WILLIAM ALEXANDER - GOBLIN SECRETS - (THE IMPORTANCE OF MASKS IN GOBLIN SECRETS) - UK BLOG TOUR

                                      

Masks: Real & Fictional Collections

I own several masks, and I'm still trying to understand them. Masks are odd and contradictory things. They let us hide who we are and pretend to be something we're not, but they're also more than disguises, more than just lies carved into face-like shapes. Masks allow us try on new qualities and possibilities. They help us decide what we might want to become. 

The acting troupe in Goblin Secrets owns a vast collection of masks. Here's a glimpse of it:

The masks covered both the upstream and the downstream walls. Rownie saw heroes and ladies, villains and charmers, nursemaids and gentry. He saw animal masks made of fur, feathers, and scaly lizard skins bristling with teeth. Most had been carved out of wood or shaped in paster, but he also saw masks made of tin and polished copper, gleaming in the lantern light. He saw thin, translucent masks made of beetles' wings and carapaces. He saw long-nosed tricksters and ghoulish false faces. Hundreds and hundreds of masks hung from nails by lengths of string, and every one of them seemed to be watching Rownie as he watched them.
— Goblin Secrets, Act III, Scene ii

I keep my smaller collection in my office. Ara, the Mali embodiment of water, sits above a messier, papier-mâché water droplet made by a local puppet theatre company. Momo from The Last Airbender sits directly on top of a demon from Deli. I'm not sure why Momo ended up there, but he did. 

"OfficeMasks"

I also have a fox mask by Jeff Semmerling and an unfinished Ko-Omoto by the Noh master Bidou Yamaguchi. Both Jeff and Bidou were hugely helpful with my mask-making research, and both have masks named after them inside the book. A finished Noh mask can change expressions without moving; just tilting the angle turns a smile into a thoughtful frown. The leather fox mask might be my favourite, and one of my favourite bookstores made a great, big, paper version of it the last time I read there.

["WillFox" — Photographer by Teri Fullerton]

["Unfinished" & "KoOmoto" —the finished version, and the photo of it, are both by Bidou Yamaguchi]

                 

["RumpusFox" —Photograph by Laura Given]

Online I have a much larger collection. Students at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design made them for me, and each one can be printed, colored-in, and worn with string. 

["FoxTemplate"]

Treat them well when you put them on.....

Check out the book review Here

Book Review: William Alexander - Goblin Secrets - UK Post - Published by Much-in-Little

                                         

I bought this book purely on the book cover as you probably know that I'm a sucker for a good front cover. In fact I was drawn in purely on this alone..... Perhaps a question that might be asked is did the cover live up to the story within? I have to say that it did ...

I didn't know anything about the author or the book before I started reading. Therefore, I was very interested to see how it would read. The first thing that I noticed from the start was its cast of colourful characters that leapt off the page. They were very interesting to read and intriguing to follow. 

The author soon sets out his stall in building a great setting. I immediately became immersed and lost within it. I have not read many books this year that will come close to establishing such a great setting. The author has skilfully dreamt up a place of awe and one that I enjoyed visiting and being apart of very much. 

Equally, I loved the unique and original ideas - these are becoming harder to find as so many books are now being published. However, they really worked within this story. The distinctive language had a style of its own that flowed through the pages. This perhaps holds similarities with the great writer, Catherynne M Valente, who also has a similar style of writing. Every page you read makes you think and evaluate the story. The heart of the book is very complex and at times I wasn't sure whether I was grasping what the author was intending. Therefore, I found myself revisiting certain parts of the book, but it was a good for me to do this as I did not want to miss anything by rushing through the pages.

I was really intrigued by the masks coming to life - this section was fascinating to read as it gave the story a real fantasy element. Look out for the great guest post I have coming up by the author, Thursday 25 July 2013 "The Importance of Masks" which might help you pick up a copy and give it a try.  

The idea of the inhabitants of Zombay running around with clock work parts, gears and sprockets to fix the human body was a particularly cool concept. It injected the story with a slight steampunk theme, and one that I really loved reading. 

There is a lot going on within so few pages. In fact once the story comes to an end, you will want to start the book all over again. This book is like a clockwork automaton as it runs on its very own magic right up to the end. This is a book for the reader who enjoys the power of words and a great story. A recommended book for definite, now published in the UK.

• Publisher: Much-in-Little (18 July 2013)

Guest Post #4: Fleur Hitchcock - My Favourite Reads - Middle Grade - Past and Present

                                        

Twitter: @FleurHitchcock  - One of the judges of the 9-12 section of the Hot Key Young Writer’s prize, people might like to take note of my middle grade choices!!!

Website: http://fleurhitchcock.wordpress.com/

Favourite books for young people?  I couldn’t possibly, I thought, how can you pick one?

Well I couldn’t, but I’m a middle grade author, and we’re often overlooked in favour of young adult, so I thought I’d try and hold up the flag for a few of my middle grade faves, some of which I read to my children and some I enjoyed as a child, but all of which I have read recently, 

Night Birds on Nantucket.  I was devastated when I finished reading this aged 8, and even though I read Joan Aiken’s other stories and enjoyed them, they couldn’t deliver quite the terror and excitement of Nightbirds. Maybe it was the first Dido Twite book that I read, and so the novelty of the inventive slang and the rich descriptions had greater resonance or maybe I was exactly the right age.  It wasn’t the first in the series, and the series is very loosely linked, but I still think it’s the best of her very good books, all of which I’d recommend.

Holes.  I read this one hot summer and felt every scrap of Stanley Yelnats’ discomfort.  Probably the most beautifully constructed book I’ve ever read, it tells the story of wrongly convicted Stanley, and his incredibly roundabout release from the awful Camp Green Lake.  Apart from being funny, and scary, and so, so neat, it also has one of the best first lines ever: ‘there is no lake at camp green lake’, and one of the most unpleasant villains in children’s literature.  This is a middle grade book, but I can’t think any adult wouldn’t enjoy it.

                                

The Secret Henhouse Theatre.  It’s a common tale, children get together to raise the money to save the farm, although it doesn’t quite come out that way and Helen Peters steers away from the Enid Blyton path, by making the book harder, and more bruising than the books of my childhood.  It’s well written and emotionally close up, so that the central character is sitting on the reader’s shoulder all the way through, and the words play out like you’ve slipped into a movie so that although you should probably linger, it’s a really quick read.

National Velvet – worth reading just for the prose.  Exquisite writing.

The Mouse and His Child – again, beautifully written, a strange poetic journey, about the tiny mechanical mouse attached to the tin mouseling.  The creatures they meet that both help and hinder them are vividly painted and their adventures full of peril. I loved it when I was a child, and when I read it again recently, I was amazed by Russell Hoban’s use of language.

                          

Framed.  This book makes me laugh but underneath the humour and misunderstanding lies great warmth and heart.  I don’t think anyone else gets near Frank Cottrell Boyce’s love for his characters, and the way he fuses hope with the misery of things beyond a child’s control still really impresses me.

The Graveyard Book: Of course it’s a favourite, but I do like the cemetery so much more than the fantasy scenes. 

Artichoke Hearts.  This is on the edge of YA – but strays into that place between childhood and teenage with huge sensitivity.  Absolutely the best children’s book I’d read in ages.

 Sky Hawk:  Written by my contemporary from Bath Spa on the Writing for Young People MA – I saw the very beginnings of this book, and Gill’s passion for her subject infuses the writing, but not at the expense of characterisation or atmosphere. It’s a cracking read and yet full of carefully considered description.  And it makes me cry, which is always a plus. 

And, And And..... But I’ve run out of words. 

About the Author

Born in Chobham and raised outside Winchester, Fleur Hitchcock grew up as the youngest child of three. She spent her smallest years reading Tintin and Batman, and searching for King Alfred's treasure. She grew up a little, went away to school near Farnham, studied English in Wales, and, for the next twenty years, sold Applied Art in the city of Bath. When her younger child was seven, she embarked on the Writing for Young People MA at Bath Spa and graduated with a distinction. Now living outside Bath, between parenting and writing, Fleur works with her husband, a toymaker, looks after other people's gardens and tries to grow vegetables.

Author Guest Post #3: Dan Smith - Favourite Reads Past or Present

                                               

Twitter: @DanSmithAuthor   Website: http://www.dansmithsbooks.com/

Favourite Reads – Past or Present by Dan Smith

I don’t really remember reading a lot of children’s books when I was growing up – as a 10/11 year old I had already started on the likes of Jack Higgins and Alistair Maclean (‘The Eagle Has Landed’ and ‘Where Eagles Dare’ were firm favourites), but there is one book from my childhood that sticks in my mind. I loved ‘The Runaways’ by Victor Canning. There was something about the main character, Smiler, being accused of a crime he didn’t commit, that stirred something in me. Oh, and I loved ‘Danny, Champion of The World’ by Roald Dahl – all those ingenious ways of catching pheasants! 

‘Lord of The Flies’ by William Golding is a book that grabbed me when I read it at school. The isolation, the darkness, the savagery and, of course, The Beast. I’ve now read this book more times than I can remember and it never gets boring. It’s the ultimate survival story . . . or is it? You see, when I was twelve years old, I was introduced to the film of The Old Man and The Sea, and decided I had to read the book. I was mesmerised by it and still am. I once recommended the book to someone who returned it saying, ‘it’s about a bloke who catches a fish’. Well, yes, but it’s the best book ever written about a bloke who catches a fish. It’s also about so many other things, like friendship, tenacity, pride, loss, courage, struggle, human nature . . . you get the idea.

‘The Go-Between’ by LP Hartley is another favourite. It might seem an unlikely choice with its genteel Edwardian setting, but when I read it as a teenager, it was the dark underbelly of the society that intrigued me. The lies and deception. I also love that the narrator only really knows what happened when he is much older and able to understand it all. 

Oh, and don’t get me started on ‘The Road’ by Cormac McCarthy! What a beautifully grim book that is. In fact, I love McCarthy’s writing and could re-read many of his books – as long as there’s time to read Elmore Leonard and James Lee Burke. What else, what else . . ? ‘The Wasp Factory’ by Iain Banks was a huge inspiration for me to start writing, as was pretty much anything Stephen King wrote in the eighties. I love ‘True Grit’ by Charles Portis, ‘Clockwork Orange’ by Anthony Burgess, ‘Fight Club’ by Chuck Palahniuk, ‘Game of Thrones’ has had me gripped and ‘Holes’ by Louis Sachar is brilliant – read it now if you haven’t already – and . . . phew, I should probably stop now. 

Well, I don’t read anywhere near as much as I would like to. When I’m writing a first draft of a new novel, reading someone else’s work is fine, but when I’m editing, it sometimes feels a bit too much like work. In those circumstances, I often turn to another overlooked form of storytelling – the graphic novel. So here’s a list of my favourite gra . . . oh? You’ve heard enough? Well why are you still here, then? Go and read a book or something. 

About the Author

Growing up, Dan Smith lived three lives: the day-to-day humdrum of boarding school, finding adventure in the padi fields of Asia and the jungles of Brazil, and in a world of his own, making up stories. He lives in Newcastle with his wife and two children. My Friend the Enemy is his debut children's novel.

Dan Smith reads from his novel My Friend The Enemy (Chicken House Publishing) Published on 4 July 2013

Author Guest Post #1: Nigel McDowell - Five Favourite Books

                       

Five Favourite Books.........

Twitter: @NMcDowellAuthor  Web site: http://www.nigelmcdowellauthor.com/

The Witches by Roald Dahl

Devouring anything by Dahl was an obsessions for all small boys in my Primary School, but of all his books, The Witches was the one I returned to time and again, and still do.  He begins simply, startlingly, by telling the reader that witches really do exist.  As a child this was a revelation, and a terror...but keep reading: he tells all we need to know about witches, how to recognise them, and how (hopefully) to outwit them.  Dahl is famous for his grisly humour, his resistance to comfort or patronise.  But what he does wonderfully is to acknowledge a child’s worst fears (a psychopathic Headmistress, creatures trying to turn children into mice by feeding them potion-laced chocolate) and at the same time indulges their wildest dreams (an extraordinary chocolate factory, an escape from a cruel life on a giant peach, learning the power to overthrow that deranged Headmistress).  He tells children that the world can be a dark place, yes, but says too that if you search hard enough, you can discover some magic to light the way.  

                    

Z for Zachariah Robert C. O’Brien

When I wonder about how to begin a novel, these words often return to me: ‘I am afraid.  Someone is coming.’  This is how Z for Zachariah begins, and once started it is impossible to put down.  I read this novel, like many others, as a teenager.   It was part of High School English; we studied it for an entire term, but even that couldn’t weary it.  It pre-dates Cormac McCarthy’s The Road and the tide of recent books about apocalypse and disaster, and in clear, lucid prose tells an intimate story about a girl, Ann Burden, fighting for her survival.  Her battle to succeed against loneliness, isolation, but also against someone who would attempt to destroy her.  It is claustrophobic, desolate, frightening, and a book I hope teenagers still read (and, if they must, study).

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Simply put - the novel that made me want to write.  At sixteen, this book (intended, I was told, for girls) was something moving, poetic, witty, sharp, beautiful.  It is still all those things to me, and more.  I read it when I want to be reminded of what I’m aiming for. 

Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan

Margo Lanagan is an Australian YA author, and one of the best.  She has written many wonderful short stories; reminiscent of Angela Carter, with her lyrical prose and macabre imagination.  But if you haven’t yet read her work then her dark gem of a novel, Tender Morsels, is the place to begin.  Set in a dark fantasy world so vivid and vile that you can almost smell its reek in your nostrils as you read, feel the filth gathering under your fingernails, it is a fable about how brutality and love can (and must) live alongside one another in the world.

NW by Zadie Smith

I wanted to include something recent; something not just contemporary but that (in the current climate of historical fiction) is also determinedly modern, and attempts to deal with and make sense of the “now”.  Zadie Smith’s newest novel is, I think, her best.  As in her previous work, her dialogue is keen and seductive; her portrait of London detailed and vivid, and her observations on class and guilt, marriage and motherhood, and melancholy - faultless.  But this is also a bold exercise in style.  A modern (or post-modern?) masterpiece.

About the Author

Nigel grew up in County Fermanagh, rural Northern Ireland, and as a child spent most of his time battling boredom, looking for adventure - crawling through ditches, climbing trees, devising games to play with his brother and sister, and reading. His favourite book as a child was The Witches by Roald Dahl. After graduating with a degree in English (and having no clue what to do with it!), he decided to go off on another adventure, spending almost two years living and working in Australia and New Zealand. With him he took a small notebook containing notes about a boy called "Bruno Atlas", and a seaside town called "Pitch End". When he returned to Ireland after his travels, one notebook had multiplied into many, and eventually his notes for Tall Tales from Pitch End filled a large cardboard box... Nigel now lives in London. He has written articles on film and literature for a number of websites.He is always on the hunt for books about folklore and fairytale. He wishes he had more time to climb trees. Tall Tales from Pitch End is Nigel's debut novel.

Book Review: Dan Smith - My Friend the Enemy + Trailer and Book Reading - Chicken House

                                       

I was really looking forward to reading this book once I knew that it was coming through the post. It's always a treat when I get books from Chicken House as I seem to love every book that I receive. In my opinion this publishing company have a great skill of picking a range of fantastic and diverse books to cater for every imaginative mind and this book is no different. 

It's a great skill when an author can write a story that provokes many thoughts from the reader - this book does it in spades. The book is set in the summer of 1941. The main character is called Peter. One day, when out playing in the woods, a German plane is shot out of the sky and comes crashing down very close to Peter. He rushes to the crash site hoping to finding something to keep but what he finds is something very different . . . . This is the start of a beautiful story that explores the friendship and the moral dilemma of helping the enemy and doing what feels right. It's told with great skill through the eyes of children within a hostile environment. 

This is a very captivating read. Whilst it is really sad in parts it is also told with an upbeat tempo. It portrays the times and spirit of that period particularly well. The attitudes and the hardships are very well depicted. They show everyone pulling together in times of need and keeping morale high. The life of making do, the lack of food and those everyday things that we now take for granted just make you think and begin to recognise what life was like at that time

The characters in the book are brilliant; I would even go on to say that they are special. It is as if the author has handpicked the key memories of children who lived through World War 2 and then captured these in his own vision. 

This is a sparkling book of friendship and adventure that will capture your heart strings and certainly take you down a turbulent path of mixed emotions. One of my favourite authors is Robert Westall who often took me down the fantastic path of WW2 gritty stories. Dan's first foray into children's literature brought back these golden times and I would really like to thank him for that. Perhaps he also enjoyed these qualities and aspects himself as a child - I believe that he also lives in the North East and might well be already acquainted with the same Robert Westall books as myself.

I would really like to see many people picking up this book and not just children. It's a book to get lost in a world which was someones reality back in the day. It may stir the emotions of people who perhaps lived through those times and, for those who are just far too young, it may help them to understand that particularly dark and bleak time. In my strong opinion, it might just make us all better people. The book is out on the 4th July so get it on your summer reading list. 

Mr Ripley's New Children's Books - July 2013 Post Two

                                         

Steve Backshall - Ghosts of the Forest - Published by Orion Children's - 4, July 2013
Saker and Sinter have split up. Sinter is nursing in the shanties of Ho Chi Minh city. Saker is with the peace-loving Penan helping them protect the orang utans and save their own forest homes, as unscrupulous loggers wreak destruction. But they are being watched. And hunted. The Prophet has not forgiven their betrayal. Escaping the Clan takes Saker and Sinter on a deadly, dangerous journey through Vietnam, over the South China Sea back to Borneo. Deep in the jungle, they're reunited on their most daredevil and audacious mission yet, to save the endangered orang utans before they become ghosts of the forest. Beware the wooden bullet.

                            

Juliet Marillier - Raven Flight: A Shadowfell Novel - Published by Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers - 9, July 2013
Neryn has finally found the rebel group at Shadowfell, and now her task is to seek out the elusive Guardians, vital to her training as a Caller. These four powerful beings have been increasingly at odds with human kind, and Neryn must prove her worth to them. She desperately needs their help to use her gift without compromising herself or the cause of overthrowing the evil King Keldec.

Neryn must journey with the tough and steadfast Tali, who looks on Neryn's love for the double agent Flint as a needless vulnerability. And perhaps it is. What Flint learns from the king will change the battlefield entirely—but in whose favour, no one knows. 

                                      

Anthony McGowan - Willard Price: Bear Adventure - Published by Puffin - 4, July 2013

Bear Adventure is the next authorised Willard Price book by award-winning author Anthony McGowan, for 8+ readers looking for action, adventure and animals!

Amazon and her cousin Frazer are members of TRACKS. Normally they protect the world's rarest animals, but their mission just got personal. Amazon's parents have been lost in a tragic plane crash - her only hope is that they are wondering the wild forests of Canada.

But they are not alone in the brutal wilderness. Two Spirit Bears, a mother and her cub, are searching for food. When a boy is attacked, these beautiful creatures become the hunted.

Can Amazon and Fraser save their family and the bears?

And what is the mysterious predator that waits for them?

                                     

Rachel Carter - Ethan's Voice - Published by Scholastic - 4, July 2013 

Perfect for fans of Mark Haddon, David Almond and Jacqueline Wilson How do you begin to tell your story when you can't speak? Ethan lives on the canal. He likes it there. He can go to the pond and catch newts and minnows. He can learn everything he needs to know from books and from his mum. No one there laughs at him because he doesn't talk. Ethan can't remember exactly when he stopped talking or why. It is only when he meets Polly, a girl who has recently moved to the canal, that he begins to wish things were different.

Solaris Books: Three Great Slices Of Fiction - Out This Summer 2013 - Adult Post

                                    

Al Ewing - The Fictional Man -  7 May 2013
The most exciting new voice in SF fiction has written a novel with enormous cross-over appeal. In an L.A. where Fictional characters are cloned into living beings, the author Niles Golan is on the verge of hitting the big-time - if he can just stay on top of reality long enough to make it.

In Hollywood, where last year’s stars are this year’s busboys, Fictionals are everywhere. Niles Golan’s therapist is a Fictional. So is his best friend. So (maybe) is the woman in the bar he can’t stop staring at. Fictionals – characters ‘translated’ into living beings for movies and TV using cloning technology – are a part of daily life in LA now. Sometimes the problem is knowing who’s real and who’s not.

Divorced, alcoholic and hanging on by a thread, Niles – author of Death By Degrees: A Kurt Power Novel and many others – has been hired to write a big-budget reboot of a classic movie. If he does this right, the studio might bring one of Niles’ own characters to life. Somewhere beneath the movie – beneath the TV show it was inspired by, the children’s book behind that and the story behind that – is the kernel of something important. If he can just hold it together long enough...

                               

Ben Jeapes - Phoenicia's World -  30, July 2013

The debut SF novel by an amazing new name in Science Ficiton, Ben Jeapes. • A story of two brothers, two planets, and humankind's first attempt to colonise another world. • La Nueva Temporada is Earth’s only extrasolar colony – an Earth-type planet caught in the grip of a very Earth-type Ice Age. Alex Mateo wants nothing more than to stay and contribute to the terraforming of his homeworld. But tragedy strikes the colony, and to save it from starvation and collapse Alex must reluctantly entrust himself to the only starship in existence to make the long, slower than light journey back to Earth. But it is his brother Quin, who loathes La Nueva Temporada and all the people on it, who must watch his world collapse around him and become its ultimate saviour.

La Nueva Temporada is Earth’s only extrasolar colony – an Earth-type planet caught in the grip of a very Earth-type Ice Age. Alex Mateo wants nothing more than to stay and contribute to the terraforming of his homeworld. But tragedy strikes the colony, and to save it from starvation and collapse Alex must reluctantly entrust himself to Phoenicia, the only starship in existence, to make the long, slower than light journey back to Earth.• But it is his brother Quin, who loathes La Nueva Temporada and all the people on it, who must watch his world collapse around him and become its ultimate saviour.

                              

Lou Morgan - Blood and Feathers: Rebellion - 6, July 2013

This is the thrilling follow-up to Blood and Feathers, one of the most highly-regarded debuts of 2012. The battle between the Fallen and the Angels has turned into open warfare, on the streets of London.

"This is a war. The war. There is no stopping; no getting out. You're in this - just like the rest of us - to the end." • Driven out of hell and with nothing to lose, the Fallen wage open warfare against the angels on the streets. And they're winning.• As the balance tips towards the darkness, Alice - barely recovered from her own ordeal in hell and struggling to start over - once again finds herself in the eye of the storm. But with the chaos spreading and the Archangel Michael determined to destroy Lucifer whatever the cost, is the price simply too high… and what sacrifices will Alice and the angels have to make in order to pay it? • The Fallen will rise. Trust will be betrayed. And all hell breaks loose…

New Children's Books - Published In July 2013 - US Post

                                           

Dan Poblocki - The Haunting Of Gabriel Ashe - Published by Scholastic Press - 30, July 2013

Has Gabriel created a monster?
Something sinister lurks in the woods outside of Slade.
Gabe has seen it, or he thinks he has - a shadow standing at the tree line, watching Gabe's house with faintly glowing eyes.

Despite Gabe's misgivings, his new friend, Seth, relishes the creepy atmosphere of the forest. It's the perfect setting for his imaginary struggle against the Hunter, a deformed child-eating creature said to leave the bones of his victims in his wake. It's just a game, but it's all a bit much for Gabe, who quickly loses interest as summer ends and the days grow shorter.

But then strange things start to happen. Frightening things. And Gabe knows it has to do with the dark figure watching him from the edge of the woods.

Is Seth out to teach Gabe a lesson? Or is the Hunter more than just a myth? Gabe isn't sure which option is more horrifying, but he's determined to learn the truth before someone gets hurt . . . or worse.

                                 

Christine Brodien- Jones - The Glass Puzzle -Published by Delacorte Books - 9, July 2013

Eleven-year-old Zoé Badger, imaginative, carefree and adventurous, lives a transient life, moving with her mother from one town to the next—except for summers, when she stays with her granddad in Tenby, Wales. But when she and her cousin Ian discover a glass puzzle that's been hidden away for decades, ancient forces are unleashed that threaten to change their safe-haven summer town in sinister ways.

                                 

James Preller - Scary Tales: Home Sweet Home - Published by Feiwel & Friends - 9, July 2013

Welcome. Have a seat. Let us tell you a story. But be warned. Home Sweet Horror isn’t just any tale. This is a Scary Tale.

Meet Liam Finn, who’s just moved into a new home with his father and sister. But this old house that seems empty, isn’t . . . Bloody Mary is here. Called back from the dead by a game, she’s just dying to talk.

      

                                 

Susan Fletcher - Falcon in the Glass - Published by Margaret K. McElderry Books - 9, July 2013

A boy risks his life to save some very special children in this fantasy adventure, set amidst the rich backdrop of Renaissance Venice.

In Venice in 1487, the secrets of glassblowing are guarded jealously. Renzo, a twelve-year-old laborer in a glassworks, has just a few months to prepare for a test of his abilities, and no one to teach him. If he passes, he will qualify as a skilled glassblower. If he fails, he will be expelled from the glassworks. Becoming a glassblower is his murdered father’s dying wish for him, and the means of supporting his mother and sister. But Renzo desperately needs another pair of hands to help him turn the glass as he practices at night.

One night he is disturbed by a bird—a small falcon—that seems to belong to a girl hiding in the glassworks. Soon Renzo learns about her and others like her—the bird people, who can communicate with birds and are condemned as witches. He tries to get her to help him and discovers that she comes with baggage: ten hungry bird-kenning children who desperately need his aid. Caught between devotion to his family and his art and protecting a group of outcast children, Renzo struggles for a solution that will keep everyone safe in this atmospheric adventure.

Mr Ripley's New Children's Books: Published In July 2013 - UK Post One

                                               

Jon Robinson - Nowhere Book One - Published by Puffin - 4, July 2013

Nowhere is a fast-paced conspiracy thriller by debut author Jon Robinson.

'No one's coming for us.

Not our families, not the police.

No one.'

Alyn, Jes, Ryan and Elsa are Nowhere.

A concrete cube in the middle of a dense forest.

Imprisoned inside are one hundred teenagers from all over the country.

They're all criminals. But none of them remember committing any crimes.

Who has put them there. What do their captors want?

And how will they ever break free . . . ?

***an intensely gripping conspiracy thriller for 11+ readers***

*** a phenomenal debut novel, for readers who love Jason Bourne and Alex Scarrow***

                                             

Sarwat Chadda - Ash Mistry: The World of Darkness - Published by HarperCollins - 4, July 2013

Ash Mistry is in a world of pain. A parallel world in fact, where another version of him seems to be living his life, and the evil Lord Savage – now all-powerful and adored by the nation – is about to carry out a terrible plan.

Worse still, Ash’s superpowers, invested in him by the Death Goddess Kali, seem no longer to be working.

Without Kali, can Ash defeat Savage and save the world?

                                     

S. J. Kincaid - Vortex (Insignia Trilogy) - Published by Hot Key Books - 4, July 2013

Now in his second year as a superhuman cadet-in-training, Tom's been promoted to a mid-level member of the elite training corps known as Camelot Company, or CamCo. As training intensifies and the moment arrives to impress the multinational corporations who will make or break the cadets' careers, Tom finds himself drawn into a power struggle that's more dramatic - and with far higher stakes - than anything he ever imagined. There are nefarious new enemies to outwit, old friendships that take on new faces, a romance that Tom is encouraged to betray, and an increasing desire on Tom's behalf to demand nothing less than 'justice for all' - even if he sabotages his own future in the process. But what will his idealism cost? Filled with camaraderie, wit, action and intelligence, the second book in S. J. Kincaid's futuristic trilogy continues to explore fascinating and timely questions about power, politics, technology, loyalty and friendship.

                                          

Chris Priestley - New World - (Reissue) - Published by Corgi - 31, July 2013
New World is a wonderfully atmospheric and exciting historical adventure about an Elizabethan voyage of discovery to the New World. The story revolves around a fourteen-year-old orphan, Kit, who, attempting to escape his life of petty crime on the streets of London, boards a ship bound for Virginia and, together with other colonists, helps establish a colony at Roanoke.

As winter sets in and the colonists struggle to survive, Kit's past comes back to haunt him when an enemy suddenly reveals himself.

New Edition Book Cover Reveal - Darren Shan - Lord Loss and Demon Thief (Demonata Series)

Missed the demonata the first time round?

check out our new look editions of this classic horror series a hellsh nightmare for only the bravest of readers...

                           

LORD LOSS by Darren Shan - New edition. Release date: July 4th 2013.

When Grubbs Grady first encounters Lord Loss and his evil minions, he learns three things: • the world is vicious, • magic is possible,

• demons are real.

He thinks that he will never again witness such a terrible night of death and darkness.

...He is wrong.

                        

DEMON Thief by Darren Shan - New edition. Release date: July 4th 2013.

When Kernel Fleck's brother is stolen by demons, he must enter their universe in search of him. It is a place of magic, chaos and incredible danger. Kernel has three aims: • learn to use magic, • find his brother, • stay alive.

But a heartless demon awaits him, and death has been foretold...