July Favourites! Hannibal | The girl with all the gifts |

It’s that time where I wave my favourite things in your face again! Sit back and enjoy the Things.

Previously: April | May | June


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MAGICAL.

Stationery: Pencilcase

Okay, so this is my all time favourite of the month. Nothing is going to beat this, in any way.

My pal Mel took the cover design of The Next Together and got it MADE INTO A FABRIC and then had the fabric made into a little pencilcase!

It was a complete surprise and I’ve still not recovered from my amazement. Is that not the best thing in the entire world? 

Music: Halsey – BadlandsHALSEY_BADLANDS-66t1k9lhizjmmbzjw7y0py8wt373yvcpl6ev5cv0un7

An anon on tumblr recced Halsey to me, and ever since I’ve basically been listening to her non-stop. She is so. good. Especially Trouble, which is literally a summary of the novel I’m writing at the minute.

Halsey describes her music as being like a horror movie, and that’s exactly right. I love it.

TV show: NBC Hannibal – Series 3

Hannibal is destroying my life. I had to make a new tumblr just so I could complain about all of my Hannibal feelings without everyone in the world unfollowing me. HANNIBAL, GUYS. I can’t handle it. It’s too much for me. Just – in every way. Help me.

The series so far is best summarised by this headline from The Onion:

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By Silkysimpona

JUST KILL ME NOW.

Book: The Girl with all the Gifts by M. R. Carey

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By Powells

Melanie is a very special girl. Dr Caldwell calls her “our little genius.”

Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant Parks keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don’t like her. She jokes that she won’t bite, but they don’t laugh.

Honestly, I just love this because it reminds me of The Passage, which is one of my favourite books. I haven’t finished it yet, but it’s already one of the best books I’ve read in 2015, I think. I’m such a sucker for this kind of storyline. Give me more.

Recipe: Coconut rice

I went to a thai restaurant for my friend Clare’s birthday last week and tried sticky coconut rice for the first time. I think it changed my life. How have I never had coconut rice before? How?!? Why didn’t you guys tell me about this?

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Charlie, being a cutie.

Webcomic: Recovery: A mini comic by Alice Oseman

Alice draws the most amazing art of her characters (and mine!) and posts something new and incredible almost every day.

She completely knocked it out of the water this time, with a comic about the characters from her new e-novella Nick and Charlie. It’s very short but hard hitting, and I highly recommend you check it out, along with basically everything else on her art blog.

Plus, we filmed a video together at YALC which is hopefully coming . . . some time soon? So brace yourself for that magic. It’ll probably be something like this.

Article: 7 Signs He’s Not Over His Ex – Clickhole

1. He regularly refers to you as a “poor man’s Janet”: Sorry, but if your guy constantly calls you a “poor man’s Janet,” referring to his ex named Janet, chances are he’s still hung up on her.

2. When he says his ex’s name he points at the sun, but when he says your name he points at the sewer: Not much else this could mean. He’s definitely not over her yet.

I would usually aim for something a little more highbrow that a spin-off Onion site (The Onion is clearly a theme today). However, I haven’t been so genuinely tickled by something as I am by “poor man’s Janet” in a long time.

Poor man’s Janet. 

Fanfiction: “I like Spain” AU by Arianne

“Hi,” he said, then glanced at a hastily-written note in his hand and added, a little warily since she hadn’t blinked in several seconds, “Katherine?”

So, don’t freak out guys. Be chill.  But…..someone wrote The Next Together fanfiction. SOMEONE WROTE FANFICTION FOR MY BOOK. WHICH ISN’T EVEN OUT YET?

It’s ridiculously sweet and adorable and I love it soooo much. Basically, Arianne is my new favourite person.


And….we’re done! We survived another month, guys! Give yourselves a pat on the back.

Published by Wren James

Wren James is the award-winning British author of eleven science fiction & fantasy novels, including The Quiet at the End of the World and The Next Together (previously published as Lauren James). Their books have sold over 200,000 copies in ten languages, and The Loneliest Girl in the Universe was optioned for film by Amazon MGM. Wren is a story consultant on Netflix’s Heartstopper, which was awarded an Emmy for Outstanding Writing. Also a RLF Royal Fellow, Wren is the founder of the Climate Fiction Writers League and member of the Society of Authors’ Sustainability steering Committee. They work as a consultant on climate storytelling with a focus on providing optimism and hope. They have won the Sustainable Story Award and been shortlisted for the YA Book Prize, Carnegie Medal and STEAM Book Award. Wren’s writing has been described as ‘gripping romantic sci-fi’ by the Wall Street Journal and ‘a strange, witty, compulsively unpredictable read which blows most of its new YA-suspense brethren out of the water’ by Entertainment Weekly. Their latest titles are Last Seen Online, a crime thriller set in the world of fandom, and The Victors, a cosy fantasy graphic novel illustrated by Beth Fuller. Wren was born in 1992, and has a Masters degree from the University of Nottingham, where they studied Chemistry and Physics. They run a Queer Writers group in Coventry. Follow them on Instagram & TikTok at @wrenjameswriter or find out more at wrenjames.co.uk.

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