How books can shape your life

9 May 2014

It is 1996 and eight-year old me has no idea that one of the most important books I will ever read is about to be published.

In fact, I only found the book years later in a pile of old paperbacks my Mom bought at a jumble sale. The tattered midnight blue cover with the embossed silver script immediately caught my eye. And so did the first line.

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Oh my glob

13 May 2014

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Ours is a geeky household, as evidenced by the Funko Pop! figures in our kitchen, because there is just nowhere else to put them.

We attend Free Comic Book Day at Reader’s Den every year, which is the one day a year local comic book fans get to dress up. Warren and I didn’t dress up last year, or the year before, so as we walked away with armfuls of comics and collectibles, I made a decision to give it a go in 2014.

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How to write a YA novel in 3 minutes

13 September 2013

Cat Hellisen, Sarah Lotz and I hosted our first Young Adult masterclass at the Open Book festival on Wednesday 11 September 2013.

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Short story: After Dark

After Dark

“Shathley!”
“I’m coming, Ma.”
I can’t really see where I’m going behind the stack of plastic garden chairs I’m carrying down to the cellar. I keep knocking into things, like my junior kickboxing trophy, now lying in three parts on the floor. The worst is having to navigate the stairs, so I have to concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other, praying every time my foot hovers unsteadily over the next step that I won’t fall.
My foot lands on the telltale creaky floorboard letting me know I’ve reached the bottom. Exhaling with relief, I drop the stack of chairs and spot my mother fussing over a vase of white lilies.

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For The Sunday Times: From boy wonder to Holmes revival

8 May 2013

Imagine the surprise when Anthony Horowitz was commissioned by the estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to resurrect the bones of the legendary Sherlock Holmes.
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