Guest Post: Devil's Blood Blog Tour

Four years ago I wrote a review of Black Arts by debut YA writers Andrew Prentice and Jonathan Weil. Black Arts was billed as the first of The Books of Pandemonium, but then book 2 never materialised. Truth be told, I had given up hope of ever seeing it, but then, out of the blue a couple of months ago I spotted the authors tweeting about their new book. Devil's Blood was published a few days ago, and it was well worth the wait and I am delighted to welcome Prentice and Weil to The Book Zone today as part of the Black Arts and Devil's Blood blog tour, to tell us about the Devils of London.

Prentice & Weil on The Devils of London

Our devils were born out of desperation and despair.  In two years we’d written three drafts of our book Black Arts.  Although it had its good bits, the story was still ungainly, overlong and not flying at all.  Following the savage and wise advice of our new editor Simon Mason we trashed the whole lot, keeping only a few chapters and characters.  It was a mightily bleak spot.


We walked and walked, talking through our fresh start.  We had discovered that one of the problems about writing a book with both magic and time travel is that it gets a little complicated.  Magic works in books when it seems natural and easy.  The minute that you have to launch into convoluted explanations about method and mechanics, you tend to lose the reader’s interest.  We went round and round in circles trying to simplify our system.  But nothing worked – that is until we went for a fateful walk down the Regent’s Park Canal.

I can remember the exact spot where everything changed.  It was on the odd, graffiti-covered stretch between Broadway Market and Victoria Park.  Jon and I were discussing Dr Dee – and how he had believed he was summoning devils and angels when he did magic.  

‘What if we used that?’  A simple suggestion.  We both looked at each other – and suddenly, just like that, we were flying again.   The greatest joy of writing as a team is when an idea starts soaring and lifts you both up with it.  The miles disappeared with our talking.

‘What if all magic was done with devils?  You summon them and then they do what you want.  That’s how magic works!’

‘What if some devils got lost?’

‘What if some devils got forgotten?  What if London was full of them?’

‘What if the devils left behind in hell want revenge?’

In that walk, the whole thing (more or less) fell into place.  It’s hard not to believe that a devil of inspiration wasn’t buried somewhere beneath our feet, granting us a sweet moment of clarity.  The walking definitely played a part, but so too does the city where you walk – and that is the essence of our idea.

You must know some places that make you feel a certain way.  Some of these are obvious: a ruined castle, a forest path, the secret corner in your gran’s greenhouse.  But others are more hidden and subtle – but no less powerful.  Cities are full of these places.  Especially London, where the ancient city hides in plain sight. 

There are buried devils everywhere. Alan Moore, Ian Sinclair and Peter Ackroyd have all written compellingly about the city’s psychogeography.  But that really is a complicated word for a very simple thing.  The paths that we take through life affect us.  Your environment shapes you and your experience.  All we’ve done is spice that common truth with a little pinch of Hellfire.

The funny thing was that when we went hunting for lost devils we hardly had to look.  Dig a little beneath the streets and their history and you can find them yourself.  Black Dog really was a ghost that haunted Newgate Prison.  The spirit that we call Lud has had many names over the years, and the London Stone, where Lud lives, can be visited today.  It sits, at pavement level, embedded in the wall of a bank in the City.  Smithfield has been drenched in blood for millennia: Druids held rituals there, Romans held executions, medieval Londoners made it their slaughterhouse (and in a few days time we’ll have a book launch there too.  Let’s hope it’s not too bloody!)  Wherever we looked we found details that made it seem like we were discovering a truth rather than making things up.

Of course we took liberties, and I don’t expect you to believe that there is a giant leech sitting beneath Smithfield market.  All the same, next time that you are out and about in the city where you live, close your eyes, take a deep breath and imagine all the lives that have passed along the street where you are walking now.  Their treasure and their trash is buried beneath you, layer after layer after layer.  When you open your eyes again, try not to feel dizzy, because you are looking straight down into the abyss.

Author’s Note:  We have been exploring the devils of London in our tumblr: http://londondevils.tumblr.com/.   Go there to find some more devils that we have dug up while tramping around the city.  The pictures in the article are sketched using Alkahest-infused goggles.

Review: Von Doogan and the Curse of the Golden Monkey by Lorenzo Etherington

A super puzzle adventure comic starring Von Doogan...and YOU! The Curse of the Golden Monkey is BOTH a brilliant puzzle book AND a thrilling adventure story! It's jam-packed with challenges for you to solve, and every step of the way our hero's fate is in YOUR HANDS! Can Doogan uncover the MYSTERIOUS and TERRIFYING secrets at the heart of Javasu Island? It's up to YOU!

I appreciate that posting a review of Von Doogan and the Curse of the Golden Monkey a mere two days after my review of Long Gone Don makes it look as if the Etherington Brothers have hijacked The Book Zone as part of some nefarious quest for world domination, but I could hardly review one and not the other, could I? As with Long Gone Don, if you're not a regular reader of The Phoenix then you will most likely not know that Von Doogan is a regular feature in said weekly comic, but whereas Long Gone Don is a traditional narrative story format, Von Doogan is something different entirely. Whilst the Indiana Jones style story element is still important (and also great fun), it is also possibly the most evil and dastardly children's puzzle book created in the history of the planet... ever!

Best known for his illustrating of his brother's writing, Lorenzo Etherington has cast off the shackles of brotherly love and gone solo with Von Doogan, although we are not looking at a Wham-style split over artistic differences here - the 'boys' are still very much a double act for their other work (and long may it be so). And Von Doogan may be enough suggest that Lorenzo is the evil brother of the two, as the puzzles in Von Doogan made my brain turn to mush and ooze out of my nostrils in protest. Lorenzo never, ever resorts to the mundane or simple for his puzzles. Wordsearches? Pah! They are for wimps. No, we are presented with codes and word 'games' that would have had the Bletchley crowd scratching their heads in frustration. In fact, I would go as far as to suggest that Von Doogan and the Curse of the Golden Monkey should in future be used as part of the MI5 and MI6 selection process. Finish it in less than a day and you're in! Just look at this one for the first puzzle in the book:

And yet, despite its devilish difficulty this book is pretty damn fun as well. Each of the puzzles is given a difficulty rating (or 'impossibility level', depicted in skulls), and your heart does skip a beat when you turn a page to see five skulls glaring menacingly at you. Especially as you know that in order to be able to continue with the narrative part of the comic you MUST solve the problem on each page. But then there is that feeling of satisfaction when you do manage to finally complete a puzzle and move on to the next page, even if that status bar at the bottom of the page does seem to creep along slower than an M25 traffic jam on a hot and sunny Bank Holiday Monday.

And then there is Lorenzo Etherington's artwork. Every single puzzle is lavishly produced in Lorenzo's trademark detail and stunning vibrant colourwork, and it is this that really sets Von Doogan head and shoulders above any puzzle book I have come across for kids. Von Doogan and the Curse of the Golden Monkey is almost guaranteed to keep kids (and their parents) occupied for hours (as long they can resist the temptation to cheat by looking up the answers at the rear of the book, which I did not do even once. Honest! (Gulp!)

Von Doogan and the Curse of the Golden Monkey is yet another great publication from David Fickling Books as part of the ever-increasing The Phoenix Presents series and just like Long Gone Don, it deserves a place in every young comic lover's collection. My thanks go to the publisher for sending me a copy yo review (even if I have gained a few more grey hairs whilst working through it).

Review: The Pirates of Pangaea by Daniel Hartwell and Neill Cameron

The year is 1717. The newly discovered island of Pangaea is the most dangerous place on Earth, where dinosaurs still walk the land - Sophie Delacourt has been sent to Pangaea to stay with her uncle. But little does she know its perils - for Pangaea is a lawless wilderness, teeming with cut-throat pirates! Kidnapped and imprisoned, Sophie must escape from the ruthless Captain Brookes and embark upon an epic journey, to find her way home.

It's nothing more than simple maths where this book is concerned:

Yes, Daniel Hartwell (no relation) and Neill Cameron's brilliant The Pirates of Pangaea, first seen in The Phoenix comic has finally been given its first collected edition, courtesy of those wonderful people at David Fickling books. Seriously, if you have kids who love comics (or kids who you would love it if they loved comics) then The Pirates of Pangaea is a must-buy book. I was a weekly purchaser of The Phoenix in its early days (and I still would be if I had kids), and although I adored the zany and madcap work of the Etherington Brothers, my favourite part of the comic by far was Hartwell and Cameron's dinosaurs and pirates mash-up.

The story follows the adventures of Sophie Delacourt, who, following the death of her parents, has been sent to live with her uncle, the governor of the remote tropical island continent of Pangaea. What Sophie doesn't realise until the voyage is almost at its end, is that Pangaea is not like the other islands she has heard of as it is still home to many species of dinosaur. 

The interior of Pangaea consists of vast areas of long grass that hide deadly predators, much the same as a quite and serene ocean may hide a school (or is it a shiver?) of vicious killer sharks. In order to travel throughout the interior, ships arriving at the port are craned onto the backs of huge sauropods, which then proceed to transport said vessels across the land. However, as this is set in the early 18th Century, there have to be pirates a plenty as well (of course), and they lie in wait for passing vessels, ready to attack with their own sauropod-mounted ships. Poor Sophie has barely made landfall when her own ship is attacked by a bloodthirsty band of cutthroats, and she is the only survivor.

Sophie is not your typical demure and retiring 18th Century young lady - she is quick to leap into the fray and the incredible creatures that inhabit Pangaea do not faze her at all. In fact, she quickly discovers that she might have a gift similar to that of a horse whisperer, something that will come in very handy as she attempts to escape captivity.

Daniel Hartwell's exciting, dinosaur-laden, swash-buckling adventure story is perfectly complemented by Neill Cameron's stunning graphic work. Neill was the talent behind the brilliant and visually stunning Mo-Bot High, but in Pirates of the Pangaea he has taken his artwork to a new level. Everything about his art in this comic is right: the sprawling Pangaea landscapes; the details of the dinosaurs and their ships; the depictions of the characters (especially the evil pirates); and the great colour palette used throughout (just feast your eyes on the image below, a promo poster that Neill Cameron produced for the launch of the comic). 

The Pirates of Pangaea is due to be published by David Fickling books on 5th February and it is well worth every penny of the £8.99 cover price. My thanks got to the wonderful people at David Fickling Books for sending me a copy to read and review.

(Pirates of Pangaea, all images and concepts ©2011 Daniel Hartwell & Neill Cameron)

Review: Shadow of the Wolf by Tim Hall

A world of gods and monsters. An elemental power, rising. This is Robin Hood, reborn, as he has never been seen before…

Robin Loxley is seven years old when his parents disappear without trace. Years later the great love of his life, Marian, is also taken from him. Driven by these mysteries, and this anguish, Robin follows a darkening path into the ancient heart of Sherwood Forest. What he encounters there will leave him transformed, and will alter forever the legend of Robin Hood.

I look back at the 1980s and there were so many TV shows that at the time I thought were brilliant. Some of them are still nostalgia-fuelled favourites, whilst others I now see as pretty dire. One of the former is Robin of Sherwood, which between 1984 and 1986 was essential viewing in our household (although not so much once Michael Praed's Robin died, and was resurrected as Jason Connery). Robin of Sherwood was everything the Middle Ages was (and everything Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves wasn't) - dirty, gritty, and laced with the pagan superstition and folklore that would have been a huge part of English culture in those days. It brought us the legend of Robin Hood in a way that no one had before, and as far as I am aware no one has since. Until now that is.

When I first read the publisher's blurb for Tim Hall's Shadow of the Wolf my interested was immediately piqued. It promised a completely new and original take on the Robin Hood legend and I couldn't wait to read it. However, for the first 200 pages or so I found myself feeling a little short changed. Other than the first chapter, which hints at an element of the supernatural, there was little that made it stand out from all that had come before it. Admittedly, it starts off at a much earlier point in Robin's life than most previous stories have, and Marian is a very different character to the way she has been portrayed by most in the past, but other than that there was little that could justify this so called different take. 

And then boom! About halfway in the unspeakable happens - Robin is completely and utterly defeated, his body brutalised in an horrendous manner, and he ends up broken and near dead in Sherwood Forest, a place that is as far as you can get from the cheerful, leafy glades of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. But just as it looks as if a premature end has come for our hero, nature and mythology intervene and all of a sudden we find ourselves in the middle of a revenge story that has more in common with Swamp Thing than it does with Kevin Costner's outing. All of a sudden the time spent reading those initial two hundred pages of character building and scene setting become worth every single minute spent on them, and as a reader I was gripped until the very final page, and even then I wanted more.

This is a challenging read that you need time to luxuriate in if you want to get the most out of it. It's not a book that is a light read for the beach as it craves for your full attention; it is atmospheric and rich in detail and if you give it the time and attention it deserves it will draw you in completely. It's not perfect: the first 200 pages could have been edited down a bit in my opinion, and after a while Marian's unpredictable and at times brattish temperament can become a little grating, but as far as epic YA fantasy goes it is certainly an excellent and welcome addition to the fold.

I believe Shadow of the Wolf is the first book in a trilogy, and I'm certainly keen to re-enter the dark and brutal world that Tim Hall has created for the legendary Robin and Marian. Shadow of the Wolf was published by the brilliant David Fickling Books at the beginning of July, in a hardcover edition with a stunning cover (one of my favourites of the year so far). My thanks go to the fab people at Riot Communications for my copy of the book.

My Life That Books Built by Tom Huddleston (The Waking World Blog Tour)

Today, lucky readers, we are joined by Tom Huddleston, author of The Waking World, the first book in The Future King fantasy series. The Waking World is a post apocalyptic tale based on the legend of Merlin and Arthur, packed with action, mystery and adventure. Tom has very kindly stopped by to tell us about the books that meant a lot to him as a child:


My Life That Books Built by Tom Huddleston

I was addicted to books when I was young. A lot of it was down to my parents, who were both big readers themselves. But my biggest influence was undoubtedly my older sister Sarah, to whom ‘The Waking World’ is dedicated. She loved fantasy and historical stories, authors like Susan Cooper, Rosemary Sutcliffe, Alan Garner, Diana Wynne Jones, Nicholas Fisk, John Christopher and many, many others, all of whom fed directly into my own writing. Here are five (actually six) books that made a major impression on me when I was young.

The Sword in the Stone

I have to start here. TH White’s book was not only one of my favourites when I was a boy, it was also the biggest single inspiration on ‘The Waking World’. This book is funny, it’s exciting, it’s unpredictable, and it’s so beautifully written. The characters are just amazing, from the heroic, ever questioning Arthur to the wise but kindly Merlin, from the bratty but essentially decent Kay to the hilarious, bantering older knights Ector and Pellinore. The images just explode in your head – the scene where Arthur first attempts to take the sword from the stone, and the whole living world around him bows low to listen, might be my favourite passage in literature, it’s just so gripping and strange and mystical.

The Lord of the Rings

This was the other big influence on ‘The Waking World’, as it has been on every fantasy book written in the past 50 years. I read ‘The Lord of the Rings’ for the first time when I was about 13, and I didn’t leave the house for a whole weekend. I was completely swallowed by it. I know people who think it’s too long, too detailed, too grand. I think they’re mad. Everything in this book feels lived-in, you know the history of every race and every sword and every rock. That adds so much to the story – compare it to something like the Narnia books where, when the kids need weapons, Santa Claus just magically appears and hands them over. I want the worlds I read about to feel real, I want to imagine I could walk about in them, even if they’re populated by dragons and orcs and talking trees.

Titus Groan

A world that feels even more solid and ancient than ‘The Lord of the Rings’. Mervyn Peake was a poet and a painter as well as a writer, and I always loved the idea that you didn’t need to be pinned down to one artform – I write books, but I also play in a band and write about films. We’re very lucky nowadays, we have access to all these different ways of expressing ourselves. The Gormenghast trilogy – of which this is the first book – is a huge work of imagination, set in a vast rambling castle populated by the most twisted, vivid characters imaginable. Peake’s prose can be quite dense, but once you get into the rhythm of it the books are completely addictive. When I was a boy, we even named our family cat Fuchsia after the tragic teenage heroine.

Swallows and Amazons

This is a ridiculous story which I still feel embarrassed to recall, but when I got my first typewriter for my tenth birthday (yes, I’m so old that we couldn’t afford computers in those days), I began copying out the whole of my favourite book, ‘Swallows and Amazons’. For some reason, I thought that was how books were written – it hadn’t even occurred to me to write something of my own. I got about three pages in before my mother sat me down and explained that what I was doing a) would take forever and b) was completely pointless. So I started working on my own stories instead. But still, this is a favourite book: I was born in the Lake District, and the way Arthur Ransome describes that landscape makes it feel like a place of adventure and mystery. I still feel that way whenever I go back to visit.

The Mouse and his Child & Riddley Walker


I’ll finish with two books by Russell Hoban. ‘The Mouse and his Child’ is a story for young children about a pair of clockwork mice who are thrown on the scrapheap and end up having all kinds of wild adventures. It sounds like quite a cute, cosy idea for a story, but this is one of the most terrifying and intense and thrilling books I’ve ever read, I still get a little shudder when I think of it. The world Hoban builds is really creepy and overwhelming for the poor, helpless mice. ‘Riddley Walker’ is very different, but it was a huge influence on ‘The Waking World’. It’s set in England after a nuclear war, where the people have reverted to a kind of brutal, medieval society. That idea of a post-apocalyptic future world where little glimmers of the past still shine through fed directly into my own writing.

~~~

Huge thanks to Tom for taking the time to write this for us. The Waking World is published by David Fickling Books and is due to be released on 3rd October.

Fact: Comics Are Brilliant!

Illustration by Sarah McIntyre

I'm a couple of days behind with this as it has been a busy few days at school, but this week saw a very sad occasion - -the final print edition of The Dandy. Now I have always been more of a Beano fan, but the loss of this great British comic is still something that crushed my heart a little. No longer will generations of kids be able to roll a copy of The Dandy up and read it at break time in the school playground. And bedroom mine fields of scattered copies will soon be a thing of the past.

However, the casual and uneducated observer may now be thinking that comics are dead in Britain, and they  couldn't be more wrong. Two days ago I read two outstanding online articles about British comics: one by the wonderful David Fickling, writing in The Telegraph, and the other by the uber-talented illustrator and comic artist, Sarah McIntyre. Both were writing passionately about The Phoenix, the awesome weekly comic that will be celebrating its first birthday in the New Year, and anyone who has had the fortune and pleasure to read an edition of The Phoenix will find themselves nodding and smiling in agreement as they read these two articles. Please take the time to click the following links, they are well worth your time:

David's article can be found here.

Sarah's article can be found on her blog here.

There is no guaranteed method of getting reluctant kids reading for enjoyment, but comics are as close as you are ever going to get to a sure fire way. On the day these articles were published I followed a brief Twitter conversation calling for The Phoenix subscriptions to be given to all UK primary schools. Such a fantastic idea, but I would guess it would need some serious financial backing from somewhere. Sadly, I'm not sure Mr Gove would agree as I very much doubt comics were approved reading material when he was at school.

Review: The Demon's Watch by Conrad Mason

Half-goblin boy Joseph Grubb lives in Fayt, a bustling trading port where elves, trolls, fairies and humans live side by side. Fed up of working at the Legless Mermaid tavern, Grubb dreams of escape - until a whirlwind encounter with a smuggler plunges him into Fayt's criminal underworld. There he meets the Demon's Watch and learns of their mission to save the port from a mysterious and deadly threat. Can Grubb and his new allies uncover the dark plot in time, or will they end up as fish food in Harry's Shark Pit?

Based on The Demon's Watch, his debut novel, Conrad Mason is most definitely an author to watch out for in the future. Long time readers of The Book Zone will know that I do not read a great deal of what I would call traditional fantasy - magic, trolls, goblins and the like, set in fantasy worlds. Apart from The Lord of the Rings, which I have read many times, I have never gelled with traditional fantasy stories for adults, even though I have tried many of the masters of the genre. However, this book had been sitting on my To Be Read pile for some time, and having read a variety of books in other genres I felt like something different and took the plunge..... and I loved it! Yet again, David Fickling has struck gold!

I think my biggest problem with adult fantasy is the time spent world-building. I just do not have the patience for pages and pages of background information about a world and its flora and fauna. And this is exactly why I had no problem at all with The Demon's Watch - like the best writers of children's and YA fantasy Conrad Mason manages to build and populate his fantastic world without slowing down the fast pace of his story with lengthy, yawn-inducing info-dumps. 

For me there are two things that really make The Demon's Watch: the characters and the dialogue between them. The two combined make for a hugely entertaining and comic fantasy story that will have young readers enchanted. Conrad Mason has filled his story with characters to rival those in any of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels. There is orphan Joseph Grubb, half human and half goblin, as as such is on the receiving end of many a bigoted remark, especially from his uncle who works him to the bone in his tavern. Joseph's lot is not a happy one, and longs for a happier life, filled with adventure. Through a series of incidents he finds himself falling in with The Demon's Watch, a rag-tag bunch of watchmen who try to keep some kind of order in the port of Fayt. Captain Newton, their leader, oversees a motley crew made up of a magician, a headstrong and impulsive girl, an elf and a pair of trolls. Sometimes their escapades come across as an calamity of errors, but  between the laughs you can't help but care for them and hope that all turns out OK in the end.

For a debut novel this is something special - Conrad Mason is obviously a very gifted storyteller. He knows exactly how to engage his readers and keep their attention for the whole story. He weaves a multitude of twists into his tale, and young readers will delight in rooting for their heroes as the machinations of the rather nasty compliment of villains unfold. I for one cannot wait to continue my journey with Joseph Grubb and his new-found friends.

My thanks go to the lovely people at David Fickling books for sending me a copy to read.

Review: Black Arts by Prentice and Weil (The Books of Pandomonium Book 1)

Elizabethan London: a teeming city of traders and thieves, courtiers and preachers, riff-raff and quality, cut-throats - and demons. When scrunty Jack the 'Judicious Nipper' picks the wrong pocket at the Globe Theatre, he finds himself mixed up in an altogether more dangerous London than he could have imagined - a city in which magic is real and deadly.

An outbreak of devil-worship has led to a wave of anti-witch fervor whipped up by the Elect, a mysterious group of Puritans recognizable from their red-stained right hands, led by the charismatic Nicholas Webb, a growing power at Court. Rumour has it that he wants to purge the city entirely and build a New Jerusalem. Jack has his own reason for hating him: he saw him kill his mother.

Helped by Beth Sharkwell the Thief Princess of Lambeth, Kit Morely the Intelligencer and Dr Dee the Queen's Wizard, Jack pits himself against Webb's Puritans. But this is no straightforward struggle. Things are not as they seem. In fact, ever since his encounter with Webb, there has been something wrong with Jack's vision. He keeps seeing things. Demons.

March 2012 has to have been one of the greatest months ever as far as the release of totally brilliant children's and YA books is concerned. I stopped announcing my Book of the Month some time ago, but if I was forced to make a decision (and it wasn't for a certain sequel by Will Hill) then Black Arts by Andrew Prentice and Jonathan Weil would be an incredibly strong contender indeed.

I received an early proof copy of Black Arts back before Christmas, courtesy of the lovely people at David Fickling Books, and I the information on the press release simply shouted "Read me now!" and so I dropped everything and did as instructed. That press release mentioned: the setting, London (London is unsurpassed as a setting for magical fantasy/horror in my opinion); in the year 1592 (one of my favourite eras for historical fiction); Satanic atrocities; a shadow world of criminals and fanatics, spies and magicians. I almost felt as if that press release had been directed at me personally, it ticked so many boxes. I was not to be disappointed.

I'm a little bit lost on how to start telling you about this book as there is simply so much I want to say. It is the perfect blend of fantasy, horror and historical fiction, with none of these 'genres' elbowing for dominance over the others. I mentioned this to my friend Liz from My Favourite Books as she had just started reading it, and we agreed that some writers of fantasy/horror set in an actual historical period (as opposed to a fantasy world of their own creation) often get bogged down in trying to ensure that all the historical details are correct, meaning that a great deal of the fun in their story gets forgotten about. The reason for this is the history nerds who seem to take great pleasure in hunting through books like this desperately trying to find some kind of historical inaccuracy. I can't attest to the accuracy of the historical aspect of Black Arts (and frankly I don't care in a story this good), but the writers certainly made it feel very real to me, and yet also managed to ensure that their story was an incredibly rewarding, fun read (some people may think I am a little bit twisted for finding fun in what is such a dark book.... perhaps I am?!) 

Sometimes when reading a book you can tell that the author had great fun writing it, and I have no doubts at all that this was the case with Black Arts. The primary piece of evidence that suggests this to me is the dialogue between the various characters. In a lesser book, the characters might have come across as stereotypes of the traditional Oliver Twist street urchin/crime story, albeit with healthy doses of magic and horror added to the mix, but the quality of the dialogue in Black Arts makes the story stand head and shoulders above its peers. Having met Prentice and Weil at the recent launch of their debut I can now easily imagine the fun they had in writing the dialogue for their richly imagined characters. The characters themselves are perfectly created, especially the villains of the story who are particularly nasty and ruthless (and again, more fun must have been had in the creation of these bad guys - P & W make exceedingly good bad villains).

12+ children who have read all of the Harry Potter books and particularly enjoyed the darker aspects of those books as the story progressed to its final conclusion could do a hell of a lot worse than turn to Black Arts for their latest fix of dark horror. The plot is exciting, and it twists and turns constantly as characters cross and double-cross each other, and with this much mystery and suspense I defy any young person to read this book and find it boring. 

David Fickling and his very small team really know what makes a fantastic children's/YA book. They don't publish many but it seems that everyone that comes out from them is an absolute corker. The impression I am always left with in finishing a David Fickling Book is that David and his team have a passion for great stories, and getting these into the hands of young people. Long may this continue!

Coming Up In 2012 #13: The Demon's Watch by Conrad Mason

At the end of the Random House bloggers' brunch that I attended recently I felt both excited and a little concerned. Excited because of the plethora of great sounding titles they have coming out this year, but concerned because I'm not sure where the time is going to come from to read them all. If only I could win the lottery, quit the job and spend the rest of my days reading? The Demon's Watch by Conrad Mason is another one of the books we were told about that I can't wait to read. Here's Conrad to tell us a little more about his book:

My first novel, The Demon's Watch, is out in March from David Fickling Books. It's a piratical fantasy adventure in which magicians sport tricornes, ogres wield flintlocks and elves carry cutlasses.

The story is set in Port Fayt, where humans live in peace alongside trolls, goblins and fairies alike. Captain Newton and his men are the Demon's Watch, and they keep the town safe from pirates and smugglers. But now Fayt is under threat from a much more powerful enemy - the League of the Light, who want to destroy anyone who isn't human. And to make matters worse, a dangerous witch has just arrived in town.

Half-goblin boy Joseph Grubb works in his uncle's tavern, the Legless Mermaid, and has only ever heard stories of the Demon's Watch. But when he runs away from his uncle and finds himself deep in a criminal underworld, Grubb might be the one person who could help the watchmen save Port Fayt.

I've tried to write a book which is full of action, humour and mystery, and most importantly of all, heroes you can root for. A book in which a person doesn't have to be evil just because they're a goblin. A book which I hope you'll love. Because if you don't, I'll be sending the ogres round...

Coming Up In 2012 #11: Black Arts by Andrew Prentice & Jonathan Weil

Back before Christmas I was sent a proof of Black Arts, a debut novel from Andrew Prentice and Jonathan Weil. I loved the premise so much that I dropped everything to read it, and I can tell you that it is superb. This Saturday just gone I was fortunate to be one of a number of bloggers invited to a brunch held by Random House Children's Books, and when one of the team was waxing lyrical about how good this book was I was the one sat at the back vigorously nodding my head in agreement. My review will follow nearer its April release date, so for now you will have to have you appetites whetted by the authors who very kindly agreed to take part in my Coming Up In 2012 feature:


Welcome to London.

Jack knows that London is dangerous. This is a place where government spies can make you disappear into the torture chamber, and where most crimes are punishable with death. As a child thief, he knows he’ll be lucky to live to the age of twenty.

He doesn’t know that London is crawling with invisible devils. He doesn’t know about the gruesome murder spree that is about to be unleashed. He doesn’t know that soon the most powerful man in the city will be hunting him to death.

He’ll find out, though, soon enough.


We set our story in London because it’s the city where we grew up, the city we love above all others; and because it’s an evil, twisted, magical place where anything can happen.

The original idea for the book came from a true London story:

Four men walk into a London pub and have lunch together. When the bill arrives, two of them disagree over who should pay, and one stabs the other through the eye, penetrating the brain and killing him instantly. The victim is London’s most successful and celebrated playwright – who happens to be a spy on the sly. He has also been accused of inciting riots and fomenting treason . . . not to mention the rumours of black magic and lewd sexual practices . . . The murderer is a petty conman, and one of the witnesses is the Queen’s own spymaster.

This happened in 1593 (the victim is Christopher Marlowe). We thought a place where that story could be true must be a good place for the sort of story we wanted to write – i.e. the sort of story we’ve always enjoyed reading ourselves. Black Arts is a story about death, vengeance, gold and devils. Anything can happen.

Review: This Dark Endeavour by Kenneth Oppel

The purest intentions can stir up the darkest obsessions.

In this prequel to Mary Shelley's gothic classic, Frankenstein, 16-year-old Victor Frankenstein begins a dark journey that will change his life forever. Victor's twin, Konrad, has fallen ill, and no doctor is able to cure him. Unwilling to give up on his brother, Victor enlists his beautiful cousin Elizabeth and best friend Henry on a treacherous search for the ingredients to create the forbidden Elixir of Life. Impossible odds, dangerous alchemy and a bitter love triangle threaten their quest at every turn.

Victor knows he must not fail. But his success depends on how far he is willing to push the boundaries of nature, science, and love - and how much he is willing to sacrifice.

Back in July I was one of a number of bloggers invited to a bloggers' brunch held by the nice people at Random House Children's Books. During their presentation about their forthcoming titles there was one book that really stood out for me: This Dark Endeavour by Kenneth Oppel. I first stumbled across Mr Oppel's work through his brilliant Airborn (and sequels), and with his writing talent now being focused on a prequel to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein how could I be anything but very excited?

This excitement was not misplaced. I had expected a dark, gothic horror-based story but instead I got so much more. The horror element is more psychological than most stories of this genre written for teens these days - rather than gore it relies on steadily building tension through some pretty dark scenes, interwoven between scenes of pure action and adventure, with a smattering of romance thrown in for good measure. However, for those of you who hate the 'R' word it is an essential part of the story, and anyway it is certainly not the sort of romance that will have boys throwing the book across the room in despair.

This Dark Endeavour tells the story of young Victor Frankenstein and his twin brother, Konrad. Just as with many twins, the two boys differ in personality quite considerably: Konrad is the laid-back, confident one who seems to be good at everything he lends his hand to, whilst Victor often feels in his shadow. This feeling of inadequacy grows even more in Victor's mind when he discovers that his growing love for his cousin Elizabeth is not reciprocated, and instead she and Konrad are fast becoming an item. Despite their differences though, Victor and Konrad and very close and when Konrad falls dangerously ill with some mysterious condition Victor will do anything to try to make in better.

I am not an expert on the period in which the story is set so I am not able to comment on the accuracy of the author's historical detailing. However, accurate or not, the quality of his prose gave me a very real sense of being there in eighteenth century Switzerland. It was a time when science, religion and superstition were 'battling it out' for supremacy in the minds of many of the inhabitants of Europe, and despite the massive leaps that were being made in the various fields of science there was still a belief by some in the ancient study of alchemy. Early on in the story Victor stumbles across a hidden 'Dark Library' within the family home, a room lined with shelves full of mysterious, heretical and potentially dangerous books. When it seems that no doctor is able to cure his brother, it is to one of these such books that he turns, and from this moment the story starts to be engulfed by a sinister darkness.

To outline the adventures that Victor embarks upon in search of the ingredients he requires in order that a potion can be made would be to spoil the story for you. There are moments where you would be hiding behind a cushion if this were a film or TV drama, but where another author may have created a little more blood splatter, Oppel relies purely on his ability to get into the minds of his readers, much as Mary Shelley did with her original story. In fact, on finishing this I immediately re-read her story (yet again), and with this as a comparison I felt that Mr Oppel had done a great job of protraying the voice of the young Victor Frankenstein.

If you want something a little more challenging and psychologically scary than the likes of Higson and Shan for your Hallowe'en reading (or for that matter at any time of the year) then you really should give this book a try. I believe it is the first book in a pair of stories, and I for one am really looking forward to seeing where Mr Oppel takes us next. My thanks go to the good people at David Fickling Books for sending me this book to review.

   

News: Shadow of the Wolf by Tim Hall

Like most book bloggers, I get sent a lot of press releases about forthcoming books. I do very little with most of them, preferring instead to wait until a book is published, or at the very least a book cover is available to display for you all. However, yesterday I received a press release from Lauren that I just had to share with you all, as it sounds like an incredibly exciting variation on a much-used legend. Many people have tried to 'get clever' with the Robin Hood story, some have been successful, and some have failed dismally. I really, really hope that this one works, and knowing David Fickling's insticnt for what makes a cracking story I am sure it will.

There is one sentence in the press release that really intrigues and excites me. How great does this sound: "  ..... a blind, ruthless assassin and elemental creature of the forest."? It sounds like a delicious cocktail of Zatoichi, Swamp Thing and Daredevil, all shaken together with the Robin Hood legend. I am sure there will be more information coming from David Fickling Books so keep watching book fans.

Press release

David Fickling Books is delighted to announce that they have successfully bid for three fantastic YA novels by debut author Tim Hall. The team at DFB made the deal for UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada) with James Wills of Watson, Little Ltd.

David Fickling comments, “We are all very excited by Tim's writing and we believe that Tim has it in him to be a huge world-renowned writer. After meeting with him, we immediately got the sense that he loved to work with the stuff of story and had many, many tales to tell. For us that is beyond exciting, and we are very keen indeed to begin working on this trilogy and prepare it for publication.”

The first book of the trilogy, Shadow of the Wolf, is set in Sherwood Forest in medieval England. However, if you think you know the story then think again. Tim Hall presents a Robin Hood more heroic and horrific than ever before: a blind, ruthless assassin and elemental creature of the forest. Fourteen-year-old Robin may not be able to see, but he learns to understand every sound that the forest makes – the heartbeat of a nearby bird, the sound of a deer drinking from a stream, the gentle rustle of an enemy boot passing through the foliage...

Tim Hall expertly weaves influences ranging from Japanese cinema to Norse mythology, making this novel a fabulously rich treat that works on multiple levels. Packed full of dark drama and unexpected plot twists, Shadow of the Wolf is an absolute page turner that will have teenage readers clamouring for its sequel.

Tim Hall previously worked as a news journalist for the Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph. Most recently, he spent almost two years in Bermuda running the news desk for the Bermuda Sun newspaper. Shadow of the Wolf is his first novel, and he has a clear plan for books two and three.

~~~

“So many tales have already been told of Robin Hood. Already he's the hero with a thousand faces.

First, forget everything you've heard. Robin was no prince, and he was no dispossessed lord; he didn't fight in the Crusades; he never gave a penny to the poor.

His real name wasn't even Robin Hood. Marian called him that as a kind of joke. Sir Robin of the Hood. A name Robin would cling to when he was losing grip of everything else. Mind you, one thing you've heard is true. He was blind.

No, that's not right. Let me put that another way. Truer to say, Robin Hood didn't see with his eyes. In fact he was the only one who saw clearly in this place of illusion and lies.”

~~~

*** Interview with Andy Mulligan (author of Trash)

Earlier this month I posted a review of the brilliant Trash by Andy Mulligan, a book that had me captivated from the very first page. I therefore jumped in head first when offered the chance to send Andy a few questions for him to answer for The Book Zone.

How would you describe Trash to a potential reader?

I’d say it’s a thriller in which a bunch of very determined, very ingenious children take on the police. I’d say it’s a window into a horrible and horrific world – one that really exists. I’d say it’s a page-turner that will expose you to some pretty unpleasant things and will get your heart racing!

I know you have done a lot of travelling and have visited several dumpsites – what was it about them that inspired you to write Trash?

The image of children crawling in rubbish. Simple as that – it’s a scene from The Inferno, it’s a circle of hell. You see these kids, often just in shorts, with a hook. They are doomed to sift those xxxxheaps all day, in rain or sun. And next to the seven year-old is the seven year-old’s grandfather, still sifting – and you realize you’re looking at that child’s destiny. The dumpsites are the most extreme reminders I’ve ever seen that our world is insane.

The characters of Raphael, Gardo and Rat are incredibly engaging – please tell me they are based on real people you have met.

Yes, they are. I tend to fuse individuals together, so that (for example) Rat is two boys – one a very derelict junkie twelve year-old in Manila, fused into one of the most ingenious child crooks I ever met in Calcutta. The common-denominator is this survival instinct, this feral need to win in a situation. When you have nothing to fall back on – when there’s no parent or teacher or policeman to help you up and take you home – you don’t have the luxury of despair. You use the skills you have – your brain, your charm, your speed – and you have to win something, just so you can eat.

Why did you decide to tell the story in the voices of the different characters, rather than just Raphael’s?

I don’t know. I tried a third person voice and it didn’t work, so I abandoned it very quickly. I found the voice of Raphael, and enjoyed his voice – but it soon felt limited. I love him dearly, but he’s got a limited perception of what’s going on – so a graver, more experienced voice had to balance it. That was Gardo. Then, suddenly, it seemed a really interesting way of getting different sides of the story. My main fear was annoying the reader by wasting time or being tricksy – I wanted to keep the plot motoring, simply because I get so bored of books that don’t think they need plots… I tried to make the narrators tell us the facts, almost like police-statements: this is what we decided, so that is what we did…

Trash is a cracking mystery adventure story, with plenty of humour, but also involves a large degree of social comment – do you think it is important that children are exposed to issues like this in their fiction?

Yes. No. I don’t know. I think children enjoy books that lift them out of their own world. When I was growing up I loved Enid Blyton because she took me to boarding schools and I went to a boring day-school. I loved Carrie’s War because Nina Bawden plunged me into wartime, where the protagonists encountered such new things. I really hate ‘issue books’, and I’ve had to teach them – they are miserably thin gruel. Take a book like Louis Sacher’s Holes – it’s not a book about crime and punishment, or racism, or keeping promises, or any of that school-assembly bilge. It’s about children in an extreme situation, dealing with it. No – I have decided the answer – no I do not think children need to be exposed to ‘issues’ – I think they need to be exposed to good stories and good characters, and if the characters are real then the issues will be there.

In my review of Trash I compared it to Louis Sachar’s Holes, with its combination of humour, mystery and social comment. How do you feel about this comparison?

As Holes is one of my favourite books – a masterpiece – I’m very flattered!

Do you have time to read any of the many books for children that are published these days? If so, do you have any current favourites?

I don’t read as much as I should, but I am currently enjoying Half Brother by Kenneth Opel and am about to start the long awaited Noah Barleywater Runs Away by the amazing John Boyne.

What books/authors did you read when you were younger?

I loved Enid Blyton and Anthony Buckeridge’s ‘Jennings’ books – I was an addict, saving up to buy them. ‘Jennings’ was the first book that made me laugh out loud. A much loved Primary teacher read us the surreal and spellbinding Marianne Dreams, and I think I was realising what stories could do. Then I was lucky – I had a great English teacher, and books started to hit me like express trains. To Kill A Mockingbird! The Catcher in the Rye! I was never really into action books or fantasy, though I did enjoy Alan Garner.

What can we expect next from Andy Mulligan?

I’m off to India to write my India book. I’ve spent a lot of time in Calcutta, and love it, and have been working on a children’s book about an English girl marooned in a foreign world. I am going to sit down for a few months, and try and write it.

Thank you for your time. Is there anything else you would like to say to readers of this blog.

It’s a pleasure. Anything else to say? Only thank you for taking an interest – I really hope you enjoy Trash. It’s a book very close to my heart.

~~~

I know the last couple of months have been incredibly busy for Andy as Trash has been such a big success so far. My huge thanks go to him for taking the time to answer my questions, and I really hope that Trash continues to gather fans all around the world - there is no doubt in my mind that it will.

Review: Trash by Andy Mulligan

Raphael is a dumpsite boy. He spends his days wading through mountains of steaming trash, sifting it, sorting it, breathing it, sleeping next to it. Then one unlucky-lucky day, Raphael's world turns upside down. A small leather bag falls into his hands. It's a bag of clues. It's a bag of hope. It's a bag that will change everything. Soon Raphael and his friends Gardo and Rat are running for their lives. Wanted by the police, it takes all their quick-thinking, fast-talking to stay ahead. As the net tightens, they uncover a dead man's mission to put right a terrible wrong. It's three street-boys against the world...

Every now and then a book sneaks up on the unsuspecting public, with very little fanfare, and hits you where it hurts the most - in the heart. Trash is one such book. It has its own Facebook page, and yet currently only 82 people 'like' it. I have a feeling this number will grow rapidly once it gets into the hands of children (and adults) following its official release date (which just happens to be today). This book is a mystery story for Young Adults, that is both funny and deeply moving in equal measures.

The story reveolves around the life of Raphael, a fourteen year old who lives on the Behala dumpsite - a mountainous heap of rubbish from the nearby city that has built up over time. Raphael and his friend Gardo (and hundreds of other kids) spend their days 'working', i.e. scrambling over this landscape of trash in search for items that may make them a little cash. And we're not talking items that you or I would consider valuable ir saleable as we sit in our comfy homes, we are talking pieces of plastic ("white plastic is the best"), paper, tin cans, bottles, bits of cloth.... yes, exactly the sort of things we would classify as trash. But to these boys good trash means cash. Of course this also means that half the time they are wading through (and picking up) what they refer to as stuppa, and what we would refer to as (in polite conversation) human muck.

One day Raphael spots a 'special' - a bag of trash from one of the rich areas in the city - and within it a small leather bag containing a wallet (complete with eleven hundred pesos), a map and a mysterious key. Within hours the police are driving through the gates of Behala and it is obvious to the boys what they are after, even going as far as to offer a huge monetary reward for its discovery/return, although Raphael decides to keep his discovery quiet for reasons he himself is not entirely sure of - mistrust? a greater reward in a few days time? Very soon Raphael and Gardo, joined by Jun-Jun (aptly nicknamed Rat) find themselves on an exciting, and very perilous hunt for the truth behind the key they have found and why it is so precious to the police and their superiors.

Trash had me captivated from the very first chapter, but I cannot put my finger on why it appealed to me so much. If I had to liken it to any other book I guess the closest comparison would be the fantastic Holes by Louis Sachar. Like Trash, Holes is humorous and poignant, and also very thought-provoking. And believe me, Trash makes you think a lot - about the day-to-day life these boys lead, the way the police use brutality to get what they want, the luxury that a few wealthy (and corrupt) politicians live in whilst all around them there is poverty, and the way that charity aid from countries such as the UK can so easily be misappropriated by these corrupt individuals.

This story is a great social commentary without ever seeming moralistic, and I think this is aided by the story telling device of multiple narrators that Andy Mulligan uses. For the first few chapters the story is narrated in the first person by Raphael, before shifting over to Gardo, and then flitting between them and a variety of other characters as the plot progresses, including Father Juilliard who runs the Mission School on the Behala dumpsite, and his volunteer assistant, the naive Olivia Weston. I felt that this swapping of the narration between different characters with very different personalities made the story feel even more real for me, almost as if they had been giving informal witness statements. At no point did I find it confusing, although this is helped by each character announcing themselves at the beginning of each of their chapters.

I read this book on a plane as I was flying off to Menorca for a week's holiday and as such had no way of googling place names such as Behala. Having seen documentaries on the TV about such places I then spent the next week assuming that it was a real place, probably in somwhere like Mexico or the Philippines. On my return a quick search showed that in name at least there is no such place as the Behala dumpsite, yet it is similar to many such places in Less Developed Countries. A further search revealed that Andy Mulligan has travelled a lot in the Phillippines and the vividness of his descriptions of Behala would suggest that he spent some time visiting one or more of these massive dumpsites. This story is very much about people, and yet at the same time I had a very clear picture of this place in my mind - I 'knew' how it looked, smelt and, rather disgustingly, felt -  and Mr Mulligan managed this without any lengthy passages that detracted from the plot. 

Holes has been a popular class reader in schools across the country over recent years, and I would not be surprised if Trash is in a similar position in a couple of years time. There is so much about the various characters and the society in which they live that can be gleaned from this story, and it is sure to provoke many a lively discussion in classrooms; it is certainly suitable for the 11+ age range. My thanks go to the generous people at David Fickling Books for sending me a copy to read and review.