Glowglass by Kirkland Ciccone

Review by The Mole

Starrsha Glowglass's face is on the front page of every newspaper. She isn't a model, Vlogger, or reality TV show contestant. Starrsha is famous for something darker: she survived a massacre that claimed her Brothers and Sisters. Hers was no ordinary family. They were The Family Glowglass - a religious order set up by an eccentric businessman as a tax dodge. One morning the parishioners sat down to breakfast...Most didn't get back up. Only Starrsha and her mute Brother, Simon, survived. Both now have a chance to lead an ordinary life. For Starrsha that means high school. Can a videotape bring back the dead? What's behind the red door? Why won't Starrsha's best friend reveal her true sexuality? When is a poster on a wall actually a trap? Will My Chemical Romance reform? Why is Father obsessed with vintage technology? Why does Barbie freak out Starrsha? How many rich husbands has Aunt Imelda bumped off? And why is God crank-calling Starrsha? All will be revealed when someone presses PLAY...

Ciccone's books have all been unusual in some way and this is no exception. A single video tape is left and Starrsha keeps adding parts of the story to it until the 3 hour tape is full and we know the complete story from Starrsha's point of view. And it's not what I expected.

We know of the deaths in the cult and we know of the how but "who"? Only Simon and Starrsha survived... coincidence or planning - that's what we need to find out and this tape contains Starrsha's confession. Or does it? This young impressionable childlike girl is too naive for anything so horrendous surely?

I was sceptical of the format at first but found that it worked well. Very well. Having just the one voice throughout taking the story forward and backward before reaching the conclusion felt very genuine - no contrived conversations using second voices that didn't really gel. We do hear from other characters but they are retold by Starrsha in the words she chooses and so we see how the characters come over to her and not to each other.

The reader also gets an insight into cults and modern day slavery - or at least one aspect.

This is, once again, another great story told in the author's distinctive style. It sounds like a YA book but, frankly, apart from the very young, this book will sort all ages and genders and I'd recommend widely.

Publisher - Strident Publishing
Genre - YA/Adult/Thriller

North of Porter by Kirkland Ciccone

Review by The Mole

Porter's parents decide to move to Castlecrankie because they see an opportunity. He arrives in a car he can't get out of because his parents have removed the door handles to ensure he doesn't escape. Porter's life is not a happy one - but you can guess that. Castlecrankie is a placed troubled by strikes, mysterious deaths and Aliens. But that is why his parents have taken him there; they see an opportunity to make money out of this and Porter will help them - whether he wants to or not.

Porter is a child who doesn't make friends easily and is on medication after his breakdown - a breakdown not helped when he discovered his brother in a suitcase.

With this, Ciccone's third book, the plotting is stronger (not that it was ever weak!), the story more believable and the characters more easily identified with.

I loved the quirkiness of this story - not humorous fantasy, which is a genre I love - but more conspiracy theory put into context. Porter has personal issues. And voices. It took me a little while to understand that the speech that was crossed out in the text is actually the voice inside his head - is it his brother? And Porter is OCD and it manifests itself, in part, by a terror of walking on cracks in the pavement. And Porter makes a friend at his new school - a full-on kleptomaniac who tries to shoplift an ironing board!

Quirkiness and bizarrity in every corner of this book but it's a serious story, told with a little humour, that will have you sitting back and wondering about the ending.

Well done Kirkland - another great story very well told.

Publisher - Strident Publishing
Genre - YA/teen horror, mystery

Endless Empress by Kirkland Ciccone

A Mass Murder's Guide to Dictatorship in the Fictional World of Enkadar 

Review by The Mole

Portia was attacked by a serial killer as a child but managed to escape with her life after being tortured. Now she is suffering from the effects of Post Traumatic Stress and has created an imaginary world - Enkadar. Slowly she has drawn her friends into her imaginary world.

Being "different" at school is always troublesome and Portia, the now self-styled Endless Empress, is bullied and ridiculed along with her friends. Revenge is on the cards and did I tell you that this group of friends contains the academically astute in the school? Revenge will be planned, revenge will be sweet, revenge will be awesome and deadly.

With over one thousand dead in the school will the real world let it stop at that or are Enkadar and The Real World of Milordahl at war? And where will it stop? Will it stop?

Many moons ago I was walking in Glen Nevis with the family when I stepped between some tall rocks and there before me was a hidden valley - it was a shock and a truly awesome moment and Kirkland's first book Conjuring The Infinite contains such a moment when the book suddenly, within a paragraph, swings around. It did go on to win a Catalyst Award. This being Kirkland's second book I was intrigued as to what I would find - more of the same? Travelling to that hidden valley a second time was nothing like as impacting.

What I got was something totally different but still as mind-jangling. Mind-jangling and frightening at the same time. Frightening? We have all known Portia at some point in our lives... that kid who is "different" to the point they are best avoided for our own comfort - although they are often made fun of and bullied. What if they decided to take revenge?

Molly, a self styled journalist, acts as a focus to gather the history of the Endless Empress together and to try to find her because while some say the Empress is dead, many say she is not. It's difficult to understand at first why Molly is so persistent but let's not discount the X39 bus either.

The story has many threads winding through it and as a reader I found it confusing to follow each thread into the next knot for Molly to untie but when she does all becomes clear except that there is another knot looming. Lots of action and explosions and sandwiches - there really is something for everyone in here.

A second book every bit as good as the first but every bit as different too. I absolutely loved it and expect it to do as well as his first. Brilliantly conceived and executed.

Publisher - Strident Publishing
Genre - YA/teen horror, Fantasy

Edinburgh

 It's August so it must be time for Edinburgh International Book Festival!

This year we went for four days and tried to pack in as much as possible (along with seeing the sights of Edinburgh and catching a variety of shows at the Fringe Festival)

Having won tickets to the event Protest! with Phil Jupitus, Hollie McNish, Hannah Silva and Elvis McGonagall we went along to see what performance poetry was about.

Phil Jupitus was the "anchor" that brought them all together and he told us a little of performance poetry in the UK and how he got into it. I was intrigued that bands on tour used to have a supporting poet rather than, as now, a supporting band. But these poets were generally delivering protest poems - protest being the 'thing' to be into throughout the 60s and 70s. Phil Jupitus, who 'supported' the likes of The Style Council, gave us some of his poetry from then and also some of his more recent work.

Elvis McGonagall then followed and had the audience laughing along to some of his older poetry as well his more modern stuff. His style was extremely different  and entertained in a different but just as compelling.

Hannah Silva's work was extremely different and frankly I was sceptical at first. Using a foot operated sound machine she recorded, played back and edited her own voice to create poetry - and there can be no other name for it - that really blew me away. It was poetry that can only be listened to, not read, and it left a mark on me like no other poetry ever has. It was fantastic and a completely new experience.

Last, and certainly not least!, was Hollie McNish. Her poetry, although more conventional, was fast, modern, highly topical and still very entertaining.

All these poets left me wondering.. If I had attempted to read their work would I have got as much from it?

Meanwhile Maryom headed to the other side of town to see author/illustrator Jackie Morris at The Golden Hare bookshop in the Grassmarket. This was a joint story-telling and painting session, with Jackie reading her own Song of the Golden Hare and children colouring in their versions of the book's illustrations. Lots of Jackie's books were there on display - even early copies of Something About a Bear (published in October '14 by Frances Lincoln) and Cat Walk (September '14 by Graffeg) both of which will be launched at Solva Woollen Mill in Pembrokeshire. Jackie also talked about her current project involving feathers which are being sent to her from all over the world - see here for how to join in.

We find that the book festival is a great place for meeting friends and authors whose work you have appreciated and this year The Mole came face-to-face with Kirkland Ciccone whose book Conjuring The Infinite won Catalyst Book Award this year. Kirkland does quite a few school visits and is known for his spotted shirt - something that helped me find him amongst the throng of festival goers. Sitting in the bookshop cafe, drinking tea and enjoying a scone, he explained a little about his much awaited second book, The Endless Empress, and told me that the genre of young adult fiction fantasy is not one he is likely to desert in the near future and if Conjuring The Infinite is anything to go by then he certainly shouldn't. Good luck Kirkland!

Maryom had hoped to catch James Mayhew's Big Draw event on the Sunday - but it was just too popular with children and parents queuing to get in. She managed to meet up afterwards though for a very brief chat. James was at the Book Festival as Illustrator-in-residence to celebrate 25 years of his Katie books which introduce art to children by stepping through the picture frame.

Monday was time for another brief meeting - this time with Linda Strachan, author of several YA novels (Don't Judge Me, Spider, Dead Boy Talking)  and the Hamish McHaggis series for younger readers. Unfortunately Linda's Bookfest events took place after we'd left but it was lovely to catch up and hear a little insider gossip about her up-coming projects.


On Monday evening Maryom made her way to the joint Michele Forbes/Donal Ryan event, which she'd been looking forward to since the holiday was booked. Michele Forbes was a bit of an unknown quantity but Donal Ryan's novels have made a huge impact on her. Both writers are from Ireland - Michele Forbes' debut novel, Ghost Moth, is set in Belfast, alternating between the 1960s and 1940s; Donal Ryan's two novels are set in a small country town around the time of the Celtic Tiger economic boom of the late '90s and the subsequent crash. The writers talked,of course, about their books and the inspirations behind them - it was interesting to discover that Donal Ryan's first published book The Spinning Heart had actually been the second to be written, which explains the plot spoiler within it for The Thing About December. Then there were questions from the audience followed by the all-important chance for a few private words with the authors while books were signed.

And in between all this there was also time for soaking up the sun in a deckchair or two...










.....catching sight of Nicholas Parsons, Chris Brookmyre and Tom Rob Smith signing books after their events, and spotting Phil Jupitus again, browsing in the bookshop.

Kirkland Ciccone - hijacking the blog

When we do these interviews, we send out a list of questions inviting the interviewee to modify the questions as they see fit and we then write an intro and a trailer. Kirkland Ciccone, author of "Conjuring The Infinite", seems to have highjacked the blog totally but we read it and felt - what the heck, we might have said/asked that anyway. So it's over to Kirkland...


Conjuring The Infinite is one of our favourite debut novels of the year.  It’s completely unlike any other YA novel in the market and Kirkland Ciccone is completely unlike any writer working in the genre.  He looks very proud when Our Book Reviews tells him that Conjuring The Infinite is a compellingly unique oddity.  It’s also nearly impossible to put down.

We had a chat with Kirkland and asked him a few questions about himself, his book and his future plans.  It was an interesting experience.  He is exactly how we expected him: completely over the top one minute, then prone to moments of deep earnestness.  He is self-deprecating, cutting, extremely confident and a little bit mad.  He is also very funny.  Kirkland let slip a few hints about his secret second novel, his plans for the young adult genre and a whole lot more.

Here is what happened:

Before starting this interview I thought I'd visit your blog and try to find out a little bit about you. The first thing I found was the title "Grrr! It's Kirkland Ciccone" making you sound like an angry young man. Would you describe yourself that way?

I know exactly how I want to present myself, which is a good thing because it means I can do things and hopefully not be misinterpreted.  I came into the publishing industry full of enthusiasm.  You have to understand that I’ve spent years on the fringes trying to get in, writing young adult fiction, looking at what other authors put onto shelves.  I would study their books and I’d go over their websites. When the time came for my official website, I wanted a name that was tongue in cheek but slightly acerbic.  I was going to name my official site The Kirkland Ciccone Fan Club.  I think that’s great.  I might use it one day.  But ‘Grrr! It’s Kirkland Ciccone’ is more instant, don’t you think?  The truth is…it’s actually named after a Betty Boo album.
(Kirkland begins enthusiastically talking about Betty Boo and how he prefers her to John Lennon!  He really likes Betty Boo.)

Your biography in the back page of Conjuring The Infinite and on your website is hilarious.  It mentions your brother being an ex-armed robber, your dog being named Lord Fanny, your one-man shows and your stint as a psychic consultant.  It reads like a man who takes very little in life seriously. Is this a fair assessment?  And how much of it is true?

Most of it is true!  When I tell stories I can say pretty much whatever I want because people don’t believe any of it.  And that’s a good thing because I can tell them the truth.  It’s very cathartic.  Why hire a therapist?  My readers and my audience can be my therapy.  It’s my idea of heaven!  I speak and people listen and love me.  I grew up in a really crappy area in Cumbernauld (Note: Cumbernauld is where Gregory’s Girl was filmed but over the years it has gathered bad publicity due to the town centre.  In 2002, Cumbernauld won the dubious award of being the ugliest town in Britain, but by 2010 it had improved.  Kirkland shrieks with laughter when he informs us that he moved out of Cumbernauld in 2009) but I never ever noticed how bad everything was because it was how people lived.  It was unpredictable.  Constant drama!  My mother got most of her exercise by putting her foot down on my brothers and sisters.  But I was extremely bookish.  I read so many books I had to be fitted with glasses by the time I reached Primary Four.  I watched television and horror movies and I was listening to punk at the age of eight thanks to mum’s boyfriend Davy Doomsday.  He loved punk and 80s new wave.  I absorbed everything.  My sisters were wild but great fun.  My brother bungled loads of armed robberies and ended up doing a stint in prison!  It was completely crazy…but I’m grateful for it because it helped me get where I am now.  Storytelling and that town have shaped me and now I look back on my childhood with pride.  It might have been chaotic, but it was bloody interesting.  And I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t grow up in the shadow of Cumbernauld Town Centre.

It says that you trained in journalism.  How important was it for your writing?

I trained as a journalist but didn’t take it to a degree.  I decided that I wanted to get out and start making things happen for me.  I would have been trapped in further education for years.  I had horrible visions of my books being reviewed in my obituary column if I didn’t get a move on and do my thing.  I remember one incident in class when our lecturer told us the secret of good journalism.  He explained that alcohol was the secret to being an amazing journalist.  Well I sat there in my angora cardigan numb with shock and dismay…because I’m tee-total!  I’ve never touched alcohol in my life.  People probably think I’m a recovering alcoholic.  That’s not true.  I used to brew beer with Davy Doomsday when I was a kid.  But I never developed a taste for it.  My teacher took me aside and encouraged me to write fiction.  I’ll never forget it because it was one of those rare moments in your life when someone takes you seriously.  He told me I was a very talented writer.  He didn’t see me out on the streets.  I agreed with him.  Could you imagine me quizzing people about car boot sales or anything so mundane?  I hate car boot sales…all those lost people, trying to find something missing in their lives, something they can’t replace with a bargain.  I was always going to write YA fiction anyway.  I want to be the author that the teenage version of me would have loved obsessively.  My training gave me a good foundation to work from but my personality allowed me to take my writing and put it onstage.  It all helped in the end.

It also seems to say you have done stand up. Is that the case?

I thought I was doing serious live literature until Cumbernauld Theatre slotted me into their comedy strand!  I don’t know why but I’m just funny even when I’m being serious.  So it seems that I can do stand up!  I’ve always been quick-witted.  It’s a useful skill, isn’t it?  I’d rather go dooking for apples in a toilet bowl than be dull!

Having read Conjuring The Infinite I found myself musing over your approach. Many writers tell stories of how they start writing and the story tells itself. Others that they plan it all from beginning to end. This had the feel that you started at the end and then wrote backwards. How did you approach this book?

Conjuring The Infinite was an absolute joy to write.  It was so easy too.  I knew the story from start to finish.  I knew the characters.  I didn’t want to leave their world.  The unwritten rules of the YA genre state that the book must have a relatable protagonist, a character for the reader to grab hold of until the end.  You see it in Twilight with Bella or The Hunger Games with Katniss.  You see it in every young adult novel.  I decided to scrap that rule for Conjuring The Infinite!  I love the idea that I can trick my readers.  No matter who they start to root for in the book, suddenly I hit them with something different and as you spotted in your review…the characters don’t allow people into their heads and yet – you still get fully formed characters because of how I wrote the book.  I’m very proud of that aspect of it.  Small comments and little details build up the characters whilst adding some distance between them and the reader.  I wrote a book years ago called The Weirdness, which you will never see!  Chicken House sent it back with a lovely handwritten note.  They saw potential in me even back then and thank goodness because I needed to know that maybe, just maybe, my take on the YA genre could be understood by other people.  I needed that support and reassurance, so I’m forever grateful to them.  Chicken House said I had some amazing ideas and great quirky dialogue, that I should keep working and come back to them.  Strident Publishing got me first though with Conjuring The Infinite!  They’re great and the level of support has been fantastic.  I love it.

I have seen you are secretly working on your second book. How's that going?

I’m nearly finished my first draft and a few weeks ago I got that buzz again…that thing an author gets when they know they’re writing a hot book.  I don’t want to give away the title because I have two!  It’ll be one or the other depending on what the publisher decide to go with.  It’s written in the same style as Conjuring The Infinite but I’m pushing the structure even further.  I don’t know if it will work.  Readers will need to stay vigilant at all times!  It has a very experimental feel about it.  It is a bit more hyperactive, a bit deeper.  When I started writing Conjuring The Infinite, my goal was to write something really distinctive, a book which stood out in the market.  But I also wanted to create the most spiteful and unpleasant teenage antagonist in YA fiction.  Seth Kevorkian was my attempt at a really hateful baddie.  Let me say that he has nothing on one of the characters in this book.  If it ends up the way I have it in my head…you’re in for an absolute treat.  I think it’s my masterpiece, I really do.  It’s about a group of misfit teens who slip into a world of fantasy and are caught up in lunacy and murder.  I can’t say anymore because the actual concept is so good and for next year it’s going to be especially relevant.  Just wait and see!

Can you give us a bit of dialogue from the book?

“Don’t eat the sandwiches. Sandwiches are funeral food!”

Do you see yourself becoming a full time author or are there other ambitions you would like to achieve?

I’m going to remain in the YA genre because it’s the one I feel passionately about and I ‘get’ it.  I can’t stand these bestselling authors who have decided to come into the YA market because they want to expand their brand.  Even James Patterson is writing YA books!  How they get away with it is a bigger mystery than Jennifer Aniston’s acting career or the Mary Celeste.  I’m writing for teenagers and adults.  All adults were teenagers at one time.  The concepts and ideas in my book are completely relevant to my audience.  I would like to get out and do more festivals.  I’m doing my first ever festival date on Thursday.  The Tidelines Book Festival in Largs!  My mum took me there as a kid and I swear to God I thought it was Spain.  My main ambition is to get my second book finished.  I have loads of ideas and I’ve discussed them with my publisher.  I can’t wait for you all to see what I’m doing…it’s going to be really interesting.

Having wrested control back from Kirkland it only remains to thank him for his time and the most interesting answers. And questions (that he included) too.

Conjuring The Infinite by Kirkland Ciccone

Review by The Mole

The Cottage is a home for troubled teenagers, ones who haven't fitted in to other care institutions - a last resort - and it's run by a woman known only as Mother. One of their number, Seth Kevorkian, has been murdered and after the funeral the staff and residents start to open up about the Seth they knew - the Seth Mother thought was faultless and kind. But it appears that Seth was planning some form of Armageddon and has it started?

This book was very different to the book I expected. I can find it very hard to write a review for a book I liked - does that sound silly? It's easy to write a glowing review as a sycophantic favour but here we won't do that so when you get a book you really enjoy then how can you underline sincerity? Let's try.

The story starts a little slowly and we meet each of the characters one at a time and unlike so many books I found I couldn't 'get inside their heads'. As I read on I realised that was because Ciccone didn't want us going there - these teenagers were mentally damaged we weren't welcome. As the story builds up we get swept into believing the story as the plot unfolds. I found myself expecting, and wondering how Ciccone was going to manage this, when suddenly one of the characters enters again and Ciccone manages to somehow use this person to make fun of the whole thing. Or does he? Or does Seth get the last laugh?

A real breath of fresh air in the horror story line. Tense and exciting yet down to earth and realistic with perhaps just an inkling of satire at the same time - and maybe a little more horrifying for that. Described as Young Adult/Adult or 'crossover' I found this really worked for me. But unlike so many books that you put down and you want to know more and keep reading I felt that I knew enough, thank you, if not too much. Pass me a book on comic Guinea pigs please!

Publisher - Strident Publishing
Genre - YA/Adult horror, Fantasy

Buy Conjuring the Infinite from Amazon