Dispatches from Caroline Baum embedded with the literary forces at Adelaide Writers’ Week

Posted on March 6, 2013 by booktopiaguestblogger

Kevin Powers

So there I was feeling grumpy about the intense heat  of thirty five degrees as I made my way to talk to Kevin Powers about his remarkable novel The Yellow Birds which yesterday won the Pen Hemingway award.

But then I thought hey, get a grip, what must it be like to be in a place that is hotter than Hades AND wearing heavy  protective  gear AND in combat?

So that put things in perspective.

Of all the things Kevin shared during the session one sticks in my mind, the fact that his mum sent him Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude and that he read that in Iraq. What a surreal place to discover magical realism!

A funny thing happens at these gatherings, threads start to weave between totally separate conversations so that they appear to be part of a carefully woven fabric. This happened when we started talking about Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and a woman in the audience asked a sad question about damaged young souls.

Oliver Burkeman

Just the day before I had been talking with the marvellous Oliver Burkeman about his book The Antidote. We touched on the work of Martin Seligman, author of Learned Optimism and many other titles that are not about short term results and have sound  research cred, as opposed to the plethora of self-help books that have the same success rate as most diet books.

Seligman had been Thinker in Residence in Adelaide last year, implementing his positive psychology program in schools, and now he is working with the US Army on a program to develop resilience in soldiers who are suffering from PTSD. If only such a program had existed when Kevin Powers came back from Iraq. Fortunately, he has found catharsis and healing in writing his beautiful troubling book.

Edward St Aubyn

As I was leaving I caught a moment of Charlotte Wood in conversation with Nick Jose , demonstrating the technique for chopping an onion without tears that she shares in Love and Hunger. Quite an achievement when you have neither onion, knife or chopping board.

But  that’s the point of listening to these marvellous encounters: you don’t need the onion, you just need your imagination and a willingness to listen.

Also caught a fragment of Edward St Aubyn talking about his new novel At Last, sounding very laconic and British and like a new Evelyn Waugh. Can’t wait.

from Caroline Baum
at Adelaide Writers’ Week 2013

———————————-

Adelaide Writers’ Week brings together some of the world’s greatest writers and thinkers for a celebration of the written word that will surprise, delight, challenge and entertain readers of all ages. Adelaide’s iconic literary festival continues with a whole new host of writers, stories and literary adventures until 7th March.

Filed under: Book Talk, Caroline Baum, Literary Festivals | Tagged: , | Leave a Comment »

Dispatches from Caroline Baum embedded with the literary forces at Adelaide Writers’ Week

Posted on March 4, 2013 by John Purcell, The Booktopia Book Guru

Author: Edward St Aubyn Some writers from Europe got stuck in Dubai due to bad weather and delays, and all the hotels were full so they arrived in a pretty dishevelled state but Edward St Aubyn and Fuchsia Dunlop recovered quickly from their ordeal.

It was great to get Steven Poole’s take on the UK horsemeat scandal as part of our session talking around his ranting entertaining polemic, You Aren’t What You Eat! For him , the current scandal exposes the hypocrisy of the British attitude towards food as a class issue. When we broadened the scope of our conversation he was unfamiliar with the excesses of fine dining pet food, and was stunned when I told him of liver flavoured meringues, sold in a luxe pet shop in Sydney. Author: Fuchsia Dunlop

Audience feedback I got later was that he was a bit sneering and cynical and his views were too extreme for the sake of provocation, failing to take into account the middle ground where many of us are trying to eat well and responsibly and not in fancy restaurants but using cooking as a way to express love and creativity to feed our families and friends.

I heard raves from  those lucky enough to hear Peter Robb talk about Lives, his collection of essays about everyone from artists to serial killers and enjoyed a few snatched moments of NZ writer Emily Perkins talking about how in her novel The Forests, she was trying to avoid writing that was exposition all, aiming for a more fragmented style of narrative, which I guess is closer to how we mostly experience life. She is such a great stylist and such a thoughtful reader, and hearing her talk about Katherine Mansfield’s short stories made me want to go back and read them again.

That’s one of the treats of these festivals, getting recommendations from authors of books they admire.

If only there were time to read them.

from Caroline Baum
at Adelaide Writers’ Week 2013

———————————-

Adelaide Writers’ Week brings together some of the world’s greatest writers and thinkers for a celebration of the written word that will surprise, delight, challenge and entertain readers of all ages. Adelaide’s iconic literary festival continues with a whole new host of writers, stories and literary adventures until 7th March.

Filed under: Book Talk, Caroline Baum, Literary Festivals | Tagged: | Leave a Comment »

Three Authors Offer Advice for Writers: Tara Moss, Michael Robotham, Paul Merrill

Posted on December 13, 2012 by booktopiaadministration

I interview writers every week here on the Booktopia Blog.

My Ten Terrifying Questions have been answered by over 250 published authors ranging from mega selling global stars like Jackie Collins and Lee Child to brilliant, relatively unknown debut authors such as Miles Franklin shortlisted Favel Parret and Rebecca James.

In each of these interviews I ask the following question:

Q. What advice do you give aspiring writers?

Now, for the edification of aspiring writers everywhere, I will pull together answers to this question from three very different writers and post them here once week. Some will inspire, some will confound but all will be interesting and helpful in their own way…

TARA MOSS

“Write. Start writing today. Start writing right now. Don’t write it right, just write it – and then make it right later. Give yourself the mental freedom to enjoy the process, because the process of writing is a long one. Be wary of ‘writing rules’ and advice. Do it your way.

Writing is a gift.”

Read the full interview here…

Click here to pre-order your signed copy of Assassin (with a FREE copy of SIREN) from Booktopia,
Australia’s No. 1 Online Book Shop

*While stocks last

MICHAEL ROBOTHAM

“Write, write and when you’re sick of writing, write some more. It’s the only way to get better.”

Read the full interview here…

Click here to buy Say You’re Sorry from Booktopia,
Australia’s No.1 Online Book Shop

PAUL MERRILL

“Give up now – there are enough books already. But if you absolutely have to write, go for mummy porn.”

Read the full interview here…

Click here to buy A Polar Bear Ate My Head from Booktopia,
Australia’s No. 1 Online Book Shop

For more advice from published writers go here

Filed under: Author Interview, Writing tips | Tagged: , , , , | 1 Comment »

Five Books With Thrills To Give You The Chills – Happy Halloween From Booktopia

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Andrew Cattanach

Do you like scary stories? I’ll try my hand at one.

Brynne Edelsten has her own television show.

Not scary enough? Well you’re a tough nut to crack. Here’s five spine-chilling titles sure to make the hairs on your goosebumps rise.

It

by Stephen King

It began for the Losers on a day in June of 1958, the day school let out for the summer. That was the day Henry Bowers carved the first letter of his name on Ben Hanscom’s belly and chased him into the Barrens, the day Henry and his Neanderthal friends beat up on Stuttering Bill Denbrough and Eddie Kaspbrak, the day Stuttering Bill had to save Eddie from his worst asthma attack ever by riding his bike to beat the devil. It ended in August, with seven desperate children in search of a creature of unspeakable evil in the drains beneath Derry. In search of It. And somehow it ended.

Or so they thought. Then.

On a spring night in 1985 Mike Hanlon, once one of those children, makes six calls. Stan Uris, accountant. Richie “Records” Tozier, L.A. disc jockey. Ben Hanscom, renowned architect. Beverly Rogan, dress designer. Eddie Kaspbrak, owner of a successful New York limousine company. And Bill Denbrough, bestselling writer of horror novels. Bill Denbrough who now only stutters in his dreams.

These six men and one woman have forgotten their childhoods, have forgotten the time when they were Losers . . . but an unremembered promise draws them back, the present begins to rhyme dreadfully with the past, and when the Losers reunite, the wheels of fate lock together and roll them toward the ultimate terror.

In the biggest and most ambitious book of his career, Stephen King gives us not only his most towering epic of horror but a surprising reillumination of the corridor where we pass from the bright mysteries of childhood to those of maturity.

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

Rosemary’s Baby

by Ira Levin

Rosemary Woodhouse and her struggling actor husband Guy move into the Bramford, an old New York City apartment building with an ominous reputation and mostly elderly residents. Neighbors Roman and Minnie Castavet soon come nosing around to welcome the Woodhouses to the building, and despite Rosemary’s reservations about their eccentricity and the weird noises that she keeps hearing, her husband takes a special shine to them. Shortly after Guy lands a plum Broadway role, Rosemary becomes pregnant, and the Castavets start taking a special interest in her welfare. As the sickened Rosemary becomes increasingly isolated, she begins to suspect that the Castavets’ circle is not what it seems…

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

The Passage

by Justin Cronin

First, the unthinkable: a security breach at a secret U.S. government facility unleashes the monstrous product of a chilling military experiment. Then, the unspeakable: a night of chaos and carnage gives way to sunrise on a nation, and ultimately a world, forever altered. All that remains for the stunned survivors is the long fight ahead and a future ruled by fear—of darkness, of death, of a fate far worse.

As civilization swiftly crumbles into a primal landscape of predators and prey, two people flee in search of sanctuary. FBI agent Brad Wolgast is a good man haunted by what he’s done in the line of duty. Six-year-old orphan Amy Harper Bellafonte is a refugee from the doomed scientific project that has triggered apocalypse. He is determined to protect her from the horror set loose by her captors. But for Amy, escaping the bloody fallout is only the beginning of a much longer odyssey—spanning miles and decades—towards the time and place where she must finish what should never have begun.

With The Passage, award-winning author Justin Cronin has written both a relentlessly suspenseful adventure and an epic chronicle of human endurance in the face of unprecedented catastrophe and unimaginable danger. Its inventive storytelling, masterful prose, and depth of human insight mark it as a crucial and transcendent work of modern fiction.

Click here to order your copy from Booktopia, Australia’s No.1 Online Book Shop

Dracula

by Bram Stoker

‘We are in Transylvania; and Transylvania is not England. Our ways are not your ways, and there shall be to you many strange things.’

Earnest and naive solicitor Jonathan Harker travels to Transylvania to organise the estate of the infamous Count Dracula at his crumbling castle in the ominous Carpathian Mountains. Through notes and diary entries, Harker keeps track of the horrors and terrors that beset him at the castle, telling his fiancé Mina of the Count’s supernatural powers and his own imprisonment. Although Harker eventually manages to escape and reunite with Mina, his experiences have led to a mental breakdown of sorts.

Meanwhile in England, Mina’s friend Lucy has been bitten and begins to turn into a vampire. With the help of Professor Van Helsing, a previous suitor of Lucy’s, Seward, and Lucy’s fiancé Holmwood attempt to thwart Count Dracula and his attempts on Lucy and consequently Mina’s life.

Arguably the most enduring Gothic novel of the 19th Century, Bram Stoker’s DRACULA is as chilling today in its depiction of the vampire world and its exploration of Victorian values as it was at its time of publication.

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

The Silence Of The Lambs

by Thomas Harris

Hannibal Lecter. The ultimate villain of modern fiction. Read the five-million-copy bestseller that scared the world silent…
A young FBI trainee. An evil genius locked away for unspeakable crimes. A plunge into the darkest chambers of a psychopath’s mind– in the deadly search for a serial killer…
Thomas Harris is the author of “Hannibal,” “Red Dragon,” and “Black Sunday.” As part of the search for a serial murderer nicknamed “Buffalo Bill,” FBI trainee Clarice Starling is given an assignment. She must visit a man confined to a high-security facility for the criminally insane and interview him.
That man, Dr. Hannibal Lecter, is a former psychiatrist with unusual tastes and an intense curiosity about the darker corners of the mind. His intimate understanding of the killer and of Clarice herself form the core of T”he Silence of the Lambs–”an unforgettable classic of suspense fiction.

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

So get your scare on today with Spooktopia. Also known as Booktopia.

Click here to read all of Andrew’s Posts. Click here to follow Andrew on twitter.

Filed under: Book Recommendations, Horror, Literary Classic, Paranormal, Thriller | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Booktopia’s Biggest Sale Ever Finishes At Midnight Tonight

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Andrew Cattanach

When I was younger, so much younger than today, I used to get books from my mother every Christmas, every birthday, for every good report card, for every selfless deed I performed. It was magical.

Sometimes I had only just turned into the kitchen and told her the good news when she would dash up the hallway and out would arrive a new Graeme Base, or a new Goosebumps book. I was astounded, and always wondered how she did it, what elves she had working for her, a veritable publishing house in her bedroom just for me.

Then one day as I was approaching teenhood I was late for a birthday party. Mum hurried me along and threw a coat on me and asked me where the present I was giving was. I replied she hadn’t given me a present to give (Not unlike the reply my father gives her at Christmas for us kids now).

So she scurried into her bedroom and grabbed the ladder and scaled to the top cupboard. There I saw it, shining like a golden star, and I would never be the same.

Hundreds of books filled the space, books on everything. There were cooking books, sporting books, music books. Books on space, on country living and city surviving. Not to mention fiction for the whole family, Spot books for nieces to Barbara Cartland for the great aunts.

She was a smart one. When she saw a deal she pillaged and conquered. And she was never caught off guard whatever the case may be.

Her stockpile still remains to this day, and come Christmas she is a very calm woman, smugly striding to that top cupboard year after year while others sit in queues on Christmas Eve.

So don’t forget everyone; it’s the last day of the Booktopia Clearance sale today.

Over 5000 titles at up to 95% off.

Classics from Hemingway, Dickens and McCarthy. Best-sellers from Clancy, Binchy, Shriver and Cussler

So click here to check out the sale page. The clock is ticking!

Click here to read all of Andrew’s Posts. Click here to follow Andrew on twitter.

Filed under: Bargains, Christmas Gift Ideas, Promotions | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

Milton Jones, author of The Man from Coolibah, answers Ten Terrifying Questions

Posted on October 29, 2012 by John Purcell, The Booktopia Book Guru

The Booktopia Book Guru asks

Milton Jones

author of The Man from Coolibah

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 the old Darwin Hospital ( before Cyclone Tracy ) blew her down. My baby years were spent on Gordon Downs station that straddled the WA-NT border. Dad was manager there. After that we travelled round a lot, through the Territory and Queensland. I didn’t go much on schools and I left for the last time when I was just a kid. Then, it was into the school of hard knocks.

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

I wanted to fly helicopters and be involved with cattle. Not much has changed over the years. It’s been a good, full life.

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

Don’t drink rum and chase girls!

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?

The old fella, Stan (my father) had a huge influence on me. He worked bloody hard and that rubbed off on me. The years of bull-catching as a young man taught me a lot about bending your back and having a crack to make money. And the biggest influence of all has been getting my helicopter licence. I often wonder what I would have done if I didn’t get it; I know I wouldn’t have been as lucky and successful.

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?

It’s a good record for my children to keep.

6. Please tell us about your latest book…

It tells a bit about my life and some of the experiences I’ve had. Looking back I suppose I’ve crammed a bit in. Not many people really know about life in the Northern Territory. More people should go there because it’s a bloody beautiful place with good people.

(From the Publisher:

In the tradition of Mailman of the Birdsville Track, The Man from Coolibah details the life of outback cattle property owner, helicopter muster operator and knockabout bloke Milton Jones.

The youngest in a family of five, Milton Jones grew up on large properties in the outback. His father was a farm manager and so his early life was a world away from that of city kids. Milton left school in Queensland in his mid teens and moved back to the Northern Territory. Mustering was in his blood and so his first job was as a bullcatcher.

Milton Jones is a man of his environment; tough and hardworking with a firm opinion on most things that he isn’t afraid to share. The story of how he bought Coolibah Station in 1988 in cash and the way he has built up his country empire is just one element of this book. For him, wrangling crocs, mustering cattle, fighting bush fires and riding rodeo are the norm. Over 500km away from nearest city, Darwin, his life is lived on horseback, his days ruled by the sunlight. With the help of a seasonal workforce, plus his 42 choppers and a dozen or so horses, his business musters cattle from across the territory.

The Man from Coolibah shows us what it is like to live in the never never and brings the Outback to life. For the men and women who live in Milton’s world, things are changing but the harshness and beauty of the outback stays the same.)

Click here to buy The Man from Coolibah from Booktopia,
Australia’s No. 1 Online Book Shop

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

To make people more aware of bush life, especially life in the Northern Territory.

8. Whom do you most admire and why?

There are too many to mention, but there’ve been many old fellas who taught me a great many things. They taught me about cattle, about the bush, about helicopters, about life really. The Territory has many great characters. Real authentic Australian bushies that should never be forgotten.

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

To look after my wife and my family. Make sure I have healthy kids, real healthy kids, that’s important eh.

10. What advice do you give aspiring writers?

I don’t reckon I’m really in a good position to give advice to writers, in fact The Man from Coolibah is the first book I’ve ever read. But if I was to give some general advice it would be: ‘Work hard, look after your family, stand up for your rights, and don’t get involved in race horses.’

Milton, thanks for playing.

Click here to buy The Man from Coolibah from Booktopia, Australia’s No. 1 Online Book Shop

Filed under: Australian Author, Author Interview, Biography/Memoir | Tagged: , , , | 3 Comments »

R.A. Spratt, author of the Nanny Piggins series, answers Six Sharp Questions

Posted on October 10, 2012 by John Purcell, The Booktopia Book Guru

The Booktopia Book Guru asks

R.A. Spratt

author of the Nanny Piggins series

Six Sharp Questions

—————————— 

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

My new book is called Nanny Piggins and the Daring Rescue is about Nanny Piggins having to fly to Vanuatu to rescue her employer who is being held against his will in a tropical paradise.  I wrote it because I thought if I set a book in Vanuatu I would be able to take a holiday there and claim is as a tax deduction.  Sadly, I had a baby instead and didn’t get to have a holiday anywhere.

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

Best – discovering blood-orange gelato.  Worst – entire family being struck down with stomach flu.  The house has not smelled the same since.

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’m not very good at remembering the precise wording of quotes.  I am handing in these answers a week late because I became bogged down by this one question.  I do remember ideas and turns of phrase.  But they are like fragments.  It’s hard to explain why they have lodged in my imagination.  Lately I have been thinking about an idea from Anthony Trollope’s The Last Chronicle of Barset, in which Reverend Crawley who is struggling financially and in his faith meets a poor man in the street who tells him, “it’s dogged that does it.”  It struck me as cryptic when I first read it five years ago, but lately I think I understand what Trollope means.

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.

No, I am very easy to live with.  I like cooking things like bread or jam just to make the house smell nice.  When I need to work, I wait until everybody else is out of the house, then write like crazy until my brief window of peace and quiet comes to an end.

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!).

I am a professional writer.  If my books did not sell in the marketplace I would have no money to pay the rent, which would make me very sad.

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?

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams – because it is jam packed full of brilliant insights.

Jamie’s Kitchen by Jamie Oliver – because eating is very important.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee – because it is beautifully written and wise.

Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe – because it has lots of interesting ideas.

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde – because it is very funny.

Thank you for playing.

Click here to read an extract of Nanny Piggins and the Daring Rescue

Click here to visit our RA Spratt author page

Filed under: Author Interview | Tagged: , , | Leave a Comment »

Swannies Guernsey and Cap Signed by Micky O Up For Grabs!

Posted on September 28, 2012 by booktopiaadministration

Swans jersey and cap signed by Micky O up for grabsIn time for AFL Grand Final Day, Booktopia has a Swans guernsey and cap both signed by Micky O to give away.

Just order Micky O: Determination. Hard Work. And a Little Bit of Magic from Booktopia before midnight Tuesday 2nd October 2012 to go into the draw.

How does that sound?

Oh, and may the best team win…

(Go Swannies!)

Click here to order Micky O from Booktopia,
Australia’s No. 1 Online Book Shop

Click here for details or to orderMicky O: Determination. Hard Work. And a Little Bit of Magic

When Michael O’Loughlin was drafted by the Sydney Swans at just 17 years of age, he was the no. 40 selection and the last player picked. Back then he could not have imagined the extraordinary future that awaited him: the numerous awards and accolades, the respect and admiration of fellow players, a huge number of personal supporters, and a record-breaking 303 games in the red and white.

This is the inspiring story of Michael’s life from the childhood lessons of hard work and self-belief imparted to him by his mother, Muriel, to the discovery of the stunning sporting ability which would take him into the elite legions of AFL.

By 2009, Michael had broken the Swans’ games record. He had kicked more goals for the club than anyone except the legendary Bob Pratt. Swans jersey and cap signed by Micky O up for grabsHe played more finals for the Swans than any other, and became one of just three Indigenous players in the history of the sport to reach 300 games.

Micky O is the extraordinary story of a kid who combined his talent with sheer determination to become one of the greatest AFL players of all time.

Click here to order Micky O from Booktopia,
Australia’s No. 1 Online Book Shop

Filed under: Australian Author, Biography/Memoir, Competitions, Sport | Tagged: , , | Leave a Comment »

Kathy Reichs, bestselling author of Bones Are Forever and creator of TV’s ‘Bones’, answers Ten Terrifying Questions

Posted on September 11, 2012 by John Purcell, The Booktopia Book Guru

 The Booktopia Book Guru asks

Kathy Reichs

author of Bones Are Forever, book fifteen of  the Temperance Brennan series and creator of TV’s ‘Bones’

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 Chicago, Illinois, raised there and in Minnesota.  I studied at the University of Illinois, at American University, and at Northwestern University.  So I am a northerner by birth.  In my twenties, one snow storm too many drove me south.  I’ve lived in North Carolina ever since and never missed the snow and ice!

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

At twelve I wanted to be a scientist, though my understanding of that was very dim.  At eighteen I wanted to be the most popular girl on campus.  At thirty I was back to science, having completed my PhD in Biological Anthropology and wanting to get tenure at the UNCC, the university at which I was on faculty.

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

Life would go on forever.  Or, at least, for a very, very, very, long time.

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?

Book One

As a child I read the entire Nancy Drew series.  I think this triggered my love of mystery.  As a teenager I devoured popular books on nature and pre-history.  I think this stimulated my interest in science and archaeology.  As an adult I am motivated by truly great prose and truly bad prose.  One inspires me, the other alerts me about what to avoid.

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

As a university professor, writing was always part of the game.  When I was promoted to the rank of full professor, I felt free to try something new.  Writing was my natural choice, and a novel seemed a good vehicle to bring my somewhat obscure science to a broader audience.  I’d just worked on a serial murder case, so I had the basis for a storyline.  And off I went.

6.  Please tell us about your latest novel…

Bones Are Forever takes my character, forensic anthropologist, Temperance Brennan, to the small town of Yellowknife in the far north of Canada, and into the high stakes world of diamond mining.  The trail starts in Montreal with the pursuit of a woman thought responsible for the deaths of her own infants.  While on the tundra, Tempe and Detective Ryan are joined in the investigation by a sergeant from the RCMP, a gentleman with whom Tempe has shared some awkward history.  Uh, oh!

Click here to buy Bones Are Forever from Booktopia,
Australia’s No. 1 Online Book Shop

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

I hope they acquire an understanding of how it feels to work with forensic science, both in the lab and in the field.  Of the complexities underlying the concepts of guilt and innocence.  Of the tensions created when  aboriginal and industrialized world views clash.  But most of all I hope they enjoy the ride!

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

I most admire those who can create characters we care about, settings that move us, and stories that keep our hearts racing and our fingers turning the pages.  Some of my favorite modern writers include John Irving, Kurt Vonnegut, Pat Conroy, PD James, James Lee Burke, and, of course, my daughter, Kerry Reichs.

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

Currently I am under contract for 19 Temperance Brennan novels (currently working on number 16), and 5 Tory Brennan young adult novels (currently working, with my son, Brendan Reichs on number 4).  And the TV series  Bones, for which I am a producer,  is about to air its 8th season.  That should keep me busy for a while.

10.  What advice do you give aspiring writers?

Write.  Write.  Write.  Read.  Read.  Read.

 Kathy, thank you for playing.

Click here to buy Bones Are Forever from Booktopia,
Australia’s No. 1 Online Book Shop

Filed under: Writing tips, Crime/Thriller, Writing Style, Author Interview, Book Talk | 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 »

Next Page »
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 632 other followers

%d bloggers like this: