The Wreck of the Minx

The coastline round here is steeped in history. The rocks that form the rugged cliffs and offshore ledges tell of a world of giant sea monsters and primordial forests. There are machine gun batteries and pillboxes that tell of a time of fear and war, and there are shipwrecks.

There are shipwrecks all round this coast, each telling a tale of tragedy and bravery, or looting and murder. Many of the wrecks are hidden beneath the waves, their only visitors fish and scuba divers. But some can still be seen.

Here on Frenchman’s Ledge lies what remains of the Minx, a coal barge who broke her moorings and drifted, un-crewed across the bay. That was in 1927, and now all that remains of her steel hull are a few ribs and a fragment of her bow.

And as for her cargo – I believe there were warm hearths in the local cottages that winter.

The 'Next Big Thing' Blog Hop

I was tagged to be a part of this meme by Thomas Taylor, whose own version appeared last Wednesday. (It’s a Wednesday thing.) It’s an opportunity to talk about a work in progress so I'm going to tell you a bit about my debut novel Red Rock which is going to be published in 2013.

What is the title of your next book?

Red Rock

Where did the idea come from for the book?

Many years ago one of the Mars Orbiters sent back an image of a mysterious white rock on the Martian surface. I started to wonder - what could it be....?

What genre does your book fall under?

Science Fiction Thriller for the 10+ age group.

What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

Someone nobody has heard of but is going to be huge!

What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?

The world is changing. The ice is melting. But as the icecaps retreat secrets are revealed, ancient ruins that have remained hidden for a hundred thousand years. A civilisation that wasn’t human…

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

I am represented by Julia Churchill of Greenhouse Literary and Red Rock will be published in 2013 by Curious Fox.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

About 9 months, but I'd been thinking about it for a lot longer.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Tricky, perhaps a Joshua files for girls

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

My father is the person who inspired me to write.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

The melting ice caps, rising sea levels and changing weather is already happening...

And in turn I tag:

Sara Crowe

Rebecca Alexander

Emma Shortt

Carol Hunt

Dean Crawford

Words for the Wounded

It's Armistice Day, and I hope you will all pause and spare a thought for the brave men and women who have given their lives in conflicts past and present, and who will in the future.

But we must not forget the living and those who have been wounded in conflict and whose lives have been changed.

I would therefore like to bring to your attention to this new charity, Words for the Wounded, being launched today. a charity that raises money via writing prizes and donations for the rehabilitation of our wounded servicemen and women. Please give them your support, whether you are a writer or not.

The soldier standing here is Sam. He was wounded in a gas attack in France in 1916, but was one of the lucky ones who survived. I have the postcards  he sent home to his sweetheart, Emma, from the trenches. They have often been censored and all begin with the words "I'm in the pink, merry and bright..."

Sea Ice and Seamagic

The Seamagic website is now up and running and packed with all sorts of fascinating pictures and articles, even a poem or two, from a variety of contributors – all of whom share a passion for all things marine. If you haven’t been over there yet then I suggest you take a look – and do bookmark it – there’s new stuff being posted all the time and it looks to be shaping up into a fascinating project!

At the moment I’m talking about sea ice and posting pictures I took in the arctic during my days on board the survey ships.

But I’m also talking about sea ice because of its relevance to my forthcoming novel, Red Rock.

You may have already checked out the blurb for the novel which is now up at the Greenhouse website. And if you have you will have noticed the opening lines:

“The world is changing. The ice is melting. But as the icecaps retreat secrets are revealed” …

There isn’t any sea ice in Red Rock. In fact it’s all gone, but that’s the point. And as the ice melts this has an effect on other things – sea levels rise, the climate changes.

If I went back to the Greenland Sea I’m not sure how much ice I would find, compared with what I saw all those years ago. So I’m posting those pictures of the ice that was – a seamagic that may soon be gone.

The world is changing….

My first school visit – as an author!

School visits are something I’m already quite used to – I’m often asked by teacher friends of mine to take in my collection of rocks and fossils during Science Week, or when they are studying Rocks, or planning a school fossil hunting expedition.

But the other week, when I was telling one of these friends about my book deal, he asked me to come in and run a writers workshop with the kids.

Now this was something really rather different from handing around a load of ammonites, so I picked the brains of authors I know who do such workshops on a regular basis, and I came to the conclusion that the best way for me to do something a bit different, was to tie in my workshop with one of the themes in my book.

So that’s what I did, and we blasted into space. I enjoyed it! I hope they did too!

The Man Booker Prize.

The winner of the Man Booker Prize 2012 has been announced and is Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel – which makes her the first British person and the first woman to win the prize twice, having won it before with Wolf Hall in 2009,

Earlier this month I took part in The Booker Debate at the Octagon Theatre in Yeovil. This is an annual event run jointly by the Yeovil Community Arts Association (YCAA) and the local branch of Waterstone’s. A panel of six guests each review one of the shortlisted books and discussion is then thrown open to the audience.

I was, once again, invited to participate on the panel, and I have to say that this year’s debate was the best yet. There were a number of book groups in the audience who had read the shortlist and the varied views led to some lively discussions!

My book was Bring up the Bodies which I thought was superb. However, not all the panellists felt the same way about their allocated books, and the audience didn’t necessarily agree! More fuel for a lively debate!

And it was great to meet up with fellow authors Sarah Lean (A Dog called Homeless) and James Long (Ferney).

I’m so pleased that Bring up the Bodies won. In my opinion it was well deserved and if you haven’t read it I can strongly recommend you do!

Seamagic

As you can no doubt imagine, the past few days have been a whirlwind of excitement. I'm still trying to get my head round the idea that my book is actually going to be published! I've been allocated an editor and I'll be going up to Oxford to meet her sometime in November, which I'm very excited about.

But there has been another interesting development too.

I've been contacted by a group of authors and illustrators and invited to take part in the Seamagic Project. This will be a collaborative blog based on a shared love of the sea and the magic it evokes in writers and artists.

Seamagic is the brainchild of author KM Lockwood and you can find out more about it here.

http://kmlockwood.com/seamagic/

Readers of this blog will already be aware of my passion for all things marine. But in case you are wondering how this relates to Red Rock, the blurb has just gone up over at the Greenhouse Website, so why not take a look and judge for yourself.

http://greenhouseliterary.com/index.php/books/red_rock/

I'll keep you up to date with Seamagic and how it evolves. And of course with Red Rock and its journey to publication.