I’m a huge fan of James Dashner’s Maze Runner series so I’m really excited about his new series, The Mortality Doctrine. The first book in the series, The Eye of Minds is released in the US in October. This video is the first of a series of videos that James will be posting about his new series.
Fast Five with Diana Noonan
- Why did you want to be a writer?
I wanted to be a painter but found I couldn’t paint well enough to please myself, so I decdied to be a writer and “paint with words” instead.
- What’s the best thing about being a writer?
I get to work in my own home with my beautiful garden, beach, forest, donkeys, and chooks just outside the window. And, every day, I get to be at home with my wonderful husband of 27 years. I am able to become excited about an idea and then bring that excitement to fruition by producing a piece of writing. Writing gives me an outlet for expressing the things that are most important to me.
- What’s your favourite New Zealand book?
Barbara Anderson’s short stories are a favourite, as are Owen Marshall’s. I also adore Ronald Hugh Morrison’s work.
- What do you love most about New Zealand?
I love the political stability we have in New Zealand. I have visited many countries over the years, because I love to travel and learn about new places, and I feel grateful each time I work in the garden that I don’t have to be concerned about encountering a landmine. I am always mindful that I will still be in the same place to harvest the food I grow because war won’t have been forced to leave my home.
- What do you love most about libraries?
I love the feeling that the whole world is there before me, in words and colour. Because I live in a very rural place, I’m often rushing when I’m visiting the city, with a thousand things to get done, so on the rare occasion that I do have time, it’s a real treat to have hours to just sit and look at books.
Diana Noonan is the author of many books, from educational readers to picture books and nonfiction. Her books, which include The Best-loved Bear and The Best-dressed Bear, are family favourites. Quaky Cat, which was illustrated by Gavin Bishop, raised thousands of dollars for Christchurch charities and helped Christchurch children through the recent earthquakes.
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Seven Wonders: The Colossus Rises by Peter Lerangis
Imagine that you were told that you woke up on a mysterious island, a place that few people know even exists, and told that you have six months to live. You’re told that you have a special gene that gives you amazing powers, but the only way to keep those powers under control and keep you alive is to retrieve seven lost magical orbs. These orbs have been hidden in the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and it’s up to you and your new friends to retrieve them before it’s too late. This is the task that is given to Jack McKinley in Peter Lerangis’ new series, Seven Wonders. The first book in the Seven Wonders series, The Colossus Rises is out now.
The day after twelve-year-old Jack McKinley is told he has six months to live, he awakens on a mysterious island, where a secret organization promises to save his life – but with one condition. With his three friends, Jack must lead a mission to retrieve seven lost magical orbs, which, only when combined together, can save their lives. The challenge: the orbs have been missing for a thousand years, lost among the ruins and relics of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. With no one else to turn to and no escape in sight, the four friends have no choice but to undertake the quest. First stop: The Colossus of Rhodes … where they realise that there’s way more at stake than just their lives.
The Colossus Rises is an action-packed blockbuster of a book. From the first sentence you’re hooked into the story and, like Jack, you’re whisked from your normal, everyday life into a strange new world. You’re taken to a place of legend, home to mysterious creatures, and where a group of kids have amazing powers. The mystery of the unique gene that Jack and his friends have and the magical orbs draws you in and you keep reading hoping to find the answers. Peter Lerangis is very good at only revealing little details throughout the story to leave you hanging and we’ll find out more as the series progresses. There is definitely more to the island and their quest that Professor Bhegad isn’t revealing to Jack and his friends (if you read the free ebook prequel, The Select, you’ll see what I mean).
Peter really keeps you on the edge of your seat. There is danger around every corner so you never know what to expect next. I wasn’t even sure that Jack and his friends were all going to make it to the end of the story alive, as they have some very close shaves. The second half of the book is especially exciting and fast-paced and had me engrossed in the story.
Like the Percy Jackson books The Colossus Rises is a mixture of adventure and fantasy. Jack and his friends have powers that help them in in their quest to find the orbs and the island is home to mysterious and mythical creatures. They have to fight for their lives with these creatures, both on the island and on the other side of the world, in plain view of normal humans.
Seven Wonders is sure to be a hugely popular series and I certainly can’t wait for the next book in the series, Lost in Babylon. The Seven Wonders website is awesome and definitely worth a look too (especially for the free ebook prequel, The Select).
4 out of 5 stars
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Fast Five with Sharon Holt
- Why did you want to be a writer?
I was naturally good at it and I loved reading. I believe we are born with talents and gifts and that was one of mine. I am also very passionate about writing, reading and books.
- What’s the best thing about being a writer?
The best thing is getting feedback that your hard work has made other people happy.
- What’s your favourite New Zealand book?
Most things by Kate DeGoldi – at the moment, it’s The 10pm Question and The ACB with Honora Lee.
- What do you love most about New Zealand?
Everything! The friendly people, green open spaces, positive can do attitudes and easy going lifestyle.
- What do you love most about libraries?
Everything! I would live in one if I could! My happy place is sitting among piles of picture books. (Librarians are great people too!)
Sharon Holt is the author of novels, picture books and the wonderful Te Reo Singalong series. Her books include two of the My New Zealand Story books, No Survivers and Sabotage.
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Win The Seven Wonders: The Colossus Rises by Peter Lerangis
Seven Wonders is the new action-packed adventure series from Peter Lerangis (one of the creators of The 39 Clues series). You can read my review of the first book, The Colossus Rises, here on the blog. I loved it and can’t wait for the next installment.
Thanks to HarperCollins New Zealand I have 2 copies of Seven Wonders: The Colossus Rises to give away. All you have to do is enter your name and email address in the form below. Competition closes Wednesday 13 March (NZ only).
Thanks to everyone who entered. The winners are Jean and Lucia.
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Fast Five with Nikki Slade-Robinson
- Why did you want to be a writer?
Why not! I think if the ideas are there, and the characters are demanding to be let out, you don’t get much choice really. Writing and illustrating was always my dream. And luckily my parents let me have plenty of paper so I didn’t have to draw and write on the walls.
- What’s the best thing about being a writer?
Ooooh it’s soooo fun! I put writing and illustrating together because I do both. I can spend lots of my day playing with my imagination and not many jobs let you do that. I love being self employed too, and having so much flexibility. It’s also very cool when you see one of your books picked up and turned into something else like a show.
- What’s your favourite New Zealand book?
Oh that’s not fair – there are so many wonderful NZ books, how can I choose just one? Is it ok to list a few? I do love Jack Lasenby’s ‘The Lake’ and his Seddon St gang ones. Nobody can go past Margaret Mahy of course, horracapotchkin! (Oh dear – did I spell that right?) And I use Andrew Crowe’s ‘Which NZ Insect?’ a lot. Des Hunt’s books because they are set in areas I know… Joanna Orwin – oh there’s so many good writers here – sigh! In terms of picture books, that too is really hard to choose. I just really enjoy being able to read NZ stories.
- What do you love most about New Zealand?
The environment. We do live in paradise really, you only need to travel away from here to realise how good we really have it. And our society, really it’s great. I just hope we can all look after it and really cherish what we have.
- What do you love most about libraries?
We’ve got this really old picture book about a little boy who can hold an elephant and a lion and a rocket under one arm. He can hold anything you can think of under his arm. And at the end you find out it’s because he can go to the library and get a book about anything out. Libraries are like that – you can find so much there… and it’s free so nobody has to miss out.
Nikki Slade-Robinson is an author and illustrator whose books include Munkle Arvur and the Bod, That’s Not Junk! and Hannah Bandanna’s Hair. Nikki has also illustrated books for other authors, including Mind Your Gramma and The Seven Stars of Matariki.
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Exciting new series for younger readers
A couple of exciting new series for younger readers have arrived in my library recently. I don’t read a lot of younger fiction but now and again a book or series will catch my attention. You can read all about them below.
The Monster Hospital series by Gillian Johnson is about monsters of all shapes and sizes and the children who care for them. It takes a monster to know a monster, so four naughty children get taken to work in the Monster Hospital to help sick monsters. There are currently four books in the series and I’m sure there are more to come. They’re perfect for 7-9 year olds, with lots of illustrations and sparce text. With titles like The Big Fat Smelly Ogre, The Yucky Yodelling Yeti, The Disastrous Little Dragon, and The Awful Orphan Elf, kids are sure to gobble them up and be begging for more. Here’s the blurb for the first book, The Big Fat Smelly Ogre:
Frank the ogre has come to Monster Hospital with a tummy ache because he ate two nasty kids for breakfast. The four naughtiest children in the school are recruited by the mysterious Sister Winifred to be his doctors. Can these not-exactly friends help Frank without getting gobbled up or suffocating from the stupendous stink? It takes a monster to know a monster …
Young fans of adventure stories will love Justin D’Ath’s new series, Lost World Circus. If you know children who love Justin’s other series, Mission Fox (Dolphin Rescue, Panda Chase and many more) and Extreme Adventures (Spider Bite, Shark Bait and many more), they’ll also love Lost World Circus. A circus, endangered animals, survival against the odds and adventure galore – what more could you ask for! Justin even includes an endangered species quiz and animal facts in the back of each book. The covers are pretty cool too. The first two books, The Last Elephant and The Singing Ape are out now, with more coming in the series later this year. Here’s the blurb for the first book, The Last Elephant:
Colt Lawless is on the run, suddenly famous, and more than a little superhuman. But can he save the last animals on earth?
Twelve years from now, rat flu has wiped out almost every animal and bird on the planet. The creatures in Captain Noah’s Lost World Circus are the last of their kind. But the Rat Cops are determined to shut down the circus, and Colt and his acrobat friend Birdy might be the only ones who can save it, starting with Lucy – the world’s last elephant.
Happy reading!
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Fast Five with Sherryl Jordan
- Why did you want to be a writer?
I wanted to write books even before I could write. My first book, made when I was four years old, was a picture story about a little mermaid. I had to draw pictures to make the book, because I couldn’t write. The book doesn’t exist anymore (it probably went up the vacuum cleaner!) but my love of books and writing has never left me.
- What’s the best thing about being a writer?
I get paid to day-dream.
Also, it’s an awesome thing to live in the world inside my head, the world of the imagination. While I’m writing a book, that imagined world is much more real to me than this world. Another wonderful thing about being a writer is receiving letters from readers who love my stories. It’s amazing to realise that my dreams have been shared by someone else.
- What’s your favourite New Zealand book?
Ah… a hard question. I have several favourite NZ writers – Margaret Mahy and Joy Cowley at the top — but no single book I love the best.
- What do you love most about New Zealand?
Freedom of speech. The freedom to write what we want to write, and not be imprisoned for it.
- What do you love most about libraries?
A library is like a cave full of treasure — every book another world to be explored, another dream to be shared. What riches! I always feel overwhelmed in a library, hoping I choose the right world for me, and don’t miss out on another one that I’d also love. Mind you, books can be dangerous, too … a book could change your life. My life has been changed several times, by books I’ve read.
Sherryl Jordan is the author of many wonderful books in her long career, including Rocco, The Wednesday Wizard, The Raging Quiet, Finnigan and the Pirates, and her latest book Ransomwood.
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Introducing The Department 19 Files by Will Hill
I’m a huge fan of Will Hill’s Department 19 series. I love them because they’re action-packed and gory, and there are vicious, blood-sucking vampires galore. If you haven’t come across the series you can read my reviews of Department 19 and Department 19: The Rising here on the blog.
The third book in this awesome series, Department 19: Battle Lines will be released in April in New Zealand (March 28th in the UK). In the lead-up to the release of Battle Lines, Will Hill is publishing three Department 19 short stories as ebooks. The Department 19 Files is a trilogy of new stories, set in the same world as Jamie’s, but further back in history. Will describes the stories as:
“…some of the darkest, most painful stuff I’ve written, and are full of all the action and gore you’ll be expecting. They shed light on the early years of Blacklight and how it became the organisation that Jamie and his friends are parts of, and they allowed me to write about one of the most fascinating periods in history, a period of mechanised death and devastation on a scale that is almost unimaginable in these days of drone strikes and laser-targeted bombs.”
The three stories are being released over the next three weeks in the lead up to the release of Battle Lines, and you can buy them from Amazon.com or Kobo in NZ. Will explains what each of the stories is about on his blog:
“if you want to read about Quincey Harker and his horrifying adventures in the darkness of the Western Front, pick up The Devil In No Man’s Land. If you want to see a younger Valeri Rusmanov doing what he does best as Europe is gripped by the flu pandemic of 1918 (and read some of the nastiest stuff I’ve ever written!) then stick around for Undead in the Eternal City. And if you want to know what happened when Quincey Harker returned home and discovered the truth about what his father and his friends really do, then The New Blood contains the answers, along with some characters that fans of Dracula will be very familiar with!”
I’ve just read the first story, The Devil in No Man’s Land, and it’s bloody brilliant! Set in the muddy battlefields of the Western Front, it tells the story of Quincey Harker (a character you’ll be familiar with if you’ve read any of the other Department 19 books) and the members of the Special Reconnaissance Unit. They fought relentlessly for their country and were given medals that they could never be officially awarded, but none of them were prepared for the horror that they would discover in Passchendaele. Will Hill is brilliant at building suspense and having you on the edge of your seat, waiting to find out what Quincey and his squad will come across next. The gore that I love in the Department 19 books is certainly here in this compact little story and Will portrays the horrors of war very well.
One of the things I like the most about the Department 19 books are the historical chapters that give you background to the story and the organisation, so it’s great that Will has written these ebook short stories. The great thing about The Department 19 Files is that they can be read separate from the rest of the books, so even someone who hasn’t read the others would enjoy these. They would be a great way to hook readers into the series too.
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It’s Not a Monster, It’s Me by Raymond McGrath
I love this video so much that I have to share it with everyone! Raymond McGrath made it (with the help of his very talented friends) to promote his picture book, It’s Not a Monster, It’s Me! published by Penguin New Zealand. I’ve seen this book in the library and not even realised it was created by a New Zealand author/illustrator.
Check out It’s Not a Monster, It’s Me! by Raymond McGrath in your library or bookshop now. It’s a great book to read and share for New Zealand Book Month.
My Best Friends Are Books 