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

The Beneath by SC Ransom

review by Maryom
One minute Lily is idly waiting for her Tube train to arrive, the next she's rescuing a girl from its path and being drawn into a hidden world that lies literally beneath her feet - for the rescued girl, Aria, is part of a community that lives concealed in the maze of tunnels and caverns beneath London. She's visiting the world Above seeking out one special person who can help to stop the evil plans of her community's leader - and that person is Lily.

The Beneath is the latest teen thriller from SC Ransom, author of the Small Blue Thing trilogy; a tense, compelling read, set in and below London, with an intriguing story-line centring on a community that for hundreds of years has been living underground. With the vast amount of tunnels, underground rivers and disused Tube tunnels burrowing underneath the city, who knows what may lurk beneath our feet? Lily isn't at first sure if she believes Aria's story of living underground in a society where there's very little free will and choice, and girls are seen as just 'breeders' of the next generation. But Lily soon moves from disbelief to a determination to help her new friend, which takes her, her friend Will and his faithful not-to-be-left-behind dog, Foggy, on a dangerous journey underground to confront the leader of this strange community and the 'crop' he grows to both protect and intimidate them.

Aimed at the eleven+/early teen age range, the story delivers a fast paced read to keep the reader gripped from start to finish. There's a little romance but the emphasis is firmly on mystery and action,with some really nail-biting moments.

Maryom's review - 5 stars
Publisher - Nosy Crow
Genre - 11+, fantasy adventure

Perfectly Reflected by SC Ransom

Paranormal thriller
review by Maryom

The sequel to Small Blue Thing, Perfectly Reflected continues the story of Alex, Callum and the amulet that links them. It's a bit difficult to discuss the plot without giving away the ending to Small Blue Thing so for once I'm just going to quote the synopsis as given by the publisher -
"Still recovering from her earlier brush with death, Alex’s source of strength and comfort is Callum, still locked in a sad half-life after drowning in the river Fleet that flows into the Thames. And she needs all the strength and comfort she can get: someone is out to make her life a misery, and someone is out to get hold of the extraordinary bracelet that enables her to communicate with Callum."

If Small Blue Thing was a paranormal romance, Perfectly Reflected is a paranormal thriller. Alex is being stalked, her windows smashed, her computer accounts hacked. As far as she knows there can be only one suspect, a person she knows to be determined to get the amulet. Just how far will this person go to get what they want and how much danger may Alex be in?
The pace is faster, there's far more tension, maybe it's even slightly darker - and I must say I enjoyed it more. Alex shows herself to be a pro-active, go get 'em heroine full of resourcefulness and courage, not one to sit at home and let others sort her problems. I was rather perversely pleased to see the return of slimy ex-boyfriend Rob, who believes himself to be God's gift to all women, although Callum, the love of Alex's life, seems to have lost centre stage spot to the bad guys due to the workings of the plot.
There's always a worry that the second of a series may not live up to the expectations created by the first - happily this is not the case here and the twists and turns will keep you hooked to the last page. The only down-side is the current wait for book 3 - DON"T read the taster chapter at the end!!

My review of Small Blue Thing

Maryom's review - 5 stars
Publisher - Nosy Crow
Genre - Teenage, Fantasy, Romance

Small Blue Thing by SC Ransom

A New Paranormal Romance
review by Maryom

Alex finds a bracelet half buried in Thames mud with a small opal like stone- the small blue thing. She soon discovers that this is no ordinary bracelet - when wearing it she can communicate with Callum, a teenager locked between life and death, whom only she can see. But as Alex finds herself falling in love with him, she begins to doubt if he is telling her the truth about his situation. Callum's sister Catherine tells a different story to explain his actions and Alex finds herself not knowing who to trust.
The book starts slowly, firmly fixed in the everyday world of school, exams and teenage life, but as the relationship between Alex and Callum grows, the emphasis shifts to his shadowy underworld of the Dirges and the pace picks up as Alex is forced into making life or death decisions.
Something I loved was that for once here's a book with a British setting - admittedly London and Richmond are almost as foreign to a northerner as America but it was still nice to see supernatural happenings not restricted to across the pond but here on home soil.
Small Blue Thing is a great new read for teenage lovers of supernatural romance. It's the first in a planned trilogy - to be published January next year with book 2, Perfectly Reflected, following in June - and although the story rounds off nicely the reader is left with a chilling taster of what is to follow in book 2.

Maryom's review - 4 stars
Publisher - Nosy Crow
Genre - Teenage (14+), Fantasy, Romance


Perfectly Reflected is now out and about. Check out Maryom's review here Paranormal Thriller

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The comments below contain spoilers so please don't read if you haven't read and don't want to know!!

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