We would like to thank the awesome AOBibliosphere very much for our very groovy Versatile Blogger Award. Yaaay!! We love your site, guys. Once you start reading, you can get lost for hours!

Now it’s *our* turn to pass the Versatile Blogger along to 15 blogs that rock our world here at Burn Bright:

Vampires in the Sunburnt Country

Ripping Ozzie Reads

Thoughts of a Book Junky

Belinda’s Baubles

Karen Brooks

Kate Evangelista

Girl With a Satchel

D.M. Cornish’s Monster Blood Tattoo Blog Home

Book Fairy’s Haven

Teenreads.com

Cels – Confessions of a Booky Monster

yaReads.com

Trentonomicon

Book Chick City

The Ya Ya Yas

7 Things You Don’t Know about Marianne:

She likes:

Spooks, Fringe, basketball, cake

She does not like:

People who aren’t genuine, standing in queues, liver

And here’s how the wonderful Versatile Blogger thang works:

1. thank the person who gave the award and link back to him or her
2. write 7 things about yourself that you might want others to know
3. pass the VB award along to 15 other bloggers whom you have recently discovered and who you think are great
4. contact the bloggers you have chosen and let them know about the VB award

The Secret Hour – Scott Westerfeld

I read this book in one day. Nope, it’s no shorter than most YA novels. Yep, it really is that good.

The first lesson I re-learned from The Secret Hour is ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’. Or rather, ‘don’t judge a book by its back cover’. If you’re looking at a UK copy, published by Atom/Little Brown, it reads:

As the new girl at Bixby High School, Jessica Day expected some unwelcome attention. What she didn’t expect was to feel an instant connection to a stranger in the corridor…

Who is this boy dressed in black? And why can she feel his eyes following her wherever she goes?

There is a romance subplot in Scott Westerfeld’s novel but it doesn’t kick in until a third of the way through the book. But I digress…

So, what’s the novel really about? Well, it’s not exactly boy-centric. The protagonist, Jessica, relocates to a new town to find that at the stroke of midnight, time freezes and the twenty-fifth hour begins.

Only people born at the midnight instant are able to perceive the secret hour, and only in Bixby. Jessica is befriended by four other midnighters, who help her to understand what she is experiencing.

Rex is a ‘seer’, able to perceive other midnighters by sight and read the ancient midnighter lore. Melissa is a ‘mindcaster’, or psychic, and is often overwhelmed by the amount she can sense from other people’s minds. Dess is a ‘polymath’ who’s able to use mathematics and numbers against enemies in the secret hour, and Jonathan is an ‘acrobat’, and is not subject to the same rules of gravity as the rest.

In this first book, the predators which inhabit the twenty-fifth hour, the darklings and slithers, are hell-bent on destroying Jessica. The mystery is, why? They pursue her with single-minded intent, and there are many more of them than the other midnighters are accustomed to.

Jessica spends her midnight hours avoiding the creatures who want her dead, and with the others’ help, she attempts to figure out what her own unique power is.

The characters are in their junior year of high school, and the third-person narrative flicks between them, keeping Jessica as the main focus. There are scenes set at the school, but most of the story takes place after dark, in the time before, during and after the secret hour.

And it’s fantastic! There are elements of conflict between group members, who all have their own quirks. The slithers and darklings are a strange combination of malevolent, fearful and animalistic. The romance between Jessica and Jonathan unfolds at a steady pace, yet is devoid of cliché.

I felt a little let down by the eventual revelation of Jessica’s midnighter talent, but this is the first book in the trilogy, and there’s plenty of time left for the implications of it to be fully explained. I’m willing to suspend my disbelief for a while; since I plan to dive straight into the second novel, Touching Darkness, I have a feeling I won’t be sceptical for long.

Publisher: HarperTeen (March 1, 2005)

ISBN-10: 0060519533
ISBN-13: 978-0060519537

* * * Coming Soon: Amy reviews book 2 and 3 in the Midnighter series and Bec interviews Scott Westerfeld.

Zombies versus Unicorns eh? Apparently it’s an age-old argument. Well, since 2007 anyway, when Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier began debating the virtues of each mythical creature on Justine’s blog, quickly turning the argument into a full-blown, tongue-in-cheek cyber-word-war.

The result of this word-war is the aptly titled anthology, Zombies versus Unicorns. Larbalestier is staunchly Team Zombie, while Black heads up Team Unicorn. The pair preface the twelve stories in the collection (six of each, pages marked with either a unicorn or zombie symbol) with hysterical banter that rivals the stories themselves for pure giggle-factor entertainment.

The author list is mind-numbing in a very non-Zombie kind of way; for Team Unicorn we have Meg Cabot, Kathleen Duey, Margo Lanagan, Garth Nix, Naomi Novik and Diana Petefreund.

Team Zombie boasts the names Libba Bray, Cassandra Clare, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Maureen Hohnson, Carrie Ryan and Scott Westerfield.

Now, it has to be said that some of the featured stories are at the pointy-end of the Young Adult scale, and I wouldn’t recommend them to younger readers. There’s a reasonable amount of swearing, as well as some other icky stuff going on – yes, even ickier than dining out on live human brains. That being said, unlike many anthologies, there was barely a whiff of a rotten story between the pages (unlike rotting flesh). In fact, I found it difficult to pin-point a favourite, and there were certainly none that I wished I’d skimmed over. Each author managed to create a new or slightly different take on their chosen side of the mythological fence.

The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn by Diana Peterfreund was a stand-out, mainly because it’s so easy to empathise with main character, Wen. Quiet, religious and confused, Wen is struggling to find her own ideals and value system away from that of her parents. Her world is up-ended when she discovers she’s irresistible to Unicorns, and able to communicate with the dreaded killers on a telepathic level. In this world, Unicorns have come back from the brink of extinction and are blood-thirsty people-eaters living in the local woods and resemble goats rather than horses. Through a series of events, Wen finds herself as the guardian of a newborn Unicorn. Can she keep her secret? Should she dispose of the mewing, helpless predator straight away and be done with it? Will she go to hell if she doesn’t?

On a lighter note, Children of the Revolution by Maureen Johnson had me snickering with the kind of sick humour you know is just wrong. A teen lands herself a position as nanny to the five young children of a famous American actress in a small English town. There’s something not quite right about these kids, they don’t go outside, they moan rather than speak, and they’re fed via a computerised conveyor belt as their mother has no physical contact with them. All hell breaks loose when the mother – a beautiful, tattooed brunette with an equally famous partner and a penchant for adoption – leaves on a night out and the babysitter decides all the children need is a cuddle…

Princess Prettypants by Meg Cabot has the most traditional Unicorn, right down to Jasmine scented, rainbow farts that turn sulphuric when her new owner is upset or angry.

Alaya Dawn Johnson’s Love Will Tear Us Apart is my favourite of the zombie stories. Unusually for a short story, it is divided up into four chapters, bouncing around from present to past, telling the tale of Philip Grayson, a victim of a brain-devouring prion that he partially recovers from. I say partially, because the infection leaves him with a certain craving for human brains – and arms, and legs, and torsos. But Love Will Tear Us Apart is more than just zombie-fare; it’s a touching love story between Grayson and Jack (also known as the ‘Mac and Cheese’). Just how much restraint can one brain-eater have with the love of his life?

Bougainvillea by Carrie Ryan is another of Team Zombie’s that’s worth a mention. Now, I have to admit I was one of the minority who didn’t adore Ryan’s ‘The Forest of Hands and Teeth’. I found it tedious reading. However, even though Bougainvillea is set in the same world after The Return, I really enjoyed the voice of this new character and the island setting. In fact, I hope to read more about her in the future.

The Third Virgin by Kathleen Duey is another completely different take on the mythology of the Unicorn. Told from the un-named Unicorn’s point of view, this story touches on addiction, loneliness and the implications of immortality. Duey’s Unicorn has the traditional healing qualities of many old fairytales, but this beast also has the power to steal years (and life) from his victims and has a particular penchant for human babies.

I finished this anthology still undecided on the whole Team Unicorn versus Team Zombie argument. Both sides had riveting, bloody, sweet, gory and tender tales to tell. Although having a strange (or sick) sense of humour certainly helps, I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys seeing mythology turned on its head and made new again.

Oh, and don’t forget to check out the delightfully gross illustrations and endpapers. Yes, endpapers!

Zombies vs Unicorns edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier.

November 22^nd, 2010 by Allen & Unwin Children.

Paperback, 407 pages.

ISBN 9781742375502

Max Says:

Drawing Parallels

As a big fan of both comic books and, of course, a good novel, it almost went without saying that I’d end up reading Manga.

For those who don’t know, Manga is a term that generally refers to Japanese comics, or, for a literal translation: ‘whimsical pictures’. In Japan, these books read from ‘back to front’. Lately, the craze in the Western world has been  to translate what is already there and create tie-ins for films and video games.

Artful

The first thing you’ll notice about this type of book is the way it’s drawn. Now, obviously every series is different as there are hundreds of artists around doing the work. There are, of course, different styles but the texts often share an overall tone. It would appear that Japanese manga, for example, will always lean towards cute, younger characters, often drawn in an almost childlike way; yet adult themes are not covered up, and are almost poked fun of at times (e.g. with uncomfortable situations, or with outfits that are skimpier than they normally would be).

Cute and Cuddly

The big exports from Japan are titles like Evangelion, Love Hina and Yu-Gi-Oh. However, the more stylized works, such as Fruits Basket (written by Natsuki Takaya), are the most memorable; its young girl character, Tohru, moves in with a family who have a dark secret and becomes the object of their affection (and vice versa). As it turns out, the members of the family are all cursed as members of the Chinese zodiac (Rat, Dog, etc.). This includes poor Kyo, who feels more hard done by, being a cat, and who is therefore outside of the zodiac and (by extension) his family. The curse is suitably cute for this kind of story: They can’t hug a member of the opposite sex. This, of course, makes the love interests (brothers Kyo and Yuki) rather fun and entertaining. It’s cute, it’s fluffy – literally – and I’d highly recommend your looking into it.

Expanded Universe

As far as the tie-ins go, the latest company to run its product through Tokyopop (the distributor of the most manga in the U.S.) is Blizzard Entertainment, who push out World of Warcraft titles.

These are usually written by the same authors who work on their books, allowing for some form of continuity. Some, such as Christie Golden, are very good writers and can have fun with what they ask the artists to create for them, while staying loyal to the famous characters loved by fans. Others like to create their own protagonists and heroes, often causing a degree of distress to their readers; and this tarnishes their reputations slightly.

Precious Little Life

Now with all that in mind, I can highly recommend the Scott Pilgrim series of books by Bryan Lee O’Malley. The story and the film (Scott Pilgrim vs the World, to be exact) were written at the same time, so there was very little of “the comic/manga was better!” outcry. Pilgrim is a typical main character – between jobs, in a band, dating a Chinese-Canadian Catholic high school girl – whose world gets turned upside down by a delivery girl who rollerblades through his head at night to make her deliveries. It gets less typical as the 6 book series goes on, as we watch Scott fall for Ramona and battle her seven evil ex’s in order to continue dating her.

Put simply, it’s fun, it’s geeky and I would recommend it as a series to anyone looking to try out manga for the first time.

Have you’ve read some before? Get it anyway. To break an old cliché, just because it’s got pictures doesn’t mean it doesn’t tell a damn good story.

If you haven’t already seen it, this is the official trailer for Scott Pilgrim vs The World.

Are you an artist? Mark Crilley shows you how to draw Manga here.

Sue Bursztynski lives in Melbourne, where she has a full-time day job. She has written ten books for children and young adults, but this is the first full-scale novel – there are seven non-fiction books on subjects ranging from monsters to spies, archaeologists to women scientists (she got a Children’s Book Council of Australia Notable for that one), plus two children’s fiction chapter books. She has done articles for the NSW School Magazine and short stories for Pearson’s Spinouts series, plus some adult speculative fiction.

1. 1. Our reviewer adored Wolfborn and found herself becoming very emotionally involved with your characters. Could you tell us a bit about the experience of creating characters? Do you also feel this level of connectedness when you’re creating them?

Yes, my characters are very dear to me. I created them to answer questions I needed to ask about the story. I don’t think I could have told my story from the viewpoint of Lord Geraint, the werewolf knight, although I do give him one scene to himself, so I told it from the viewpoint of someone from outside. That’s Etienne, a boy from a coastal area who has a family secret of his own that worries him, but helps him sympathise with his lord’s troubles. I gave him a friend who could help him in time of trouble – one very different from himself – and I decided that Geraint had to have a background that would give him more depth than the knight had in the original mediaeval romance that inspired the story. That brought in two more characters, the wise-woman Sylvie and her daughter Jeanne. As the book was being edited, I could say, “No, that character doesn’t talk like that” or “No way would he do this!” Even the King, who appears briefly near the end, had a voice I heard as clearly as those of the main characters. In fact, I got so interested in him that I went back to play around with a prequel in which he appears as one of the protagonists, in his teens. I’m still working on that one.

2. I’ve read that you have a great interest in ancient history (particularly Roman, Greek, and Egyptian). If you could transport yourself back to any historical period and place, which would you choose and why? Which historical figure fascinates you the most?

May I confess something? I do still love ancient history and when I was a child, I dreamed of becoming an archaeologist and following in the footsteps of Heinrich Schliemann. I’d still like to be an archaeologist, but recently I have found myself most fascinated by local history, wherever I am. You don’t have to dig up Egyptian tombs to do real archaeology.

I work in Sunshine, Victoria, a working-class suburb with a proud industrial relations history. It was the scene of the Sunshine Harvester Decision, which was the first of its kind in the world to give wage justice to workers. I wouldn’t mind being around to see that happen. But in the other kind of history I’d like to see one of Shakespeare’s plays from the galleries at its first performance. Or – assuming I could speak the language – one of the classes of Hypatia, the mathematician of Alexandria.

3. Among other things, you’re a librarian and get to spend a lot of time around young people. How important is it, as a writer, to see what kids are reading and what’s current? Do you think reading appetites have changed much since you were a child?

Yes, things are different. That’s not altogether a bad thing, because when I was growing up, we were mostly reading overseas writers and there wasn’t a lot being written for teens anyway – children’s and adult books and not much in between. Now young adult fiction is huge – and we’ve got plenty of terrific Aussie YA writers. That said, some of the classics are coming back with fresh new covers and I’m pleased to say that one of my Year 8 students has discovered Rosemary Sutcliff, whose books were languishing on the library’s shelves, through a nifty new-cover Sutcliff book – not a nerdy kid, either. It is important to know what they’re reading. The best place to see that is from the coalface. I suspect if I wasn’t working in the school system I might not know much more than that they like paranormal fiction. As a teacher-librarian I know that they also love non-fiction, the more over-the-top the better. My non-fiction book on crime in Australia is rarely on the shelves for more than five minutes at a time – and there are five copies in the library alone, more in the literacy collection. Kids come and ask for it because they heard it was good. Some are actually surprised when they find out I wrote it.

4. Which of your fictional characters Burns Brightest in your mind, and why?

You mean who’s my favourite character? That would have to be Armand, the hero’s best friend. He’s one of a long tradition of comic sidekicks. Armand isn’t dumb, though. He’s the one who knows when it’s time to go look for help and insists on doing it. He’s poor as aristocrats go – his family has only one manor, and if you realise how expensive horses and armour were in the Middle Ages, that means he’s going to have a hard time getting the equipment he needs to become a knight one day. But he has his dreams, of breeding bigger horses he can ride and raise the money for his sisters’ dowries – even if the only horse he can ride at the moment is a mountain pony which turns out to be a disguised unicorn, much to his embarrassment! Etienne drives him nuts at times, but he’s a loyal friend all the same.

Head on over to Sue’s blog and read what she has to say.