In equally exciting news, both books have Kirkus reviews!
The Fire Star (book #1) is described as:
“Smart, lively fun…
“Tait lets an appealing chemistry develop between her dual narrators (who change person and even tense in the alternating chapters) as she pitches them into an investigation that is positively hung about with side challenges…” Full review.
While The Wolf’s Howl (book #2) contains:
“More feudal finagling, with feminist strains running through a round of clever clue gathering…” Full review.
Are you new here? Welcome to my blog! I’m Allison Tait, aka A.L. Tait, and I’m the author of two epic middle-grade adventure series, The Mapmaker Chronicles and The Ateban Cipher, and the Maven & Reeve Mysteries, an ‘almost history’ detective series (for more information and buy links for Australian readers click here).
Looking for an extra-special Christmas gift for a young reader?
A personally signed novel could be just the thing!
In case you missed it, I’m offering signed copies of all A. L. Tait novels – The Mapmaker Chronicles, The Ateban Cipher and the Maven & Reeve Mysteries – until 30 November (or while stocks last).
Books are $25 each, including shipping across Australia, or buy multiple books to save!
Below you’ll find a little round-up of Australian (and one New Zealand) author offering you the chance to order signed copies of their books for Christmas!
Kate Gordon is offering signed copies of CBCA Book of the Year winner, Aster’s Good, Right Things, and each of the first four books in the Juno Jones series.
Aster’s Good, Right Things is $14.99 and the Juno Jones books can be bought individually for $12.99 each, or as a pack for $40.
Kate also has limited quantities of The Heartsong of Wonder Quinn and The Ballad of Melodie Rose, for $14.99 each, as well as the picture book, Amira’s Magpie, for $20.
Find out more about the books here and contact Kate here for more details and shipping costs.
Cristy Burne has teamed up with Paper Bird Books to offer personalised signed copies of her books for Christmas (see what’s on offer, left).
Cristy has a terrific range of books that draw on her STEM knowledge and her new series, Wednesday Weeks, co-authored with Denis Knight, blends science and magic! Perfect for middle-grade readers.
Due to postage jams, you’ll need to get in by 19 November if you are based outside WA – so don’t delay!
From junior fiction series Exploding Endings and Toffle Towers, to middle-grade mayhem in the Mr Bambuckle’s Remarkables series, Tim Harris books offer humour with heart and are perennially popular with primary school readers.
Zanni Louise has teamed up with The Bookroom Collective to offer personalised, signed copies for Christmas. Her picture book Florence & Fox is particularly lovely for the festive season.
Stef Gemmill is offering personalised signed copies of her picture books – A Home For Luna, In My Dreams, and the brand-new Toy Mountain – as single books or in bundles.
R. A. Spratt, bestselling author of the Nanny Piggins, Friday Barnes and The Peski Kids series, has teamed up with The Bookshop Bowral to offer personalised signed copies of her books.
New Zealand author Karah Sutton has teamed up with Good Bookshop to offer personalised signed copies of A Wolf For A Spell, a rollicking middle-grade adventure, with postage anywhere in New Zealand.
Are you new here? Welcome to my blog! I’m Allison Tait, aka A.L. Tait, and I’m the author of two epic middle-grade adventure series, The Mapmaker Chronicles and The Ateban Cipher, and a new ‘almost history’ detective series called the Maven & Reeve Mysteries (you’ll find book #1 THE FIRE STAR here).
“Where did the inspiration from?” is one of the most common questions asked in any interview, radio, podcast or print (tip for aspiring and new authors: have an answer ready… more tips here).
But I also talk a lot about inspiration and where ideas come from every single time I do an author talk or school workshop. Endlessly discussing the fact that ideas for stories are everywhere (they are) and that writers are people who’ve trained themselves to see them (they are).
They are in the things we see, the things we feel, the things we hear, the things we say, the things we read… and so on.
Everywhere.
Today I realised that, despite all that talking, I haven’t written about the various things that specifically inspired The Wolf’s Howl here on my blog.
So here they are.
Three things that inspired The Wolf’s Howl
The ‘August Winds’
I wrote this novel, about Maven & Reeve’s visit to the bleak, isolated, windswept fief of Glawn in August last year. Where I live, on the south coast of NSW, August is a windy month. Really windy. It blows up in the west, whips through town and makes everyone really, really irritated.
Every time you step outside, you have to confront it.
I started to wonder what it would be like to live in a place where the wind howled like that all the time. What would it do to the people who lived there? How would it affect their manner, their fashion, their hairstyles?
And so Glawn was born.
Lockdown 2020
It didn’t really occur to me until I began talking about The Wolf’s Howl in interviews just how much the 2020 lockdowns had imposed themselves upon the book. Not in any obvious ‘plague-story’ way, but in the sense of isolation that permeates Glawn Castle.
The subconscious is a powerful kingdom.
A visit to the Netherlands in 2019
Glawn is a sodden, soggy place, dotted with windmills. In 2019, I was lucky enough to visit Kinderdijk in the Netherlands, a small village near Rotterdam featuring a series of 19 historic mills, all of which remain operational and three of which are set up as working ‘museum mills’.
The experience of being inside one of those mills, with the sails thundering around outside, informed several scenes in The Wolf’s Howl.
Learning to spot ideas
Of course, there are a whole lot of other things that come into play when you’re creating a world and building a story. Sometimes you can only ‘see’ the inspiration behind a novel once that novel is complete.
But writers are naturally observant people. They take notice – and they take note.
I keep a file on my computer where I dump links to articles and blog posts that interest me. It’s also where I keep snippets about the things I see, hear, think, and feel.
Once an idea crystallises into a character or a setting, I open a new document and write down everything I know about that character or setting. I give it a label. And file it in my Works In Process folder.
There are bits and pieces of stories in that folder that date back years.
If an irritating wind can be useful, then you simply never know what will be useful.
Are you new here? Welcome to my blog! I’m Allison Tait, aka A.L. Tait, and I’m the author of two epic middle-grade adventure series, The Mapmaker Chronicles and The Ateban Cipher, and a new ‘almost history’ detective series called the Maven & Reeve Mysteries (you’ll find book #1 THE FIRE STAR here).
Now that THE FIRE STAR (A Maven & Reeve Mystery) has been out in the world for a month or so, I thought I’d best do a round-up here of just what I’ve been up to. As discussed before, this blog is my home on the internet and I do like to make sure I bring everything home.
So here’s a taste of some of what’s been happening to launch THE FIRE STAR.
Interviews
I really enjoyed talking to Pamela for the Middle Grave Mavens podcast – it’s a bumper episode!
I launched THE FIRE STAR in the Your Kid’s Next Read Facebook community and had a lovely time with Megan Daley and everyone who came along. Watch the replay here:
I’ve been lucky to be invited to be part of several online events, including this interview (part of the Creative Conversations series). Watch the replay here:
Reviews of THE FIRE STAR
There’s nothing more exciting (or nerve-wracking) than watching those first reviews come in. Here’s a selection of some that I’ve seen over the past few weeks.
“On its surface, The Fire Star is a fairly traditional story about knights, lords and ladies. But you’d be foolish to think that’s all there is to it … Great for kids aged 9+.”
“Gift a copy of The Fire Star to the young readers in your life (or even the reluctant readers – this is the kind of book that will soon reel them in). Or buy a copy for yourself. Promise that like me, you won’t be able to put it down either. I’m itching for the next book and luckily AL Tait is already working on it.”
“This book doesn’t talk down to the reader, but leads them through a time in history and a language that may not be a familiar, but will nonetheless draw them in. All threads are pulled together at the end to give a satisfying conclusion. A great read.”
“I thoroughly enjoyed this book and am very eager for the next one in the series, which I am sure will deliver with just as much oomph and gusto. A spectacular read for all readers aged nine and older.”
“Oh my stars! I loved this book. This is one of my fave reads this year.
I was hooked from the start…”
Thank you to everyone who’s taken the time to read and review the book, whether on their blogs or social media, for other websites, for Goodreads or on bookseller sites. Reviews make such a difference to the word of mouth for a book, so if you’ve read The Fire Star and liked it, please consider leaving a review on your site of choice.
Signed bookplates
I’ve sent a stack of signed bookplates out to happy customers, and you have until TOMORROW NIGHT (30 September 2020) to claim yours! All you have to do is to share a #shelfie of your copy of THE FIRE STAR before midnight 30 September 2020 (AEST) on your favourite social media platform and tag me.
Are you new here? Welcome to my blog! I’m Allison Tait, aka A.L. Tait, and I’m the author of two epic middle-grade adventure series, The Mapmaker Chronicles and The Ateban Cipher, and a new ‘almost history’ detective series called the Maven & Reeve Mysteries (you’ll find book #1 THE FIRE STAR here).
I think it’s probably fitting that the first post I’ve managed to write on my freshly redesigned site is all about the first official review for THE FIRE STAR (A Maven & Reeve Mystery), by Dani Solomon in Books + Publishing last week.
The full review is here, behind a paywall, so I’ll just share an extract, but suffice to say I was thrilled to see these words from Dani, the assistant manager of Readings Kids.
“While I will admit that it took me a while to get used to the jumps between first- and third-person perspective as the story switched between Maven’s and Reeve’s point of view, once I did, this book didn’t leave my hands.
“I’m looking forward to selling The Fire Star—this middle-grade novel is great for existing fans of A L Tait, as well as lovers of historical fiction and adventure aged nine and up.”
As I await the arrival of my first author copies, I’ve been watching as the book makes its way out into the world, popping up in the social media feeds of advance readers and reviewers, and it’s a strange and wonderful time. When you spend so much time with characters and a story, building them first in your head and then on the page, it’s a little unnerving to realise that they are now in the hands of other people. All you can do is to hope that those people will love them as much as you do.
It’s so very reassuring to read a review that suggests that at least one person does – and that they can’t wait to share your characters and story with others.