Happy Birthday, Douglas Adams!

This morning I turned on Google to find a decoration centred around The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. I thought it might be a date of the first publication or even the first broadcast of the radio series, but no - the radio show was first broadcast on March 8th 1978 and the book first came out in October the next year.

I learned that March 11 was Douglas Adams' birthday. If he had still been alive, he would have turned 61 today.

You know, I can remember when I first read it. I was studying librarianship at the time. It was such an exhausting course, a postgraduate diploma which required pretty much all my time during the day - and we all used to say that if the RMIT library had been open at five thirty in the morning we would have been there. Socialising? What was that? They were trying to fit what should have been a two year course into one year.

But what's the point of being a librarian if you can't fit in some time to read for pleasure? I couldn't bear to be without a book. And this one, the first, took me into another world, made me laugh till I cried. Those were the days when people were throwing quotes at each other. The librarianship students were no exception. We had very little free time, but in between classes we would go out for coffee to a place with the unlikely name of the Druids Duck Inn. We would complain about the lecturers and grumble about the exhausting workload... and we'd discuss the latest book to grab our imagination, giggle and quote from it. We thought the Answer To Life, The Universe And Everything was hilarious.

Of course, I ended up reading the lot, and listening to the radio series - oddly enough, not the original series, for quite some time. I think the one playing on the radio when I was listening was from the record, with some different cast members, and was closer to the TV series that came out later.

The thing is, Douglas Adams was always reworking it. The original radio series, for example, had Trillian and Zaphod eaten by the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast Of Traal. So they're all legitimate versions .
I have enjoyed all versions. The whole thing is deliciously silly, and I love silly. There's enough sad stuff happening in the world and far too many dystopian books these days for my taste.

This book came to me at a time when I really needed something funny - and, in the end, it became a classic. It would be interesting to know what he would have been writing if he was still around.

Happy birthday, Douglas, even if you didn't live to enjoy it. 

Aleesah Darlison Guest Post

Last week I interviewed children's writer Aleesah Darlison, to give you some idea of her background and her writing. Today I will let Aleesah tell you about her books themselves. Take it away, Aleesah!

Hello everyone, my name is Aleesah Darlison and I’m a children’s author.

I’ve been a published author for two and half years now and in that time I’ve had fifteen books released. I’ve been very lucky as I’ve had two series picked up: Unicorn Riders (Walker Books) and Totally Twins (New Frontier). These have been fantastic series to work on, I’m so proud of both of them, but it has also been hard work. You certainly learn the meaning of the words ‘deadline’ and ‘multi-tasking’ when writing a series. But I wouldn’t have it any other way.

My latest release is Book 4 in the Totally Twins series. It’s called Birthday Bonanza. The twins in the series, Persephone and Portia Pinchgut, are planning their eleventh birthday. Little do they know, they are going to be in for some HUGE surprises!

Also, I’ve just submitted Books 7 & 8 to my editor at Walker Books for the Unicorn Riders series. I’m very much looking forward to seeing the draft illustrations come through soon. I’m probably not looking forward to tackling the structural edits though! Still, it’s all part of the writing process so I won’t complain. 

Unicorn Riders is a fantasy adventure series for girls aged 8+. The stories feature four strong, empowered female lead characters: Willow, Quinn, Ellabeth and Krystal. These girls protect their kingdom from evil forces and go on important missions for their queen. The stories are fast-paced and action-packed with lots of twists and turns. I’m passionate about this series because it’s all about empowering girls and helping them find their inner strength.

I’m also passionate about my picture books. For me, having a picture book published is one of the joys of being an author. My picture books so far are:

Puggle’s Problem, which is on the NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge, and Warambi, which was shortlisted for the 2012 CBCA Eve Pownell Award for Non-Fiction and the 2012 Wilderness Society Award for Children’s Literature.

I also have two more picture books on the way in 2013.

Bearly There is illustrated by Jill Carter-Hansen. It’s a story about two very different teddy bears. Bearly There is a well-loved and loyal teddy. Unfortunately, he’s rather raggedy and old. A well-meaning relative tries to replace Bearly by introducing a brand new teddy called Winston. Winston is naughty and cheeky and causes loads of problems for Bearly. Bearly There is due out in March 2013, so please keep an eye out for it.

My other picture book due out in 2013 is Little Meerkat. I just adore meerkats and I’m absolutely delighted that Wombat Books is publishing this story. I’m also delighted that WA illustrator, Shannon Melville, is illustrating the book. Little Meerkat is about an over-zealous, over-courageous, but terribly cute and mischievous meerkat. It’s due out in October 2013.

Well, that’s it for now. Thanks for taking the time to read this post. Please feel free to post any comments or questions here and I will respond.

If you’d like to find out more info about me you can visit my website at www.aleesahdarlison.com or go into Facebook and ‘LIKE’ my author page: www.facebook.com/AleesahDarlisonFanPage.

Happy Birthday, Bram Stoker!

Today's Google image was centred around vampires and Bram Stoker. Today is his 165th birthday! When I declared this at school today, one of my students said,"Miss, he's dead." Some people just don't get it.

In this day of romantic Gothic-style vampires, it's hard to imagine them as anything else. It's not that Stoker wrote the first vampire tale or even the first glam vampire tale; that honour goes to John Polidori, who was on that weekend writers' retreat with two poets and the girlfriend of one of them  - the one where the two amateurs actually wrote something worth reading and the two poets didn't come up with anything much? :-)

But Dracula is the novel on which our whole view of what vampires can and can't do is based. And he did something unusual, with Vlad Tepes, Romanian national hero, linked with the scary undead villain of his novel. I actually only read it a few years ago, and found, to my surprise, that it was easy reading. It was done in the form of letters and diary entries, which even fairly reluctant readers can handle. And scary? Oh, yes! I was biting my knuckles, muttering,"No, you idiot! Don't take off the garlic flowers! Stop opening that window, Dracula's out there!"

So, hands up those of you who haven't read it? Go on, we won't tell. But how about putting down that paranormal romance for a day or two and trying this?

I have sometimes recommended it when students have had enough of the Gothic romances that the big publishers are pouring out for teens at such a huge rate. "How about a book where the vampire is the bad guy?"

And the adapted version for children is doing well too.

Anyway, raise your glass in a toast to the grand master of the spooky vampire tale - and yes, I do drink...wine.

Rhiannon and Braydon Interview Justin D'Ath

Dear readers,

Today I would like to introduce you to my guest interviewers Rhiannon Mustapic and Braydon Harvey, who have prepared some questions for well-known Aussie YA writer Justin D’Ath, who has kindly agreed to answer them here on the Great Raven.

Pool, a novel published by Melbourne’s Ford Street Publishing and shortlisted for the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards, is set in New Lourdes, a small Victorian town where a miracle once took place at the local swimming pool. In fact, the town was renamed after the miracle happened, to get the tourist trade, which it does. Wolfgang, a boy who has a summer job at the pool, meets and befriends blind and nocturnal Audrey, the object of the miracle, in which she seemed to drown as a toddler, but came back to life. As the summer goes on, strange things begin to happen and butterfly-loving Wolfgang begins to see black butterflies unknown to science…

I reviewed this book when it first came out, so I’ll let you find out more details from that  and let Justin, Rhiannon and Braydon tell you all about it. Welcome to my blog, everyone!

RM What inspired you to write the book Pool?

JD: Believe it not, I wrote Pool because I didn’t want to write another book. Here’s what happened. Fifteen months earlier I applied to the Australia Arts Council for funding to write a YA novel about a rock band called Wolf Gang. Eventually, and much to my surprise, my application was successful and I received a $30,000 grant to write the novel. But by this time I had lost interest in the project so I turned the would-be title into the name of a character and wrote about him instead, and the result was Pool.

RM: What is your favourite line from the book (Ours was when Audrey said “I want to smell the lions”)

JD: Good choice. I think that’s my favourite line, too. In fact, the chapter when Wolfgang takes Audrey to the zoo is my favourite.

RM: Why did you use butterflies as part of the story?

JD: I like butterflies. And when I began the first chapter I had this character called Wolfgang working at the New Lourdes Pool and I needed something to happen to kick off the plot, so I wrote a butterfly into the scene to see how he would react, and it turned out he was interested in butterflies, too (but in a different way than me).

RM: Does the black butterfly represent Audrey’s soul?

JD: It wasn’t my intention. On the other hand, when you trust a novel to your readers it’s their interpretation that matters, and I quite like the idea.

RM: Why did you choose for there to be a love interest between Audrey and Wolfgang?

JD: I wanted their lives to come together. Also it presented Wolfgang with some interesting dilemmas.

RM: Have you ever known or experienced any of the events that occurred in the book in real life?

JD: No. It’s entirely fictional. I come from a strong Catholic background, so drew on that where it touched the plot and found it interesting to juxtapose Wolfgang’s beliefs with the extraordinary spiritual contradictions suggested by the sloping pool and by Audrey.

RM: Why did you choose for Wolfgang to finally see Audrey’s “special place” near the end of the story?

JD: I think Wolfgang needed to understand Audrey as fully as possible, if only to offer the readers entry into where she came from, or went.

BH: Why did you make Audrey blind?

JD: Again, this was purely happenstance. When I write I simply explore ideas, and it seemed interesting, since I had a butterfly in the story, to see how a blind person, who couldn’t see one or feel one, might react to it.

BH: What inspired you to write your first book? (And what is it?)

JD: My first book was a novel for adults called ‘The Initiate’. I wrote it after spending 10 months on an Aborigine mission in Central Australia. Living there was like being in a novel, so I decided to write one.

BH: What books have most influenced your life?

Every book that I have read from beginning to end has influenced me both as a writer and a person. If they don’t influence me, I don’t finish them. But there are too many to name.

BH: Why is Audrey nocturnal?

JD: I wanted to give this blind girl a reason to be at the pool every day, and since she was asleep most of the time I wondered why.

BH: Why did you choose for Wolfgang to have an interest in butterflies?

JD: See my answer to Rhiannon’s question. Also I wanted to make Wolfgang an interesting and slightly unusual young man – a misfit, if you like, which gave him a connection with Audrey.

Thanks for the great interview! One more thing before I go: last year, some of my students who had read Pool stumbled across some information on the Internet, about an American girl called Audrey Santos, who had had the same experience as the girl in the book. I asked Justin if that was where he’d got his inspiration for his own Audrey and he said he’d not heard the story. Weird!

Guest Post By George Ivanoff:Inspired by High School

  I can remember, years ago, working on an issue of SPOCK, the Star Trek club fanzine, typing up one of George Ivanoff's stories in which the word "probe" was used often and I kept mis-spelling it "proble". The friend who was typing up the issue with me agreed that "proble" was an ancient Vulcan rite involving the ritual assassination of Spock's father, Sarek. We wrote a very silly story about it, so you could say that George has inspired my own writing. :-)

Since then, he has sold sixty-five books and I've sold ten. George has done fiction of many, many genres and non-fiction on just about everything under the sun. Some time I would love to invite him back to talk about some of the bizarre experiences he has had in the publishing industry!

George is a fellow Ford Street writer, the author of the two Gamers' novels, which are very popular in my school library. But there was another book, once, which went out of print, as books tend to do, and is now back with a vengeance!

I'll let George tell you about it - welcome to the Great Raven, George!

My very first book, published back in 1999, was a collection of YA short stories called Life, Death and Detention. Out of print for many years, it’s now back — a new edition with a new cover, a new publisher (Morris Publishing Australia) and updated stories. I’ve already written about the journey this new edition took, on my own blog (see here — http://blog.boomerangbooks.com.au/the-long-and-winding-road-to-a-new-edition/2012/08; and here — http://blog.boomerangbooks.com.au/life-death-and-detention/2012/08).

Each of the ten stories in this book is based in some way on my own past experiences. Now, that does not mean that I ever brought a gun to school, or held a teacher hostage, or snogged the school bully — aspects of my life were merely starting points for the stories, rather than the stories themselves.

Sometimes the relationship between story and real life is direct, as in the case of “Remember Me”. I wrote the first draft of this story shortly after my grandmother died. Writing it was a kind of therapy. I then pushed the story further from reality as I re-wrote it. Although the story is now fiction, the emotions that the main character is experiencing are very much my own. It’s probably the most personal story in the collection.

I didn’t need comforting. I needed to be alone. But it had to be done; so I put on my funeral face and dealt with the guests. It was strange—tears had been replaced with a mixture of nostalgic conversations and concerned looks.

With other stories, such as “Ghosts”, the connection is looser. I have never encountered a ghost. With this story the association is one of location rather than experience. When I was in high school, and later university, I used the library as a sanctuary — a place to escape to; to be alone; to reflect on things. And so, in this story, a girl named Melissa uses her school library in a similar way.

Since mid-primary school, I have been an enthusiastic science fiction fan. That interest manifests itself in two stories. “Sugar” is my take on the sci-fi, rampaging monster story. “Beam Me Up”, on the other hand, takes a more personal approach. Rather than being a science fiction story, it’s about a group of science fiction fans — nerdy kids who band together with a common interest. When they are first introduced, they are set up for ridicule (as I had experienced), but I then turn this around as the story progresses, trying to show them for what they really are — ordinary kids.

Natalie surveyed the worried faces. Daniel was sitting on one of the desks, rocking back and forth nervously, while Crystal bit at her nails and Anthony paced. Anton and Marco stood rigidly in place, uncertain glances darting between them.

They’re kids, thought Natalie, just an ordinary bunch of kids. A bit weird, sure. But hey, aren’t most people a bit weird in their own little ways?

This came as quite a revelation to her.

All fiction needs a kernel of truth. It’s this basis in reality that can make the most dramatic and fantastical of situations believable. Feelings, incidents, locations, interests, people, thoughts — all these things from my high school life have come together in the creation of the stories from Life, Death and Detention. They are undoubtedly fiction, but there is also truth in them — my truth, inspired by my time in high school.

Life, Death and Detention is available in bookshops around Australia. It can be purchased from many online bookstores, including Boomerang Books (http://www.boomerangbooks.com.au/Life-Death-and-Detention/George-Ivanoff/book_9780987244499.htm). And it is available in numerous eBook formats from Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/174560

George Ivanoff is an author and stay-at-home dad residing in Melbourne. His books include Gamers’ Quest, Gamers’ Challenge and Life, Death and Detention. He has books on both the Victorian Premier’s Reading Challenge and NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge booklists. He is currently working on the third book in the Gamers series. Check out his website:     http://georgeivanoff.com.au

         

AN EVENING WITH CHRISTOPHER PAOLINI

After a long day at work, finishing reports to free me up today, I made my way to the  beautiful, hundred-year-old Atheneum theatre in Melbourne, where the Melbourne Writer’s festival was hosting an event in the Schools program.

I didn’t have time to stop for a meal, as I reached the city at 5.30 p.m. and the event was due to start at six, so I bought and gulped down a vegetable pasty from a stall at Flinders Street Station, promising myself a real meal afterwards, and caught a tram to Collins Street, where the theatre is located.

There was a crowd waiting in the foyer when I got there, many children and teens with their parents and some adult fans as well. I have to admit I have only been reading Eragon since I decided to buy a ticket. The books are very popular in my library, but oddly enough I couldn’t find students interested in going, not even Kristen, who is a major fan of the series and has read and re-read it; possibly she didn’t want to risk being disappointed. She needn’t have worried, as you will see presently, but she missed out. Luckily, the author was interviewed on Radio National this morning on Books and Arts Daily and the ABC prepares podcasts. And what he said on radio was very similar to what he said last night, even to the wording, so that’s okay. People tend to ask the same questions, and he does a lot of touring, so he has no doubt prepared a script to help him along. I would probably do the same.

It was fascinating standing there on my own, listening to conversations around me. Two boys were discussing Tom Sawyer. One declared it was “crap” while his brother said, “Actually, if you read it till the end, the last six chapters are not too bad. The bit where they go to the caves and get lost...”

Amusing to hear Mark Twain’s classic book about childhood discussed in that way. Is it even meant for children or is it for adults who have a sentimental view of their own childhoods? I suspect Mark Twain would have laughed if he’d heard the conversation.

A little after six we were allowed to enter the auditorium in groups. They asked us to sit near the front and fill that up before the back. That was fine with me, although a lady next to me said she’d rather sit near the back where it was warmer. With so many people all going in at once, though, they glanced at our printed-out tickets and didn’t bother to scan them.

It was ten past six by the time Mike Shuttleworth, who used to run the State Library’s Centre for Youth Literature and is now doing the MWF program, came out to introduce the guest speaker. He said that there would be a draw afterwards for a special framed poster for anyone who bought a book. I had no intention of staying for the signing; I have the first one on e-book and the rest in the school library if i want to read the sequels, so thought it might be better to make my way home and let the real fans have their fun. For that reason I also didn’t put up my hand to ask any questions, not wanting to take away the pleasure from any child fan who was waiting to ask.

Finally, he came out on stage, the young man who wrote a novel in his teens and ended up selling millions of copies, translated in to forty-nine languages.

I have to say I was impressed. Yes, the audience was full of fans who wanted to enjoy his talk, but I think he would have engaged even non-fans. Hell, he engaged this cynical old teacher-librarian! So many writers can tear your heart out with their writing, but can’t get up and speak to a room full of strangers. And then there are those who are so arrogant when they’re up there that you want to kick them in the behind. 

Not this lad. 

He told the audience about his life as a home-schooled boy who graduated high school at the age of fifteen and then was bored after two weeks of not having to do anything, to the extent that he dug a hole in the ground and built a mediaeval mead-hall in his back yard. Then he decided to write a book of the sort he would like to read, as we all do - why else would you write a book? He threw in all the elements he loved about fantasy - wizards and rescues of princesses and dragons and battles - and actually planned out his entire series before even getting started on the book. So all these books were planned by a fifteen year old boy. The first draft, as he says, was awful, so he edited it and cut stuff like a unicorn.

The hero’s name was originally Kevin, but you don’t sell many copies of an epic fantasy with a hero called Kevin, so he took the word “dragon” and changed a letter. I had suspected this from the first time I saw the book, so nodded to myself in satisfaction. 

The family self-published the book (I bet you could get a fortune on eBay for one of those first editions!) which was discovered by the YA writer Carl Hiaasen, who bought a copy for his twelve-year-old nephew and brought the book to the attention of Random House and the rest is history.

He told some amusing stories about that first tour he and his family took (and imagine having parents who were willing and able to take you on tour after publishing your book! How wonderful is that? My own parents would have been more than willing, but not able). He had never been inside a high school before, given that he’d been home schooled and you can imagine the reaction he got to his mediaeval costume! 

The herbalist Angela is based on his own sister Angela, who luckily has a sense of humour, and the werecats were her idea.

The cover art is by John Jule Palencar, an artist he admires so much he named a valley in the book after him, but the fact that he did the art was pure coincidence; the publishers didn’t know he was a fan.

The books in the series are full of references to various TV shows - Doctor Who especially, but also Babylon Five, Deep Space Nine and others - damn! Now I will HAVE  to read the rest! I wished I hadn’t decided not to ask any questions, because one influence/reference he didn’t mention was Star Wars, though he is a fan( and told a story of being beaten on an online Star Wars game by someone who went under the name of Eragon). So far, I have found the first novel to be something I would describe as Star Wars with dragons, but will keep my full thoughts on this for another post once I have finished.

He really knew how to engage his audience. A nice touch was to invite people to lend him their copies of each of the novels to read from. Of course, people waved their books at him and he had no trouble getting a copy of each.

He answered questions, asking people not to do spoilers, knowing that there might be people out there who hadn’t actually read the whole series. That was a really good touch, I thought; so many writers would have assumed, arrogantly, that everyone had, of course, read all their works, or why were they there?

Of course, there was a question about his future plans, now that the series was over, and he said he had planned out a lot of books in many different genres, and his next book would be science fiction. But yes, he had already planned out a fifth book in this universe.

There were plenty more things last night, but this is all I have time to describe for now. Stand by for another post when i have finished the novel.

I ended the evening with dinner at Young and Jackson’s pub, where they do a really nice warm salmon salad, so I didn’t have to cook once I got home.