Tangled Tales from Maverick

I was very lucky to receive copies of a new series of younger readers books from Maverick recently - Tangles Tales. A series with three different books, but with six different stories inside with an ingenious flip the book over for story two in each. 

Undercover Overload, and Meddling Underling 

written by Lou Treleaven - illustrated by Mario Gushiken 

Movies, Magic, Maybe! and Bites, Camera, Action!

Written by Jenny Moore - illustrated by Sarah Horne

The Spectre Inspectors, and The Poltergeist's Problem

Written by W.G. White - Illustrated by Nicolas Rix

All six stories are such a joy to read, with gorgeous accompanying illustrations in each. This is a brilliant new series from Maverick Publishing, aimed at younger readers and are sure to hook in even the more reluctant readers with their punchy, but great fun stories, vibrant characters and perfectly matched illustrations that really pull you into the world.

Thank you to Maverick for sharing the early copies with me, these gorgeous new reads will be available from the 28th January 2024.

Loved this new series from @Maverick Books 🤩📚 #TangledTales #kidlit... | TikTok

Review of The Undying of Obedience Wellrest by Nicholas Bowling

 

Chicken House Books - The Undying of Obedience Wellrest

I’m a fan of Micaela Alcaino’s covers, and her design for The Undying of Obedience Wellrest really sets the tone and genre for the story within.

I must admit that this is the first book of Nicholas Bowling’s that I’ve read, but it certainly won’t be the last!

From the first line I was absolutely hooked - ‘For my fifteenth birthday my Pa left me dig my own grave.’

Mosca is a scene stealer whenever he’s around, I don’t think I’ve ever come across a pet fly in a book before. And who wouldn’t want a ‘fly on the wall’ to keep an eye on things.

The writing has an almost lyrical, melodic quality to it, with a twisty and intriguing plot to go with it. Set in 1832 it really gives a window into the lives and limitations placed upon some people during this time, and some of the prejudices they would face.

It’s a dual narrative with Ned, a gravekeeper in training starting the story, and Obedience Wellrest (Bede) a young woman interested in science, but suppressed thanks to the patriarchy of the society in which she lives.

With Ned’s Pa growing increasingly frail, he has to take on more responsibility, and with graverobbers about this is no easy talk. Whilst Bede is desperate to make her mark in life and use her intellect for science, her father is determined to marry her off to Phineas Mordaunt, a charming man that is not quite what he seems.

There are some lovely scenes between all of the characters, I do think that Bede really steals the show. She is a fabulously complex and intelligent character with great wit, and I found myself desperate for her to succeed, especially as she is taken to greater and greater depths of despair.

The Undying of Obedience Wellrest is a gothic tale with echoes of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein’s Monster, and Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, but for a YA audience. At times there are some quite uncomfortable scenes as the macabre mystery unfolds - it’s a thrilling tale that will keep you on your toes and bringing surprises right up until the end.

Thank you to Chicken House for the review copy of The Undying of Obedience Wellrest, and make sure to check out the rest of the tour this week, details of which can be found below.

You can also join me on Twitter on Wednesday 13^th December for #ukteenchat at 8pm GMT, when I’ll be chatting with Nicholas all about The Undying of Obedience Wellrest.

Emma Finlayson-Palmer 🏳️‍🌈 She/Her (@FinlaysonPalmer) / X (twitter.com)

Writing Chapter Books - September Course

After the success of the previous course, I shall be running my WRITING CHAPTER BOOKS course again starting Monday 11th September.

I'm the author of the Autumn Moonbeam series, and I'm going to be running a 6-week online Writing Chapter Books course. 

The course will be mainly Slack based to make is more accessible and flexible for people to attend when it's convenient to them. There will be weekly handouts, lots of writing exercises, inspiration and weekly discussions that you can join in or add to in your own time if you can't make it live.

Cosmic Illustrated by Heidi Cannon

A few testimonials from writers on the previous course:

Writing Chapter Books with Emma Finlayson-Palmer is brilliant. After 6 weeks, I have a clearer understanding of this niche area of children's publishing and a solid story idea to build on. The course is well structured to help participants generate compelling characters, playful plots and wonderful worlds to weave them altogether in. The exercises in the live workshops are helpful and Emma is generous with her time and knowledge, answering our many questions and providing supportive resources. I'm thankful to Emma and the other writers - it's a fantastic course and I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone curious about creating chapter books.

- Tracy Bullock

I really enjoyed this accessible and informative course that Emma provided. The information was superior and I felt that I learnt everything I needed to know about chapter books.

- Angel Dike

Wonderful children’s writing course. An abundance of material and interaction. Thank you so much Emma, I’ve been plotting & writing daily.

- Sharon Hynes

If you're interested in learning how to write a Chapter Book (aimed at ages 5-8) do send me a message so I can send you more information ✍

Illustrations from Autumn Moonbeam: Dance Magic by Heidi Cannon

Writing Chapter Books

Hi everyone,

I'm the author of the Autumn Moonbeam series, and I'm going to be running a 6-week online Writing Chapter Books course. 

The course will be mainly Slack based with videos and handouts and weekly discussions that you can join in or add to in your own time if you can't make it live.

If you're interested in learning how to write a Chapter Book (aimed at ages 5-8) do send me a message so I can send you a little more information ✍

WriteMentor Summer Programme 2023

The WriteMentor free Summer mentoring programme is back this April with a few changes. 

I'll be back to mentor again this year and I'm also open to YA as well as CB and MG. More details of the sort of stories I will be on the look out for can be found below...

Emma Finlayson-Palmer lives in the West Midlands with her husband and a multitude of children, cats and chickens. A writer of children’s fiction with a special focus on CBs and YAs and short stories, represented by Veronique Baxter of the David Higham agency. Emma’s chapter book series AUTUMN MOONBEAM is out now. Emma runs #ukteenchat, a writing themed chat on Twitter, and has been a #WriteMentor mentor from its inaugural year and now edits, mentors and reads competition entries too. She’s also one half of Word Witches, as a children’s fiction editor.

“I love being part of the kidlit writing community and working with other writers. I’ve been very lucky over the years to have had support from other writers, beta reading, crit groups, writing groups and organisation and mentoring, and I really want to pass on things I have learnt along the way to other writers. I want to share my passion for stories and support other writers at an earlier stage in their journey to me. I’m very much about finding the positives in everything and want to share and support someone help learn their craft and industry information whilst having fun with writing along the way.

I never know what I’m going to love until it’s in front of me, but I especially love Thrillers and Horror, but I’m also a big fan of fantasy too. I’m also open to any age group (bar PB) this year, and I’m keen to see some YA come my way. As an autistic, bi, working class Midlands based writer, I’m not necessarily looking for a writer with the same background as me, but that’s a big part of my own writing and experience what I’ll bring to the mentoring and I’m passionate about seeing better representation for children of all background in stories.”

Genres: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Contemporary, Thriller, Mystery, Dystopian, Horror, Paranormal, Crime

Some important dates for your diary...

Mentor chats on Twitter: Mon/Tues 10/11th April 7-9pm DROP-IN (mentors will attend for an hour during this window), so simply post your questions using #WriteMentor and they’ll get to them during this period.
Mentee application window: Weds 12th-Fri 14th April.
Mentee announcements: Monday 1st May.
Mentoring period: 1st May – undefined (this is where the flexibility comes in – we suggest a period of less than 12 months in total – though you may want to make it 6 or 9, or extend it further – the only stipulation is about 6 hours of time via email/calls over the year and a reminder that mentors are volunteering, so no unrealistic demands upon them or their time).

You can check out all the details for all the mentors taking part and important dates on the website...

WriteMentor 2023 Mentoring Programme - WriteMentor - for all writers of children's fiction (write-mentor.com)

First Illustration Workshop of the Year

If you're ever looking for an online illustration workshop, or if you ever get to go to any in person, I can highly recommend any run by Salford based artist Paul Pickford.

This week Paul ran a workshop via Zoom where we created an Alice in Wonderland white rabbit pen, ink and text collage, with a bit more of a sinister vibe. You can see mine below.

You can find more details of Paul's workshops over on Twitter or Instagram.