1. Can you tell me a little about Cell7?
Cell 7 is set in a society where the death penalty hasn't been abolished but has evolved into a system where everyone gets to vote on whether the accused is guilty or innocent. It follows Martha Honeydew who's admitted to shooting Jackson Paige, a celebrity millionaire, as she makes her way down death row. With seven cells - one for each day - the public follows her every move on a live TV show - Death is Justice - and as doubt is cast on her confession, the question 'should she live or die?' is on everyone's lips. 

2. Who are some of your favourite authors?
I'm a massive fan of Carlos Ruiz Zafon. I loved his book 'Shadow of the Wind' and then went on to read everything of his I could find. I'm also a fan of Scarlett Thomas, in particular her novel 'The End of Mr Y' which was just so different to anything else I'd read. There's loads of very talented YA writers out there too, lately I've particularly enjoyed Julie Mayhew's 'The Big Lie', and am really looking forward to her next one. Also, Rhian Ivory's 'The Boy Who Drew The Future', and I've just started reading Kathryn Evan's 'More Of Me'.

3. Who inspires you?
Lots of people, and for lots of different reasons. People who overcome adversity in some way, or people who've seen failure and picked themselves up and carried on. Failure, of some kind, is unavoidable, it's how we deal we it that counts. 

4. Are you working on anything at the moment?
I've just finished line edits for the sequel to Cell 7, and I'm now working on the final book. It's been lovely to be able to spend a bit longer with characters, but it's also presented other challenges that I hadn't expected - like trying to remember things a character was thinking two books ago! 

5. What do you love about writing?
​I suppose it's the pure creation, the chance to explore something from the smallest grain of an idea to a fully formed story. To make these characters in your head and follow through their actions and watch them on their journeys. 

At the age of thirteen, Chris Russell formed pop/rock band The Lightyears with his best friends from school. Since then, The Lightyears have toured all over the world, trashing a grand total of zero hotel rooms and performing everywhere from Wembley Stadium (which Chris talks about rather a lot) to a cow shed in Belgium (which he talks about less - it was a booking error).

In 2013, after a three-month stint ghost-writing for a One Direction fan club, Chris developed an obsession with boy bands and came up with the idea for Songs About a Girl: a heart-thudding YA trilogy about first love, pop music and the power of teenage obsession. Chris has written a number of the songs that feature in the story, and if you’re not careful, he will threaten to play them to you.

Chris has a first class degree in English & Drama from Bristol University, and a yellow belt in Tae Kwon Do, which he isn’t afraid to use. He is currently busy writing the sequels to Songs About a Girl, gigging with The Lightyears and fanboying in the general direction of Harry Styles.

WEBSITE - TWITTER

​3. Songs About A Girl is based on a band, what bands do you love?
All-time favourite artist? Michael Jackson. There will simply never be anyone else like him - that staggering combination of great songs, eye-popping dance moves, ground-breaking production and raw talent only comes along once in a blue moon. As a piano player, I’ve stolen pretty much everything I know from Ben Folds, not least my tendency to leap around a lot onstage. And as for current bands, I’d recommend Bear’s Den (beardy folksters in the Mumford mould) and an American power-pop trio we used to gig with called Jukebox The Ghost.

4. Who are some of your favourite authors?
Like many readers, Tolkien was the first author that really consumed me. I then moved on to Bill Bryson and Douglas Adams, and looking back on it, The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy is probably the book that defined my adolescence. Books I have recently read and loved include My Secret Rockstar Boyfriend by Eleanor Wood, Remix by Non Pratt and Love Song by Sophia Bennett… all of whom I got to meet at YALC!

5. Are you working on anything at the moment?
I’m currently working hard on the sequel to Songs About a Girl. Book One was the first of a trilogy, so there’s a fair bit of road still to cover! This is the first time I’ve written a book under contract which, I have to say, makes me feel like a proper grown-up. Also, knowing that there are readers out there who enjoyed the first book and are waiting for the second one is really exciting… if a little nerve-wracking. Just have to make it a good one then, eh?!

​We are sisters and best friends (try writing a book with someone else and you’ll see why that last bit is kind of important). After spending our childhood in Essex, we now live ten minutes away from each other in Surrey. We both studied history at university and went to work in London for a bit. Then we stopped working to raise families, because somehow we missed the memo explaining that children are far more demanding than clients or bosses. When we both decided to write novels – on account of fictional people being much easier to deal with than real ones – it was obvious we should do it together.
Stuff Katharine likes: playing instruments badly; dead languages; LOTR; loud pop concerts; Jane Austen; Neill Gaiman; Loki; the Surrey Hills. Killing off characters.
Stuff Elizabeth likes: sketching, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, cinema, long baths, kitchen discos, Terry Pratchett, Thor, London. Saving characters.
Stuff we both like: YA / non-YA fantasy and science fiction,Star Wars, Star Trek, each other (most of the time).
Come chat to us on Twitter and Instagram!


Links:
Website: www.corrsisters.com
Twitter: @katharinecorr @lizcorr_writes
Instagram: @katharinecorrwrites @lizcorrwrites
​

1. Where did the idea for The Witch's Kiss come from?
At the start of June 2013 we were reading a lot of fairy tales and thinking about how they could be re-imagined, and we came up with the idea of a male sleeping beauty. We knew we wanted him to wake up in the modern world, so we decided to set the 'fairy tale' part of the story way back in the past: Anglo-Saxon England is both mysterious (on account of it being the Dark Ages, obviously) and fascinating. A lot of fantasy has a sort of medieval vibe, so we really wanted to do something a bit different. We also think witches are awesome - they're amazing symbols of female power, who can choose to do good or bad - so we knew we wanted to include a family of witches who have to deal with what's happened to our sleeping beauty. A final ingredient to mention is Christina Perri's Jar of Hearts, which we were both listening to around the same time, but you'll have to read the book to find out how it feeds into the story!


2. What made you want to write a book together? Was it fun?
We've both written separately since we were children, but neither of us ever did anything with it (or really finished anything, which is obviously a major stumbling block). Then in 2012 we decided to try working on something together, and it turned out to be a LOT of fun - so much fun that we finished our first novel (yay!). Although we didn't get representation with that novel, it inspired us to keep going, and we signed with an agent (the lovely Claire Wilson at RCW) at the start of 2014. The great thing about working together is that we force each other to carry on when things get difficult. We edit each others work and bounce ideas around and because we're sisters even the big disagreements (Kate: "But I want to kill that character really horribly? Please?" Liz: "This? Again??") never turn into anything too serious. Writing can be a lonely occupation, especially for anyone prone to self-doubt; writing together just makes everything easier. 


3. What are some of your favourite books and have they inspired you two?
Liz: I love Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising series; it's my most re-read set of books and they are now falling apart as I've dipped into them so often. Susan Cooper is an absolutely brilliant writer and creates a wonderfully rich world based in part around Arthurian legend. I also love anything by Terry Pratchett as he is not only incredibly funny but also an expert on human behaviour. He's sort of the Dickens of fantasy.


Kate: I love Lord of the Rings because of its epic sweep and staggeringly awesome world building. Neverwhere (Neill Gaiman) is a favourite because of the way it subverts the ordinary: the whole concept of London Below is brilliant. I'm also a big Austen fan; I think Austen's ability to capture character is unrivaled. 


4. Are you working on anything at the moment? Together or separately?
We just got the first lot of edits back on The Witch's Tears, which is the sequel to The Witch's Kiss. It's due out in January so we're going to be pretty busy over the next few months! We've also got some other joint books in the pipeline: a ghost story, a fairy tale-based fantasy and something that re-works a dark English classic, among others. 


5. If you could live in any fantasy world which would you choose and why?
Liz: Terry Pratchett's Disc World. There are just so many fabulous characters! I love Granny Weatherwax and would love to have dinner with her and Susan Sto Helit (Death's granddaughter).

Kate: Middle Earth. But in the peaceful period after Sauron was disembodied and before the Ring showed up again. I'd love to hang out with elves and visit Rohan and Gondor (especially if Sean Bean was there. :))

Melinda Salisbury lives by the sea, in England. As a child she genuinely thought Roald Dahl’s Matilda was her biography, in part helped by her grandfather often mistakenly calling her Matilda, and the local library having a pretty cavalier attitude to the books she borrowed. Sadly she never manifested telekinetic powers. She likes to travel, and have adventures. She also likes medieval castles, non-medieval aquariums, photography, Richard III, and all things Scandinavian.
Melinda’s debut novel, THE SIN EATER’S DAUGHTER was the bestselling UK YA debut novel of 2015, and rights have sold in 13 countries to date. THE SIN EATER’S DAUGHTER has also been nominated for the Carnegie Greenaway Medal 2016, the Branford Boase 2016, The MWA’s Edgars 2016, and shortlisted for the North East Book Awards 2015. On February 11th 2016, it was announced that THE SIN EATER’S DAUGHTER had been shortlisted in the teen category for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, 2016.
THE SIN EATER’S DAUGHTER was published by Scholastic in the UK in February 2015, and the second in the series, THE SLEEPING PRINCE was published in February 2016. Salisbury is also the author of short story FLAMINGOES, written exclusively for Booktrust’s Letterbox Club. She is represented by the amazing Claire Wilson at Rogers, Coleridge and White.
She tweets. A lot.

Website

 



Twylla has a gift - or a curse. She can kill with a single touch. Now she's the court executioner, compelled to do the queen's bidding - and marry the prince. But when she meets a rebellious guard, Twylla starts to question everything she's been told...

​BUY HERE!

How did you get your inspiration for writing 'The Dark Days Club?'
The idea for the book came to me while I was on a tram coming home from  a writers’ conference. I had been to a session about researching the  Regency era, and as I sat looking out of the tram window, I idly asked  myself what kind of Regency novel would I like to read now? The answer  came in a rush: a mix of everything I loved about Jane Austen and  Georgette Heyer together with the excitement and delight of a  supernatural adventure. I scrabbled for a pen and paper and by the time  I got to my tram stop, I had the outline of The Dark Days Club.

Did you have any difficulty keeping up motivation while writing?'
I love all aspects of writing a novel––researching, planning and the  actual writing—so my motivation is good most of the time. However, I  sometimes get a tough patch around the 40,000-word mark in a manuscript.  It is a kind of limbo point where I am past the excitement of the  beginning but I’m not quite at the big moment in the middle. I am  aware of it now, so I know that the feeling will pass if I keep steadily  writing and finding the delight in each scene.

Sum up your career as an author in 3 words?
Writing, waiting, Huzzah!

Have you always wanted to write?
I have always written stories; my mother still has a storybook I put  together when I was in Grade 1. By the time I was in Grade 4, I wanted  to be a writer, but then, in my teenage years, I changed my mind and  wanted to direct films. I started to study filmmaking at university and  part of the course was to write a short film. Mine got chosen to be  made, and during that process I realised that I enjoyed writing the film  more than I did directing it. So, I changed my course to professional  writing and discovered that my real love was writing novels.

What are your next writing plans?
Book 2 of the Lady Helen series—set in Brighton during the summer  social season––is already with the publisher and is set to come out  next Christmas/New Year. I am now working on Book 3, which is set in  Bath during the winter social season. I am also getting ready to tour  the USA with The Dark Days Club in March. I think it is going to be  about nine cities in eleven days so that will be full-on fun!

1. Tell me about your books.
My Scarlet and Ivy series of books are mysteries set in the creepy Rookwood boarding school in the 1930s. In the first book, The Lost Twin, shy Ivy’s troublemaking twin Scarlet goes missing and Ivy is invited to ‘take her place’ in secret. Ivy already looks just like her sister; but she must think like her, act like her, become her, in order to solve the mystery of her disappearance. Her only hope is to find the pages of her twin’s secret diary, hidden throughout the school.
The second book, The Whispers In The Walls, continues the story into the winter term at Rookwood, and a third book called The Dance In The Dark will be published in June.
 
2. Why did you want to write MG books?
I think children’s books are some of the most important books we’ll ever read in our lifetimes – books that teach us, that shape how we think and feel and see the world. I also think they often have the most gripping stories, because kids demand that you hold their attention, and you don’t get caught up in the flowery prose you sometimes see in adult books. And simply – because they’re fun!
 
3. What do you do when you're not writing books?
I’m a huge fan of symphonic metal music (think heavy rock with orchestras), so I go to concerts whenever I can, and I also write reviews and blog articles on the subject. I love to relax at home with books, TV, games or movies – I think it’s important to absorb all kinds of different stories when writing your own. I especially love fantasy, historical and mystery stories, and my favourite authors are Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. I also love to chat about reading and writing online, especially joining in with Twitter chats like #UKMGCHAT and #UKYACHAT.
 
4. Are you working on anything at the moment?
I just finished the big edits on The Dance In The Dark. I’m quite excited for this book, since it has a bit of a different atmosphere to the previous two. There are themes of deception, theatrics and smoke and mirrors. The readers will also get to unveil more of the secrets from the twins’ past.
Aside from Scarlet and Ivy, I have several other writing projects that I occasionally work on when I have the time. My two favourites are a MG Victorian mystery and a YA fantasy.
 
5. If you could be any character from any book who would you choose and why?
That’s a tough question – there are so many I could pick! I think I will go with Lyra from His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman, because I’d love to have a dæmon to accompany me on my travels. My animal companion would definitely be a red panda.

​Eleanor Wood lives in Brighton, where she can mostly be found hanging around in cafes and record shops, running on the beach, pretending to be French and/or that it's the 1960s and writing deep into the night. She used to make a photocopied fanzine, moved on to embarrassingly personal blogging and has written for magazines like Elle, Time Out and The Face. She has a fringe, is fond of eyeliner and wishes she had a dog.

Twitter
Website

1. I loved your book! Where did the idea come from?
Thank you so much! The book stemmed from a few different ideas. I’ve always wanted to write a story set at a music festival – when I was a teenager I had some of my best and most dramatic times at festivals; it was always an adventure. Most notably, when I was 17 and my friend Russell and I had a fake wedding at Reading Festival (and got in terrible trouble with our parents when it was in the newspapers)!
 
I have also always been really interested in blogging and wanted to bring that into the story as well. A few years ago I got into a Twitter conversation with one of my favourite 90s popstars, and this got me thinking about how social media has changed the relationship between ‘normal’ people and their idols. I wanted to look at what it means to be a fan, as well as how hard it is to be a celebrity these days.
 
So, the result was My Secret Rockstar Boyfriend!
 
2. Are you working on anything at the moment?
I’m currently working on my new book, which is about girls in bands, a battle of the bands contest and a major makeover. I’m not sure how much I’m allowed to say about it yet, but I’m really excited about it.
 
3. Who are some of your favourite authors?
Just off the top of my head, I love Rainbow Rowell and Non Pratt and Sarra Manning. I am currently very excited about books by Harriet Reuter Hapgood and Sara Barnard. All-time favourites also include Emma Forrest, Blake Nelson and Esther Freud.
 
4. If you could live in one fantasy book world, what one would you choose and why?
It’s not strictly speaking a fantasy world, but my dream is to be Topaz from I Capture The Castle – looking glamorous while wearing dresses made from potato sacks, telling stories of my mysterious past as an artist’s muse and living in a derelict castle all sounds pretty ideal to me.
 
5. Do you have any advice for new writers?
For me, I always start with an idea from my own life and experiences, which develops into a fictional story.  MSRB started off based in reality but then my imagination took over. It seems to work for me, so my advice is to start off with what you know and then go crazy with it, basically!

1. Can you tell me about your new book.
My most recent release is One Night in Los Angeles, a hot romance about A list film star Aaron Halliday and Hollywood hopeful Abbi Devine's meeting.  It's got some steamy (and explicit) scenes, but it's most definitely a love story at heart.

2. What do you love about writing?
There's something incredibly therapeutic about allowing your mind to run away to somewhere imaginary, and on the days when writing's going well it's the best thing in the world!  I love it when a story I've planned takes a new direction, it keeps me on my toes and stops me becoming complacent. And I love how writing, and words, connect authors and readers. What can I say?  Writing's my passion.

3. Where did the idea come from for your Meet Cute series?
I never set out to write a series, originally writing just one story (The Boy with the Board) to enter into a short story competition.  Then a group of friends suggested writing more along a similar theme and The Meet Cute series was born!  I wrote seven stories fairly quickly, envisaging an anthology of sweet romantic connections, but Harper Impulse thought they'd work well as a series of coffee break/commuter reads.  The rest, as they say, is history!

4. What do you do when you're not writing?
I'm a complete and utter bookworm so I have to say if I'm not writing I'll probably be found with my nose in a book.  I've been reviewing on my blog Books with Bunny since 2013 and can't imagine a world without books.  I'm also a big fan of live music and theatre, so I try to go to as many events as I can.  Last year I saw Take That, One Direction, Johnny Marr, McBusted, Olly Murs, Frank Turner and Shed Seven live, plus interpretations of Rebecca, Matilda, and Romeo and Juliet.

​
​Abbi Devine never expected Hollywood to be like this... 

Leaving her small town in northern Maine for Hollywood was always going to be a gamble, but she's finally got her chance- a speaking part as a burlesque dancer in a movie starring A list actor Aaron Halliday. 

However, when she's thrown off her stride and ends up in a heap on the floor, Aaron's the one to come to her rescue. There's an undeniable attraction between them which comes as a surprise to Abbi, who has sworn off men following a bad experience. 

Is Aaron really the unfeeling playboy the press make him out to be? And can Abbi let go of her past to enjoy her present?

1. Can you tell me about your debut novel?
My debut novel, a Young Adult Romance called SONG OF SUMMER, is a love story between a girl who loves music and a guy who is Deaf. It's told in first person alternating POV, so the reader gets to see both sides of the story, and it takes place over one summer vacation in the small town where I grew up. You can read more about it here: https://lauraleeanderson.wordpress.com/song-of-summer/

2. What made you want to write YA?
I have always been a huge fan of YA! Like many authors, I was an early, voracious reader, and read my way through high school. When I was in college, theatre took up most of my time and friends took up the rest, so reading fell to the wayside. After I graduated, I went back to the shelf in the library that I had loved in high school and was surprised to find it so expanded! Soon back to my old YA reading habits, and now with a four-year degree in acting (or "storytelling" as I like to call it), I decided I'd like to give writing a shot in the summer of 2011.


3. Who are some of your favorite authors and have they influenced your writing in any way?
Wow, like many authors, it's quite a list! When I was growing up, my very favorite author was Gordon Korman. To this day, I love his early, zany work (as well as his later stuff!). He wrote his first published book when he was in seventh grade, and has been awesome ever since. Although my books aren't as funny as his (yet!), I like to think I have his style of dialogue. As an adult, I've discovered John Green (of course), Sarah Dessen (of course), and Maggie Stiefvater (of course). I can only hope that my books are as sweet and real and exciting as theirs.
(here's my well-loved Gordon Korman collection)

The thirteen qualities of Robin’s Perfect Man range from the mildly important “Handsome” to the all-important “Great taste in music.” After all, Westfield’s best high school folk musician can’t go out with some shmuck who only listens to top 40 crap. When hot Carter Paulson walks in the door of Robin’s diner, it looks like the list may have come to life. It’s not until the end of the meal that she realizes he’s profoundly deaf.
Carter isn’t looking for a girlfriend. Especially not a hearing one. Not that he has anything against hearing girls, they just don’t speak the same language. But when the cute waitress at Grape Country Dairy makes an effort to talk with him, he takes her out on his yellow Ducati motorcycle.
Music, language, and culture sing back-up as love takes the melody, but just how long can a summer song last?
Song of Summer is a YA Contemporary novel told in alternating first person perspectives. It was published by Bloomsbury Spark July 7, 2015.

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Nick Bryan is a London-based writer of genre fiction, usually with some blackly comic twist. As well as the ongoing self-published detective saga Hobson & Choi, he is also working on a novel about the real implications of deals with the devil and has stories in several anthologies.Full details of his published stories, as well as links to buy the ones that can be bought, can be found on the Works page of this website. He is also on Twitter as @NickMB, where he updates with perfect and reasonable regularity.
When not reading or writing books, Nick Bryan enjoys racquet sports, comics and a nice white beer.

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