UKYA Extravaganza

Last Saturday, Nottingham Waterstones was taken over by an event devoted to the wide range of books that fall under the banner 'young adult'. Masterminded by local authors Emma Pass and Kerry Drewery, it brought together 28 authors from all over the country - 'locals' from the East Midlands, several up from London, Helen Grant from Perthshire, Scotland, Sheena Wilkinson from Northern Ireland, and Liz de Jager and Teri Terry originally from South Africa and Canada respectively but now settled here and very firmly part of the British YA scene.
 The afternoon was split into a series of panels - groups of four or five authors were given two minutes each to introduce themselves and 'pitch' their novels, overseen by Paula Rawsthorne who made sure no one talked for too long! After that, the audience had 5 minutes to ask questions, and in the breaks between panels chat individually to the authors and get their books signed.
Mention 'Young Adult' and most people probably think of Twilight and other similar vampire-romance fiction, but I don't think there was a single vampire mentioned at all! Instead the authors showed that fiction for young adults is as wide-ranging as for grown-up adults! There are stories dealing with gritty social issues (Bali Rai, Sheena Wilkinson), or emotional ones (David Owen, Sara Benwell, RJ Morgan) the 'glittery urban realism' of Sophia Bennett casting a light on the darker side of glamorous-sounding occupations, 'straight' historical fiction (Lydia Syson), modern adventure (David Massey), sci fi (Nick Cook), fantasy (Liz de Jager describes her Blackhart Legacy trilogy as having "loads of kissing and stabbing with swords") and, yes, paranormal (vampire-free) from Lee Weatherly and SC Ransom.

The authors themselves were as varied as their books. There were newly-published authors like Helen Maslin, whose first book Darkmere ( a romantic horror says the author) was published in August this year, and the much-more experienced - Lucy Coats has been, in her words, 'telling lies' for 24 years; her first YA novel Cleo is her 37th book! Some have always loved reading and wanted to write - Alex Campbell announced her intention aged 8; Emma Pass wrote stories at school during maths tests - while Mike Revell never enjoyed reading as a small child but was hooked when he discovered Harry Potter.  Lauren James has only ever been an author, she graduated from Nottingham university last year and already had a book deal for her re-incarnation romance, The Next Together; Martyn Bedford had held various journalist posts before taking an MA in Creative Writing, has written for adults and now for teens; Lisa Williamson is both an actress (though not THAT Lisa Williamson from Hollyoaks) and a writer. Zoe Marriott draws her inspiration from folk tales, often Japanese; others find their former careers can prove a useful influence - Rachel McIntyre wanted to write something that her class of teenagers would read, while Ben Davis finds his ideas coming to him on his post round.

Among the questions posed to the various panels were - which books/writers had inspired them? - for Rhian Ivory it was  Roald Dahl; for C J Skuse, Melvin Burgess; Helen Grant still finds Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World influencing her; Dave Owen cited the Goosebumps books and the novels of Patrick Ness; SC Ransom loved John Wyndham's The Chrysalids but wished she could have written The Time Traveller's Wife for the brilliance of its plotting;
Were they 'plotters' or 'panters'? - did they plot everything meticulously, or fly by the seat of their pants? Some plotted everything in detail, some started with character development and the characters drive the story, some went for a bit of both.
What were the good, and bad, things about being an author - the good included being able to do something they love, the feedback from readers who have loved a book perhaps even been influenced by it, and the boost in self esteem when someone refers to them as 'doing what JK Rowling does'. The bad? not much - deadlines, perhaps, oh, and Goodreads and the bizarre criticism found there.

The weirdest tale of the day came from Rhian Ivory - not from a story but real life. She set her book The Boy Who Drew the Future in the village of Sible Hedingham in Essex but only discovered, after she'd written spooky things about the setting, that in the 1860s it was the last place in the country to swim, or duck, a witch - now THAT's spooky.

It was a great day for meeting up with authors that I "knew" through social media but had never met, and for discovering more about other authors and their great books.I'm hoping they're be another such event soon, meanwhile next weekend a similar extravaganza is planned, this time for mid-grade readers, at Nottingham Library.


Reviews of some of these authors and their books can be found on the blog;
Lucy Coats Cleo
SC Ransom - Small Blue Thing, Perfectly Reflected, The Beneath
Lee Weatherly - Angel Fire, Angel
Teri Terry -Slated, Fractured, Shattered, Mind Games
Paula Rawsthorne - Blood Tracks, The Truth About Celia Frost, These Seven (short story)
David Massey - Taken, Torn

UKYA Extravaganza - author profile

As part of the blog tour ahead of next week's UKYA Extravaganza to be held at Waterstones Nottingham, we bring you a profile of one of the authors appearing there - David Massey.

David Massey's varied career has taken him from teaching and music journalism to presenting, producing and writing for radio.

As the Romanian revolution was ending, David led a team taking supplies to Bucharest and Timisoara. On the way home he stopped near Checkpoint Charlie to help chip holes in the Berlin Wall. Rather fittingly, David and his wife Debi now run Globehuggers Emergency Supplies - a business specializing in bespoke grab bags and emergency equipment.

David's debut young adult novel TORN was published in August 2013 on the Chicken House/Scholastic label. A war story set in Afghanistan, it captured the overpowering heat, freezing nights, dust and stark

beauty of the country, and the fear, camaraderie and bravery of the soldiers. It went on to win the Lancashire Awards Book of the year 2013 and has been nominated in the UK for several other awards including the prestigious Brandford Boase, Leeds Award, and the Coventry Inspiration Award.


 His second novel TAKEN was released in the UK in March 2014 and has been nominated for the Carnegie Medal. The story follows the teenage crew of a round-the-world yacht, but a dream-come-true adventure turns into a nightmare when the ship is boarded by pirates and the crew are held hostage. Both stories share common themes -  dangerous, life-threatening situations, comradeship and a strong female lead character.



David is the Patron Of Reading for The Wordsley School near his home town of Stourbridge, and has just completed his latest novel - THE BONE SURFERS

Taken by David Massey

review by Maryom

Rio lives for sailing - and hopes one day soon to compete in the Olympics. So when she lands a place on a round-the-world trip, it seems like a dream come true. This isn't going to be a leisurely cruise but a hard-working one - of the teenage crew of 6, 4 are ex-army, injured in action and now disabled. The voyage has two aims - to prove that 'disabled' doesn't mean 'unable' and to raise money for a war-orphans charity.
They set sail from South Africa heading out into the Indian Ocean but the voyage doesn't last long. They're boarded by pirates, the boat scuttled and the crew taken back to Africa and held hostage. The adventure of a lifetime has just turned into a nightmare....

Taken is a gripping, at times quite horrific, story of courage, friendship and overcoming the odds. I loved David Massey's debut novel, Torn, with its grim setting of the Afghan conflict, and this second book shares many of its features - a female main character, teenagers caught up in a life-threatening situation, comradeship.
My only quibble with it was the personality of Rio. The story is told from her point of view, so the reader shares everything she's thinking - even when held hostage and fearing for her life, she worries about the state of her hair or what the guy she fancies might think of her. NOT my type of person in either real life or fiction!

Maryom's review - 4 stars
Publisher - Chicken House
Genre - 13+, adventure 

Torn by David Massey

review by Maryom

Ellie is on her first tour of duty as an army medic in Afghanistan but no amount of training could have prepared her for the reality of life there. She finds herself immediately plunged in at the deep end with roadside bombs and bullets whizzing past. Through the hail of bullets wanders a young Afghan girl, seemingly unafraid and unharmed. Trying to find out who this girl is and why she is there leads Ellie into dangerous mountain country, home to armed gangs and Taliban supporters.

I've read quite a few novels - aimed at both teens and adults - with some or all of the story set in Afghanistan and this is the first that really made me feel I was there. Massey succeeds in capturing the overpowering heat, freezing nights, dust and stark beauty of the country; the fear, camaraderie and bravery of the soldiers. He manages throughout to avoid the politics of the situation and concentrates on telling a gripping story with a slight supernatural twist. Ellie and her fellow soldiers are real young people engaged in something that is not quite what they expected, though I found my heart going out more to the Afghan children caught up in a war that seems 'normal' to them.
It's a slightly strange mix of female lead in what may be considered a 'male' story-setting, though I grew up reading real life WW2 exploits (Dad's library books) rather than romantic fiction (Mother's). Overall an excellent debut novel that I'd recommend to all teens/young adults with a liking for action adventure.

Maryom's review - 5 stars
Publisher - Chicken House
Genre - war, teen/YA /adult

Buy Torn from Amazon