Book Review: Sophia McDougall - Mars Evacuees - Published by Egmont

I've been really looking forward to reading this book for a year or so now.  Now I have finally had the chance to read it, the question has to be . .  . . was it really worth the wait? It certainly wasn't what I was expecting, as I was anticipating something more serious and perhaps with a little bit more depth in the detail. However it is an adventure for the 9+ age group and what an adventure it turned out to be. The story rocketed from the very first page, and yes, I really enjoyed it, and so, I think, should you....

The plot for this story is brilliant. It is very imaginative - just imagine that earth has been invaded, in this case by a race called the Morror,  who fly around in invisible spacecrafts with invisible spacesuits. No-one can actually seen them, but earth needs to defend themselves from their attack. As a result, the government evacuates a group of children to Mars to train as cadets for the Exo-Defence Force. From this part on, the book should be entitled chaos in space as we read about laser shooting robot goldfish ingenious, earth eating flying worms, or something along those lines. Never mind the alien monsters and 300 crazy kids that have been left on Mars, with no adult supervision, after the adults mysteriously go missing. WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG? That's all I am going to say about the story, as I don't want to spoil your reading pleasure. I'm sure that you are starting to get the idea.

What you will find is a fresh, fast-paced space romp. A group of children fighting to save themselves from themselves in order to rescue the galaxy. This is science fiction where children rule. This book, in my opinion. is one of the best reads for me this year and one of the most exciting books that you will find for both boys and girls.

The story is both witty and smart. It is full of friendship and brilliant characters, good times and bad times as well as a few sad times. However these are all explored wonderfully by Sophia.  It's a joy to read; it has got all the ingredients required to pull off a magical space story. I particularly loved the craziness, playfulness and care free attitude that is evident through this book. This makes me, as on older reader, feel like a big kid and sometimes in this world this can be a wonderful feeling again.

I DON'T think that you can say that you've really lived until you have read this book. I am looking forward to the next book in the series which is, I think, out in August 2014.

Published by Egmont UK - 27, March 2014

Mr Ripley's New Children's Books Published in March 2014 - US Published Post One

Philip Kerr - The Winter Horses - Published by Knopf Books - 25, March 2014 
New York Times bestselling author of the Bernie Gunther novels, comes a breathtaking journey of survival in the dark days of WWII, perfect for fans of The Book Thief, Milkweed, and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.
It will soon be another cold winter in the Ukraine.  But it's 1941, and things are different this year.  Max, the devoted caretaker of an animal preserve, must learn to live with the Nazis who have overtaken this precious land. He must also learn to keep secrets—for there is a girl, Kalinka, who is hiding in the park.

Kalinka has lost her home, her family, her belongings—everything but her life.  Still, she has gained one small, precious gift: a relationship with the rare wild and wily Przewalski's horses that wander the preserve. Aside from Max, these endangered animals are her only friends—until a Nazi campaign of extermination nearly wipes them out for good.

Now Kalinka must set out on a treacherous journey across the frozen Ukrainian forest to save the only two surviving horses—and herself.

This sensitive, inspiring tale captures the power of sacrifice and the endurance of the human spirit.

Garth Nix & Sean Williams - Spirit Animals: Animal Ties - Published by Scholastic - 25, March 2014 - Book Three

The adventure continues in this third book of the epic multiplatform fantasy series. Erdas is a land of balance. A rare link, the spirit animal bond, bridges the human and animal worlds. Conor, Abeke, Meilin, and Rollan each have this gift-and the grave responsibility that comes with it.
 
But the Conquerors are trying to destroy this balance. They're swallowing whole cities in their rush for power-including Meilin's home. Fed up with waiting and ready to fight, Meilin has set off into enemy territory with her spirit animal, a panda named Jhi. Her friends aren't far behind . . . but they're not the only ones. The enemy is everywhere.

Chris Columbus & Ned Vizzini - House of Secrets: Battle of the Beasts - Published by Balzer and Bray - 25 March 2014 - Book Two

The sequel to the New York Times bestselling House of Secrets—hailed by J. K. Rowling as "a breakneck, jam-packed roller coaster of an adventure"—this second installment by Hollywood director Chris Columbus (of Harry Potter fame) and bestselling author Ned Vizzini (It's Kind of a Funny Story) is full of even more explosive twists and turns.

Since the siblings' last adventure, life in the Walker household is much improved—the family is rich and the Wind Witch is banished. But no Walker will be safe until she is found, and summoning her to San Francisco brings all the danger that comes with her and puts the Walkers in the crosshairs of a mysterious journey through Denver Kristoff's books. As the Walkers travel from ancient Rome to World War II to Tibet, they'll be tested in ways that cut deeper than before, by Denver Kristoff, the Wind Witch, and each other.

Fantasy-fiction fans who enjoy Rick Riordan will find much to love in this thrilling and action-packed novel!

Jaleigh Johnson - The Mark of the Dragonfly - Published by Delacorte Books - 25, March 2014 

An adventure story set in a magical world that is both exciting and dangerous.

Piper has never seen the Mark of the Dragonfly until she finds the girl amid the wreckage of a caravan in the Meteor Fields.The girl doesn't remember a thing about her life, but the intricate tattoo on her arm is proof that she's from the Dragonfly Territories and that she's protected by the king. Which means a reward for Piper if she can get the girl home.

The one sure way to the Territories is the 401, a great old beauty of a train. But a ticket costs more coin than Piper could make in a year. And stowing away is a difficult prospect--everyone knows that getting past the peculiar green-eyed boy who stands guard is nearly impossible.

Life for Piper just turned dangerous. A little bit magical. And very exciting, if she can manage to survive the journey.

Interview with Sally Green - Half Bad Blog Tour - Published by Penguin Books - March 2014

On today's stop of the Half Bad blog tour  day six you can read an interview with author, Sally Green. On the final stop you can win lovely signed copies of the book. Go to www.realmoffiction.blogspot.com (on 2nd March)

Is this the first book that you have written?

Half Bad is the first book I've had published. I have written one other novel before this, which I tried and failed to get it published and now it is in a box never to be looked at again. 

When and where did you get the first ideas for this book?

I think my first inspiration came from a storytelling festival I went to in 2009 (Festival at the Edge in Shropshire) - I was steeped in folklore for three days and loved it. In these old stories three was a significant number (three brothers, three branches on a bramble, three wishes etc.) and I had the basic idea of a scenario where to become a true, adult witch you had to be given three gifts. 

I didn't know much about witches but I knew there was 'good' White magic and 'bad' black magic and the themes of good and bad reminded me of the lines from Hamlet 'there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so'. I liked the idea of playing around with the assumptions that the White Witches would be the good guys and the Black Witches would be bad.  

To potential readers, can you describe the book as you see it?

Half Bad is the story of Nathan a teenage witch. At the beginning of the story he is a prisoner of the White Witches. He is being kept in a cage, not because of anything he has done, but because of what he is - a Half Code (half White Witch and half Black Witch) - and because his father is the most feared of the Black Witches. The story traces Nathan's life from birth to his seventeenth birthday by which time he must escape White Witches and go through a ceremony (receiving three gifts) to become a true, adult witch.

Nathan's life is full of physical hardship, even torture, but his mental struggles are as difficult as his physical ones. He is alone, abused and afraid of both the White Witches and the Black, and added to that he is not sure how he himself is going to turn out - whether his Black half or White half will dominate.

Did you do any research for the book? If so what did comprise of?

I didn't do a lot or research. I used a lot of what I know, for example all the places are based on real locations that I'm familiar with, though most of them aren't named. 

For my research I mostly had the help of my research buddy, Google,  for example I had an important knife in my story and I read up on knives and found out about the Fairbairn-Sykes dagger which I modelled my knife, the Fairborn, upon. 

Who has influenced you or influences you as a writer?

I'm influenced by many other writers and the books I read. I love Hemingway's style and his short stories in particular, and his ideas about writing do influence me - in particular his idea that you have to know a character but that doesn't mean you have to tell the reader these things, even important things, just knowing them will mean the character will come out in the story. I do believe you have to trust the reader to fill in the gaps, you have to assume the reader is pretty smart.

What kind of books do you read for pleasure?

I read a mix of YA (about a third of my reading) and literary fiction, some non-fiction and some younger children's books with my 11 year old son. The authors who have recently given me a lot of pleasure are David Mitchell, Hemingway, Kate Atkinson, Ben Fountain, Patrick Ness, Mohsin Hamid, Emily Bronte, JG Ballard, Philip Roth…I could go on, the list is actually quite long.

I rarely put up with a book if it's not giving me any pleasure. I guess I've started and given up on 3 in the last year.

Do you have any tips on how to get published?

Be the best writer you can. To do that you need to work hard at your writing, get feedback from fellow writers whom you respect and whose feedback style you understand. Give feedback to them too - analysing writing and working out its strengths and weaknesses will benefit your own writing. 

Write your novel - live and breathe it.

Edit your novel - ruthlessly.

When submitting your manuscript follow the instructions given by the agent and always be professional.

When your manuscript is rejected don't give up but do consider starting again on a new novel. I was inspired by Iain Banks' path to publication. He told himself that he would have 3 (there's that number again!) attempts at submitting different novels before he would give up. The Wasp Factory was his third, but I suspect he would have done a fourth and a fifth. 

If/ when the book becomes a film, what kind of input would you like on the production?

I'm no expert on film making and can't imagine striding around saying much of anything about the production of the film. I'm confident that the producers will stick closely to the book (as they did with Twilight for example) - if I wasn't sure they knew what they were doing I wouldn't have agreed to the film deal. I will have some input - to ensure that the overall sense of the trilogy is followed and important but minor aspects of Book 1 are not ignored.

How many books do you plan to write in this series?

Three. The second will be published in March 2015 and the third in March 2016.

Could you give us a little insight into your next book?

All I can say is that I'm writing the second book of the trilogy at the moment. It follows on from the first book and I'm trying to make sure it lives up to its title - Half Wild.

Twitter: @Sa11eGreen 

www.halfbadworld.com

The Times / Chicken House Children's Fiction Competition 2014 Short-List

THIS YEARS SHORTLIST: 

BIRTHDAY SURPRISE by LISA DRAKEFORD
When a girl unexpectedly gives birth on the bathroom floor at her best friend’s party, the fall-out is intense and affects everybody ...  A gritty teen read with redemption and tenderness amid the difficulty and confusion.

THE SOUND OF WHALES by KERR THOMSON
People trafficking, diamond smuggling and the redemptive power of nature form the basis for this ethereal and moving tale set on a remote Scottish isle; a beautifully woven story for middle-grade readers.

THE TERRITORY by SARAH GOVETT
Floods have ravaged the world and only the brightest kids can earn a place on dry land by passing a rigorous exam. But while rich kids can buy their way to a life of comfort, most ordinary kids have to tough it out to stay alive ... A thrilling and thought-provoking dystopian novel.

DEARLY WILD by VICTORIA WOOLFE
Harry’s mum is dead and the only comfort he can find is in caring for a damaged deer he discovered in the woods. Beautiful, gentle and evocative, this story about the power of wild animals, set against the coldness of young grief, reads like a truly modern-day Kes.

THE RUNNER by JAMES LOFTHOUSE
Liam is the witness to a brutal murder. More than this, he knows one of the two perpetrators. Placed into hiding, Liam is still not safe and is forced on the run in order to survive. Thrilling at every turn, this is a gripping real-life drama that will have teens on the edge of their seats.

Good luck all, the winner will be announced on Saturday 5th April 2014.

Best New Children's/Teen Books Published In March 2014 - UK

Roy Gill - Werewolf Parallel - Published by Kelpiesteen - 20, March 2014
'His arms kept stretching, as if they were somehow getting longer. His fingers clenched in, then spread out again like claws. The shape of his head was changing impossibly too, the ears becoming pointed and growing upward, his jaw pushing and thrusting out...The wolf threw back its head and howled.' Cameron's life of shifting between the humanian and daemonic worlds is under threat and the magic that once protected him and his friends is failing. His best friends Morgan, a werewolf with an attitude, and Eve, ex-prisoner of a vicious weaver demon, discover that they aren't the only ones in danger: the very existence of their worlds is at stake. Two sinister figures want to destroy the Parallel -- the void in between worlds populated by a dark mixture of the humanian and daemonic -- and everyone in it. What will Cameron sacrifice to defeat the demons and save the Parallel?

Sophia McDougall - Mars Evacuees - Published by Egmont - 27, March 2014 - (Review to come this week)

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.

When Alice Dare finds out that she's being evacuated to Mars to join the youth defence force, she isn't sure what to expect. But it sure wasn't being shot at, chased by invisible aliens, befriending a robot goldfish – and then having to save the galaxy!

Sally Green - Half Bad - Published by Penguin - 3, March 2014 - Review Here

A breathtaking debut novel about one boy's struggle for survival in a hidden society of witches.

You can't read, can't write, but you heal fast, even for a witch.

You get sick if you stay indoors after dark.

You hate White Witches but love Annalise, who is one.

You've been kept in a cage since you were fourteen.

All you've got to do is escape and find Mercury, the Black Witch who eats boys. And do that before your seventeenth birthday.

Darren Shan - Zom-B Mission - Published by Simon & Schuster Children's - March 27, 2014 

What has happened to the world since the dead took over? Where have the humans gone to hide? Who do the living most have to fear? B Smith is heading for unknown territory...Leading a group of humans through London and out into zombie-infested suburbs sounds like suicide - but not for the undead! Even so, the horrors of the journey will be beyond anything B has yet seen ...'Do not underestimate the dangers of this mission. Other zombies will not ignore you when they catch the scent of fresh brains. You will almost surely be called upon to fight. The city and countryside are full of angry, bitter people who are trying to execute as many of the undead as they can. They will not distinguish between a revitalised and a revived. Most do not know there is a difference. And most would not care.'

Guest Post: Peter Jay Black - Urban Outlaws - Published by Bloomsbury

Peter Jay Black....

I’ve spent my entire life daydreaming when I should’ve been doing more important things like, oh, I don’t know. . . learning to cook? Every meal I try to prepare gets exterminated in some glorious fashion or another. I even managed to set fire to an oven grill once, just because I didn’t realise the slab of fish had a foam/plastic thing under it. Apparently, you’re supposed to peel that off. Who knew?

So, as you can probably tell, I get distracted, A LOT. I’m often thinking and daydreaming about all sorts of crazy things.

I’ve dreamt about being able to fly – the places I’d visit, the way I’d feel swooping between buildings and over landscapes.

I’ve imagined being a ninja, sneaking up on nasty people and knocking them out with a swift chop to the neck.

I’ve also imagined inventing a time machine and what I’d do with it. In fact, if I did have a time machine, I think I’d probably travel back to the 21^st of October, 1983 (I was seven). I’d hang around outside my old house until six o’clock in the evening and then I’d storm into the dining room and slap the fork out of my seven-year-old self’s hand, just before I had taken the first bite of the dumplings on my plate. You see, I didn’t know it at the time, but my mum had made those dumplings out of a packet that had been two years out of date. TWO YEARS. I was so sick that it took another twenty years before I could look at dumplings without turning pale.

Anyway, you get my point - I’m a daydreamer. Always have been. Always will be. And, the way that I’ve used that is to write it down. To create secret bunkers, gadgets, to live in a world that’s a lot more fun than this one.

In my late twenties, I decided I wanted to be a writer. Now, because of all the daydreaming, I hadn’t done too well in school, and must have been asleep during English lessons. All of them. So, I taught myself basic grammar, worked on the craft, and eight years later I have a five book deal. Easy, right?

I wish it was.

After a lot of hard work, thousands of hours exploring our wonderful language, millions of muttered swear words, and billions of nuked brain cells later, I had a finished novel. I, of course, thought it was a masterpiece. I sent it to an editor, got torn to shreds, learnt from my mistakes, moved on. . .

Next was book number two. I wrote, rewrote, edited, rewrote again. . . You get my point? Finally ready, I slung the novel out to a few agents and one in particular was VERY keen. She suggested revisions, I worked hard and in two weeks I sent it back with high hopes.

I never heard from her again.

Man, the disappointment.

But, I didn’t give up.

That’s the theme here: Never give up. A cliché, yes. I don’t care – it’s true.

After that, I remember talking to a friend of mine and saying, ‘I want to write about five kids, who are independent, outsmart adults and have a lot of fun. . .’ Basically, something to fight back with. Something to pour every ounce of what I’d learnt into. Something that I hoped I could share with as many people as possible.

"And so, the Urban Outlaws were born: Five cool, clever kids, who are trying to do what they think is right."

Thankyou very much Peter for such a great insight into writing Urban Outlaws. This book is being published by Bloomsbury Children's on the 13th March 2014 - so make sure that you all grab a copy.

Twitter: @PeterJayBlack

Sally Green - Half Bad - Blog Tour Dates - March 2014

Half Bad – Blog Tour Dates: March 2014

Part One, Chapter Reveals

Sally Green

24^th February: Part One – the trick                           

www.wondrousreads.com

25^th February: Part One – the cage                          

www.daisychainbookreviews.blogspot.co.uk

26^th February: Part One – press ups                        

www.readaraptor.co.uk

27^th February: Part One – ironing                             

www.themidnightreaders.blogspot.co.uk

28^th February: Part One – the trick doesn’t work

www.bookzone4boys.blogspot.co.uk

1^st March: Interview with Sally Green                    

www.mrripleysenchantedbooks.com

2^nd March: Signed copy giveaway                   

www.realmoffiction.blogspot.co.uk

Twitter: @Sa11eGreen 

www.halfbadworld.com

Half Bad by Sally Green is a breathtaking debut novel about one boy's struggle for survival in a hidden society of witches.

You can't read, can't write, but you heal fast, even for a witch.

You get sick if you stay indoors after dark.

You hate White Witches but love Annalise, who is one.

You've been kept in a cage since you were fourteen.

All you've got to do is escape and find Mercury, the Black Witch who eats boys. And do that before your seventeenth birthday.

Also check out my book review: http://www.mrripleysenchantedbooks.com/2014/02/book-review-sally-green-half-bad.html

Book Review: Sally Green - Half Bad - Published by Penguin 2014

One of the biggest books to make last years Bologna Book Fair was Sally Green's Half Bad. It received worldwide praise and some amazing comments from the publishing world. From this point onwards, the book has now been released in 42 languages worldwide and film rights have recently been sold to Fox.

A global launch for this book will take place on the 3rd March. This supernatural thriller has been much anticipated by readers everywhere. The question must be . . . .  is this hype justified? Well it isn't another Twilight or Hunger Games which I'm really pleased to be able to report as I'm always looking for originality. Personally, I think that this has original qualities by the bucketful. I was not expecting this book to turn out the way it did - I was expecting magic and, perhaps, an unrealistic fantasy world. However I found neither of these elements within this book.

What I did find was an emotion-fuelled story that will touch every heart to the core. Set in a modern day world inhabited by Witches (both Black and White) who are divided by hatred and the fear of each other. The white witches are the ruling force - this council seeks out protection for it's own kind. However this brings social consequences, which create emotional turmoil, developing in to an interesting element of the story that I was keen to explore.

Half Bad is a parallel universe occupied by witches. This fantastical side to the book is so subtle that it almost creeps into the book. I really loved this aspect and felt that, in my opinion,  it was very cleverly created. There is light and dark, good and evil and then the main character of the book, Nathan.  He lives in no-man's land, on the blurred boundary between black and white magic. Illegitimate and exiled. Wanted by no one, but hunted by everyone.

This book is a real thinker; it's not all about magical spells within an over the top fantasy world. Instead it's a journey of self discovery in a world of loneliness. Where the main character doesn't 'fit' in and is regarded as a social outcast. The plot encompasses a brutal world of fear and the worst elements of mankind. It is a very dark and gripping YA/adult cross-over which will entertain both emotionally and psychologically. It's interesting, intriguing and, to me, felt totally original. The blend of genres makes you think from the first page to the last. A great debut start with a powerful new voice in town.

I'd love to hear what you all think of this one......

Also check out our exclusive interview with Sally Green.  http://www.mrripleysenchantedbooks.com/2014/03/interview-with-sally-green-half-bad.html

Alex McCall - Attack of the Giant Robot Chickens - Book Trailer - Kelpies - Published Today

Why did the chicken cross the road? TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!! The city of Aberdeen is being terrorised by giant robot chickens who want to peck out every last sign of human resistance. The streets are empty, the adults have vanished - and those left behind are fighting for survival. Jesse and his friends are desperate to save their families and stop the feathered fiends. They hatch a master plan ...but can a gang of kids REALLY defeat an army of angry robot chickens? A hilarious, weird and wonderful adventure from a cracking new author.

New Children's/Teen Books Published In March 2014 - UK Post Two

Bethany Wiggins - Cured - Published by Bloomsbury Children's  - 13, March 2014

Fiona Tarsis is a legend. Her world was ravaged by a lethal virus, her family separated. Her friends were turned into ferocious beasts by an even deadlier vaccine. Mindless monsters now raid the streets. But Fiona has survived.

Jacqui Bloom needs Fiona's help. Two years ago, Jacqui's brother, Dean, left the safety of his home to guide Fiona's mother to a safe haven. He never returned. Jacqui has been hiding away in the family house, disguised as a boy, and hoping Dean will come back. But she can no longer live like this. She has to find him.

Even with the two men Fiona loves most by their side, leading Jacqui into the desert will be risky. Raiders are everywhere - they will do anything to prevent the beast-cure her group are carrying from being spread - and knowing who to trust is near impossible. Lone traveller Kevin is sexy and self-assured, and has caught Jacqui's attention, but he is hiding his past. Is he also hiding the truth about what he really wants from them?

Ellen Renner - Tribute - Published by Hot Key Books - 6, March 2014 

What if your greatest enemy was yourself? Zara is a mage, one of the elite in a world where magic is power, and the non-magic majority live as slaves. When her Tribute child (slave) best friend is killed for the crime of literacy, Zara seeks revenge by spying for the rebel Knowledge Seekers. She finds her bravery and magical skill tested to the limit when a young Maker, Aidan, is taken hostage in a bid for supposed peace. Surprised by first love, she promises to help him. But before Zara can keep her promise, her secret is discovered. Hunted by her own, she seeks refuge with the Knowledge Seekers. But when you can kill with a thought, can you ever be trusted?

Lari Don - Mind Blind - Published by Kelpies Teen - 20, March 2014 

'I killed a girl today, just after the school bell. I keep trying to tell myself I didn't really kill her. But she's dead. And it's my fault.' 14-year-old Ciaran Bane is a highly trained fighter and gifted cat burglar with a special talent: he knows what his victim is thinking. He works in a mafia-style family of gangsters, thieves and thugs who share his mind-reading talent. But Ciaran's skill comes with a crippling side effect, one that makes him disposable - even to his own family. Then he meets Lucy, whose older sister has been kidnapped, and they form an unlikely team. But on their perilous search across London and up to Edinburgh, on the run from MI5 and Ciaran's dangerous family, can they ever trust each other? And where can they hide if they aren't even safe in their own minds? Award-winning author Lari Don skilfully weaves a fast-paced world of secrets, power and supernatural abilities in her first book for young teens.

Victoria Scott - Fire and Flood - Published by Chicken House - 6, March 2014

Tella's brother is dying. He's got cancer, and Tella is helpless to save him. Or so she thought. When an invitation arrives for Tella to compete in the Brimstone Bleed, a deadly competition that will lead her through treacherous jungle and scorching desert, she doesn't think twice. Because the prize is a cure to any illness. But Tella will be facing more than just the elements.

Guest Post: Howard Sargent - The Forgotten War - Book Guild Publishing 2014

It would have been around 1972 when I was six or seven that, whilst visiting my auntie’s house I first spotted a book that intrigued me. It was called “Watership Down and had a picture of a rabbit on the cover. I “borrowed” it and spent the ensuing years reading and re-reading it so much the cover fell off. Then, about three years later my father, fed up with seeing this book constantly in my hand bought me a much larger book to replace it. Inevitably it was called “The Lord of the Rings” and I ended up reading and re-reading it until its cover too finally fell off. They were probably the two most formative books of my childhood so that when my sister, back in July 2011 challenged me to write something for her their influence was never far away. I tend to believe that, as individuals, we are influenced by everything we see or hear, consciously or otherwise but I would have to acknowledge other debts to the films “Dragonslayer” and the 1971 version of “Macbeth”. 

Both are rather flawed films but the former has the best pre (and maybe post) CGI dragon I have seen an cinema whilst the latter has bags of brooding atmosphere and castle courtyards full of mud and farm animals, all images I had in mind as I was writing. Finally I have to acknowledge a debt to the PC game “Dragon Age; Origins”, a great game in itself it gave the player the opportunity to start with one of several different types of backgrounds before entering the main quest line. It was this that gave me the idea of how to start my own attempt at a novel. What if, I thought, instead of having a single protagonist I had about three or four? If I were to create a world from scratch it would afford great opportunities to create something a little more multi layered than the conventional fantasy world. 

As for the over-arching concept I remembered watching sometime in the eighties a news report on the civil war in Mozambique. It was a war sponsored by apartheid South Africa, a war waged to destabilise a neighbour, one not driven by ideology or revolution, just a nasty little war barely regarded by most of the western world. So that gave me the title at least. Initially it was written as three separate stories with a fourth added later because there was one scene I wanted to include that would not have fitted in elsewhere. It was not until the book was actually finished that I went back and combined these stories and split them into chapters, it was not until about chapter 15 in the final book that I started writing it as one continuous novel. I tried to write at least a thousand words a day it taking me 3-4 weeks to complete a section of 30-40,000 words that I then emailed off to my sister. When I was stuck, I would leave it for a day or too, eventually the way forward would come to me, usually at 2 or 3 in the morning after a typically restless night. 

My record for a day was 10,000 words, a key chapter and one I wrote without letting up pretty much from dawn till dusk. And now it is finally in print. I have no great ambitions as a writer and genuinely would be happier if just 20 people read the book and enjoyed it rather than 20,000 read it with 19,990 hating it. It was fun to do and very fulfilling, which is probably the most important thing of all.   

Published by Book Guild Publishing to order your copy here: link http://www.bookguild.co.uk/the-forgotten-war-pr-1422.html

Also find him on Twitter: @howardjsargent