Flip
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- Flip
by Martyn Bedford - Wreckers
by Julie Hearn - Department 19
by Will Hill - Quarry
by Ally Kennen - Shadows on the Moon
by Zoë Marriott - Angel's Fury
by Bryony Pearce
Who wrote it?
Martyn Bedford lives in Leeds and his wife is a High School librarian. He teaches on the English and Writing undergraduate programme at Leeds Trinity University College and runs creative writing workshops and courses in schools, colleges and for community groups.
Martyn grew up in Croydon and has worked as a news reporter, football correspondent, features writer and sub-editor on newspapers all over England (and one in Wales). Between jobs he went backpacking in Europe, North America, Australia and Asia. He taught English in Hong Kong, and returned from India with dysentery, hepatitis and pneumonia, having lost a quarter of his body weight!
What's it about?
One morning 14-year-old Alex wakes up to find himself in the wrong bedroom, in an unfamiliar house, in a different part of the country. Six months have disappeared overnight. The family at the breakfast table are total strangers.
And when he looks in the mirror, another boy’s face stares back. A boy named Flip.
With no idea what has happened, or how to switch back again, or who “he” is anymore, Alex finds himself in a deadly race against time to save himself from being trapped forever in the wrong life.
Fact File
Martyn has written 5 books for adults, and Flip is his first novel for teenagers. He is currently writing his second work of teenage fiction, The Fallen One, and it is due for publication on both sides of the Atlantic in 2013.
For more info go to Martyn’s website http://martynbedford.com.
Wreckers
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Who wrote it?
Julie Hearn was born in Abingdon, near Oxford, and has been writing all her life. After studying to be a journalist, she worked in Australia and lived in Spain, before returning to England, where she worked as a features editor and columnist. She is now a full-time writer who has been nominated four times for the CILIP Carnegie Medal and shortlisted for several awards including the Guardian Children’s Fiction prize.
What's it about?
The lid gave, eventually, with surprisingly little noise. Nothing splintered. Nothing broke. No hinges flew, or even creaked, and for a second or two nothing happened at all. Then came the first scream. It blew out a candle, that screamed ...'Shut the lid! For the love of God ...SHUT THE LID!' And so the box was slammed shut, hidden away, and forgotten about. But what lay within was only dormant ...waiting for the time when it would be released, and let loose upon the world. And that time was about to come ...That time is now.
Fact File
At the age of eight, Julie wrote her first novel about a colourful dragon who longed to be plain brown or green. Sadly her teacher didn't have time to read the story and Julie vowed never to write anything that ambitious again!
Julie’s website is: www.juliehearn.co.uk
Department 19
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Who wrote it?
Will Hill spends a lot of his time in California but he grew up around the North East of England, moving from Skegness to Gateshead to Tynemouth. The area is steeped in vampire mythology, irresistible to the young Will. He turned this fascination into his debut novel.
What's it about?
In a secret supernatural battle that's been raging for over a century, the stakes have just been raised – and they're not wooden anymore.
When Jamie Carpenter's mother is kidnapped by strange creatures, he finds himself dragged into Department 19, the government's most secret agency.
Fortunately for Jamie, Department 19 can provide the tools he needs to find his mother, and to kill the vampires who want him dead. But unfortunately for everyone, something much older is stirring, something even Department 19 can't stand up against…
Will says about himself: “I’m an author. Which means I spend long periods of time staring out of windows, playing computer games, checking emails, Tweeting and generally inventing new and unusual ways to actually avoid typing any words. My job is much more interesting than me.”
Fact File
Websites that might be of interest:
www.willhillauthor.com
Follow on facebook – department19exists
Follow on twitter - @willhillauthor
Quarry
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Who wrote it?
Ally Kennen is an award winning author of books for young people. Ally grew up on an isolated organic farm on Exmoor, with no toilet, dead tadpoles coming out of the taps and annual rat infestations. Her family fostered 'challenging' teenagers throughout her childhood. After a spell of road protesting she became an archaeologist. Ally lives in Somerset with her husband, her daughter and two sons, four chickens and a curmudgeonly cat.
What's it about?
Scrappy, a 15 year old boy who lives in a breaker's yard, is being sent crazy anonymous dares. Once he gets caught up in them, he finds he can't stop, and the last challenges send him to the very edge.
Fact File
Ally reached no. 41 in the UK charts in 2001 with a song she wrote and sang and subsequently toured round the world. She thought about spending the money she earned from this song on a hot tub but in the end decided to enrol on a Creative Writing MA. It was while she was working on her MA that she wrote her first book, Beast.
To find out more about Ally and her books visit her website: www.allykennen.com.
Shadows on the Moon
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Who wrote it?
Zoe Marriott lives in North East Lincolnshire with two cats, named Echo and Hero, and the Devil Hound, otherwise known as Finn. She says of Shadows on the Moon: "I never liked Cinderella as a little girl. She seemed like the worst kind of wimp to me, and I hated the fact that she needed someone else to come along and rescue her. Then one day I was thinking about a completely different idea for a book set in fairy-tale Japan - and suddenly the two story ideas collided in my head, and it occurred to me: what if Cinderella wasn't a wimp at all? What if she was strong and brave - and out for revenge all along? And so Shadows on the Moon was born."
What's it about?
A powerful tale of magic, love and revenge set in fairy-tale Japan; this is Cinderella meets Memoirs of a Geisha. Trained in the magical art of shadow-weaving, sixteen-year-old Suzume is able to recreate herself in any form - a fabulous gift for a girl desperate to escape her past. But who is she really? Is she a girl of noble birth living under the tyranny of her mother's new husband, Lord Terayama, or a lowly drudge scraping a living in the ashes of Terayama's kitchens, or Yue, the most beautiful courtesan in the Moonlit Lands? Whatever her true identity, Suzume is destined to capture the heart of a prince - and determined to use his power to destroy Terayama. And nothing will stop her, not even love.
Fact File
When she was little, Zoe was convinced that wolves lived under her bed.
You can find out more about Zoe by looking at her website: www.zoemarriott.com.
Angel's Fury
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Who wrote it?
Bryony Pearce was born in 1976 and has two young children. She completed an English Literature degree at Corpus Christi College Cambridge in 1998 and was a winner of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators anthology Undiscovered Voices in 2008. Angel’s Fury is her debut novel.
What's it about?
Every atrocity. Every war. Every act of vengeance. One fallen angel walks the earth to bring mankind to its destruction...Turning love into hate, forgiveness into blame, hope into despair. Through the fires of hell he will come to haunt one girl's dreams. But what if everything she ever dreamed was true? Every time Cassie Smith tries to sleep, she is plagued by visions of a death: A little girl called Zillah. A victim of the holocaust. In desperation Cassie is sent for treatment in an old manor house. There she meets other children just like her. Including Seth...Seth who looks so familiar. Her dream becomes nightmare. And then reality.
Fact File
The original title for Angel’s Fury was Incarnation.
Bryony has started writing a novel about the Apocalypse, currently called Aviators.
Bryony loves writing so much she says “You’d have to cut my fingers off to stop me writing….and even then I’d dictate!”
Bryony’s website is www.bryonypearce.co.uk.