Devon Book Club discussion
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Bookshop and cake crawl - Tiverton 12/5 1.30PM
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Mod
Inside the domes live most survivors of nuclear war - but, outside (unknown to most inside the domes) others live in the forest, recreating life I n the natural world.
I don't read fantasy novels very much but I did really enjoy the book. Mich is very clever in the way she "world builds" and I found the descriptions vivid and easy to imagine. Characters are drawn from mythology and brought to life with sympathy.
The book is very pacy - drama on every page so it canters along very quickly. I was held to the end and wanted to see whether Talia (the heroine) can escape from a near impossible situation - and whether she will rescue friends and family in the process. That she would escape seems highly likely, given that this is the first in a trilogy - but you will have to read on to see if she does actually survive.
Good and evil, post apocalyptic futures, love, greed, adventure - it's all in there and the book rightly deserves its warm reviews.
And behind all this lies the Book of Fire - a secret manuscript that has never been translated (as is also the case of the real life Voynich manuscript - something that Mich is fascinated by)
Published by HQ Digital in 2017, Mich's second book is due out this summer.
If you join us on 12/5 at Liznojan Books you will hear more about the series from Mich and I am sure will be very entertained. I know I'm looking forward to it.
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I also finally had the great pleasure of meeting Mich English (Michelle Kenney) whose debut novel, Book of Fire, was reviewed here recently. Mich is one of the authors who is speaking at our event on 12th May so you will get to know her and her work a lot more over the coming weeks.
Mich is a Devonian , who went to Croft Lodge and Stoodley Knowle Convents before Reading and Leeds Met Universities to study law and Media/PR respectively. She lived in Bristol before returning to Devon to head up Teignbridge Council's Media and PR Team. She is a member of the Dartington Playgoers (Summer Shakespeare) plus Toads (and has performed in everything from Twelfth Night to the Darling Buds of May). She has also had walk-on parts in local Rosamund Pilcher films (FFP Media), Down to Earth and magazine work.
She finally married a rugby-mad South African and has two little girls who keep her very busy. Mich tells me that she has "always scribbled" and then signed with the Diane Banks Literary Agency in 2015. She signed a three book Book of Fire deal last June.
It was interesting talking today with Mich and other writers about genre. Book of Fire has been classified as Young Adult but, as you know from my review, I enjoyed it and can't quite claim to be YA! Mich is keen that her work is not seen as just for YA and has always hoped it would be enjoyed by people of all ages.
There is lots more to share about Mich's work - we will post more on this page in the coming weeks - but you can ask her yourself if you come along to our event on 12/5 at Liznojan Books, Tiverton 1.30-3.30 PM . In the meantime, if you have anything you'd like to ask Mich I know she will be happy to chat.
Watch this space for an introduction to Lucy V Hay and Chrissie Parker and more about Liznojan Books
Brilliant day yesterday at Stoke Fleming. Met some wonderful people both readers and writers. Thank you to Julie for organising the event. Great cream tea too. I hope to be making a more positive contribution to this site in the future.
Mod
Thanks Margaret - was a great day and lovely to see you again- and please pop along to the event on 12/5 if you are free
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Chrissie lives in Tiverton, next to the Grand Western Canal and, chatting to her recently, she told me that she finds
Devon an inspiring, historical and interesting place to live, and perfect for being creative. And who can argue with that!
After living in London for seventeen years she and her husband moved back to the West Country, landing in Mid-Devon. Born in Bristol, Chrissie recently discovered that many of her ancestors were from villages around Mid Devon, as well as Exmouth, Budleigh Salterton etc. - so a long Devon pedigree.
I asked Chrissie when her writing began and she told me that school reports always noted that she should put more effort into academic subjects, as her preference for story writing and being creative led to some neglect to other areas of school work. If she wasn’t writing stories it was poetry and she completed her first “book” at the age of eleven year old. Writing for her has always been there, it’s always been something she has enjoyed and wanted to do.
She has now published five books including Integrate and Temperance (books one and two of The Moon Series), Among the Olive Groves, Nabataea and The Secrets, a collection of Poems and Short Stories. Her next book Wind Across the Nile will be released in 2018.
Other work includes articles for the Bristolian, The Huffington Post, Epilepsy Awareness Squad and Epilepsy Literary Heritage Foundation. Chrissie also writes regularly for the Zakynthos Informer, a blog associated with the popular Facebook site of the same name.
Chrissie’s poem Maisie was performed at the 100 poems by 100 women event at the Bath International Literary Festival in 2013 and in 2016 Among the Olive Groves won an historical fiction award in the Summer Indie Book Awards.
Chrissie is passionate about Ancient History, Archaeology and Travel, and has completed two Egyptology courses and an Archaeological Techniques course with Exeter University.
To find out more about Chrissie visit her website www.chrissieparker.com
Social Media links:
Facebook group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/chris...
Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/ChrissiePark...
Twitter - https://twitter.com/Chrissie_author
Blog - https://chrissieparkerauthor.wordpres...
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chrissiepar...
Pinterest - http://www.pinterest.com/ChrissieAuthor/
Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2...
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Poppy returns to her home town, Brighton, after her sister India falls to her death onto a railway line. Seemingly, she has committed suicide - but did she really? Poppy sets out to find out what happened to her sister. This is made even more difficult as she left Brighton some years before under some difficult circumstances and there are fractured relationships and a range of tensions to overcome as she tries to discover the truth.
The story is developed in the context of Brighton's underbelly and Lucy's characters explore a number of gritty contemporary issues and has some sexually explicit content. I won't say more as I don't want to be giving any spoilers.
The narrative is pacy and I read the book very quickly - short chapters carry you along and the action and plot twists come thick and fast. Lucy writes very tightly so the pace is maintained and she paints what I can believe are realistic insights into Brighton and its nightlife. The book also feels very contemporary because of its use of social media in the storytelling.
I'm really looking forward to hearing what Lucy has to say about this and her other books when we meet on 12th May. Hope you can join us.
Mod
They also sell tea, coffee and (vegan) cakes.
Kayleigh will kick off the event by telling is about the shop, before we hear from our guest writers Lucy V Hay, Chrissie Parker and Mich English (Kenny). Three varied writers, with different styles and genre, Lucy, Mich and Chrissie have written some fabulous books and I am sure you will be delighted and entertained to hear what they have to say and to chat with them over a cup of tea. They are looking forward to meeting you. These events offer a great opportunity for book lovers of all kinds to spend a couple of hours together and I am sure you will enjoy the experience.
We will, as usual, have prizes and a free raffle and you can buy a cup of tea/coffee and enjoy some of Liznojan's lovely cakes.
Devon Book Club is proud to support local bookshops and writers, these events are always great fun and I love to meet the faces behind the tweets and posts on our various platforms. See you there.
so sorry i can't join you am visiting my dad but hope you have a super time and hope to meet you all when you next get together. Books and cake - two of my favourite things!!
Mod
Thanks Lynne - have a lovely time
Mod
In a new development (more of this later) Matthew Short of MCS - Books filmed some of our proceedings for a Vlog (see the You Tube link below) - I shall post links to that in due course.
A reminder of where you can find more about all today's contributors:
https://www.facebook.com/liznojanbooks/
https://www.facebook.com/BookofFireMK/
http://chrissieparker.com/
http://www.lucyvhayauthor.com/
https://www.youtube.com/c…/UCLy809DbE...
A few photos uploaded
Great news, Ian. Would have loved to have been there. As you say, we need to treasure our book shops.Mel Menzies
Hi all!Thanks Ian for such a lovely event, it was really a great time. As Ian said, I made a video with some lovely discussions about community and the bookish world of Devon which you can find on my channel, MCS-Books! The video is now up and running and you can find it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_sFP...
I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed the event and getting to meet these wonderful people!
Mod
As you know we had an event at Liznojan books yesterday. I was delighted to meet the very talented Matthew from MCS-Books who did a wonderful film for us - the beginning of a new partnership with him I hope. It was great fun participating in the film - which covers a range of book and Devon-related topics and an invitation to the London based publishing industry to come and find what is happening in Devon. Plus, some great book recommendations. I hope you will enjoy watching it.
https://youtu.be/x_sFPjxcuLs
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Absolutely Mel - Matt did a great job with the film.
Mod
Thanks Ian for such a lovely event, it was really a great time. As Ian said, I made a video with some lovely discussions about community and the bookish world of Devon which you can find o..."
It really is tremendous Matt - thank you so much for such an engaging film
As you will know I am planning the next in our Book Shop and Cake Crawl tour around Devon on 12th May at Liznojan Books in Tiverton.
This is a fabulous new bookshop which opened last November. The joint owner, Kayleigh, will welcome us all at 1.30 and tell us about the shop before we hear from a number of writers, before chatting, eating cake and buying books. All very informal but will be a lot of fun.
Three authors are confirmed so far but there may be a fourth. I am delighted to say that Mich English, Lucy V Hay and Chrissie Parker have all agreed to join us and share their work with us. They are a varied group and I know it will be fascinating to talk with them.
I will be introducing them on these pages over the coming days and weeks so watch this space.