books

Moonlocket by Peter Bunzl

July 26, 2017by Stephanie WilliamsonLeave a Comment

Storm clouds gather over Lily and Robert’s summer when criminal mastermind the Jack of Diamonds appears. For Jack is searching for the mysterious Moonlocket – but that’s not the only thing he wants.

Suddenly, dark secrets from Robert’s past plunge him into danger. Jack is playing a cruel game that Robert is a part of. Now Lily and Malkin, the mechanical fox, must stay one step ahead before Jack plays his final, deadly card…

Moonlocket is the second book in Peter Bunzl’s Cogheart Adventure series. I interviewed Peter about the first book Cogheart here.

This second instalment is a fast-paced, mystery solving escapade. Set 8 months after the events of Cogheart as London prepares for Queen Victoria’s Jubilee, Lily, Robert and Malkin delve into Robert’s long lost past….and it’s not long before they get mixed up with famous escapologist and criminal Jack Door!

This book involves spiritual seances, lock-pickers and a mysterious, moon-shaped locket…With the help of London urchin Tolly, Lily and Robert become detectives. The clues they uncover come together seamlessly and propel the plot forward, building up the tension so well that I had to remind myself to read slowly. It was great to find out more about how mechanicals work.

Peter’s vivid characterisation of Lily is fantastically done. She’s so nonchalantly confident and determined, and I love how she informs her father and Robert about the intricacies of lock-picking between bites of toast. Peter’s writing is engaging and full of humour:

“Malkin,” Lily whispered, “you’re going to have to create a distraction.”
“What sort of distraction?”
“I don’t know, a distracting one.”

Some of the prose is just breathtaking.

“The moon’s waxy pockmarked face peered through the window, pale and pithy as a piece of fruit, stars sprinkled behind her like spilled sugar.”

One thing I’m looking forward to returning to in the next book is the conflict between Lily and her over-protective father. I didn’t feel that this was completely resolved in Moonlocket, so I’m hoping we’ll see more of how Lily deals with this and being a ‘hybrid’ in book number three!

This is a thrilling novel about proving your worth and the struggle to forgive. Courage and catastrophe come together to create an adventure as intricate as the Cogheart itself.

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Why you should be reading translated fiction

June 20, 2017June 2, 2018by Stephanie Williamson1 Comment

Although sales of translated fiction in the UK are on the rise, it represented only 5% of all print fiction sales in 2015. This poor figure only reminds us of the wealth of foreign ideas, stories and cultures we’re missing out on when we stick to reading solely English language literature. With Brexit and the fact that the UK lacks people who can speak a language other than English, it sometimes feels as if Britain is turning inward on itself and away from the rest of the world. We can ensure that we read widely by choosing books that have been translated from foreign languages. Here’s how this can make a difference.

Break the stereotype that foreign literature is intimidating

So many people avoid translated literature because they believe it’s elitist, philosophical, boring or over-complicated. This is the case for some books, but its also true of some British literature. By reading and talking about translated fiction, we can spread the word that reading foreign literature is just as enjoyable as reading books that come from our own countries. There are some great stories out there, and feeling apprehensive shouldn’t stop us from discovering them.

Share in the narratives of people from different cultures
Reading translated literature allows us to broaden our cultural horizons, exposing us to songs, war, art, religions and history of different nations. It adds diversity to our reading and gives us access to stories we would never find in our own cultures.

Challenge your mind and educate yourself
Reading translated books is enriching for the mind and soul. Think of how many reading experiences we’d miss out on if we only read books by English speaking authors! We wouldn’t know War and Peace, Les Misérables or A Story of a Soul. There’d be no The Little Prince, Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl or The Iliad. Not only this, but translated literature presents ideas in ways we’re not used to, using words, syntax and style in different ways than our mother-tongue does. If you’re a writer, reading it could even enhance your own writing.

Help promote recognition for translators
Books receive plenty of reviews, but when it comes to translated literature, translators are rarely mentioned. By reading and talking about translated books, we can help promote recognition for translators. If you speak two languages, read a book in its original language and then the translation, and compare. It will give you new found respect for the work translators do to bring literature to new audiences, and you can make sure other people know, too!

Help generate demand for translated fiction and appreciation of its authors, especially female.

The task of translating, publishing and then promoting translated literature is expensive, and funding is poor. There are few prizes for this type of literature, and because authors of translated literature don’t always speak English, it can be difficult for them to promote their work in English speaking countries. By reading foreign literature, we make it more popular. Sales rise and the demand increases. This means more funding, more recognition, and more publication of literature from other countries. This can also help promote the author’s themselves, which is important, especially for female authors. Less than a third of all literary translations published in the UK and the US were originally written by women, and women writers win far fewer prizes for their translated books than male writers. Show your appreciation by getting involved with Women in Translation Month this August, by setting yourself the goal of reading two or more translated books written by women.

Let me know your favourite translated literary works and what you’re planning to read next!

Photo via Pixabay

Literature

The Huntress: Sea by Sarah Driver

May 11, 2017by Stephanie Williamson1 Comment

In the sky, the fire spirits dance and ripple. Grandma says they showed our Tribe that I’d be a captain, before I was even born.

Ever since Ma died, Mouse has looked after her little brother, Sparrow, dreaming of her destiny as captain of the Huntress. But now Da’s missing, Sparrow is in danger, and a deathly cold is creeping across Trianukka . . .

Sea-churning, beast-chattering, dream-dancing, whale-riding, terrodyl-flying, world-saving adventure.

The best book I have read all year, The Huntress reminded me of why I want to write for children and filled my heart with longing for more of Mouse’s world and adventures. Sarah Driver has written the book she wanted to read and it is epic.

The Huntress: Sea is a middle-grade novel and the first in a trilogy. It tells the story of Mouse’s first adventure on perilous, icy seas, fighting to save her brother and crew from a villain who wants to take Mouse’s place as future captain of The Huntress. It’s vivid, colourful, mythical and action-packed.

Sarah Driver has dreamt up an incredible world, inspired in part by research in Iceland. Trianukka is inhabited by different tribes and creatures such as the evil terrodyls whose blood will burn holes in your skin, moonsprites who are created from drops of moonlight that escape lanterns and whales whose songs keep the terrodyls away and shine bright and blue in the air. She’s created an entire culture complete with language, beliefs and traditions that is so authentic it could be real. I loved the descriptions of all of these and of life on board a ship. This is a place for fur cloaks, seal-skins, golden eggs and heavy chests of precious stones.

The language used by those aboard The Huntress is unique in its structure- heart-gladness, fear-scratched -, almost a type of dialect that belongs to Mouse and her people. Mouse is an incredible protagonist and made me laugh out loud. She’s scrawny and brave and sometimes brash and overconfident, as many young teenagers are. Another favourite character was Mouse’s hard as nails grandmother and captain and their tough-love relationship. “Mouse! Get down from there or I’ll shoot ye down, little fool!”

The book is full of beautiful, individual ideas like the idea that ships have souls, that a small boy can sing to whales and ask them to guide his ship, and that the will of the sea-gods can be found in the aurora. Even more irresistible is that Mouse has the beast-chatter and can communicate with the creatures of Trianukka.

There are so many more brilliant aspects to this novel that I won’t reveal, but you can purchase it and discover them for yourself here. The next book in the trilogy is out in September and is available for pre-order here. A novel reminiscent of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials and Stevenson’s Treasure Island, but still unlike anything I’ve read before, it will set children’s imaginations on fire.

Book industry, Translation

Seven reasons why an EU Leave victory will be a disaster for the UK book industry

June 22, 2016by Stephanie Williamson2 Comments

bookshelf

Imagine that every country in the EU is linked to all the others by invisible threads that vibrate with stories of faraway lands. Each thread contains a voice, one that originally came to life in the form of the written word. These are the voices of writers, and with every story each voice tells, another culture, perspective or idea unfolds. Europe is home to a web of literature from all over the world and due to its status as a European country, the UK is able to sell books internationally and acquire others in translation. British authors conduct talks in major European cities to promote their work, publishers travel abroad with the hope of bringing home a literary jewel and translators have a breadth of literary material at their fingertips, ripe for the eyes of another audience. A Leave victory this Thursday will create multiple barriers to this current situation.

Yesterday, Jane Aitken, founder of Gallic books (a French to English publishing house) and owner of Belgravia Books and Aardvark Bureau tweeted about her companies’ daily sales reports– sales were to Portugal, South Africa, the Philippines and Beirut. “We can sell wherever she want” she wrote, followed by the #remain hashtag. Being in the EU means British books can be sold everywhere. This is because the British publishing industry is part of a global business, a position that will be threatened with a Leave victory.

According to predictions this victory will be followed by a drop in the value of the pound, meaning that import costs will rise for publishers. It could also lead to job cuts in the publishing industry. “A ‘Brexit’ would be a financial disaster for UK publishing”, Bonnier Publishing c.e.o Richard Johnson told The Bookseller. This would be especially true for small publishing houses.

Justin Adams, m.d of Connect Books, said that the impact of this new exchange rate will “make the buying and selling of books internationally more complex and risky”. So, not only will it be more difficult to sell books, but it will be harder to buy them. How much great foreign literature will we be missing out on if we leave the EU? The Creative Europe program currently provides funding for the translation of 4500 literary works between 2014-2020. The UK publishing industry will no longer be part of this.

The loss of freedom of movement that will come with leaving the EU means the UK publishing industry won’t be employing many people from European universities (so fewer talented people) and our own graduates looking to join the publishing industry won’t be able to benefit from work experience in publishing industries abroad. The Erasmus program allows British students to live and work abroad for a year and come home with valuable, enlightening experiences that could help them contribute new ideas to British industries, but this too is an opportunity that Leave campaigners are willing to give away.

Academic publishing is also in danger, because Britain will lose its share of the EU research fund. Furthermore, our universities thrive on the flow of students and researchers from Europe, with 15% of academic staff at UK universities from EU countries. Closing our doors to them means yet more loss of intellect, ideas and progress.

The loss of free movement will also affect the ease with which authors and publishers arrange book tours and attend international book fairs abroad, which allows them to promote their own books and keep an eye out for foreign literature. The need for a visa could make doing this a bureaucratic nightmare.

I will leave you with one last terrifying thought. Without the EU there would be no Gruffalo. The Gruffalo, a German-British collaboration, would not exist as you know him, with his terrible claws and terrible teeth in his terrible jaws. Had Axel Scheffler not come to the UK in 1982 to study for a degree in illustration, The Gruffalo, he said in this article, “would have been an entirely different beast.” Axel would never had worked with Julia Donaldson, and without their joint success, they might not have gone on to write and illustrate many more of Britain’s best loved children’s books.

If you love the UK book industry, vote REMAIN.

Image Credits:

Untitled, by Kim Heimbuch via Pixabay

Book industry

Self-publishing Vs traditional publishing- author interview with Louise Walters

April 25, 2016by Stephanie WilliamsonLeave a Comment

I am honoured to be able to feature author Louise Walters who is currently making the transition from the traditional publishing route to self-publication. Louise has written ‘Mrs Sinclair’s Suitcase‘, published by Hodder and is currently self-publishing her second novel ‘A Life Between Us’ with Matador. Today I’m discussing with Louise her decision to self-publish and the differences between both publication routes. Thank you, Louise!

Although I have an idea of the answer to this thanks to your wonderful blog, could you share with readers why you chose to go down the self-publishing route with this novel?
The main reason is I didn’t get a traditional book deal with my second novel. After a lot of thought I decided to have a go at self-publishing. I am using Matador Books, so strictly speaking my book will be published via “assisted” publishing.

What is this novel about?
It’s about family and the secrets that families keep from each other… dark secrets that can tear people apart. There’s also a supernatural element to this novel… or is there? Even I’m not sure.

Can you tell us where you are at with the publication of your second novel? How far into the publication of ‘A Life Between Us’ are you?
I have just sent the novel back to Matador for typesetting. It’s had all the edits done, including a copy edit. Once it has been typeset there will be proof reading to do.

You are self-publishing with Matador. What services does this company provide and what do you have to do yourself?
Matador basically provide as much as you need them to. That was really useful to me as I haven’t a clue about self-publishing and I felt I needed a lot of hand-holding.

What challenges have you faced taking the self-publishing route? Were any of them unexpected?
I think my big challenge will be marketing and getting the book into bookshops, libraries and the hands of readers. I am looking forward to marketing and have a few ideas to help make my book stand out – hopefully!

What have you found to be the advantages of self-publishing? Are there are certain aspects you are glad to be able to do by yourself?
For me, the huge advantage is control over the whole project. I set my own time scale, and I was able to pick and choose which tasks to do myself and which to delegate to Matador (most of them, actually!)

You are currently in the midst of choosing a cover for your book. How does this process work when self-publishing and how does it differ from the traditional publication route?
With traditional publishing, the author has very little say about the design of their cover. There are often good reasons for that, of course. But it was a pleasure to look for an image I thought may work. It’s also daunting, because I don’t want to be responsible for a ghastly cover. Fortunately, Matador books will veto designs or images if they are too duff! I have found an image I think would work and I’m waiting to see what the Matador designers come up with.

You have talked on your blog about being prepared for reviews that will call this novel a “self-published vanity project”. In your opinion, why do some people still have this negative view that self-publishing is “cheating”?
It’s grounded in snobbery. There’s no question in my mind. And to be truthful, there are some dreadful self-published books out there. Not everybody can write well and there are those who want to “be a writer” while having no idea of what “being a writer” entails. But I think the snobs assume that ALL self-published books are brought out by wannabes, and it just isn’t so. All self-published writers tend to get tarred by the same brush, ie, they are rubbish – which is as ludicrous as saying all traditionally published authors are great. Clearly it isn’t so!

What do you think is the main reason people choose to self-publish?
“Failure” to get a traditional deal; wanting more control; the thrill of seeing their name on the spine of a book; to get a fairer share of the money from the sale of their books. All valid reasons!

In terms of income, and keeping in mind the fees involved in self-publication, which publication route is the most advantageous? Does self-publishing mean you may earn a bigger percent of the royalties? I’m intrigued as to how this works.
A traditional deal is probably still the “holy grail” of publishing. At least, that’s how I felt before getting mine. But all that glistens is not gold, as I have discovered! My opinion is that publishers and authors are too pitched against each other… the publisher wanting to pay their authors as little as they can get away with, of course. Hence, a traditionally published author will only receive a 25% royalty rate on their e-book sales. The print royalty rates are usually much lower and it’s impossible to make a decent living unless you sell lots and lots of books.

On the other hand, a traditionally published book can attract foreign deals, and that’s what happened to mine, so I ended up making quite a decent sum on my first novel. But without those deals I would not yet have made up my UK advance money and therefore wouldn’t yet be receiving any royalties. I am looking upon my expenditure on A Life Between Us as my “advance” – if I sell enough books to earn that out and start getting royalties, I will count myself very fortunate. And of course I will receive a much higher royalty rate per copy sold than I would via a traditional publisher. So it’s swings and roundabouts, with financial advantages to both routes.

What advice would you give to writers who are considering self-publishing?
Take your time, look at all the options, be realistic about what you can and can’t do yourself. Don’t skimp on the editing. And be professional, do everything as professionally as you can. If you are asking somebody, anybody to spend hours of their life reading your work, then you owe it to them to make your work as good as it can be.

You can read all about Louise’s fascinating writing life and follow her publication journey on her fantastic blog.

“Malkin,” Lily whispered, “you’re going to have to create a distraction.” “What sort of distraction?” “I don’t know, a distracting one.”

“The moon’s waxy pockmarked face peered through the window, pale and pithy as a piece of fruit, stars sprinkled behind her like spilled sugar.”

“Malkin,” Lily whispered, “you’re going to have to create a distraction.”
“What sort of distraction?”
“I don’t know, a distracting one.”