Wednesday 1 February 2012

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Weekly Gossip - Updated!

Here is your weekly post with all the latest news! There's quite a few things in this one - I've been ill, so have missed posting about a few things, sorry! Enjoy...



VALENTINE'S DAY THEMED EVENTS


love month 2012First of all, the lovely Clover of Fluttering Butterflies is holding Love Month again this year, and it starts today! Last year's Love Month was brilliant, so Clover decided to host it again this year - much to my delight! Love Month is where there are reviews, personal guest posts, and other brilliant things all themed around Love in February to celebrate Valentine's Day. Check out last year's event page to see a list of posts the event, and be sure to follow the posts for this month. I'm guest posting on Clover's blog tomorrow, so be sure to check it out. I'm quite proud of it :)


That's not all, Brodie of Eleusinian Mysteries and Lisa of Read Me, Bookmark Me, Love Me are hosting their own joint February Valentine's Event. It looks like it's going to be epic! They're holding a Scavenger Hunt, Love Triangle Debates, Cover Puzzle, Boyfriend Battle and a Boyfriend Quiz, among many other things like offering you a peek at some super exclusive content from your favourite books and delving into the minds of the most talented authors. Can you say "wow"? So much going on! And LOADS of contests. Check out the link for the event above for the schedule, comment contest info, and more!

Finally, the brilliant Lauren Oliver is holding a Valentine's Contest where she's giving away books and chocolates! Yes! Go check it out!



COVER REVEAL FOR THE KILLABLES BY GEMMA MALLEY


the killables by gemma malleyThe Killables by Gemma Malley (released 29th March 2012) - Everyone accepted that people were different physically. But inside? Inside, they were different too. You just had to know how to tell, what to look for.

Evil has been eradicated. The City has been established. And citizens may only enter after having the 'evil' part of their brain removed. They are labelled on the System according to how 'good' they are. If they show signs of the evil emerging, they are labelled a K... But no one knows quite what that means. Only that they disappear, never to be seen again...
From Amazon UK

I am soo excited to read this book, and I love the cover! What do you guys think?



CODE NAME VERITY BY ELIZABETH WEIN TRAILER



How exciting does this look? So cool!



RHCB BRING BOOK JACKETS TO LIFE


Random House Children’s Books (RHCB) and Transworld Publishers (TWP) have teamed up with Aurasma, the world’s leading augmented reality platform, to bring bestselling authors Lauren Kate and Sophie Kinsella’s book jackets to life.


When fans download a free app on their Smartphone then hold their device over the front cover of the book, the jacket images will come to life. Special video messages from the author can also be viewed by ‘scanning’ the author photos on the book jackets. The app, which works on iPhone and Android Smartphones, as well as iPad 2 and iPod touch, uses Aurasma’s ‘virtual browser’ to recognise trigger images through the phone’s camera, which then generate video content directly onto the device’s screen.


Fans of Lauren Kate can download the FALLEN BOOKS app and bring the front cover of Fallen In Love to life. The SOPHIE KINSELLA app will activate Sophie Kinsella’s new novel I’ve Got Your Number.


Watch the video below to see the Aurasma-enabled Fallen In Love cover in action.





Read more in the press release.



LIZ LOCHHEAD CELEBRATES BURN'S NIGHT


liz lochheadScotland’s National Poet Liz Lochhead gave a live broadcast to children around the world during a special Robert Burns celebration on Thursday 26 January. The Scottish Friendly Meet Our Authors Special Event, run by Scottish Book Trust, was streamed live from BBC Scotland in Glasgow and will be available to watch again for free from Thursday 2nd February on the Scottish Book Trust website. Liz celebrated the poetry of Burn’s as well as readi her own work. We’re sure this event is going to be really inspirational as no-one can make Burns come to life like Liz can. The broadcast will be most suited to children from P6 – S4 (9-16 year olds) and any fan of Scottish poetry.

Scottish Book Trust do loads of events like this every year: our previous events have featured authors such as Michael Rosen, Michael Morpurgo, Julia Donaldson, Eoin Colfer, Jacqueline Wilson, David Almond and many more. You can stream or download any of these events for free here. 



FABER & FABER BRINGS YOU THE SPARK


the sparkWELCOME TO THE SPARK - A PLACE FOR YOU TO SHOWCASE YOUR CREATIVE SKILLS

Calling all young aspiring actors, writers, musicians and film makers - Take part in an exciting new online community where books provide the inspiration for your talent.

Launching with our first project for 13 -18 year olds, we’re looking to find a young actor to play one of the characters in Claire Merle’s debut YA novel, THE GLIMPSE, in a series of web films. Entrants are invited to film themselves performing one of two audition scripts available at www.facebook.com/theglimpse and all entries will be showcased on THE GLIMPSE You Tube Channel.

The winner will be announced in March 2012 and the web films will be broadcast online around publication of THE GLIMPSE in June 2012.

Find out more at www.facebook.com/thesparkpage. Follow THE SPARK @thesparkfeed.


For more information and to hear about other brilliant projects, check out the press release.



STRANGE CHEMISTRY ACQUISITIONS AND OPEN DOOR


We have news about the first two acquisitions made by Strange Chemistry! You can find out all the details in the press release, but read on for teasers of the books...

Shift by Kim Curran - When your average, 16-year old loser, Scott Tyler, meets the beautiful and mysterious Aubrey Jones, e learns he’s not quite so average after all. He’s a ‘Shifter’. And that means he has the power to undo any decision he’s ever made. At first, he thinks the power to shift is pretty cool. But as his world quickly starts to unravel around him he realises that each time he uses his power, it has consequences; terrible unforeseen consequences. Shifting is going to get him killed. In a world where everything can change with a thought, Scott has to decide where he stands.

Poltergeeks by Sean Cummings - Julie is an apprentice witch – or so she believes. When a dark power comes stalking out of the past to haunt her and her mother, Julie learns that she is far more than just a witch. With the help of her best friend Marcus and a rather unusual Great Dane, Julie has to race against time to ensure she can defeat the bad guy, save her mother and avoid being grounded – again!

I LOVE the sound of both these books! So terribly excited! Great stuff for Strange Chemistry! But this is not all! There's some great news for aspiring authors. I'm going to quote the Editor, Amanda Rutter, as I don't want to get anything wrong.

We're announcing - in conjunction with Angry Robot Books - an Open Door period.

And what do we mean by this?

We mean that UNAGENTED AUTHORS are able to send in their novels for consideration. We'll read everything we're sent and you *might* end up published through Strange Chemistry!

Exciting, no?

Now - don't go rushing to email your manuscript in before you check out the Strange Chemistry Open Door Webpage Absolutely everything you need is there and I do advise you read through this carefully. Especially note that the Open Door period is between 16th April and 30th April - you've got plenty of time to neaten up your magnus opus in preparation to sending it in.


Get editing, people! I could be announcing your novel as an acquisition on the blog at some point in the future! :)



INTRODUCING HOT KEY BOOKS


Hot Key Books are a BRAND NEW children's and YA fiction publisher, have just launched and will be publishing ourr first books from August 2012, so it's super-exciting to be somewhere at the very beginning and building the list from scratch!

Check out our blog http://www.hotkeybooks.com/, follow us on Twitter @HotKeyBooks.

6 comments:

  1. Thanks so much for the heads-up on Strange Chemistry's open door period. It's definitely something I'll be considering. :)

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    1. No problem! Good luck if you do submit your manuscript! :)

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  2. Thanks for the Hot Key Books mention, Joanne! As you can see, we are very excited. (POLTERGEEKS is such a great title, isn't it? Looking forward to reading that when it hits the shelves.)

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    1. No problem! I'm excited too! Looking forward to seeing what you publish!

      I know, that title is just genius! :D

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  3. Wow, so many brilliant things happening book and blog related!!

    HUGE thank you for posting about mine and Lisa's V. Day event, we really appreciate it!! <3

    And AHHH!! The Killables! First time I've seen the cover. I am SO excited for this book, it sounds amazing.

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    1. It's no problem, it looks like it's going to be an amazing event!
      I'm really looking forward to reading The Killables too! Sounds so good!

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