Honey Brown, author of Dark Horse, answers Ten Terrifying Questions

Posted on May 13, 2013 by John Purcell, The Booktopia Book Guru

dark-horseThe Booktopia Book Guru asks

Honey Brown

author of Dark Horse and more…

Ten Terrifying Questions

————————————-

1. To begin with why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself – where were you born? Raised? Schooled?

I was born in Traralgon, Victoria. The family travelled around when I was young, then we moved to Tasmania, Campbell Town, into a convict built house near the historic Red Bridge. I finished primary school at Campbell Town, attended secondary there, and moved into Launceston for year 11. Then I shifted back to Victoria for work.

2. What did you want to be when you were 12, 18 and 30? And why?

When I was 12, I wanted to be an actress. Stories played out like movies in my mind, and I assumed this meant I wanted to act in movies. At 18 I was working at a chemist and saving up to travel, not career-minded at all. At 30 I was in a difficult period of my life, recovering from an accident that damaged my spine, so I was only thinking day-to-day and not too far beyond that.

3. What strongly held belief did you have at 18 that you do not have now?

I believed insecurities were flaws. Now I believe they are a part of what makes a person interesting and unique.honey brown

4. What were three works of art – book or painting or piece of music, etc – you can now say, had a great effect on you and influenced your own development as a writer?

The three books that were beside my computer when I wrote my first novel – James Dickey’s Deliverance, Tim Winton’s Dirt Music, The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. I would dip into those books all the time, for a reminder of pace, or what good prose looked like, for clarity, for a warm-up, for feel and texture, different things from each book. Each novel I write I always have a couple of books I lean on in this way. But these three helped me create my first published novel, Red Queen, so their influence is especially profound.

5. Considering the innumerable artistic avenues open to you, why did you choose to write a novel?

I’m not sure it’s something I got to choose. I didn’t study creative writing, I didn’t dream of being an author, all I know is I have stories turning in my mind, and the most enjoyable and natural way for me to get them out is to write. If I didn’t write, they wouldn’t develop fully. On the page is where they come to life.

dark-horse6. Please tell us about your latest novel…

Dark Horse is about a woman and her horse trapped on a mountain with a dangerous stranger. I was thinking about the idea of playing along with a dangerous person in order to lessen a threat. When fleeing or fighting isn’t an option, when you have to depend on the very person you fear, how far would you go to keep the peace? Intimacy, distrust, sex and survival, it’s about all those things. There’s also a twist. It’s the first twist I’ve ever written.

From the publisher:
It’s Christmas morning on the edge of the rugged Mortimer Ranges. Sarah Barnard saddles Tansy, her black mare. She is heading for the bush, escaping the reality of her broken marriage and her bankrupted trail-riding business.

Sarah seeks solace in the ranges. When a flash flood traps her on Devil Mountain, she heads to higher ground, taking shelter in Hangman’s Hut.

She settles in to wait out Christmas.

A man, a lone bushwalker, arrives. Heath is charming, capable, handsome. But his story doesn’t ring true. Why is he deep in the wilderness without any gear? Where is his vehicle? What’s driving his resistance towards rescue? The closer they become the more her suspicions grow.

But to get off Devil Mountain alive, Sarah must engage in this secretive stranger’s dangerous game of intimacy.

Click here to buy Dark Horse from Booktopia,
Australia’s Local Bookstore

7. What do you hope people take away with them after reading your work?

Vivid images. More than anything I want them to see the scenes and the characters, for my words create pictures in their mind. I hope my stories feel real to them.after the darkness

8. Whom do you most admire in the realm of writing and why?

Joyce Carol Oats. It might have more to do with envy. Stories pour from her, her themes are bold, she’s an academic as well as creative, nothing seems too hard for her, she can write on such a grand scale, her intelligence leaps from the page.

9. Many artists set themselves very ambitious goals. What are yours?

For me, being an artist has a lot to do with being a realist. Fiction is more about being honest than what readers might imagine. Feelings, in particular, have to be true, you have to strip away the surface layer and get to the heart of things. It’s a revealing process, and the reason why showing your writing can be confronting. I’d love to have a worldwide bestseller, but it’s not a goal. My goal is to keep enjoying the writing.

10. What advice do you give aspiring writers?

Respect your reader. Write a story that will entertain them.

Honey Brown, thank you for playing.

Click here to buy Dark Horse from Booktopia,
Australia’s Local Bookstore

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbkGjjary8g

Filed under: Australian Author, Author Interview, Book Trailer, Fiction, Thriller, Writing tips | Tagged: , , , | 1 Comment »

New Tim Winton novel due in October 2013.

Posted on April 10, 2013 by Andrew Cattanach

Huge news this afternoon with the announcement that a new novel by Tim Winton will be published on 14 October 2013.

“I’m delighted to be able to announce that on October 14 this year we will be publishing a new novel by Tim Winton, his first since the Miles Franklin Award-winning Breath, ” Ben Ball, Publishing Director, Penguin Books Australia revealed today.

“Each new work from Tim is a major event in Australian publishing and a privilege to be involved with. Eyrie is one of the very few books I’ve ever read that can genuinely be said to change the way you look at the world. It goes straight at the big questions, and like the greatest contemporary novels, expands its readers’ understanding of what it’s like to be alive now.”

Eyrie tells the story of Tom Keely, a man who’s lost his bearings in middle age and is now holed up in a flat at the top of a grim highrise, looking down on the world he’s fallen out of love with. He’s cut himself off, until one day he runs into some neighbours: a woman he used to know when they were kids, and her introverted young boy. The encounter shakes him up in a way he doesn’t understand. Despite himself, Keely lets them in.

What follows is a heart-stopping, groundbreaking novel for our times – funny, confronting, exhilarating and haunting – populated by unforgettable characters. It asks how, in an impossibly compromised world, we can ever hope to do the right thing.

Tim Winton continues to cast a huge shadow across the Australian literary landscape. Earlier this year he was voted runner up in Booktopia’s search for Australia’s Favourite Novelist. The results can be seen here.

His novel Cloudstreet was voted Australia’s Favourite Novel in a poll run by Booktopia in 2010, click here for all the details.

You can also see Tim Winton’s author page at Booktopia, with all his books, bibliography and a profile of the celebrated novelist.

Filed under: Australian Author, Book Recommendations, Book Talk, Book Trailer, Booktopia, Coming Soon, Fiction, Literature, Publishing | Tagged: | 1 Comment »

Matthew Mitcham, Olympic Gold Medallist and author of Twists and Turns, answers Ten Terrifying Questions

Posted on November 23, 2012 by John Purcell, The Booktopia Book Guru

 The Booktopia Book Guru asks

Matthew Mitcham

Olympic Gold Medallist
and author of Twists and Turns

Ten Terrifying Questions

 ————————

1. To begin with why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself – where were you born? Raised? Schooled?

All in Brisbane. QEII (coopers plains), raised in Camp Hill (I had no chance to be straight!) educated at Mansfield SHS.

2. What did you want to be when you were twelve, eighteen and thirty? And why?

12: rich, 18: famous. 30: rich and famous.

3. What strongly held belief did you have at eighteen that you do not have now?

I thought that you only go through depression once in your life. I didn’t realise you actually have to work on mental health.

4. What were three big events – in the family circle or on the world stage or in your reading life, for example – you can now say, had a great effect on you and influenced you in your career path?

Reading Agassi’s biography OPEN, Greg Louganis’s biography BREAKING THE SURFACE and reading about Fergie’s struggles all helped mould what I did with the last five years of my life.

5. Considering the innumerable electronic media avenues open to you – blogs, online newspapers, TV, radio, etc – why have you chosen to write a book? Aren’t they obsolete?

There is something really satisfying about holding a book and turning the pages. But we’ve covered all our bases by releasing it in electronic format as well!

6. Please tell us about your latest book…

It’s the story of my life from birth to present, with absolutely no omissions whatsoever (after all, 24 is really young to write a book!) but it is a very warts-and-all biography, talking about everything from sports to depression, living like a caveman, coming to terms with sexuality, and all the (mis)adventures in between.

(BBGuru: here is the publisher’s blurb - People kept remarking on how they were surprised that a gold medal and fame hadn’t changed me. I always responded, ‘Why would I change? Being me is the easiest person to be.

I was lying. It wasn’t.

At the Beijing Olympic Games, he made history with an unforgettable dive, the first to ever score perfect tens from all four judges, and won gold for Australia.

Grinning with pride from front pages around the world, there was no hint of the personal demons that had led this supremely talented young dynamo to quit diving less than two years before.

Joyously out and proud, Matthew was a role model for his courage both in and out of the pool. Yet the crippling self-doubt and shadow of depression that had plagued him all his life forced him into premature retirement, at one point reduced to circus diving to earn money.

Even after Beijing and being ranked No 1 in the world, those closest to Matthew could not guess that beneath that cheeky, fun-loving exterior he was painfully aware of how easily it could unravel.

In the lead-up to the London Olympics, when injury threatened his hopes, he will have to find the strength again to balance his striving for perfectionism with the fear of his self-doubt taking hold again.

Told with the honesty and courage he is admired for, Twists and Turns is an inspiring story of a true champion, in and out of the pool. )

Click here to buy Twists and Turns from Booktopia,
Australia’s Local Bookstore

7. If your work could change one thing in this world – what would it be?

To de-stigmatise mental illness so that people feel more comfortable reaching out and seeking the help they need.

8. Whom do you most admire and why?

Too. Many. People. I like to see the best in people and strive to emulate those qualities that I admire in others. But mostly Stephen Fry.

9. Many people set themselves very ambitious goals. What are yours?

To be rich and famous by 30. Is that too much to ask?

10. What advice do you give aspiring writers?

Let your personality translate through your writing. Write the book that you’d want to read.

Matthew, thank you for playing.

Click here to buy Twists and Turns from Booktopia,
Australia’s Local Bookstore

Filed under: Australian Author, Author Interview, Biography/Memoir, Book Trailer, Sport | Tagged: , , , | 1 Comment »

You could win one of two signed Michael Palin book packs! (They were worth over $200 each – now they are priceless!)

Posted on November 20, 2012 by John Purcell, The Booktopia Book Guru

I met Michael Palin the other night at a function put on by his publisher, Hachette Australia.

Michael gave a short talk about his new TV show and accompanying book, Brazil and then he mingled.

I behaved very well. I’d left my Monty Python repertoire at home. And I restrained my inner teenage girl who wanted to scream and faint when he said hello. He is as he appears on the screen in his travel documentaries – good natured, intelligent, curious, warm and friendly.

But the best thing is, although nearly seventy, the naughty boy glint in his eye remains.

Order BRAZIL from Booktopia before 5th December 2012 to go into the draw to win one of two signed book packs worth over $200! (pictured below)

Packs include: all six of Michael Palin’s earlier travel books PLUS another copy of Brazil PLUS a copy of his new novel The Truth – all are signed by Michael Palin!

BRAZIL

Michael Palin, the No. 1 bestselling author, explores an exotic country now a global superpower.

Brazil is one of the four new global super powers with its vast natural resources and burgeoning industries. Half a continent in size and a potent mix of races, religions and cultures, of unexplored wildernesses and bustling modern cities, it is also one of the few countries Michael Palin has never fully travelled.

In a new series for BBC1 – his first for five years – he explores in his inimitable way this vast and disparate nation. From the Venezuelan border and the forests of the Lost World where he encounters the Yanomami and their ongoing territorial war with the gold miners, he follows Teddy Roosevelt’s disastrous expedition of 1914.

Journeys by river to the headwaters of the Xingu, by plane over huge tracts of forest, by steam train and by road along the Trans-Amazonica allow him to reach a kaleidoscopic mix of peoples: the indigenous hunter-gatherers of the interior, the descendents of African slaves with their vibrant culture of rituals and festivals and music, the large community of German descent who celebrate their patrimony at the biggest beer festival outside Munich, and the wealthy guachas of the Pantanal amongst them. His journey ends at the border with Uruguay and the spectacular Iguacu Falls.

Click here to buy Brazil from Booktopia,
Australia’s Local Bookstore

Filed under: Book Recommendations, Book Trailer, Humour, Literary memorabilia, Travel Writing | Tagged: , , | Leave a Comment »

VIDEO: Caroline Overington talks to Brett Osmond about her new book Sisters of Mercy

Posted on November 12, 2012 by John Purcell, The Booktopia Book Guru

Sisters of Mercy

by Caroline Overington

Sisters of Mercy is the haunting story of two sisters – one has vanished, the other is behind bars…

Snow Delaney was born a generation and a world away from her sister, Agnes.

Until recently, neither even knew of the other’s existence. They came together only for the reading of their father’s will – when Snow discovered, to her horror, that she was not the sole beneficiary of his large estate.

Now Snow is in prison and Agnes is missing, disappeared in the eerie red dust that blanketed Sydney from dawn on September 23, 2009.

With no other family left, Snow turns to crime journalist Jack Fawcett, protesting her innocence in a series of defiant letters from prison. Has she been unfairly judged? Or will Jack’s own research reveal a story even more shocking than the one Snow wants to tell?

With Sisters of Mercy Caroline Overington once again proves she is one of the most exciting new novelists of recent years.

Click here to buy Sisters of Mercy from Booktopia,
Australia’s No. 1 Online Book Shop

Caroline Overington, author of Ghost Child, I Came To Say Goodbye, Matilda Is Missing and now Sisters of Mercy, answers Five Facetious Questions

Filed under: Australian Author, Author Interview, Book Trailer, Contemporary Literature | Tagged: , , | Leave a Comment »

Pushing the Barriers of Food Porn… Fifty Shades of Chicken : A Parody in a Cookbook

Posted on November 9, 2012 by John Purcell, The Booktopia Book Guru

A young, free-range chicken…

A dominating, ravenous chef…

Fifty recipes to make every dinner a turn-on…

Fifty Shades of Chicken is a cookbook serving up epicurean double entendres and 50 excellent chicken recipes all while telling the story of a young free-range and very fresh chicken who, like Anastasia Steele, finds herself at the mercy of a dominating man, in this case a kinky and very hungry chef.

Pitch-perfect and admiring, this send-up-in-a-cookbook of the ubiquitous trilogy is naughty, hysterical, and totally clever. Our narrator is an “unexplored” young chicken who is, as she writes, at the mercy of a demanding foodie’s trussing, carving, spatchcocking, and unbearably slow drizzling, among other bedroom, er, kitchen techniques. Before long, Miss Chicken discovers the sheer thrill of starring as the dish that is literally whipped up for dinner.

“I want you to see this. Then you’ll know everything. It’s a cookbook,” he says and opens to some recipes, with colour photos. “I want to prepare you, very much.”

This isn’t just about getting me hot till my juices run clear, and then a little rest. There’s pulling, jerking, stuffing, trussing. Fifty preparations. He promises we’ll start out slow, with wine and a good oiling . . . Holy crap.

“I will control everything that happens here,” he says. “You can leave anytime, but as long as you stay, you’re my ingredient.”

I’ll be transformed from a raw, organic bird into something—what? Something delicious.

With 50 excellent chicken recipes, such as “Sticky (Chicken) Fingers,” “Dripping Thighs,” and “Bound Wings,” our Fifty Shades serves the inexhuastible market of home cooks who just want great recipes for chicken. Let’s just say our author has a way of teaching kitchen techniques so you never forget them.

F.L. FOWLER is the alter ego of a well-known cookbook author. F.L. enjoys life in the country but occasionally relishes flying the coop.

Order your copy here

Filed under: Book Recommendations, Book Talk, Book Trailer, Humour | Tagged: | Leave a Comment »

I Reckon Guy Pearce was Awesome as Peter Temple’s Jack Irish – Have You Read the Books?

Posted on October 18, 2012 by Booktopia

Bad Debts

by Peter Temple

Meet Jack Irish, criminal lawyer, debt collector, football lover, turf watcher, trainee cabinetmaker, and one of the best crime characters ever created.

When Jack receives a puzzling message from a jailed ex-client he’s too deep in misery over Fitzroy’s latest loss to take much notice. Next thing Jack knows, the ex-client’s dead and he’s been drawn into a life-threatening investigation involving high-level corruption, dark sexual secrets, shonky property deals, and murder. With hitmen after him, shady ex-policemen at every turn, and the body count rising, Jack needs to find out what’s going on—and fast.

The first novel in the iconic Jack Irish series, Bad Debts was originally published in 1996 and won the Ned Kelly Award for Best First Novel. Peter Temple went on to win the Miles Franklin Award in 2010 for Truth as well many other awards and accolades both in Australia and internationally. It has been made into a tele-movie by the ABC with Guy Pearce starring as Jack Irish.

Click here to buy Bad Debts from Booktopia,
Australia’s No.1 Online Book Shop

Black Tide

by Peter Temple

Black Tide is the second of Peter Temple’s Jack Irish thrillers and was first published in 1999.

Jack Irish—lawyer, gambler, part-time cabinetmaker, finder of missing people—is recovering from a foray into the criminal underworld when he agrees to look for the son of an old workmate of his father’s.

It’s an offer he soon has cause to regret, as the trail of Gary Connors leads him into the world of Steven Levesque, millionaire and political kingmaker. The more Jack learns about Levesque’s powerful corporation, the more convinced he becomes that at its heart lies a secret. What he’s destined to find out is just how deadly that secret is…

Black Tide has been made into a tele-movie starring Guy Pearce as Jack Irish and will be screened on the ABC in October 2012.

Click here to buy Black Tide from Booktopia,
Australia’s No.1 Online Book Shop

Filed under: Australian Author, Book Talk, Book Trailer, Crime/Thriller | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a Comment »

REVIEW: Sebastian Faulks – A Possible Life (Review by Catherine Horne)

Posted on September 29, 2012 by booktopiaguestblogger

The day after I finished Sebastian Faulks’s astonishing new novel I sat down to a few episodes of Mad Men. In one of his many moments of boozy insight, Don Draper offers this pearl of advertising wisdom to his protégé Peggy Olson:

‘You are the product. You feeling something. That’s what sells.’

This quote momentarily shattered my nostalgia-fuelled swoonfest as I realised that this is exactly how I feel about Faulks’s writing. It is so popular because it stokes our emotions to such an extent that we become embroiled in the drama of his characters; we become hyper-receptive to the message that he sends; and we want more of it. And I want more of A Possible Life. So much more. I cannot recall ever being so emotionally invested in a novel and that is such an exhilarating experience.

A Possible Life has a unique structure, which serves its purpose very well. The book could possibly be thought of as 5 short stories on a similar theme, however it is probably more apt to consider the theme as the main character, and the 5 stories as examples of this particular theme in action. (Faulks himself refers to the structure as ‘symphony’- distinct movements that contribute to the whole). The novel starts out with Geoffrey, a young English schoolteacher who becomes trapped in some of the most harrowing experiences of the Second World War. We then meet a nineteenth-century British lad with a Dickensian childhood; an Italian neuroscientist from several decades in the future; a maid in Napoleonic France and, finally, a Joni Mitchell-esque music star in the early 1970s.

Although these scenarios may appear to have little in common, they are all ruminations on the directions that our lives take and the experiences that make us who we are. Some form of hardship, loss or tragedy affects each character to a significant degree. However it is their resolve to move on and create new possibilities for themselves – the ‘possible life’ of the title – that gives the novel its thematic punch. Faulks is perhaps at his most brilliant when he writes the more life-affirming segments; they never seem glib or cheesy, but rather recognise the complex layering of experience that forms the basis of the characters’ identities and lives.

And this is why A Possible Life struck such a chord with me. Ultimately we all live with regret, with loss and with heartache, but it is our ability to be affected by these experiences and to move on from them simultaneously which shapes our lives. Sebastian Faulks has an astonishing ability to capture these feelings and mirror them back so that even though you are, on the surface, reading about the fortunes of a 1970s folk star, as you delve a little deeper more your own feelings and memories become intertwined with the characters on the page. It is this personal connection that brings me back to Draper’s quote; the product is not the book itself, but rather your experience of it.

Review by Catherine Horne

Click here to buy A Possible Life from Booktopia,
Australia’s No.1 Online Book Shop

Filed under: Book Recommendations, Book Talk, Book Trailer, Contemporary Literature, Review | Tagged: , , | Leave a Comment »

Jacqueline Harvey, author of Clementine Rose and the Surprise Visitor, answers Six Sharp Questions

Posted on September 27, 2012 by John Purcell, The Booktopia Book Guru

The Booktopia Book Guru asks

Jacqueline Harvey

author of Clementine Rose and the Surprise Visitor and The Alice-Miranda Series

Six Sharp Questions

 ——————————————

1.    Congratulations, you have a new book. What is it about and what does it mean to you?

Clementine Rose and the Surprise Visitor sees the launch of a whole set of new characters; who I completely adore.  Clemmie, as she’s affectionately known has some lovely quirks.  She recites poems that Uncle Digby, the family butler (but more like a beloved great uncle) teaches her and she can frequently be found performing for her grandparents (well, at least their portraits on the wall).  Clementine has a penchant for fashion and an unfortunate way of getting into trouble despite the best of intentions.  She also has a very sweet tea cup pig called Lavender.  When her scary great aunt Violet arrives unexpectedly, the household is thrown into disarray. What is it that Aunt Violet really wants and what is she carrying in her mysterious black bag?

This book is the start of a new series and there will be some interaction between these characters and the characters in the Alice-Miranda series.  Clementine lives in a village called Penberthy Floss and avid readers of Alice-Miranda will know that name from the second Alice-Miranda adventure, when she goes home for the holidays.  Clementine will also attend Ellery Prep School, where Alice-Miranda went before she took herself off to boarding school.  One of Clemmie’s best friends is Poppy Bauer who lives on the farm at Alice-Miranda’s parent’s property, Highton Hall.  I’m looking forward to writing Alice-Miranda and Clementine Rose’s first meeting, which I anticipate happening in Clemmie’s fourth book and Alice-Miranda’s eighth. Click here to buy Clementine Rose and the Surprise Visitor.

2.    Time passes. Things change. What are the best and worst moments that you have experienced in the past year or so?

This year has been an extraordinary one as I took four months leave from my full time job and travelled, first in Australia promoting Alice-Miranda and then to the United States and United Kingdom, where I worked in 37 schools and met thousands of students.  I have been fortunate to secure contracts for the Alice-Miranda series in the US and UK (and translation rights in Indonesia and Turkey) and Clementine Rose will also be published in the UK too.  Having the opportunity to travel and write and meeting amazing people has been an obvious highlight of the year.  When we were in the UK we stumbled upon the derelict mansion that I’ve used as inspiration for Caledonia Manor in the Alice-Miranda series.  It was definitely one of those ‘truth is stranger than fiction’ moments as I had no idea where the house was, other than somewhere in Shropshire – which is a fairly large county with an abundance of derelict mansions.  We were ultimately able to look through all 100 rooms of the house and tour the grounds as well.  We were there four times and it really felt like there was a very strange connection between us and the house.  We then spent a week in Paris on the way home which was fantastic as I’m currently writing Alice-Miranda in Paris.  I blogged about the trip at http://jacquelineharvey.blogspot.com

It was a wonderful surprise to return home and find that Clementine Rose and the Surprise Visitor has been included in the Get Reading Program for 2012.  I’m so grateful for the momentum of the Alice-Miranda series and the opportunity to continue writing her books and now Clementine Rose as well.

3.    Do you have a favourite quote or passage you would be happy to share with us? It doesn’t need to be deep but it would be great if it meant something to you.

It’s really a quote that I’ve stolen from a very good friend of mine who is oft heard to say, ‘don’t waste a minute,’ and I suppose it’s become a bit of a mantra of mine too.  Life is short and you really don’t want to wake up in ten or twenty years’ time and wonder why you didn’t give something a go or why you wasted time on something that you didn’t love doing.  It’s not about filling every moment of your day, but it’s about deciding what’s important to you and making sure that you focus on those things and do what makes you feel happiest and most fulfilled.  To that end I’ve recently made the big decision to become a full time writer and speaker, giving up my job as Director of Development at Abbotsleigh at the end of October.  I adore working at the school and have been there for over 11 years but after touring the US and UK and meeting loads of kids and visiting many schools, I realised that this is what I really want to do.  It has taken a long time to get to the point that I could contemplate writing as a full time career, and I feel so fortunate that I can take that path now – I’m not going to miss a minute and fully intend to make the most of every opportunity.

4.    Writers have often been described as being difficult to live with. Do you conform to the stereotype or defy it? Please tell us a little about the day to day of your writing life.

I don’t think I conform to the stereotype at all – well most of the time anyway.  Up until now my writing life has always happened in the evenings, on weekends and in break times.  When I’m working on a book, I tend to be extremely focused.  I like to write away from home if I can, so for the past couple of years my husband and I have gone to Port Macquarie, where we stay in an apartment overlooking the ocean.  I usually settle to a routine fairly quickly and if I’m distracted or stuck, I can go for a walk and get some sea air.  It seems to help.  When I’m in the zone I can write for hours and hours at a time and I definitely get caught up in the emotion of it all.  There are often tears and laughter and I love the feeling of being completely consumed by the writing.  I suppose there are times that I live a little through my characters – and that could be a somewhat strange thing.  My husband will invariably catch me when I’m reading aloud and using all the different voices, or laughing because for one moment I thought I was terribly funny.  But he keeps me grounded!

5.   Some writers claim not to be influenced by the needs of the marketplace, while others seem obsessed by it. Would you please describe how the marketplace affects your writing (come on, tell the truth!).

I think ultimately all writers want to be read and certainly commercial success makes it easier to contemplate having a career in writing. I’m happiest with my writing when I’m completely in love with the characters and the stories.  Clementine Rose, like my previous character Alice-Miranda, is great to write because I adore her and I think that when you treasure your characters and really care about them, then hopefully that will be apparent to the readers too.  With the Clementine Rose and Alice-Miranda series’ I wanted to write stories that I know I would have loved as a child; with adventure, empowered kids, lots of food and some mysteries to unravel.  I don’t think I was looking for a gap in the market but I feel really fortunate that the books have been well received and children seem to connect with them.

6.   Unlikely Scenario: You’ve been charged with civilising twenty ill-educated adolescents but you may take only five books with you. What do you take and why?

That’s a tricky question as there are so many amazing books.  I think I’d take The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, because I could help the students understand the power of language in the context of world war – and I wrote a really in-depth unit on the book a few years ago for the Quality Teacher Project so I know it well; The Bible, because no matter what you believe, there are so many universal stories played out and it would certainly allow for some interesting discussions on ethics, morality and belief systems;  To Kill A Mockingbird, because Atticus Finch is a man to admire and in that story there is a lot to talk about; a new book, that I read recently and loved called Wonder by RJ Palaccio, because Auggie is going to teach lots of kids about compassion and understanding and the not even yet thought about, Big Book of Clementine Rose and Alice-Miranda, because every day we’d need to be reminded of the power of positive thinking, the importance of friendship and the fun that can be had when there’s a mystery to be solved and a Devil’s Food cake to be consumed.

Jacqueline, thank you for playing.

Click here to buy Clementine Rose and the Surprise Visitor from Booktopia,
Australia’s No.1 Online Book Shop

Filed under: Australian Author, Author Interview, Book Talk, Book Trailer, Children's Books, Writing tips | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

John Boyne, author of The Terrible Thing That Happened To Barnaby Brocket and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, answers Six Sharp Questions

Posted on September 5, 2012 by John Purcell, The Booktopia Book Guru

The Booktopia Book Guru asks

John Boyne

author of The Terrible Thing That Happened To Barnaby Brocket, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and more

Six Sharp Questions:

——————————

1. Congratulations, you have a new book. What is it about and what does it mean to you?

The Terrible Thing That Happened To Barnaby Brocket is the story of an Australian family who don’t like anyone who is different in any way. They hate people who stand out from the crowd and believe that everyone should conform to the norm. So when their third child Barnaby is born and he doesn’t obey the law of gravity and floats, they’re terribly embarrassed and seek ways to make him like everyone else. It’s a book for young readers that seeks to explain why it’s ok to be different and, in fact, why sometimes it’s better.

2. Times pass. Things change. What are the best and worst moments that you have experienced in the past year or so?

The best was probably my trip to the Galle Literary Festival in Sri Lanka in January. A country I had never visited before, I found it not only beautiful and friendly but it was one of the best organised festivals I’ve ever attended. And the audiences that came to the events were enormous! The worst moment of the last year was finding out that a young person, quite close to me, was very ill. Fortunately, that story seems to have had a happy resolution.

3. Do you have a favourite quote or passage you would be happy to share with us? It doesn’t need to be deep but it would be great if it meant something to you.

I’ve always liked this last paragraph from Norman Maclean’s A River Runs Through It:

Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world’s great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs.

I am haunted by waters.

4. Writers have often been described as being difficult to live with. Do you conform to the stereotype or defy it? Please tell us a little about the day to day of your writing life.

I am sweetness and light throughout the day. (Ok, maybe not all the time.) When I’m at home in Dublin I have a set routine: I wake at 5:40 and am in the gym by 6 am. I work out for an hour then come home and take my dog for a walk for another hour. After breakfast, I begin writing and work from about 9:30 until 3 pm. I do most of the cooking in our house and generally prepare the evening meal for when my partner comes home from work.

5. Some writer’s claim not to be influenced by the needs of the marketplace, while others seem obsessed by it. Would you please describe how the marketplace affects your writing (come on, tell the truth!).

It doesn’t affect my writing in the slightest. I give absolutely no thought to it whatsoever. I write the books that interest me, I write stories that I feel I have to write with characters who I know are already alive in my imagination. I write them, I give them to my publisher and whatever happens after that is completely out of my hands. Of course one would like a no.1 bestseller with every publication but that can’t happen. But as long as the books reach an audience and I’m proud of what I’ve written, that’s all that matters to me.

6. Unlikely Scenario: You’ve been charged with civilising twenty ill-educated adolescents but you may take only five books with you. What do you take and why?

A dictionary – because they might need to look up words.

Charles Dickens David Copperfield – because it’s my favourite novel.

Christos Tsiolkas The Slap– because it’s my favourite novel of the 21st century.

The Collected Stories of William Trevor – because he is one of the world’s greatest writers and every story will move, intrigue and delight the reader.

William Golding Lord of the Flies– so they can see what might happen if they don’t pay attention to me.

John, thank you for playing.

The Terrible Thing That Happened To Barnaby Brocket

There’s nothing unusual about the Brockets. Boring, respectable and fiercely proud of it, Alistair and Eleanor Brocket turn up their noses at anyone strange or different. But from the moment Barnaby Brocket comes into the world, it’s clear he’s anything but normal. To the horror and shame of his parents, Barnaby appears to defy the laws of gravity – and floats.

Little Barnaby is a lonely child – after all, it’s hard to make friends when you’re three feet in the air. Desperate to please his parents, he does his best to stop floating, but he just can’t do it. Then, one fateful day, Barnaby’s mother decides enough is enough. She never asked for a weird, abnormal, floating child. She’s sick and tired of the newspapers prying and the neighbours gossiping. Barnaby has to go . . .

Betrayed, frightened and alone, Barnaby floats into the path of a very special hot air balloon. And so begins a magical journey around the world; from South America to New York, Canada to Ireland, and even a trip into space, Barnaby meets a cast of truly extraordinary new friends and realises that nothing can make you happier than just being yourself.

A funny, inventive and warm-hearted story from the internationally bestselling author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.

Click here to buy The Terrible Thing That Happened To Barnaby Brocket from Booktopia,
Australia’s No.1 Online Bookshop

Filed under: Author Interview, Book Talk, Book Trailer, Children's Fiction, Contemporary Literature, Writing Style, Writing tips, Young Adult | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a Comment »

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