Okay, so yes, I was attracted to this trailer for Mo Hayder’s new release, Gone, because the publisher issued a strong warning about it. It’s very powerful, and perhaps the greatest example of a book trailer I’ve ever seen. Those that have been reading the blog will know that I’m very skeptical when it comes to book trailers, they’re usually amateurish, self-indulgent, over-long, boring, made by the authors in ten minutes, and mostly just text flying across the screen with a dodgy soundtrack - all the benefits of the visual medium are usually ignored. This trailer is nothing like most booker trailers. Short, slick, well-written, well-performed, and a great cliffhanger, I dare you to watch this and not feel compelled to read the book.
Let me start by saying that computer games are not the downfall of society, as we know it. Our world will continue to turn, society will continue to function, we will still play sports, kids will still go to school and learn, human beings will still interact with one another and people will still read books. Just like television did not result in the extinction of literature, computer games will continue to co-exist with the written story.
In fact, the two can go together quite nicely.
There are many book fans who like to play computer games. As a kid, I was obsessed with Space Invaders and Galaga (primitive by today’s standards) and these days I’m certainly not immune to the allure of the Wii (Snow Ride on Rayman Raving Rabbids is awesome). And I’m sure that there are many computer game enthusiasts who also like to read. At least I hope so … ’cause my new book, Gamers’ Quest, is set in a computer game world and I think it’s the sort of book that will appeal to teens who are into gaming.
When writing science fiction or fantasy, an author is often challenged with the task of creating an entire world. With Gamers’ Quest, I was not only writing science fiction (with a healthy dose of fantasy elements as well), I was also trying to tap into the world of computer gaming. The thing is… how do you capture the feel of a computer game within the pages of a novel?
Step One was to create a world with the pace and excitement of a game — a world in which danger lurked around every corner; a world with a variety of fantastical challenges and opponents, from powerful mages and fierce dragons to machinegun-toting guards and sophisticated security systems with trip lasers and automated drones; a world in which players embarked on a perilous quest.
This world then needed protagonists who readers could identify with … the sort of players they would want to be if they were playing the game. Enter Tark and Zyra, two teenage thieves — good-looking, fast, clever, determined and skillful in a fight.
The book also needed to have a sense of fun — of not taking itself too seriously. So while Gamers’ Quest is not a humourous novel, it does have an element of tongue-in-cheek unseriousness (yes, I know there’s no such word … but I like it).
There are lots of little things I added to try and capture the computer game flavour. There are references to different classes and levels of player (knight second class; level 13 mage).
The first part of the novel is set within the computer-game world. It is non-stop action, and there is no sense of night and day. The characters simply progress from one challenge to the next, without sleeping or eating, with no real sense of time, until they reach their goal. Once the characters have crossed over into an ordinary suburban environment, I felt okay about slowing things down a little, allowing them to eat and sleep, and having a sense of days passing.
So, were my endeavors successful? Does Gamers’ Quest capture the feel of a computer game? Will gamers flock to bookstores, clamoring for a copy? Well, dear reader/gamer, that is up to you. The CG ball is now in your virtual court.
William’s note: As a gamer and reader myself, I have to say, that George really did capture the sensation of being inside a video game. There isn’t an air of ”older person writing for young people” about the whole thing, which is great, because us young’uns, especially us cynical gamer young’uns, can smell a fake a mile off. Gamers’ Quest passed my test with flying colours, and it’d make a great companion for the new Mario game under the tree this Christmas.
In some ways, a cookbook is a cookbook is a cookbook (with apologies to Gertrude Stein). We seek out cookbooks as manuals–if the recipes work for us, we keep them in our kitchens. But great cookbooks, and great food writers, do something else in their books. They offer a new way to think about food, to appeal to the brain, and to the imagination. Grisewood, through words and lovely pictures, places her recipes not only within a cooking philosophy, but also a space of appetite and inspiration. Here, you want to begin your day with chocolate (top quality), and seek out organic butter for your baking. There is no lumbering progression from soups and starters, through mains and into desserts here. Grisewood begins and ends with the food that started stories, food that was exciting for her, and that excitement is infectious in the book. I badly wanted (and will try to) cook most of the dishes she writes about. The sweet recipes, in particular, are irresistible. And while at times her writing is almost too picturesque and idyllic, there are also moments when it is a bit more raw and sour–a compliment any cook would be pleased with. Read, enjoy.
It’s not so much writing for teenagers and young adults I enjoy, it’s more writing stories centring around them. The teenage years are such a fun and exciting time to write about. It’s a time full of discovery and possibility where feelings and emotions are often more intense and focused and friendships and relationships are at their strongest.
My favourite book as a child was Wind in the Willows. I read it many times and every time I lost myself in the world of the Riverbank with those wonderfully unique characters of Mole, Rat, Toad and Badger.
When I was a teenager myself I read lots of Agatha Christie murder mysteries and adventure books like King Solomon’s Mines and books by Alistair MacLean like Where Eagles Dare. Another big favourite was Lord of the Rings. One holidays I read War and Peace but just because I wanted to be able to say I’d read what I thought was the longest book in the world. I even ended up liking it.
There are so many Children’s and Young Adult books by fantastic Australian authors that I love – far too many to mention them all. But I will make mention of books by Scot Gardner, Barry Jonsberg and Steven Herrick because if I don’t they’ll beat me up!
My favourite YA book is probably The Messenger by Markus Zusak. That book inspired me to have a go at writing.
CBCA Book Week Fact
Did you know that Michael Gerard Bauer’s first novel, The Running Man, won the 2005 Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year for Older Readers?
To celebrate the release of Jasper Jones, Boomerang Books is teaming up with Allen and Unwin to give three lucky blog readers the chance to win a copy of the novel. Now, the characters of Jasper Jones pose each other ‘would you rather this or that’ hypothetical situations (one of the reader favourites is “which could you rather live your life with, penises for fingers or a hat on your head made of poisonous spiders?”). To enter this Boomerang Books Blog-exclusive competition, all you have to do is email me your very own hypothetical – it’s that simple. My favourite three before next e-newsletter will win a copy of Craig Silvey’s Jasper Jones.
* Writing Romance with Anne Gracie Short Course: Romance is character-driven genre fiction and accounts for a huge chunk of the international fiction market, which is why romance writers can earn a living from their writing. These two consecutive workshops will focus on beginning a marketable romance. Learn what readers and publishers want. Workshop story premises to set up sufficient conflict to drive a novel. Examine how skilled writers create characters with strong reader appeal, and write with ‘emotional punch’. Come expecting to write.
When: Tuesday & Wednesday 23-24 June, 6.30-8.30pm Where: VWC @ The Salon, 2nd floor, Nicholas Blg, 37 Swanston St, Melbourne Cost: $50, VWC Members $40/$30 Bookings essential: (03) 9654-9068
* Cops and Robbers; writing the perfect crime scene! with Jarad Henry Workshop: Ever wanted to write a crime novel or short story? Chances are you’ll have at least one detective wandering your pages. But how do you get the procedure right? What about dialogue? You don’t want an Aussie detective to sound like a character off the set of CSI, do you? And what about the crime scene? Who strings up the plastic tape, who calls in homicide and the coroner? In this 6 hour interactive seminar you’ll learn the ins and outs of real life police drama and how to apply this to your characters and plot, giving your stories the essential ingredient of every great crime writer; verisimilitude.
When: Saturday 27 June, 10am-4pm Where: VWC @ The Salon, 2nd floor, Nicholas Blg 37 Swanston St, Melbourne Cost: $140 VWC Members $100/$90 Bookings essential: (03) 9654-9068.
James Patterson and Michael Connolly duel with Stephenie Meyer this week on top of the Bestsellers chart. Patterson’s Swimsuit is at number one and Connolly’s The Scarecrow at number three, leaving Meyer’s New Moon sliding in at number two. The Scarecrow also plays second fiddle to Swimsuit in the Fastest Movers chart. The Highest New Entries chart has Jane Green’s Dune Road at number one–a novel containing ‘old flames, new friendships, and lives reclaimed
The Australian Publishers Association (APA) has released a study which CEO Maree McCaskill said showed the Australian ‘domestic book market is in reality priced cheaper than the United Kingdom and right on the nose with the United States’.
McCaskill said the study used information from the Productivity Commission and data on exchange rates provided by the Reserve Bank to demonstrate that when the GST is removed from the price of Australian books and when exchange rates are at their 10-year average, the gap between Australian prices and US and UK prices is eliminated.
Drawing on the Productivity Commission’s finding that ‘the estimated price gap of like editions between Australia, the UK and the US respectively would have been eliminated at exchange rates of GBP 0.41 and USD 0.69′, the APA states that Reserve Bank data shows the 10-year average exchange rates are GBP 0.40 and USD 0.69.
The release of the study followed a price comparison list released by the Coalition for Cheaper Books, which argued that the cheaper prices of Australian books on overseas websites were driving local book buyers online ‘to the detriment of Australian booksellers’.
The APA report can be found on the Australians for Australian Books website here.
The Productivity Commission is due to present its final report on Australia’s book parallel importation laws to government on 30 June.
Lorraine McGee-Sippel always felt like an outsider but never knew why. She discovers she is adopted, which makes sense, but she still has a longing to reconnect with people ‘like her’. She was told her real father was Afro-American, which to her at a young age seemed plausible, but to the reader it is quite obvious she is part-Aboriginal. McGee-Sippel struggles to maintain relationships growing up (her adopted mother, her on/off boyfriend Jack) but once reunited with her (blood) family she really starts to connect and understand. Hey Mum, What’s a Half- Caste? is about the sense of place, of belonging and most importantly, identity. McGee-Sippel’s journey is inspirational as she unravels the mysteries of her family’s history while finding more about herself along the way. It’s quite heart-wrenching to read and, at times, I almost felt like I was prying. Nevertheless, it’s a very timely and significant book and will appeal to a general readership. It will also resonate with those who have been through similar situations or help others in their own search.
VIEW CART
Okay, so yes, I was attracted to this trailer for Mo Hayder’s new release, Gone, because the publisher issued a strong warning about it. It’s very powerful, and perhaps the greatest example of a book trailer I’ve ever seen. Those that have been reading the blog will know that I’m very skeptical when it comes to book trailers, they’re usually amateurish, self-indulgent, over-long, boring, made by the authors in ten minutes, and mostly just text flying across the screen with a dodgy soundtrack - all the benefits of the visual medium are usually ignored. This trailer is nothing like most booker trailers. Short, slick, well-written, well-performed, and a great cliffhanger, I dare you to watch this and not feel compelled to read the book.
