BookieMonster » Interviews

Six Quick Questions with Bestselling Author Cassandra Clare

Dec 082011

Author of The Infernal Devices – the prequel trilogy to the bestselling The Mortal Instruments. All text courtesy of Walker Books. 1. The first book in The Infernal Devices, Clockwork Angel, ended on a cliffhanger as Will went to seek help from Magnus Bane, but we weren’t told why. Can you tell us where Clockwork Prince picks up? Clockwork Prince picks up about two weeks after the end of Clockwork Angel. We still don’t know why Will went to Magnus, and a Council is being held to determine whether Charlotte should get to keep her position as the head of the Institute after the disastrous events of Clockwork Angel. 2. You mentioned that Will is hiding a big secret that might be revealed in Clockwork Prince. Can you give us any clues as to what this might be? That would be telling! I can only say that it is a [...read more...]

Interview with Gary Corby, Author of The Pericles Commission

Posted by Rachel 4 Responses »

Feb 032011

Interview with Gary Corby, Author of The Pericles Commission

Gary Corby, author of The Pericles Commission, spoke to the Bookiemonster Henchperson on writing, strong lady characters and of course, sea battles. So, tell us a little bit about yourself. Having your first novel come out is a bit like being exposed as a serial killer. All your friends and neighbours say, “But he was such a quiet fellow. Who would have thought?” I’m really very normal. I come complete with one very normal family: one wife, two daughters, two budgies, four guinea pigs, and four fish in the backyard pond that I made this summer. We live in a normal house in a normal suburb. What inspires you to write? Can you tell us a little bit about your writing process? I have no idea why I started writing! No doubt a psychologist would have a wonderful time analysing me, but then, any writer would probably make good material. The [...read more...]

Book Review: Villa Pacifica by Kapka Kassabova

Posted by Rachel 4 Responses »

Oct 132010

Book Review: Villa Pacifica by Kapka Kassabova

Villa Pacifica by Kapka Kassabova, Penguin New Zealand, RRP $39.00, ISBN 978-0-14-320502-9, Available now. Villa Pacifica included two of my favourite things: homunculi and time distortion. Aspiring authors take note – that’s really it all takes to win me over. Before you start thinking Villa Pacifica is the bastard child of Donnie Darko and Maugham’s The Magician I can tell you now it stands up on its own merits and reads like a ‘proper’ novel, not some sci-fi loving hipster’s daydream. Anyway. Our protagonist, Ute the travel writer and her husband Jerry the non-traveller academic visit the Villa Pacifica resort somewhere in South America. Villa Pacifica is filled with wonderful and rather bizarre characters that are all over the top in the nicest possible way. I enjoyed the crazy American most, but found the sexy-cowboy character was bordering on the unbelievable. The scenery is great too – there’s beaches and [...read more...]

An Interview with Fleur Beale

Posted by BookieMonster 5 Responses »

Sep 292010

Fleur Beale is the award-winning New Zealand author of over 20 novels for young adults and children – and the new release Fierce September, the second in a series which started with Juno of Taris. She very kindly agreed to answer a few questions for us! You’ve written over 20 novels for teens and children – what is your favourite aspect of writing for this age group? Is there anything you dislike? I think it’s good to have a framework within which to write, something that puts limits on characters that they have to push against or learn to live with. When you’re writing for kids and teens, those limits are the rules of the adult world and society in general. With teens too it’s always interesting to write about characters finding out who they are and what they’re made of. I can’t think of anything I dislike about writing for [...read more...]

An interview with David Levithan

Posted by BookieMonster 2 Responses »

Jun 152010

David Levithan, co-author of Will Grayson, Will Grayson, and recent visitor to these shores very kindly agreed to a short email interview with BookieMonster. You do a lot of collaboration writing – do you have a set process to make sure that works, or do you follow different processes with different people? DL: It’s just a matter of instinct. It was Rachel’s idea to do NICK AND NORAH’S INFINITE PLAYLIST, and we ran with it, not having any idea what we were doing. Which is, I think, what makes the book so special. We were talking to each other through the characters, and having a great time. What is the most important thing that drives you to write about and write for young people? DL: I’m not sure anything in particular drives me. (I have a book about two adults coming out in January.) But it’s a fascinating time of [...read more...]

An interview with New Zealand author Rachael King

Posted by BookieMonster Comments Off

Feb 222010

Rachael King is the extremely talented author of The Sound of Butterflies and Magpie Hall and I think she’s one of the best in New Zealand contemporary fiction. Lucky me – she very kindly agreed to answer some questions I had thought of while reading Magpie Hall! Did you have any influences in mind when you were writing Magpie Hall? There are elements of many other novels woven into Magpie Hall. I wanted to write something very intertextual. So it has elements of the Turn of the Screw, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Woman in White, Northanger Abbey and Rebecca (as that was considered to be a rewrite of Jane Eyre), plus classic tropes from the Gothic tradition such as a maiden locked in a tower, doubles, ghosts, the cruelty of nature, castles etc etc. Other than those, I am always slightly influenced by The Crow Road by Iain Banks, which I think of as the perfect family mystery (although it’s [...read more...]