Blog Tour – Ghosts of Mars by Stuart White

It is with great pleasure I join the blog tour for Stuart White who is 7th place finalist in the Book Bloggers’ Novel of the Year Award 2023 (BBNYA) with his middle grade novel, Ghosts of Mars.

The BBNYA is a yearly competition where book bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors, ending with 15 finalists and one overall winner.

If you want some more information about BBNYA, check out the BBNYA Website https://www.bbnya.com/ or take a peek over on Twitter @BBNYA_Official. BBNYA is brought to you in association with the @Foliosociety (if you love beautiful books, you NEED to check out their website!) and the book blogger support group @The_WriteReads.

Ghosts of Mars is a fantasy, science fiction novel aimed at the 9+ age range and set twenty years in the future.

Blurb

Mars. 2045. 13-year-old Eva is the first Martian.

And world famous on two planets!

Fame, Type 1 diabetes and a sarcastic AI companion haunt her, but when her dad goes missing on the red planet, she must overcome the ‘Ghosts of Mars’ to save him.

The Martian for middle-grade, full of science, friendship and adventure, with elements of The Sword in the Stone.

With a Type 1 Diabetic main character, Ghosts of Mars explores how life beyond Earth, and the fame and scrutiny that come with it, affects the young people involved, who didn’t sign up for life on Mars. Ten percent of author profits go to Diabetes UK.

My stop on The Write Reads tour takes the form of an author interview.

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Tell us a little about yourself, the inspiration for Ghosts of Mars and Eva’s use of artificial intelligence.

Hello, I’m Stuart, a biology teacher, writer and Star Wars nerd (just generally a nerd on lots of nerdy things tbh!). I have a couple of kids and even more book babies, up here in ‘Sunny’ Glasgow.

I love space, and Mars specifically appeals to me as a place to go, and with all the chat of inhabiting it within the next 20 years I thought it would be fun to write about it. Then I thought of the least equipped human to live there – someone born on Mars with Type 1 diabetes has got to be up there! – and started throwing rocks at her. I suppose that’s the basis of most good stories. With it being in the near-future I wanted to integrate an element that I suspect will be mainstream by that time (or at least highly developed) and give her an AI companion who inverts the stereotype of evil AI, and is actually her closest companion and friend.

What are the underlying themes of Ghosts of Mars?

The biggest one is never giving up on the things you believe in. Eva has to overcome so many obstacles that would make most give up, but she loves her Dad more than anything in this Solar System and so will go to the ends of Mars for him. And that defiance to go after what she believes in is both a fault and a strength! I also wanted to explore the feeling of not being where you want to be – which is what almost every kid feels at some point – and yearning for a new future in a new place doing ANYTHING but what you are right now, and to bring her back round to thinking ‘there’s no place like home’ which is a lovely theme, I think!

If you and your family were chosen to join Elon Musk’s project to colonise Mars would you go and why?

Absolutely! I’m not sure my wife would agree though, but my kids are quite adventurous so it might just be the 3 of us! I’ve always been obsessed with exploration, first on Earth, but more latterly on moving beyond our planet and inhabiting other planets (for when we inevitably destroy this one!) and how that might work. To be a pioneer of the human race as one of the first people to step foot on another planet would be quite something, right?

In Ghosts of Mars, Eva is dealing with the death of her mother and the guilt over her father’s accident, creating some very emotional scenes. What is the first book that made you cry and how has this influenced your own writing?

I cried reading LOTR (not sure if that was my first or not!) after the scene (SPOILERS!) when Sam thinks Frodo is dead after Shelob attacks. It was very emotional for teenage me and I always think back to that scene when I think about the book (which I’ve re-read at least half a dozen times since!)

What does being a Book Bloggers’ Novel of the Year Award (BBNYA) finalist mean to you?

It means a lot – being a writer often means existing in a state of doubt and insecurity about the quality of your work. When you self-publish, I think that’s amplified, and so to get that validation from those who read the most (ie bloggers!) is something special and I’m very honoured to have been a finalist this year.

What writing advice would you give to people aspiring to be a children’s book writer?

Write. Read a lot. Write some more. You can do courses etc but they just help refine craft – the hard yards are done in the writing and reading phases and without those two things the other stuff is just icing on raw flour and eggs.

Is there anything else you would like to tell readers about Ghosts of Mars?

Just that there’s sequel(s) coming (and a prequel already written!) – I love writing in this universe and hope to keep the adventures of Eva Knight going!

What are your social media links where can people find out about you and your books?

All my links are here: https://linktr.ee/stuartwhitewm

Where is the best place for people to buy Ghosts of Mars?

You can buy my books from wherever you usually do, including book stores and my own website (for signed copies!) – all on the linktree above!

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Author Bio

Stuart is an award-winning author and secondary school teacher. He has a Masters Degree in Creative Writing and founded, and now runs, WriteMentor. In 2020 and 2022 he was placed on the SCWBI Undiscovered Voices longlist and named as an Hononary Mention for his novels Ghosts of Mars and Astra FireStar and the Ripples of Time. In 2023, he won the WriteBlend award for his middle grade debut, Ghosts of Mars.

Stuart was included in The Bookseller’s 2021 list of Rising Stars in the publishing industry.

Praise for Ghosts of Mars

“A thrilling, edge-of-the-seat ride for all space loving adventurers!” Vashti Hardy, Author of Brightstorm

“I loved this book – not only as a type 1 diabetic – but as a fan of brilliant middle-grade stories. Perfectly paced, hugely imaginative and wildly exciting, I predict readers will adore Eva and this stunning space adventure.” AF Steadman, Author of Skandar and the Unicorn Thief

You can read reviews of Ghosts of Mars here:

Amazon Links:

Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63274577-ghosts-of-mars

The StoryGraph Link: https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/2b3c86c8-ef1b-4708-ad90-d982d93d3ed1

I would like to thank The Write Reads for inviting me to take part in this BBNYA finalist tour. Thank you.