science fiction

The Phoenix Files: Fallout by Chris Morphew

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Chris Morphew’s Phoenix Files is one of my favourite series.  I got in to them last year before Chris came to New Zealand for the Storylines Family Day in Christchurch last year, and I was hooked from the first page of Arrival.  They’ve got the perfect mix of action, suspense, mystery and science fiction that make them hard to put down.  Fallout is the fifth book (in the six book series) and has just been released in Australia and New Zealand.  Chris doesn’t waste any time getting straight back into the action and rocketing you along to the end of the world.

The Shackleton Building has been turned into a concentration camp, and the last free people in Phoenix have been forced into hiding. Unless Jordan and the others can figure out where the Co-operative is keeping Tobias, everything they’ve fought for will be for nothing.

As Peter spins further out of control, can Jordan find a way to save Luke’s life, or is history doomed to repeat itself?

With only weeks left until Tabitha is released, Phoenix’s biggest secrets are still yet to be revealed.

And the clock is still ticking.

There are 14 days until the end of the world.

To tell you much about the story would only spoil it for everyone, but I will say this – Fallout is the best book in the series so far.  It’s action-packed, explosive and there are shocks galore.  Chris answers a lot of those burning questions you’ve had about Phoenix right from the start and leaves you on the edge of your seat at the very end.  We haven’t seen much of Shackleton in the last couple of books but he comes back in all his sadistic glory in Fallout.  He’s the best villain since Mayor Prentice in Patrick Ness’ Chaos Walking Trilogy.  He’s one of those guys you just want to punch in the face because he makes you so angry.  I’ve read the last 3 books one after another and I wish I could just keep reading and find out how it all ends, but I’ll have to wait until 2013 for Doomsday.

5 out of 5 stars

Interview with Phoenix Files author Chris Morphew

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Chris Morphew is the author of the action-packed Phoenix Files series, about a group of teenagers who have 100 days to stop the world from ending, and he’s also one of the authors who write the Zac Power series (under the name H I Larry)  .  I got the chance to ask Chris a few questions when he came to Christchurch last year.

What is it like to be one of the authors of the Zac Power series?

It’s pretty cool! Whenever I visit a school and ask how many kids have read a Zac Power book, I’m always amazed at how many hands go up!

What’s your favourite Zac Power gadget?

I think Zac’s Turbo Boots in Volcanic Panic are pretty awesome. Jetpack shoes powerful enough to blast someone out of a volcano? That sounds pretty good to me!

Zac Power books written by Chris Morphew

What inspired you to write your action-packed Phoenix Files series?

This might sound a bit morbid, but one of the biggest things I want to do with The Phoenix Files is tell a story about hardship and suffering. I want to be really honest about the darkness and brokenness of the world. But I don’t want to stop there. I want to suggest that the darkness and the brokenness isn’t all there is, and that maybe there’s a bigger story being told that makes the bad parts worthwhile in the end.

In The Phoenix Files Luke, Peter and Jordan learn that there is only 100 days until the end of the world. What would you do if you knew you only had 100 days left to live?

I would pray a lot. And then maybe see if I could find a super-powered homeless man to tell me what was really going on.

What was the book you loved most as a child?

That’s a tough one! There are so many!
Fiction: The Narnia series, Animorphs, Where the Wild Things Are…
Non-fiction: The Bible and books about dinosaurs.

Who is your favourite author/children’s author?

It’s a toss-up between C.S. Lewis and J.K. Rowling.

Why did you want to be a writer?

Because I love telling stories! I think fictional stories have incredible power to help us understand the real world in new ways.

What’s the best thing and worst thing about being a writer?

The best thing is having the opportunity to explore interesting ideas. The worst thing is usually my next deadline. I write pretty slowly, and sometimes it’s hard to keep up!

What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

Write about things that matter. If you care about your story, then other people are far more likely to care about it too.

The fifth book in The Phoenix Files, Fallout, is out now.  If you haven’t read this amazing series, grab a copy of the first book, Arrival.

The Phoenix Files by Chris Morphew

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The fifth book in Chris Morphew’s brilliant Phoenix Files series, Fallout, is released in NZ this month.  To celebrate I want to highlight this great series by posting my review of the first book in the series, Arrival, my review of the latest book, Fallout, and an interview that I did with Chris Morphew last year when he came to NZ for the Storylines Family Day.  If you haven’t already discovered this series you should go and grab copies of them now, especially if you’re a fan of Michael Grant’s Gone series.

 

What would you do if you found out there were only 100 days until the end of the world?

When Luke and his mum move to the town of Phoenix, out in the middle of nowhere, Luke knows straight away that something isn’t quite right about the place.  There are no cars, no phones and no internet.  All the houses look the same and the only way to get around the town is to walk or bike.  The town was especially built by the Shackleton Cooperative, the mysterious company that offered Luke’s mum a job, and their security officers roam the streets.  A coded message brings Luke together with Peter and Jordan, and when they decipher the message they realise they’re in serious danger.  Someone is plotting to wipe out the human race in 100 days and Phoenix suddenly becomes the safest and most dangerous place on earth.  When Luke discovers a note in his backpack inviting them to a secret meeting at the Phoenix Airport, they hope that they’ll get some answers.  However, their meeting at the airport gives them more questions than answers and as they hunt for information about Phoenix and the deadly plans, the more dangerous it becomes for them in the town.

Arrival is the first book in the action-packed, heart-stopping Phoenix Files series.  It’s one of those books that you just have to keep reading to find out what happens.  It grabs you from the very first page and doesn’t let you go until the end.  You’re left with lots of unanswered questions about Phoenix and the Shackleton Cooperative, but this just makes you want to go and pick up the next book straight away.  Luckily there are 5 books already released in this 6 book series.  The Phoenix Files are perfect for those who like mystery, adventure and suspense, or books about secret agencies and the end of the world.  If you like Michael Grant’s Gone series, then you’ll love The Phoenix Files.  Recommended for 12+    10 out of 10

Interview with Cat Patrick, author of Forgotten and Revived

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Cat Patrick is the author of two of my favourite books, Forgotten and Revived (which you can win here on my blog).  Cat’s stories are really original and I always wonder where she gets her ideas.  I asked her if she could answer some of my burning questions about her books and her writing so here are her wonderful answers.

  • Forgotten and Revived are two of the most original young adult books I’ve read.  What inspired you to write these stories?

I really believe that inspiration is everywhere. In the case of Forgotten, it was in my kitchen when I was a new, sleep-deprived mom, and I forgot what I was doing in the middle of an activity. I never remembered, but my brain wandered and landed on the book idea.

With Revived, inspiration came in the form of a news story about a drug that could potentially jolt stroke patients back to normal, read at a time when a family friend’s death from cancer was also on my mind.

  • In Forgotten, London can see what will happen in the future, but she can’t remember her past.  How did you keep track of London’s story while writing?

I kept memory timeline, and every time I’d sit down to write, I’d also read back a few chapters to make sure I was *forgetting* the right information.

 

  • If you had to live the life of one of your characters who would you choose, London or Daisy?

I think I’d choose Daisy’s life. So much of us is our past—bad or good, it helps shape us. It would be incredibly difficult not to feel lost in London’s life.

  • One of the things I like the most about your stories is that the male characters are normal and relatable.  Are Luke and Matt based on guys you know?

Luke and Matt are guys I wish I’d known in high school. Sometimes when I read back, I get glimmers of recognition, but ultimately they’re fictional.

  • Relationships play an important role in your books.  Matt in particular is quite caring and loyal in his relationship with his sister and with Daisy.  Do you know before you start writing how these relationships will evolve or does this happen as you write?

It happens as I write. I’m not an outliner. I don’t start books in any sort of organized fashion. Basically, I get the idea, obsess about the main characters’ names, then start typing. The characters take me where they want to go. In the case of Matt, I’m happy that he turned out to be such a good guy.

  • Each time Daisy is revived she has to move to a different city.  If you could relocate to any city in the world what would it be?

Oh goodness, that’s a long list. If I have to pick one, I’d say London. I spent two days there once. I fell in love and desperately want to go back.

  • I love your Australian book covers for both Forgotten and Revived because they stand out and look really appealing.  Which editions have your favourite covers and why?

My Australian publisher, Hardie Grant Egmont, has indeed done an amazing job with my covers. Not only are they lovely on their own, but they work well together. For Forgotten, I really love the covers from Australia, UK, Sweden and France. For Revived, the US, UK and Australia covers are amazing.

   

  • What movies/books/music inspire your writing?

I tend to listen to alternative rock—it lets my mind wander to the right place to get inspired. I’ve gotten a lot of ideas while either walking or driving while listening to music. Some of my favorite bands are Arcade Fire, Airborne Toxic Event, Radiohead, Muse, Florence & The Machine, Coldplay and Snow Patrol. And like seemingly everyone in the world, I’ve got Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know” on infinite loop in my brain right now.

As for books, honestly every great read inspires me to be a better writer.

  • Your third book, The Originals is due out in 2013.  Are you able to tell me a little about the story?

Sure! The Originals is about three identical clones living as one person in order to hide from their past. They split each day, with one going to school in the morning, one attending class and cheer practice in the afternoon and one handling night classes, an afterschool job and other evening commitments. Like Forgotten and Revived, the story offers a mixture of romance and mystery, but it is also an exploration of what it means to be an individual as part of a very unique family dynamic.

Thank you again for the opportunity!

You can follow Cat on her website (http://www.catpatrick.com/), on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/cat.patrick.7) and on Twitter (@seecatwrite).

Revived by Cat Patrick

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One of the things that excites me the most as a reader is finding new authors, especially ones that blow you away with their originality.  Cat Patrick is an exciting new author I discovered last year when I read her debut YA book, Forgotten (read my review here).  Forgotten is one of those books that sticks in your mind long after you’ve read it because it’s totally original and stands out.  Cat’s latest book, Revived, is just as amazing as Forgotten and hooked me in from the blurb.

Daisy has died five times.

She’s a test subject for a government super-drug called Revive, which brings people back from the dead.

Each time she is revived, Daisy has to move cities and change her identity to avoid suspicion.  Daisy has always got a thrill out of cheating death, but her latest move has come with unexpected complications: a new best friend, and a very cute crush.

As Daisy’s attachment to her new home grows, she discovers secrets that could tear her world apart.  And the more she learns, the more she feels like a pawn in a sinister game.

When the stakes are life and death, someone’s going to get hurt.

I had high hopes for Revived after loving Forgotten and it totally lived up to them, and more.  It’s difficult to try and put Cat’s books into a category or genre because they’re mostly a real-life story, but with a touch of science fiction thrown in.  Daisy first died in a bus crash when she was four, after which she got taken into the Revived program and now lives with two agents who pretend to be her parents.  Her and the other ‘bus kids’ have to undergo regular testing to make sure they are healthy and to ensure the drug is doing its job.

I thought that the background and structure of the organisation behind Revive that Cat created was really clever.  At the top there’s God who makes all the decisions and is in charge, then there are the agents who work for God called Disciples, and at the bottom are the Converts, those ‘bus kids’ who are part of the program and are given Revive to bring them back to life.  God thinks that he can do whatever he want and that nobody will stop him, which raises some interesting ethical questions in the story.

Another thing that I really liked in Revived, and also in Forgotten, is that Cat creates relatable male characters that aren’t douche-bags.  You won’t find any love triangles with moody, mysterious guys in Cat’s books.  The love interest in Revived is Matt, a normal, average guy who is friendly and loyal.  The relationship between Daisy and Matt progresses naturally throughout the story and they have their share of ups and downs.  There isn’t smoldering passion because there isn’t the need for it in the story and it would seem wrong between Cat’s characters.  Any teenagers who want to know what love feels like should read Cat’s books.

There’s something in Revived for everyone – mystery, suspense, romance and a touch of science fiction.  Get your hands on Revived and discover the amazing writing of Cat Patrick.

5 out of 5 stars

Fear by Michael Grant

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Michael Grant is one of my favourite authors because you never quite know what to expect when you start his latest book.    I know for sure that it’s going to be violent, probably disturbing and like no other young adult book around, but I never know what he’s going to throw at me.  Fear is the fifth book in his brilliant Gone series and there were times while reading it that I thought ‘where did that come from?’ or ‘what the hell is going on?’  Some authors may be running out of steam by the fifth book in a series (especially one as full-on as this one) but Michael Grant is still surprising me and making the situation even worse for the kids of the FAYZ.

Night is falling in the FAYZ. Permanently.  The barrier that surrounds the town of Perdido Beach is turning black, blotting out the sun and plunging its inhabitants into perpetual gloom.

And as the shadows deepen, the Darkness stirs.  From its lair beneath the earth, the gaiaphage reaches out for what it needs most – a human body into which it can be reborn…

Michael Grant drops you right back into the FAYZ in Fear and if you’d forgotten how bad things were he quickly reminds you.  Each of the camps are coping in their own ways and things have been relatively trouble-free for a while.  That is until certain characters make a reappearance and a darkness starts creeping up the side of the dome.  As in other books in the series, characters who seemed minor come into their own, especially Penny who totally loses it (her sanity that is).  The storylines of the gaiaphage and Little Pete get even weirder and in some parts I had no idea what was going on.  Michael Grant has an incredibly dark and twisted mind and he keeps coming up with new ways to creep his readers out and inflict torture on the kids of the FAYZ.  Because this book is called Fear Michael makes his characters face their fears, often using Penny as the tool for this.  One of my favourite things about this book was seeing what was going on outside the dome.  I’ve always wondered how the people outside were dealing with the dome and how the families were coping.  We do get a few questions answered about the FAYZ but hopefully the final book, Light, will tie up the loose ends.  It’s hard to believe that, in a year, we’ll be saying goodbye to Sam, Astrid, Edilio, Quinn and all the other kids of the FAYZ.

5 out of 5 stars

Slide by Jill Hathaway

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Sometimes you read the synopsis of a book and you think ‘that’s brilliant!’  The premise of the story is something completely different and you want to start reading it straight away.  Slide by debut author, Jill Hathaway, was one of those books and I couldn’t wait to get into it (especially after I saw the great cover!).

“Sylvia “Vee” Bell hates that, like her deceased mother, she has narcolepsy. But this embarrassing condition is nowhere near as bad as what happens during these episodes: when Vee passes out she actually slides into somebody else’s conciousness and experiences the world through that person’s eyes. This is how Vee finds herself in the head of a killer, standing over a classmate’s slashed and murdered body.

When another cheerleader turns up dead, Vee realizes that someone is killing off her sister’s friends. Suddenly everyone is a suspect, and Vee finds herself enmeshed in a terrifying web of secrets, lies and danger. She must face up to the fact that she can trust no one-not even the family and friends she thought she knew.”

Slide is a fast-paced thriller that keeps you guessing until the very end.  If narcolepsy wasn’t hard to deal with by itself, Vee also has this terrifying ‘gift’ that she also has to deal with.  Vee is a likeable character who has to cope with her condition by herself because everyone she has tried to tell thinks she is lying.  Her sliding often happens quite unexpectedly and she can’t stop it.  She often can’t tell who’s head she’ll end up in and it means she sometimes finds out the deepest secrets and fears of people she knows.  I really liked how Jill Hathaway made the connection between sliding and objects with some sentimental value attached, which meant that Vee’s sliding wasn’t just random.

Jill builds up the tension throughout the story, right up until the chilling climax.  Vee is the only one who knows the truth, but she can’t tell anyone she knows, and she’s afraid to talk to anyone in case that person is the killer.  I hadn’t picked the killer so the finale was even better.  My favourite part of the story was Vee’s realisation about her gift, as it gave her some hope that she could save her family.

Slide is a fantastic debut from Jill Hathaway and I’ll look forward to reading more from her in the future.

4 out of 5 stars

172 Hours on the Moon by Johan Harstad

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One thing I really love about the Young Adult books that are being published at the moment is the amount of great science fiction stories.  Whether it’s the paranormal, like Andrew Hammond’s CRYPT series and Will Hill’s Department 19 or set in outer space, like Beth Revis’ Across the Universe and Philip Webb’s Six Days, these stories grab me and don’t let me go until the very last page.  Johan Harstad’s new book, 172 Hours on the Moon is one of these stories.

Set in 2019, it’s the story of 3 lucky teenagers who are chosen from millions of others around the world to be the first teenagers to travel to the moon.  A worldwide lottery is announced to find the 3 teenagers and it’s Mia from Norway, Antoine from France, and Midori from Japan who are chosen for this once in a lifetime experience.  In the first few chapters we find out who they are and what their life is like in their countries.  Each of them want to escape their lives and the moon mission gives them that chance.  They know that once they return from the moon, they will live very different lives.  Before they leave for their training, each of them experience some strange events that make them questions whether they should be going to the moon.  After their weeks of training they say goodbye to their families and leave for the moon.  You know that things are going to go wrong and sure enough, they do.  From the moment they land on the moon a series of strange events occur, and soon they find themselves fighting for their lives, millions of miles from home.

172 Hours on the Moon had me hooked from the blurb ‘Three of them will go on the trip of a lifetime.  Only one will come back.’  Johan’s story was originally published in his native Norwegian and Tara F. Chace has translated it well, capturing the fear and claustrophobia of the moon perfectly.  You know as soon as you start the story that everything is going to go horribly wrong, but you have to find out how and why.  The suspense keeps you reading and I found it really difficult to put the book down even to make a cup of tea.  The teenage characters were very real and I was really hoping they’d make it home (even though I just knew they wouldn’t).  I loved the way the author held back certain details about the true nature of the mission and revealed these slowly throughout the story.  One of the adult characters would reveal some details, but wouldn’t tell the teenagers the whole truth, which makes you keep reading to find out the truth.  Johan ends the story with a punch to your guts and leaves you catching your breath, marveling at the story you’ve just read.

4 out of 5 stars

Meet the Apocalypsies #3: Leah Bobet

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Today I’m joined by debut author and member of the Apocalypsies, Leah Bobet.  Leah is the author of Above, an amazing new Young Adult urban fantasy novel.  Leah drinks tea, wears feathers in her hair, and plants gardens in back alleys. She lives in Toronto, Ontario.   Here’s the blurb for Above:

Matthew has loved Ariel from the moment he found her in the tunnels, her bee’s wings falling away. They live in Safe, an underground refuge for those fleeing the city Above–like Whisper, who speaks to ghosts, and Jack Flash, who can shoot lightning from his fingers.

But one terrifying night, an old enemy invades Safe with an army of shadows, and only Matthew, Ariel, and a few friends escape Above. As Matthew unravels the mystery of Safe’s history and the shadows’ attack, he realizes he must find a way to remake his home–not just for himself, but for Ariel, who needs him more than ever before.

Now it’s over to Leah to tell us about her writing and Above.  Thanks Leah for your wonderful post.

My writerbrain’s a bit like a game of Katamari Damacy; I read and putter and roll the little ball around, picking up things, and eventually it gets big enough that I become a star have something to write. Here are a few of the things it picked up:

The first was a detail, actually, from an essay I was reading for a third-year philosophy course: where the author described having to stand in his underwear in an examination room under bright lights because his doctors were using the diagnosis of his disability to teach student doctors. I can actually viscerally remember leaning back on my (crappy student) couch when I read it: all this emotion, shame and display and anger, bleeds right through the page. It hit me right between the eyes, and I knew I had to use it for something, somewhere.

The second thing was, well, picking a fight. I used to watch the Ron Perlman Beauty and the Beast TV show back when I was a kid, and I used to watch Futurama, and I have this pickily annoying practical streak that used to do things like correct people when they had song lyrics wrong. So part of my head, for a long time, has been going but it wouldn’t be like that! You get this whole Secret Society of Mutants Living Underground thing, suspicious and insular and ready to set you on fire and hiding in life-and-death ways, but nobody ever talks about how they got that way or the long-term emotional consequences of being locked up down there with the same five people all the time. They live underground in sewers or the like, but they’re always these suspiciously comfortable, all-the-amenities, Hollywood kinds of sewers, not what you’d actually get if a half-dozen people with various mental and physical issues went down into the actual sewer and tried to rough out something to live in. In real life, it’d probably be cold. You’d spend all your time figuring out how to get enough water, power, and canned food to just survive. So, says I, picking a fight with a whole bunch of books and movies, all happy with how smart I was. I’ll show them what it’s really like.

The third thing? A question I’ve been picking at for years, and still haven’t found a great answer to: When someone you care about is in trouble, when do you work like hell to save them, to try to pull them out of the hole they’re falling into – and when do you realize they’re just going to pull you in after them, and let go, and walk away?

I still have no idea about that: Where the line is between being right and safe, and wrong and cruel, or the other way around, lies. But I had enough to say about it, trying to find that line, that a whole book came out: about a boy who grew up underground and a girl who can turn into a bee.

ABOVE (Arthur A. Levine Books, April 2012)

http://www.leahbobet.com

Slide Book Trailer

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Slide by Jill Hathaway is about a girl who can ‘slide’ into other peoples bodies for a brief time.  She has narcolepsy and when she passes out she slides into other people’s heads and ends up seeing through their eyes.  Then, one day she finds herself in the head of a killer, who is standing over the body of one of the girls from her school.  I’m only 50 pages in and the story’s already gripped me.