The Bell Between Worlds - Publication Day Extracts from author Ian Johnstone ( The Mirror Chronicles)

                                  

When I was about the age of young Sylas Tate I had a thought – what if the reason we can sometimes be so doubting, so unsure of ourselves, is that we aren’t quite whole? As I got a bit older the idea started to develop: what if the other part of us had a world of its own? And what if this other world was in some ways just the same as ours but in others was utterly different, even opposite? Those thoughts stayed with me and over the years they became bolder and bigger: what might those double worlds of dual souls allow me to explore and explain? Myths and legends? Even some of our basic ideas – science, magic, the supernatural?

Eventually I had so many ideas that I knew I had to sit down and write, so I changed my own world, moving from publisher to writer, and began The Mirror Chronicles. I started by preparing the history and background of this other world and then I moved on to the first book, The Bell Between Worlds. This opening novel takes Sylas Tate into another world of possibilities, imaginings and second souls and brings him face to face with many of the questions I asked myself years before. Happily for Sylas (and for me!) he also begins to discover some of the answers.

As you will see from the length of the book I have found that there is plenty for Sylas to discover. I have written some scenes that did not make the final cut and envisaged plenty of others that I have not yet written. To give a greater insight into the trilogy I thought I would share with you two of these unpublished scenes. The first is a prologue that I have written especially for release to you, which gives a very brief introduction to the first book and a hint of its mystery and magic. The second is a scene called The Bouncing Turnip, which I had originally written for the chapter entitled “The Mutable Inn” and which gives a snapshot of some of the more playful magic of the other world. Finally, I thought it might also be good to share an extract of one of the most pivotal scenes in the book – the scene in which Sylas first hears the chime of the bell between worlds.

I very much hope you enjoy these scenes, and the novel, and the trilogy to come. With best wishes, Ian Johnstone

http://marketingassets.harpercollins.co.uk/mirrorchronicles/Mirror-Chronicles-Extracts-Letter.pdf

http://marketingassets.harpercollins.co.uk/mirrorchronicles/Mirror-Chronicles-Extracts-Prologue.pdf

http://marketingassets.harpercollins.co.uk/mirrorchronicles/Mirror-Chronicles-Extracts-Chime.pdf

http://marketingassets.harpercollins.co.uk/mirrorchronicles/Mirror-Chronicles-Extracts-Bouncing-Turnip.pdf

My book review here if you missed it......

http://mrripleysenchantedbooks.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/book-review-ian-johnstone-bell-between.html

New Children's Books Published In June 2013 - UK Post Three

                                    

Amy McCulloch - The Oathbreakers's Shadow - Published by Doubleday Children's (6 Jun 2013)

Fifteen-year-old Raim lives in a world where you tie a knot for every promise that you make. Break that promise and you are scarred for life, and cast out into the desert.

Raim has worn a simple knot around his wrist for as long as he can remember. No one knows where it came from, and which promise of his it symbolises, but he barely thinks about it at all - not since becoming the most promising young fighter ever to train for the elite Yun guard. But on the most important day of his life, when he binds his life to his best friend (and future king) Khareh, the string bursts into flames and sears a dark mark into his skin.

Scarred now as an oath-breaker, Raim has two options: run, or be killed.

                                   

Ali Sparkes - Out of This World - Published by OUP Oxford (6 Jun 2013)

Tyrone Lewis is messing about in the woods, trying to keep out of trouble, when he stumbles upon something weird ...a glowing lump of rock or metal or something. Whatever it is, it gives him an amazing power. Which is cool at first, until Ty's new powers start attracting attention, and soon he's being followed by two sinister agents who seem intent on 'collecting' him. But Ty has no intention of letting that happen. So now he's got to RUN ...
                                   

   

I. M. Strange  - Welcome to Weirdsville: Happyland - Published by Atom (20 Jun 2013)

On Toby's eleventh birthday, he and his friends get a mysterious invitation to Happyland, the abandoned funfair in town. It's too good an opportunity to miss, even though the place gives them the creeps.

What they find there is more terrifying than any of them could have imagined. Getting in was the easy part. Surviving long enough to escape will be much harder.

Once upon a time Happyland was filled with laughter. Now it's filled with fear.

                                     

Eleanor Hawken - The Blue Lady - Published by Hot Key Books (6 Jun 2013)

Fourteen-year-old Frankie Ward is used to being the new girl at school, but even she is unprepared for life at St Mark's College. Finding herself isolated from the rest of the girls, Frankie is drawn to flamboyant and dramatic Suzy, who captivates her with stories of 'The Blue Lady' - the ghost of an ex-St Mark's pupil who died in mysterious and tragic circumstances. One night Suzy persuades Frankie to help her contact The Blue Lady via an Ouija Board - and the girls unleash a terrifying spirit who seems set on destroying not only their friendship but Suzy's sanity. Determined to rescue her friend, Frankie enlists the help of Seth, a mysterious and alluring boy from sister-school St Hilda's. Seth is as interested in St Mark's past as Frankie - but does he have as many dark secrets as the school?

                                   

Thomas Taylor - Dan and the Caverns of Bone - Published by  A&C Black Childrens & Educational (6 Jun 2013)

Dan can see ghosts. See then, speak to them, and sometimes help them...for a price. In his second adventure, Dan is on a school trip to France when he gets mixed up in skulduggery down in the Paris catacombs. Can Dan save the living, help the unquiet dead, avoid getting himself killed - and do it all under the eye of an enraged French teacher? Brilliantly dark humour.