MDP Says

I’m OK at keeping secrets but this one is burning my lips. Got some exciting news to share soon…

In the meantime (and to distract me so I don’t spilling the beans), I’d like hear who you think are the best young adult writers of science fiction and fantasy. I’ve been reading Isobelle Carmody, Catherine Jinks, Margo Lanagan, Scott Westerfeld and Garth Nix for a few years. Lately, I’ve been reading Cassandra Clare, PC Cast, Holly Black, Tara Bray Smith and a bunch of others. Who have you enjoyed, and why?

For a long time I’ve been fascinated with the idea of living in permanent darkness, like the exotic flowers and organisms found in deep underground caves.

What would it do to humans? How would they live? What creatures might exist in the dark?

This site is devoted to my upcoming young adult series, beginning with Burn Bright (working title). This is a gothic flavoured SF/Fantasy, set on an island of deserted churches which have been given over to dance clubs and a place of rest for the sleepless young ones. The Island is bathed in a permanent twilight. It is on the top edge of young adult readership and touches on themes of repression, alienation and friendship and emergence into adulthood.

It is not a book for the faint hearted.

I hope you’ll join me as we edge towards publication and I talk about some of the things that book has brought to the surface.