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Showing posts from 2012

I am a Christmas Unicorn...

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Well not me, obviously... I am a Muse Unicorn! But here's a festive unicorn song my author heard on the radio driving back down the M5 last night - hope you enjoy it as much as I did! I am a Christmas Unicorn In case you missed some of the lyrics, they can be found here . (Guess what's on Katherine's list for Santa this year...?)

Muse Monday - "My mews" by Nick Green

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Nick Green - Catman? This winter sees the conclusion my Cat Kin trilogy: The Cat Kin, Cat’s Paw and the grand finale, Cat’s Cradle . It will come as no surprise to you if I say that my inspiration – my muse, if you like – is the cat. But a writer’s job is to surprise the reader, so now I must tell you that it isn’t. Cats are, of course, all over the books – if not actual cats then the idea of them. The whole series grew from the premise of a cat-like martial art – pashki – and how it affects the lives of the teen protagonists Ben and Tiffany.   As one perceptive reader piped up at a recent school visit: ‘So it’s just like Spider-Man?’ Ahem. Perhaps a few similarities. I was probably more influenced by an old comic-strip from my childhood, ‘The Leopard from Lime Street’ (which was itself a blatant Spider-Man rip-off, right down to the radioactive blood). But I stray from the point. Cats did inspire my invention of pashki, but it was something else that served as the story’s

Pendragon Family Tree

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The unicorn has been rather quiet recently because he's busy helping me write the final Pendragon Legacy book "Grail of Stars", which completes the Rhianna Pendragon series. The trouble is that a muse only has the energy to do one sort of writing at any one time. So if an author is blogging a lot, chances are they are not writing many books... whereas if they are writing a lot of books, then they don't have the time to blog as often. (Of course, not even a unicorn can prove the opposite: if an author is not blogging at all, does this mean they are busy secretly writing brilliant books...? Don't answer that!) Anyway, if you are desperate to read a blog post by Katherine, she's over at The History Girls today talking about the recent change to the royal succession law that gives girls an equal claim to the throne... Rhianna Pendragon would be pleased! And to prove blogging ties in with writing books, that post sparked off a creative urge in the unicorn this m

A Weekend With Mr Darcy

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A Weekend with Mr Darcy I know, I know… the unicorn normally has his horn buried in a sword and sorcery book! But with a heroine called Dr Katherine Roberts and a dedication in the front: “ To the real Katherine Roberts for letting me use her name! ” how could I resist reading this one? The plot centres on a long weekend conference for fans of Jane Austen ’s novels, at which Dr KR is invited to speak. ( Heroine alert 1: The real KR doesn’t know her Austen from her Tolkien ). There’s the usual mix of conference goers, from the hopelessly romantic Robyn Love in her floaty dresses ( Heroine alert 2: The real KR has a secret bit of Robyn in her ) to the grumpy Austen purist Mrs Soames ( Heroine alert 3: The real KR is nothing like Mrs S! ). There is also a sprinkling of men, who have their pick of the women, since they are, perhaps unsurprisingly, outnumbered. With its idyllic setting at a regency manor house deep in the Hampshire countryside, the scene is set for a modern Au

Belfast YLG Wendy Drewett Ireland Book Day

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The unicorn’s excuse for a long gap in blog posts this time? The CILIP YLG Wendy Drewett Ireland Book Day in Belfast, at which my author was very kindly invited to talk about her new Pendragon Legacy series. The book display She flew out to Belfast via Manchester on Tuesday morning, taking not one but two planes. This meant I had to gallop very fast to keep up! Finally landing at the George Best Airport with its view of the famous cranes, we then took a scenic drive through the city with friendly school librarian Tara Corcoran to the Belfast Royal Academy, where (revived from her early morning start by chocolate croissants and hot tomato soup), Katherine spoke to Form 1 in a magnificent if rather chilly hall, since a frozen pipe had knocked out half their heating system. After the talk, the children crowded around the signing table to keep warm, while the drillers got to work searching out the leak 25 feet under the playground. Amazingly, everyone kept smiling. (

Halloween ebook Treat

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Hello, Razz here! Since it is Halloween, I would like to introduce new readers to SPELLFALL , the only book containing unicorns that Katherine has written so far. (She also wrote a short story about a unicorn for an illustrated pop-up title Magical Horses but that unicorn is the sweet, glittery type who goes around laying his head in maidens’ laps and getting himself caught by hunters hiding behind trees… a bit dim, in other words! As you can imagine, he’s not related to me.) I am more like the unicorns in Spellfall, who live in the enchanted parallel world of Earthaven, which you can visit by squeezing through a small hole in a standing stone in the middle of Unicorn Wood... if you can find the wood, that is. (It's next to a new housing estate called Millennium Green, which is probably not much help unless you happen to live there.) Otherwise, you can wait until Halloween, when the Boundary between your world and Earthaven opens between midnight and dawn, and simply w

Win Pendragon Legacy Books!

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To celebrate his new name, Razz the Muse would like to give everyone a second chance to win copies of "Sword of Light" and "Lance of Truth". The lovely Templar Books are running this competition over on their Facebook page. This time, all you need to do is name Rhianna's father (and that's got to be easier than naming a unicorn, hasn't it?) Click here to enter Good luck!  Razz X

The Name!

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The unicorn would like to announce that from now on his official name will be Raziele Razorhorn Roberts (‘Razz’ for short) Congratulations to Rebecca Leigh, who suggested Raziele. She wins a signed first edition hardcover of Lance of Truth . Thanks also to Sapphire Ruizhen, who pointed me towards the unicorn name generator on the web, which is endless fun for your fluffy, soft-horned type of unicorn foal… I chose Razorhorn as my second name because that one never came up on the generator, not once. Sapphire wins a signed paperback of Sword of Light . And Roberts is my last name, because I'm the muse of Katherine Roberts (she doesn’t win anything, since she wrote the books). Finally, every unicorn needs a short name for his friends to use. Mine is 'Razz', which means Raspberry or a tease - as you know, I sometimes like to tease. (I was rather fond of Spike as well, but Katherine says that always makes her think of Hugh Grant's Welsh flatmate in N

Unicorn Names

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Arianwen Serena sounds beautifully serene, Lilac Starblossom pretty like a dream. Azaran, Raziele and Spike are certainly strong while Taliesin sings magical songs. Cluny and Laxus might be clean and pure but Hagibis is swift and sure. Kephiso was muse of lore But who am I, the unicor...n? Choosing a name is difficult! But 'Reclusive Muse' just won’t work now that my publisher insists I become less reclusive, so choose I must. Better just see what the Unicorn Name Generator says… Berry Snowy Nostrils Berry is a little monkey who is always getting into trouble. He is as white as the driven snow, and he dances in clouds of falling stars. !!?!! All the entries are interesting, so I’m going to “muse” on my name for a few days, and the winner will be announced on this blog next week. (I quite fancy more than one name, like humans have… but I'll have to see what my author says about that.) But today is not only my name-day! It’s publication day for Book 2

Searching for Excalibur

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My author says I've got to squeeze in another post this month, or she won't let me pick out my own name on Monday. But I've been busy galloping around the countryside looking for a new home for us (you wouldn't believe how difficult it is to find a house with a unicorn stable) so I'm almost out of glitter. That means you'll have to make do with this video of Katherine (filmed in her bathroom, in case you're wondering - the sea horses you can see dangling over her left shoulder are closely related to unicorns). She thinks she's found Excalibur... but I'm not so sure. WATCH VIDEO (Be careful near the end, by the way, or you might find yourself desperately seeking a bookshop... sorry, should have told you that before you watched it!) If you fancy a free book, there's still two days left to name the unicorn for a chance to win signed copies of Sword of Light  and the new one Lance of Truth , published Monday... when I shall hopefully HAV

Judging a book by its cover

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Covers can be worrying for authors, because they are the first thing your readers will see of your book. A brilliant story with a boring cover by an unknown author might never be picked off the shelf – or, more likely – never be put on the shelf in the first place, since booksellers are also influenced strongly by covers as they don’t have time to read all the books they stock. In a few rare cases, the author’s name might be enough to take the place of an interesting design. Would you pick up this book if it was written by Joe Bloggs? This is an example of a book where a fussy cover might actually hide the thing that will really sell it - i.e. the author's name. Muse disclaimer: We understand this book is for adults and has nothing to do with boy wizards . Katherine's publisher has taken a more literal approach using scenes from the books. This is a bit more risky than a cover with a big black cross on it, since readers are quick to point out things that don’t match the

A Left-Handed Warrior

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One of the lovely things about writing books for younger readers is seeing someone dressed up as one of your characters. (If you want the truth, my author is still a big kid herself and can sometimes to be found at science fiction and fantasy conventions where there's an excuse to dress up as Queen Guinevere… but more of that later!) Today I wanted to show you this great snap of Cecily inspired by the heroine of my new series, Rhianna Pendragon: Cecily Pendragon (photo used by kind permission of Cecily's mum) You’ll note the Pendragon shield, complete with red dragon, based on King Arthur’s shield from "Sword of Light", which is rather battered since the king was using it in battle when the dark knight Mordred killed him. After the battle, Merlin takes Arthur's body through the enchanted mists to Avalon, where he gives the shield to Rhianna, who has been growing up in hiding with Lord Avallach's fairy people. But a shield isn't much use on its own,

Unicorn at play!

The Muse has been rather a lazy blogger this August, as you've probably noticed. Only ONE post this month so far, and that one was about the Olympic Games, which doesn't even have an event for unicorns. (At least not yet, though when I have a proper name, I plan to enter the show jumping in disguise and show all those posh horses a thing or two...) But though I haven't been writing many actual blog-words, I've been playing around in the enchanted blog-woods and made a few small changes. Design. I'm experimenting with a beautiful bright blog background the talented Alzrith sent me - this one is a drawing called "Creatures" inspired by my books. Of course now you're probably all looking at the background instead of reading my words, but that's fine with me! Words and pictures are simply two different paths into the enchanted mists. You can check out more of Alzrith's lovely colourful work at  http://alzrith.deviantart.com/ Amazon Store . I

Spirit of the Olympics

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Wild olive: Olympic crown Now that all the excitement of the Olympic Games is over, the Muse has been musing on the difference between the ancient and modern events. In ancient Greece, the Games were part of a religious festival held to celebrate their gods. The greatest honour a young runner could gain was that of carrying the sacred torch in the closing ceremony to light the fire at the altar of Zeus Olympia, whose statue was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Winning athletes were crowned with wild olive and given a red ribbon to wear around their arm, and soon the sporting events (originally not the most important part of the festival) became as famous in the ancient world as the statue of the god, prompting Aristophanes to write: Why, Zeus is poor, and I will clearly prove it to you. In the Olympic games, which he founded, and to which he convokes the whole of Greece every four years, why does he only crown the victorious athletes with wild olive? If he were rich

Five Days Free - The Olympic Conspiracy

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To celebrate the 2012 Olympic Games coming to London and help get you in the mood if you're sitting in a traffic jam on your way to the stadium, I am offering my Seven Fabulous Wonders ebook title The Olympic Conspiracy free (yes, you heard the unicorn right, absolutely FREE!) for five days from today until 31st July. Click here to get your free book from amazon uk Click here to  get your free book from amazon.com This book is set during the 113th festival of the ancient Olympic Games, where the original torch relay took place around the altars of the temples in the sacred precinct at Olympia, finishing at the Temple of Zeus which housed the famous Statue of Zeus - one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World: Statue of Zeus at Olympia Here’s the timetable for the 113th Games from The Olympic Conspiracy: ~~*~~ THE GREAT GAMES DAY ONE Morning Altis: Public prayers and opening ceremony. Council House: Swearing-in ceremony for competitors, trainers and judges. Echo Col

Undercover Unicorn

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Where do authors go on their summer holidays? Last week, the Muse infiltrated a secret author conference in deepest Oxfordshire with a secret camera hidden in his horn to bring you this exclusive unicorn-at-the-window report. Obviously, I took a cross country route to the event. Other authors elected to travel there by motorbike, in shared taxis, or took back routes around the lanes that made their SatNavs shriek at them. When I arrived, I spotted my first famous author in classic sunglasses disguise: Who is this Carnegie medal winner? There were hush-hush meetings in the garden and other meetings inside Do you recognise any of these authors NOW?  After sorting out the publishing industry, the authors watched some book trailers in search of the Secret Bestseller Formula that has eluded just about every human up to now (unicorns know it, naturally, but I'm not telling!) Write a Great Synopsis - trailer for the book by Nicola Morgan Forsaken - trailer for th

Joan of Arc vs Rhianna Pendragon

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Can you spot the difference between these two characters? Rhianna Pendragon You can find out more about these two brave girls, and read a poem Katherine wrote about Joan of Arc, over at The History Girls . ( Muse: that should give you a clue! )

Summer Reading Challenge!

Have you heard of the Summer Reading Challenge ? It takes place in libraries over the summer holidays, and the challenge is to read six or more books before you go back to school... or, if you're really keen, ALL the books! But the whole point is that this challenge is meant to be fun. So you don't have to read any book you don't want to read, and if you borrow a book but don't finish it, then that's ok too - just bring it back to the library and try another one. The great thing about books is that they are all different, so there's bound to be something on the list you'll enjoy. And if you happen to enjoy sword fights and magic set in the world of King Arthur, I'm delighted to tell you that one of the titles on the "older" list is the first book of my new Pendragon Legacy series Sword of Light . Here's a short video clip of me talking about it. ( Muse: I used Katherine's little digital camera to make this, so it's probably my f

MUSE MONDAY: Celia "this is not forgiveness" Rees

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Celia Rees’ latest novel This is not Forgiveness came with a clever press release claiming “this is not Celia Rees…” which worried the unicorn a little bit, because Celia is known and loved for her spooky stories and atmospheric historical novels such as Witch Child . But fans of her earlier work need not worry. You can still sense Celia's trademark spookiness lying just beneath the surface, with passing reference to tarot cards and ouija boards to keep even a unicorn happy. Told in accessible first person style by her three narrators – innocent teen Jamie, his damaged elder brother Rob fresh back from Afghanistan, and the beautiful, slightly witchy girl Caro who gets too close to them both – there unfolds an unsettling story of modern teens that you just know is going to get dark and dangerous before the end. Today, the Muse is delighted to welcome Celia “this is not forgiveness” Rees to talk about why she felt compelled to write this book… CELIA REES   I was delighted and