Interview: Children's author Carol Hunt

Please welcome children's author Carol Hunt, creator of the wonderful Portland Chronicles Series which has enchanted children across the region.

To start, please could you tell us a bit about yourself and your writing.

The amazing world of books has always been an important part of my life. I was very lucky that part of my degree in English Literature and History at the University of Chichester involved creative writing. I worked in publishing after graduation and for several years I wrote poetry. I eventually found that the form and discipline of poetry determined how I structured my novels for children, especially Enchantment of the Black Dog which has poetic themes running through the story.

What was your journey to publication like?

I invented a sea dragon for the Isle of Portland based on local legends about the Veasta, a Chesil Beach sea monster. A local book shop loved the idea and urged me to take it further. Roving Press had recently published The Spirit of Portland; I contacted them with a synopsis and a couple of chapters and Julie, editor at Roving Press, loved the sea dragon idea and the adventurous young character of Isabel.

To what extent does your local area (Dorset/Somerset) influence your writing?
The Isle of Portland was one of the most important characters in my stories and I tried to show its complexity and unique qualities; the quarries, the shipwrecks and fascinating maritime history (including pirates which I developed in Portland Pirates), lighthouses and castles. 

Who are you favourite local authors?
There are some recent local histories that I’ve found inspiring:-

The Spirit of Portland: Revelations of a Sacred Isle by Gary Biltcliffe, From the Stone Age to King George III: A History of Weymouth & Its Neighbours by AA Collier  and The Crabchurch Conspiracy 1645: The True Story of Dorset's Bloodiest Secret by Mark Vine are among my favourites.

Do you have a favourite book set in the local area?

Kit Berry’s Stonewylde series fascinates me and I’ve also recently enjoyed a couple of novels set on Portland; Isle of Larus by Kathy Sharp and Phoenix House by Carenza Hayhoe and Tiffany Scull. Classic novels Moonfleet by JM Falkner and The Well-Beloved by Thomas Hardy are also great favourites.

Where can people find out a bit more about you and your writing?

@islandseadragon on Twitter, The Portland Sea Dragon on Facebook and at www.carolhunt.co.uk.

What are you working on at the moment?

I am working on a story for young people set in and around the Dorchester area, especially the historic hills of the Dorset Ridgeway. I am running the influences of social media across this new novel; Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr have changed the way that we interact with the written word and I am fascinated by this. I began to explore this multimedia idea in The Portland Giant and I would like to take it further in my new novel.

Where can we buy your books?

On Portland, my books are available from: - The Lobster Pot, Portland Bill; Portland Museum; Quiddles Cafe at Chesil Cove; Portland Castle; Cards n Celebrations, Easton and White Stones Cafe and Gallery. In Weymouth, from WH Smiths in St Mary Street, and in Dorchester and Bridport from Waterstone’s Booksellers. You can also buy The Portland Chronicles online from Amazon and my publisher, Roving Press.

Review: Ferney by James Long

When Mike and Gally Martin move to a cottage in Somerset, it's to make a new start. But the relationship comes under strain when Gally forms an increasingly close attachment to an old countryman, Ferney, who seems to know everything about her.

What is it that draws them together? Reluctantly at first, then with more urgency as he feels time slipping away, Ferney compels Gally to understand their connection - and to face an inexplicable truth about their shared past.

 

 

The past and the present collide in this wonderful book.

Ferney was first published in 1998 and took off purely by word of mouth. And with good reason. This is a fascinating and unique book. A time-slip story with a twist.

Mike and Gally move to the Somerset village of Penselwood, intending to start a new life together. They take on a rundown cottage for renovation. Things should be idyllic, but then Ferney appears, an old countryman who starts to show and unusual interest in Gally, and Gally in turn is inexplicably drawn to him, even though, what he is telling her, surely can’t be true.

As Gally and Ferney’s friendship grows we are introduced to the history of Penselwood and the surrounding countryside, from the Iron Age, right through to modern times. History is in the landscape all around us, and most people hardly notice it, but in Ferney the history encroaches on the present and as Gally is drawn deeper into Ferney’s world so Mike’s concerns start to grow. 

At its heart though, this is a love story, but one tinged with sadness and timelessness. You may think you can see where it is leading - I thought I could. But I was so wrong and Ferney resonated with me long after I had finished reading.

The blend of past and present was particularly well handled, but I can see how this might drag for someone with no interest in history. It is clear that the author has a great passion for this subject, and for me this aspect was one of the book’s main strengths. The historical aspects were well researched and I could feel the author’s passion for those past lives that have been lived out at the very places where we now stand. In Ferney that history becomes tangible.

So if you haven’t read Ferney I suggest you do – especially if a time-slip blend of history and romance appeals to you.

 

 

Kate Kelly is a marine scientist by day but by night she writes children’s books. Her debut novel Red Rock, a Cli-Fi thriller for teens, is published by Curious Fox. She lives in Dorset with her husband, two daughters and assorted pets and blogs at http://scribblingseaserpent.blogspot.co.uk/

Review: Resurrection by Sue Yockney

I loved ‘Happy Deathday’. It had a great idea with an excellent set of characters that had only just realized what being a teenager is like- to some extent. ‘Resurrection’, its sequel brings back the same characters with the same dual-narrative back in the same place for an explosive conclusion to this series. And for me, I’d say it’s better than the original.

In the first book, the two protagonists, Jonathan and Sarah, have spent their lives underground in a breeding colony where mankind has survived after a gamma ray explosion kills the earth’s ozone layer. As it turns out, the program denies everyone to experience puberty by telling them to take their Supplement, when Jonathan doesn’t take his, he starts to change and so does Sarah. Now, in the sequel, Sarah believes Jonathan is dead and Jonathan must find a way to get back inside the colony, rescue Sarah and the rest of the colonists and to stop the series’ antagonist, Zack from dominating the colony.

‘Resurrection’ picks up right where the first book left off and in hindsight I probably should have finished ‘Resurrection’ directly after ‘Happy Deathday’. That however didn’t spoil my enjoyment. Anyway, this leads on to one of my favourite things about the series: it gets to the point. Far too many books out there boast a killer plot in the blurb and then take an age to get going and by then you may have thrown the book out of the window, slammed your cup down and cursed the author to pieces. Well, I would have. Both books get down to business instantly, there’s no waiting around for the ‘big bang’ if you like or the plot twist. Straight away we’re in the story.

‘Happy Deathday’, for all of its world-building and the questions it asks readers, it was a love story, a love triangle even. ‘Resurrection’ is a thriller and both books sound different and yet they sound the same. You might think that’s a bad thing but, it isn’t. When you read ‘Resurrection’ you can tell that Sue Yockney wrote it, the use of language and the little ticks that find their way into her writing both colonize in the books. There’s a great sense of threat in ‘Resurrection’ and its constant from beginning to end. However, one of ‘Happy Deathday’s biggest strengths was reading about Jonathan and Sarah’s change as they forget about their Supplements and began to experience puberty. None of that is in ‘Resurrection’ but then again, that avenue had already been explored before and we know that they’ve gone through these changes but then again, there is one major change that’s mentioned but I can’t explain what that is. That would be a spoiler.

Like I said about ‘Happy Deathday’, the only criticism I have is that I wish the characters get angrier. More so in ‘Resurrection’ since Jonathan and Sarah are on a high priority mission and anything can go wrong in an instant and when things do go south, the characters don’t let themselves go. Maybe it’s to do with the target audience but I reckon it’s because swear words wouldn’t have found their way underground in a place that demands a clean living and flawless architecture. Why would the colonists have the need to swear? They have a perfect life, right? It absolutely makes sense but it’s probably just me. I like swears, not too many but enough to get the tone right. Still, that’s a small niggle.

Overall, ‘Resurrection’ was a great read. I preferred it over ‘Happy Deathday’. Mind you, readers of romance (which I am not) may well prefer the first book. ‘Resurrection’ started the story off with a bang and ended not with a whimper but with another bang. When it ended I thought ‘Oh, another sequel?’ but so far as I know there isn’t a third part. And I like that, the ending leaves it for the reader’s imagination to explore what kind of life the characters will live off the page. The ‘Happy Deathday’ series is something new, something worth reading and something I would definitely call ‘indie’. If you like your dystopias, no scratch that. If you like your books, pick these up.

 

Nick Barton is a YA writer on a quest to finish every book on his never-ending list of books to read. When he’s not playing Skyrim, he’s either writing new stories or editing a YA novel in the hopes to have it published sometime in 2014. He blogs and posts book reviews on nickbartonauthor.co.uk