Author Archives: Matt Imrie

Strange Angels by Lili Saintcrow

strange angels

Dru Anderson has been “strange” for as long as she can remember. She travels from town to town with her father, hunting the things that go bump in the night and eat the unwary. It’s a weird life, but a good one–until it all explodes and a zombie busts into her new house.

Strange Angels is Lilith Saint Crow‘s first young adult novel, and tells the story of Dru Anderson, the daughter of a (monster) hunter. When her dad ends up dead she has to use hard-learned lessons and smarts to stay alive long enough to find out who killed him and who wants her dead.

Throwing werewolves and vampires into the mix with her preternaturally gifted heroine, Lilith hits most of the paranormal urban fantasy genre’s stererotypes There is nothing wrong with this as she has managed to craft an excellent story. Her teen characters are well written and believable (within the bounds of the story) and she weaves suspense and horror together well to tell a tale that will keep her YA readers attention throughout the story. The book is the first title in a series about Dru that will appeal primarily to teen girls although boys should also find it gripping. I am a bit out of her target market but I do love paranormal urban fantasy – the more adventure-oriented style, not really the para-romance that is so popular these days and Lili hit the nail on the head with this one (for me anyway). I am currently eagerly awaiting the second volume Betrayal – due out later this year.

The Reformed Vampire Support group by Catherine Jinks

rvsg
People often think that vampires live in decrepit old castles, or mausoleums, or sprawling mansions full of stained glass and wood panelling. Unfortunately that is not the case.

Nina is 15 years old (and has been since 1973) when she was attacked by a vampire.Her life since then has been one of suffering from the effects of vampirism, living with her mother, fanging guinea pigs and every Tuesday attending the Reformed Vampire Support Group meetings. The group is composed of all the surviving vampires in Australia – including the vampire that originally brought the infection from Europe.

The Groups’ carefully ordered lifestyle is thrown into disarray by the staking of the oldest vampire among them. What follows is a desperate search by committee that will bring them face to face with a terrified slayer; into contact with the brutal world of werewolf fighting as well as Nina’s acceptance of being a vampire as well as finding a greater meaning to life (and love) after death.

I love monster stories and have a particular fondness for urban paranormal tales by authors like Jim Butcher and Lilith St. Crow (and the early Laurell K. Hamilton). Catherine Jinks’ creations takes the vampire myth in a (humourous at times) direction that I do not see often. They have all the weaknesses that traditional vampires have – burning in the sun, only able to feed of blood, death by staking and none of the strengths. So no transforming in to bats, no super strength none of the sexy vamp. lifestyle popularised by Twilight and the Underworld series – both referenced in this novel. The closest Nina comes to this `way of life is in the novels she writes (under an assumed name) about Zadia Bloodstone. Jinks’ vampires live the lives of junkies desperate for a fix but terrified of spreading their infection and of being discovered and being slaughtered by a population that is unaware of them living in their midst.

Feeling Good: Health information for children and young people

Feeling Good: Health information for children and young people
Chester, UK

23rd & 24th June 2009

The conference will be a mix of practical sessions, academic papers and reports
of projects from speakers from the UK and overseas. There will be talks by:

· Storyteller Rona Barbour who’s done a lot of work with disaffected youngsters
using storytelling as emotional therapy

· Aidan Macfarlane, the author of the Teenage Health Freak books and websites, and International Consultant in Strategic Planning Child & Adolescent Health Services

· Elizabeth Schlenter, who manages healthybooks.org.uk an invaluable website for anyone working with children, especially those with emotional and physical problems

Other sessions will include:

· The censorship of sex education materials in libraries

· HIV/AIDS in young adult novels

· The role of school/college libraries in promoting health and well-being

· Health information literacy

· Transformation through arts therapy

Who should attend?

Library and information workers, health professionals, researchers, students and those from the voluntary sector with an interest in the effective and innovative provision of health information for children
and young people.

More about the conference.

Download a draft programme.

Download a booking form.

May 2009 TLM

The May edition of Teen Librarian Monthly is available to download here.

who is charlie keeper?

The shortlist for the tenth annual Branford Boase Award

· The Traitor Game by B R Collins, edited by Emma Matthewson (Bloomsbury).

· The Toymaker by Jeremy De Quidt, edited by Bella Pearson (David Fickling Books)

· Flood Child by Emily Diamand, edited by Imogen Cooper (published originally as Reavers Ransom by Chicken House)

· Between Two Seas by Marie-Louise Jensen, edited by Liz Cross (OUP)

· Bloodline by Katy Moran, edited by Denise Johnstone-Burt, (Walker Books)

· The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness, edited by Denise Johnstone-Burt (Walker Books)

· Ways to Live Forever by Sally Nicholls, edited by Marian Lloyd (Marian Lloyd Books)

The judging panel, chaired by Julia Eccleshare, included Jenny Downham, author of last year’s winner, Before I Die, as well as Jane Churchill of the Cheltenham Literary Festival, influential librarian John Dunne and Caroline Horn of Readingzone and the Bookseller.

The Branford Boase Award was set up to reward the most promising new writers, as well as to reward excellence in writing and in publishing. All the judges were impressed with the high standard of this year’s submissions and were satisfied that they had arrived at a shortlist which meets the criteria on which the prize is based.

The winner of the tenth Branford Boase Award will be announced on 9th July 2009 at an award ceremony to be held at Walker Books in London.

Teenage Judges Competition 2009

Enter the Teenage Judges Competition and you could win the chance to join the judging panel for the Booktrust Teenage Prize!

When Barack Obama became the first African-American President of the United States it inspired millions of people in America and across the world.

What would you do if you were president or prime minister for a day?

Write a short story about how you would spend your day and you could win the chance to join the judging panel for the UK’s biggest teenage book prize!

You could help decide this year’s best book for young adults and attend the award ceremony in London in November, where you will be able to meet the 2009 shortlisted authors.

Download the entry form here

tpbp
Showcasing new titles every month in libraries and selected bookstores across Britain – with only the public voting for the winners will launch on 1st June 2009.
Its aim is to discover new writing talent, give budding authors a better chance of being published and read, raise the profile of local libraries nationwide, help market independent publishers’ titles and provide the British public with a wider choice of new titles.

Only members of the public will vote for their favourite books on the ‘TPBP’ website or at their local library. There will be no judges involved in the selection of the winners.
This site will:
· list each month’s chosen titles including book covers and relevant information
· monitor which books are winning the public’s votes
· link to participating libraries’, publishers’ and booksellers’ websites.
Each month’s winner in the three categories: fiction, non-fiction and children’s
literature, will go forward as a finalist for The People’s Book Prize of the Year.
The awards will take place on the 30th July 2010.
We hope you will join us in making this exciting new venture a success for all!

Administered by:
DELANCEY dp PRESS LTD
23 Berkeley Square, London W1J 6HE
Registered in England No. 04014929 VAT 761 537424
Phone: 020 7665 6605
www.peoplesbookprize.com

Teen Librarian Monthly April 2009

The April edition of Teen Librarian Monthly is available here for download.

#Amazonfail

I noticed something odd on Twitter over the Easter weekend, a number of Twitterers (Tweeters?) I follow had added the hashtag #amazonfail to their tweets. On investigating I discovered that Amazon has been removing GLBT books from their sales rankings (Amazon’s Sales Ranks is a tool which shows how a good a book sells compared to other books).

This includes books for Young Adults concerning sexuality. If a person searches for one of these books by title or author, they will find it. However, that’s only so useful. Many people find books on a given subject by browsing the subject listings, not knowing what is available by title or author, or by seeing what books are most popular per sales: these derankings remove titles from those listings, no matter our book’s popularity or relevance in a given subject.

Amazon claims that this is a glitch that they are working to rectify.

For more information use the search terms ‘#amazonfail’ or ’amazonfail’ on Google or the search engine of your choice.