GUEST BLOG: If Only I Could - Liz Kessler

‘If only I could go back in time and…’

Have you ever had a thought that began like this? If only you could go back and change one thing, or say something differently… If you could see someone again who you met years ago and have no idea how to contact now. If you had made one tiny decision differently. If you could thank someone who did something for you and you never saw again…

These are the kinds of ideas and thoughts that fascinate me. I love the fact that our lives hinge and turn on a hundred of these moments every day. Which is why I was very excited when I managed to persuade my publisher to let me write three books that explore these questions, each in different ways. The first, A Year Without Autumn (which came out in 2011) looked at what might happen if you saw something terrible in your future and you got the chance to go back in time and change one tiny moment that might change your future as well as your past.

The second of these standalone time slip books is North of Nowhere, which is out this month. The book looks at time travel in a completely different way. This one explores what might happen if, somehow, you could communicate with someone who had lived in a different time from you. Or, to be more precise, someone who is alive now but you could communicate with them when they were a completely different age from what they are now. Sound complicated? Well, yes, it is a bit! Or it was when I was writing it, anyway. Spending a year figuring out how to make everything add up so that my characters could successfully travel backwards and forwards in time, with not only the past affecting the present, but the present affecting the past as well, left my brain spinning and bedraggled! It was one of the hardest tasks I’ve ever undertaken.

But as with lots of things, the harder the task, the more satisfying it is when it’s done. And if you get to read it, I hope you’ll agree and find it a satisfying read as well!

And maybe it’ll get you thinking, too. What if you could talk to someone who’d lived in a different era? Or perhaps you could meet up with someone you know in your life today, but when they are much older – or younger – than they are now. Who would you choose? What would you say to them? What might change as a result of your conversation?

Makes you think, doesn’t it…


NORTH OF NOWHERE by Liz Kessler is published by Orion Children’s Books on 24 January in hardback at £9.99 



BREAKING NEWS:
But wait, we're not done yet, theres a Young Writers Competition in conjunction with "The Guardian" the details are:

"The competition is open to all writers aged 8-13 who need to finish the story (which is the opening paragraph of NORTH OF NOWHERE) in 500 words or less. Entries are open from 17 January 2013 – 28 March 2013. The winner will have their story published on the Guardian Children’s Books website, will win a digital camera as well as £100 worth of Orion Children’s Books for their school library.

The competition will be launched on the Guardian Childrens Books website on 17 January:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site"

GUEST BLOG: An Intro to the World of Falling Kingdoms - Morgan Rhodes

FALLING KINGDOMS focuses on the land of Mytica—a continent approxmately the size of the UK, which was divided into three kingdoms a thousand years ago. 

In the north is Limeros, a land ruled by a cruel king with the nickname of “the king of blood.” He has a heart of ice, much like his kingdom, which has slowly frozen over, as if it’s under a curse. Limerians are devoted to Valoria, goddess of earth and water, and worship is a daily part of their lives. Because of the harsh climate and their merciless king, their lives are difficult, but they are a strong and stubborn people with the will to survive. 

In the center of Mytica is Paelsia, a land which also seems under a curse. Unlike frozen Limeros, Paelsia’s soil has gradually wasted away from the Forbidden Mountains in the east and moving toward the Silver Sea in the west. Paelsians are a very poor people, dependent on their meager income from their one major export—an infamously delicious wine grown from grapes that only flourish in what little rich soil Paelsia has left. Paelsians do not worship a god or goddess, nor do they have an official king. Instead, they look to their chieftain, a self-proclaimed sorcerer who has yet to show any real signs of the magic he claims will save his people. 

In the south of Mytica is Auranos, a golden land of prosperity and peace. Here there are lush forests and meadows, blue skies, and warm temperatures. Their devotion to Cleiona, goddess of fire and air has gradually fallen away in recent decades, as citizens lean more toward a hedonistic lifestyle than one grounded in religion. This land is not cursed as its close neighbors seem to have been and this earns it both disdain and envy. Auranos is ruled over by a benevolent king with two beautiful daughters. But in a land where everything is simple, the people can quickly grow lazy and spoiled. 

Throughout Mytica there is the legend of hidden magic—four lost crystals known as the Kindred. Another legend is the existence of immortals known as Watchers, who can take the form of hawks to enter the mortal realm. Both Watchers and mortals seek the lost magic…the only question is – who will find it first?

GUEST BLOG: The Beginings of Brotherband - John Flanagan

Several years ago, I became aware that the Ranger’s Apprentice series would eventually finish – although not quite as soon as I then expected.

At that time, I had in mind my concept for the final book, which was panned as Number 10 but will now become Book 12. But I wasn’t ready to begin writing it. And I didn’t want to in case I wrote it, then realized I had more to say in the series.

I didn’t want to do another flashback, as I had done with the seventh book. I wanted to be sure it was really all over – all i’s had been dotted and all t’s had been crossed. So I decided that I’d like to buy myself a little time.

And that’s where the concept for Brotherband began. I wanted to write another series, set in the same world and time frame, but using new characters, and a different location.

This was allied to a long held interest in ships and sailing. I decided I’d like to do a series set in Skandia, based on the idea of a young boy who designs a new, more efficient type of sail plan – a fore and aft rig that will point higher into the wind than conventional Skandian square rigged ships. I’ve always liked the Skandians in my RA books. This became obvious as they assumed increasingly important roles on the books as the series progressed.

I mentioned this idea to my Australian publishers and they reacted positively to it.

So then I was left, over the next few years, to work out who the main characters were. I wanted the series to be similar in feel to Ranger’s Apprentice, but not a carbon copy. So I began by setting out differences between my main characters – initially Will and Hal, but later Thorn and Halt.

Hal was initially called Dirk, by the way, but I thought that was a bit phony sounding – a little bit too much of a made-up hero type of name. I decided that he would be a capable warrior, but not a highly skilled one, as Will became.

Instead, Hal would have an ingenious streak that would lead him to inventing new ideas – although not all of them would be successful. I jotted down a few ideas about things he might have invented. Later on, I deleted most of them from the first book, concentrating only on his disastrous running water project for his mother’s kitchen.

I also like my central character to have the sort of social problem that kids reading the books can identify with. Will was small, which has resonated with many readers. Hal, I decided, would be like one of those who is the last to be chosen when kids make up teams for a scratch game of football or cricket. He’d be something of an outcast.

(I included a scene in the first book where Brotherbands are selected. Hal and his eventual crew are the leftovers – the ones nobody wants. I thought a lot of kids would empathize with this.)

I decided that Hal’s rejection would stem from the fact that he was of mixed parentage – and so was seen by neither side as belonging. His mother was Araluen. His father was Skandian. And his father had died when Hal was young, to point the problem up even further. Also, the concept of someone being regarded as “different” because he is of a different race or nationality gave me a powerful social theme to work with.

This led to the thought that all of his crew would be outcasts in some ways – the forgotten group, the discards, the ones nobody wanted. So I began jotting down reasons why each of them was on the outer.

Thorn, of course, was the biggest outcast of all. I didn’t want him to be a mirror image of Halt. I wanted him to have his own reality.

I think the idea of having him as a recovering drunk, saved from himself by Hal’s mother, was one of my best. Then I had to ask, why was he a drunk in the first place?

Because he’d lost his right arm. Once I had that idea, I was off and running with Thorn. And I was able to create an intriguing secret in his back story that very few people knew about or remembered.

I had about three years to think about my new cast of characters – to jot down ideas and flesh out the bare bones that I had originally created. The principal ones, Thorn, Hal and Stig, I worked on in quite an amount of detail. Stig appealed to me. I had him down initially as having a violent and unpredictable temper.

But why?

The concept of his father bringing shame on his family was a breakthrough for me. It gave Stig a reason for his thin skinned attitude and made him more human and believable.

With the other, lesser characters, I noted down broad outlines and decided they would come to life as I wrote the stories. Which they did. Ingvar, in particular, came as a bit of s surprise, taking on a far more important role than I’d previously seen for him.

So, after three years of thinking about these new people, pushing ideas around in my head and figuring how they would use their unique abilities and/or failings to defeat their rivals, I was ready to begin writing Book 1. The name for it by then was obvious – The Outcasts.

I sat down one Monday morning and typed “Chapter 1”. Then I came to a screeching, panicked stop. Where were all the old friends who had sustained me through ten Ranger’s Apprentice Books? How would I cope without them?

I typed: “Pass me another bucket please Thorn.” And stopped again. Where to from here?

Then, thankfully, Hal Mikkelson stepped onto my page, took control of things and brought Thorn and Stig with him to help out. And I realized that, even though my old friends were no longer available, I had three new friends to show me the way.

I’ve just finished the third Brotherband book. The characters are all old friends for me now and the minor characters are growing and broadening in the narrative. I’m enjoying spending my time with them.

GUEST BLOG: A Playlist for Talina in the Tower - Michelle Lovic

The characters in this novel have strong voices of their own. In some ways, I envisioned this book like a play or even an opera. So there are choruses of cats in a smelly sanctuary, of villainous Ravageurs in their bloodstained dining room, and of Witches and Righteous Wraiths in the courtroom that hovers above the Rialto Bridge.

The individual characters also have their thought-music, of course. Here are the notes and words I can imagine playing in their heads.

Talina Molin is the heroine of this story. Wild dark-gold hair springs from her head like a curtain of tangled corn husks. After many escapades, she has come to be known as the most impudent girl in Venice, though also as one of the cleverest. She longs to be a writer, and has a passion for cookbooks and magic. When her parents disappear, she is forced to go to live with her cold-hearted Guardian in his twittering tower on the edge of the city. After a mishap over a recipe and a spell, she finds her human shape can no longer be taken for granted. Unless fiery Talina keeps her temper, she’s in danger of becoming the very thing she most despises. So her song would be ‘The Girl Can't Help It’ by Bobby Troup.

Ambrogio Gasperin is the son of a prosperous bookseller. He’s an indefatigable arguer – all training as he wants to be a barrister. He’s always had something of a crush on Talina, his classmate, and he’s soon drawn into her adventures. Ambrogio will get his longed-for day in court, but not in front of an ordinary human judge and jury. His song would be ‘Hello, Goodbye’ by The Beatles. (‘You say yes, I say no; you say stop, and I say go, go, go / You say goodbye, and I say hello.’)

Signorina Tiozzo is the most hospitable cat-lady in Venice. She homes and feeds dozens of strays in a smelly refuge called the Ostello delle Gattemiagole. Her track is obvious: ‘Quarantaquattro Gatti’, an Italian song about forty-four cats without a home. (A cartoon video of the song can be seen on YouTube.)

Bestard-Belou is one of the bully-boy cats in Signorina Tiozzo’s refuge. He’s a big grey cat with orange eyes. His catchphrases include ‘Dog-bite-my-ear!’ and ‘Is you stoopid or something?’ So I can imagine Bestard-Belou singing along to Joe Dolce’s ‘Shaddap Your Face’. He’d also like Tom Lehrer’s ‘Poisoning Pigeons in the Park’, especially the bit about taking home a squirrel to experiment on. His fellow bully-boy, the ginger cat Albicocco, would like Cab Calloway’s ‘We the Cats Shall Hep Ya’.


The Contessa is an aristocratic pure-white cat who is the queen of the bully-boys. For all her elegance and superiority, she is slightly questionable in the morals department, but she’s also a very loving mother. So her song is ‘That's Why the Lady is a Tramp’ by Rodgers and Hart. Or ‘Killer Queen’ by Queen.

Brolo is a sympathetic black-and-white cat who also lives in the cat refuge. He’s an eternal optimist, and therefore the recipient of frequent bad surprises. His catchphrase is ‘What a down-in-the-dumper!’ I based his character on the eternal optimist played by Eric Idle in the crucifixion scene at the end of Monty Python’s Life of Brian. So obviously his song is ‘Always Look on the Bright Side of Life’.

The Ravageurs are mysterious hyena-like creatures – invisible to adults – who haunt Venice by night. They speak with exaggerated and incompetent French accents and devour rich, complicated French food. And they think that they have a right to everything and everyone in Venice. Their history, however, is murkier than they claim. And their ambitions seem to be too monstrous to be countenanced …I suppose the obvious song for them is ‘Hound Dog’. Or perhaps the Mafia anthem ‘Non Su Lupu’ (‘I am Not a Wolf’).

Altopone is an argumentative rat – a gruff individualist and one of the very few of his species who is not totally intimidated by the Ravageurs. His name is a pun on that of the famous American gangster Al Capone, whose family was Italian. I think Altopone would like Frank Sinatra singing ‘I Did It My Way’.

Professor Marìn is an old friend of my readers as he also appears in The Undrowned Child and The Mourning Emporium as a wise expert in all things magical. Here, in Talina in the Tower, we meet the professor as a young, fresh-faced man, with some rather romantic tendencies. The white hair of earlier books is here red and curly – but the brain underneath it is just as wise. I think he’d enjoy ‘Love Potion No. 9’ by Leiber and Stoller.

Mademoiselle Emilie Chouette is the French mistress who teaches Talina and Ambrogio. To the pupils at her school, she has always seemed a ferocious martinet – ‘a fire-breathing dragon’, as Ambrogio calls her – but Professor Marìn has a magical way of bringing out a softer side of her nature. She’d obviously need a French chanson: 'Choux Pastry Heart' by Corrine Bailey Rae. Or even the classic ‘Chanson d’Amour’ by Manhattan Transfer.

Uberto Flangini, Talina’s Guardian, lives in a crumbling bell-tower that twitters with thousands of sparrows who have nested in its crevices. He is a famous author of so-called ‘cautionary tales’ – books in which naughty children meet terrible ends. Talina’s Guardian seems remote and forbidding, even cruel – he’s also a confirmed cat-hater. But in fact he nurses a tragic secret that will be revealed at the end of the book. I think he would like Respighi’s The Birds, as it would make him feel at home. But he would also enjoy the soundtrack for Shock-headed Peter, by the Tiger Lillies, a haunting, horrifying, hilarious take Heinrich Hoffmann's Struwwelpeter. As he lives up so high, he’d probably choose ‘Flying Robert’, about a boy who drifts up into the air and is never seen again.

Giuseppe Tassini, the famous Venetian historian, is a real character from history. His book Curiosità Veneziane explains all the streets and palaces in Venice. The real Tassini was very fond of fine dining as well as history, so he’d enjoy a song that combines strong flavours with the past: his song is ‘Pastime With Good Company’, thought to have been written by Henry VIII. It’s soothing and melodic, and would make an excellent accompaniment to a good meal. (I do, however, find it quite impossible to visualize Tassini wearing ipod ear-buds at the Marciana Library or in the Archives.)

(With thanks to Jane Stemp. Moira Butterfield and John Doherty for their suggestions.)


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GUEST BLOG: WHY DO WE SO LIKE OUR VILLAINS AND HORROR STORIES? - CLIFF McNISH

I’ve spent more than ten years creating dark story arcs and villains, and though it’s fun to give nasty characters more rounded personalities, reasons why they are villains that lead us to a certain level of sympathy with them etc, sometimes it’s good to do exactly the opposite – create a heart of unmitigated darkness and night. I did that with Vincent Cullayn, the ghost at the heart of THE HUNTING GROUND.

But actually the great thing, fictionally, about an out-and-out villain is that there is no limit to what they will do to get what they want. The reader knows this. It gives your story a terrific amount of tension that more watered down villains simply can’t ramp up. It’s also good, as a reader, to be given permission to hate a character without reservation or limit. Adults sometimes say to me that this is something that kids like – bad guys/good guy dichotomies; simplicities. My experience is that while shades of grey can be very interesting, adults enjoy a classic bad guy/girl just as much as their younger counterparts. Nobody knew that better than Shakespeare. Look at Iago. Look at Gonerill.

But still ... why do so many people like to read about the dark side? Here’s my own answer. I suspect that at some primal level it reminds us that we are alive. Without wanting to come across all morbid, I believe that horror is true at some fundamental level, by which I mean that the world is not a safe, predictable place that has our interests at heart. It is far from that. It’s a more indifferent place than that. Most of the rules for living in it are made up by others for reasons that have nothing to do with us. In that sense it is a place of fear. We have remarkably little control over nearly everything; even our own state of mind is difficult to keep tabs on or grasp, let alone the activities and mental states of people we never meet or have no possibility of influencing. I believe that most people, if they are honest with themselves, are never deeply comfortable in almost any aspect of their life – either professionally or in their personal relationships, or even their own feelings about themselves. Or if they do feel good about some of those things, they have a nasty feeling that some sneak is going to pull the safety blanket away any moment. So, in that sense, horror feels real, it feels in its essence like real life, because the crux of horror as a genre is that nothing is clear, everything has a dangerous feel, and you can’t understand the rules, or even if you can they’re made to benefit someone else.

Justina Robson, the great sf and fantasy author, puts it like this: ’Regardless of progress in technology, human beings have yet to deal with the real problems they face – the tensions created by their existence as individuals and animals of limited powers but powerful imaginations, for whom biology is still destiny and that destiny is death.’

Actually, I think this is why so many adults turn away from the horror genre as they age – they recognise too much of it in their own lives, thank you very much. It’s one reason teenagers read far more dark fiction than most adults as well. Generally speaking, they’re a bit less infected than the adults by world-weariness. They’re taking new risks all the time as they work out what kind of personalities they have, what their identify is going to be, and all of that is scary as hell. Horror, in that setting, is strangely a kind of comfort blanket. A sympathetic friend along for the ride.

GUEST BLOG: Leonardo and Michelangelo - Mary Hoffman

Hail Mighty Readers,
As part of her blog tour, we're here hosting todays blog in the continuing series. To see the other blog entries please visit here.

We hope you enjoy:
14. Leonardo and Michelangelo

I knew as soon as I decided to write this book that I would have to tackle the Everest of creating a believable representation of Michelangelo. Thanks to Giorgio Vasari, who worshipped him, we have a lot of information about the artist’s life. But Vasari is notoriously unreliable about his facts. There is another biography of Michelangelo written by a much younger contemporary, Ascanio Condivi, and there are various anonymous accounts that attest to the rivalry between Michelangelo and Leonardo when the older artist returned to Florence from Milan.

Great. Not only did I have to create a believable Michelangelo but a credible Leonardo as well. And show them in their relationship together. As I’ve said many times, Michelangelo is my favourite sculptor; I first saw his work in the flesh – “in the marble” – when I was twenty and was totally hooked.

But (*whispers*), I don’t really like his painting at all. Yup, the masterpiece that is the Sistine ceiling? Don’t like. I think the rot set in with his circular painting (tondo) in the Uffizi, of the Holy Family, done in pinks and blues and oranges. It led to the Mannerist school of painting of the High Renaissance which leaves me cold – too much exposed flesh and iron man musculature.

Leonardo, on the other hand, left a small number of exquisite paintings, of which my favourite is Lady with an Ermine. But he was a terrible non-finisher! He lost interest quickly and spread himself too thin. (Michelangelo left a lot of sculptures unfinished too and invented the “non finito” or “unfinished” technique, of leaving some parts unpolished and still roughly carved).

So just by looking at their work you can see Michelangelo as this monumental labourer with flashes of pure genius and Leonardo as the quicksilver dilettante, moving restlessly from work to work. We know that Leonardo was a bit of a dandy because there is a list of the clothes he left at his death – all rose-coloured velvet cloaks and suchlike. Whereas Michelangelo was the opposite of fastidious about his person, often not changing his clothes or washing for very long periods.

If you look at them through twenty-first century eyes, Leonardo would have been a lot nicer to be around!

But I can’t help that; if there are “Leonardo people” and “Michelangelo people” put me down as a fan of the sculptor. The author Theresa Breslin is a “Leonardo person” and has written about him in The Medici Seal. And now I have tried to create a credible portrait of my favourite sculptor. I feel that I understand him, different from me as he is in just about every possible way. Something speaks to me across the ages and this cantankerous, smelly, broken-nosed artist shows me in his work all the humanity and sense of the infinite that a truly great artist can achieve.

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