers hide her in plain view, declaring her a long-lost Silver princess, now engaged to a Silver prince. Despite knowing that one misstep would mean her death, Mare works silently to help the Red Guard, a militant resistance group, and bring down the Silver regime.
by Novel Kicks Fiction Friday: Solving Problems
Friday 17th July 2015.
Fiction Friday is our weekly writing prompt. The aim is to write for a minimum of five minutes and then keep going for as long as you can. Once you’ve finished, don’t edit, just post in the comments box below.
Today’s Prompt: Whilst on a second honeymoon, a devoted family man solves a ten year cold case.
by A Moment With Hannah Vincent
Hannah Vincent, whose debut novel, Alarm Girl was released by Myriad Editions in August last year tells us about her writing room.
I write in bed. I could justify this with the excuse that this way I am closer to the dream state and an unconscious mode in which words and feeling flow but the truth is, my bed is comfy, smells nice and my cat likes it when I write there. It is highly un-ergonomic: I lie with my neck crooked on cushions, typing straight onto an ancient laptop with Twiggy the Siamese pinning down one arm.
I once read that humans crave greenery because of our outdoor ancestry. The view from my bedroom window is bland and grey, which is useful in that it’s not a distraction but sometimes I move to the kitchen table to work. Ours is a topsy-turvy house with an upstairs kitchen that is slightly above the level of the garden, so when I look out of the windows I feel as if I am in the trees with the squabbling sparrows and busy blue-tits. Continue reading
by Author Interview: Anna North
Anna North, author of The Life and Death of Sophie Stark joins us today. Thank you for joining us Anna. First, Do you have any writing rituals/habits?
I like to write either in a chair by the window in my apartment, ideally with a cup of tea and maybe a candle burning, or at a coffee shop in my neighborhood, again with a cup of tea or maybe a cappuccino. I write all my first drafts long-hand in a journal; I feel like I’m much more imaginative writing this way than at a computer. I try to write for about an hour in the early morning each weekday, and again for an hour or a little more on Saturday or Sunday (depending on the week, though, I might write a little more or a little less).
Which fictional character would you like to swap places with for a day and what would you do?
Maybe this is cheating because it’s TV and not books, but I’d trade places with the Doctor and travel through time and space. I’d go back in time and visit Queen Elizabeth I and Shakespeare, and then go to Gallifrey and hang out with the Time Lords.
Your book is called, The Life and Death of Sophie Stark. Can you tell us a little about it and how the idea originated?
The Life and Death of Sophie Stark is the story of a brilliant and enigmatic filmmaker, told by the people who loved her most. I had wanted to write about a filmmaker named Sophie Stark for years before I started the book; I even wrote a few pages, but then put them aside. After I finished my first book, America Pacifica, I started trying to write about Sophie again in earnest, and that’s when I got the idea of writing the book from multiple perspectives. Once I realized I could tell Sophie’s story through multiple points of view, the book started to come together.
What’s your favourite word?
I don’t know if I have a favorite word, exactly, but I have some words I use a lot (maybe too much). In America Pacifica I used the word “filthy” a lot — in my defense, the post-apocalyptic world I was describing was really filthy. In The Life and Death of Sophie Stark, my editor pointed out I used the words “mad,” “sad,” “bad,” and “whiskey” more than was strictly necessary, which I guess says something about the mood of the book. I ended up replacing some of them; now the characters occasionally drink wine instead of whiskey, and get angry instead of mad.
by Writing Room: Swapping Bodies
Tuesday 14th July 2015: Swapping Bodies
Today’s prompt: One day, your character wakes up in someone else’s body. Who is it they’ve woken up as? Where have they woken up? How would their life change? Write across one day and about the experience your character has in this new body? Do they try and go to see the people in their old lives and how do they react? Do they manage to get back to their own body?
Try to write between 500 and 1700 words.
by Bella’s Scribblings: Am I a Writer or an Author?
I had a lovely time at the RNA Summer Party in May (there is wine, nibbles and writing chatter – what’s not to love?!) and had many interesting conversations with lots of lovely people. One of the conversations was about business cards (don’t worry this was well-balanced with topics of cake, happy endings and Spam donors – don’t ask!) As there were a few new members attending their first RNA event there was the usual swapping of business cards and the encouragement that if they didn’t have any they needed to get some for the RNA Conference.
There were some particularly lovely business cards too, my favourite was a shiny one (I’m easily distracted after cocktails!) but it was a discussion about what you have as your role title that really interested me.
Someone said that they had put ‘writer’ on theirs and that once they were published they would change it to ‘author’. This prompted further discussion as to whether this was the acceptable terminology and after lengthy debate I think we came to the conclusion that we have absolutely no idea as to what was the correct etiquette.
So once I had got over my tiredness (okay it may have been associated with one too many mojitos) I thought I would ask my trusted friend Google for an opinion. After circa three days trawling through the myriad information I discovered the following:
by Blog Tour: Review – The Quality of Silence by Rosamund Lupton
On 24th November Yasmin and her deaf daughter Ruby arrive in Alaska.
Within hours they are driving alone across a frozen wilderness, where nothing grows, where no one lives, where tears freeze and night will last for another fifty-four days.
They are looking for Ruby’s father. Travelling deeper into a silent land. They still cannot find him. And someone is watching them in the dark.
This was the first book i’ve read by Rosamund Lupton so I was not sure what to expect. The premise of the book sounded interesting though. I started this book and finished it the day after I had started. I could not put it down.
Yasmin and Ruby arrive in Alaska expecting to see Matt standing there waiting for them. Instead, they are met by the Police with news that Matt has been killed by a fire in the small village he had been staying in, Anaktue. Not convinced that he is dead and determined to find him, Yasmin and Ruby set off on a perilous journey across Alaska. Not only do they battle with someone following them (where you assume he wants to hurt them) but also against the fierce and unrelenting elements.
by
As part of the blog tour for Red Queen and to celebrate the books release, Orion and Victoria have given us THREE copies of Red Queen to give away. To read our review and an interview with Victoria, click here.
This is a world divided by blood – red or silver.
The Reds are commoners, ruled by a Silver elite in possession of god-like superpowers. And to Mare Barrow, a seventeen-year-old Red girl from the poverty-stricken Stilts, it seems like nothing will ever change.
That is, until she finds herself working in the Silver Palace. Here, surrounded by the people she hates the most, Mare discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy the balance of power.
Fearful of Mare’s potential, the Silvers hide her in plain view, declaring her a long-lost Silver princess, now engaged to a Silver prince. Despite knowing that one misstep would mean her death, Mare works silently to help the Red Guard, a militant resistance group, and bring down the Silver regime.
But this is a world of betrayal and lies, and Mare has entered a dangerous dance – Reds against Silvers, prince against prince, and Mare against her own heart . . .
HOW TO ENTER:
by Blog Tour: Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
I am very excited to be welcoming Victoria Aveyard to Novel Kicks. Her novel, Red Queen was published by Orion on 2nd July and we are so happy to be a part of the blog tour. We review the book and also have a chat with Victoria but first, here’s the blurb:
This is a world divided by blood – red or silver.
The Reds are commoners, ruled by a Silver elite in possession of god-like superpowers. And to Mare Barrow, a seventeen-year-old Red girl from the poverty-stricken Stilts, it seems like nothing will ever change.
That is, until she finds herself working in the Silver Palace. Here, surrounded by the people she hates the most, Mare discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy the balance of power.
Fearful of Mare’s potential, the Silvers hide her in plain view, declaring her a long-lost Silver princess, now engaged to a Silver prince. Despite knowing that one misstep would mean her death, Mare works silently to help the Red Guard, a militant resistance group, and bring down the Silver regime.
But this is a world of betrayal and lies, and Mare has entered a dangerous dance – Reds against Silvers, prince against prince, and Mare against her own heart . . .
Hi Victoria. Thank you for joining us. Can you tell us a little about Red Queen?
RED QUEEN is the story of Mare, a girl who lives in a world divided by blood, split between normal redbloods and superpowered silverbloods. Even though she’s normal, bleeding red, Mare discovers she can control electricity, an impossibility that plunges her into a devastating court of betrayal, danger, and corruption.
Do you have any writing rituals (do you plan much, need lots of tea, writing in silence etc.)
by My Favourite Book: Have You Met Miss Jones?
Picador, 2001
Bridget Jones’ Diary by Helen Fielding will forever remain one of my favourite books. I can’t remember whether I read the book first or saw the film but I remember being quite late to the book – discovering it a few years after it got published. I was in my early twenties but still found it relatable all the same.
Not knowing what to expect, once I started reading, I devoured it. For me, it’s one of those rare books that I feel really transferred well onto screen from the page and it is a relatable story to a lot of people, especially women of any age. I lost count of how many times I said out loud whilst reading “this is me.”
For me, Bridget is a great heroine. She is very flawed (along with a lot of us.) She strives to be better but something always seems to go wrong. She’s the type of character that would get her skirt caught up in her knickers, walk down the road and get spotted before she notices and I love that about her. She’s not perfect – she is a real and relatable person who is just trying to find love. Also, like her I’ve had a few awkward moments at social gatherings where I have stood there in silence not knowing what to say and then when I do speak, just sounding like a complete idiot.
by
Fancy a book surprise through your letterbox? It’s July. Summer is officially here and it’s time for this month’s Which Book is This Anyway?
Many of us judge books by their covers and make our choices based on that and the accompanying blurb. Our competition adds a little mystery.
The prize for this competition is a book but the identity of that book will not be revealed until the lucky winner receives it. It could be a recent new release or a well-known classic. Who knows? We won’t even reveal the genre. It’s a surprise. If you feel like having a guess in the meantime though, that’s OK, just comment below (you don’t need to guess to enter. You just need to leave your name. The guessing is just for fun.)
All we will reveal about July’s choice is ‘this book has been described by one reviewer as the perfect book. It’s about rediscovery, a trip of a lifetime, determination, falling in love and everything going wrong.’
How to enter:
by Author Interview: Howard Robinson
Howard Robinson
Hello Howard, thank you for joining us. First, could you tell us about your route to publication?
It’s such a complicated route for most writers that sometimes I feel like I need a sat-nav to get there. I self-published my first book and was fortunate that Micah Seven Five was picked up by a great little independent press, Inspired Quill. It’s really tough without an agent and finding an agent is really tough because most publishers won’t even look at submissions unless they’re from an agent. It’s like trying to break into a very closed shop. I have so many emails being very positive about my writing but saying they’re just not in a position to take things forward. So each book needs to be pitched from scratch, which is both time-consuming and, at times, a bit soul-destroying especially when the emails come back so quickly, you just know they’ve not even been read. Hopefully, somebody will pick up the new one; we’ll see. So the answer is there’s no easy route – you have to just keep banging on doors.
If you were told you could only own three books, which three would you pick?
Empire Of The Sun by JG Ballard, The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom and Charlie & The Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
Are you much of a planner and do you edit as you go?
I’ve tried being very planned and very unplanned and my favourite way of working is somewhere between the two. I like to have a general route map of where I’m going and how I’m going to get there but then I like the freedom to change as I write or to move off into slightly unforeseen directions. I tend to write everything and then go back and edit quite severely afterwards. I usually do two or three redrafts.
by July’s Book Club: Attachments by Rainbow Rowell
Orion, February 2012
Book Corner is our monthly online book club. Anyone can join.
How it works…
We love books and we love chatting about them even more. Every month, we pick a new book for discussion. We will post a question to kick things off and then you can talk about any of your thoughts about the book in the comments box below. The best thing about our book club is that EVERYONE CAN TAKE PART. It’s open to all. You can read the book at any point in the month or if you’ve already read it, tell us what you think.
This month, our pick is: Attachments by Rainbow Rowell.
About the book…
It’s 1999 and for the staff of one newspaper office, the internet is still a novelty. By day, two young women, Beth and Jennifer, spend their hours emailing each other, discussing in hilarious detail every aspect of their lives, from love troubles to family dramas. And by night, Lincoln, a shy, lonely IT guy spends his hours reading every exchange.
At first their emails offer a welcome diversion, but as Lincoln unwittingly becomes drawn into their lives, the more he reads, the more he finds himself falling for one of them. By the time Lincoln realizes just how head-over-heels he really is, it’s way too late to introduce himself. What would he say to her? ‘Hi, I’m the guy who reads your e-mails – and also, I think I love you’.
by Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook 2016: Winner
Thanks to Bloomsbury, we had one copy of the 2016 edition to give away.
Well done to Clair Bendle who has won herself a copy.
With 80+ articles, the Yearbook is now in it’s 109th printing.
The new edition is to be published by Bloomsbury on 2nd July 2015.
The yearbook is acknowledged as the indispensable companion to navigating the world of publishing. This book provides guidance on writing for newspapers, magazines, scripts for film, radio and TV; advice on writing and submitting plays, poetry, non-fiction and fiction of all genres and how to contact publishers and agents; managing finances as a writer; negotiating legal issues, such as copyright; understanding the editing process; self-publishing and conventional routes; digital and print.
by June’s Which Book is This Anyway: Winner
It is time to announce the winner of June’s Which Book is This Anyway? Did you guess which book it was? (May’s book was Daughter by Jane Shemilt.’)
All we said about it was that ‘this is a book from a popular Irish author which focuses on large changes in the lives of the characters, their relationships and the importance of friendship.’
Well done to Caron Edwards who is our winner this month. The competition for July will be open soon.
About ‘Which Book is This Anyway?’
Many of us judge books by their covers and make our choices based on that and the accompanying blurb. Our competition adds a little mystery.
by Blog Tour: The 3rd Woman by Jonathan Freedland
Photo Credit: Philippa Gedge
HarperCollins, July 2015
I am very pleased to welcoming author, Jonathan Freedland to Novel Kicks today. His latest novel, The 3rd Woman is due to be published later this week on 2nd July. Here’s the blurb:
SHE CAN’T SAVE HER SISTER
Journalist Madison Webb is obsessed with exposing lies and corruption. But she never thought she would be investigating her own sister’s murder.
SHE CAN’T TRUST THE POLICE
Madison refuses to accept the official line that Abigail’s death was an isolated crime. She uncovers evidence that suggests Abi was the third victim in a series of killings hushed up as part of a major conspiracy.
SHE CAN EXPOSE THE TRUTH
In a United States that now bows to the People’s Republic of China, corruption is rife – the government dictates what the ‘truth’ is. With her life on the line, Madison must give up her quest for justice, or face the consequences…
Jonathan is an award-winning journalist, author and broadcaster. He writes a weekly column for The Guardian and his also presents BBC Radio 4’s The Long View. He has written seven books (two are non-fiction) as Jonathan Freedland and has also written best-selling novels under the pseudonym, Sam Bourne.
As part of the blog tour, we review the novel but first, Jonathan (and HarperCollins) have kindly shared an extract. Enjoy.
Nothing that suggested a struggle. Maddy recalled the words and, above all, the expression on the detective’s face as she had said them. How dared she imply that Abigail had been some kind of willing participant in her own death? Of course it was murder, of course it was. Madison just had to get the police to realize it. And soon: she had covered enough homicide cases to know that speed was critical. They always talked about that ‘golden hour’, the period immediately after a homicide has been discovered when detectives are able to gather the most, and the best, forensic evidence from a crime scene. Maddy feared that time had been and gone. That while they played around with their absurd sex-game theory, valuable evidence might be vanishing.
by Review: A Little in Love by Susan Fletcher
Paris, 1832. A street girl lies alone in the darkness, clutching a letter to her heart.
Eponine remembers being a child: her swing and the peach tree, and the baby brother she loved. But mostly she remembers being miserable. Taught to lie and cheat, and to hate the one girl, Cosette, who might have been her friend.
Now, at sixteen, the two girls meet again and Eponine has one more chance. But what is the price of friendship – the love of a boy.
I am only familiar with Les Misérables as far as the Hollywood film version (with Hugh Jackman.) I know, I know. The book has been on my to read pile for so long and now, after reading A Little in Love, I might have to get around to reading it.
The story of A Little in Love begins when Eponine is sixteen and it then goes back to when she was a child. Out of all the characters in Les Misérables, Eponine is the character I have always been intrigued with the most. She wants to be a good person – decent and kind but the circumstances of her life conspire against her.
She does not have the best start in life and in trying to gain her mother’s love, she turns her back on the one girl who may have been her friend – Cosette. I found Eponine’s story so heartbreaking. Anyone who has an idea of the story knows what happens to her but that did not stop me from willing it to end differently.
by Novel Kicks Fiction Friday: Four People
Friday 26th June 2015.
Fiction Friday is our weekly writing prompt. The aim is to write for a minimum of five minutes and then keep going for as long as you can. Once you’ve finished, don’t edit, just post in the comments box below.
Today’s Prompt: Pick four people (it could be anyone.) Your character is having them around for dinner. What would the conversation be about? Do they all get on? Write this entirely in dialogue.
by Book Haul: Five Books For June
It is time for another book haul. I have brought and been sent some great and interesting titles this month and I wanted to share five of them with you. The five books below have been sent via publishers. What books have you received/brought this month? I’d love to know in the comments box below.
The first book is The Astrologer’s Daughter by Rebecca Lim.
I am loving this cover. This is the first book I will have read by Rebecca Lim (she is the author of the Mercy series) and I am looking forward to reading this book. It sounds very interesting. It is published by Text Publishing on 25th June 2015. It’s available in paperback and also as an e-book. Here’s the blurb:
The Astrologer’s Daughter is the story of Avicenna Crowe, whose astrologer mother has suddenly gone missing. Avicenna Crowe’s mother, Joanne, is an astrologer with uncanny predictive powers and a history of being stalked. Now she is missing. The police are called, but they’re not asking the right questions. Like why Joanne lied about her past, and what she saw in her stars that made her so afraid.
The second novel is The Word Exchange by Alena Graedon.
This book is one I am particularly looking forward to reading. It sounds very intriguing and I very much like the sound of the premise. It was one of those ideas that, when I read the blurb, I said to myself ‘I wish I had thought of that idea.’ Available in paperback and electronically, it’s published by W&N (18th June 2015.)
by Mick’s Musings: Would You Call This ‘Procrastination’?
Arguably the most important part of any book written is the first chapter, in particular, the first page. Get this wrong, not only would you lose the reader, but more likely, you wouldn’t have had the novel published in the first place.
Now, for the latest story I’m writing I’m on the third different opening/prologue/first chapter. What this says about me as a prospective writer, I don’t know, but I suspect that it’s more of a common problem than I’m making it out to be. Have I hit on the opening? I don’t know. Two of my lead characters though are suddenly opening the book whereas before it was looking like they wouldn’t be making an appearance until at least the third chapter. But it feels right!
Does it read right though? Actually, yes and even more surprising since I had to decipher the scribbled notes I made before going to bed on Friday night! My Lady Wife is always saying I should have been a doctor, the state of my hand-writing. It’s short, just shy of 1,200 words, but just because it’s short, doesn’t mean to say it isn’t right. But, this is only a first draft, so undoubtedly there will be changes as the story progresses. At least it’s nice to meet these guys sooner rather than later.
So why did I bring up the dreaded ‘P’ word? Because it’s taken me a while to start up writing again. Yes, I know the old adage that you should write at each and every opportunity, no matter how rubbish it may come out. Continue reading
by
With 80+ articles, the Yearbook is now in it’s 109th printing.
The new edition is to be published by Bloomsbury on 2nd July and we have ONE copy to give away.
The yearbook is acknowledged as the indispensable companion to navigating the world of publishing. This book provides guidance on writing for newspapers, magazines, scripts for film, radio and TV; advice on writing and submitting plays, poetry, non-fiction and fiction of all genres and how to contact publishers and agents; managing finances as a writer; negotiating legal issues, such as copyright; understanding the editing process; self-publishing and conventional routes; digital and print.
This year’s edition includes articles from Alison Weir, Ben Schott, Susan Hill and Rose Prince.
The 2016 edition is available to pre-order in paperback and eBook (e-book will be published on 6th August 2015.)
Thanks to Bloomsbury, we have a paperback copy of the 2016 edition to give away.
How to enter:
by Bella’s Scribblings: Sell! Sell! Sell!
So I’ve been out of the writing closet for a while now and friends, family and work colleagues have got used to the idea that I have another life as a writer. So when I see people they often ask “how is the book going?” (which is jolly nice of them to show an interest). I usually reply with something along the lines that my editor is very pleased with how it’s doing for a debut novel and that I’m thrilled with the fab reviews I’ve received which shows that most people are enjoying it. At this point I usually get an odd look from them, followed by “So how many have you sold?” To which my answer is “I have absolutely no idea.”
Am I alone in really not being that interested in how many it’s sold?
My original intention was to see if I could actually finish a whole novel (I was a serial novel starter who got distracted and then started another one). Getting it published was never in the plan, because I knew how unlikely this was, but with a lot of luck and good timing my MS landed on the right desk at the right time.
by Novel Kicks Fiction Friday: Clown in Training
Friday 19th June 2015.
Fiction Friday is our weekly writing prompt. The aim is to write for a minimum of five minutes and then keep going for as long as you can. Once you’ve finished, don’t edit, just post in the comments box below.
Today’s prompt: After loosing a bet, a clown in training robs a series of banks. All goes to plan until the third bank. Continue the story.
by
Penguin, 18th June 2015
Dream a Little Dream is the third novel from Giovanna Fletcher. It’s released today (18th June) by Penguin and is available in paperback and as an e-book.
I have to say, I absolutely ADORE this cover. It reminds me very much of Lisa Jewell’s earlier covers – beautiful and romantic. Love, love, love!
Here’s the blurb for Dream a Little Dream:
Sarah is doing just fine. Sure she’s been single for the last five years, and has to spend an uncomfortable amount of time around her ex-boyfriend and their mutual friends, and the rest at her tediously mundane job, but it’s fine. She’s happy(ish).
But it’s not surprising that when Sarah starts dreaming about a handsome stranger, she begins looking forward to falling asleep at night. Reality isn’t nearly as exciting. That is until her dream-stranger makes an unexpected real-life appearance, leaving Sarah questioning everything she thought she wanted.
Because people never really find the person of their dreams… do they?
I was a big fan of Billy & Me and I recently read You’re The One That I Want and loved that too so I was really excited when the review copy of Dream a Little Dream got delivered.
by Events: The Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize
British writing will be celebrated later today when the winners of the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize will be announced in London at the Jerwood Space.
Fifteen books in total have been long listed (this is the first year the list has been released prior to the winners being announced.) The prize, established in 2010 is now in its fifth year. The prize is unique and it aims to showcase great British fiction.
“With writers from Swansea, Newcastle upon Tyne, Bath, Brighton, Lancaster, Edinburgh, Nottingham, Glasgow and London, and publishers from Yorkshire, Wales, Scotland and Norfolk, this year’s longlist presents an exciting snapshot of contemporary British fiction writing and publishing,” said Founder and Director Sophie Rochester.
Later today, eight winners will each be awarded £5,000. WH Smith Travel will be running an eight-week summer promotion featuring all eight winning Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize titles. Titles will feature in stores across the UK from 25 June 2015.
The fifteen books in contention for the prize money are:
by June’s Book Club: Daughter by Jane Shemilt
Penguin, August 2014.
Book Corner is our monthly online book club.
How it works…
We love books and we love chatting about them even more. Every month, we pick a new book for discussion. We will post a question to kick things off and then you can talk about any of your thoughts about the book in the comments box below. The best thing about our book club is that EVERYONE CAN TAKE PART. It’s open to all. You can read the book at any point in the month or if you’ve already read it, tell us what you think.
This month, our pick is: Daughter by Jane Shemilt
About the book…
Jenny is a successful family doctor, the mother of three great teenagers, married to a celebrated neurosurgeon.
But when her youngest child, fifteen-year-old Naomi, doesn’t come home after her school play, Jenny’s seemingly ideal life begins to crumble. The authorities launch a nationwide search with no success. Naomi has vanished, and her family is broken.
by The Island Escape by Kerry Fisher: Review and Extract
The Island Escape is the latest novel from author, Kerry Fisher. It was released by Avon on 21st May 2015. It’s available in paperback and as an e-book. The cover is absolutely beautiful.
Kerry and the lovely people at Avon have shared an extract with us today. Enjoy!
That was three hours ago. I prayed I’d be able to hold on all night. I perched on the mattress, sitting with as little buttock touching it as possible. I wondered if Alicia was asleep. I hated the thought of her going to school in the morning all strung out and exhausted. The memory of her bewildered face as the police marched me away, that teenage bravado long gone, threatened my fragile composure. I hoped she’d heard me shout, ‘Don’t worry, darling, it’s just a bit of a misunderstanding,’ over my shoulder as I ducked into the squad car. I hoped – probably in vain – that Scott had been more interested in comforting her than making sure she understood that ‘I’d driven him to it’.
There was no air. Every time someone opened the door outside in the corridor, the smell of stale urine wafted around. I saw the occasional shadow move past the opaque window to the outside, convincing myself every time that it must be Scott coming to save me. A man was singing ‘Why are we waiting?’ in the cell opposite. Whoever was next to me was trying to batter the door down.
A fetid gust signalled the arrival of someone. The metal shutter was pulled back. Then a dark-haired policeman I hadn’t seen before came in, carrying a paper cup. Another person to feel humiliated in front of. Sitting there in a garb more suitable for carrying out a crime scene investigation made normal interaction impossible. I didn’t even dress up for fancy dress parties. The hairs on my arms lifted with static as I crossed them over my chest.
by
It’s June and a new month of Which Book is This Anyway?
Many of us judge books by their covers and make our choices based on that and the accompanying blurb. Our competition adds a little mystery.
The prize for this competition is a book but the identity of that book will not be revealed until the lucky winner receives it. It could be a recent new release or a well-known classic. Who knows? We won’t even reveal the genre. It’s a surprise. If you feel like having a guess in the meantime though, that’s OK, just comment below.
All we will reveal about June’s choice is this: ‘a book from a popular Irish author which focuses on large changes in the lives of the characters, their relationships and the importance of friendship.’
How to enter:
by Writing Room: Take a Letter
Writing Room is our online writing group.
We post an exercise. Once you’ve written your piece, feel free to post it in the comments box below for discussion. Anyone is welcome to take part and it’s an opportunity to post work plus give and gain feedback.
Today’s exercise: Take a Letter…
Pick a character from a current work in progress or if you’re not working on anything at the moment, pick a character from a favourite book. Get them to write a letter. It could be to their nemesis or it could be a letter themselves to be opened in the future or it could be to their past selves. What would they say? What does it reveal about your character or the plot of your story. Could you use it in either what you’re currently writing or use it to begin a new story?
by
The Turning Point by Freya North is released by HarperCollins and is available to buy from today (4th June 2015.)
Everyone deserves a new beginning. But sometimes fate isn’t on your side…
Over one short weekend, when Canadian musician Scott Emerson and British children’s author Frankie Shaw meet by chance, a profound connection is made. Their homes are thousands of miles apart: Frankie and her children live by the coast of North Norfolk while Scott’s roots lie deep in the mountains of British Columbia. Against all advice, they decide to see where this might go.
Over oceans and time zones, they make sacrifices and take risks, discovering along the way new truths about love and family. For the first time in a long while, it seems life could be very good. But fate has a tragic twist in store, one that could destroy all that was hoped for.
I was excited when I received a review copy of The Turning Point from HarperCollins. I knew little about the plot when I started the book but from the first few pages, I was hooked. I wasn’t sure where the story was going to go at first but I quickly became invested in the characters and wanted to know what was going to happen to them.
by
It’s time to announce the winner of May’s Which Book is This Anyway? Did you guess which book it was? (April’s book was The Rosie Project.’)
All we said about it was that ‘this book has been a part of Richard & Judy’s book club. A story that asks us how well do we know our children?’
Well done to Leila Benhamida,who is our winner this month. The competition for June will be open soon.
About ‘Which Book is This Anyway?’
Many of us judge books by their covers and make our choices based on that and the accompanying blurb. Our competition adds a little mystery.
The prize for this competition is a book but the identity of that book will not be revealed until the lucky winner receives it. It could be a recent new release or a well-known classic. Who knows? We won’t even reveal the genre.
by Novel Kicks Fiction Friday: Randomness
Friday 29th May 2015:
Fiction Friday is our weekly writing prompt. The aim is to write for a minimum of five minutes and then keep going for as long as you can. Once you’ve finished, don’t edit, just post in the comments box below.
Today’s prompt: Randomness. Place all of these random things into a story where your main character is a man named Mike. The items you need to put into your story are: A set of scales, eyes, a magnet, a house, a tent, insects, a compass, a magic wand and happiness (or lack off.)
by Bella’s Scribblings: Research
“Are you busy?” asks my husband.
“I’m doing research,” I reply.
Dictionary definition of ‘research’ – investigation esp scientific study to discover facts.
Reality of my ‘research’ –
• Type in key words to Google
• Follow first link
• Read and jot down a couple of interesting and informative facts on subject for novel
• See link to something unrelated but interesting – click
• An hour later realise you are watching funny cat videos again
• Try to find original Google search results on one of ridiculous number of open tabs
• Get distracted by Facebook update from friend, follow link to quiz…
• Notice another hour has disappeared
• Get a cup of tea and give self a good talking to about time-wasting
• Close down distracting tabs and stare at Google page – what was I researching again?
Whilst watching cats on the internet is highly entertaining it really is not moving my novel forward. I am particularly liking animal photo bombs at the moment. However, the reality is that even with all the distractions I know I can find out what I need to know and a million other things in a nanosecond (assuming I can stay focused for that long!)
by Blog Tour: The Invisible Man From Salem by Christoffer Carlsson
Photo Credit: Anna-Lena Ahlström, 2013
I’m very pleased to be welcoming Christoffer Carlsson to Novel Kicks. To celebrate the release of his novel, The Invisible Man from Salem (published in the UK by Scribe Books and translated by Michael Gallagher,) we will be taking part in the blog tour by reviewing the book but first, we had a chat with Christoffer about his novel, his favourite word and the three books he couldn’t live without…
Hi Christoffer. Can you tell us a little about The Invisible Man from Salem and it’s main character, Leo Junker. How did the idea originate?
The Invisible Man From Salem is part crime noir, part coming-of-age drama. It’s about two friends who come from the same place but grow to be very different people, and a story about the mysteries of friendship, love, guilt, and betrayal.
The idea really came from the work I was doing in criminology at the time. I was hired to write a PhD, based on life history interviews with a sample of juvenile delinquents born in Stockholm during the 1940s and 50s. As I began doing interviews with then in 2010, they were around 60 and had lived long and interesting lives. My interest was the field we call continuity and change in crime, that is, why did some of these juvenile offenders cease to do crime whereas others continued to offend well beyond the transition to adulthood? In other words, me interest was why some fare better than do others. As it turned out, some of the people who we – based on childhood risk factors – predicted would do bad, they did bad. But many of those we thought would do bad, actually turned out to live quite good lives. And, reversely, several of the people who we predicted would do good, actually lived quite crime-intensive lives. So, doing that work, it just got me thinking about what shapes a person’s life and, of course, the answer to that is very basic: it’s the relations we have to people and places, our location in the various dimensions of our social structure, and it is our own dreams and fears and aspirations.
I’m not claiming that I have written a criminological, fictionalized account of real lives or anything like that. I just wanted to write a crime drama based on the idea of what shapes people’s lives, and it was from it that the idea of the Leo Junker series grew.
What drew you to this genre?
Oh man, you know, I was born and bred on crime fiction. I’ve always loved it. The beauty in crime fiction is that it, when it’s done good, is much more than just a story about a crime. You know, much crime is the result of very basic dimensions of human existence. Love, friendship, greed, sex, guilt, betrayal, and various forms of drug use – all these things are very human things. But when they are taken to their extreme, the end result is sometimes crime. So when crime fiction is at its very best, it shows us what can happen when the most human elements in us go wrong. It tells us, in a sense, who we are and what we are capable of. I’m, by the way, not claiming that we are all equally prone to do murder or armed robberies; clearly, we’re not. But crime fiction can make us understand what is actually going on when such things do happen.
by Review: Polly and The Puffin by Jenny Colgan
Polly and The Puffin is the first children’s novel from author, Jenny Colgan whose previous novels include the Little Beach Street Bakery series.
Here’s the blurb:
Polly heard a CRASH downstairs. Was it a monster? NO! Was it a spider alien? NO!
It was a little puffin with a broken wing…
When Polly discovers an injured puffin, she and her mummy look after him in their cottage by the sea.
Slowly, Neil’s wing heals and Polly must prepare herself to say goodbye to her new friend. Will she ever see him again?.
Let’s get straight into it… I love this little book. It is so cute. When it arrived from Little Brown, it came with a sweet little cuddly puffin (whose name is Neil and he now sits on my desk.) For people who are not familiar with Jenny’s previous novels, Neil the Puffin first appeared in the Little Beach Street bakery series.
With it being a children’s book (I definitely don’t fit into the age range of its target audience,) I didn’t know whether I was going to like it but it’s so sweet and adorable.
by Novel Kicks Calls on Avon
Laura, Parastou, Claudia, Helen and Amy.
Recently, Helen and I were invited to attend an author event at Avon Publishers HQ in London (Avon’s Digital event to be more precise.)
With a mixture of excitement and nerves (which always seem to strike when I go to these types of events,) I made my way up to London. As someone who would love and is trying to write her first book, I am always so grateful to get the opportunity to chat with other writers (even if I spend most of the time trying not to gawk at these amazing, talented group of people who have published many novels between them.)
We arrived at Avon HQ which is situated near the Shard in London (The Shard looks both amazing and intimidating up close.) After being led up to the top floor, we were met by the lovely Parastou from Avon. It was great to meet her. Plus, she gave us a tote bag full of books. Always a bonus. We were then greeted by the most spectacular panoramic view of the London skyline. Helen and I couldn’t stop looking at it.
by Blog Tour: Always The Bridesmaid by Lindsey Kelk
I am so excited to be welcoming Lindsey Kelk back to Novel Kicks. We’re the final stop for her ‘The Bridesmaid Blog Tour’ for her new novel, Always The Bridesmaid which was released by Harper on 7th May. We’ve reviewed the book plus Lindsey and Harper have shared an extract with us but first, we chat to Lindsey about her new book, fictional places and books…
Hi Lindsey, thank you for joining us. Which fictional place would you like to visit?
OOH. Narnia might be nice for a getaway. I bet their wifi reception is terrible, I might actually get some peace.
Is there a fictional character you’d like to swop places with for a day and why? What would you do?
My mind has gone completely blank. Is there a character who can fly and make themselves invisible who is utterly, blissfully happy all the time? No? Oh. Then I’ll just be Frog from Frog and Toad Forever because he had a lovely life.
Can you tell us about your new book, Always The Bridesmaid and how the idea originated?
Like most of my stories, it came from my friends and our lives. We’re mostly all in our early to mid-thirties but we’re all over the place on the relationship spectrum, married, happily and unhappily, single, divorced, with kids, without kids. I wanted to tell a story from someone in the middle of the two intense situations happening at the same time – one friend getting married and the other getting divorced. From there, Maddie just came into her own.
by Blog Tour: Hunted by Paul Finch
I am very happy to be welcoming Paul Finch onto Novel Kicks today. His new book, Hunted was released by Avon on 7th May 2015. We review the latest adventures of DS Mark ‘Heck’ Heckenburg but first, Paul talks to us about his process for writing Hunted.
In some ways – at least at the start of the process – HUNTED was quite an awkward novel to write. Not least because late in the day we had to change its place in the schedule. Originally, it was slated to come third in the DS Heckenburg series. But then, due to reader demand to see the Nice Guys again – those were the villains in the first book, STALKERS – it was moved to fifth.
This in itself wasn’t a major problem, though obviously it necessitated some rejigging of characters and relationships given the tumultuous events in the third and fourth Heckenburg novels, THE KILLING CLUB and DEAD MAN WALKING. The real complication with HUNTED – if you could call it a complication, and I hesitate to actually use that term – arose because I always feel it’s important in these novels to take the central character, Heck, into different environments each time.
He frequently moves from the town to the city to the country, and back again, though inevitably most of these journeys see him trawling the badlands: impoverished urban zones, chaotic city centres – places where villainy most often occurs. Even in DEAD MAN WALKING, most of which Heck spends in the glorious Lake District, I found it important to ‘toughen’ things up. So I looked for as remote and isolated a location as I could, I set the book in late November and a thick winter fog, and introduced a deranged and seemingly unstoppable killer. For all these reasons I wanted a complete change of atmosphere and tone with HUNTED. This drew my attention to Southeast England, in particular the Home Counties, specifically Surrey, the place where allegedly there are more millionaires than anywhere else in the country. So the backdrop this time would be leafy lanes, comfortable commuter towns and well-heeled villages. I also opted to set the book during a hot summer, not just because it was scheduled for publication in May and therefore would arrive on most people’s e-readers or bookshelves with the sun shining outside and a feeling that the holiday season was just around the corner, but because I wanted to create a deceptively relaxed and peaceful mood.
Nothing bad could happen on a day like this and with such scenery around us, you might think. And if you do think that, good … that was my intention.
Because bad things, of course, do happen. This is a Heck novel, the trademarks for which are gruesome modes of murder and high body-counts. But this was another aspect of the book I also wanted to tweak slightly.
If you are writing about a dedicated investigation team like the Serial Crimes Unit, and you want it to be authentic, you are almost inevitably dealing with sexual homicide. This can be very discomforting for both the author and the reader. My crime novels are essentially entertainment, and yet sex murders are such a brutal and hideous reality of life that it’s not something we should take lightly. That said, I don’t think that as crime writers we do our readers any justice if we skate around this kind of unpleasantness. But it’s important not to be gratuitous with it. And so, though Heck has investigated sex crimes before, and will do again, I try, whenever possible, to move a little bit away from that – more into the realms of macabre craziness, dealing with horrible but baffling crimes and with criminals who in normal circumstances would be classifiable as insane.
by Book Club
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