Frances Hardinge's Blog

This extended weekend, I will be appearing at Nine Worlds, the London-based convention for “gaming, film, cosplay, fandom, literature, science, geek culture, meeting people and having a really big party.” Here’s my schedule for the con:

Friday 7th, 5.00–6.15pm, Room 38

I Want to Be a Wild Thing When I Grow Up

Panellists: Laura Lam, Taran Matharu, Kim Curran, Ed Cox, Alex Lamb, Frances Hardinge

From the fantasy worlds of Blyton’s Magic Faraway Tree to whizz-poppers and marvellous medicines of Roald Dahl, how important are childrens stories on us as adults and do they shape what authors write when they grow up?

Friday 7th, 8.30–9.45pm, Room 11

The Midnight Society – Are You Afraid of the Dark?

Panellists: Frances Hardinge, Savannah Lotz, James Dawson, Sarah Lotz

Haunted houses. Ghastly murders. Horror is making a comeback in YA. Are you afraid of the dark? Join our storytellers as they talk about the tricks of the trade and try to out-scare each other telling spooky ghost stories.

Sunday 9th, 10.00–11.15am, Room 38

Once Upon a YA – Lore and legends in YA literature

Panellists: Mel Salisbury, Tom Pollock, Liz de Jager, Frances Hardinge, Marieke Nijkamp

In many YA books, especially the speculative ones, storytelling plays an important role. Whether real or fictional, legends, folklore, mythology all give meaning and depth to a world and to characters. But how are legends born? What role do stories play within stories?

Sunday 9th, 12.30-13.00, Commonwealth East

Signing session

Frances will be signing copies of her books at the Forbidden Planet table in Commonwealth East.

The Young Adult Literature Convention is nearly upon us! Once again, it will be part of the London Film and Comic Convention, though this time will be held at the Olympia.

Both my panels will take place on the Sunday:

Sunday 19th, 12:30–13:15, Main stage

Panel: Between Fantasy and Reality

Panellists: Ben Aaranovitch, Amy Alward, Sally Green, Frances Hardinge, Melinda Salisbury, James Smythe

How far do science-fiction and fantasy authors take inspiration from real life events for their novels? A line-up of leading authors discuss the borderlines between fantasy and reality.

Sunday 19th, 15:30–16:15, Main stage

Panel: Terry and Me: Being Inspired by Terry Pratchett

Panellists: Patrick Ness, Frances Hardinge, Derek Landy, chaired by Imogen Russell Williams

Sir Terry Pratchett, who died earlier this year, inspired a generation of readers and writers with books ranging from his much-loved Discworld series to Dodger, his recent spin on Dickens’s Oliver Twist. In this very special YALC event to celebrate his life and books, including the final Discworld novel, The Shepherd’s Crown publishing in August, author Patrick Ness and other special guests will discuss how Pratchett has influenced them and their work.

Hope you can make it! Though do bring water. Last year the heat was fairly intense…

To be honest, I can’t quite remember the moment where I thought: “I know what the world needs – a Victorian Gothic murder mystery featuring deception, palaeontology,  postmortem photography, feminism, blasting powder and mendacity-munching plant life.”

Oh well, too late to change my mind now. The Lie Tree is published!

To celebrate this, I headed north for a brief but enthusiastic three-day tour, under the wing of Macmillan’s Andy Belshaw.

Day One of the tour was organised by Booka Bookshop, in Oswestry.

Purveyors of delicious lemon and elderflower cake. Also books.

Our first visit was to Moreton Hall School, where I babbled about changelings in front of a hundred and fifty students, before signing copies of Cuckoo Song and The Lie Tree.

Later that evening I attended a friendly, relaxed meeting of the teen book club (and others) at Booka Bookshop.

Day Two was arranged by Urmston Bookshop, and began with a visit to Manchester High School for Girls. Although I didn’t discover this until later, MHSG was actually the school attended by the famous suffragettes Christabel, Sylvia and Adela Pankhurst!

Sylvia Pankhurst aged about eighteen

I was rather pleased to find that I’d been promoting a feminist YA book at the Pankhursts’ old school. During election season, no less…

Next we moved on to Altrincham Girls’ Grammar School, where I gave two talks to Y8 students in the school library.

Some of the lovely book sculptures on display in Altrincham Grammar’s library

Back to Urmston Bookshop for serious literary discussions. Otherwise known as eating cake, and posing in the cardboard cutout of a previous visitor, astronaut Chris Hadfield.

The final day was organised by Ebb & Flo Bookshop in Chorley. Our first stop was Bolton School Girls’ Division.

Here I am with Diane Gunning of Ebb & Flo in front of Bolton School, which as you can see is splendidly crenellated and Hogwarts-like. (Apparently the library is tucked in one of the towers, and there are mysterious upper rooms…)

Ell & Flo had prepared us a rather nice picnic, which we gobbled en route to our last stop, Albany Academy. There I gave a talk to a packed hall, followed by a short recorded interview. One student approached me and suggested a particularly eerie idea for a story… which I really hope he writes so that I can find out what happens.

Many thanks to all the schools for having me, and Andy Belshaw for looking after me throughout the tour. A big thank you also to Booka Bookshop, Urmston Bookshop and Ebb & Flo Bookshop for all their hard work, and for the goodie bags of presents!

Behold, my tour swag

The Lie Tree will be published on 7th May, and to celebrate this I will be heading north for a small tour (Tourling? Tourlet? Probably not tourette.)

For those that are interested, here is my schedule:

Tuesday 5th May

14:00 Author talk at Moreton Hall School, Oswestry

17.30 Informal talk with teen book club at Booka Bookshop, Oswestry

Wednesday 6th May

10.05 Author talk at Manchester High School for Girls, Manchester

13.30, 14.30 Two author talks at Altrincham Grammar School for Girls, Altrincham

Thursday 7th May

12.10 Author talk at Bolton School Girls’ Division, Bolton

14:15 Author talk at Albany Academy, Chorley

Many thanks to Booka Bookshop, Urmston Bookshop and Ebb & Flo Bookshop for supporting and organising these events!

Over the long weekend I was at Eastercon (AKA Dysprosium, AKA the 66th British National Science Fiction Convention). Somebody kindly arranged for it to be held a short distance from my home, so it would have been churlish not to attend.

Steampunk Vader from one of the Dysprosium emporiums

My panel was “A Maturing Readership – Young Adult Fiction”, skilfully moderated by Peadar O’Guilin. My fellow panellists were Adrian Tchaikovsky (author of the Shadows of the Apt series and general polymath) and 14-year-old Emjay Ameringen, keen reader of YA. It was really refreshing to be on a YA panel with an actual ‘young adult’ on it, and Emjay greatly enriched the discussion with her eloquence, humour and confidence.

There was a general discussion of how far YA had previously existed in another form, and the audience made many excellent suggestions of books from the past that would have supplied teenagers/young adults with reading material. Adrian suggested that in the past genre fiction had sometimes been treated as transitional reading, after children’s fiction and before adult fiction, and that this tradition might have had an influence on current YA literature.

A study by Bowker Market Research in 2012 found that 55% of people buying YA books were adults. We discussed possible reasons for this – the liberating themes of discovery, potential and overcoming boundaries in the books, the cathartic expression of intense emotions that adults aren’t supposed to show, the tight pacing, etc. Emjay said that these statistics didn’t bother her – in fact, knowing that adults were enjoying the same books that she was reading made her feel more mature.

Emjay also commented on the joys of re-reading the same book at a later age, and we talked about the ways in which a single book can provide a totally different reading experience depending on age. (I may now have to hunt down a picture book called The Bravest Ever Bear.)

With my panel out of the way, I spent the next couple of days running around the con having fun.

Steam Pistol, created by Herr Doktor

Steampunk invertebrates, woollen cake and cup-and-saucer holster

I attended panels/talks on supernatural detectives, early female paleontologists and archaeologists, the crazy/exciting areas of molecular biology, storm-chasing, the history of steampunk, turning books into roleplaying games, and how a fictional Home Office should deal with the paranormal.

Here are some things I learnt at Dysprosium:

1) Scientists have used DNA-folding techniques to create a 4-bit biological computer inside a cockroach.

2) It’s possible to end up inside a mile-wide tornado without immediately realising it.

3) This woman existed. Jane Dieulafoy, nineteenth century archaelogist, explorer, sharpshooter, writer, soldier and officially licensed cross-dresser.

4) Some Bolivian detectives use magic skulls to help with their investigations. (Also quite an intimidating presence during interrogations, apparently.)

Then there was the fiercely contested Dalekdrome!

Contestants and obstacle course. (Note the final obstacle – stairs.)

Sadly, the technically impressive ‘Telepresence Dalek’ fell foul of the seesaw, and never finished the course.

The ‘Malek’ did better, but the weight of the baby dalek in the papoose was a little too much for her to manage the ramps.

The winner, chasing through the course with reckless panache, was ‘Davros, Wiper and Exterminator of the Daleks’! (It was also considered by judge Herr Doktor to be the most aesthetically pleasing.)

Needless to say, all daleks who completed the course dealt with the wooden stairs by pushing them contemptously off the edge of the table…

On Sunday afternoon, the BSFA Award ceremony was held in the Discovery hall. Cuckoo Song didn’t win Best Novel, but I am still deeply honoured to have been on such a strong shortlist. Thanks to everyone who voted for me, and congratulations to the winners!

A representative of Ann Leckie, Ruth EJ Booth, Tessa Farmer and Edward James

Finally I had a very enjoyable and relaxed Kaffeeklatsch, with a group who put up with my attempts to force-feed them biscuits and creme eggs. We discussed my current project (an adult urban fantasy), the ‘Knowledge’, post-mortem photography, the changing book world, etc.

My Kaffeeklatsch was attended by Senor “Pompino”, seen here with his magnificent hat and beard.

All in all, a lovely convention, during which I encountered so many friends I lost count. Many thanks to the organisers for finding room for me in the programme!

The 66th British National Science Fiction Convention, otherwise known as Eastercon, will take place this weekend (3rd-6th April) at the Park Inn Hotel, Heathrow. This year the con has taken the name Dysprosium, an element that appears to be used in nuclear reactors. I’m sure we shouldn’t let that worry us at all.

Dysprosium stall at Loncon3, with steampunk Dalek

In case anybody is interested, I will be at large at Eastercon/Dysprosium. Here is my schedule:

Friday 3rd April, 18:45, Endeavour Room

Panel: A Maturing Readership – Young Adult Fiction

What makes us grow out of young adult fiction? But if we do grow out of it, why do so many adults prefer it? And if we are moving on from young adult fiction, what are we moving on towards? Or what should we be moving on towards? Or is the whole concept just a new form of snobbery?

Panellists: Emjay Ameringen, Peadar O’Guilin, Frances Hardinge.

Sunday 3rd April, 17:30, Discovery Room

The BSFA Award ceremony. Since Cuckoo Song is on the shortlist for the British Science Fiction Association Award for Best Novel, I will be there with my fingers crossed. Needless to say, gifts of consolatory or congratulatory drinks will be quite welcome. And immediately afterwards…

Sunday 3rd April, 18.45-20.00, Armstrong Room

Frances will be holding a Kaffeeklatsch, otherwise known as an ‘author petting zoo’. Ask Frances questions! Watch her eat biscuits!

Hope to see some of you there!

Last weekend (28th/29th March) the very first Dutch Comic Con took place in Utrecht. It was a vast and ambitious event, drawing in 20,000 visitors.

Everything is better with Batmobiles

Fate didn’t want me to attend. I arrived at Heathrow to find that all Amsterdam flights had been cancelled due to the biggest power outages in Dutch history. (My jinx effect usually only strikes down locations after I arrive in them, not before.) I waited it out, however, and a mere six-and-a-half hours later was on a flight to Amsterdam, laughing at puny Fate.

Guests included artists, animators, actors, cosplayers and a few writers, including me. I was stationed at the signing table at the stall for the American Book Center, which had its own treehouse complete with owls.

My signing table buddy was Corinne Duyvis (author of Otherbound, editor for Disability in Kid Lit and practitioner of Krav Maga, amongst other things).

Both of us were looked after very well by the folks from the American Book Center – many thanks to Rick, Jitse, Tiemen and everybody else!

Thankfully I also got the chance to wander through the con.

A spot of monster-making

The person driving the Delorean here may look slightly familiar.

I rather liked this creepy fairground stall advertising the B-Movie Underground & Trash Film Festival.

The cosplayers were particularly resplendent. Regrettably I didn’t get a picture of the Jazzguls (Ringwraiths with slope hats) but I did catch these:

Titan from the anime “Attack on Titan”

The fairground folk

Pirate Harley Quinn

I also seized the chance to explore Utrecht a little.

Medieval canals, flanked by water-level wharfs and vaulted cafes, with the Dom Tower in the distance

The lady who plays the huge carillon of the Dom Tower takes requests, and once even played a fragment of ‘Gangnam Style’.

I was also introduced to delicious Dutch pancakes. Later, when I was back at Schipol airport preparing to fly home, I discovered this Giant Red Button in the Touch Down cafeteria.

When I pressed the button, the lamp spun and a siren sounded. Then a man appeared and made me a pancake.

I considered prising the whole thing off the counter and trying to take it home, to see whether its summoning powers worked there too. Sadly, I wasn’t sure I could smuggle a stolen pancake-generator through customs…

Many thanks to Dutch Comic Con, the American Book Center, Corinne Duyvis and everyone else for an excellent weekend!

I’m afraid there’s no way to be cool and suave about this. I’m on the shortlist for the Carnegie Medal!

As a result I’m currently this:

And a little bit this:

The other (brilliant) books on the shortlist are these:

When Mr Dog Bites by Brian Conaghan

Apple and Rain by Sarah Crossan

Tinder by Sally Gardner and David Roberts

The Fastest Boy in the World by Elizabeth Laird

Buffalo Soldier by Tanya Landman

The Middle of Nowhere by Geraldine McCaughrean

More Than This by Patrick Ness

I’m very excited by the Carnegie Shadowing Scheme. Right now, thousands of reading groups all over the UK are getting ready to “shadow” the Carnegie by reading all the books on the shortlist, so that they can discuss which book they think should win.

Meanwhile, an elite film crew of two has just visited to film me in my lounge!

Here they are striking a Victorian pose and looking serious

I don’t usually do well with film cameras. As soon as I’m in front of one, I forget how to move or talk like a human, and become a weird, stilted marionette. My visitors did a good job of putting me at my ease, however, and I mostly managed not to stare at the cameras. We’ll just have to see how the film looks when it’s up on the Carnegie website!

 

“How to Write for Children and Young Adults and Get Published”

My World Book Week started early, with the How To Write for Children and Young Adults and Get Published conference on Saturday 28th February. The conference was arranged by Writers & Artists, and hosted at the rather grand Bloomsbury offices on Bedford Square. Many thanks to Claire Daly of Bloomsbury for briefing me and generally looking after me!

Throughout the morning, panels of literary agents and commissioning editors discussed the dos and don’ts of submissions. In the afternoon, attendees could choose between three two-hour masterclasses: Holly Bourne‘s class on YA fiction, my class on writing for middle grade, and Sue Hendra‘s class on picture books.

Mine was the largest class (thirty of us crowded around the long table) but I was lucky enough to have a really keen, interesting, varied and insightful group. We had attendees from different countries and professions, working on a wide range of projects – contemporary, historical, fantasy, humour, adventure, fiction and non-fiction. I really enjoyed our discussions, and in particular everyone’s offerings for the ‘childhood memories’ exercise. Good luck to everyone with their writing!

Visit to Ashford School

On Tuesday 3rd March, I visited Ashford School in Kent, which turned out to be friendly, mellow, engaged and interesting, with some nice old Victorian buildings and really impressive paintings by students on the walls.

I spoke to Years 6, 7 and 8, who had interesting questions to ask about the writing process, changeling folklore, horror stories, etc.

“And this book is… a bit creepy, actually.” (Photo by Joanna Hayes)

I even had the chance to chat with members of the Sixth Form Literary Society about university, hobbies and choices.

Kitschies Award Ceremony

The Kitschies are amongst my favourite speculative prizes – they’re fun, forward-thinking and fascinated with tentacles. Last year, I was invited to be one of the Kitschies judges for the Golden Tentacle (debut novel) and Red Tentacle (most entertaining, progressive and original novel). I leapt at the chance and said yes… and immediately disappeared under an enormous pile of books.

In the end, there were 195 submissions. Fortunately I was only one of five judges, a couple of whom got through books faster than a woodchipper. My comrades-in-arms were Glen Mehn, Adam Roberts, Kim Curran and Cat Webb. (Glen did a great job of organising and motivating us as we scaled the vast mountain of books, and made sure none of us fell into the crevasses.)

The awards ceremony took place on Wednesday 4th March at Seven Dials near Covent Garden. Glen was master of ceremonies, Cat and Kim announced the Golden Tentacle winner, and Adam and I presented the Red Tentacle. (Adam’s speeches were a lot more eloquent than mine, despite the fact that I had prepared a script and he hadn’t.)

Adam Roberts indicates the beauteous tentacles

The proud winners of the Kitchies tentacles were:

Red Tentacle (novel): Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith

Golden Tentacle (debut): Viper Wine by Hermione Eyre

Inky Tentacle (cover art): The cover of Tigerman, by Glenn O’Neill

Invisible Tentacle (natively digital fiction): Kentucky Route Zero, Act III, by Cardboard Computer

Black Tentacle (special achievement): Sarah McKintyre

Sarah McKintyre with her Black Tentacle, which goes rather well with her hat.

Anne Perry, maker of the tentacles, painting on the winners’ names

Visit to Townley Grammar

My day started inauspiciously, when I found myself stranded at Bexleyheath station without a taxi in sight. After I phoned the school in a slight panic, however, I was rescued from my predicament by Batgirl.

Batgirl, AKA school librarian Maria Hernandez

In the comfortable, friendly library, I talked to members of Years 7, 8 and 9, many of whom were magnificently disguised as book characters…

…as were the teachers.

Finally, I was interviewed by ace student reporters Medusa and Holly Golightly (I assume they don’t always go by those identities.)

And just because I can’t resist, here are some more of the World Book Day costumes.

Characters from the graphic novel “The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys”

Harley Quin

Hermione Granger, complete with Time-Turner

Medusa

 

Picocon (so named because it is fairly small) is a science fiction and fantasy convention run annually by the Imperial College Science Fiction and Fantasy and Gothic Horror Society (ICSF). It’s designed to be handy for students and fans based in the London area, but in practice quite a few people seem to travel long distances in order to attend, and come back year after year.

I was the first act on the Saturday, and since the theme of this year’s con was ‘duality’ I decided to focus upon Cuckoo Song, and held forth about doppelgangers, doubles and changelings.

Here I am with my best ‘buy this book or I’ll set wolves on you’ expression. Photo by Chad Dixon.

I was followed by the fearsomely eloquent Cory Doctorow, who talked about digital securiy, cryptography, surveillance and ways that one might lose personal control in a world based upon the Internet of Things. It was a fascinating talk and very entertaining.

Picocon’s fearless agents had hunted down some particularly reprehensible examples of tawdry merchandise. Such items were then paraded before the attendees, who could bid to save or condemn them (all money to charity). Those objects deemed irredeemably ugly or tacky were ceremonially frozen using liquid nitrogen and then smashed with a sledgehammer. Very satisfying.

I also ran into Autun Purser, and was childishly excited to find that his Fantastic Travel Destinations collection now includes a poster based on Caverna!

In the afternoon I appeared on a panel with Cory, discussing dystopias, the benefits or dangers of writing groups, audience avatars, writing YA and how to be a subversive aunt/uncle.

With Cory Doctorow. Photo by Chad Dixon.

On the Sunday, the guests of honour were Kari Sperring and Ian McDonald. As it happened, their speeches worked well as a pair (which fitted the theme of duality). Kari’s talk was about new ways of regarding history, challenging the accounts written by the ‘winners’, and avoiding mindless repetition of the dominant narrative when writing historical fiction. Ian’s speech was about new ways of regarding the future, the Long Now Foundation, and their desire to move away from mankind’s disastrous short-termism.

Both talks were very interesting, and their panel in the afternoon covered a lot of ground, including gender and the emergence of fictional futures shaped by cultures that weren’t American or European.

With Ian McDonald and Kari Sperring

All in all, Picocon is a warm, friendly, welcoming convention, and they look after their Guests of Honour very well. Many thanks to Stephen Ingram and the other organisers. Thanks in particular to Noor Mulheron for chaperoning me throughout the con, and making sure that I was fed and watered and didn’t fall down any holes.

Noor with Academic Cthulhu in the splendid ICSF library