As part of the How to Keep a Boy as a Pet blog tour, we have a guest post from Diane Messidoro…

BOY MISTAKE NUMBER 304A: HOW NOT TO BE A-PEELING

I started writing How to Keep a Boy as a Pet three years ago, and since then, I’ve had some interesting reactions to the title.
Most often, I’m asked by friends, ‘Ooh, does that work on so-called grown-up boys too?’ (Yes.)
Then there’s been, ‘So, is this a manual – do you actually train boys to fetch and sit still and things?’ Um, no, or rather, not exactly, although my heroine, Circe Shaw, might disagree with me.
But the most interesting reactions I’ve had have come from boys, or rather men, ‘How dare you! I am NOT a pet!’ To which I reply:
a) ‘You sort of are. You’re mammals i.e. animals who’ve come indoors from fields/jungles/caves etc and learned to keep your muddy paws off sofas and behave nicely in company (well, some of you have).’
b) ‘Oh dear, please don’t get huffy/puffy.’ (The boy/man has often puffed up to make himself as tall as possible to differentiate himself from a hamster) ‘I love pets – and male humans! They’re brilliant. To be like a pet is not an insult, it’s a compliment! Pets are cuddly, loving, fun, really clever*, great company, they can keep you fit, they can even lower your blood pressure. Plus they never say they’re going to call then act as if you don’t exist; they never flirt with you, then ask your best friend out, and they never, ever talk about football!’
* At this point, the man/boy usually relaxes enough not to notice when I ask him to fetch me a cup of tea and a custard cream.
c) ‘When you’re a teenage girl and BOYS ARE THE WEIRDEST PEOPLE ON THE ENTIRE PLANET, whereas pets are pretty easy to get along with (see b), comparing a boy to a pet can be really, really helpful. Trust me, I know what I’m talking about, when I was a teen, I made every boy mistake possible (and a few more).
I learnt a lot.’
As soon as I admit this, the boy/man wants to know all the juicy details about my romantic disasters. But I always just smile mysteriously and say, ‘Sorry, you’ll just have to read the book…’ But now, for the first time – and because Bookbabblers asked so nicely – I’m going to reveal one of those mistakes: number 304a (of about 500). Okay, deep breath, this is a little embarrassing…
When I was about 14 there was a boy I really fancied, let’s call him ‘Carl’, who seemed to quite like me too. Then, when we ‘accidentally’ (thanks to my precision stalking) bumped into each other in the park, he asked me out. Well, he mumbled, ‘See ya, alright, you here tomorrow lunchtime?’
I sprinted home – a sort of date, and only 24 hours to prepare! I spent the first 20 hours working out what to wear (although I only owned jeans and T-shirts) then it hit me – argh – it didn’t matter what I put on, I looked too pale! Carl was olive-skinned and his last girlfriend had been dusky too – and the one before that was even darker skinned – he’d never fancy pastey-faced me! Luckily, my mum was out at work and she’d left her make-up bag in the bathroom – result! The only trouble was, Mum had lots of different lotions and potions, but none of them made my skin quite the right colour…
Four hours later, I arrived at the park. Carl was already there, sitting on the swings. He waved and his grin got bigger and bigger as I walked towards him, and once I was within arm’s length he stood up and stared really hard at me. I froze, my heart pounding, and stared really hard back at him, because he’d never looked at me like that before and I thought it meant something romantic. Then he lifted his hand to my face and I thought he might lovingly tuck a lock of hair behind my ear. But he didn’t, he said, ‘Stay still’ and picked at my cheek and when he drew his hand back he was holding an olive-ish (orange) rubbery-looking circular patch.
I stared at it, confused, then at him, then at it again, then…
Oh. My. God.
My carefully applied mixture of about ten different foundations, bronzer and fake tan had got so thick it had cracked and he’d actually peeled it off!
I wanted to turn and run, but I didn’t, I just…
No – that would be telling. If you want to know what happened next,
or rather how Circe Shaw (who’s far smarter than me, thankfully) coped with a very similar situation, you know what you need to do…

Electric Monkey are running a fantastic competition to win a copy of How to Keep a Boy as a Pet and a t-shirt. To enter, you need to tell them your most cringeworthy pet boy dating disasters.
For more information and to enter please visit:

http://www.electricmonkeybooks.co.uk/competitions/how-to-keep-a-boy-as-a-pet-competition/

Today we have a guest post from Sue Cowing…

“I guess telling the truth only works when you have something normal to say,” young Parker Lockwood complains in Call Me Drog. All Parker can say is that an old bald hand-puppet he found in the junkyard talks, and that it won’t come off of his hand. No one believes him. His classmates, his mother, his estranged father, and even his best friend Wren, assume that it’s Parker who’s being snarky and wickedly funny and rude.

Believe him. The minute the paint had dried on the puppet I made, Drog spoke right up, saying things I would never say, telling wild, attention-getting stories, and fracturing language in ways that made me cringe and laugh. Parker, my hero in this story, needs to find his own voice and stand up for his creative nature (“I think with my hands”) or he might end up in military school. The last thing he needs is a harsh critic and troublemaker stuck on his hand. Or is it?

A writer friend calls Drog “the Anti-Pinocchio of Middle School,” because despite his outrageous claims to fame, he tells the kinds of truth no one wants to hear. I was often tempted to protect Parker from hurt and trouble while writing this story, but Drog wasn’t having any of that, and the scenes he insisted I write turned out to be turning points in the book. As Drog would say, “Don’t you just hate it when I’m right?” Yes! And I’m also grateful.

I love stories that are realistic except for one mystery that only deepens as it becomes more familiar. Where did Drog come from, and what makes him talk? Even Drog doesn’t know for certain, and that’s the truth.

You can find out more information about Call Me Drog and Sue Cowing at www.usborne.com/callmedrog

Today we have a guest post from Jack Heath….

“How much can you know about yourself if you’ve never been in a fight?” Tyler Durden says in Fight Club. Someone recently asked why I like action thrillers so much, and I think it’s because until a character is trapped in a life-or-death situation, the reader never really knows them. Is the heroine brave? Is she quick-thinking? How will we find out, without some violent opposition to stand in her way?
I’m a big fan of reverse engineering. Each character is taken apart – sometimes literally – to see how they work. This may sound cruel, but readers won’t empathise with any protagonist whose life is easy.

That’s why Hit List doesn’t begin with the heroine at all. It begins with a murderous thief, staring at her photograph as he rehearses his brutal revenge. He is one of her many obstacles, so I need to establish him quickly.

The other reason I like action books – as opposed to movies, television programs or games – is that there are no limits to the spectacle. Filmmakers are hindered by what the investors won’t pay for and what the star’s agent will veto. Game designers can only include what the animators can draw and the programmers can write.

Meanwhile, a book’s characters are free to drive on, jump off, tear down and blow up whatever the novelist thinks will be most exciting. Speaking as both a writer and a reader, this is a lot of fun. The hard part isn’t coming up with obstacles for the heroine. The tough part is figuring out how to keep her alive.

You can find out more about Jack on his website: http://jackheath.com.au/
You can also follow Jack on twitter: @JackHeathWriter

Hit List is available to buy now: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hit-List-Jack-Heath/dp/1409531104

We are today’s hosts for the Code Name Verity blog tour and have a guest post from author Elizabeth Wein…

“Thinking’s like archaeology. You scrape; beneath your trowel, shape starts to form. Forgotten secrets come to light. ’Til finally you reveal the face of perfect beauty—the plan.” —Jamie Delano, Hellblazer (No. 9)

When I started out to write Code Name Verity, I simply wanted to spotlight the Air Transport Auxiliary—the civilian pilots, men and women, who ferried aircraft and taxied military staff in the UK during World War II. I hadn’t done much research on the subject, but I knew there was a wealth of fascinating experiences to draw on for inspiration. I made a trip to the Imperial War Museum in London in 2004 to visit an exhibit on ‘Women and War.’ I was hunting for information about women who were pilots. What I found was women who were spies.

I was hopelessly distracted. My abiding memory of that exhibit is of a wireless set that had actually been used in Nazi-occupied France by a woman working for the Special Operations Executive; another SOE agent’s dress with an actual bullet hole through it; a placard bearing a photograph of Odette Sansom and her quietly defiant assurance that she was stronger than her torturers.

I’d run into a dilemma. The ATA women were interesting, but the SOE women were exciting. I wanted to write about them both.

Why not? Why not make them friends—one of them a pilot, the other a spy? One could do the flying, and the other could do the dirty work.

One thing I’ve noticed about certain really good books is how simple the premise is. The author has an inspired moment where he or she thinks, ‘Wouldn’t it be neat if THIS happened?’ And then the rest of the book is built around that core idea, filling in the blanks with research and dialogue and character and turning it into a thing of beauty. A Tale of Two Cities is a good classic example—the plot hinges on the fact that Sydney Carton looks like Charles Darnay. What Sydney does with that is the genius of the book. I’ve often thought that if I could just once strike that vein of plot gold, I’d be able to do the filling in without any trouble.

For me, as an author, getting the idea for Code Name Verity was like striking that vein.

The magic came in two parts. One was in working out how the story would be told. I realized that if one character told the story as if she were writing a confession it would add a whole lot of dramatic drive to the narrative—even the more mundane parts of the story would be framed with tension. The other piece of magic was the Twist. I won’t give it away here. But knowing what the Twist was going to be was the cement that held the whole thing together. An unusual narrative framework and a totally killer Twist—that’s all I needed. It took me seven months to do the research and write the book.

It was also gloriously liberating to write, for two reasons. One is that it is set in the twentieth century. OK, it is set in the late 1930s and early 1940s, but my previous books are all set in the sixth century AD, and suddenly I had nearly 1500 more years of literature and civilization I could refer to. I could mention music and movie stars that people have still heard of and books that people still read. My characters could use electric lights and wear normal underwear and coats and socks and sweaters, they could talk about engines and train time tables and the Eiffel Tower. Their landscape and culture was familiar. It’s not entirely identical to my own, but it was familiar.

The other reason it was such a pleasure to write is because I was able to play with narrative form. ‘Verity’, writing her ‘confession’, has nothing to lose by trying out different narrative styles—when she’s given prescription forms to write on, what the heck? There’s no reason she can’t fill out mock prescription forms for everyone in the room. She can report a conversation as though it were the script of a play. She can switch tense for dramatic effect. I can cut her off in mid-flow if her pencil point breaks—and it all works. Every other book I’ve ever written is organized into 14 careful chapters of equal length. Writing Code Name Verity was a fantastic journey into unexplored narrative territory.

There’s an episode of Absolutely Fabulous where Edina flounces into the kitchen one morning and announces, ‘Idea had, career saved!’ That’s how it felt. I even scrawled it in the middle of the text of an early draft of Code Name Verity, only a few pages in—I knew I was going to be able to write this book, and I knew it was going to be a riveting, harrowing read when it was done.

I really hope people enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

————————-

A review from 2004 describing the Women and War exhibition mentioned above:

http://www.culture24.org.uk/history+%26+heritage/war+%26+conflict/world+war+two/art18458

Thankks Elizabeth!

Elizabeth Wein is our February Author in Residence. You can read our interview with Elizabeth here: http://bookbabblers.co.uk/2012/02/q-a-with-elizabeth-wein-author-of-code-name-verity/

You can also find out more about Elizabeth and her work here: www.elizabethwein.com

Today we have a guest post from Kathryn Erskine…

You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view … until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.
–To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee

It’s a phrase my mother often said to us growing up, To Kill a Mockingbird being one of her favorite books. She said that if nations’ leaders followed that wisdom, there’d be more understanding in the world. It’s one of my favorite books, too, but I wasn’t actually thinking of it while writing my story about Caitlin, a young girl with Asperger’s, who has lost her brother, her key to understanding the outside world. I had created a family with a widowed father, an older brother who worked hard to be good and please him (he was even a Boy Scout on the leadership fast track), and a girl on the autism spectrum who saw the world without filters which, as it often does, can lead to behavior that appears awkward and rude. Caitlin’s voice tugged at me, her fresh, frank voice, reminding me of something. When I realized that she reminded me of Scout in Harper Lee’s novel, I was struck by my story’s similarities — a widowed father, the “good” older brother who tried to teach his sister to behave properly, and the young girl who spoke her mind. That’s when I decided Caitlin’s brother would nickname her “Scout,” because his sister reminded him of the character in the movie and the book. Of course, in To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout is much younger than Caitlin, which is why she hasn’t yet developed those societal filters. In Caitlin’s case, it’s because of her Asperger’s. I realized other similarities, too. Like To Kill a Mockingbird, my novel is also about tolerance and understanding. Walking in other people’s shoes is something literal and foreign to Caitlin but in practicing that wisdom she begins to understand her world a bit better. When we take that walk with Caitlin, hopefully, we do, too.

Thanks Kathryn!

To find out more about Kathryn Erskine, Mockingbird and to download some book club notes about the book visit www.usborne.com/mockingbird

Today we are blog tour hosts for Cynthia Hand’s latest novel Hallowed, the sequel to Unearthly. Here are Cynthia Hand’s Top 5 Picks in Paranormal Romance

I have a problem with the term “paranormal romance.” Barnes and Noble had just changed their shelving system when I sold Unearthly back in 2009, and when I found out that my book was going to be shelved under paranormal romance, part of me cringed a little. Maybe even a lot. I had always described my book to people as an urban fantasy, meaning that it takes place in present-day times but also has fantastical elements. I was comfortable with being the writer of an urban fantasy. The word “paranormal” to me seemed limiting, like to be classified as paranormal the characters have to be some kind of mystical sparkly creatures, vampires or werewolves or (gulp) angels, which doesn’t leave room for a whole lot of other creative ideas. And the word “romance”—well, that conjured up a cheap paperback novel with either a sexy flower or a scantily clad couple in some sort of aloof-yet-passionate embrace, the kind of book that you let fall open and it lands on. . . heaving bosoms and fluffy stuff like that. I admit I did read romance novels when I was a teenager, mostly because I was curious and mystified by the idea of romantic love and (glances furtively around, whispers) sex. *Note to teens. Do not read romance novels to learn about (glances furtively around, whispers) sex. Trust me. This would be like watching soap operas to learn about how to build a solid marriage. Shakes head.* I always had a couple stealthily-purchased romance novels stashed in secret locations in my room, lest my mom start poking around. But write romances? Heck no! No heaving bosoms for me, thank you very much.
Ahem. So. Me and the term paranormal romance were not friends. Which was a problem, since my book really is a paranormal romance. It doesn’t matter than PR is not what I intended when I set out to write Clara’s story. I have to be honest. There are special sparkly creatures in my books. And there is romance, i.e. hot guys, and kissing, and even a heaving bosom now and then. I don’t write the term “heaving bosom” of course; my wording is usually something like “my breath catches” or “my heart pounds in my chest”. Same diff.
Sigh. I remember the day I wrote the big kissing scene in Unearthly. It came out pretty smoothly, truthfully. I was feeling a bit flushed myself at the end of the writing day. So I cut and pasted the scene to my writing partner, Joan, to see what she thought. Great! I remember her saying. It’s not too Harlequin? I asked. She said something like, It’s very swoony, but it’s good. Later my agent would pick that specific passage as a teaser to send the editor who acquired my novel for HarperTeen. An example of my fine writing, she called it. The kissing scene? I thought with an involuntary twinge of my eyelid. O-kay. . .
It worked out for me. Clearly. But for the longest time I wasn’t really comfortable being the writer of romance novels, even with the term “paranormal” in front of them, which was supposed to change the meaning into something for teens and non-adult-entertainment-oriented. People kept asking me for tips on how to write PR, and I would try to change the subject, maybe something about tips on how to write about setting. But I could not avoid the fact that Unearthly was, indeed, PR. Another anecdote: when I got my ARCs of Unearthly, I gave one to my friend Corbett Phibbs, and when I saw him again later, I was all on pins and needles to know what he thought (since he is a character in the book, after all), and he quirked an overgrown white eyebrow at me and said, “Oh yes, it was wonderful.” My heart lifted. “So romantic,” he said. My heart sank.
I’m glad that I’m over my aversion to the term now. Mostly. (eyelid twinge). I can embrace my genre with pride. And what got me over it, you ask? Well, I’ll tell you. Other books that could be found on the PR shelf. Specifically, I fell in love, again and again and again, with other novels that were classified as paranormal romance. Fantastic books. Books where I was lost in their worlds, charmed by their creativity and their world-building, drawn in by their characters, their stories, their sense of fun. If these rock-star writers were in the PR section of the bookstore, well, then I could be proud to be there too. It was that simple.
That was the loooooong setup to the following list: my top 5 paranormal romances. It’s an important list to me, because these books helped me to become at home in my own skin, in a writerly sense. And because, quite simply, they rock.

1.Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater. This book to this day makes me feel slightly chilled to think about. It’s simply a beautifully written book. I love the shifting perspectives between the two main characters, how you can see their feelings for each other develop from both sides, and the tension between them as things start to simultaneously heat up and cool off.

2.Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr. This is one of the first books I read when I started to read YA again, and I totally love it. I thought Marr created such a rich, beautiful world, and her characters really yearn for things. That’s all characters truly need in order to build a great story—a yearning, a deep desire for something—something that we as readers can yearn with them about.

3.Rampant by Diana Peterfreud. This book begins with a scene where the main character is making out with her boyfriend and he pressures her to have sex and then gets stabbed by a killer unicorn. Hello, awesome! I heart this book through and through, and loved the sequel as well. One thing I particularly enjoy about this is that the story revolves around the notion that the main character is a virgin, and will only keep her powers if she remains a virgin, but it still manages to build a warm and realistic romance, thus proving once again that love and sex are two very separate entities.

4.Firelight, by Sophie Jordan. This is a book about a girl who is secretly a dragon, who falls in love with a dragon hunter. Juliet meets Romeo, if Juliet could fly and breathe fire. This book is hot. I love how the main character literally heats up when she sees the hot guy, and the love scenes are very (cough) believable and passionate and easy to get caught up in. And I liked the sequel, Vanish, even more because I am a huge fan of the dragon-boy rival, Cassian. (fans self). Whew.

5.Paranormalcy by Kiersten White. This book made me laugh out loud so many times! The voice of the main character is hi-larious and the character is so strong and independent and fierce, but also a believable teenage girl. Evie is my hero, and Kiersten White is my savior in a world where they aren’t making any new Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes. It’s that good. I also appreciate how fresh the romance is in this book, how the love interest in literally invisible, how he can change his appearance to suit his moods, and how Evie is ultimately attracted to what’s inside of him, figuratively speaking.

Thanks Cynthia!

You can follow the blog tour tomorrow by heading over to Serendipity Reviews: http://www.serendipityreviews.co.uk/

Today we are taking part in the Opal Moonbaby blog tour and have a guest post from author Maudie Smith…

Writers under my skin

Some writers, I find, have a way of getting under your skin and staying there.

The first writer to do this for me was probably Dr Seuss. We were big Seuss fans in my house. The rhythms and rhymes of his language lend themselves brilliantly to being read aloud again and again. His strange and slightly spooky characters such as Sam I Am of Green Eggs and Ham fame and the eponymous Cat in the Hat have stayed with me. I think the books we learn more or less by heart when we are very young instil in us an instinctive grasp of how stories work. That’s something I cling to now when I’m writing and wondering if I’m heading in the right direction. I try to trust that the structure and workings of story are somehow inside me. The story will come out right in the end. It’s almost a mantra, like Horton’s in Horton Hatches the Egg. “I meant what I said and I said what I meant. An elephant’s faithful, one hundred percent!”

I used to be an actor and I love dialogue. I’ve always liked ‘doing the voices’. Anyone passing by my open window when I’m working on a scene could be forgiven for thinking there was a madwoman in the house. I suppose that love of dialogue is the reason I liked Catherine Storr’s books so much. Clever Polly and the Stupid Wolf is full of wonderful and very funny conversations between down-to-earth, pragmatic Polly and the wolf who is so desperate to eat her.

I was one of those children who thought there was a monster in the cupboard most of the time and that’s another reason why Storr’s books appealed to me. The big black wolf is quite scary, continually turning up at Polly’s door, trying to find ways to get in and eat her. No one but Polly seems to notice him much but Polly always manages to be one step ahead of him, seeing through his plans and thwarting them just in time. You don’t want the wolf to get Polly but you actually start to feel quite sorry for him. He has just the right blend of scariness and silliness.

This might be where my love of mixing fantasy and reality began. Mrs Pepperpot helped with that too. I adored the way this resourceful little party managed to get herself out of difficult fixes each time she was inconveniently reduced to the size of a condiment container. I loved to see how, out of necessity brought about by her shrinking, she used ordinary objects differently.

This was also the main attraction of The Borrowers. Chests of drawers made from match boxes, walls papered with old letters – all that paraphernelia ‘borrowed’ from the human world really captured my imagination and held onto it. Opal Moonbaby, the alien character in my book isn’t small but she does have a different take on the trappings of human life. She juggles food rather than eats it; she likes books for the way the print is so well-trained, standing in such straight lines, and she definitely doesn’t have the hang of the usual way to operate a shopping trolley.

Other childhood favourites were Frances Hodgson Burnett, Lewis Carroll, Nina Bawden, Richard Adams, Noel Streatfield, Elizabeth Enright, E Nesbit, Joan Aiken and C S Lewis. All of these great storytellers contributed to my love of a satisfying yarn. If I were forced to single out one book I would choose E Nesbit’s Five Children and It. The weird and magical psammead was a wonderful addition to the Victorian world of the ‘ordinary’ children; both worlds were quite alien to me though and I lapped up this story and the ones that followed.

Roald Dahl wasn’t part of my childhood but I’ve been lucky enough to read all his books to my own children and his darkly comic, straight to the point style is often in my mind when I’m writing. Not all modern young readers will put up with the leisurely pace and lengthy descriptive passages of some of the older classics. I think Dahl put up a literary signpost pointing us all in a new direction, calling for a new contemporary style of story-writing that engages closely with its reader and never patronises them.

I’m still being influenced by writers now; I don’t think it’s something that ever stops. Michael Morpurgo, Jill Murphy, Jacqueline Wilson, Andy Stanton, Eva Ibbotson, Michelle Paver, Catherine MacPhail, David Almond, Tanya Landman, Lauren Child, Patrick Ness…..and that’s only the children’s authors. The list just goes on growing. I only hope my skin can accommodate them all!

We have two copies of Opal Moonbaby to give away. Just retweet this post or leave a comment to enter. Open to UK only. Closes 27th January at 5pm

You can follow the Opal Moonbaby blog tour tomorrow by visiting www.chicklish.co.uk

Opal Moonbaby is available to buy now: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Opal-Moonbaby-Maudie-Smith/dp/1444004786/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1326232541&sr=8-1

Tell us a little bit about yourself
I’m a mom of three kids, wife to an awesome husband, and now a former gymnastics coach turned writer/stay-at-home mom. I love reading more than any other hobby or activity. But I also enjoy running, swimming, roller blading and years of ballet have made it virtually impossible for me to walk across a smooth kitchen floor in my socks without attempting a few pirouettes. Listening to music is must for me at almost all hours of the day, but I’m completely tone-deaf and no amount of voice lessons could improve my efforts.

How did you begin writing and what was your journey to publication like?
My writing journey began in May of 2009 and it started with scenes from a story in my head. I wrote them in random order in a small notebook, before deciding to start typing and creating a bigger plot.

I finished my first novel and starting submitting it to literary agents by the August, 2009. Really, I only did it for fun at first. Just to see what would happen. I sent tons of query letters and then dove into a totally new book. I had many requests for more material and also MANY rejection. I kept writing and having friends and family read chapters and sometimes entire manuscripts. I didn’t do much editing or rewriting in that first year. There were so many stories I wanted to tell that moving on to the next project was very easy for me.

By April of 2010, I had completed seven young adult novels…each one very different and showing some kind of growth from the last. Then an editor who requested my very first novel got back to me with a couple rejections and suggestions before asking me if I was willing to do a complete rewrite and work on a true YA time-travel story with him. Of course, I said yes. And it was such a blast to bounce ideas and create something totally new. By June of 2010, I not only had an agent, but a three book deal with St. Martin’s press and studios interested optioning TEMPEST for possible film adaption. It was quite a wild ride.

Tell us about Tempest and your inspiration for the book
My inspiration for TEMPEST comes from the very basic love story. Two characters who are very different, meeting and falling in love. If I compared TEMPEST to a big pot of soup, the love story would be broth. Then of course, time-travel would be the main ingredient…like the noodles. After I had that established and I began writing it, it was like tossing random items from the fridge into the soup and hoping it creates a brand new dish that many people would like. A little government thriller. A dash of family drama and emotion. A pinch of mystery. It sounds kind of silly, but that’s really how it happened. In layers, one idea at a time.

What are you working on now?
Right now I’m working on a third draft of book 2 and a first draft of book 3 pretty much at the same time. I go back and forth between the two depending on when I get edits from my agent or editor on the second book.

What do you like to do outside of writing?
Reading! I love GLEE and a few other regular shows that I watch. I have different volunteer projects that I work on and that’s really enjoyable because being a full time writer means no co-workers and it’s nice to be around people that aren’t related to me sometimes.

Thank you Julie for the opportunity to do this interview!

Tempest is published on the 5th January. You can order a copy here

You can find Julie on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FansOfJulieCross
and on Twitter: @JulieCross1980

Tell us a little bit about yourself

Hello. I’m Gill Lewis. I live in the depths of Somerset, surrounded by dairy farms and cider orchards. My husband and I are both vets and we have three children 13, 11 and 8. We have an ever increasing menagerie of pets, many of which are rescued animals. Our latest addition is a huge pup with a taste for mince pies and Christmas cards. I’ve always been fascinated by animals. As a child, I could be found in the garden looking for bugs and beetles or catching newts from a neighbour’s pond. It seemed natural that I went on to study to become a vet after leaving school. I was lucky to be able to work as a vet in many different countries, although it was always the wildlife that I was drawn to. I think it was this, and the stories of the people who live alongside these animals that inspired Sky Hawk.

Tell us about your debut novel Sky Hawk

I had the idea for Sky Hawk on a freezing New Year’s Day while looking at an empty swallows’ nest in the eaves of our garden shed. I wondered where the swallows were? Were they swooping in African skies? Could children in Africa see the swallows that my own children had watched all through the summer? I began to research about bird migration and I became fascinated by websites following ospreys fitted with satellite transmitters. I began to wonder if an osprey could connect children across different continents. And so the idea for Sky Hawk was born. The story follows two Scottish children, Callum and Iona, who forge a deep bond of friendship after discovering a pair of ospreys nesting on Callum’s farm. Their friendship is challenged by prejudice against Iona and her family from the local community. But when Callum and Iona find one of the ospreys injured, they do all they can to save it and keep it safe. Events take a tragic turn and it is the journey of the osprey that brings communities together, challenges prejudices and changes Callum’s world forever.

How did you begin writing?

At school I was a real daydreamer and loved writing stories, but my handwriting was very messy and my spelling was so shocking that I never even thought I could be a real writer. It wasn’t until after my children were born that I rediscovered writing. I used to tell my children stories on long car journeys and make up bedtime stories. I loved creating characters and worlds in my head. I wrote several picture books and stories. I had one picture book published, but found it very difficult to find a publisher for my other work. I eventually went on a writing course where I really learned to craft my writing and shape a rather baggy first draft into a novel.

How long did Sky Hawk take to complete?

Sky Hawk took nine months from thinking of the idea to the complete manuscript. The actual writing time was much shorter. I spent much time researching about ospreys and Gambia and learned an awful lot about fly-fishing too.

What are you working on now?

I’ve just finished White Dolphin, my second novel, which comes out next May 2012. There is an environmental theme running through this book too, about the fragility of the marine life around our coastline. But the heart of the story is about a girl called Kara who is desperate to find news of her missing mother. When an injured dolphin is washed up on the beach, it seems to hold the clues Kara is looking for. Researching this story was great fun. I got to go out on boats looking for dolphins and also learn to sail a dinghy in rough Cornish seas.

What do you like to do outside of writing?

Our family holidays are often centered in wild places where we look out for wildlife. Last summer, we were very fortunate to be able to travel to Scotland to see Roy Dennis, (the UK osprey expert) fit a satellite transmitter to an osprey sponsored by the UK, US and foreign publishers of Sky Hawk. You can follow Ozwold’s incredible journey on the osprey diary on my website; gilllewis.com

I also love swimming. I mull over my story ideas as I swim. It’s a great way to relax. I have a secret desire to swim the English Channel, but I’ve heard it’s a bit chilly and I’m put off by the thought of huge tankers and meeting a Portuguese man-o-war.

Thanks Gill for this great interview!

Sky Hawk has been shortlisted for the Red House Children’s Book Award. To vote, visit www.redhousechildrensbookaward.co.uk

You can find Gill Lewis on twitter: @GillLewis and at her website: www.gilllewis.com

Sky Hawk is out now to purchase..

Today we have a real treat for our Between fans. Jessica Warman has written us a spin off piece, so enjoy….!

The airport was a madhouse. It was December 27, so this was no real surprise, but Caroline Michaels had somehow convinced herself that it wouldn’t be so bad this year. She was wrong. It took an hour and fifteen minutes just to get her boarding pass. When she finally reached her gate, they were already boarding the plane.

Her seat assignment was all the way in the back. For a few brief, hopeful moments, she thought the seat beside her might be unoccupied. But at the last second, a frazzled-looking young woman hurried down the aisle, her gaze trained at the empty spot directly beside Caroline. And it got worse: the woman was carrying a baby. It wasn’t that Caroline didn’t like children; it was just that she didn’t like being crammed into a tiny aircraft with a hundred strangers at 30,000 feet, especially when the tiny person directly beside her could very easily scream for the entire trip, or puke on her, or both.

Caroline didn’t normally enjoy talking to people on airplanes. But she felt sorry for this woman, who was obviously overwhelmed to be traveling alone. Besides, it was a short flight. What was the harm in chatting for an hour or so?

“Were you visiting family in the city?” She asked, closing her magazine.

The woman nodded. Her baby was sleeping for the moment. “Sort of. We spent Christmas at my in-laws’ in Connecticut. My husband had to take a later flight.”

“What town? I’m from Connecticut, too.” She hesitated. “I’m Caroline, by the way.”

“I’m Hallie.” They shook hands around the baby, who didn’t stir.

“I’m sure you’ve never heard of it,” Hallie continued. “It’s a little town called Noank.”

Caroline’s eyes widened. “You’re kidding, right? I’m from Noank.”

Hallie laughed. “Get out.”

“I’m serious. Born and raised. You said your husband’s parents live there?”

“Yes.” She paused. “Maybe you know them? Claire and Steven Wilson?”

Caroline almost choked on her gum. “Richie’s parents? You’re married to Richie Wilson?”

Hallie grinned, her cheeks flushing. “Yep, sure am. Did you go to high school with him?”

“Well, yeah. We were friends, too. Wow… Richie Wilson. What’s he doing with himself nowadays?”

Caroline listened as Hallie told her all about Richie’s adult life: He was a high school English teacher. He and Hallie had been married for almost five years. They’d met in college. Caroline didn’t even realize that Richie had gone to college; he’d just sort of disappeared right after graduation. Of course, he had his reasons for not keeping in touch – they all did. But Caroline didn’t think now was the most appropriate time to dredge up the nightmare that had caused their group to scatter so many years ago, each of them trying to find some way to forget what had happened to the Valchar family. Instead, she made polite, superficial conversation with Hallie for the rest of the flight. She even wrote down her phone number and email address for Hallie to pass along to Richie, despite her certainty that he would never try to get in touch.

The baby finally woke up when the plane landed. She immediately started to cry.

“Well… it was nice meeting you.” Hallie flashed one last smile. “I’m sure Richie will be in touch.”

Right, Caroline thought. “Nice to meet you, too,” she said. And she shifted her attention to the baby, giving her a little wave. “It was nice meeting you – oh, you never told me her name.”

Hallie hesitated. It was only a slight pause, but Caroline felt it.

“This is Elizabeth.”

Thanks, Jessica! Remember, Between’s out this month, and we’ll soon be bringing you our review of it & a fab giveaway!