Paul Magrs - LOST ON MARS+ THE MARTIAN GIRL + THE HEART OF MARS (The Lora Trilogy) - Festive Gift Ideas

We are getting closer to Christmas, so it's time to start thinking of ideal presents, stocking fillers and, of course, great books to warm you up throughout this festive period. Instead of me promoting this new book, I'm delighted to be able to introduce Lora to tell you more about this amazing series.

Hi, I'm Lora and Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books has kindly let me take over his blog, so that I can tell you about the story of my family on Mars. It's a story like no other a story - you will need to read it to believe it. We are lucky enough for Paul Magrs in writing a truthful account and for FireFly Press for publishing our little family tale. We call it the (The Lora Trilogy) The first in this epic Sci-Fi series Lost on Mars was published in May 2015  and the sequel The Martian Girl was published in September 2016. The last in the trilogy, The Heart of Mars, was published in March 2018. Mr Ripley has been a great supporter of the books and would like to recommend them to you all. This is a great Christmas present for everybody young and old. 

So here is more of my tale so you may know what lies ahead...

Dear Everyone,

There’s not many of us left now. Not after the Disappearances and all the terrible things that happened.

Life was tough on our Homestead, but we liked living there, out on the red Martian Prairie. There was Mum and Da and our crazy Granny with the mechanical leg and the laser eye. Then there was Toaster, our robot, who did loads of work around our place, and who used to be a sun bed once upon a time.

Why did the people of the first landings ever bring a sun bed to Mars? Where the sun’s so blistering all the time? When the heat gets wild and the dust storms come rolling over the plains, destroying our crops and bringing with them the terrifying ghosts of dead Martians.

Oh, yes. That’s where my tale begins. This whole epic adventure begins with the time that the storms came in the late autumn and ripped away all our fields of green corn. We were going to go hungry and cold that winter anyway, and that was bad enough. 

But then folk started getting Disappeared. 

We lost our Gran. She got whizzed away in the night, leaving just her electronic leg and eye behind. Then our Da went too, and we knew who’d got him.

The Martians were haunting us and taking us away one by one…

Heeee heeee heeeeee…

I could hear their laughter when I sat up late at night and my brother and little sister were asleep.

And I knew the Martian ghosts were coming for all of us. 

And I knew that we had to get away. I took the decision for all of our sakes. We would choose the most essential of our belongings and pack up the Hovercarts. We’d saddle up the great lizards who carried all our burdens…

So we set off into the great scarlet wilderness, looking for a new home. We followed the strange signals that came out of the last of our radios. We didn’t know what they were telling us, but there were people out there somewhere, calling us into the unknown…

And there were a whole lot of challenges and dangers that we had to face…

I kept a journal the whole time. I knew that the day would come when I would have to tell you all about our journey and our adventures. 

I knew I would tell you eventually about what happened when those few of us from our town were lost on Mars.

Yrs,

Lora.

'This series really is one of my all-time personal favourites; it is a science fiction delight that everyone should read... (it) will leave you feeling like you've read something really special by one of the best authors around.' Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books

Paul Magrs - The Heart of Mars (Lora Trilogy) Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books - Book Review (Firefly Press)

Have we come to the sad end of the sci-fi Lora trilogy by Paul Magrs?

It all started with "Lost on Mars" which is the first book in the trilogy. This was a brilliant read and became my favourite book of 2015. The second book in the series, "The Martian Girl" (2016), was, again, an excellent read which I thoroughly enjoyed. The final installment is "The Heart of Mars" and is absolutely amazing. This series really is one of my all-time personal favourites; it is a science-fiction delight that everyone should read. 

The Heart of Mars will be published across the galaxy on the 15th March 2018 by Firefly Press. NOTE: this book can be read on its own or on Mars. However, I personally would recommend that you start with the first book in the series.
If you've not read the previous books then grab all three and begin a reading adventure like no other. Unfortunately, they're not that easy to find so you may need to order them. Nevertheless, it will be worth the time and investment as they will leave you feeling like you've read something really special by one of the best authors around.  

I lost all sense of time as I followed Lora, Peter and, Toaster (a Servo-Furnishing machine) into the deadly swamplands full of mist and thick purple mud. The further they plunged into the adventure, the greater the sense of creeping eyes following and strange voices drifting through the air. It's a fantastic shuttle-ride of escapism as you follow Lora's epic mission to reunite her family in an all-out thrilling finale. 

A strange encounter with the Ancient Ones delivers a power-packed punch of fantasy and magic. You'll be slapped in the face with an air of mystery and so many unanswered questions. It's a brilliant story packed full of action, adventure and a fantastic host of characters, creatures and monsters. Yet, the simplicity of the story alongside the engaging narrative is cleverly built around a detailed fantasy world that seeps into the pores of the reader.

The author's vivid imagination in taking an idea and running with it, regardless, is breathtaking. It is incredible how he is able to write a Sci-Fi novel with such ease and poise. Even more remarkably, is that it will be loved by kids as much as by adults. It really does have his unique personality stamped onto every page, but this is what is to be expected from Paul Magrs. In my opinion, he is such an underrated author so start reading his books now. 

This book is a super extra-terrestrial romp through space and time. It is from the heart and is full of friendship danger as well as humour (I am Watt. Watt I am!). Definitely a book to devour and a series to savour. 

Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books: Paul Magrs - Lost on Mars - Book Review

Book Synopsis: With the scale and scope of the great science fiction epics, Lost on Mars tells the story of Lora and her family, third generation human settlers on the red planet who are struggling to survive in incredible circumstances. The family clings to life on a smallholding in the desert landscape, surviving storms and sinister rumours of un-explained disappearances until one night Lora sees the Dancers. When her father and grandmother disappear themselves, Lora's family is driven out to seek a new life across the plains. But none of them are ready for what they find the beautiful, dangerous City Inside.

Book Review: I was so excited to get my hands on an early copy of this book. In fact, I gave a little dance when it landed in my letter box. It never even made my 'To Be Read' pile as I devoured it straight away. Paul Magrs has quickly become one of my favourite authors, so I was eagerly hoping that this book would live up to my expectations. 

The synopsis gives very little away, as you can see above, so my imagination was on overload from the very start. Paul has a very expressive way of telling a story; simply told with a fantastical and futuristic vision that packs a mighty punch to the senses. Inspired from the books that he read as a child, this has helped him deliver another science fiction epic of his own. 

It's FANTASTIC, it's BRILLIANT, it's certainly strange and the plot will hit you in both the gut and the heart at the same time. It's thought provoking and very surreal following the characters into the realms of the unknown. I was never quite sure what would happen in this book as it's a magical ride of two halves with a big dollop of craziness, of course. Although, the story does have an underlying dark and sinister edge; disappearing people, unexplained sightings and possibly a cannibalistic race of aliens that will have you running for another planet. However, the more that I read, the more that I fell in love with this book. 

The final part of the story is a fantasy marvel. It hits you out of nowhere and changes the whole direction of the story. This certainly shows Paul's pedigree of writing through his epic involvement in writing twenty five or so Dr Who novels.

One of my favourite aspects of the story included another one of Paul's trademark 'servo furnishings'. This time it was a sunbed, if I recall correctly. I'd love more books to feature one as it makes the book sparkle with amusement and wonder.  

This is easily my favourite read of the year. It is a cracking space odyssey for the Young Adult audience and beyond. A unique outlook all wrapped in a disturbing fight for survival against a bleak and desolate landscape. Although, the end does pose the question as to whether there will be a sequel or not.

I hope that you will grab a copy of this delight of a book and enjoy it as much as I did. Many thanks to Firefly Press for publishing this book and Megan Farr for sending a copy in my direction.

Paperback: 352 pages - Publisher: Firefly Press Ltd (14 May 2015) ISBN-13: 978-1910080221

BIG BOOK COVER REVEAL - SOPHIA McDOUGALL - MARS EVACUEES

Check out the post that supports this reveal on Sophia's blog Here

Book Cover Synopsis: The fact that someone had decided I’d be safer on Mars, where you could still only SORT OF breathe the air and SORT OF not get sunburned to death, was a sign that the war with the aliens was not going fantastically well.

I’d been worried that I was about to be told that my mother’s spacefighter had been shot down, so when I found out that I was being evacuated to Mars, I was pretty calm.

And, despite everything that happened to me and my friends afterwards, I’d do it all again.  Because until you have been shot at, pursued by terrifying aliens, taught maths by a laser-shooting robot goldfish and tried to save the galaxy, I don’t think you can say that you’ve really lived.

SophiaMcDougall: http://sophiamcdougall.com/blog/

Twitter: @McDougallSophia 

Andy Potts Book Cover Illustrator - Website http://andy-potts.com/
Twitter: @AndyPottsTweet 

Published by Egmont (27 Mar 2014) - All images are subject to copyright...

Mr Ripley's One To Watch - Red Rising by Pierce Brown

                       

Synopsis: Darrow is a Helldiver, one of a thousand men and women who live in the vast caves beneath the surface of Mars, generations of people who spend their lives toiling to mine the precious elements that will allow the planet to be terraformed. Just knowing that, one day, people will be able to walk the surface of the planet is enough to justify their sacrifice. The Earth is dying, and Darrow and his people are the only hope humanity has left.

Until the day Darrow learns that it is all a lie. That Mars has been habitable - and inhabited - for generations, by a class of people calling themselves the Golds. A class of people who look down at Darrow and his fellows as slave labour, to be exploited and worked to death without a second thought.

Until the day Darrow, with the help of a mysterious group of rebels, disguises himself as a Gold and infiltrates their command school, intent on taking down his oppressors from the inside.

But the command school is a battlefield - and Darrow isn't the only student with an agenda.

Verdict: Crawling up the walls of dystopian fiction. Pierce Brown's top-notch debut novel, Red Rising, the first book in a new trilogy marrying The Hunger Games and The Lord of the Flies a really serious game of Risk. Brown's futuristic sci-fi world doesn't seem too far off from our own society, with the haves and have-nots, though on the planet Mars, the social strata is color-coded. The Golds, with glimmering eyes and hair, rule cities, starfleets and everything in between. On the opposite end of the spectrum are the Reds, the lower working class that everyone looks down upon.

One of those Reds is Darrow, a happily married teenager and the headstrong Helldiver of Lykos, one of many mining cities on Mars. The population of Reds have been told for years that they are gathering resources to make the surface habitable for them and future generations, but Darrow and his wife, Eo, discover that they've been lied to and that Golds and others have already created impressive cities and landscapes. In essence, the Reds have simply been used as slave labor the whole time.

In order to spur Darrow into action against this heinous treatment and fight for freedom, Eo sacrifices herself and is hanged publicly by one of the most powerful Golds, the ArchGovernor. Watching his wife die — and having to take part in it — sends Darrow on a bad path toward his own death. But he's instead recruited by the resistance group Sons of Ares for a grandiose plan: to transform Darrow into a Gold and have him take down the whole ruling society from within. Want to find out more grab the book....

Published by Hodder & Stoughton 28th Jan 2014

Other books you might like: Hugh Howey - The Wool Trilogy and Rick Yancey - The 5th Wave.

PUBLISHER NEWS:EGMONT PRESS ACQUIRES MAJOR NEW SERIES - MARS EVACUEES BY SOPHIA McDOUGALL

EGMONT PRESS ACQUIRES MAJOR NEW SERIES, MARS EVACUEES!

Egmont Press is thrilled to announce the acquisition of a major new series for readers of 9+, Mars Evacuees, by bestselling adult author Sophia McDougall. 

Sarah Hughes, Fiction Publishing Director at Egmont Press, bought two books with UK and Commonwealth rights in a keenly contested auction from Catherine Clarke at Felicity Bryan Associates. The first title in the series will publish in Spring 2014. This is Sophia's first book for children.

Mars Evacuees is the story of a group of children who are evacuated to Mars when their future on Earth is under threat. None of them knows what to expect at their destination. And when the adults in charge of them disappear, they are on their own…

                                                        

‘This is my first major acquisition since arriving at Egmont in December,’ said Sarah Hughes.  ‘I was looking for a very special project: something that not only has fantastic child-appeal and editorial integrity but that also has a killer hook. I didn't expect one to cross my desk so quickly and I am thrilled. Sophia has a lightness of touch and an eye for the kind of detail that makes her writing incredibly distinctive and memorable.’

Sophia McDougall said, ‘I first had the idea for Mars Evacuees when I was nine; I was fascinated by Michelle Magorian’s novels of children evacuated to the English countryside or to America in WWII, and I wondered, in a future war, where else could you send people? Obviously Mars. And what would happen to them next? It’s taken me almost twenty-five years  to come up with the answers, but I’m so happy to be going to Mars at last with Egmont – I was so impressed by their energy and enthusiasm for the book.’

Sophia McDougall is the author of bestselling Romanitas trilogy (Orion/Gollancz). Her short stories have been published by Jurassic Fiction, Solaris and NewCon press. She has appeared on Radio 3's Night Waves discussing Mars in literature with Samira Ahmed and A Clockwork Orange with Will Self.   She was a panellist at the 2012 'How the Light Gets In' arts and philosophy festival in Hay.  She is 33 and lives in London

David Jowsey - Shattered Truths: An'Tsari Trilogy No. 2: The Past Holds a Secret - Book Review

Mr Ripley's Book Review

I have wanted to read this book for sometime now. I have kept my eye out for this title, as the author is quite local and the book is published by an independent publishing company. So when I found a copy in a rather good bookshop in Whitby I was particularly happy to come across it. 

This is the second book to be written by David in the An'Tsari Trilogy, with the last book to come out sometime next year entitled Summer 2012. The first thing that struck me about the book was the cover, as I am a sucker for a good book cover! 

I enjoyed the first book in the series Dragons In The Sky and I thought I had a good idea as to the style that the second book would be written in but I was surprised to find it totally different.

I found the descriptive work the author used in this book to be well researched leaving the reader engaging with the story. The books overall concept was very intriguing and thought provoking at the possibilities of space travel and life on other planets. The story had an original feel and kept me guessing as to how the story was going to pan out and the ending which followed. Tom Richard's is the central character, we follow his past life and the new experiences he encounters on a NASA space mission to Mars. The truth eventually uncovers itself and questions are answered from book one whilst new questions are asked in preparation for the last installment. This is a spine-tingling encounter of self-discovery and a really good read that gets four out of five.

Published by Sigel Press 15 June 2009

Book Synopsis: Mars 2039 - Tom Richards knows he has been destined to visit the red planet since his childhood encounter with the An'Tsari thirty years before. Can he protect humanity from a dark and treacherous past, or will the existence of an overwhelming power mean the extinction of the human race? "Shattered Truths" is the eagerly awaited sequel to "Dragons in the Sky", and draws the second chapter of the An'Tsari trilogy to a nail-biting conclusion. Thirty-one years have passed since Tom Richards' terrifying childhood encounter with the An'Tsari, but the fears he has struggled so hard to bury will be challenged once again as the truth behind his own destiny is revealed. Mars: 2039 - Tom Richards knows he has been destined to visit the red planet since his childhood encounter with the An'Tsari but as part of a NASA team, exploring the surface of Mars, he finds himself subjected to startling visions of Mars' past. Amongst the visions stands a sinister figure, but who is he, and why is he so desperate to withhold a secret of epic proportions? With the odds stacked against him by a devastating planet-wide storm, and all contact with Earth lost, Tom must fight to protect the existence of the human race. But how can he confront a dark and treacherous power that threatens to destroy everything the human race has achieved, when the individual behind it turns out to be the person he least expects? "Shattered Truths" is the eagerly awaited sequel to "Dragons in the Sky", and the second installment in the exciting "An'Tsar Trilogy.

Some book signings coming up by the author:

                           The signings are:

Borders, Teesside Park - Thursday 3rd December from 5.30pm

Guisborough Bookshop - Saturday 12th December from 12.30pm

Waterstones, Middlesbrough - Thursday 17th December from 4.30pm

Whitby Bookshop - Saturday 19th December from 12.00pm