Spotlight: Guest Post: Double Shadows: Images by Sally Gardner

It is my great pleasure to welcome Sally Gardner to Book Angel Booktopia today as part of The Double Shadow blog tour. I adore classic movies and the way in which the imagery of the movies inspires Sally is just stunning. Enjoy: 

DOUBLE SHADOWS: images that stay with you...

I've been told that reading The Double Shadow is a very visual, filmic experience; perhaps this is the reason why...

Jean Cocteau’s ‘Orpheus’ is a film I saw as teenager, and was blown away by the sense of magic. It’s the classic story about Orpheus who goes to the underworld to bring back his beloved, but when he turns around, she’s gone. The film was so beautifully shot, in such a dark surrealist style. I found the images stayed with me for a very long time, and I wanted these haunting qualities to come across in my new book,The Double Shadow.

Billy Wilder’s 'Sunset Boulevard' is one of my all-time favourite films. The opening scene with William Holden floating in the swimming pool is an extraordinary visual concept. The effect was achieved by putting mirrors in the bottom of the pool and filming his face with cameras hanging from above the water. I love the way the narration works backwards to the point of why he was in that swimming pool. The film has had far reaching influences. Sam Mendes’American Beauty is narrated in a similar fashion.

Gloria Swanson’s performance as Norma Desmond, the aging actress who smokes a cigarette with a contraption on her little finger and lives in a past of deluded glory, has echoes of Miss Haversham. The most memorable scene for me is Holden’s early entrance as the supposed undertaker for Norma’s dead monkey. Her German butler Max (played by Swanson’s former director Erich Von Stroheim) was one of the key inspirations for Silas, and Gloria was part inspiration for Vervaine Fox.

I had in my head Gloria’s opulent salon for Vervaine’s scenes in the picture palace. I love the scene with Cecil B. DeMille when she goes to Paramount studios believing she is to become a star again, and everyone gathers around her - ‘Norma! It’s Norma Desmond’ – when all they want is to film her car. This was a big inspiration for the idea of memory - there she is lost in another world, yet for her this is more real than the world she’s living in – who is to say she isn’t right?

I think Billy Wilder really captures the sort of joker that memory can be in one's life, how it can trick you into a false dimension and how memory can become fictionalised in the reliving of it.

Title: The Double Shadow
Author: Sally Gardner
Publisher: Indigo
Publication Date: 3 Nov 2011

Synopsis from Amazon

Arnold Ruben has created a memory machine, a utopia housed in a picture palace, where the happiest memories replay forever, a haven in which he and his precious daughter can shelter from the war-clouds gathering over 1937 Britain. But on the day of her seventeenth birthday Amaryllis leaves Warlock Hall and the world she has known and wakes to find herself in a desolate and disturbing place. Something has gone terribly wrong with her father's plan. Against the tense backdrop of the second World War Sally Gardner explores families and what binds them, fathers and daughters, past histories, passions and cruelty, love and devastation in a novel rich in character and beautifully crafted.

Spotlight: Library Lessons: WWII in YA

This week and next week we are looking at WWII in the library lessons as a way of bringing Remembrance Day into focus for the pupils. When I asked for suggestions for  YA fiction incorporating WWII on twitter I had such an amazing response, so thank you to everyone for all your wonderful help. I have only incorporated 4 books that advance the discussions and because we have these available in the library. I just have to give a special thanks you to Kirsty of The Overflowing Library - she really is an amazing history teacher, her school is very, very lucky to have her. Check out both her Book reviews at The Overflowing Library and her history site at Mrs Connor Loves History which was such a great resource for me when doing my presentation.

To start the lesson there are books on the tables for the pupils to look through all about WWII. I chose WWII because I think a lot of pupils still have Grandparents that were alive at the time and it is easy for them to relate to.

We then discuss what interesting facts there are about Bridgend to do with WWII:

Island Farm: POW Camp 198 at Bridgend :: SS8978
This POW camp was the site of the Welsh Great Escape.
The huts were originally built as accommodation for the workers of Bridgend's wartime munitions factories - but the workers declined, preferring their own homes to the functional huts despite the long daily commute from distant towns.
After a spell housing American troops destined for Europe it was then re-purposed as a prisoner of war camp for captured German soldiers. It was during this time that the famous escape occurred leading to German soldiers roaming the Welsh countryside.
At the end of the war it became a holding area for the defendants at the Nuremberg Trials.
The site was then abandoned and it deteriorated until it was eventually levelled in the early 1990s. Only Hut 9 (the "Escape" hut) was preserved. Now the hut is enclosed in a tall metal fence.
The surrounding camp area is now so overgrown that it is rumoured to be protected habitat.

There was also a large munitions factory on the site that Asda use now. My sister informed me that my grandmother actually worked there. I remember a few years ago when they were clearing the land to build Asda the area had to be evacuated when they find a life bomb underneath the rubble.

The Royal Ordnance Factory at Bridgend employed 40,000 workers at its peak, the largest in Britain at that time. The workers were mainly female and travelled from as far a field as Monmouthshire and Carmarthenshire.

WWII[1]

Following the book trailer for Duty Calls: Dunkirk by James Holland we discussed what it would have felt like to go to war at the age of 16. An age not far off for a few of the classes. Additionally how it would feel not to have a choice as to whether you went to war or not.

Following the book trailer for Annexed by Sharon Dogar  we talked about what it would feel like to be separated in society, to be made to stand out from everyone else and not in a good way and having your family torn away from you knowing that they were probably going to die.

Following the reading of the synopsis for Carrie's War by Nina Baldwin the discussion moved onto evacuation and how it would have felt like for both sides to have a stranger in their house.

The use of  The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak   brought the lesson nicely onto the topic of the book burning in Nazi Germany and I was able to emphasis the point that Library Lessons and being able to read is awesome, lol.

The rest of the presentation is self-explanatory and I have to say I have been so pleased with the response of all the classes to this topic. Priceless.

Saturday Spotlight: Guest Post: Libraries Open up the World by Savita Kalhan

It is my great pleasure to welcome Savita Kalhan to Book Angel Booktopia today to talk about the role libraries have played in her own life. Thank you so much for this guest post Savita.

Why Libraries are so Important to Me...

When I was a child the most important place in my life was the town library. The children’s library was housed in a separate structure to the main library, which was a grand old building. The kid’s library was basically a very large terrapin hut. But that didn’t matter. All that mattered was that it was big and it was full of books, and they were free to borrow!

I come from a very traditional Hindu background and my parents were extremely strict. Basically we weren’t allowed to go out anywhere. Luckily I had lots of siblings, I’m the eldest of seven, so there was never much time to get bored. But we did get cabin fever!

The only place we were allowed to go to was the library. We were taken there every Saturday morning and got to stay for as long as we wanted. I ended up reading almost every single book in the library by the time I was 12, and asked the Head Librarian of the adult library if I could join, even though you had to be 14. She let me – as long as she checked the books I was intending to borrow first.

So from a very young age, libraries and librarians have been my friends. I honestly don’t know what I would have done without them, and I doubt very much I would be a writer today if it wasn’t for my them.

Books opened up the world for me. It’s as simple as that. They’re still opening up the world. The ongoing threatened library closures make me sad and angry – how can you deny such pleasure, enjoyment, knowledge, to the children and people who rely on the free and easy access to books that the library provides?

Title: The Long Weekend
Author: Savita Kalhan
Publisher: Andersen
Publication Date: 2 Oct 2008 

Synopsis from Goodreads 

Sam knows that he and his friend Lloyd made a colossal mistake when they accepted the ride home. They have ended up in a dark mansion in the middle of nowhere with man who means to harm them. But Sam doesn't know how to get them out. They were trapped, then separated. Now they are alone. Will either of them get out alive? This gripping and hypnotic thriller will have you reading late into the night.

Saturday Spotlight: Library Lessons: Help Appreciated

As you may have noticed I have been doing presentations for the Library Lessons at school about specific subjects in YA Greek Mythology and Witches so far [ : D ] Over the next month I plan on doing War Stories to co-inside with Remembrance Day concentrating on World War II.

What I would like is to be able to show the pupils some quotes from fellow bloggers, teachers, librarians, authors,  publishers and all the awesome people I know about the importance of books dealing with WWII.

If you could leave me a quote in the comments OR email me HERE I would be really grateful.

Thank you <3

Saturday Spotlight: National Non Fiction Day

THURSDAY 3RD NOVEMBER 2011

After last years successful bloggers event with the reviews of non-fiction books across the blogosphere The Federation of Children's Book Groups in partnership with Scholastic Children's Books are running another blogger event to co-inside with National Non-Fiction Day.

To find out more about National Non-Fiction Day go HERE

If you would like to take part on the blogger event please contact Melanie of Library Mice HERE

I am really looking forward to seeing the reviews especially the cooking ones [ ; D ]

Saturday Spotlight: Library Lessons: Witches in YA

Inspired by Viv at Serendipity Reviews we have been looking at Witches in YA Literature in preparation for Halloween.

Whenever I think about witches Macbeth immediately comes to mind. So at the end of the presentation I have included the witches spell that enables Macbeth to see the future. Also at the end of the presentation the pupils have to write their own potions/spells and share them with the rest of the class.

Witches


Witches 2

I had to share these fabulous pieces of work with the permission of the pupils of course.

Saturday Spotlight: Guest Post: Darkness Falls: A Reading List by Mia James

It is my great pleasure to welcome Mia James to Book Angel Booktopia today to share a reading list inspired by Darkness Falls the 2nd book in the Ravenwood Mysteries Trilogy. We all know how much I love reading lists and squeed out-loud when given the opportunity to host this post. Over to Mia: 

As this is a blog devoted to sharing books you have found and loved (or otherwise), I thought it might be a nice idea to write about the books I discovered as I was researching my new book Darkness Falls.

I'll be honest, when I wrote By Midnight, the first book in the Ravenwood trilogy, I didn't really need to do a huge amount of research into the vampire genre as I wasted away my youth watching horror movies and reading schlocky books (everything from Jaws to James Herbert to Jackie Collins!), but Darkness Falls, as the name suggests, takes April on a journey deep into the shadows, so I needed inspiration from other writers who had taken their characters out there in the dark.

A very nice lady called Professor Avril Horner, one of the country's leading experts on gothic literature, gave me a lot of ideas, starting with Jane Eyre. I was initially surprised when she suggested it, but she was right: it's the story of a young girl trapped in a creaky old house who suspects a very sinister man (who she's actually madly attracted to) might actually be evil. That could describe April's relationship with both of her leading men - Gabriel and Benjamin - in Darkness Falls.

Another cracker was Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier which if anything is even more creepy and atmospheric - the house at Manderley is almost another character, which was something I attempted to do with Highgate Cemetery in the books.

Slightly more modern, I also read the Little Stranger by Sarah Waters which is a master class in slow-burn paranoia and Salem's Lot, Stephen King's brilliant tale of a small town over-run by 'Suckers'. Looking back on it, Salem's Lot was the only book I read that featured vampires, but the overall theme that united all the stories: trust no one...

Especially good advice if you fall in love with a vampire!

I'll be writing more about the creepy movies I watched as 'research' over at Readeraptor on 11 October 

- Mia James, October 2011

Title: Darkness Falls

Series: The Ravenwood Mysteries #2

Author: Mia James

Publisher: Indigo

Publication Date: 29 Sep 2011

Synopsis: From Amazon

Highgate When April's family moved to the sleepy North London village of Highgate, everyone told her it was the start of an amazing new life. They didn't know the half of it. Weeks later, her father was the latest in a series of brutal killings, someone has tried to kill her, and now her boyfriend, Gabriel, is dying too . . . Murder April couldn't save her father, but there's just a chance she can save Gabriel. There's an ancient recipe, hidden in a forbidden book, which holds the cure. All April has to do is find it. Somehow. Vampires But she has to keep a low profile. In a school full of vampires, where one of their own has been killed, they're beginning to suspect they have a Fury in their midst. April's blood might be deadly to vampires, but even that won't save her if they figure out who she is. Time is short, the stakes are high, and surviving school has never been so tough . . .

Website at www.ravenwoodmysteries.com

Saturday Spotlight: Library Lessons: Greek Mythology in YA

This week in the library I have been doing Greek Mythology because it is Olympian Week with Rick Riordan.
Check out the terrific interview over at Book Zone For Boys.
So I wanted to show how Greek Mythology was being utilised in the current selection of YA books on the market.

Greek Mythology


Plus one of my Year 13 Librarians loves Greek Mythology and he put together the following presentation and work-sheets for me. He has been rewarded with cake and sweets [ ; D ]

GreekGodsppt[1]
Matching Gods[1] Matching Gods to Roman[1]
Wordsearch(1)

Please feel free to use the presentations but I would be grateful if you credit the hard work done by my Year 13 Librarian.

Saturday Spotlight: Alyson Noel Week Winners

 

Alyson Noel Week at Book Angel Booktopia

I would also like to take this oppurtunity to express my sincere apologies to Alyson and Sall that the review of Everlasting did not go up. I did write it but blogger ate it with the scheduling issues; being an idiot I didnt save it anywhere else. So I have to re-write it asap. The lesson learnt is save and put on Amazon and Goodreads immediately Do no wait for the post to go live.

Prize Pack 1

Winner as chosen by Random.org

Lucky Number 4: Jules

Prize Pack 2

 

Lucky Number 2

Hannah

Congratulations both and thank you to all those that entered :D 

Saturday Spotlight: Guest Post: The Great YA Time Machine by Kate Harrison

I am so so so excited to welcome Kate Harrison to Book Angel Booktopia today to talk about the great age appeal of YA. As you are probably aware I am one of the people this post applies to as I am not a YA myself (although I am pretty sure I am still 22 in my head, lol). Over to Kate:  

I hope my mum won’t mind me telling you that she’s not in the target market for my first YA novel.

Yet she says it’s definitely her favourite. ‘It’s got an extra something the others didn’t have. And now your dad’s reading it too.’

            I tried to resist asking her what the ‘extra something’ was, or what the others lacked. Mum has a habit of speaking her mind.   

            But here are a few guesses about that something: murder, an imaginary other world, an avenging teenage girl, a dead hero, a geek hero, a thoughtful killer, a cheesy reality TV show, and a love that could cost the heroine her life.

            Hmm. Makes my romantic comedies – which I also love writing – seem a bit, well, tame.

            I’m not in the target YA audience either but, like Mum, I’ve developed a real taste for reading this ‘genre’ of fiction. Except it’s not really a genre at all – and that could be the very reason why YA is appealing to a broader range or readers, and writers.

            As a writer, it lets me tell the story I want to, without worrying whether I might be ‘breaking’ some of the genre rules: by putting a beach bar in the afterlife, for example, or having my heroine juggle homework with homicide investigations. In YA, anything goes, whether it’s a vampire love affair or a televised battle to the death.

            There’s nothing wrong with genre – readers often like to know what they’re getting when they invest time and money in a book.

            But the joy of YA is that you’re never quite certain what you’re going to get. After the success of Twilight, there was a fair chance a vampire might pop up, but YA is so much broader than that. What they have in common is that the young protagonists are facing big battles: for identity, for justice, for love.

            So why are older readers clamouring to read about teens? The truth is that even if those days are decades away, that time is probably the most exciting of our lives: it’s all about imagination, possibility and passion. Is it any wonder we use YA books as a time machine back to a more thrilling time?

            As writers, we seek extremes and we want our characters to be braver and fiercer than we are: my heroine, Alice, is open to possibilities from the first moment that she opens an email apparently from her murdered sister. An adult would probably have dismissed it as a hoax and deleted the mail without thinking.

            YA writers trust their readers – like their characters – to be open and challenging, to consider possibilities adults might dismiss, to ask the awkward questions.

            Talking of awkward questions, I did finally ask my mother what it was she liked most.

            ‘The Beach,’ she said. ‘The sunshine, the sand, the sea. I could imagine myself there...’

Title: Soul Beach

Series: Soul Beach #1

Author: Kate Harrison

Publisher: Indigo

Publication Date: 1 Sep 2011

Synopsis: From Amazon

When Alice Forster receives an email from her dead sister she assumes it must be a sick practical joke. Then an invitation arrives to the virtual world of Soul Beach, an idyllic online paradise of sun, sea and sand where Alice can finally talk to her sister again - and discover a new world of friendships, secrets and maybe even love . . . . But why is Soul Beach only inhabited by the young, the beautiful and the dead? Who really murdered Megan Forster? And could Alice be next? The first book in an intriguing and compelling trilogy centered around the mystery of Megan Forster's death.

Review HERE

Saturday Spotlight: Winner Soul Beach ARC

Title: Soul Beach
Series: Soul Beach #1
Author: Kate Harrison
Publisher: Indigo
Publication Date: 1 Sep 2011

Synopsis: From Amazon

When Alice Forster receives an email from her dead sister she assumes it must be a sick practical joke. Then an invitation arrives to the virtual world of Soul Beach, an idyllic online paradise of sun, sea and sand where Alice can finally talk to her sister again - and discover a new world of friendships, secrets and maybe even love . . . . But why is Soul Beach only inhabited by the young, the beautiful and the dead? Who really murdered Megan Forster? And could Alice be next? The first book in an intriguing and compelling trilogy centred around the mystery of Megan Forster's death.

Review here

Winner selected by Random.Org

Lucky No. 7

Liz R

Saturday Spotlight: Guest Post: Class Divide and Pupil Referral Units by Melvin Burgess

Kids in PRU’S (Pupil Referral Units)

One of the characters in my new book, Kill All Enemies, is Chris – the middle class kid who just won’t do any homework no matter what. In real life, Chris never got to a PRU – mainly down to his parent’s, I think. IN fact, middle class kids are something of a rarity in PRUs.

“The middle classes tend to bring up their children quite well,” said one deputy head of a PRU in the North West I spoke to. Unsurprisingly, Most of his clients were from poor communities. More surprisingly, at the other end of the spectrum, you also got a fair few rich kids. He mentioned a couple to me – one lad who was so spoiled, his mother was unable to take any measures against him at all. She cleaned his room, cooked his food and in return he treated her like what she was - a skivvy. At one point, she took him out of the PRU, where he was making some progress, and sent him off to an expensive private boot camp in the US. He came back with an Native American name, a fake American accent, and as bad as ever.

Other rich kids suffer from the opposite – not too much attention but too little. Busy parents sometimes don’t have enough time for their children. They spend a fortune on them and wonder why they’re not doing well. Other teenagers end up at PRU’s simply because they can’t take the pressure ladled out to them both at school and at home. I met several rich girls who were expected to get about 12 GCSE’s, all A*’s and who were just gibbering wrecks by the time by the time the exams came round. They could be sorted out quite simply, by cutting the GCSE’s down to five and managing parental expectations.

So the poor and the rich tend to make the worst parents, middle class readers will be happy to discover. But not all problems are caused by bad parents, and from time to time you find young people who seem determined to go their own way and do their own thing, no matter what anyone says or thinks.

The model for Chris was one these. Good parents – I know the mother myself. In fact, it was her who told me about it. Her son didn’t end up in the PRU, but he very easily could have if his mum, in the end, hadn’t got fed up with all the pressure and called the school off his back. But in the meantime, he had practically every punishment his parents and the education system could call down upon his head.

I used the stories she told me as a basis for the character Chris in Kill All Enemies; more about him later on the blog tour…

Title: Kill All Enemies

Author: Melvin Burgess

Publisher: Puffin

Publication Date: 1 Sep 2011

Synopsis: From Amazon

Everyone says fourteen-year-old BILLIE is nothing but trouble. A fighter. A danger to her family and friends.

But her care worker sees someone different.

Her classmate ROB is big, strong; he can take care of himself and his brother.

But his violent stepdad sees someone to humiliate.

And CHRIS is struggling at school; he just doesn't want to be there.

But his dad sees a useless no-hoper.

Billie, Rob and Chris each have a story to tell. But there are two sides to every story, and the question is . . . who do you believe?

Saturday Spotlight: Introducing Guest Reviewers for Book Angel Booktopia

By now you should all know that I like to share the book love, I also don't like to let authors/publishers down by not reviewing the fabulous books they send me. However, there really isn't enough hours in the day. Thankfully these lovely people have offered (been coerced) into reviewing some books for me.

I will let them introduce themselves. I have another person I have already sent books to but am having difficulty in contacting her. 
 

Hi, I'm Louise, I am 32 years old and a full time mum to 3 boys, 13, 5 and 3 and a part time care worker.
I try and read as much as I possibly can which can be difficult sometimes! I am quite easily pleased when it comes to books, there are not that many out there which I didn't enjoy reading.  I don't mind books or ereader, as I say easily pleased!!!
I have quite a few favourites, Morganville series, Fallen series, Sookie series.  I do enjoy stand alones as well even thou my fav's tell a different story!
Buying for me for Christmas and birthday is easy peasy, get me a book and I'm over the moon!!

Amazingly Louise's fabulous son has also agreed to review. I have asked him to move to my school [ ; D ]

Hi. My name is Kain.
I am 13 years old.

I like playing on my 360, PSP and reading books.
My favourite has to be Darren Shan. All his books!!

I am in year 8 so don't always get to read as have to do homework instead.
BORING!!

Beth is a wayward graduate, former chef and newbie momma. She lives in Liverpool and on match days can hear the Kop singing You’ll Never Walk Alone.
She has written for many publications in the last five years from small literary zines to online culture magazines and enjoys covering different subjects.  Her main interests include politics, travel, literature, politics and football.
She blogs at The Pieces of Me and tweets as plasticrosaries.  Above everything, she loves books in all shapes and sizes. It would be hard to pinpoint a favourite genre but she particularly loves the novelists Sebastian Faulks, Daphne Du Maurier and Haruki Murakami.

Shelly:

I am a 40 year old Mum of 1 little boy called Harry who is 5 going on 15!
I did try the whole "yummy Mummy" thing but decided it was too much effort to look good all the time!!
I work part time in a travel agents in North London so am able to get some nice deals on long haul holidays!
I am an avid reader and belong to a local book club where I am usually the one with the opposing views to everyone else.
Would love to be able to get to the cinema more but never seem to have the time.

I am very lucky to have found such lovely people.

Saturday Spotlight: By Midnight Winner

Title: By Midnight
Series: Ravenwood
Author: Mia James
Publisher: Gollancz
Publication Date: 3 Feb 2011
Synopsis: From Amazon
April Dunne is not impressed. She's had to move from Edinburgh to Highgate, London, with her parents. She's left her friends - and her entire life - behind. She has to start at a new school and, worst of all, now she's stuck in a creepy old dump of a house which doesn't even have proper mobile phone reception. Ravenwood, her new school, is a prestigious academy for gifted (financially or academically) students - and the only place her parents could find her a place, in the middle of term, in the middle of London, on incredibly short notice. So she's stuck with the super-rich, and the super-smart . . . and trying to fit in when the rest of the students seem to be more glamorous, smarter, or more talented than she is, is more than tough. It's intimidating and isolating, even when she finds a friend in the conspiracy-theorist Caro Jackson - and perhaps finds something more than friendship in the gorgeous, mysterious Gabriel Swift. But there's more going on at Ravenwood than meets the eye. Practical jokes on new students are normal, but when Gabriel saves her from . . . something . . . in Highgate Cemetery, and then she discovers that a murder took place just yards away from where she had been standing, April has to wonder if something more sinister is going on. . . . and whether or not she's going to live through it . . . To find out more about the Ravenwood series visit www.ravenwoodmysteries.com 

Review here

 

No. 12 SisterSpooky

The winner has been emailed and the book is winging it's way to her [ : D ]

Saturday Spotlight: Guest Post: 5 Reasons Libraries ROCK by Alyson Noel

I cannot tell you how much I love this guest post - go read it and you will see why:

1. Library cards are a backstage pass to awesomeness! The first day I was let loose among the stacks, library card in tow, collecting piles of books I couldn’t wait to take home, was a moment I’ll never forget.


2.  Libraries are air-conditioned! Growing up in California in a house without air conditioning made the library a welcome reprieve from the blazing summer heat on days when running through the sprinklers just didn’t cut it.


3.  Libraries provide a safe and quiet place to hang out. As a kid, the library was the one place the gang of girls who bullied me could not penetrate (they didn’t read—go figure!) it provided safe haven and I relied on it heavily.


4.  Libraries build community! My local library provides talks, programs, classes, storytime for kids, and more—it’s a valuable asset I can’t imagine doing without.


5.  Libraries have librarians! Connecting books to readers is important work, and librarians rock that like nobody else!

Now you can see why I love this post especially Number 5 [ ; D ] Thank you so much Alyson for writing it.

Saturday Spotlight: Alyson Noel Week Schedule

As you may have noticed from the banner in my sidebar - I am hosting:

 

ALYSON NOEL WEEK 

next week on the blog. Yes, the entire week is dedicated to Alyson Noel because well her books are aces and you should read them [ : p ]

I am quite proud of the banner I was able to make *pats self on back* so I hope you will join me for the week.

 

Monday 22nd August - Review: Shimmer - A Riley Bloom Novel

Tuesday 23rd August - Trailer Tuesday: Immortals Series plus an awesome give-away

Wednesday 24th August - Review: Dark Flame & Mini Review: Night Star

Thursday 25th August - Musical Moments: Alyson's Top Travel Songs

Friday 26th August - Review: Everlasting

Saturday 27th August - Saturday Spotlight: Guest Post by Alyson Noel

So what do you think - fantastic isn't it SQUEEEEE

Saturday Spotlight: Amazing New Storytelling Experience with Michael Grant

I am really having trouble expressing myself with the details about this amazing project so I may cut and paste the press release so you can understand the concept better than I can explain it lol.

 

 

Press Release:

BZRK (bə’zərk)

A unique transmedia storytelling experience that brings together the worlds of gaming and YA fiction

Egmont has teamed up with Michael Grant, author of the bestselling GONE series and media studio The Shadow Gang to launch BZRK.

This unique storytelling experience brings together the worlds of gaming and YA fiction and is backed by a team of digital specialists including Rich Silverman, writer on Alternate Reality Games for Heroes (‘Evolutions’) and The Dark Knight (‘Why So Serious?’). 

BZRK is a thriller aimed at the Young Adult. It is an edge-of-your-seat story delivered in a new way that will engage digital natives, gamers and readers. Grant describes the story as, ‘A battle for the soul and freedom of the human race carried out simultaneously in the world we know, and in a very different world that is both familiar and utterly strange. It's a world where a single mistake can lead to death or, perhaps worse, to irreversible, shrieking madness.’ 

The story begins this September with an Alternate Reality Game (ARG) and will unfold across multiple channels including an iOS/Android game app and a storyline delivered through the web and social networks. GOBZRK.com, a comprehensive hub website, will provide continuity for the entire experience leading up to and beyond the release of BZRK book one in February. 

‘A key principle of the BZRK experience is that each piece is original,’ said Michael Grant. ‘We are not interested in essentially telling the same story over and over again in different formats. Each piece of this - the ARG, the app, the site and the books – is a story unto itself, each revealing an aspect of the world of BZRK.’ 

Cally Poplak, Managing Director, Egmont Press said: ‘BZRK is a brilliantly original thriller. What particularly excites me is that it shows that a cracking story is what matters, and all formats, whether digital or print, serve that story, taking it to where the audience is.’  

‘It’s an approach that encourages a community to form and participate in the story as it unfolds, which is a new way to publish for teenagers,’ added Mike Richards Head of Marketing for Egmont Press. ‘Layers will be added through different media over six months before BZRK book one is even released.’ 

Grant says, ‘You have never seen this before. That’s my promise. You have never seen anything like this world, you’ve never seen this action, you’ve never seen this level of disturbing intensity. By the time you are through the world of BZRK you will be crawling out of your skin.’   

‘You may think you know what to expect.  You don’t.’

This is a fantastic concept and I am racking my brains to see how I can incorporate into the library especially as we now have the screen and projector. Hopefully with the multi-media experience it is going to get a whole lot more people reading *crosses fingers* 

If you have any ideas on how to incorporate it in the library please let me know [ : D ]