Author Interview - A E Rought

Hi there folks! Here is the last in my current set of interviews for you. It is with A E Rought, the author of Broken, due for release in January 2013. This book is released through Strange Chemistry and looks amazing!

Enjoy...


How did writing Broken compare to the other things that you have written?
 
In many ways! But I’ll just give you a few.
First, I felt Broken, before I wrote it. I tried story after story, but nothing fit the dark, aching, sweeping romance of what I was feeling. When I finished Broken and looked back, I was shocked by the story I’d managed to write.
Second, it’s the first book I plotted as completely as I did. With the layers, and amount of character heartache I created, it was really necessary, too!
Third, I loved it so much, I horded it for a while, just my alpha readers and me for the first few chapters. 

 

Strange Chemistry Giveaway!!

It's Giveaway time!!! I have one Strange Chemistry goody bag to giveaway, fresh from the Imprint Launch a few days ago. It's full of some really awesome stuff!! Take a look....

 

Strange Chemistry Launch

Hiya guys!

I would like to start off by saying a HUGE thank you to Amanda Rutter, the Strange Chemistry editor, who organised the whole event and did a brilliant job! Everyone had a great time and we all salute you!

Thanks is also due for the whole Strange Chemistry team, well done guys! I know you're going to be a great label and I wholeheartedly look forward to following your progress! :0)

Thank you to Juliet Mushens and Lee Harris for letting me use your photos too! :D

Last, but not least, I'd like to thank everyone who went last night. You were all so nice and friendly!! It was my first event of this kind and I was very well looked after lol
Right, where to begin?!! Well at the start would be best. If you haven't heard about Strange Chemistry yet, WHY NOT?! :p So in case you don't know, here's the skinny...

Review - Frostfire by Zoe Marriott

Frostfire by Zoe Marriott

ISBN 9781406318142

Published by Walker Books

5 out of 5 stars * * * * *

Wow! Zoe you have done it again...

In the spirit of full disclosure, I LOVE Zoe Marriott's books! They are an automatic must read for me. I trust that from the first page I'm going to be taken on a magical journey, full of emotion and with plenty of twists and turns. With Frostfire I was not disappointed!

The worlds that Zoe creates are so believable that you just can't help being drawn into them. I'm not going to give you guys a rundown of the plot, as I'd rather you go and buy the book and read it! lol. I will say though, that if you're looking for something to escape into, this is the book for you!

Author Interview - Laura Lam

I have ANOTHER interview for you lovely lot! This one is with Laura Lam. She is due to release her first book early next year, it's called Pantomime and looks amazing! I can't wait to read it. This is Laura's first interview, so make sure you leave a comment to tell her how cool she is! :p

Enjoy...

Congratulations on your debut book Pantomime! How do you feel now that it's due for release next year?

Terrified! And really, painfully excited. I keep having to pinch myself . It still doesn't feel real, and I'm not sure it will until I have the physical book in my hands. Maybe not even then!
 

Author of the Month - August - Zoe Marriott

So here at #YABluewater we will be picking an Author of the Month, every month. We will try and bring you reviews of their books, an interview where we can and other posts with or about the featured author.
This months AOTM is Zoe Marriott. You can find an interview with Zoe here, from one of our earlier posts.

This post was written by Emma, she is a fellow Bookseller here at the Bluewater Waterstones store, and she LOVES YA fiction! Here she writes about why she loves Zoe's work.

Enjoy...

I settled down in bed exhausted after a long day, half heartedly thinking I would read the first couple of pages of ‘Shadows on the Moon’ as I had promised a friend I would. It wasn’t until four hours later that I managed to drag my eyes from the woefully dwindling pages. Not only does this tale have an exhilarating and gripping story, it is also powerfully atmospheric and enchanting, drawing you into the book to such a degree that I half expected to see Suzume looking back at me from the mirror.

Reading Group book - September 2012

Hi everyone!

We have decided that Septembers book is going to be; A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

Here is what Waterstones.com has to say about it...

The monster showed up after midnight. As they do.

But it isn't the monster Conor's been expecting. He's been expecting the one from his nightmare, the one he's had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments, the one with the darkness and the wind and the screaming...

This monster is something different, though. Something ancient, something wild. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor.

It wants the truth.

AUTHOR INTERVIEW - Chris Farnell

Hi there!

Here's another author interview for you all to enjoy :D This one is with Chris Farnell, author of Mark II This has been on my to-read list for a while now, hopefully soon I'll be able to add it to my have read list!

Enjoy...

What was the inspiration behind Mark II?

Boringly I got the idea from a documentary about cloning. It featured a interview with some parents who hoped to one day clone their child who had died from a terminal illness. So, I took that idea and, um, stole it.
While I was writing it I also discovered the Genetic Savings & Clone business, a company that would clone your dead cat (for a fee). Sadly it went bust by the time the book came out, or I would have seemed eerily prophetic.

Book Club August 2012

I would again like to start off by saying thank you to everyone who turned up!! There where a few new faces again, which is always excellent!

I would also like to say thank you to Lissa Price, who sent us through some SWAG!! Yay! It was gratefully received and we all wear our badges with pride :0)

This month we were discussing Starters by Lissa Price.

Overall it scored a 3.5/5 from us. We all liked the book, although we felt it could have done more to fulfil its potential.

We LOVED the concept. A post war America, where only the youngest and oldest generations have survived. The Enders, who are all between 100 and 200 years old, rent out the bodies of the Starters, who are all in their teens, to live young again. Only there is a sinister tone to this underground world of Renters and Donors that is creepy as hell!

Guest Post - Review by Bekah

So here is another brilliant review from one of our regular guest posters Bekah, enjoy!!...

The Name of the Star [Shades of London, Book One] by Maureen Johnson – 3.75/5 (Yeah, you read that right: 3.75)

Perhaps the best way to enter the literary worlds of Maureen Johnson is through her Twitter account; @maureenjohnson shows you the crazy. Glimpse a mind that puts her followers in jars, renames her friends and associates with pseudonyms like Felicity Disco and Daphne Unfeasible, and has an extraordinary liking for watermelon and hamsters. I kid you not; this woman writes books.

Review - Shift by Kim Curran

SO the lovely people at Strange Chemistry recently sent me a bundle of proofs. I was so excited that I literally jumped up and down in front of the postman! lol They all looked brilliant but there was one that I was chomping at the bit to start reading and that was Shift by Kim Curran. I couldn't start it straight away though :( but as soon as I could I did.,and I loved it! It did not disappoint. So here is my review....

Author Interview - Gwenda Bond

Hi there you luck lot! Lookie what I have for you! It's another author interview!! This time with Gwenda Bond, author of the up-coming Strange Chemistry release Blackwood.

Enjoy!

How did you find writing a YA novel, compared to writing articles and such?

Novel writing and nonfiction writing are so different for me that it’s almost like talking about what it’s like to visit two different planets, or maybe like speaking two different languages. Whether it’s reviews or articles or blogging, nonfiction comes to me much faster and it also tends to go through much less rigorous revision. Writing a novel is like chasing a whirlwind with a butterfly net. And, if you’re lucky, after a great deal of work managing to catch that whirlwind, which is actually a story, and then showing it to other people and hoping they say, “Oh, that’s a story,” and not, “What is that? It just looks like a big mess of stuff blowing around.”

Poltergeeks Winners!!

Hi there!
I want to start of by saying a big thank you to those who entered! Also I would like to say a huge thank you to all of you on twitter who have been RT and spreading the YABluewater word! A big thank you goes to Strange Chemistry, who have very kindly let us giveaway two copies of Poltergeeks! (you guys are awesome!)

OK so the winners are.....*drum roll*