* Hi Paula and welcome to tall tales & short stories. Would you like to tell us a bit about yourself?
Hi Tracy, thank you for inviting me back onto your wonderful blog.
I’m married with three kids. I was born in Liverpool but have been living in Nottingham for the past twenty years. I went to university there and stayed! I was a hospital social worker but gave up work to be at home, full time, with my kids and that’s when I started writing.
THE TRUTH ABOUT CELIA FROST
Celia Frost is a freak.
At least that's what everyone thinks.
Her life is ruled by a rare disorder that means she could bleed to death from the slightest cut, confining her to a gloomy bubble of safety. No friends. No fun. No life.
But when a knife attack on Celia has unexpected consequences, her mum reacts strangely.
Suddenly they're on the run. Why is her mum so scared?
Someone out there knows - and when they find Celia, she's going to wish the truth was a lie.
A buried secret; a gripping manhunt; a dangerous deceit: what is the truth about Celia Frost?
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ALSO INCLUDED:
A tall tales & short stories review
& Jo Unwin of Conville & Walsh explains why she chose to represent Paula.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
* What inspired you to write The Truth About Celia Frost?
I started with a strong sense of what kind of story I wanted to write. I knew it was going to be a contemporary setting and I wanted it to be gripping and twisting, entertaining and, hopefully, thought provoking. I wanted it to be the kind of story that I would enjoy writing and that others would enjoy reading.
However, before any plot idea emerged, it was the characters of Celia and Janice Frost that came to me. They were so vivid, that I could picture exactly what they looked like, their mannerisms and personalities. Once I had them standing in front of me, I realised what made them the people they were: There was something about Celia that her mother wasn’t telling her.
So, with this notion in my head the plot soon began to develop and evolve.
* You worked as a social worker and taught secondary school children in the Sudan and Israel. Did these experiences help inspire or influence some of your book
4 Comments on Interview with a Debut Author: PAULA RAWSTHORNE, last added: 6/27/2011
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By: Tracy,
on 4/17/2011
Blog: tall tales & short stories (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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* Hi Bryony and welcome to tall tales & short stories.
Would you like to tell us a bit about yourself?
Hi Tracy. Thank you for having me.
I’m really excited at the moment and kind of reeling, it seems very strange that anyone would actually be interested in anything I have to say and I feel a bit celeb-ish. However, I’m going to do my best with these questions and try not to be too boring (like every fanatic, I do love to go on about my subject).
What can I say about me? I’m in my mid-ish thirties. I have two small children (a girl aged five and a boy aged two). I’m a full time Mum, so all my writing has to slot in around the sleep times of small people. I have a cat, who is kind of starved of attention and likes to sit on my laptop (not my lap mark you) and I watch far too much television.
ANGEL'S FURY
Every atrocity.
Every war.
Every act of vengeance.
Will come back to haunt her.
A fallen angel walks the earth to bring mankind to its destruction...
Turning love into hate, forgiveness into blame, hope into despair.
Through the fires of hell he has come to haunt one girl's dreams.
But what if everything she ever dreamed was true?
Every time Cassie Smith tries to sleep, she is plagued by visions of a death: A little girl called Zillah. A victim of the holocaust. In desperation Cassie is sent for treatment in an old manor house. There she meets other children just like her. Including Seth...Seth who looks so familiar.
Her dream becomes nightmare.
And then reality.
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* What inspired you to write Angel’s Fury?
There wasn’t one single thing. The character of Cassie has existed for a while; the girl with the nightmares has been living alongside me for sometime, but she didn’t have a story and I didn’t know why she had the nightmares.
A few years ago, I went on holiday to Bali and learned about the local belief in reincarnation – which gave me a reason for her suffering, but not a storyline. Finally a random piece of research for another idea led me to Nephilim and I had a hook to hold the whole thing together.
Things sit in the back of my head and percolate until they’re ready. Angel’s Fury was literally an idea whose time had come.
* Without giving too much away, Angel’s Fury touches
2 Comments on Interview with a Debut Author: BRYONY PEARCE, last added: 4/17/2011
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By: Tracy,
on 11/1/2010
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*Hi Savita and welcome to tall tales & short stories.
Would you like to tell us a bit about yourself?
Hi Tracy, thanks for inviting me.
I was born in India, but I came to live in the UK when I was almost one. I grew up in High Wycombe, and I’m the eldest of seven kids, five girls and two boys. I had to play at being a bit older than my years from when I was quite young.
When I was 18 I traded the Chilterns, responsibility, a traditional upbringing and familial duty for the liberating freedom and beautiful mountains and valleys of Wales. I went to study Politics and Philosophy at the University of Aberystwyth.
I loved it there, living on the seafront with an ever-changing view of the Irish Sea, stunning sunsets, porpoises playing at dawn and the most dramatic storms. I met my wonderful husband there, and made friends who are still friends to this day.
Before turning to writing I did a few other things. I was a Batik artist and ran workshops for kids and Art teachers, I had exhibitions. Then I went to live in the Middle East for several years, where I taught English. It was a huge lifestyle adjustment, but it was generally an enriching experience and I still go back to visit.
I live in North London now with my husband and son, and spend my time writing, reading, gardening, and playing tennis.
The Long Weekend
Sam knows that he and his friend Lloyd made a colossal mistake when they accepted the ride home. They have ended up in a dark mansion in the middle of nowhere with a man who means to harm them. But Sam doesn't know how to get them out.
They were trapped, then separated.
Now they are alone.
Will either of them get out alive?
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* What inspired you to write The Long Weekend?
I began to wonder – how easy was it for something like that to happen? Not that easy I discovered. Kids are generally pretty aware of the dangers of talking to strangers or accepting a lift from them. But the kind of person who might try to get a kid into their car would have some tricks up their sleeve, a plausible story. And kids can sometimes be easily distracted or misled. An unthinking, distracted moment could lead to a mistake. That’s what h
1 Comments on Interview with a Debut Author: SAVITA KALHAN, last added: 11/1/2010
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By: Tracy,
on 8/1/2010
Blog: tall tales & short stories (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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Hi Anne-Marie and welcome to tall tales & short stories. Would you like to tell us a bit about yourself?
I am a primary school teacher who specialises in drama and I also run my own children’s drama company. I’ve always worked with children and I’m lucky that my work, for the most part, has been very creative and satisfying. I only started writing about five years ago but I have always been passionate about children reading and writing and loving books. I am married and I have two boys (who luckily both LOVE reading) but I have to say that all members of my family get a slightly glazed look in their eyes whenever I mention the B word (which is quite often!)
Phoebe Finds Her Voice
Things are not going well for Phoebe Franks (Shyest Person in the Whole, Entire Universe). Her mum and dad can’t stop arguing. Her best friend in the world has found a new best friend. And her arch enemy, Polly Carter, is doing her level best to make Phoebe’s life a total misery. But when Phoebe plucks up the courage to join Starmakers, a new out-of-school drama club run by her class teacher, Phoebe wonders if her luck might be about to change.
Practically too shy to speak at the first session, Phoebe is sure she’ll never be brave enough to join in with everyone else, let alone sing and dance. But as the group works towards its first production, The Dream Factory, Phoebe’s confidence starts to grow. Will she ever be able to sing her solo? Will she find a way to stop Polly Carter being such a bully? And most importantly of all, will she manage to get her parents talking again in time to see her perform on the biggest night of her life?
Phoebe Finds Her Voice is aimed at 7-11 year olds and is the first book in the Star Maker’s series.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
* What inspired you to write Phoebe Finds Her Voice?
I was on holiday away from my computer and itching to get on with an earlier writing project I’d started. Because I didn’t have that manuscript with me - or any way of accessing it - I decided to start something new. I can remember the exact day I wrote the first page of Phoebe and it’s funny because even though the book has changed so many times and in so many ways since then - that original page remained more or less unchanged (although it ended up much later on in the first chapter)
As far as inspiration – it was years of putting on musical productions with a special group of children who came to feel like a big extended family. All the high drama of putting on a show, as well as the dramas they were experiencing in their own personal lives. I haven’t taken any one child’s story and put it in the book – it’s more the rich tapestry of all their universal hopes, dreams, worries and frustrations.
* You wor
4 Comments on Interview with a Debut Author: ANNE-MARIE CONWAY, last added: 8/2/2010
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By: Tracy,
on 4/26/2010
Blog: tall tales & short stories (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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Hi William and welcome.
Would you like to tell us a bit about yourself?
All that follows is true, I swear…
I was born the son of a fairground showman. For the first year of my life, my family and I travelled the southern byroads of England, pitching up on town greens with helter-skelters, ghost trains, waltzers, sideshows and the infamous ‘Wall of Death’ (an almost vertical circular track around which a motorcyclist would hurtle at phenomenal speeds). When I was still in nappies (‘diapers’ to our American cousins), we settled in the seaside town of Skegness. ‘Skeggy’, as it is known to the locals, is famed for its ‘bracing’ offshore winds – which basically means it’s bloomin’ windy up here! Anyway, the Husseys may have stopped travelling, but we were still fairground people at heart and so, during the school holidays, I helped out on my uncle’s infamous ghost train ride – the scariest spookhouse on the East Coast!
At school, I was always a fairly average student – rubbish at maths and science but pretty good at English. It was only when I went to secondary school that my grades started to improve. It was all down to an amazing English teacher – Mrs Breeds – who inspired me to read and write my own stories.
I went on to study Law at university. Why, oh why, did I study Law?! Not got the foggiest. Just seemed a good idea at the time. What I really wanted to do was write. But I always felt that writers were these mythical, god-like beings that lived in a kind of literary Olympus: powerful, unknowable, untouchable. How could a mere mortal such as I aspire to such divinity? Of course, now I know better. We writers are the least god-like and the most human of, well, humans. Prick us and we bleed. Wrong us (like with a bad review) and we’ll revenge! Or, more likely, mope about the house for a bit filled with loathing and self-doubt! Hmm, seem to be going off on a tangent there…
Eventually, after pursuing a half-hearted legal career, I started a Masters Degree in Creative Writing at Sheffield Hallam University, bagged myself an agent pretty soon afterwards, and embarked on the life of a writer of horror stories. Last year, after being challenged by my bookseller friend Deborah Chaffey to write a horror series for kids, I sat down and penned the first Witchfinder book. It was a revelation. Witchfinder is the most fun I’ve ever had as a writer.
WITCHFINDER: DAWN OF THE DEMONTIDE
What inspired you to write WITCHFINDER: DAWN OF THE DEMONTIDE?
As I say, it all began with Deborah. She’s absolutely committed to children’s fiction and basically threw down the gauntlet. I’d had a couple of adult horror books published by this time (Through a Glass, Darkly (2008) and The Absence (2009)) – now Debs set the challenge to write a genuinely exciting, spooky, inventive and mysterious horror book for kids. For one of my earlier books I’d done some research into the history of the 1
3 Comments on Interview with an Author: WILLIAM HUSSEY discusses WITCHFINDER and writing teen horror, last added: 4/26/2010
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By: Tracy,
on 4/11/2010
Blog: tall tales & short stories (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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Hi Andrew and welcome to tall tales & short stories.
Would you like to tell us a bit about yourself?
METEORITE STRIKE
A meteorite has struck earth without warning, unleashing a deadly alien virus. Thousands fall victim... but not Sarah and Robert. Instead they develop strange side effects – psychic abilities. And that makes them a target for HIDRA, a rogue international agency determined to turn them into lab rats, just like the other kids they’ve already captured – kids who can control fire, create storms and tear steel with their minds. If they can work together, these kids might just stand a chance...
What inspired you to write METEORITE STRIKE and how long did it take you from initial inspiration to finally achieving the publication deal?
Inspiration came from my first year in Australia and my long-term love of superhero stories. It probably took a couple of years from starting the first draft to signing on the bottom line with Usborne. As an aspiring writer you need patience and perseverance.
How did it feel to be nominated and to make the shortlist of The Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize 2010?
I didn’t expect anything like that for my first book, so it was great just to have made the longlist and getting to the final 9 was amazing. The Waterstone’s Prize gave the book a lot of exposure in terms of reviews, coverage and physical placement of the book in the shops (when I was over in February all the shortlisted books were prominently displayed in the children’s sections of the shops). As a new author on the shelves, that’s a big boost.
METEORITE STRIKE is book one in your Superhumans series. How many do you hope to write? And did you have further ideas in mind before achieving the book deal or did you have to think about the sequels from scratch?
I always imagined a series with Meteorite Strike as an origins story. Alien Storm comes out in November and I’m currently working on the third book. I’ve got some loose ideas for a fourth that would be a lot of fun to write. Having established the main characters, it’s exciting to imagine them in different situations and facing new threats, so I can’t see myself tiring of Superhumans anytime soon. As long as readers like the books and Usborne want to publish, I’ll be there!
You’ve mentioned in an article for Young Writer magazine that your love of sci-fi developed with Star Wars. Do you think you’ll continue to write for the sci-fi genre or do you think you may try writing in other genres?
At th
2 Comments on Interview with a Debut Author: AG TAYLOR, last added: 4/14/2010
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Another great interview Tracy. So refreshing to hear a writer brimming with passion and enthusiasm for their craft.
I wish Paula luck in what undoubtedly promises to be a long writing career ahead.
Its great to not only read this interview, but to read comments by Paula's agent also and of course, Tracy's review. An excellent post and as a fellow member of The Edge, I wish Paula every success with Celia Frost and all future work.
Great interview - Paula, you've had a fascinating life and I can't wait to see how it comes out in your books!
Paula, it's all come around so quickly! You must be absolutely thrilled at getting into print and at all the confidence that Usborne are showing in you. You have arrived - enjoy it.
Nick.