Enter the Skulduggery Pleasant Exquisite Corpse Competition

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Are you a huge Skulduggery Pleasant fan? Well here’s the competition for you.

I received a very exciting email today from HarperCollins, the publisher of Derek Landy’s Skulduggery Pleasant series.  The email was about a new competition that HarperCollins and Derek Landy are running for all Skulduggery fans, to celebrate the release of The Maleficent Seven.  There are some awesome prizes up for grabs and it’s super easy to enter.  Read all about it below and enter your masterpiece.

INTRODUCING EXQUISITE CORPSE

“There are things, pieces of artwork, stories… creations. Objects that burn with an inner light. These things have power. They are fused with the magic imbued in them by their creators. They are fragments of their creators’ minds, of their very souls, fragments taken and cut free, wrenched loose, torn from them for all to see and then stitched together to form a patchwork world, a collage of dreams… an Exquisite Corpse.” Your Golden God, Derek Landy

Exquisite Corpse is our very first fan works competition!

We know you’re awesome. You know you’re awesome. We know that you know that you’re… you get the idea. But the thing is, sometimes it’s not enough to just know, sometimes you have to show everyone else. So, this is your chance. We’re looking for fan works, created by you, inspired by the Golden God himself. Derek, that is. And we’re going to have a theme. This month, unsurprisingly, the theme is Tanith Low. We love her. You love her. Get to it!

You can submit anything… well, anything you’ve created. It could be a poem, a drawing, a short story (under 1,000 words, please, we know how prolific you all get, and Derek needs a little time to, you know, finish Book 8), it could be a Haiku, a clay model, a photo montage. Anything you like, as long as it was inspired by Tanith.

Simply email it – or a picture of it – to us at skulduggery@harpercollins.co.uk.

Derek will judge the entries, and then one lucky fan will WIN the chance to be featured in our newsletter and on the Skulduggery Pleasant website, as the creator of the Exquisite Corpse Work of the Month! Everyone who enters will get an exclusive The Maleficent Seven themed poster, plus we’ll also send the winner a signed copy of The Maleficent Seven.

Derek Landy’s new book, The Maleficent Seven, is a one-off novella focusing on Tanith Low.  The Maleficent Seven is released in NZ on April 18.  Look out for my review soon and your chance to win a copy.

Fearless by Cornelia Funke

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Every time I read a book by Cornelia Funke I’m taken to a magical place filled with all sorts of wonderful creatures and characters.  While her worlds are strange and very different from ours there is also something really comforting about stepping in to them.  With Cornelia Funke you know that you’re going to read a story that will enchant you and I find myself instantly transported there from the first page.  I can still remember the first time I read Inkheart (my favourite children’s book) and feeling like Cornelia had written the book just for me.  Her latest series, starting with Reckless and now Fearless, is aimed at an older audience but filled with all the things I love about her writing.

After saving his brother, Jacob Reckless faces death from the fairy’s curse burning in his heart. In search of a cure he returns to the Mirrorworld, where he is reunited with Fox, a beautiful shape-shifting girl. He has one more chance: a golden crossbow, with the power to both save and destroy life, buried in a dead king’s tomb beneath an invisible palace. Jacob must cross continents, face monsters and men – including a dangerous rival – and learn what it means to stay alive.

Fearless picks up where Reckless left off and takes us back in to the Mirrorworld.  We join Jacob and Fox on a kind of ‘Amazing Race’ through the Mirrorworld to find the head, hand and heart of Guismond the Witch Slayer, which will lead them to the crossbow.  On the opposing team is Nerron the Goyl, a treasure hunter like Jacob, prince Louis and his entourage.  Each wants the crossbow for their own means and they’re incredibly determined to get to it first.

Cornelia’s remarkable characters and creatures fill the pages of this book, from the stone-skinned Goyl and the slimy Waterman, to the mysterious Mr Earlking and the sinister Bluebeard.  Some of the creatures are all her own creation, whereas others, like the Trolls, Giants and Dijin you will have met before in other stories.  I love the way that Cornelia weaves fairy tales in to the story too.  As Jacob is a treasure hunter he often gets sent to retrieve magical items for important people, like Cinderella’s glass slipper or the goose that lays the golden eggs.  You never follow Jacob on any of these quests though, you only hear about them in passing when he’s recounting the tales with his mentor Chanute or Valiant the Dwarf.  The character in Fearless that I found most intriguing was the Bluebeard, a sinister character who appears charming, but hides his true nature behind his clean-shaven face.  Watch out for this guy because he’s really creepy.

Fearless (and Reckless) are certainly darker and grittier than Cornelia’s Inkheart series, but fans of that series will love this one.  It’s like Cornelia has instilled the essence of the original fairy tales into her stories.  I really hope that there are more books to come in the Mirrorworld series, as it feels like Cornelia has just scratched the surface of this world and has plenty more to reveal about her characters.

5 0ut of 5 stars

Win a copy of Reckless and Fearless

I have a copy of both Fearless and the first book in the series, Reckless to give away.  To get in the draw all you have to do is enter your name and email address in the form below.  Competition closes Tuesday 9 April (NZ only).

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Thank you for your response. ✨

 

Win When We Wake signed by Karen Healey

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Last Friday we were lucky enough to host Karen Healey in Christchurch as part of NZ Book Month.  Karen talked about her latest book, When We Wake, and the ‘Sleeping Beauty’ stories that inspired her.  Karen is a great speaker, as well as an amazing writer, so it was a thoroughly entertaining hour.  You can read my review of When We Wake here on the blog.

I have a copy of When We Wake, signed by Karen Healey, to give away.  To get into the draw just enter your name and email address in the form below.  Competition closes Monday 8 April (NZ and Australia only).

Thanks to everyone who entered. The winner is Rachel Crewe.

Official US book trailer for Michael Grant’s Light

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This US book trailer for Michael Grant’s Light is quite different from the UK version but I think it’s great.  Light is one of my Easter reads and it’s fantastic but very nerve-wracking.  Light is the final book in Michael Grant’s Gone series and it’s available in NZ and Australia now.

James Dashner on The Maze Runner vs. The Eye of Minds

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James Dashner talks about the difference between The Maze Runner and his upcoming book, The Eye of Minds.  If you’re a James Dashner fan, you need to check out his Dashner Chat on Twitter.  Just head to Twitter and search #dashnerchat.

Hang in There Bozo by Lauren Child

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You’ve heard of Bear Grylls and James Bond, right? Well they have nothing on ever-resourceful spy Ruby Redfort.  For this year’s World Book Day, Lauren Child (creator of Ruby Redfort and Clarice Bean) wrote Hang in There Bozo: The Ruby Redfort Emergency Survival Guide for Some Tricky Predicaments.  It’s the cheapest and most accessible survival guide you’ll ever read.

Ruby Redfort: secret agent, detective, thirteen-year-old kid. And now… survival expert.

It’s not always possible to skip around smelling roses, ’cos sometimes you’re too busy gripping onto the cliff edge by your fingernails. But 99 times out of 100 it’s worth hanging in there bozo: just as things can get worse so too can they get a whole lot better. In this handy pocket-sized book, Ruby will give you the low-down on how to survive a whole bunch of tricky situations. So long as you keep a cool head, buster, you can make it out of there alive …

Hang in There Bozo is the ultimate survival guide, packed with tips and tricks from Ruby Redfort herself.  If you you’d like to know how to survive in the wild, but can’t stand Bear Grylls, you need to read this book, written in Ruby’s unique voice.  If you’ve read any of Lauren Child’s Ruby Redfort books you’ll know that Ruby likes to use the words ‘bozo’ and ‘buster’ a lot, and there are rules that she lives by.  This is all here in this book, along with heaps of really great survival tips like:

  • How to stay calm in a life-and-death situation
  • How to make a fire and find water
  • How to navigate using the stars or a compass
  • What to do if you’re lost in the desert or marooned at sea
  • How to charm a snake – ‘Don’t even go there buster’
  • What to do if you should meet a bear – ‘Wish you hadn’t’
  • Dealing with individuals who you know are dangerously dull

The best thing about this book is that it’s pocket sized so you can take it everywhere (especially when you go camping) and it’s only $4.99.  It has to be the cheapest, but most awesome, survival guide ever!

Fast Five with Jenny Cooper

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  • Why did I want to be an illustrator?
I never knew you could be an illustrator, but I always drew, at home, when I was young. Then I grew up and discovered that there was a whole world of picture books for children, and even though I had other jobs like teaching and advertising, I couldn’t help being drawn to children’s illustration, because I had spent so many thousands of hours, as a child, doing that sort of art. So in a way, I had no choice, it just happened naturally.
  • What is the best thing about being an illustrator?
The best thing is when you do a picture that you are really proud of. This doesn’t happen often, usually I am disappointed in my work. But just sometimes, maybe one picture out of 10, I do something that really surprises me, astonishes me and makes me think, how did I paint something that good? When that happens, it makes all the other, average, illustrations, worth it.
  • What is your favourite New Zealand Book?
The Year of the Shining Cuckoo by Joyce West. It is not in print now, I bought it second hand and read it once a year.
My favourite NZ picture books are  probably A Booming in the Night, by Helen Taylor, or Dragor, by Philip Webb
  • What do you love most about New Zealand?
New Zealand to me means freedom and space. I didn’t notice the  space and peace and quiet here until I had travelled in Europe, where the beaches are so full you don’t have room to put down a beach towel. And I can be in the mountains in an hour, if I want, or beside a beautiful clean alpine lake. And I love our relaxed and unfussy way of life, as Kiwis are basically trustworthy and trusting of other people, and I really hope it stays that way. Doors don’t always have to be locked, and a lost wallet will probably be returned, and if you want to live in an unusual way, up a mountain or on a boat, you are free to do it.
  • What do you love most about libraries?
If I go into a library for one book, I always come out with 5, there are so many interesting things to read about. But unlike the internet, where you are alone, libraries are always full of other people. Libraries are friendly, the people are helpful, and I always come out feeling I have spent my time well, and learned something. And of course, the books are free!
Jennifer Cooper is a children’s book illustrator with a background in graphic design.  Jenny has illustrated books for Melanie Drewery, Yvonne Morrison, Joy Cowley, and Jane Buxton, among many others.  Jenny’s most recent collaboration is with the Topp Twins for their version of There’s a Hole in My Bucket and Do Your Ears Hang Low?

Fast Five with Philippa Werry

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  • Why did you want to be a writer?

I think I wanted to be a writer because I was a reader, and I wanted to be able to write a book as well as read one. It frustrated and puzzled me for a long time that writing a book seemed as if it should be so easy – but it actually it takes a lot of work on the writer’s part to make it look that easy.

  • What’s the best thing about being a writer?

There are lots of good things – can I have two? One is getting to do the best job of all, which is making stuff up and inventing places that you’d like to spend time in and characters whom you’d love to meet. The other is when someone writes or emails or comes up to tell you in person that  they really liked one of your books.  

  • What’s your favourite New Zealand book?

Too hard! I could say any book of poetry by Jenny Bornholdt, especially The rocky shore. Also any books by wonderful NZ authors for children and young adults – too many to single out, but Fleur Beale, Mandy Hager and Jack Lasenby for starters (just to mention a few whom we are lucky to have living in and around Wellington.)

  • What do you love most about New Zealand?

I love that we are a beautiful, free country where we can think what we like, say what we like, read what we write and write what we like. I love that we have beautiful beaches that aren’t all built up with skyscrapers and hotels. I love that we have wonderful books and great bookstores, cinemas and theatres and fabulous writers.  I love that my family and friends live here, and my husband and three gorgeous daughters.

  • What do you love most about libraries?

I used to be a librarian myself, and I spent hours in them as a child, so I feel very at home in libraries. Not just the libraries I use most, but any library anywhere can make you feel welcomed and belonging as soon as you walk in. I’m also grateful that I can use them to find out all sorts of information that I need for writing non fiction, and for the background to fiction as well.

Philippa Werry is a children’s writer whose non-fiction, poetry, stories and plays have been widely published, and also broadcast on National Radio. Philipp’s work has appeared in various anthologies and she has written over 100 pieces for the School Journal and other educational publishers.  Her latest book is Anzac Day: The New Zealand Story (published by New Holland Publishers NZ) is a nonfiction book about Anzac Day, what it is and why it matters.

Fast Five with Jennifer Beck

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  • Why did you want to be a writer?

I was lucky to grow up in a family who loved books and valued reading.  Although I wrote my first book when I was nine (it wasn’t very good – I’m sure many of you could do better today!) I didn’t really start writing until I had children of my own.  Sharing books with them was such a delight that I decided to make my own books.  I wrote and illustrated them on the kitchen table, and later mustered up the courage to send some to a publisher.  It took a few years of persistence before the first one was accepted and published.  Although I didn’t set out to write lots of books, once started I haven’t been able to stop. Well, not yet.

  • What’s the best thing about being a writer? 

For me, it’s the pleasure of creativity.  I really enjoy the process of developing an idea, or combining several, into a story that is new and original.  Working with the illustrator and seeing the pages come to life with skilful artwork is also an enjoyable experience, followed by reading the finished book for the first time.

  • What’s your favourite New Zealand book?

I have so many it’s hard to choose.  I enjoy Joy Cowley’s warmth and surprise endings, and the delightful humour in John Parker’s Poppa McPhee Gets the Eggs.  However my favourite is probably Robyn Belton’s Herbert : The Brave Seadog because it is a story with such heart and I know something of the special background to the book.

  • What do you love most about New Zealand?

I admire the inventiveness, adaptability and creativity of New Zealanders, which I feel is a legacy of our pioneering past.

  • What do you love most about libraries?

I must confess I’ve never been very good at finding my way around libraries, so what I love most is the generous response from librarians when asked “Please, can you help me…”

Jennifer Beck is the author of more than 45 children’s books.  She has worked with many different illustrators, including Robyn Belton and Lindy Fisher.  Her books have also won many awards, including the Elsie Locke Award and the New Zealand Post Children’s Book Award. Jennifer’s latest book is Remember That November, illustrated by Lindy Fisher.

 

Fast Five with Melanie Drewery

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  • Why did you want to be a writer?

Because I have always had a vivid imagination, and when I was small I was a real chatterbox with lots of ideas to share. Writing is sort of like talking a lot on paper.

  • What’s the best thing about being a writer?

I can put my ideas into a story and they will reach heaps and heaps of people I may never even meet! My words might make someone laugh or cry, they might even teach them something or change the way they look at the world. That’s pretty amazing.

  • What’s your favourite New Zealand book?

Under the Mountain.

  • What do you love most about New Zealand?

Oh I can’t just love one thing, I need at least two, so I’m going to cheat here. I love our beaches, and being able to swim or walk by the sea every day. I also love our own unique culture, and how much more Te Reo Maori and Maori expressions have become part of everyone’s culture.

  • What do you love most about libraries?

I love being able to read lots and lots and lots of books. Is it weird to say I also love the bookish smell of libraries, yum, all those words wiggling around in their books and making their own special smell.

Melanie Drewery is an author, illustrator and artist who writes primarily for children. Koro’s Medicine was a finalist in the Picture Book Category of the 2005 New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children & Young Adults, and the Maori translation of this title, by Kararaina Uatuku, won the 2005 Te Kura Pounamu Award. Melanie won the Picture Book section of the 2008 New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults for her book Tahi: One Lucky Kiwi.