Friday 24 October 2014

Sally Green & Lauren Owen



An afternoon of dark, supernatural fiction with two scintillating new writers. The Quick, the well-received first novel from Lauren Owen, travels from the tragedy shared by a young brother and sister on a Yorkshire estate to the rooms of London’s mysterious Aegolius Club. 
Lauren Owen still had the enthusiasm of youth, her love of all things Victorian and gothic was something you couldn't ignore. With her story of her youth and a scary old school, she painted a great picture of what life was like. 



Sally Green’s Half Bad is the first volume of a new young adult series set in a modern England where witches and humans warily co-exist. A fast-paced supernatural thriller with more than a few narrative tricks up its sleeve.
This was an interesting talk, both spoke about how they came to the stories in their books and the processes behind how they work. What really hit home with me was listening to Sally Green. She fell into writing, a lot like I did. It wasn't something she had always dreamed of, simply something she became interested in once she had children. On a creative writing course she began to wander into short stories and found her love of writing in 2nd person, something that I can't say I would ever try. You could say that it's a little like marmite, you either love it or hate it. 

Friday Fun Fact


Michael Connelly is one of my favourite thriller writers and it doesn't surprise me how many books he has sold.





Fifty-eight million copies of Connelly’s books have sold worldwide and he has been translated into thirty-nine foreign languages


Monday 20 October 2014

Underground Crime with Oliver Harris and Eva Dolan

Two of Britain’s promising crime writers come together to discuss morality and murder, crime and the city. Oliver Harris’s second novel Deep Shelter follows Detective Nick Belsey deep into the bowels of subterranean London.


Eva Dolan debut, Long Way Home, is the first in a major new crime series. It focuses on a detective duo that encounter human trafficking, slum landlords, far right extremists and hidden communities on their quest to solve the murder of a local migrant worker.

On a rather nice Friday Afternoon we entered the Central Library in Manchester, which looks great after the refurbishment to listen to two unknown authors to me. They discussed their books and how they came to find their story.

It was an interesting talk; they spoke about the world they found themselves in when researching for the books which drew Oliver down the now not so secret tunnels under London for Eva, well she met a gang master. So you never know who you will meet on your quest for a good story.

Monday 13 October 2014

Q&A with Garth Nix

I have been to book signings before though this was a little different. Reading the initial series of the Abhorsen trilogy I was looking forward to hearing him speak. Initially he read from his new book Clariel which takes us back to the Old Kingdom and the free magic. We follow a sixteen year old girl, Clariel who finds herself in the confines of the city instead of the freedom of the forest. A free magic creature is now loose in the city and she is given the chance to prove her worth.


After the reading Garth Nix spoke a little about his new book and then took questions. It was obvious from the type of questions that the people in the audience were fanatical about his books. They required very particular answers, which from my view who read some of his books years ago made me smile and wonder if I would be the same if I had a chance to talk to one of my favourite authors.





He was always polite, funny and unassuming which made everyone feel at ease. Once the session was done he very kindly took the time to sign books and some people brought their whole collection and he never batted an eyelid.

Friday 10 October 2014

Friday's fun Fact


The Creator of Peter Pan gave the rights to a children's hospital so they could have the royalties to help fund it.