Jasmine Richards Interview

When I started reading Jasmine Richards, middle grade fantasy novel, The Books of Wonders I couldn't put it down. My review and you can read the first seven chapters, here but first please enjoy this interview with the author which I jumped at the chance to do.

Hi Jasmine, can you tell us a little about yourself and The Book of Wonders?

I am 30 years old and currently live in Oxfordshire although I grew up in London. I work at Oxford University Press as a senior commissioning editor which means, besides other things, I get to read books all the time. When I was little I always had my nose in a book . So I still can’t believe that I’ve found a job where I get paid to work with stories all day long.

My story addiction doesn’t end there, in the evening I am busy writing novels and The Book of Wonders is my first one.

Since the Books of Wonders is influenced by Middle Eastern folk tales, do you have a favorite Arabian Nights translation or tale?

It’s too hard to choose one, here are my top six!
The Fisherman and the Djinni
Aladdin and his Wonderful Lamp
The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor
The Adventures of Bulukiya
The City of Brass
The Ebony Horse
Usually when I finish a 400 page middle grade novel I can't help but think it could've been shorter. Though that wasn't the case here thestory moves at a great pace and every scene serves a purpose.

When you started writing did you have guesses as to the length of the story?

Doret, I have to agree with you and say that I feel on average middle grade novels could do with being a bit shorter.

I know Harry Potter was a game changing when it came to length forthis age group but it is still worth thinking about the reading stamina of the younger readers in the middle grade bracket.

However, the writing mind says one thing and the writing heart another. As hard as I tried this is the length that this story came out and I barely give Zardi and Rhidan a break the whole way through.

For book 2, which is provisionally called The Spell Scrolls and will be out in 2013, I am hoping to make the story a bit shorter but the characters do still seem to find themselves in a pickle!

I really like the cover. It’s a great reflection of the story within and I think it will appeal to boys and girls.

Who is the cover artist?

I adore the cover as well. Jeff Nentrup is the artist. His work is gorgeous and I count myself very lucky to have had him as the artist for my book.

One of my favorite things about Book of Wonders is its visual appeal,especially when Zardi is armed with her weapon of choice a bow and arrow. Did you have an opportunity to take any archery lessons?

I didn’t take any archery lessons but I did read archery books. I do think though it is important to try and experience some of the physical challenges you put your characters through. So I tried practising jumping from rampart to rampart in Morocco above a ragingse but I got scared so I had to come down again immediately! My boyfriend did it for me instead and I then got him to describe how it felt. I did better when I was on holiday in Thailand and handled a pretty big snake. That experience was invaluable as I came to understand a bit more about the texture and movement of snakes.

That's so cool that you got to visit Morocco and Thailand for "research". That's a pretty big snake, though compared to the many snakes Zardi and Rhidan faced it would probably be considered small.

Do you plan to publish The Books of Wonders in the UK?

I live in the UK and so I’m super keen to have this book available over here. At the moment publishers are considering it and so we’llsee what happens!

Can you tell us a little about your upcoming Skype tour?

It’s still in the very early stages of being organized but I am keen to try and visit as many schools in the US as possible. Because I live in the UK the only way I can really do this is via Skype. If you area school or library or bookshop that would like to host a visit I am available for free Skype Chats. I can talk more about what it is like to be an author and offer some writing tips and exercises. I think it could be a lot of fun, although undoubtedly there will be some hiccups! But if anyone out there is up for giving it a go, then so am I. Visit my website more details.

This next two questions are shamefully off topic.

What three American actors/actresses do you believe have the best and worst British accents?

I think Gwyneth Paltrow, Renee Zellweger and Johnny Depp all have great British accents

The worst would be Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins, Don Cheadle’s accent in Oceans 11 was pretty awful, and Anne Hathaway’s Sheffield accent in One Day was dire.

I must say though that their British accents are far better than my American one which one American friend has described as a strangled valley girl – charming!

What did you think of Meryl Steep's accent as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady?

I thought Meryl Streep’s performance was incredible, simply incredible. I thought the film was good but Streep’s performance was almost bigger than the film – it is certainly the only thing people are talking about.

Jasmine thanks for humoring on those last two questions.Congratulations on a wonderful debut. I look forwarding to reading more of Zardi and Rhidan's adventures in The Spell Scrolls or by any other name.

Thanks so much for having me on your blog Doret, I had a blast.

Deva Fagan Interview - Part II

Welcome back for part II of my interview with author Deva Fagan. If you missed it Part I

As the story played out did you ever flip flop on who the "good guys" and "bad guys" were?


I did definitely make it a point to try to understand why every character would be doing what he or she was doing. When Nyl tries to convince Trix to join his "side", for example, I like to think that he truly believes his own arguments. And for that to ring true, I had to try to convince myself

I love following a writers career from the beginning and watching them go into their craft. I've enjoyed all your books, with each new one you've given more than the last time.

How do you continue to challenge and push yourself?

I think the first step is recognizing that you want to push yourself, and identifying what your strengths and weaknesses are. I've always loved world-building and coming up with cool ideas, but it wasn't until I really started paying attention to character and voice that I actually managed to publish my first book. And even now I recognize that character (especially character motivation) is my danger zone. I can get carried away with cool ideas and not pay enough attention to why my character is doing what she's doing. So that's something I try to be aware of with each new book.

Another thing I do is to look at my own absolute favorite books, and figure out why it is I love them so, and ask how I can develop the same qualities in my own stories. For example, one of the things I love about the Harry Potter series is how I feel like each of the secondary characters has his or her own story to tell. I would read a book about Neville's adventures, or Hermione's, just as happily as I'd read about Harry.

With Circus Galacticus, I knew I wanted to push myself to present a similarly wide cast of characters-- wider and richer than in my previous books. To do so, I needed to be sure I knew each of them well enough that I could imagine writing an interesting and fun story from that other character's point of view.

Your endings are crescendo good and I wasn't kidding when I said I may have to start calling you The Closer in my review.

What is it about endings that bring the best out of you?

Wow, thank you! That is high praise! As a reader I hate it when a book I'm enjoying peters out, or ends in a sort of hasty confused muddle. So I do certainly try my best to make my own endings satisfying.

I write outlines for my books, so I do make sure I know how they'll end, in a general sense, before I write them. Not that I know all the details of the ending before I get there-- but I try to make sure I know where I'm headed in terms of the main character's emotional arc. I need to know right from the start what's at stake, so that I can build to that climax where the character grapples with their big issue.

So for Trix, one of the big questions she has to confront is whether she truly belongs anywhere. She desperately wants to have a home, and she also wants to be special and cool and "a star." So I knew that she was going to have to face those desires at the end of the book, and thus that was something I worked toward in writing the big climax and the last few chapters.

Circus Galacticus is a very visual read. One thing that stood out for me was the naturally diverse cast and the character art created by Loraine Sammy is great. Would you ever consider writing a graphic novel edition?

I would LOVE to work on a graphic novel edition, if a publisher were interested! I have been a comic book fan since I was a kid. I started off reading Archies but quickly moved on to superhero comics. My favorites were the X-Men and especially their junior counterparts, the New Mutants (who are a wonderfully diverse superhero team, I will add)

And when I was writing Circus Galacticus I often imagined the scenes in my mind like panels in a comic. So yes, it would be a dream come true to work on a graphic novel!

I think its fitting and a great sign that the Muppets who helped inspire Circus Galacticus are making a come back right now.

Also this year there seems to be a resurgence of middle grade and young adult novels set in space or with aliens.

As a girl who grew up watching Star Wars, Star Trek and Doctor Who (among others) I am always looking for more of that sort of thing!People keep saying that there's a certain bias against science fiction, but there's so much space adventure on the big and small screen that it certainly seems like the audience is there.

Okay I am going to very careful with this next question because I've always been superstitious. (but I can't resist asking) It's that time of year again when people begin to make guesses and predictions for the upcoming ALA awards.

Are you an author that likes seeing your books on mock list? Why or why not?

Hee! I blush even to be asked this question. I'd certainly be flattered, especially since mock lists are put together by people who truly love books. Knowing that such folks thought well of my story would make me very happy.

But that said, I will admit that my primary aim in writing is not critical acclaim. I want to write books that entertain and that make people think about life. The best "award" is knowing that a reader has truly enjoyed one of my books.

Deva Fagan Interview - Part I

Deva Fagan's newest book for young readers, Circus Galacticus was released earlier this month. Read the first chapter but do come back to enjoy the interview.

Hi Deva. Can you tell us a little about the inspiration for Circus Galacticus?

Sure! First, it's the story of Trix Ling, an Earth girl who runs away to join an intergalactic circus. I watched The Muppet Show a lot as a kid, which left me with many happy memories, but also with the tendency to mentally add "...IN....SPAAAAACE...!" to the end of random statements (if that makes no sense to you, watch this. I had been watching videos of Cirque du Soleil performances, which thus led to Circus... IN... SPAAAAAACE...!

I actually tried to write it as a more gritty adult version of the story first, but it wasn't working, so I set it aside for a few years. When I came back to it later, I decided to try reworking it with teenagers, and it all fell into place, playing off the old notion of "running away to join the circus."

I think it's an enchanting, magical concept to many of us because we are looking for a place where we belong. But at the same time, we want to be special and unique. How do you balance those two somewhat contrary desires? With the circus, we can have both. We can be freaks with other freaks, united in our freakdom. What makes us bizarre can also make us shine under the spotlight.

United in our freakdom is something everyone should get behind.
When the reader is first introduced to Trix (pre pink hair) we meet the fighter as she confronts a bully. Soon after the reader meets Trix the dreamer. It wasn't until I read Circus Galacticus the second time that I made this distinction to the introduction to the many sides of Trix, though I think its a vital one, since a dreamer must be strong enough to protect their dream.

Did you consciously have Trix stand up to her tormentor in the opening scene?

I did. When I was a kid I was teased a lot myself. I was geeky, I wore glasses, I had a "weird" name that teachers inevitably mispronounced, I was one of the tallest girls in my class, I had braces. Worst of all, I was shy, and I think the bullies could sense my "weakness." I remember my mom encouraging me to stand up to them and tell them to stop (I think she even bribed me to do it with the offer of a trip to the bookstore!).

And I tried, but I was too nervous and meek to make it count. And they didn't stop teasing me. It was nothing compared to what some kids suffer, but it still left a mark on my thin-skinned soul.

So when I asked myself what kind of girl would run away to join an intergalactic circus, I knew that she had to be both a dreamer and a fighter, as you put it. I wanted Trix to stand up to people who tried to put her down, as I hadn't really been able to.

As someone who has not always appreciated the beauty that is fantasy, sometimes I am still scared by overcomplicated worldbuilding. The world you created in Circus Galacticus is straight forward and there's a very good chance that this first fantasy novel reluctant readers of fantasy will love.

Oh, I am so happy to hear you didn't find the worldbuilding overwhelming! One of my main goals in constructing the world Trix gets to explore was to make it approachable. I love science fiction myself, but I know there are many readers who worry that they are going to need to solve differential equations to be able to enjoy it. And that's not true! There's so much good science fiction out there that I think readers would enjoy if they gave it a chance.

So I intentionally set Circus Galacticus on the soft side of science fiction. I did not include a lot of hard science or technical descriptions. And since Trix is coming at it from the perspective of an Earth girl (albeit an astronomy-obsessed Earth girl) she has to figure it all out too. So the reader and Trix learn together about alien technology and galactic history and all that.

One of my biggest hopes is that readers will pick up Circus Galacticus and enjoy it, and then maybe move on to other science fiction! And that we might then see more science fiction for younger readers get published.

The Ringmaster, the head of the intergalactic circus has a magnetic personality that shines through. Were you ever worried that he would overshadow Trix?

In a way. I will admit that I myself have quite a fondness for the Ringmaster, and he's definitely fun to write about! Fortunately Trix also came to me with a very strong voice and personality, so she never let him take over while I was writing. And because she is a fighter, and stubborn, and an action-girl, she stands up to him when necessary.

One of my favorite scenes to write was Chapter 10, "The Lighthouse", which I actually added in its entirety during one of the later revisions. Part of the reason I added that bit was to explore the Ringmaster's character, to show a bit of both his strengths and weaknesses, and (most importantly) to show Trix and he working as a team, in a situation where she can help him and provide support and encouragement.

I loved the Lighthouse chapter, the Ringmaster was both strong and venerable. It's an excellent example of your mutlilayered characters who kept me on my toes. I had a difficult time of always knowing who had Trix's best interest at heart.

As the story played out did you ever flip flop on who the "good guys" and "bad guys" were?

to be continued...

Come back tomorrow for Part II

Galaxy Games - Greg R. Fishbone

Galaxy Games by Greg R. Fishbone
For his 11th birthday, Ty Sato's Japanese's relatives named a star after him. Ty's father an astronomer, takes Ty and his friends to the observatory to see his star. Soon it becomes clear that Ty's star is something else but no one knows what. As Ty Sato moves closer to earth at a very fast speed everyone begins to panic. Ty doesn't like all the attention from his name sake.

The chapters alternate between Ty Sato in Nevada, his cousin Daiki in Japan and an alien girl named M'frozza. Ty Sato is a silver spaceship from M'Frozza planet, Mrendaria. M'Frozza is desperate to protect the honor of the Mrendarians in the galaxy games and she needs help from the primitive planet of earth. The galaxy games are universally accepted competition amongst kids to settle all conflicts. Ty Sato is unknowingly becomes a part of the galaxy games.

Fishbone created great characters with excellent dialogue and chapter transitions. The three main characters - Ty, Daiki and M'Frozza are all well delevoped and likeable. There are a few illustrations sprinkled throughout the novel. Galaxy Games was a lot of fun and very well done. An excellent choice for reluctant readers.

An excerpt

Come Fall - A.C.E Bauer

Come Fall by A.C.E. Bauer
Salman Page will be starting 7th grade at yet another school. He was abandoned as a baby and has been in foster care ever since. Salman doesn't want to make any friends at Springsfalls Juinor High but that changes thanks to his designated buddy. New students are assigned a DB to help show them around. Salman's DB is Lu Zimmer. Lu is a nice, smart and doesn't draw much attention to herself at school. The year before Lu shared a designated buddy with Blos Pease. Many kids make fun of or avoid Blos because he's different. The author never says it directly but I think Blos is autistic. Somehow this trio become friends. Before Lu and Blos, Salman's only friend is a crow.

Salman has never meant his parents. His first foster mother named him after the writer Rushdie because she believed he was of South Asian descent. One thing is obvious Salman is no ordinary boy, a Queen and King in a Faerie Realm are paying close attention to him. The chapters alternate between Salman's school life and the two members of royalty in the Faerie Realm who have an interest him.

I really enjoyed Come Fall, though the ending felt a little rushed. I thought the voices of the three kids were great. Bauer does a great job of developing their individual personalities. Salman, Lu and Blos made this book for me. As far as the fantasy goes, I liked the language, especially Puck, the character caught between the feuding King and Queen.

read an excerpt