Guest Post by Alexander Gordon Smith (author of the Escape From Furnace books)

One of my favourite horror authors that I have discovered since starting The Book Zone is Alexander Gordon Smith. I love his Escape From Furnace series and I am constantly recommending them to horror-loving students at school. Some time ago I asked Gordon if he would be interested in writing a guest post about horror for The Book Zone, and what I received is possibly one of the best guest posts I have ever featured here. I asked Gordon at the time if he would be happy for it to be posted nearer Hallowe'en and he thought that this would be a great idea.

H is for Horror

Alexander Gordon Smith

I openly and proudly admit that I am a horror writer. I love horror, for so many reasons. For a start, it is the most unrestrictive genre because there are no rules – literally anything can happen in a horror story. I don’t think any other genre of writing gives you the same unlimited scope, the same opportunity to push your imagination right to the edge, and then over. I love that sense of freedom!

But I mainly love horror because to me it is the most human of genres. That may sound a little weird, considering that horror stories often involve things that have fur or fangs or tentacles (or worse), but let me start with a complaint. I do events in schools all year round, and quite often (maybe ten times a year) a teacher or parent will come up to me, looking very stern, and say something along the lines of “I really don’t think horror is appropriate for teenagers.” Some reel off the things in my books that they disapprove of (gun fights, explosions, riots, stabbings, sinister experiments, monsters ripping limbs off people, mutant killer dogs, freaks in gas masks dragging prisoners off to their doom in the blood drenched tunnels of Furnace, etc). Some even go on to suggest I write “nice” books that won’t put ideas into children’s heads or make them go off and do horrible things.

In such cases I explain to these people that they have totally missed the point.

Furnace is a book where bad things happen, yes. Terrible things. Gallons of blood is spilled, limbs and lives are lost with alarming frequency, terrifying creatures stalk the cells at night and, later on in the series, millions of innocent people perish in gruesome fashion. But nowhere in the books is this violence and terror glamourized. In fact, as with almost all stories in this genre, the purpose of it is to bring out the best in your characters – because with horror comes humanity.

At its heart, the Furnace series is a story about friendship and courage, about heroism and hope, and about love too – not the smoochy “love” of certain popular YA books, but the love you have for a brother, a best friend, the love that keeps you standing shoulder to shoulder with someone even when the battle looks lost. At the start of the story Alex is a criminal and a bully. And inside Furnace he has to commit much worse crimes to stay alive. But the horror of what happens makes him a better person because he comes to understand that without courage, without friendship, without hope, he will lose himself to the nightmare of the prison and the warden’s devastating plans.

In short, when things are at their very worst we see people at their very best. That’s why horror is such a powerful genre, because it reveals the hero inside all of us, even when that hero is buried so deep we think it doesn’t exist – just like with Alex at the start of the book. When characters are threatened with violence they show tolerance and perseverance and forgiveness (as well as kick-assedness), when they are face to face with their nightmares they show boundless courage, when they are confronted by evil – whether it is age-old and world-ending or simply human cruelty – they show goodness, the inhumanity of their world brings out their humanity, and at the very end of things, when all seems lost, they have hope. These things don’t come easily, of course, the characters have to fight for them and they don’t always win. But essentially it is the horror of their story that saves them.

And as to whether or not horror is suitable for children and teenagers, I would argue that reading a good horror story is an essential part of growing up! Fear as an emotion is older than we are as a species, we once needed it for our very survival because the hormonal rush it gave us turned us into superhumans. Nowadays we spend less time running away from lions, but fear – and the knowledge that we can overcome it – is still an important part of growing up. Reading horror stories gives us a taste of what it is like to face up to danger, to be challenged and victorious, tested and triumphant. This is why I was so addicted to horror as a teenager, I think, because I needed to know that I could face the challenges of growing up. I needed to know that I had the strength to survive. Horror stories give us the confidence to live life the way we want to, the same way fairy tales implant vital lessons in the unconscious minds of young children. They let us know that we have what it takes to be our own heroes.

I have a friend who once complained that writing horror was cheating, that all we do is say “boo” and expect the reader to spend the whole book running away screaming. But he got it wrong too, because horror isn’t about running away. It is never about running away. It is about standing up to your fears, it is about how to confront and triumph and survive and grow. We do say “boo”, but what we really want is for the reader to say “boo” back, because that’s what horror does (for characters and readers alike) – it scares us, but in doing so it makes us stronger.

And that’s what I always try to tell people who moan that horror is simply violence, terror and rampant gore. H is for Horror, yes, but is also stands for Heroism, Humanity and Hope.

 ~~~

Huge, huge thanks to Alexander Gordon Smith for taking the time to write this post. I am often questioned by friends as to why I like reading horror books and watching horror films and Gordon has said it far more eloquently than I ever could. If you are a fan of the Furnace books then the Furnace novella that I blogged about a while ago is now available to read online (but sadly not to buy for kindle over here in the UK). To read The Night Children click here.

News: The Night Children by Alexander Gordon Smith (an Escape From Furnace novella)

I should be having a big sort out of old records, books and other precious items right now (the stuff my wife refers to as my junk), but as usual I am trying to do anything but, and so I thought I would have a quick tour of some of the author websites I have listed on the sidebar to the right of this page. I didn't get much further than the third on my list, that of one of my favourite current YA authors, Alexander Gordon Smith. As you no doubt already know I am a huge fan of his Furnace series (aka Escape From Furnace in the US), so imagine my excitement when I saw a post on his blog about a Furnace novella he has written for Tor.com (in fact I was so excited I just had to write a blog post about it). Titled The Night Children, it tells the story of how Warden Cross first meets Alfred Furnace. I may be wrong but from this website it looks as if it is scheduled for a 21st September release and it might only be available as an ebook. I really, really hope that UK readers will be able to get their hands on it! The cover design is super creepy, and the story details sound fantastic.

It is December 1944 and Europe is still gripped by war. In the densely forested mountains of Belgium one of the conflict’s most brutal battles is raging. Cut off from the front, a ragtag group of young British and American soldiers finds itself being hunted by a patrol of elite German Special Forces, including a newly commissioned officer called Kreuz—a teenage boy who will grow up to become Warden Cross (the fearsome prison director who will one day rule Furnace Penitentiary, the terrifying underground prison specially built for teen offenders). As both sides fight for their lives in the unforgiving terrain, however, they start to realize that there are worse things hiding in the snow than soldiers. There are creatures out there with gas masks and piggy eyes (ancestors of Furnace prison’s “wheezers”)—demonic entities that cannot be killed by guns and grenades, monsters who do not care what uniforms their victims are wearing so long as they bleed, and so long as they scream . . .

A few more clicks on Alexander Gordon Smith's blog eventually took me to this web page, giving more details about his new series, the first book of which is due out in the UK from Faber in March 2012. I have mentioned The Fury briefly in a previous post, but now here is an image of the book cover, and also a few details about the story:

Imagine if one day, without warning, the entire human race turns against you.

Every single person you meet becomes a bloodthirsty, mindless savage, hell-bent on killing you – and only you.

Friends, lovers, even your mum and dad, brothers and sisters – they will turn on you, and they will murder you. And when they have, they will go back to their lives as if nothing has happened.

The world has the Fury.

It will not rest until you are dead.

Cal, Brick and Daisy are three ordinary teenagers whose lives suddenly take a terrifying turn for the worst. They begin to trigger a reaction in everybody they meet, one that makes friends and strangers alike turn rabid whenever they are close. One that makes people want to tear them to pieces

Cal and the other victims of the Fury – the ones that survive – manage to locate each other. But just when they think they have found a safe haven, a place to hide from the world, things get worse.

Some of them begin to change…

They must fight to uncover the truth about the Fury before it is too late. But it is a truth that will destroy everything they know about life and death.

If The Fury is only half as good as the Furnace series then it will still be a must-watch-out-for in 2012. However, based on the author's previous output I expect this to be pretty damn amazing!

Before I go I just want to show you one more image. There are a number of bloggers who do UK vs US cover features, and I have mentioned in the past that I love the covers that Christian Fuenfhausen has designed for the Escape From Furnace series in the US, however just take a look at this beauty from Poland. Happy nightmares!

*** Escape From Furnace Competition Result

The lucky winner of the copy of Escape From Furnace: Lockdown by Alexander Gordon Smith is:

Connie Rutter


Well done and thank you to all of you who entered. I will now endeavour to contact the winner through by email. Please reply within 48 hours or I will draw another name out of the hat. Many thanks to Macmillan US for providing the prize.

*** Competition: WIN a copy of Escape From Furnace: Lockdown by Alexander Gordon Smith

Readers of The Book Zone in the USA and Canada, this one is for you (sorry UK readers but it is about time our friends across the Atlantic had a Book Zone competition all to themselves). Thanks to the generous people at Macmillan US (via Zeitghost Media) I have a copy of Alexander Gordon Smith's totally awesome Escape From Furnace: Lockdown to give away to one luck winner. If you have not yet discovered this great series then check out this fab trailer and then read on below to see how you can win a copy.

I have been a fan of this series ever since I read the first book (you can see my review here), and I know it is becoming increasingly popular in the US as well. Having now read all five books in the series, as we are slightly ahead over here in the UK, US fans should know that they have one hell of a story to look forward to.

If you want to be in with a chance of winning this book all you have to do is complete the form below before the deadline of 8pm PST on Friday 26th August, and then I will draw at random one lucky winner.



Contest open to US/Canadian residents only.
Neither the publisher or I will not be held responsible for items lost in the mail.
I hold the right to end a contest before its original deadline without any prior notice.
I hold the right to disqualify any entry as I see fit.
I will contact winning entrants for their postal address following the close of the competition. Winners have 48 hours to reply. Failure to do so in this time will result in another winner being randomly selected.

To find out more about Alexander Gordon Smith and the Escape From Furnace series head on over to www.alexandergordonsmith.com or become a fan at the Lockdown Facebook page.

Review: Furnace: Execution by Alexander Gordon Smith

The whole world has become a prison, and Alfred Furnace is its master. Monsters rule the streets, beasts of pure fury that leave nothing but murder and madness in their wake. Those who do not die are turned, becoming slaves to Furnace’s reign of cruelty. It is a war to end all wars, one that will leave the planet in ruins. I am a monster too. I am one of Alfred Furnace’s children. And I am the only one who can stop him. I have to find a way to use my powers to destroy Furnace, but in doing so I risk becoming the very force that kills us all. I don’t know if I am the executed or the executioner. I don’t know who will die: me, Furnace or the entire human race. All I know is that one way or another, it all ends today.

Warning: this review may very well contain spoilers for earlier books in the series! If I do let something important slip then please believe me when I say that it won't be deliberate, but I love this series so much I may get carried away.

Last September I wrote a review of Lockdown, the first book in Alexander Gordon Smith's totally brilliant Furnace series (or Escape From Furnace as it is known in the US). I mentioned that this was a series that I had pretty much ignored, as I somewhat stupidly thought it was a straight prison drama. How wrong could I be? The moment I read Lockdown I was completely hooked - this was teen horror at its very best, and since then I have devoured the other books in the series, culminating in Execution, the final book in the series, which was released in the UK back in March. Every book in the series up to this had been of an exceptional quality, and this final instalment was no exception: superbly written, breathtakingly scary at times, and most importantly it brings the series to a very fitting end. No loose ends, no "I can't believe he did that" moments, just perfection..... almost! (and I will say more of this later).

Book four in the series, Fugitives, saw Alex and his friends finally manage to escape from their living nightmare in Furnace Penitentiary, only to find themselves hounded on all sides as they tried to take shelter in the nearby city. The author had excelled at writing nailbiting scenes of great tension and explosive action, all in the claustrophobic confines of the subterranean prison, and the moving of the story into the open city gave him free reign to up the action scenes to a new high. Execution starts at the moment that the previous book ended. However, Alex's victory is shortlived, as he is captured and sedated by the authorities, only to wake up strapped to a bed in some kind of cell. You thought Warden Cross was a nasty piece of work? Now say hello to Colonel Alice Panettierre, a woman so singleminded about her ambitions that she will let no-one and nothing stand in her way. Somehow he has to escape from this new prison, find and save his friends, work out where Alfred Furnace is holed up, make his way there whilst evading the constant and violent pursuit of Panettierre and the forces at her command, and still have the energy and strength to defeat the man he sees as the devil incarnate. An impossible task? Fans of this series will know that this will not be an easy journey for Alex, and there are likely to be casualties on both sides before the book's climax, as Smith made it clear right from book one that he was not afraid to kill off popular characters if the story demanded it.

Despite the high quality of storytelling, the outstanding action scenes and the gloriously gory moments, for me the real key to the brilliance of these books is Alex's character. This is a boy who has been framed for murder and then incarcerated in a place worse than hell where he has been experimented on to the point where is now more monster than human, and yet the author's skill in creating this character means that as readers we can't help but like Alex immensely, even when he it looks as if he might be about to cross over to the dark side. Somehow, Alex still manages to retain a degree of humanity that makes his pursuers seem like wild animals. The other key characters that have accompanied Alex on his journey are also a hugely important factor in making these books so enjoyable - they bring humour when a particularly dark  moment needs to be lightened; they add to the tension when the going gets tough and it seems as if there is no way they will all survive; and they also contribute to a moment of great sadness at the end of the story which may just bring a few tears to your eyes.

I said earlier that the ending was almost perfection. When I read the book I thought that the author had ended it brilliantly, but on turning the final page I discovered an end note with a web link to an epilogue to the story. Although the link wasn't working at the time I emailed Alexander Gordon Smith to tell him how much I had enjoyed the series and he very kindly email it to me. It was with some small amount of trepidation that I decided to read it, as I had after all really enjoyed the book's ending, but I am glad I did as it really does make the ending to the story perfect in my mind. The epilogue is now online but I'm not going to send you the link - read the book first and then go and look for it.

Only discovering these books in September 2010 meant that I had the luxury of reading the whole series with only short breaks between books, and if I have the time I intend to read the whole series again, back-to-back, sometime over the next twelve months. Impatient readers can dip into the series at any point as the author starts each book off with a chapter detailing the events of the previous book, but if you do this then you are doing yourself a great disservice - this is a series that must be read in order! Fans of Alexander Gordon Smith will probably be as ecstatic as me at the news that he has a new book due out with Faber next year. Titled The Fury, I have been reliably informed by AGS that it is a "pretty relentless, gory thriller" - brilliant!

My thanks go to the generous people at Faber for sending me a copy of Furnace: Execution. In the US the Furnace books are published with some incredible book covers by Farrar Straus Giroux (an imprint of MacMillan US), and the third book in the series, Escape From Furnace: Death Sentence is scheduled to be released on 2nd August over there. Just look at these covers:

 

 

Sadly, my favourite design of the whole series did not make it as a final design, but I want to show it to you anyway. How creepy is this?

Review: Escape From Furnace: Lockdown by Alexander Gordon Smith

Beneath heaven is hell. Beneath hell is Furnace. Furnace Penitentiary. The world’s most secure prison for young offenders, buried a mile beneath the earth’s surface. One way in, no way out. Once you’re here, you’re here until you die, and for most of the inmates that doesn’t take long - not with the sadistic guards and the bloodthirsty gangs. Convicted of a murder he didn’t commit, sentenced to life without parole, 'new fish' Alex Sawyer knows he has two choices: find a way out, or resign himself to a death behind bars, in the darkness at the bottom of the world. Only in Furnace, death is the least of his worries. Soon Alex discovers that the prison is a place of pure evil, where creatures in gas masks stalk the corridors at night, where giants in black suits drag screaming inmates into the shadows, where deformed beasts can be heard howling from the blood drenched tunnels below. And behind everything is the mysterious, all-powerful warden, a man as cruel and as dangerous as the devil himself, whose unthinkable acts have consequences that stretch far beyond the walls of the prison. Together with a bunch of inmates - some innocent kids who have been framed, others cold-blooded killers - Alex plans the prison break to end all prison breaks. But as he starts to uncover the truth about Furnace’s deeper, darker purpose, Alex’s actions grow ever more dangerous, and he must risk everything to expose this nightmare that's hidden from the eyes of the world.

About 18 months ago I made a huge mistake. I didn't know it at the time, but I certainly do now. I guess I'm only human but I am still a little disappointed with myself. What did I do? I took a quick glance at a copy of Alexander Gordon Smith's Furnace: Lockdown, didn't read the blurb fully, and assumed that it was just a story about an innocent boy being locked away in prison, and everything that entailed. Sort of a Prisoner Cell Block H for young adults. I've never been a huge fan of claustrophobic prison books/films/TV series (except for the amazing Shawshank Redemption) so with a huge To Be Read pile (and this was long before I started this blog) I didn't think to give it a closer look. This meant I did not spot the sinister looking gasmask wearing figures on the cover (hey... they are pretty small and not exactly a focal point). I didn't spot the line in the blurb that read "scarred, twisted and hungry for blood". I didn't read (I now discover to be) one of the best YA books for boys that was published in 2009.

Over the last six months or so I have heard several people mention this series, most recently my friend Liz from the My Favourite Books blog, but with so many books to read, and so little time to do so, it was still looking unlikely that I would ever pick it up, or at least not in the foreseeable future. Until that is I received an email, out of the blue, from the author's US publicist, informing me that they were about to release Escape From Furnace: Lockdown in paperback in the USA, he had read (and loved) my blog and would I like a copy? Rarely one to turn down the offer of a free action-packed YA title that I have heard is cracking I said an immediate "yes please", a reply that may just have sounded a little too excited as I had just seen the cover design for the US paperback edition (the photo at the start of this post). What a fantastic cover - if I had seen this book cover in that shop 18 months ago I would have picked it up and bought it immediately. On balance I tend to prefer UK covers over US covers, but definitely not in this case.

If you haven't discovered this series yet then please don;t wait any longer and end up regretting it like I do. And this message goes out to all my US readers as well. This book is nothing short of brilliant. It is fast-paced. It is frantic. It has cliff-hanger chapter end after cliff-hanger chapter end. It is a cracking thriller, with some great horror - lashings of bloody, violent, terrifying horror. It has a great voice, in the form of narrator Alex, a not-so-nice teen who has been involved in bullying, theft, breaking and entering, but nothing overly violent, and then one night he and his friend break into a seemingly deserted home and the next thing he knows Alex is witnessing his friend being shot in the head, and Alex is being framed for the murder. Due to a summer of gang violence some years before, the goverment takes a very hard line on teen crime now, and the sentence is invariably life imprisonment in Furnace, a prison built deep under the ground. But this is no ordinary prison - it is staffed by the same hulking brutes that framed Alex, as well as the ghastly looking gasmasked Wheezers. To say much more about these would risk spoling the delightful horrors in store for you when you read this book.

There is more to this book than just the horror and the action though. Without ever being in-your-face moralistic, it is also about a young man looking back over the course his life has taken so far, spotting the moment when it all started to go wrong, and regretting the actions he took as he got in with the wrong crowd. There are moments of genuine kindness shown in the most desperate of situations, and highlights the importance of friendship and loyalty. You really will run the gamut of emotions when reading this book, as you share Alex's despair, his anger, his hope and his terror. The book ends on something of a cliffhanger but in this case I do not mind one little bit - I have been left salivating for more and intend to start on Solitary at the weekend.

Furnace: Lockdown was released in paperback in the UK in March 2009, and in the US in August 2010 (as the Escape From Furnace series). In the UK there have so far been two more books in the series, entitled Solitary and Death Sentence, the former of these two scheduled to be released in paperback in the US in December, with Death Sentence following in 2011. The fourth book in the series is about to hit stores in the UK in October, and is called Fugitives.  Alexander Gordon Smith is appearing at the Crystal Palace Children's Book Festival on 23rd October and is now part of the soon-to-be imfamous Chainsaw Gang. I guess I had better make sure I catch up with the series before then. My thanks go to Wes at FSG in the US for his kind words about my blog, and more importantly for helping me to rectify a huge mistake in my life by sending me this book to read.


(This book also fits in nicely with my taking part in the R.I.P. Challenge)