Angela Kecojevic - SCAREGROUND - Guest Post (Neem Tree Press) - Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books

Roll up, roll up, the Scareground is in town!

Twelve-year-old Nancy Crumpet lives above a bakery and her life is a delightful mix of flour, salt, and love. Yet
her mind is brimming with questions no one can answer: 

Why did her birth parents disappear? 

Why can she speak with the sky?

And why must she keep her mysterious birthmark hidden?

Everything is about to change when the Scareground returns to Greenwich. Nancy is convinced it holds the
answers to her parents’ disappearance. Nancy and her best friend Arthur Green meet the fair’s spooky owner,
Skelter, and discover a world full of dark magic and mystery. Nancy must confront her greatest fears to get to
the truth. But is she ready for all the secrets the Scareground will reveal?

Scareground introduces young readers to the lives of children in Victorian England. It covers themes of friendship, identity and belonging, courage and overcoming fear. Scareground will be published on September 7th by Neem Tree Press.  Angela has always been a huge fan of spooky stories and has spent a lot of time studying the art of creating suspense. One of her favourite masterclasses was by Alfred Hitchcock. He discussed how the increasing number of birds in a major scene (The Birds) helped create the right amount of tension. Angela has written several books for the Oxford Reading Tree programme and she is also a member of the Climate Writers Fiction League, a group of international authors who use climate issues in their work.  

Are you brave enough to accept the invitation and enter the #Scareground? I'm not sure... You can pre-order it HERE!

Angela Kecojevic

Angela is a senior librarian and a creative writing tutor and has written for the Oxford Reading Tree programme. She is also the author behind the multi-award-winning adventure park Hobbledown. Her characters can be seen walking around the park, something she still finds incredibly charming! She is a member of the Climate Writers Fiction League, a group of international authors who use climate issues in their work. Scareground, her debut spine-tingling middle-grade novel will be published in 2023. She lives in Oxford with her family. 

https://linktr.ee/akecojevic

Floris Kelpies Children's Prize Shortlist 2013

Every year as part of the Kelpies Prize, we look for the best unpublished children’s fiction with a Scottish twist. Since February, our editors have been working their way through a record number of entries to find our three finalists for this year’s prize – and they certainly weren’t disappointed.

We’re delighted to announce that the books shortlisted for the Kelpies Prize 2013 are:

• Never Back by Barbara Henderson
• Attack of the Giant Robot Chickens by Alex McCall
• The Great Moon Mission by Shona McQuilken

Never Back is an exciting Scottish thriller about a dangerous journey to remember who you really are. TJ and Levi have no memory of their life before New Dawn, brainwashed to forget by the Authorities. Can they discover their past before their present catches up with them?

Barbara Henderson has taught English and Drama, and started her own small puppetry business. She won the Nairn Festival Short Story Competition in 2012.

It’s an age-old question, but why did the chicken cross the road? To start the giant robot chicken apocalypse, of course. In Attack of the Giant Robot Chickens, there’s something fowl going on in Aberdeen as the city is terrorised by giant robotic chickens. But Jesse and his friends aren’t going to let the chickens rule the roost any longer …

Alex McCall grew up in Aberdeen, which may be why it is the first city he has destroyed in print. He has published several poetry and short story anthologies.

It’s an out-of-this world experience in The Great Moon Mission. Jimmy and his friends were expecting canoeing or sailing for this year’s class trip, not the chance to blast off into space! But as they begin to wonder what this mission is really about, Jimmy and his friends find themselves in a race against time, and slime, to save Earth from some little green men.

When her school careers advisor told her that being an author wasn’t a proper job, Shona McQuilken decided to become a scientist instead. The Great Moon Mission combines her two passions.

It won’t be long until you can find out which will be the latest addition to our Kelpies list. The winner of the Kelpies Prize 2013 will be announced at a ceremony at the Edinburgh International Book Festival on Thursday 22nd August 2013.

Want to enter next year’s Prize?

Manuscripts are now invited for submission to the Kelpies Prize 2014. The deadline is 28 February 2014 and for full rules and guidelines, you can read more here.