Review and Interview

There's a new review of The Divide, and an author interview on http://www.teensreadtoo.com/

In reply to Ryan's email

Dear Ryan,
I've been unable to reply to your email, as it keeps being rejected.

As Pewtermane is still meditating on the true nature of an itch (he’s tackled fleas, lice and heat rash so far) he remains unavailable to answer your problems. The fleas got a little out of hand, so at the moment he feels he has enough problems of his own. He has, however, asked me to deal with anything that crops up. So, Ryan, in answer to your question about how you change your ancestry the answer is: you can’t. You could always lie about it, of course, which is probably what Pewtermane meant. You would also like to know what’s wrong with being part japegrin. Nothing whatsoever, as long as you like the company of sinistroms. They prefer japegrins as masters, as japegrins are more likely to order them to do something really violent. If you wish to take this discussion any further, please do it through comments.

A Plug for the Countryside

They've discovered, apparently, that a walk in the countryside lifts depression. It's also an excellent way of solving writing problems, because you don't have many distractions. We're so used to getting electronic information in sight and sound alone that the opportunity to use all your senses at once can be really stimulating. I've come up with names for characters, plot twists, titles... Today (Sunday) I heard a cuckoo, saw some deer, smelt some flowers, felt the sun on my face, and ate a really yummy almond cake halfway through the walk. Not to mention basking in the warm glow of smugness at the amount of exercise I'd had without it seeming like a trial. Go for walk in the real world, and create fantasy ones when you get back!

Elizabeth in Ukraine

During April I attended a conference on children's literature in Ukraine. Initially, I flew to Krakow, in Poland, and stayed with my relatives until I was joined a few days later by some of the other delegates. We then caught the train to L'viv, crossing the border to Ukraine at Przemysl. In L'viv, some students have been translating the first few chapters of The Divide into Ukrainian - you can see them on the left. Everyone was very kind and helpful, and the food was wonderful! Although I don't remember much of the Russian I learned at school, it was a big help when I had to decipher street names written in Cyrillic... After the conference finished I took the train to Kyiv (formerly Kiev), which has some wonderful architecture - and the best Metro system I've ever encountered. Above is a photo of me in Maidan Nezalezhnosti, which means Independence Square. And Hello to Russell from Leicester, who owns the whole Divide trilogy and came onstage after my reading in the Palace of Arts in L'viv to introduce himself. How bizarre was that?