The facts behind the fiction: our new iBook!

For a fiction publisher, we’re pretty obsessed with non-fiction. Especially when it comes to our historical fiction books. We could just let them stand on their own, as they are brilliant stories in their own right. You don’t need to know everything about the Spanish Civil War to enjoy A WORLD BETWEEN US, just like you don’t need to know anything about baby farming to fall in love with THE QUIETNESS. Our authors enable you to time travel without ever getting in the Tardis.

But we feel that part of our job as a publisher is to bring you great stories that don’t end with the last page. Once you start to pull back the layers of history which inspired these great stories, it’s hard to stop. Over the past few months, we’ve told you a bit about all the places we visited to gather information for our non-fiction companion to THE QUIETNESS. We felt compelled to create something special for this book, because the history is so fascinating, so local, and so recent. THE QUIETNESS is set at the end of the Victorian period, only 140 years ago. Now, sure, 140 years isn’t exactly yesterday, but it’s really a mere blip in the timeline of British history.

Throughout our research, we were constantly amazed at how people lived in London during this period. Alison says one of the reasons she is so drawn to write about this period is because of the extreme darkness that lies beneath the polished veneer of Victorian life. It was supposed to be a time of beauty and chastity and propriety, but in fact, it was overrun by ugliness, poverty, and oppression. And who wouldn’t want to learn more about that?

So we’re opening the door for you just a little further. After you’ve enjoyed THE QUIETNESS, you can continue your journey through Victorian London through maps, photos, and original police reports. We’ve collected video interviews from experts at The Foundling Museum and The Old Operating Theatre, and there are even excerpts from Martina Cole’s LADYKILLERS program about the notorious Amelia Dyer. It’s all yours to explore, on your iPad, for only £0.99.

If you’re already familiar with our iBook editions (yay you!) you might notice that this one is a bit different. Instead of sitting the content next to the text of the book, we’ve condensed it all into a 40-page iBook. You can think about it like the bonus disc in a special edition DVD. Here’s a little preview of what you’ll see:

To celebrate the release of this book, we’re offering the ebook on Amazon and Apple and the paperback from our web site for 1/2 price! Plus, if you email us (keynotes@hotkeybooks.com) your receipt, we’ll enter you into our drawing to win one of 10 free copies of THE HISTORY BEHIND THE QUIETNESS!

It’s only for the iPad right now, but one day we hope to make our enhanced content available on many more devices. If you do download it, please let us know what you think!

Advice from YOU: Character Names

Monday on Twitter, Movellas tweeted a fascinating question: how do you come up with names for your characters? We retweeted, and got a load of interesting responses. So in case you missed it (or you want to just file these away to have while you’re writing), here’s a run-down of the suggestions:

Maria Louise J (@MLJDK):Sometimes I look through pages with babynames. It’s a good thing, if your character is spanish for example.

Sophiesimplson (@screamsSkl): I think of names I really like and how they fit their characters. e.g: a bad boy- bad boy Darren/zak. good boy-antony

Matt Hutchinson (@matthwrites): I use English place names as surnames if I get stuck. Obscure ones though – I haven’t called anyone Jeff Wigan (yet)

Lou Morgan (@LouMorgan): I hung onto the baby names book I bought when I was pregnant!

Jesselle Villegas (@Villegas): I browse school yearbooks for names.

Judith Heneghan (@JudithHeneghan): I borrow them from librarians – they always have interesting names and they wear handy name badges…

Kim Curran (@KimeCurran): I steal them off gravestones and dedications on park benches.

Non Pratt (@catnipbooks): check top names lists for the year my character was born relative to the one I imagine I’ll finish writing the book.

Mark Thornton (@mostlybooksmark): Think of first names and last names from your favourite books, then mash up first names and surnames…

 Cethan Leahy (@CethanLeahy): I usually steal the first name from books and films I like.

James Dawson (@_jamesdawson): Best tip I heard was names of British monarchs or their spouses – they never date.

Laure Eve (@LaureEve): Tend to use something that shouldn’t be a name as a name, i.e. objects, colours, feelings, places. Or I homage.

John Fulton (@johnkfulton): If you use Scrivener, it has a built-in character name generator.

Any other tips we should add to the list? Write them below in the comments!

Want to know what teenagers want? Ask them!

This year, we have been working closely with the fantastic Platform youth hub in Islington to build a series of author-led creative writing classes for young people aged 13 to 19 called Write Ideas, which runs every Tuesday evening in term time.

As part of Word 2013, Islington’s month-long celebration of reading and writing, authors Sarah Mussi and Sara Grant have put together an event to showcase the young people’s writing from Write Ideas, and to chat about the books they enjoy reading and draw inspiration from for their own writing.

The event gives anybody interested in literature the opportunity to hear directly from young people about what inspires them and to engage in a lively and interactive discussion about teen reading habits. You’ll also get a chance to network a bit and meet other attendees. Here are the details:

Where: Platform, Hornsey Road Baths, 260 Hornsey Road, London, N7 7QT
Time: Tuesday 21 May 6.30 – 8pm
Ages: Everyone welcome
Price: free, just turn up.
More Info: http://www.platformislington.org.uk/express-yourself

We LOVE Museums!

This weekend, hundreds of museums across the UK will open their doors in the evening to host special events and programs highlighting museum collections. You can explore the Museum of London‘s extensive archeological collection by candlelight, watch the 1950′s classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers at the Royal Observatory, or even sleepover at the Eastbury Manor House!

We LOVE museums here at Hot Key Books. Rarely a week goes by when someone isn’t gushing about a cool exhibit they saw, or some mind-blowing event they attended at a museum. So, to celebrate Museums at Night 2013, we’re going to spend this week talking about our favourite museums.

Today, I’m kicking off our week of museum blogs with a few videos from two museums that were instrumental in helping us put together THE HISTORY BEHIND THE QUIETNESS. The Foundling Museum and The Old Operating Theatre and Herb Garret are both holding their own amazing Museums at Night Events, so make sure you get those in your diary right now! Click here for info about the Foundling Museum event, and here for info about The Old Operating Theatre night.

Wondering what to expect at these museums? Here are a few videos from the curators to give you a taste of what’s inside:

Here Comes Trouble (with Mummies)!

Jasen Booton’s group of voracious young readers have done it again! They put Fleur Hitchcock’s TROUBLE WITH MUMMIES under the microscope and have come up with this fantastic review:

Bank Holiday Reading

Happy May 6th Bank Holiday! We hope you are enjoying the weather (please no rain!), having a delicious meal, spending time with your favourite people, and finding time to enjoy a good book. Even though most of us spend the majority of our reading time pouring over our own books, we do manage, especially on these holiday weekends, to fit in a few titles outside our list. So, here’s what we’re reading this weekend:

Amy: I’m so close to finishing THE ACCURSED by Joyce Carol Oates, which I feel like has taken my brain and twisted it into an origami crane (or more appropriately, an origami vampire bat). It’s a completely bizarre and beautifully written story set in the early 20th century about a curse which descends upon the inhabitants of Princeton, New Jersey. Just read what Stephen King had to say about it. If I manage to finish that, I’ll move onto either LET’S EXPLORE DIABETES WITH OWLS by David Sedaris, or WHAT WE TALK ABOUT WHEN WE TALK ABOUT ANNE FRANK by Nathan Englander. Decisions, decisions!

Sarah O: I’m reading a book called A HORA DA ESTRELA by Clarice Lispector. I’m reading it with my Portuguese teacher. In Portuguese! It’s the story of a young woman from the north east of Brasil who moves to Rio de Janeiro  for work and things dont go well for her. It was Clarice’s last published work, published posthumously, and exhibits all her courageous and innovative use of language and attitude to structure. Though she is one of Brazil’s greatest writers she is published a bit too little outside the country. Maybe that will change.

Emily: For me it is BE AWESOME – Hadley Freeman’s alternative to HOW TO BE A WOMAN by Caitlin Moran.

Sarah B: I am reading, in chunks, (when I have time -  which I hope to be this bank hol!) – LITERARY ROGUES: A SCANDALOUS HISTORY OF WAYWARD AUTHORS which I picked up in New York. It’s the perfect read for a) a person in publishing and b) someone who lives with an author – just to watch out for the warning signs of bad behaviour! Each chapter is on a different author, period and their vices and normally, their tragic ends!

Cait: BAD PHARMA by Ben Goldacre – terrifying so far, I’m desperate to finish over the weekend!!

Naomi: THE CRANE WIFE by Patrick Ness. As a huge fan of Patrick Ness (although come on, who isn’t?! Even my severely dyslexic boyfriend who has only ever read the Harry Potter books and several Guns N’ Roses themed  autobiographies loved the CHAOS WALKING series!) as well as Japanese folklore, I was very excited to hear that he was releasing a new book for adults, based on a traditional Japanese fairytale. As I already know how the original story goes, I am pretty certain there will be no happy endings here, but it still looks like an amazing read and one I can’t wait to sink my teeth into. Also the cover is gorgeous! And I can (probably) exclusively reveal that the double-matte finish FEELS LIKE VELVET! (Not that I know this from repeatedly rubbing it on my face, of course.)

Sara OC: I’m reading THE END OF BIG by Nicco Mele on my Kobo app. Nicco is a friend of mine from high school and basically revolutionised the way presidential campaigns are run. He pioneered the grassroots social media fundraising as webmaster for Howard Dean’s 2004 campaign.

Emma: THE GREAT GATSBY – because it is a modern classic I have never read. And because the film is coming and I HATE seeing the film before I have read the book. Also WONDER – the story of a boy with severe facial disfigurement. I am reading this with my 9 year old. He is loving it and so am I.

Jan: Right now I’m plowing through my haul from the Stockholm International Comics Festival that I attended to last weekend. Most of all I’m looking forward to reading STORIES FROM ENGELFORS. It’s an interlude graphic novel, published between book two and three in the YA trilogy “The Circle” by Sara Bergmark Elfgren and Mats Strandberg. It’s been making it’s way around the world for the past few years and since the co-writers and artists Kim W Andersson  (who also designed the trilogy covers), Lina Neidestam and Karl Johnsson are friends of mine I’m hoping this graphic novel gets the same treatment!

Another two beautiful finds that I’ll be ogling are Sigbjørn Lilleeng’s  GENERATOR which looks a bit Akira inspired, with a Paul Pope treatment – Norwegians really know their stuff when it comes to comics! So do Germans, and even though I won’t get as much of DAS INFERNO by Michael Meier it’s looking amazing!

Becca: Over the bank holiday  weekend I am reading THE LAST GIRLFRIEND ON EARTH by Simon Rich. My little sister sent it to me in the post because she loved it so much, and I definitely trust her judgement. So far so good, it’s a collection of quirky, surreal and hilarious short stories and sketches about love. My favourite so far involves an over-amorous goat and the grisly troll that ‘got away’. I’m excited to see where this goes….

Georgia: I’m reading THE LOST ART OF KEEPING SECRETS by Eva Rice – Emily’s copy via Becca! I’d never have picked this book up as it has the most dreary pastel cover and looks like godawful chick lit, but it’s a delight – a kind of pastiche of a 50s novel, full of wonderfully eccentric characters, fabulous period detail, written with great wit and warmth but also real poignancy. Utterly delicious and unputdownable!

What are you reading today? Tell us below!

Fleur Hitchcock introduces…THE TROUBLE WITH MUMMIES

Yet another exciting release this week! Fleur Hitchcock’s THE TROUBLE WITH MUMMIES will be hitting shelves and ereaders across the UK and the world. To give you a little taste of this fantastic story, here’s the first few pages of chapter one, read by Fleur herself!

Making the invisible visible

Today’s blog comes from Natalie Whipple, the author of TRANSPARENT. This fabulous novel comes out in just a few weeks — and trust us when we say you won’t want to miss it! Aside from being a brilliant writer and Natalie is also a very talented artist. She even made a special drawing for today’s blog. Check out her thoughts in words and pictures below.

Hello! I’m Natalie. And this is my novel TRANSPARENT. We’re both really happy that Hot Key Books has decided to bring us (okay not me, just TRANSPARENT) to the UK! Of all the places overseas that I’d hoped to sell to, the UK was number one. First because you guys are awesome, of course, and also because half my family lives in New Zealand. Now they will get to see my book on a shelf, too, which makes me very happy.

TRANSPARENT will be coming to you May 16th, and that day will be huge for me because I’ll finally be a published author—something I’ve been trying to become for the majority of the last decade. Though it is my first published novel, it is actually the 10th novel I’ve written. And I had to write it twice to get it right, which was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do as an author. It was worth it to be able to have this moment now, where my dreams have been realized.

And it will be a big day for you because you’ll get to read TRANSPARENT and love it and make it your own! At least I hope so. I think it’s a pretty awesome book. I might be biased, but how could you not love a story featuring an invisible main character? Fiona is still one of the most challenging and interesting characters I’ve ever written, and I’m so glad the world gets to meet her.

Fiona lives in a world where everyone knows about superpowers and mutations, and not everyone uses those abilities for good. Okay, most people don’t. Like Fiona’s dad, for example, who uses his addictive scent to control women and build a cutthroat crime syndicate. In the scene I’ve drawn for this post, invisible Fiona and her telekinetic mother are out on a job for said father. A job that will change the course of their lives.

I would tell you more, but I don’t like to spoil things. If you decide to pick up TRANSPARENT, I really hope you love it as much as I do. Thanks to Hot Key for hosting me today.

Let the characters be your guide

Today’s blog is by DJ McCune, the author of DEATH & CO, which comes out this week! Her novel tells the story of a boy named Adam, who is forced to go into the family business. That would be fine, except that the family business is escorting people into the afterlife, which seriously gets in the way of homework and teenage normalcy. When Adam gets a terrible premonition he realises that he must make a devastating choice, risking his life, his family and his destiny.

As you can tell, this is a rather character-driven story. So to celebrate her publication day, Debbie (DJ) wrote a bit about how these characters kept her going throughout the writing process.

There are lots of good things about being a writer. You can work anywhere. You can live inside your own head for hours at a time without anyone thinking you’re a nutter. Other people think it’s wildly glamorous (because they never see you sitting at midnight in mismatched pyjamas, muttering and cursing because the words won’t come).

But the best bit of all, by a long way, is getting to know your characters.

I love my characters. Every single one of them. It’s hard to explain how real they feel – writing a character into existence is as close as you’ll ever come to playing God. For me the main characters usually arrive first. In Death & Co. Adam was the first one to step onto the screen – sandy haired, awkward, funny, old beyond his years. His family appeared fast on his heels in varying degrees of vivid. Nathanial and Auntie Jo were explosively bright in my mind; Luc made me smile. Elise was thin and French and a chain smoking perfectionist – that was all I knew to begin with. And Aron and Chloe, although they play cameo roles in Book 1 are fleshing out nicely in Book 2.

I love the rest of my characters too. I love seeing what they’re becoming as I write them; the qualities they possess that even I don’t know yet. I love Dan’s geeky enthusiasm and The Beast’s real nastiness and Melissa’s incredible kindness and resilience (that girl is in for a really hard time).

There are times when every writer will get stuck. It’s hard to explain that feeling of throwing yourself against a mental wall and bouncing back, bruised and battered. I’m fortunate enough to live beside a lovely beach and I can spend hours stomping along, snarling to myself that none of it is working!

Guess what? Often when I’m stuck it’s because I’m trying too hard to be clever. I’m trying to look ahead and put characters in places they don’t want to be. Instead of letting events unfold in their own sweet time I’m putting the proverbial rocket up them and frogmarching characters from A to B.

And sometimes, if I’m lucky, I realise this is what I’m doing. And that’s the point to stop and take a deep breath and go back to the basics: go back to the characters. What would they do in this situation? How would they deal with it? Instead of cracking an imaginary whip I hold up my hands, surrender and let them take me where they want to go.

I can’t wait for the launch of Death & Co. Most of all, I can’t wait for you to get to know Adam and his family, friends and enemies. I hope you love them as much as I do.

Check out our gallery of Death & Co. character profiles, and look out for Debbie’s book in your local bookstore this week!

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Dress your mummy like a mummy…and win!

Next week, THE TROUBLE WITH MUMMIES by  Fleur Hitchcock will be released into the hands of excited kids everywhere. In case you haven’t heard about this book yet, here’s the summary:

Sam comes home one day to find his family turning a little bit loopy – his mum is redecorating using hieroglyphics and his dad is building a pyramid in the back garden. He hopes it’s just a weird new fashion… but then the strangeness starts to spread. With the help of his friends Ursula, Henry and Lucy the Goat, Sam must save his town from rampaging Roman rugby players, hairdressers turned cavewomen, and a teacher who used to be a ‘basket of kittens’ but now wants to sacrifice the Year Ones to the Aztec sun god. As history invades Sam’s world, will he be able to keep the Greeks away from the Egyptians and discover the cause of the Mummy madness?

Hilarious, right? So to celebrate the release of this book, we are running an equally hilarious contest. We are challenging young UK citizens to dress their mummies (or willing family members) up like ancient Egyptian mummies! Prizes will be awarded for Best Effort, Most Creative Mummy, Cutest Mummy, and Best Overall Mummy. All winners will receive signed copies of THE TROUBLE WITH MUMMIES. Best Overall Mummy winner will take home a HUGE prize pack including a £25 voucher for the “mummy” and ancient Egyptian-themed goodies from The British Museum. See details below, and for full T’s and C’s, visit click here.