Books I Could Eat for Breakfast

This book was bought for its cover, and what a cover it is. I’ve tried to give you a sense of its full awesomeness in this photo. (I’m not sure I’m really doing it justice, but hey ho.) You can see that the idea of the Kinder-surprise-style model assembly kit is carried right around the book from front, around the spine and even around the barcode. I love a fully designed cover. It gives me goosebumps. This book was bought as a present by someone else, so imagine the joy when I found out it was a Nick Stearn creation – he who designed Clash and The Deeping Secrets.

Anyhoo, design-drooling aside, Neal Shusterman's Unwind (Simon & Schuster) is a gem. It examines the idea of children being ‘unwound’ for their body parts – harvested for their organs if their parents sign them off before they’re eighteen. It’s written in the third person present tense and you’re kept at a certain distance by the narrative moving between three characters, but this allows for the fringe characters to gain a certain level of importance. In doing so the reader’s mind is left turning in and around and about, questioning fundamental issues about identity, value and medical science.

I rarely wish a book was longer, but this book... ah. It’s something else.

MUG SHOT #3

Yes, everything about me is so sexy. Really. No, honestly. I'm telling the truth.

Or not.

This mug was a present given the Christmas after I got married and on the other side side there's an utterly charming photo of myself and my husband at our wedding in which we attempt to look, erm, sexy. It doesn't work. The pair of us are the least photogenic people in the world and when you put us together our lack of photogenicy* somehow multiplies to epic proportions. It's a miracle there's any decent photos of us from that day. And this certainly isn't one of them.

And no. I'm not going to show you that side of the mug. You don't want your eyes burned from your skull, do you?

*no, not a real word. Neither is photogenicness. Or photogenicity. Language fail.

Why I commissioned… THE DEAD WAYS

Twitter-style summary: A network of paths across the country is all that’s keeping this world from the next but the government plans to eliminate them – and unleash hell on earth.

The Dead Ways is Christopher Edge’s debut and what an explosive one it is! The action centres around Scott Williams, whose government-employed father kills himself leaving behind a very cryptic message for his son. With washed-up detective, Jason, whose career came to a dead end after admitting to seeing ghosts walking a motorway tailback, as his minder, Scott is plunged into a non-stop dangerfest with very little reprieve.

When I say non-stop, I mean it, this is breath-takingly paced and the reader is left with no option but to turn the page. There’s a multi-layered conspiracy to be uncovered, where the police, the government and even the undead are united in preventing Scott from finding out the truth. Action scenes pelt through hospital morgues, abandoned motorways and across the streets of London, providing just enough detail to place you right in the thick of it.

Despite being the first of a trilogy, this book answers the questions it raises, whilst leaving plenty of room for ‘But what if…?’ once you’re done. This is a fantastically escapist read for anyone 10+ where young Scott really rises to the occasion of having the weight of the world land squarely on his shoulders. He’s more charismatic than Jason, who just can’t seem to get anyone to do what he says, bless him, and but it’s when he teams up with slightly gothy Avalon, daughter of an antiquarian bookdealer that Scott really comes into his own. If you want someone to be saving you from being dismembered by the undead, you could do worse than having Scott on your side. He’s no Buffy, he’s not as pun-based, nor has he supernatural powers of his own, but he’s tough and he's sensible in the way I think we'd all like to be if we had to save the world.

So, this book is fantastically pacey, has a sound premise for a trilogy, and is bang on-trend within the industry (zombies are, like, so hot right now... OK, so they're probably cold, sans beating heart, but you get the drift), but that's not all. It's also written by a really lovely bloke. If you’re a debut author and you come to the table full of energy and inspiration for how to promote your book then we publishers tend to sit up and pay attention. Chris is the kind of author we all want on our list, after we had a discussion about twitter, blogging and facebook, Chris took to is so naturally that I actually did an air punch of joy. He’s as lovely in real life as he is online and he’s an author for whom good things will happen.

Hopefully none of these good things will involve the undead…

Excuses, excuses...

Hello all. It’s been a while. In fact I didn’t blog for the WHOLE OF OCTOBER. Naughty blogger Non.

What I did instead:

I worked silly hours in preparation for going on holiday. The downside of being the go-to person for Catnip biz is that I am lured into a false sense of responsibility. I start thinking that the company cannot possibly manage without me for two weeks. TWO WEEKS? I may as well just hand in my notice considering the disasters that will kick off as a consequence of my absence.

I went on holiday where I saw a bit of this:

Go Aggies! (I am referring to the college football team you see in this pic. The one with the 90,000 strong crowd and the army doing the cheerleading. Crazy – and amazing.)

I also ate a bit of this:

And indulged in a bit of that:

(If you haven’t listened to Jack’s Mannequin, you probably should. This one’s one of my favourites.)

All in Texas, which involved a couple of long flights in which the Catnipper proceeded to prove all my fears about travelling with a small thing entirely unfounded. After giggling on take off she then proceeded to cruise up and down the aisle high fiving and hugging fellow passengers. Basically she is:

When I got back and discovered that the publishing world kept turning without me, I went here there and everywhere on editing business. (I say "here there and everywhere" when I mean, erm, the North East and the British Library.) I am beyond excited about the projects I’ve been working on with Colin Mulhern, who has made a teaser trailer for his thriller Arabesque which will be out next September and Victor Watson, whose third Paradise Barn book is (I exaggerate not) the best yet. We’re just finalising the title for May publication. I also met up with a yet-to-be Catnip author whose idea for a novel for the 8-11 market makes me grin from ear to ear and think very big, very exciting things. I’ll keep you posted on that one.

Amongst all that there was an undead book launch to attend, a birthday to be a-partied over and an anniversary to be acknowledged and…and…and…

So maybe I’m the one that’s about to explode?

Why I commissioned… SCAREDY SQUIRREL HAS A BIRTHDAY PARTY

Twitter-style summary: Everyone's favourite socially awkward squirrel looks forward to celebrating his birhtday just the way he likes it: on his own. Fat chance!

Ah, Scaredy, my old friend. Are you worried by me popping by unexpectedly? You thinking I should squirt a blob of antibacterial handwash across my palms before we shake hands? Are you freaked out that I just hugged you and a-kissed both your cheeks in a London media-style hello?

Of course you are.

Old friend, how I love thee.

Scaredy Squirrel is our most popular character. A Canadian creation from artist and illustrator, Melanie Watt, we issue a new title every other year, first publishing in hardback (as with this one) and then, a year later, we bring out the paperback edition for those readers who are a little more gentle with the their books (not the Catnipper, then, who has already trashed her two-week old copy of Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell)

Scaredy first blazed into glory in 2006 when the eponymous first title was a Richard and Judy Book Party Choice back in their previous bookclub incarnation. Scaredy turns the popular perceptions of OCD and social paranoia on their heads by being both endearing and funny in his reluctance to leave his tree, make friends or face his fear of nightmares – or in the case of this latest addition to the collection, his dislike of karaoke and unexpected presents (sound familiar?). There are many children out there who can identify with his cautious nature, who enjoy staying at home and doing their own thing rather than put themselves out there – but like every good picture book, Scaredy develops. Somehow, something goes wrong and inevitably, he ends up in exactly the kind of situation he was hoping to avoid… and do you know what? It’s not as bad as he thought.

Funny and familiar, the Scaredy Squirrel books are modern-day parables for anyone who sometimes finds themselves making excuses to stay at home instead of go out and make new friends. And yes, I might be talking about me...

If you fancy making Scaredy's day, you're always welcome to pop to his fanpage on facebook where you can become a bona fide squirrel lover, check out book trailers and competitions and the like.

It's neck and neck on the SONG QUEST cover vote...

Right - because it's not always easy for people to vote on Facebook, we've had votes coming in all over the shop for the fabulous SONG QUEST cover vote. Voting closes tomorrow at 6pm, so I thought I'd collate the votes so far here in an actual graph (fancypants aren't I?)

As you can see, the paler cover is just starting to edge away with it (ahead by only 7 votes - eek) so if you take one look at the pale one and think NOOOOOOOO! Well then, you'd better place a vote for the black, hadn't you? Or maybe you want to seal the deal for the paler one...

We want as many people as possible to vote on this and since VOTING CLOSES TOMORROW please pass on the message to as many people as you can...

Click the link here, click on your preferred cover and press the 'Like' button and feel free to comment on your choice as it's been very interesting hearing the reasons behind your votes.

Thank you one an all for participating!

Quest for the best

Hello. Why don’t you mosey on over to The Bookette’s blog and check out this rather amazing cover reveal where we show you not one but TWO possible covers for Song Quest by Katherine Roberts – winner of the inaugural Branford Boase award for new fiction in 2000 and soon to be published by Catnip thanks to Becky the Bookette who campaigned for its revival. (You can see her post about why here.)

Why two covers? You ask. Well, because we respect your opinion and we’d like you to choose your favourite by going to our facebook page and ‘Liking’ the cover you think looks the best. The winner of the online vote, which runs from 9^th September until 6pm Friday 16^th September, will be the cover that we print for the book.

We’re kinda making publishing history here, so why don’t you too? Go on, you know you want to…

Click here to vote. Yeah! Do it!