Category Archives: Blog Tour

Blog Tour – The Grinning Throat by Kate Wiseman

For my slot today in The Grinning Throat blog tour I have the great privilege of interviewing the author, Kate Wiseman.

The Grinning Throat is the first in a new historical middle-grade series of The Mudlark Mysteries about orphans living in Victorian London. Our main protagonists are Joe is 15 years old and Edie is 13. Forever worried that they will be sent to the dreaded workhouse, they scratch out a living the best way they can by mudlarking on the foreshore of the River Thames and selling their finds to the notorious Hempson. One day they discover something macabre, and it will change their lives forever.

‘My first thought is that it’s a pig that someone has lost to the river. Perhaps it fell off one of the barges that choke up the Thames. They’re a constant feature, toiling up and down, day and night, giving off black smoke that clings to the water.’
The Grinning Throat by Kate Wiseman

Kate Wiseman writes middle grade and YA fiction and has a specific interest in writing historical fiction. She grew up in Oxford in the 1970s. She has won the Eyelands price twice and holds a BA and an MA in literature and creative writing.

Her degrees gave her the courage to do what she’d always dreamed of doing: being a writer. Since then she has had many books published by ZunTold including, her middle grade Gangster School series and a YA fantasy, Icarus and Velvet. She loves visiting schools to deliver workshops in creative writing. Many of them are based on her own mudlarking finds.

Without any further ado I will proceed with the interview…

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Tell us a little about yourself and the inspiration for your book The Grinning Throat.

I’m a lifelong reader, of course. I think all authors are. I came to writing fairly late – about 7 years ago – and have been fortunate enough to have my MG and YA books published in several languages. My first novel for adults – about a girl who disguises herself as her brother to fight in the First World War – will be published next summer.

My devotion to mudlarking is more recent. A friend and I went mudlarking with an acquaintance a couple of years before lockdown and I was completely hooked. I’ve always loved history and historical fiction and mudlarking is history-hunting and treasure-hunting all mixed up! I started making plans to write a series on mudlarking.

It made sense to me to set it in Victorian times, when mudlarking was a recognised and fairly unenviable way for the very young and very old to scratch a living. This was in the days before there was social assistance for people in need. That creates a sense of urgency to the adventures of my characters. They aren’t mudlarking for pleasure, as I do. It’s a survival tactic.

Why did you decide to write a book about mudlarking for children?

It had to be for children because the majority of mudlarks were children. I think today’s kids will be amazed if they put themselves in the shoes of the Victorian mudlarks. Not that many of them had shoes! I think they’ll be astonished at how kids were allowed to live back then.

What has been and/or what would be your greatest find when mudlarking?

My greatest find would be a bellarmine jug, sometimes called a witch bottle. There’s one that features quite heavily in The Grinning Throat. I’ve found fragments but never a whole one. They’re very, very rare. If I found a bellarmine jug, I think I’d scream and dance around the foreshore in a very alarming way.

Witch bottles were usually used to avert witchcraft. Sometimes they’re found with hair and nails and urine and other fairly unpleasant things sealed up inside them. I have a friend with a 17^th century cottage who found one under his front door, buried there to prevent witches and curses entering the house. For the purposes of my story, the characters use a bellarmine jug to set a curse on a very evil man. If you want to know if it works, you’ll have to read the book.

How did you decide on the title of The Grinning Throat?

In my book, the Grinning Throat are a gang of European anarchists who like to cut the throats of their victims. I once read a description of that kind of injury, likening it to a kind of lipless smile. The image stayed with me.

At the beginning of the 20^th century, there was a gang of Serbian anarchists called The Black Hand. One of them assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, which started the First World War. I was thinking about them when I devised the name.

What research did you have to do into the Victorians and the workhouses to write The Grinning Throat?

I teach English Language and Literature, including the works of Dickens and Conan Doyle and Stevenson, and I studied Victorian literature at university, so I already had a decent knowledge of how Victorians lived and what they believed in. The workhouse was designed to punish the poor for being poor, and everyone dreaded having to enter it. It was a last resort for most and many never came out again.

I did a lot of research into the circumstances under which mudlarks lived. There’s a book by Henry Mayhew called London Labour and the London Poor, which was a real eye opener. Mayhew was a social commentator who tried to record the working conditions for all kinds of poor workers in Victorian London. Some of the jobs people had to do were absolutely ghastly.

I also had to check out when certain buildings and landmarks were put up, so I didn’t make any goofs. For instance, I would like to have included Tower Bridge, but it wasn’t opened until 1886 and the Mudlark Mysteries are set in the 1870s. I hope I haven’t missed anything.

Is there anything else you would like to tell readers about The Grinning Throat and other books you have written?

The Grinning Throat is the first in a series of historical adventures with mudlarking at their core. The second one – The Hampstead Terror – is set in the world of toshers – mudlarks who operated in London’s sewers. I think it’s coming out next year.

I’m currently working on the third one – The Cursed Skull – which focuses on Wapping and the site of Execution Dock. I have plans for two more. Each book is narrated by a different member of the group of friends that form in The Grinning Throat. I love writing them and hope readers of mystery and history will love them too.

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You can find out more about Kate on her website: katewiseman.co.uk. She is on Instagram as @kittywise999, on Facebook as Kate Wiseman, Twitter as @KateWiseman and TikTok as @katewiseman99.

You can purchase a copy of The Grinning Throat by Kate Wiseman direct from the publisher ZunTold, or any bookshop will be able to order it in, if it’s not in their stock. It’s also on Amazon.

To follow the rest of the tour check out the schedule below:

I would like to thank Anne Cater from Random Things Tours for inviting me to take part in this blog tour. Thank you.

Blog Tour – The Jules Verne Prophecy by Larry Schwarz and Iva-Marie Palmer

It is with great delight I join The Jules Verne Prophecy by Larry Schwarz and Iva-Marie Palmer book tour. This exciting new middle-grade mystery was released by Little, Brown Young Readers US on the 29th June 2023.

The main protagonist, Owen Godfrey, is spending his summer in Paris studying science fiction writer Jules Verne, the brilliant mind behind Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and Around the World in Eighty Days. When Owen and his new friends find what appears to be a dusty copy of Verne’s collected works in an old bookshop, they’re intrigued by the hidden codes written inside.

As one clue leads to another, the trio gets swept up in an epic treasure hunt spanning the city – from the depths of the catacombs to the top of the Eiffel Tower, and by way of skateboard, boat, car, and even a hot air balloon! But they quickly realize they’re not the only ones searching for the hidden riches, and that there are others who will stop at nothing to get to them first. This fast-paced larger-than-life adventure is filled with action, high stakes, and three friends who are dead set on cracking the Jules Verne mystery.

For my stop of the tour I have elected to do a creative post and tell you my top five reasons to read The Jules Verne Prophecy and traditionally I am going to give these in reverse order, saving the best to last.

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My Top Five Reasons to Read The Jules Verne Prophecy

5. It is Set in Paris

I love Paris. It is a beautiful city. Reading The Jules Verne Prophecy by Larry Schwarz and Iva-Marie Palmer bought back pleasant memories of wandering the streets of Paris with my husband. This novel captures the atmosphere and the intrepid adventurers, Owen Godfrey, Nas Shirvani and Rose Bordage are propelled into a vast array of incredible iconic attractions that the reader is instantly able to visualise, even if they have never visited Paris before.

They venture deep into the catacombs of Paris, float by the Eiffel Tower in a hot air balloon and sail down the Seine in style. They visit Europe’s oldest scientific museum, the Musée des Arts et Métiers, home of many scientific inventions and their search leads them into the neighbouring arts et Métiers Metro Station, which was redesigned in 1994 in recognition of Jules Verne and his amazing novels. I enjoyed discovering the historical significance to Jules Verne these landmarks have.

4. Refers to the Jules Verne’s Novels

The title, The Jules Verne Prophecy, drew me to the book instantly. I immediately thought this must be a novel for middle-grade that is themed around Jules Verne’s many imaginative scientific inventions that have since become a reality. I was already aware that Jules Verne had written 54 novels and each one in my opinion is a masterpiece. Bearing in mind he was writing his books between 1863 and 1905, many things such as rockets that could fly to the moon in From the Earth to the Moon (1865) and submarines, as in the Nautilus from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1869), etc did not exist. So the title piqued my interest before I had even received the book. I was not disappointed. The Jules Verne Prophecy mentions many of these inventions and some are important for the success of the quest.

There are many instances where the characters discuss Jules Verne’s novels in relation to the next step of their adventure. I particularly liked the way little facts were weaved into the plot, such as when their teacher, Professor Bessier, points out that they never actually use a hot-air balloon in Around the World in Eighty Days as they dismiss the idea as highly risky. It is however used in his novel, Five Weeks in a Balloon. Although, at no point do you feel the authors are overloading you with scientific jargon or facts. The Jules Verne Prophecy is pitched perfectly to maintain the attentions of a middle grade reader.

3. Involves a Treasure Hunt

A treasure hunt is a simple and compelling premise that will draw many readers in because treasure hunts are fun. I remember the amazing sense of achievement I would get when taking part in treasure hunts as a child. It was a fantastic boost to my own self-confidence when I found the reward at the end. I even went through a phase of designing my own treasure hunts for my friends and later on my children.

Our main protagonist, Owen Godfrey, is enrolled into a Jules Verne course in France over the summer where they are going to study and discuss Jules Verne’s novels starting with Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. I was intrigued when his copy is stolen just before the test and so he goes to the nearest bookshop where he is mysteriously hit on the head with a dusty old book, entitled The Jules Verne Prophecy – just like the title of the Larry Schwarz and Iva-Marie Palmer novel. This book is the catalyst that propels them on their quest finding a wide range of hidden doorways and secret passages with Jules Verne links at various destinations around Paris.

The great thing about The Jules Verne Prophecy by Larry Schwarz and Iva-Marie Palmer is not only are they whisked off on a treasure hunt around Paris but there are actual proper clues to decipher, which the authors give time for the reader to try and solve for themselves rather than, as other books I have read that involves a mystery, tells you there is a cryptic clue without actually telling the reader what the clue was. Here we get to read the clue for ourselves and think about it and witness the step-by-step way our heroes solve the puzzle, thus challenging the reader to think and use their creativity to solve the mystery.

I also like the way that each bit of treasure they found was significant in helping them to solve the next step of their treasure hunt in a similar fashion to the National Treasure movies starring Nicholas Cage.

2. The Terrific Tension

There is a lot of mystery and tension in The Jules Verne Prophecy from the start. We are immediately caught up in the story of who led him to that particular bookstore where he was hit on the head by a book and why was he chosen? Then there is the mystery of who is the nameless antagonist who is trying to thwart their efforts to discover Jules Verne’s treasure. We are never quite sure who to trust and even the police could be on the antagonists payroll, so we are routing the whole time for Owen and his friends to escape their clutches.

All the way through we want to discover the answers to our questions of what the treasure will be and how will it lead them to their next destination. The characters are constantly placed in situations where they have to work hard to solve each clue and their struggle increases in difficulty as the story progresses. As well as the tension of finding the treasure before the mysterious ‘baddies’, Owen has his own inner tension of self-confidence believing his mum does not think him worthy of her attention as she has to work all the time. Then their teacher goes missing and later Owen’s mum is kidnapped. Each time this conflict racks up the tension of the plot.

The Jules Verne Prophecy is plotted so the tension rises and falls but still gives sufficient time for the reader to breath during this roller-coaster of an adventure.

1. The Vibrant Voice

Yes, the book is well-plotted but the thing that stood out most for me and why it has made my number one spot in my list of the five top reasons to read The Jules Verne Prophecy is… the voice. This novel is absolutely filled with the voice of Owen Godfrey.

From the very first page the authors have captured Owen’s personality and American colloquialisms and this is maintained throughout the novel. I found him to be a relatable and dynamic protagonist with clear goals and flaws, who reacts to the situations he finds himself in organically. He reminded me of Marty McFly, Michael J. Fox’s character in Back to the Future.

In fact, every character in the story has their own voice so they are easily identifiable not only by what they say but also how they react. If other writer’s are searching for a book that showcases voice this is the book for you.

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Larry Schwarz is a creator and producer of live action and animated series for kids, teens, and families. He’s best known for Nickelodeon’s anime comedy Kappa Mikey and Speed Racer: The Next Generation and the live action series Thumb Wrestling Federation for Cartoon Network; Team Toon, a Netflix Original; and Alien Dawn for Nickelodeon. In addition to The Jules Verne Prophecy, he has co-authored Romeo, Juliet & Jim with Iva-Marie Palmer. He lives in New York City.

You can discover more about Larry on Twitter @ZoomSchwarz, Instagram @zoomschwarz and find links to his other books on Goodreads here.

Iva-Marie Palmer is the author of the novels Gimme Everything You Got, The End of the World as We Know It, and The Summers. A former journalist in Chicago’s south suburbs and still a bit of a jock who loves to box, run races, and swing big at batting cages, Iva now lives with her husband and two sons in Burbank, California.

Iva’s website where you can find out more about her and her writing is www.ivamariepalmer.com.

You can follow her on Twitter @ivamarie and Instagram @ivamarie. Reviews of her other books can be seen on Goodreads here.

You can use this link to the tour schedule to follow the rest of the tour: https://tbrandbeyondtours.com/2023/05/24/tour-schedule-the-jules-vernes-prophecy-by-larry-schwarz-iva-marie-palmer

To purchase a copy of The Jules Verne Prophecy by Larry Schwarz and Iva-Marie Palmer you can use the following book links:

: Goodreads : Amazon : Barnes & Noble : Indigo : IndieBound :

I would like to thank TBR and Beyond Tours for inviting me to take part in this book tour. Thank you.

Blog Tour – Toby and the Silver Blood Witches by Sally Doherty

For my stop on the Toby and the Silver Blood Witches blog tour I will be doing a spotlight of the book.

This book won first place in the BBNYA 2022. 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 are an author and wish to learn more about the BBNYA competition, you can visit the official website http://www.bbnya.com or 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.

The main character of, Toby and the Silver Blood Witches, is twelve year old Toby who has little time for friends or football since his mum fell ill. All he wants is to stay at home and keep an eye on her. But mysterious things are happening beyond his garden hedge. Who is the figure at the window behind the barbed wire fence? And why is there a strange woman in his attic with a broken broom and bothersome pet bat?

Toby becomes entangled in an adventure of flying dogs, sparking hiccups and dangerous escapes. An innocent, young witch has been captured by a secretive organisation which will stop at nothing to find out how magic works. Toby must rescue her and time is running out.

Toby and the Silver Blood Witches by Sally Doherty was also the winner of the Book Blogger Novel of the Year Award 2022 and Writeblend Award 2022. Finalist in The Wishing Shelf Awards 2021. Shortlisted for The Selfies Book Awards 2022 and Rubery Book Awards 2022. The book is illustrated by Sarah Jan Docker @sarahjdocker

Sally writes middle grade novels. Her debut novel Toby and the Silver Blood Witches was published in July 2021. She lives in Surrey, UK, with her husband and three-legged Labrador. When not resting in bed due to chronic M.E. she can be found writing, reading or editing, searching for a sunny spot in the garden or providing a good scratch behind the ears.

Sally writes articles about living with chronic illness which have been published by MSN, Yahoo News, Metro UK, The Mighty, ME Association and Action for ME.

She dabbles in flash fiction with pieces published by Reflex Fiction, Spelk Fiction, Funny Pearls and Ellipsis Zine. She has won Retreat West’s Micro Fiction competition four times. And she is WriteMentor’s flash fiction judge.

You can discover more about Sally Doherty and her books on Twitter @Sally_writes and Facebook @sallydohertywrites.

Blog Tour: Meet the Bears by Kate Peridot and Becca Hall

It is with great pleasure that I am joining the blog tour for Meet the Bears by Kate Peridot and Becca Hall.

Kate Peridot is a prolific writer who loves research. Her research skills were honed by a love of books, studying for an international business degree, working as a marketer for food companies and then as a freelance writer.

She writes wild and adventurous children’s fiction and non-fiction about animals, people and STEM that encourage a can-do spirit, a quest for knowledge and a sense of adventure. Meet the Bears certainly does capture this essence.

The illustrator, Becca Hall, has a thing for nature, which often finds its way into her artwork.

She is constantly finding inspiration from the natural world around her. Over the years, she has worked on an array of projects, including illustrated maps, product and packaging illustrations, branding, book illustrations, website art, and even adorable pet portraits. She also has her own range of giftware.

My stop on the tour will take the form of a book review:

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Title: Meet the Bears

Written by: Kate Peridot

Illustrated by: Becca Hall

Published by: Welbeck Publishing

Meet the Bears by Kate Peridot is the first in the series of enticing creative non-fiction books that focus on the different species of animals that can be found all over the world. This book concentrates, as the title would suggest, on bears.

It opens with a little girl and her teddy bears in her bedroom and her father telling her how ‘great’ bears are. They pack their bear spotting kit and set off on an adventure to discover the features of all the different species of bear so she can identify her own teddy bears family.

We learn there are eight different species of bear. We also discover that some animals people think are bears are not actually bears. It was a shock to read the koala is one of these animals.

Each species of bear has two beautiful double-page spreads full of facts on their general appearance, the food they eat, their fur, whether they hibernate and where in the world they live.

I was again surprised to find out how few bears actually hibernate. Meet thd Bears is full of interesting and thought-provoking facts like these. Proving this book is suitable for readers of all ages who wish to expand their knowledge of bears.

I enjoyed the addition of the girl’s reason why her own teddy cannot be each particular species using information found in the text and felt it was a satisfactory conclusion when she finally identified the species of her Teddy bear, which gave ghe book a lovely ahhhh factor.

Becca Hall’s illustrations capture the features of the different bears perfectly. One of my favourites is the black bear asleep in the tree. Becca also demonstrates a fantastic loving relationship between father and daughter. I particularly like the way the artwork bleeds to the edge of the page in each of the first spreads.

At the back of the book there is a map with a key of where each species is found and a table comparing the size of each bear. This is a useful and fascinating appendage that young children will love to study and assess. On the very last page there was also some interesting information on how to stay safe in bear country. I believe even children in the UK, where we do not have bears will be enthralled by this.

Meet the Bears would make the ideal gift for any child interested in nature and animal conservation. It can also be used in the classroom or home schooling to support work on animals and their environments and adaptations. As well as this it would provide and excellent springboard for children to research other animals and their different adaptations, such as apes, ducks, turtles, wild cats, etc. to name but a few.

Another exceptionally concise and informative illustrated non-fiction picture book from Kate Peridot, pitched perfectly at KS1 and lower KS2.

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To read my interview with Kate Peridot you can check out: Blog Tour – Caring Conservationists by Kate Peridot

To find out more about Kate Peridot and her books you can visit her website: www.kateperidot.com, or follow her on Twitter @kateperidot, Instagram @kateperidot and on Facebook @kate.peridot.7

To find out more about Becca Hall and her artwork you can visit her website: https://www.beccahallillustration.co.uk, or follow her on Instagram @beccahallillustration and Facebook @BeccaHallIllustration.

You can purchase a copy of Meet the Bears by Kate Peridot and Becca Hall from most independent booksellers or online from uk.bookshop.org, an organisation with a mission to financially support local, independent bookshops.

To take a look at the other stops on the tour check out the tour schedule:

I would like to thank Anna Cole from Hachette Books for sending me a hardback review copy of Meet the Bears to review on my blog.

And if you have got this far in the post I would like to end with a couple of bear jokes.

What did the teddy bear say after dinner? I’m stuffed.

What do you call a bear with no teeth? A gummy bear.

Please feel free to comment with your own bear jokes below, even if it is just to prove you’ve read the post.

Blog Tour – The Pawnshop of Stolen Dreams by Victoria Williamson

It is my pleasure to announce that today is my stop of the blog tour for this brilliant middle grade novel, The Pawnshop of Stolen Dreams by Victoria Williamson.

Title: The Pawnshop of Stolen Dreams

Written by: Victoria Williamson

Illustrated by: James Brown

Published by: Tiny Tree

Blurb

In a strange little village called Witchetty Hollow, eleven-year-old Florizel is the first to run into the curious visitors who’ve come to open a brand new Daydream Delicatessen and sack-baby factory.

At first, it seems the daydream confection and cheap sack children are the best things that could have happened to the poor folk of the Hollow – after all, who has the money to rent their child from Storkhouse Services these days? But after a few weeks, Florizel starts to notice something odd happening to the adults of the town. First, they seem dreamy, then they lose all interest in their jobs and families. Soon they’re trading all their worldly goods in the newly-opened Pawnshop for money to buy daydreams. With no money for rent payments, the children of Witchetty Hollow are being reclaimed by Storkhouse Services at an alarming rate. Florizel needs to act.

A magical tale of intrigue and adventure from award-winning children’s author Victoria Williamson

Review

The Pawnshop of Stolen Dreams is a very clever story. The intricate world of Witchetty Hollow has been well-thought out and the dynamics of the town clearly constructed to steer the course of events for the whole story. Every detail is interconnected to produce a very elaborate poverty stricken world where our hero Florizel and her hilarious sidekick Burble the sack-boy, have to prevent the three scheming siblings: Grimalkin, Griselda and Grendel Gobbelino from completing their devious plan and ultimately save the village and all its inhabitants.

Florizel, has been rented by Gammer Oakenshaw for eleven years and has to pretend to be uneducated as the rent is determined by her test results at school. She lives with the constant fear that if she does well in her tests her rent will increase and Gammer Oakenshaw will not be able to afford her, so she will be reclaimed by the Storkhouse Child Collectors and re-issued to another family.

She befriends Burble, a sack-boy who has escaped from recollection by the Gobbelinos, when they arrive to set up business in Witchetty Hollow. Florizel and Burble’s relationship is brilliant and kept you turning the pages. Together they use their detective skills to solve the mystery of the Gobbelino Corporation and save the village.

I found the elaborate world building fascinating and it drew me in from the start. The complex connections between the daydream delicatessen, the sack-baby factory, the pawnshop, people going missing and the fact no real babies had been born for over ten years creating a vicious circle that only lines the Gobbelino siblings’ pockets, were well crafted, creating an eerie suspense to this mystery adventure.

The dark undercurrents of the Witchetty Hollow world are a direct reflection of society, highlighting how people are motivated by greed and a lust for wealth with no thought to the consequences of others.

On the whole, The Pawnshop of Stolen Dreams, is an excellent, cinematic read with hints of Coraline by Neil Gaiman.

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About the Author

Victoria Williamson is an award-winning author who grew up in Scotland surrounded by hills, books, and an historical farm estate which inspired many of her early adventure stories and spooky tales. After studying Physics at the University of Glasgow, she set out on her own real-life adventures, which included teaching maths and science in Cameroon, training teachers in Malawi, teaching English in China and working with children with additional support needs in the UK. Victoria currently works part time writing KS2 books for the education company Twinkl and spends the rest of her time writing novels, and visiting schools, libraries and literary festivals to give author talks and run creative writing workshops.

Victoria’s previous novels include The Fox Girl and the White Gazelle, The Boy with the Butterfly Mind, Hag Storm, and War of the Wind. She has won the Bolton Children’s Fiction Award 2020/2021, The YA-aldi Glasgow Secondary School Libraries Book Award 2023, and has been shortlisted for the Week Junior Book Awards 2023, The Leeds Book Awards 2023, the Red Book Award 2023, the James Reckitt Hull Book Awards 2021, The Trinity School Book Awards 2021, and longlisted for the ABA South Coast Book Awards 2023, the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize 2020, and the Branford Boase Award 2019.

Her latest novel, The Pawnshop of Stolen Dreams, is a middle grade fantasy inspired by classic folklore. Twenty percent of the author royalties for this book are donated to CharChar Literacy, an organisation working to improve children’s literacy levels in Malawi.

You can find out more about Victoria’s books, school visits and free resources for schools on her website: www.strangelymagical.com

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

Blog Tour – The Goddess of Nothing At All by Cat Rector

It is my stop today on the The Goddess of Nothing At All by Cat Rector blog tour. My stop on the tour consists of a spotlight of the book and author.

The Goddess of Nothing At All is a queer dark fantasy Norse myth retelling, published by Tychis Media.

This book was 2nd place Finalist in BBNYA 2022. 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 are an author and wish to learn more about the BBNYA competition, you can visit the official website http://www.bbnya.com or 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.

The author of The Goddess of Nothing At All, Cat Rector, grew up in a small Nova Scotian town and could often be found simultaneously reading a book and fighting off muskrats while walking home from school. She devours stories in all their forms, loves messy, morally grey characters, and writes about the horrors that we inflict on each other.

After spending nearly a decade living abroad, she returned to Canada with her spouse to resume her war against the muskrats. When she’s not writing, you can find her playing video games, spending time with loved ones, or staring at her To Be Read pile like it’s going to read itself.

You can follow Cat on Twitter: @Cat_Rector

You can purchase – by Cat Rector from Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58103841-the-goddess-of-nothing-at-all

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

Blog Tour – Jana’s Brightly Coloured Socks by Sally Fetech

Join me for the birthday celebrations of Jana’s Brightly Coloured Socks by Sally Fetech in what has been an amazing blog tour.

Author Sally Fetouh was inspired to write this touching story by her own daughter who has Down syndrome, feeling it was important for her and other children like her to be able to see themselves in literature. Two years ago, after reading a different story about a girl with Down syndrome to her daughter’s preschool class, Sally says:

“The children were so engaged in the story and asked questions. They were very accepting and loving of their friend—my daughter. I left with a heart overflowing with emotion and that inspired me to write my story.”
Sally Fetouh

Sally’s cheerful text and whimsical illustrations bring alive this heart-warming story of kindness and inclusion featuring a character with Down syndrome.

When young Jana receives heaps of beautiful socks from her parents after learning how to put on socks all by herself, she can’t wait to show her friends at school. They are always kind and patient with Jana when they play together. Jana decides to share a pair of her new socks with each and every friend. This calls for a school sock parade! All of the children had so much fun showing off their colourful socks together that they gave a very special and huge gift for their kind and generous friend, Jana, a box of more socks.

My stop on this fantastic tour will take the form of an author interview.

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Happy Birthday for Jana’s Brightly Coloured Socks. Welcome to my blog, Much To Do About Writing.

Tell us a little bit about your picture book and how you developed your main character.

When young Jana receives heaps of beautiful socks from her parents after learning how to wear socks all by herself, she can’t wait to show her friends at school, who all want a pair when they see them. Jana decides to share a pair of her new socks with each and every friend until there are none left. This calls for a school sock parade!

All of the children have so much fun showing off their colourful socks together that they give Jana a very special gift for their kind and generous friend, Jana, a huge box of socks!

‘Jana’s Brightly Coloured Socks’ showcases a beautiful experience at school, exemplifying acceptance and friendship. I was inspired to write this touching story by my own daughter, Jana, who has Down syndrome, feeling it was important for her and other children like her to be able to see themselves in literature. I wanted to base the character on someone who has Down syndrome and even though ‘Down syndrome’ is not mentioned in the story, some readers may be able to recognise and relate to some traits. For example, Jana doesn’t say as many words as her friends or she’s slower than her friends when they race. I wanted to include all these aspects in the character, while championing the strengths that children with Down syndrome have in their kindness, empathy and huge sense of fun.

What are the underlying themes of Jana’s Brightly Coloured Socks?

The main themes are that of inclusion, acceptance, kindness and friendship. The story aims to show children that even though we may be all different, we are still the same in the way we want to have friends, play, learn and have fun. The analogy of socks plays on this, where the socks were all different, but they were still the same thing – socks!

What inspired you to use socks to highlight differences?

Down syndrome is about having an extra chromosome, and chromosomes are shaped like socks. I was inspired by Down Syndrome International’s #lotsofsocks campaign that happens every year on World Down Syndrome Day on March 21 where the whole global community gets together and wears their brightest, craziest, most mismatched socks to celebrate the extra chromosome.

What have you discovered about the publishing process since Jana’s Brightly Coloured Socks launched last year?

It’s a journey that requires a lot of continuous hard work in terms of marketing and publicity to keep the book alive in the sense that I’m trying to get more parents, teachers and librarians interested in it. Trying to get the word out there about the book and the message behind it is part of this process and it doesn’t stop.

What writing tip would you give to people aspiring to write a picture book?

Think like a child (of the age you are targeting) and write from that perspective. Focus on the story first and invest in a great editor. The illustrations will follow on naturally from that.

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To find out more about Sally Fetouh and her book, Jana’s Brightly Coloured Socks on her website is www.sallyfetouh.com/book. There is also a list of online retailers who stock the book, and some information about the illustrator, Alexis Schnitger.

I would like to thank Rachel from Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me to take part in this blog tour.

Blog Tour – Sunbolt by Intisar Khanani

Today it is my turn on the blog tour for Sunbolt by Intisar Khanani. This tour is part of the Book Bloggers’ Novel of the Year Award (BBNYA). This year, the BBNYA is celebrating the 55 books that made it into Round Two with a mini spotlight blitz tour for each title. BBNYA is a yearly competition where book bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors, ending with 10 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.

Sunbolt is a young adult fantasy about an orphan called Hitomi. The winding streets and narrow alleys of Karolene hide many secrets, and Hitomi is one of them. Orphaned at a young age, Hitomi has learned to hide her magical aptitude and who her parents really were. Most of all, she must conceal her role in the Shadow League, an underground movement working to undermine the powerful and corrupt Arch Mage Wilhelm Blackflame.

When the League gets word that Blackflame intends to detain—and execute—a leading political family, Hitomi volunteers to help the family escape. But there are more secrets at play than Hitomi’s, and much worse fates than execution. When Hitomi finds herself captured along with her charges, it will take everything she can summon to escape with her life. Sunbolt is publsihed by Purple Monkey Press.

The author, Intisar Khanani, grew up a nomad and world traveller. She has lived in five different states as well as in Jeddah, on the coast of the Red Sea. Intisar used to write grants and develop projects to address community health and infant mortality with the Cincinnati Health Department, which was as close as she could get to saving the world. Now she focuses her time on her two passions: raising her family and writing fantasy. She is the author of The Sunbolt Chronicles, and the Dauntless Path novels, beginning with Thorn.

My stop on the Sunbolt tour takes the form of an author interview.

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Hi Intisar,

Welcome to my blog. It is with great pleasure that I end your magnificent blog tour for Sunbolt with an author interview.

Tell us a little about your writing career and your latest novel, Sunbolt?

I’ve had a pretty varied writing career – I indie published my first novel, Thorn, back in 2012, and then jumped into writing The Sunbolt Chronicles. Then in 2017, HarperTeen picked up Thorn, along with a companion novel (that accidentally turned into a duology). I just put out the last book in the duology – A Darkness at the Door – last summer, and am cycling back around to this series. I’m re-releasing Sunbolt as well as Book 2 through a lovely little indie co-op called Snowy Wings Publishing (yay new cover!) in the lead-up to getting out Book 3. So I’ve done both indie, trad, and hybrid publishing (that last one was indie for North America, and trad through the UK!), and am excited to back in the indie sphere for this series!

What are the underlying themes of your novel, Sunbolt?

Sunbolt has a few different themes at play—from belonging and in-group/out-group relations, to colonization of the mind, to learning to make allies in the most unlikely places (by which I also mean, compassion). I’m sure some readers will also find other things that speak to them—for example, Hitomi deals with grief from both parent death and abandonment. While that’s a smaller thread, it’s definitely there.

What is your favourite thing about writing for young adults?

Young adults are questioning the underpinnings of their world, their looking sideways at authority and pushing back at injustice, and experiencing so many things for the first time. They also pack a lot of hope for the future—they’re not giving up, they haven’t hit some kind of overblown cynical middle-age where they just throw the towel in. Not at all. They’ve got their fire and their not afraid to use it. They’re an amazing group to write for, and having the chance to explore those realities through my writing is an absolute gift.

Is there an aspect of writing for young adults you wish someone had told you when you started out?

Not really. I’ve learned a lot as I’ve been writing, but I don’t have any major regrets as yet. I think just bearing in mind that writing is a journey, as is learning your craft, is a great help. None of us can get everything right the first time, or even the fifth. That’s okay! Just do your best, both in telling your story and making sure you do no harm in doing so.

What’s your favourite writing snack or drink?

I really love a flavored hot chocolate! I mix up my own varieties, as I tend to like less sweetener in my chocolate. Right now my two favorites are peppermint hot chocolate and a spicy blend that includes ginger, cinnamon, and red pepper (plus more!).

How did you celebrate when you finished Sunbolt?

I don’t tend to celebrate too much beyond grabbing a bowl of ice cream. XD For me, a lot of the satisfaction is in doing the work. But some of my happiest moments are getting tagged on reviews where the story meant something special to a reader. I always hope for that with my stories, and there have definitely been a couple of really special (to me) reviews that I think back to for Sunbolt.

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

I use the handle @booksbyintisar pretty much anywhere I go. Right now I’m most active on Instagram @booksbyintisar and Twitter @booksbyintisar … though really, I’ve been reducing my social media usage overall to help both my mental health and my writing time (talk about a time suck!). That said, I do have a monthly newsletter where I love to chat with readers and also share my news, and currently have a new story going out a chapter a month to subscribers. You can find out more at booksbyintisar.com/newsletter.

Thank you for agreeing to be interviewed on my blog for the last stop of your Sunbolt blog tour.

Thanks so much for having me!

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You can find out more about Intisar Khanani and her books on her website: https://booksbyintisar.com/ and follow her on Twitter @BooksByIntisar and Instagram: @booksbyintisar.

You can buy a copy of Sunbolt by Intisar Khanani from Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35696827-sunbolt and Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sunbolt-Chronicles-Book-1-ebook/dp/B00DE2RXEM

Blog Tour – Inheriting Her Ghosts by S. H. Cooper

Today it is my turn on the blog tour for Inheriting Her Ghosts by S. H. Cooper. This tour is part of the Book Bloggers’ Novel of the Year Award (BBNYA). This year, the BBNYA is celebrating the 55 books that made it into Round Two with a mini spotlight blitz tour for each title. BBNYA is a yearly competition where book bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors, ending with 10 finalists and one overall winner.

Inheriting Her Ghosts is a Victorian gothic horror novella. Eudora Fellowes discovers she’s the sole heir of her estranged great-aunt’s seaside manor house High Hearth, so leaves her childhood home with her two faithful hounds hoping for a peaceful escape and a new start.

But High Hearth is a place of tragedy and deception, and Eudora discovers that the secret to her great-aunt’s clandestine history lies behind the door with no key. She soon realises Inheritance often comes with strings attached, but rarely are they as tangled as those hanging over High Hearth. What awaits is a dark legacy shrouded in half a century of secrets. It doesn’t take long before Eudora realizes she’s not the only one to call High Hearth home.

The author, S.H. Cooper is a Florida based, multi-genre author with a focus on horror and fantasy. Her work has been published by Sleepless Sanctuary Publishing, Cemetery Gates Media, and Brigids Gate Press. In addition to short story collections and novels, she is also the writer for the horror comedy podcast, Calling Darkness.

When she’s not writing, she’s thinking about writing, talking about writing, or sleeping (wherein she dreams about writing). She is kept up and running through the tireless efforts of her extremely supportive family and coffee. Her horror novel, Inheriting Her Ghosts, is published by Sleepless Sanctuary Publishing on the 9th July 2021

My stop on the tour involves an interview with the author, S. H. Cooper about the writing of Inheriting Her Ghosts.

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Welcome to my blog. Thank you for agreeing to be interviewed by me as part of the penultimate stops of your blog tour for your haunting new book Inheriting Her Ghosts.

Tell us a little about yourself and the inspiration for your book Inheriting Her Ghosts.

I’m an American author of horror and fantasy. I’ve been a writer for as long as I can remember, completing my first novel-length manuscript (which would much later become my YA fantasy novel, The Knight’s Daughter) at eleven years old. While I’ve always loved horror as a genre, I didn’t start writing it until 2016, when my sister suggested I check out the NoSleep subReddit to combat a long bout of writer’s block. It worked like magic and suddenly the words were flowing! Since then, I’ve published a slew of short stories, six books, co-edited two anthologies, and co-wrote a podcast.

Inheriting Her Ghosts drew inspiration particularly from Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black and Guillermo del Toro’s 2015 film, Crimson Peak. I’ve always been drawn to haunted houses and the gothic flair of both works struck a chord with me. The story of IHG came quite unexpectedly as I’d not done much in the gothic vein, and never anything Victorian. One day, I just heard a very distinct voice in my head (that sounded exactly like voice actress Erika Sanderson of The NoSleep Podcast) say, “The house inherited me as much as I did it. We were alike, this house and I…”, and wrote it down, not knowing I’d just met Eudora Fellowes and been given the opening lines to her dark tale.

How do you select the names of your characters?

Honestly, most of the time, there isn’t much of a selection process at all. It often feels less like I’m coming up with stories and more like I’m simply transcribing something that’s being told to me. Crawford Bentley was always Crawford Bentley, I never wondered over what to call Black Shuck and Cerberus. They just were. Eudora was actually a rare exception. She started with an entirely different name that never quite felt right, and early on, my editor, Elle Turpitt, confirmed my suspicion that it seemed off. Without knowing exactly what I was looking for, I started scouring Victorian baby name lists and when I finally came across the name Eudora and surname Fellowes, it just clicked and I knew without any doubt that was meant to be her name.

What is the most difficult part of your writing process?

Getting in my own head. Longer works in particular give me a lot of time to second guess, cast doubts, and worry over the most minute details that a reader probably won’t even notice, much less question (“Is the color of this furniture appropriate for the time period?”, “Is ‘nightgown’ or ‘night clothes’ the better term?’, etc.). Thankfully I have a wonderful group of fellow author critique partners and, as mentioned before, my editor, Elle. They’re great at helping me work through my own thoughts and excellent motivators.

What part of Inheriting Her Ghosts was the most fun to write?

100% Eudora’s relationship with her dogs, Black Shuck and Cerberus. They’re loosely based on my own dogs and it was so easy and enjoyable to bring the love I have for them to the page. While my pups aren’t as large, intimidating, or (let’s be honest) well trained as their book counterparts, I have no doubt they’d put themselves between me and any perceived danger and I’d definitely throw down with a ghost if it threatened them.

Where is your most productive place to write?

This is my “Don’t be like me, be better” answer: My phone. It’s a horrible habit. Don’t do it. Since I can take it anywhere, location doesn’t matter that much, but it must be totally quiet and uninterrupted. While music can help get me in the mood to write before I actually sit down to do so, it gets shut off the moment I’m ready to put proverbial pen to paper and if anyone interrupts me while I’m in The Zone, I…typically politely ask them to wait until I’m done, but there is some serious side-eye while I do it.

What is the most valuable piece of advice you’ve ever been given about writing?

Take every piece of advice you’ve heard about writing and chuck it out the window. Ok, maybe not the stuff about having to be disciplined and, as with any art form, needing to practice, but most of the other fluff. The “How Stephen King Writes a Billion Novels a Year” and “One Hundred Ways You NEED to Change to Be a Real Author” type schlock. Writing is an extremely personal process and what works for Mr. King might only be a roadblock for you. Maybe you’re a plotter, maybe you’re a panster, maybe you write better with a set word count to reach, maybe it’s easier to never count words at all. The how you do it isn’t nearly as important as the fact you’re just doing it. Figure out your system and grow in the way that works best for you (unless your way is writing on your phone…).

Thanks again for your time in answering my questions. I am looking forward to taking a peek at the last posts in the tour tomorrow.

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You can find out more about S. H. Cooper and her books on her website: www.authorshcooper.com and follow her on Twitter: @MsPippinacious and Facebook: @pippinacious.

To can buy a copy of Inheriting Her Ghosts by S. H. Cooper on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58424258-inheriting-her-ghosts and Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0977PL7BB.

Blog Tour – Caring Conservationists by Kate Peridot

It is with great honour I am hosting Kate Peridot for the last slot of her book tour with her first non-fiction book Caring Conservationists Who Are Changing Our Planet, published by Walker Books.

Conservation is something dear to my own heart and more and more children today are becoming passionate about caring for their environment. I am a volunteer at my local BBOWT nature discovery centre where I do activities with groups of children on different aspects of nature and conservation, so I am particularly excited about being able to interview Kate about Caring Conservationists.

In Caring Conservationists Who Are Changing Our Planet, Kate Peridot takes us on a whistle stop tour around the world to discover the stories of 20 conservationists and the endangered animals they are campaigning to save, including the blue whale, great panda, honeybee, the last kākāpō, and the sea turtle. Sarah Long’s bright vivid illustrations capture the heart of the conservationist and the endangered animal.

This is a cleverly designed book full of inspiring facts about a wide variety of diverse conservationists and the endangered animals they are campaigning to save. The activities are fun and engaging I am sure young children will be eager to build a bug hotel, draw a campaign poster or make their own nature documentary to name but a few.

This vibrant non-fiction book is positive, uplifting and packed full of information, with 20 fun activities for children to try, this book will show children no one is too small to make a difference.

Useful for use in the classroom to support work in the science programme of study for – Key Stage One and Key Stage Two, in particular, Working scientifically and Living things and their habitats. The ideal book to buy to keep your children active and happy during the holidays.

The author, Kate Peridot, writes both fiction and non-fiction children’s books. Originally from London, she now lives with her family in the South of France. She writes wild and adventurous stories about animals, people and STEM that encourages a can-do spirit, a quest for knowledge and a sense of adventure. A further nine books non-fiction books are in production launching between 2023-2025.

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Thank you, Kate, for agreeing to be interviewed as part of your blog tour about your recent non-fiction book, Caring Conservationists who are changing are planet.

What was your inspiration to write a non-fiction book for children about the high-profile people involved in conservation and the endangered animals they are trying to save?

I live in the South of France and the impact people have on nature is more visible day to day than in the UK. I’ve stood on a melting glacier in the Alps, seen coastal pollution from tourism, and we’re in the second year of a drought. Despite a semi-arid climate, I’ve created a garden from scratch and slowly watched the animals move into the hedgerows and flower borders and it’s been really rewarding to watch a mini eco-system develop. There are bats, dragonflies, swallows, and giant toads that eat the mosquitos. Fireflies hide in the hedgerows and pine martins and wild boar steal our fruit! Nature, when given a helping hand, knows exactly what to do. Conservation is both a global issue but also a personal one. Children love animals and being out in nature. They want to understand and help, and I wanted to show them there are lots of people who feel the same way and are making a positive difference.

How did you decide which conservationists you would choose for your book, Caring Conservationists?

Charlie, the editor at Walker Books, and I agreed we wanted to feature mostly conservationists who were working within their own communities or protecting animals in the country where they grew up. Conservation often starts at home and children would identify with this. We also aimed to have a conservationist from every continent, protecting very different animals and also doing different types of conservation work. There is sustainable farming, growing super corals, rewilding, a park ranger, raising awareness of climate change and lots more.

The conservationists are as young as 4 years old and as old as 96! There are also a few famous conservationists from the recent past, such as Gerald Durrell and Jacques Cousteau, who inspired others to follow in their footsteps. Their charitable organisations continue to inform and train the next generation of conservationists.

Why is it important to raise awareness and educate young children about global conservation?

Children are naturally curious and will have their own favourite animal or two. I’ve included different conservation challenges and types of conservation jobs. In the media, the activism side of conservation often dominates and unfortunately, can be seen negatively, but that is only a small part of conservation work and there are a lot of quiet conservation projects where individuals and communities are making a big difference. This book shows children there are many ways to help nature and they can decide what they want to do. It can be as small as making a bug hotel out of bamboo straws, leaving water out for hedgehogs in the summer, learning about endangered animals nearby, or getting involved in school tree-planting projects.

Tell us a little about the format and activities in Caring Conservationists?

Children love non-fiction books because they can open a page and read bite-sized snippets of text almost in any order and dip in and out of any page. This makes fact-based books super appealing for a range of ages and reading abilities. On each page, we have the conservationist’s story as a narrative, and then there are short fact boxes about the animals. There’s another story box about the conservationist’s legacy as an animal champion, plus an activity too. Sarah, the illustrator, has done a wonderful job capturing the likeness of the conservationists, the animals and creating beautifully themed borders. There’s so much to look at on each page.

Do you have a favourite activity in the book?

That’s a difficult one, there are 21 to choose from. Thinking back to my 7-year-old self, I would have loved to make the reef collage or local wildlife scrapbook. I loved art! I would also have wanted to make a den with my brothers to watch out for any animals that flew or crept into our garden from the woods behind our house. If we were allowed to camp out after dark, even better!

Did you have any writing rituals whilst writing Caring Conservationists? Tell us a little about your writing process.

In every conservationist story, I looked for the moment the conservationist knew they had to do something to help, and I wanted to capture that hope and positivity. I don’t have any writing rituals as such, it’s mostly me in my quiet office with my notes and computer. I do about 2 hours then stop for a break. Otherwise, I just keep going each working day until the story and facts work together and the manuscript is ready for the editor to edit and the illustrator to draw.

How did you do the research for Caring Conservationists?

The majority was desk work, and some great information was supplied by the conservationist’s charitable organisations. I also visited St Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital in Buckinghamshire, founded by Les Stocker and his family, which has a visitor centre and the Oceanography Museum in Monaco, which was originally curated by Jacques Cousteau. This had the history of Jacques’s work, and his submarine, which features in the illustration, and also information about coral reefs, blue whales, melting polar ice caps and actual sea turtles swimming around. There’s also a zoo nearby for endangered animals which has New Zealand’s vulnerable flightless birds and some very noisy leaping lemurs, all of which make an appearance in the book.

Is there anything else you would like to tell readers about your books and writing for children?

I have two more animal books launching this spring/summer.

My Animal Family is available from 4^th May, illustrated by Nick Jones, and published by DK and is for children of 6+ years. There are 15 animal families in the book and an animal from each family tells their story of family life. Discover who’s the boss, who looks after the babies, and who’s in charge of getting the dinner. Children can compare each animal family to their own family and choose their favourite.

Meet the Bears is for all bear lovers, whether that’s real bears or teddy bears! It’s illustrated by Becca Hall and published by Welbeck and for 4+ year-olds. It’s available from the end of June. Pack your teddy and join an around-the-world adventure to meet the world’s eight species of bears. From polar bears to giant pandas, from spectacled bears to the Asiatic moon bears. Which bear family does your teddy belong to?

And I have further animal and STEM books in the illustration stage which will be out next spring.

Wow! This is all so interesting. Thank you Kate for being so generous with your time in answering my questions. I look forward to seeing many more of your books on the shelves.

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To find out more about Kate Peridot and her books you can visit her website www.kateperidot.com, Twitter @kateperidot, Instagram @kateperidot and on Facebook @kate.peridot.7

You can purchase Kate’s books books from most independent booksellers or online from uk.bookshop.org, an organisation with a mission to financially support local, independent bookshops.

To take a look at the other stops on the tour check out the tour schedule: