Zena Shapter's Blog, page 4

The Best ‘It’ll be better when I get there’ SFF YA Books

What do the following books have in common?

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum (1900)Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie (1990)Divergent by Veronica Roth (2011)The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien (1937)The Maze Runner by James Dashner (2009) When Dark Roots Hunt by me! (2023)

The answer is: they’re the best ‘It’ll be better when I get there’ SFF YA Books!

Shepherd is a book discovery platform for readers and authors, designed to make discovering a new book a magical experience where the search is part of the fun. By creating ‘Best Book’ lists, readers can stumble upon books similar to others they’ve enjoyed, opening them up to new experiences, all while promoting authors.

This particular ‘Best Book’ list encapsulates the common ‘it’ll be better when we get there’ philosophy. Dorothy in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz believes it’ll be better when she follows the yellow brick road and reaches the Emerald City. Everyone in The Maze Runner believes that it’ll be better once they escape the maze. In The Hobbit, Bilbo believes everything will be better once he returns home. It’s the same for Haroun, Tris and Sala in Haroun and the Sea of Stories, Divergent and When Dark Roots Hunt. Each of these books features an element of wishful thinking, and characters who find guidance, hope, and courage through their strength of belief, no matter how dangerous their trials in the unfamiliar worlds around them.

Whether or not you’ve already read When Dark Roots Hunt yet(!), this ‘Best Book’ list invites you to consider reading other similar books you might enjoy. If you haven’t read any of the books on this list… you sure have some exciting and thought-provoking reads ahead of you!!

Thank you Shepherd for including this incredible ‘Best Book’ list, and of course for promoting authors – including me! Read more over here: Best ‘It’ll be better when I get there’ SFF YA Books.

The Power of Love & Betrayal! #StorytellingOverTime

Our desire to be loved drives us into relationships, families and communities – but not always the right ones. There may be predatory people waiting to take advantage, or we may simply believe deeper connections exist that don’t. Either way, when we open ourselves up to emotional connections with others, we risk becoming vulnerable to betrayal or disappointment.

Stories have been told about this across the centuries because love is among our most prized emotions. We pursue it, value it, mourn it, and are beguiled by it. It has the potential to fill us with madness or settle us into contentment. Its complexity can inspire or consume us. Thus we need stories to help us understand love, or at least to appreciate its unfathomable power.

The main character of my novel When Dark Roots Hunt, Sala, is no different. From the first moment we meet her, Sala is confounded by questions of love – for her family, her community, and her best friend Aten – and those questions only become more complex. As in real life, they prompt her to realise how deeply irrational we can all be when it comes to matters of the heart, and how love can be used to manipulate and harm. She must herself confront opposing forces of love in order to understand who she is, as well as the society in which she lives. I wanted her story to inspire readers too – to wonder whether, in the wrong circumstances, might we all be capable of committing inhuman acts, if love was the underlying excuse?

The raw ruthlessness with which humans strive to protect those we love can be overwhelming at times, and this has not changed over the centuries – even a casual meander through ancient texts can reveal this (Helen & Paris of Troy, Le Morte d’Arthur, Romeo & Juliet). Love can both generate many a splendid thing, and evoke a passionate darkness to rival our greatest fears. Stories can help us comprehend this duality, and given the constancy of love’s power over time, perhaps that’s all we can hope to achieve – an awareness of its command over our autonomy and rational thought, as well as an appreciation of the kindness and self-sacrifice it can inspire.

Perhaps if you come to read When Dark Roots Hunt, you’ll let me know your thoughts on the enduring dangers love can manifest, as well as the bravery it incites.

More #StorytellingOverTime Posts: Who is Your Hero – all about the hero’s journey in stories Fear of the Unknown, Fear of Yourself – how we find a part of ourselves in wilderness stories No One Listens to Change – how stories can test out elements of progress The Power of Love & Betrayal – how stories help us understand the complex nature of loveMonsters are Metaphors – how monsters are metaphors for the dynamics of society – to come!

No One Listens to Change! #StorytellingOverTime

Change is slow, for people and places alike, because it’s in our nature to resist change. We don’t want to have to take a step back before moving forward. We fear the unpredictability of consequences. History teaches us that societal progress is inevitable, yet we often try to stick with what’s already working, rather than take risks to improve what’s not.

Stories about change can help ease this transition, because in such stories we can explore the boundaries otherwise set in stone by our societies, traditions, beliefs or values. Stories offer us a safe place where we can question and discuss ideas, test the balance of wants and needs of ourselves and others, and try out various elements of change. In doing so, we can then better cope with change when it inescapably shifts from the realms of possibility and into reality.

Sherwood Forest

Such stories can also be historically fascinating, because they allow us glimpses into the past. Take the legend of Robin Hood, for example, and how retellings of this famous English folklore have changed over time. At first, Robin Hood was a common yeoman of the people, hiding in Sherwood Forest to steal from the rich, give to the poor and evoke change during the 14th century. But over the centuries he has been turned into a noble man, a protestant, then a fallen aristocrat and a true monarchist, reflecting society’s need for change to be evoked by a legitimate authority figure, who can both represent and reinforce social structures.

Indeed, where provokers of change lack legitimacy, it can give us an excuse to ignore them.

I wanted my book When Dark Roots Hunt to reflect all this, so created a society on the brink of change, encapsulating contemporary concerns about land scarcity, technological power, sustainability and social responsibility, which are deeply embedded in the world. Indeed, The Supernatural Underground recently quoted my book as an example of a story where the environment is as much a character in itself, “with needs and wants and calamity to offer”, similar to Frank Herbert’s classic Dune, or the popular Dragonriders of Pern series. Wow, thanks The Supernatural Underground!

“This story [When Dark Roots Hunt] is compelling, impossible to put down, and as you read, you quickly find that the environment is as much a key to the mysteries as the people who try to survive it.”

Of course there are always some people who think ahead of the change curve – for example, check out this video of David Bowie foreseeing the power of the internet back in 1999, or the book Feed by MT Anderson predicting the future of information technology, published in 2002.

My main character Sala in When Dark Roots Hunt is ahead of the change curve too, having a clear vision of the future that awaits her world. But when I was writing this book, I asked YA readers about their main frustrations in life, and high on the list was not being heard, not having a voice. So Sala’s village ignores her – because as in the real world it’s in our nature to resist change – and the knock-on consequences of that resonate throughout Palude, causing much upheaval.

Perhaps, however, the more stories we tell about ‘worlds of upheaval’, which might have benefitted from more awareness, the more we could yet listen, and the easier we might yet evolve when progress inevitably comes.

Perhaps if you come to read When Dark Roots Hunt, you’ll let me know what you think!

More #StorytellingOverTime Posts: Who is Your Hero – all about the hero’s journey in stories Fear of the Unknown, Fear of Yourself – how we find a part of ourselves in wilderness stories No One Listens to Change – how stories can test out elements of progressThe Power of Love & Betrayal – how stories help us understand the complex nature of love – to come!Monsters are Metaphors – how monsters are metaphors for the dynamics of society – to come!

Fear of the Unknown, Fear of Yourself! #StorytellingOverTime

Destination: no idea, Belize 2004

As a fervent traveller, I know from experience just how much travelling into the unknown has the power to transform. Through it, you can test your skills and wit, face dangers of both the natural world and human kind, and you can return with greater wisdom and self-knowledge. Many times have I landed in a new country with only a backpack and a good heart, unsure of the language or culture, unsure where exactly I would go or how I would get there, knowing only that I wanted to explore and appreciate different lives and landscapes. Such experiences broadened my mind and imagination.

However, there is also a reason why the ancient Greek god Pan was god of the wilderness, and why his name formed the basis of the word ‘panic’. Any wild, unknown place can be scary at first, and in ancient times there was far more wilderness than there is today. Most people lived and died within relatively short distances of where they were born, and wilderness hemmed them in on all sides – dark uninhabited forests, icy impenetrable mountains, vast thirsty deserts, perilous rough seas. Even travelling to the next town along could be fraught with danger, and thus all such wild unknown places generated stories.

Some stories of course recollected true events, but many more told of what might have been, what could have been lurking in the forsaken darknesses, and in doing so these stories enabled us to explore our deepest fears. For where else could we put what we imagined to be our greatest fears other than in unfamiliar places unconstrained by reality? Over the centuries, the wilderness was (and still is) the perfect space to expel all the scary things people don’t like – about themselves, their cultures and societies. Thus stories of the unknown are a paradox: at once unfamiliar and familiar, about us and not us.

When I was writing When Dark Roots Hunt, I thought about this when creating the swamps between the towering hillfarms of Palude. To my main character Sala, the swamps are a wilderness full of natural and human dangers, it tests her skills and wit – yet what ends up scaring her most about it, is what it reflects about human nature. You’ll have to read the book to find out what that is!

But as with other stories that venture into unknown wildernesses, the idea of ‘the wild’ is very much a construct of perception. It is up to us to decide where the unknown starts and ends, to come to see differences as not-so-different, and to see familiarity in the unfamiliar. What might at first be dangerous and strange can, for the very reasons that makes it dangerous and strange, offer us the opportunity to better understand who we are.

Perhaps if you come to venture into the unfamiliar world of When Dark Roots Hunt, you’ll find a part of yourself there. Either way, let me know!

More #StorytellingOverTime Posts: Who is Your Hero – all about the hero’s journey in stories Fear of the Unknown, Fear of Yourself – how we find a part of ourselves in wilderness storiesNo One Listens to Change – how stories can test out elements of progress – to come!The Power of Love & Betrayal – how stories help us understand the complex nature of love – to come!Monsters are Metaphors – how monsters are metaphors for the dynamics of society – to come!

‘When Dark Roots Hunt’ is Launched! Thank you @MidnightSunPublishing & @HarryHartogBookseller!

Thanks to everyone who came to the launch of When Dark Roots Hunt on Saturday! We had so much fun together! My editor and publisher (Anna Solding from MidnightSun Publishing) and I shared funny anecdotes from the editing process, I introduced the book and did a reading, we had an exhilarating Q&A session, then book signings and mingling. Author heaven! There was so much love in that room, I’m still feeling it! Thank you, everyone, truly!

The following video attempts to capture the highlights in a minute and a half:

Now it’s time to sell copies!! I can’t wait for readers to explore the world of Palude.

Please help spread word to anyone who might enjoy reading When Dark Roots Hunt. Talking about books is still the best way for readers to find out about new releases. Tell them When Dark Roots Hunt is an exhilarating science fantasy adventure with belonging and becoming at its heart! Tell them that the internationally bestselling author Ian Irvine said it’s “a great read – fresh, action-packed and utterly compelling”. Tell them that USA Today Bestselling Author Dionne Lister has said it’s a “fantastical world with tension poised to snap at any moment”. Tell them that Aurealis Award-winning author Leife Shallcross said it’s “a rich and thrilling read… an intriguing new world filled with luminous beauty, exotic dangers, and unsettlingly familiar ageing tech”. Read it yourself, and tell them what you think!

I’d love to hear your thoughts too! Thank you for all your support!

Purchase options over here.

Who Is Your Hero? #StorytellingOverTime

We have always told each other stories. Stories are how we connect with each other – sharing experiences to help others, emotions to better understand ourselves, and adventures for both entertainment and as warnings. Many such stories are repeated across the centuries, because they speak of universal truths or behaviours, illustrating the core essence of who we are as humans. With each retelling, small details might change, indicating shifts in our collective concerns or values, or reflecting new challenges. Other details might persist, exposing ongoing difficulties or celebrating enduring triumphs.

Heroic quests are among such stories, having universal appeal to every culture around the world, and all throughout history. Generally speaking, we tend to like our heroes as strong and resolute; we like to test them to their limits, have them helped by friends and rise above temptation; to journey into unknown places, risk deep dark obstacles to defeat menacing adversaries, then return transformed, having greater wisdom and self-knowledge to build a better life. Possibly the reason for the popularity of such stories is that we find in it reassurance – that whenever we face the darkest nights of our soul, there is every chance we might return unscathed, if not improved.

This ‘hero’s journey’ has been studied by many over the years, from both a psychological and structural perspective – including by Joseph Campbell in his famous book The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949). However, the nature of a hero’s journey will always change and evolve as ‘who’ we idolise as a hero also evolves, and ‘how’ we face problems changes. Thus nothing will ever fit a single hero-story model, because there will always be new paths to forge in our contemporary lives.

I had to think about this a great deal when writing When Dark Roots Hunt, given all the YA readers I have come to know as both a writer and reader myself. One of the most common concerns of young people today seems to be their inability to trust adults – to care for them, to care for the planet, and to care for the future. They worry about the kind of world they’re going to inherit, and how they’ll physically live in it. Concerns about land scarcity and environmental issues in particular led to my creation of the world of Palude, with towering hillfarms as the only source of land and only dark shaded swamps between. It also led to creating a pro-active hero.

Indeed, while many heroes embark on quests reluctantly, being forced into their various dilemmas, I wanted mine to have agency – to be someone who chose to address a certain dilemma, which they had identified themselves. Such a person would have the autonomy they needed to make a difference in the world, because such a person wouldn’t stop until they did so. Such a person would be a true hero to any contemporary YA reader.

This is one of the reasons I love speculative fiction stories, because they can reflect so directly on our contemporary world, leaning on subtle parallels and analogies to share concerns about the present; yet provide enough escapism for readers to take a breath, then see the world differently. I hope readers see this through the main character of When Dark Roots Hunt, Sala. If you read the book, please let me know what you think!

In the meantime, what are your favourite hero stories, and has your definition of the ideal hero changed over time?

More #StorytellingOverTime Posts: Who is Your Hero – all about the hero’s journey in stories Fear of the Unknown, Fear of Yourself – how we find a part of ourselves in wilderness storiesNo One Listens to Change – how stories can test out elements of progress – to come!The Power of Love & Betrayal – how stories help us understand the complex nature of love – to come!Monsters are Metaphors – how monsters are metaphors for the dynamics of society – to come!

Who Is My Hero? #Storytelling Over The Centuries

We have always told each other stories. Stories are how we connect with each other – sharing experiences to help others, emotions to better understand ourselves, and adventures for both entertainment and as warnings. Many such stories are repeated across the centuries, because they speak of universal truths or behaviours, illustrating the core essence of who we are as humans. With each retelling, small details might change, indicating shifts in our collective concerns or values, or reflecting new challenges. Other details might persist, exposing ongoing difficulties or celebrating enduring triumphs.

Heroic quests are among such stories, having universal appeal to every culture around the world, and all throughout history. Generally speaking, we tend to like our heroes as strong and resolute; we like to test them to their limits, have them helped by friends and rise above temptation; to journey into unknown places, risk deep dark obstacles to defeat menacing adversaries, then return transformed, having greater wisdom and self-knowledge to build a better life. Possibly the reason for the popularity of such stories is that we find in it reassurance – that whenever we face the darkest nights of our soul, there is every chance we might return unscathed, if not improved.

This ‘hero’s journey’ has been studied by many over the years, from both a psychological and structural perspective – including by Joseph Campbell in his famous book The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949). However, the nature of a hero’s journey will always change and evolve as ‘who’ we idolise as a hero also evolves, and ‘how’ we face problems changes. Thus nothing will ever fit a single hero-story model, because there will always be new paths to forge in our contemporary lives.

I had to think about this a great deal when writing When Dark Roots Hunt, given all the YA readers I have come to know as both a writer and reader myself. One of the most common concerns of young people today seems to be their inability to trust adults – to care for them, to care for the planet, and to care for the future. They worry about the kind of world they’re going to inherit, and how they’ll physically live in it. Concerns about land scarcity and environmental issues in particular led to my creation of the world of Palude, with towering hillfarms as the only source of land and only dark shaded swamps between. It also led to creating a pro-active hero.

Indeed, while many heroes embark on quests reluctantly, being forced into their various dilemmas, I wanted mine to have agency – to be someone who chose to address a certain dilemma, which they had identified themselves. Such a person would have the autonomy they needed to make a difference in the world, because such a person wouldn’t stop until they did so. Such a person would be a true hero to any contemporary YA reader.

This is one of the reasons I love speculative fiction stories, because they can reflect so directly on our contemporary world, leaning on subtle parallels and analogies to share concerns about the present; yet provide enough escapism for readers to take a breath, then see the world differently. I hope readers see this through the main character of When Dark Roots Hunt, Sala. If you read the book, please let me know what you think!

In the meantime, what are your favourite hero stories, and has your definition of the ideal hero changed over time?

Capturing Hearts with the Northern Beaches Writers’ Competiton 2023

Oh my gosh, I have been so busy lately! Not only have I been preparing for my upcoming launch of When Dark Roots Hunt (pre-orders are welcome over here!), and doing copy edits for another new release (soon to be announced!), but I’ve been organising and judging the 2023 Northern Beaches Writers’ Competition.

What a competition! There were so many good entries from all across Australia – New South Wales, Western Australia, Victoria, South Australia, the ACT, and Queensland – all words and images inspired by the theme of ‘rain’.

Five judges read each entry blindly, including myself; and on our shortlist we had a wide range of fiction (contemporary, fantasy and sci fi), life story, non-fiction, and poetry – all of varying lengths. ‘An Umbrella of Rain’ was only 228 words and ‘Rain Twirling’ was only 491 words; whereas at the upper end of the scale, ‘Moving On’ was 2497 words. But no matter what the length, all of these entries captured our imaginations and hearts.

The competition also captured the hearts of entrants, and I received a lovely email from one of them:

 Dear Zena, 

Really chuffed to have got this far. Would like to thank you for providing a well-run legitimate competition for aspiring writers such as myself.

Unfortunately, many so called competitions are only a ruse to get email addresses to be bombarded with writing product and seminars that you can’t afford to attend.

The winning entries were worthy of their status. My favourite story was Rains over the Iron Bark.

Thanks once again and will have another shot next year.

Kindest regards 

Douglas Wroe

Thank you so much, Douglas, for your kind words! This is exactly why I wanted to start the competition. It’s so important for us writers to have opportunities to share our work. I know this as a writer myself, who has both entered competitions without being shortlisted, and entered others to win – over a dozen national writing competitions to date! When we write, we open our hearts to the world, and it can be disappointing if readers don’t listen to what our hearts have to say.

It can also be utterly magnificent when readers connect with what we’re expressing. Which is why I’d like to encourage all the entrants not shortlisted to keep writing and keep trying to connect with others through your words. If in this case our judges didn’t connect with your entry, perhaps they will connect with the one you write for next year’s competition!

In the meantime, the winning stories are FREE to read over here, composed by Alison Clark (QLD), Alison Gibbs (NSW) and Nick Slessor (Northern Beaches, NSW). Congratulations, everyone!

Thank you to the Northern Beaches Writers’ Group (especially Azmeena, Mandy, Mark & Sue) for supporting this ‘Art & Words Project’ as well as myself, also proudly supported by the Northern Beaches Council.

Together, we will promote inclusive creativity across the world!

Studio42 Podcast Interview!

Wow, big thanks to Studio42 for this amazing interview! The incredible Jules Cavendish and Cale Hellyer asked me such interesting questions, including:

Is anyone capable of writing a book?How hard is it for writers to get noticed in today’s over-saturated book market?How did the first ten years of my life shape me?How did poetry help me navigate the journey from child to young adult?Was there ever a point when I didn’t want to be a writer?What did I think of my move to Australia?And so much more!!

We also talked about my novels Towards White and When Dark Roots Hunt (to be released this May – get in the draw to win a free book here – someone’s got to win!)

Studio42 interview individuals from around the globe, seeking truth, and discussing a variety of ‘Life and the Universe’ Topics. Their mission is to present factual, integral and entertaining content.

Please click to watch and enjoy my answers!

Competition Time! #WhenDarkRootsHunt

In celebration of the launch of my new YA novel When Dark Roots Hunt, I’m organising two giveaways!

FREE BOOK!

If you’re a reader (13yrs+) living in Australia, please enter my competition for a free book over here!

FREE WORKSHOP!

If you’re an Australian high school, please enter my competition for a free writing workshop over here!

Pre-orders of When Dark Roots Hunt are available now through your usual distributors and bookshops, and you can check out its blurb and cover reveal over here.

PASS IT ON – if you know someone who’d love to win one of these amazing prizes, please feel free to forward this link on to them! Email your child’s school office! Copy the link and text it to a friend! The possibilities are endless, he he!

Good luck!