Steampunk Thursday: Lucy Saxon Competition - We have a winner!

Recently I ran a competition offering readers of this blog the chance to win a copy of Lucy Saxon's debut, Steampunk-inspired novel, Take Back the Skies, asking from where did the author take her pen name?

Well the answer is, the name of the Master's wife in the 2007 series of Doctor Who.

Everyone who entered the competition answered the question correctly, but the lucky individual who had their name pulled out of the proverbial hat is...

Amy Cotterill

Congratulations, Amy! Your copy of Take Back the Skies will be winging its way to you from Bloomsbury Books very soon.

To the rest of you who entered, better luck next time, eh?

My Annotated Workspace - July 2014

Back in February I posted this, in which I annotated my workspace and explained what all the projects were I was working on at the time. Well I'm going to do it again, five months on, so here we go...

1) I've been proof-reading YOU ARE THE HERO - A History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks. Here you can see art by Martin McKenna, Les Edwards and Pete Knifton.

2) The 350th issue of the Judge Dredd Megazine - I've had a couple of short stories in this over the last couple of years and it's time I came up with some more story proposals. 

3) Christmas Books - I'm re-vamping What is Myrrh Anyway? Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Christmas in time for Christmas 2014, including additional content. The new edition of the book will go by the name A History of Christmas.

4) My laptop, open at the Eventbrite ticket page for Fighting Fantasy Fest 2014. Buy your ticket today!

5) Sharkpunk is an anthology I'm editing for Snowbooks, that will be published in May 2015. The story you can see here is by David Tallerman.

6) The 250th issue of SFX Magazine and a commissioning form for a piece I'm writing for a future issue about Ted Hughes' The Iron Man.

7) Take Back the Skies by Lucy Saxon - I've recently reviewed this book and there's even a competition to win a copy of the book. Check it out!

Take Back the Skies, by Lucy Saxon

Take Back the Skies is the impressive YA debut of 19 year-old novelist Lucy Saxon*.

It tells the story of Catherine Hunter, born into privilege, who to escape her regimented existence as the daughter of a government official in the land of Anglya, cuts her hair, disguises herself as a boy and becomes Cat, escaping her former life by stowing away on board the tyrium-powered skyship Stormdancer. She soon learns that what she has been told about the world beyond the borders of Angyla is a lie, and that she is the one who possesses the knowledge that could bring a crumbling and corrupt empire to its knees, if only she has the courage to initiate such dramatic change.

So far, so familiar, but the plot that develops - whilst being overwhelmed at times by the will-they-won't-they relationship of then two young leads** and lacking tension at others - is something unexpected, rich in world-building detail, politically complex, and full of twists and turns that will keep the reader gripped right up until the story's dark denouement.

The book's Steampunk influences are clear but, despite all the different interpretations of Steampunk that already exist in literature, they are given a new spin here by Saxon. And to have such a book as your first published piece of work is impressive indeed.

Thanks to those kind people at Bloomsbury Books, I have one copy of Take Back the Skies to give away. To be in with a chance of winning it, simply answer this simple question.

From where did Lucy Saxon take her pen name?

Simply email me at info@jonathangreenauthor.com with your answer, your name and your address and you answer be put into the proverbial hat with all the other hopefuls. The draw will take place two weeks today, on Sunday 20 July 2014 at midday (BST).

Good luck!

Lucy Saxon signing at the London MCM Expo, May 2014.

* Many reviews make much of the fact that Lucy is 19, and was only 16 when she wrote the first draft of Take Back the Skies. I can only put this down to sour grapes. (My own first book, Spellbreaker, was published when I was 21.)

** But then this is a YA novel.

Thought for the Day

"I tend to find in writing that a lot of my characters can get quite forceful when I'm trying to create them. It's almost like they are fully formed and I'm just trying to figure out what they are."

~ Lucy Saxon, Novelist

 

Steampunk Thursday: Lucy Saxon

Lucy Saxon is one to watch in the world of Steampunk fiction. At only 19 she has had her first novel Take Back the Skies published by Bloomsbury and is the featured author in this month's SFX Magazine.

Lucy Saxon signing at the Bloomsbury stand at the MCM Comic Expo in London.

Lucy wrote the first draft of the novel at age 16 and Steampunk was a massive influence on the work. Take Back the Skies features grand skyships, mechanical servant 'mechas' and other wondrous inventions.

Catherine Hunter is the daughter of a senior government official on the island of Anglya. She’s one of the privileged – she has luxurious clothes, plenty to eat, and is protected from the Collections which have ravaged families throughout the land. But Catherine longs to escape the confines of her life, before her dad can marry her off to a government brat and trap her forever. 

So Catherine becomes Cat, pretends to be a kid escaping the Collections, and stows away on the skyship Stormdancer. As they leave Anglya behind and brave the storms that fill the skies around the islands of Tellus, Cat’s world becomes more turbulent than she could ever have imagined, and dangerous secrets unravel her old life once and for all...

You can pick up a copy of the limited edition hardback here.