The Next Together follows the various lives of Katherine and Matthew as they meet and fall in love throughout history. There are timelines in the recent future and distant past, and each time a mysterious being is tracking Kate and Matt’s relationship, and making sure they fall in love and save the world in every life….
Each lifetime is very different, so the book is made up of lots of interwoven genres – The Next Together is a historical drama, a conspiracy theory thriller, a science fiction adventure, and plenty more besides! Because of the number of different timelines, I thought the story needed something to tie it together, so that it didn’t feel like a collection of stories about separate people. I decided the best way to do that was to include documents and letters in the novel, as well as prose.
My characters Kate and Matt are the same people, but sometimes they are equals and sometimes they aren’t. In one timeline Matthew is Katherine’s servant, in another the opposite is true. This allows for a lot of variety in the way their relationship develops, so I wanted to make sure I kept an element of continuity throughout the book. I thought it would help to have something to tie these characters together – to each other, and to reality. I needed to make it clear they were the same people, regardless of the time period, or whether they are texting or writing letters in fountain pen.
There’s something about the visual aspect of epistolary books – the documents, graphics and pictures – which makes it seem more real. It makes a story come to life. When you can see that a character has the same handwriting in 1745 or 2039, it adds a satisfyingly rewarding feeling to the story.
I also did a lot of historical research, and uncovered many newspaper articles and old diaries and letters, which really brought the periods of history to life for me. I wanted to recreate that feeling in the novel – of history being about real, flawed people, instead of statistics in a textbook. I wanted to bring the sense of humour and life I’d read about to my novel.
A lot like this, mainly. With probably more eye rolling.
I don’t have a routine, but I’m very picky about my working environment. The slightest excuse not to write and I won’t get anything done! I need chewing gum, a spreadsheet of my daily word counts on myWriteClub (to keep me accountable!) and lots and lots of music. I’m currently obsessed with Halsey’s album Badlands.
As for my writing process, usually I start out with an idea from a dream, or something I wake up thinking about. I’ll make a note on my phone like: reincarnation fic? and over the next few weeks I’ll be working out how it could play out in my head. I won’t write anything down for months probably, and I always start with plot, not characters.
When I decide to start writing it, I’ll type out everything I can think of about my idea and try and form it into a synopsis, like: There’s a girl who meets a boy in her first year biology lab and she knows his name and what his voice sounds like. Then I’ll probably leave it a while again, a few weeks or days.
Then I start reluctantly doing character development (I am terrible at this) (no really). I have now on four occasions got to the point where a new character appears and had to stop writing to decide what they are like, because I’d been putting it off for so long. It usually takes me two drafts to really understand my characters; until then I’m just kind of bemused by them. Once it clicks I can tell you everything and anything about them and love them like children.
Right now I’m writing a character and I’ve written 25k and all I really know about him is that he’s a softbro. We’ll get there eventually. The way I tackle my character development fear is usually via tumblr? Like I have very detailed book tags with all my character insp pictures: book one; book two; book three; book four; book five. I don’t know if that is useful to know or not. I just see a lot of stuff on my dash that reminds me of my stories. I know a lot of authors use pinterest for this.
I write chronologically and don’t let myself skip ahead, though I usually find myself waking up to write down lines and dialogue I want to add later.
I spend a lot of time messing around with formatting. I can’t just go into a word doc and write. It has to be Sitka text size 12, and I need page numbers and a title page and headers because ….I’m a good procrastinator.
I usually I have at least one epigram before I write a word (I collect too many epigrams. I have to cull them frequently.) It used to be single spaced but usually you submit in double spaced, and I’m used to it now. I find single too crowded.
My document usually starts as a plan, but this tends to be pretty aggressive and sarcastic and I don’t really follow it. I usually focus on the short term- I have a list of one-liners or dialogue from notes on my phone I want to include, so I paste that into the word document and write through it. It’s satisfying if I write in all my notes, I’m more pleased to have done that than if I wrote 10,000 words.
I find working from little tidbits like that can really help if I’m stuck with a scene, it’s like fic prompts.
Like: she sullenly refused to meet his gaze, sure he was laughing at her “what kind of feeble response is that” use phrase ‘monstrous rage’ hah
I just try and fill in the gaps between those ideas!
I have to have pictures of my characters before I can write them. I need to know what font their handwriting is. I need to know what their favourite slang word is.
I occasionally write out by hand, but I have to type it up pretty much immediately, and I usually waste a long time editing it instead of writing more.
Usually I listen to my book playlists. I can’t really write without music, but it has to be music I know really well. If I’m having a good writing moment I’ll be singing too. At the minute I’m listening to Brave- Sara Bareilles, Young volcanoes- Fall out boy, and High Hopes- The Vamps a lot. It needs to be upbeat because I type to the rhythm of the music.
My writing time is usually from 2pm-1am, but when I go to bed I’ll have an hour where I keep waking up to make notes.
I use a lot of italics and try to actively avoid adverbs. I dislike all caps dialogue. I try and think about what different media types I could use and work them into the story- letters, instant messages etc.
When I’ve finished I’ll share it with a few people and my mum and then put it away from two months before looking at it again.
If I was given access to a time machine for a day, I wouldn’t be able to go to just one place. I’m too greedy. I’d have to go on a tour of history and the future, until I ran out of fuel or caused some kind of horrific future-destroying “kill your grandfather” type accident.
First of all, I would without a moment of doubt have to go and see the dinosaurs. I’ve always loved Jurassic Park and The Land Before Time, so how could anyone turn that down?
On the way, I’d like to stop off for breakfast in seventeenth century France to take Pain Au Chocolat and Espresso with La Maupin, a female fencer and opera singer who had more adventures than one person should be allowed in a lifetime outside of fiction!
Then I’d go to visit Easter Island and find out how those giant statues were moved around once and for all, by watching them being built. I’d visit Machu Picchu for lunch with the Incas and spend the afternoon exploring the Galapagos Islands with Charles Darwin.
I’d go to the Roman Baths for a relaxing spa session, before visiting Henry VIII for a dinner of his famous cockentrice. I couldn’t resist going to see an original Shakespeare play – maybe one of his lost plays, so I could tell everyone at home what happened! Then I’d be off to an Elvis Presley concert.
Finally, I’d finish off the evening by attending a regency ball, so that I could chat about writing with Jane Austen over rum punch. I then wouldn’t be able to resist taking a slightly tipsy visit to the future. I’d go to the first human colony on another planet – but I’d like to arrive a few hours before their spaceship first landed, so I could pretend I’d been there waiting for them all along!
A day in the life
I start every day by going swimming at my local gym. This gives me time to think through what I’ll be writing that day, and solve any nagging plot holes that I might have abandoned in frustration the night before (this happens more often than I care to admit).
After I’ve done a hundred lengths of front crawl, and soaked in the Jacuzzi until I’m extremely wrinkly, I’ll go home and begin work.
I spend a few hours answering emails and doing admin stuff. This can range from discussing editorial notes or marketing tactics with my editor and agent, or replying to tumblr asks and writing blog posts.
Surprisingly, a lot more of an author’s time is spent doing things other than writing – something I never realised until I became a writer. I’m lucky that most of my work can be done from home, but about once a fortnight I’ll go down to London on the train for a meeting or event in person. I was recently on a panel discussing Diversity in YA at a conference, which was a lot of fun.
I’m learning to drive at the minute, so then I might have a driving lesson in the afternoon. I’m working on navigating islands at the minute (I’m not very good at it yet!).
When I get home, I’ll finally start writing. I only start writing properly in the evening, because there are too many distractions during the day! I’ll crank up my playlist for the book I’m writing (by the time the book is finished it will usually have reached over 100 plays on iTunes), chew some gum and get started.
After I’ve procrastinated on tumblr, and taken dozens of pictures of my dogs, that is…
Eventually I’ll force myself to get down to work, and write for about five hours. I try to write between one and two thousand words a day, but sometimes that might be as little as three hundred words or as much as three thousand. It depends on what I’m writing. I don’t worry about not writing enough, as long as I write something. It’s all progress!
Then I might catch up on some TV series like Hannibal or The Great British Bake-Off or read something – right now I’m reading Lockwood & Co by Jonathan Stroud. I’ll collapse into bed about 1am, mind full of plot ideas and character dialogue!
I don’t believe in soulmates in reality, but as a literary device they are one of my favourite tropes. The idea that your favourite character is only a moment away from bumping into their perfect partner is such an exciting incentive to keep reading. It adds an air of anticipatory delight through the whole book – especially when the going gets tough. The character might be going through terrible things, but just wait until they meet their soulmate! Then everything will change – and they have no idea what’s coming! It’s so gleefully delicious to read.
I’m a sucker for those kind of stories. So here are some of my favourite soulmate tropes.
Soulmarks
This is the idea that you’re born with a mark which matches one on your soulmate’s skin – or even their name, like a tattoo. Every person you meet might be your soulmate, and the only way to find out is to check their soulmark and see if it matches your own. So fun! What are the social conventions of asking about other people’s soulmarks? What happens if you fall in love with someone, and then realise your marks don’t match? What if your soulmate is already married? What if your parents knew you were gay from the moment you were born, before you did, because the name on your arm was of someone of the same gender? What would that change about society’s acceptance of homosexuality throughout history? The politics of this are just so fascinating.
Reincarnation
Obviously this is one of my favourites – I wrote a book about it! The idea that souls find each other in every life, and that they can’t keep themselves away from each other despite the fact that they literally died and came back to life . . . it’s irresistible!
Dream sharing
This is one of my favourite tropes. What if your soulmate has been in your dreams since you were a child? What if the first time you met a stranger, you suddenly recognised them from your oldest dreams? What if you shared the same dreamspace, so you’d spent hours and hours together in dreams before you ever even met?
Imprinting
What if the moment you saw someone, even if you were just passing them in the street, you knew they were your soulmate? It would be so convenient (and save a LOT of small talk) but what if you were driving past them, and never found them again? What if you spent years after that, knowing your soulmate was out there and what they looked like, but never being able to find them? What if you saw a famous actor in a film and realised they were your soulmate? What would dating sites look like – a series of endless photos that you stared at until one clicked? I NEED TO KNOW EVERYTHING.
Sharing emotions
In this soulmate concept, even before you meet each other you can feel your soulmate’s emotions. You’d feel happy when your soulmate is happy, and pain when they are hurt. How would you track them down? How would it feel to finally meet someone whose emotions you knew just as well as your own? Imagine the sheer happiness you would feel from them when you finally met!
This is a retelling of the Illiad set in Ancient Greece and exploring the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus. Interwoven with gods, goddesses and magic, at its core this is a romance of truly epic proportions. If you know the mythology, you know to brace yourself for tears and heartbreak.
The Raging Quiet by Sherryl Jordan
This Young Adult novel takes place in a medieval village, and tells the story of Raven, a deaf orphan who the villagers think is mad, and Marnie, a widowed young girl, befriends him. She realises that his ‘madness’ actually comes from a lack of understanding of speech, and together they create a form of sign language. Their blossoming love – and peace in each other’s company even when the world is against them – caught my heart immediately. I used to get this book from the library over and over when I was a teenager. I’ve read it more times than I can count.
Daughter of Venice by Donna Jo Napoli
Another book that I used to check out of the library over and over. This is set in Venice in 1592, where Donata is a noble girl stifled by convention, who dresses as a boy to explore the city. She finds her way to the Jewish district, and meets a boy called Noe, who works in publishing. This book was a huge inspiration for the 1854 storyline in The Next Together, where my character Katy dresses up as a boy so she can go adventuring too!
Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho
This was only very recently published, and I’ve been recommending it to everyone I know ever since. Set in a magical Regency England, this is the perfect mix of the magical regency London of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, and Georgette Heyer’s shamelessly trope-filled romances. The whole book make me squirm with delight – it has everything from UNICORNS to GIANT FURIOUS MERMAIDS to CLOUD FLYING. Just – I want to tell you about every scene, because every scene is a wonder.
If you’re looking for more diverse fantasy, then this is the place to look. Both Zacharias and Prunella are POC, and the plot revolves around a Caribbean island, with another central WOC character.
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
This is set in Victorian England, and tells the story of Sue, a thief, and Maud, the noble lady she is trying to rob. Their lives are tied together in unexpected ways, made even more complicated when they fall in love. Full of twists, romance and betrayal, I promise you that once you start this story you won’t be able to put it down.
I don’t consider myself a Harry Potter fan. That doesn’t mean that I don’t love the series – because I really, really do. But I started reading it when I was six; at this point Harry Potter has been in my life so long that it would be weird to call myself a ‘fan’. It would be like saying I’m a ‘fan’ of my mum and dad.
The Harry Potter series is just . . . part of me.
So when I started writing my first novel, it was understandably a big inspiration. I wanted to write something which exemplified all of the things which I love about Harry Potter (*cough Hermione Granger *cough*) – and improved on things which I don’t.
In particular, I wanted to make a character who people would love as much as my eternal love for Hermione.
Hermione is a brilliantly strong female character, who has been a role model for me from childhood. The phrase ‘strong female character’ is thrown around a lot as a selling point for books, in a “Read this novel, because it’s got an amazing strong female character!” kind of way.
However, ‘strong’ is easily misconstrued as ‘flawless’, ‘good at fighting’ and ‘unemotional’ when really it should just mean three-dimensional. Women don’t have to be strong to be valid. They just have to be realistic.
Real people aren’t perfect, but that doesn’t make them unlikeable. Harry and Ron love Hermione, not despite her flaws, but because of them. She’s annoying, bossy and condescending . . . and it’s incredible. She’s the perfect female role model, just by being herself.
When Hermione started SPEW, it was such a hugely defining moment for me. It was the first time I’d seen a female character working hard for something she strongly believed was wrong in the world, regardless of what people thought of her. It really established Hermione as one of my all time favourite female characters. The fact that she did all that as a very young teenager is even more impressive in retrospect.
I tried to make sure that my female character, Kate, is just as realistic as Hermione. She’s witty and brave, but at the same time she’s annoying, silly, exasperating and impulsive.
I love her for her imperfections more than her strengths, and I don’t think I would have realised that was possible if it hadn’t been for Hermione Granger.
I’ll always be grateful to Harry Potter – in fact, I even wrote a Harry Potter crossover fic where Hermione, Neville and Draco meet the characters of my book. But I’m never going to call myself a fan, because my Harry Potter feelings are too big to be encompassed in that tiny three letter word.
Before we begin, a disclaimer: I don’t really believe in writer’s block. I think that what we call ‘writer’s block’ is really just ‘thinking time’. Everyone needs to leave ideas to ‘ferment’, which can hold you back from writing for a little while. Sometimes writing isn’t always writing actual words on a page. Sometimes it’s just thinking really, really hard. Your brain needs time to develop concepts. Creativity isn’t something that can be forced.
For every book I’ve ever written, I’ve left a gap of sometimes up to a year between writing the first and second halves. Usually when I reach around 25,000 words into a book I lose all confidence I had in it. At that point I’ll lie in bed a lot and whine to anyone who’ll listen, and then I’ll do some of the following things, to try and get back on my feet.
Set yourself a writing target each day, based on how much you can write easily.
Even if it’s just a paragraph on the bus, it’ll all add up, and by the end of the week you’ll have a lot more words than writing nothing at all! If I’m struggling to get started I’ll write stream of consciousness nonsense until I remember how to write again, because I somehow seem to forget how to write every time I open Microsoft Word.
Set yourself rewards for writing.
I only let myself go on twitter or have a can of coke or read a book if I’ve written my wordcount target. Anything that can trick me into writing, basically!
Use writing exercises to kickstart your brain into writing.
I’ll try to write some scenes between the characters that aren’t relevant to the plot, just to get into their heads a bit – I like writing one hundred declarative sentences about them, like ‘Matthew loves his fountain pen’. It’s harder than it sounds! One tip I’ve heard works really well is to try and write a scene with two characters who hate each other kissing.
Talk it out.
I’ll give the manuscript to someone I trust to read it for me and give me feedback and constructive criticism. It always helps to talk things out, and you’ll probably know as soon as you try and explain your plot problem what the solution is. It has to be someone who you know is willing to give you negative feedback, because (although it sounds backwards) I find knowing exactly how bad something is makes me feel a lot better. If I know this and this and this is terrible, but the rest is fine, then I know I can fix it. I can feel confident about the bits that aren’t bad, because one person likes them – and the bits that are bad, I can probably manage to fix.
There are lots of online writing communities you could join and approach for feedback – as long as you’re willing to give some in return. There are people who say you shouldn’t share your writing until it’s finished, but I totally disagree. My biggest inspirations usually come from discussions about my book. Just don’t talk about it so much that your friends are bored of it…
Try writing something else!
If after all of that, you really, really can’t do it…. then maybe it’s not the right idea for you at the minute. Maybe come back to it in a few months. If I end up abandoning an idea, I don’t think of it as a waste – it’s all good practice. Even if you discard the plot, you can reuse the characters, so none of your character development is wasted.
I absolutely promise you, your writing isn’t bad – however much it feels that way. It’s frustrating seeing this huge colourful world in your head turn into feeble words on a page. But in someone else’s head those words will rebuild the world you first pictured, and making that happen is worth the pain of writing, even if it doesn’t feel that way right now.
It’s November! This week is the publication of The Next Together in Australia and my friend Alice Oseman’s e-novella This Winter! To celebrate, Alice and I are doing a giveaway of signed copies of our books . . . with a twist. Both books will be annotated by each other! The winner will receive a copy of Solitaire signed by Alice and annotated with notes by me, and a copy of The Next Together signed by me and annotated by Alice (with maybe a few drawings too…). You can enter the giveaway (which I want to win myself tbh…) by reblogging this tumblr post.
I didn’t know much about this series before I started it, but I was in the mood for some black humour after reading a lot of horror for Hallowe’en, so I gave it a go. And it’s so good!
I can’t even choose a favourite character because I just love the whole family so much. I’m really looking forward to finishing my edits on The Last Beginning so I can properly marathon the whole thing like it deserves.
I’m mad into this app. It’s like minecraft, if minecraft was a 2D crafting game. It’s addictive and logical and great for long train journeys (of which I have many).
This comes blurbed by my fave Sarah Waters and recommended by my friend Charlie (who I interviewed here) so I was willing to read it based on that alone. But it’s also about female Victorian boxers! Add to that excellence a lot of diversity, drama, smallpox, vices and females manipulating men to get what they want, and it’s the best book I’ve read in ages.
Music: Of Monsters and Men
I’m going to see this band live next week, so I had to include them for that reason alone. I can’t wait to see what kind of crowd turns up for this lovely folk-y band. Listen to Organs, which is my song of the moment for book 4, which I’m writing soon (AS SOON AS I FINISH MY EDITS, PROMISE).
This is a super cute and whimsical comic about a group of girls at a camp where magical, evil things start happening. It’s very upbeat and modern and diverse and I’m in love in a big way. Volume 3 isn’t out until April and I’m SO READY.
This is a website for writers, recommended to me by Ava Jae (who has basically the best writing blog ever, and her first book isn’t even out yet! That’s skills.) It lets you personalise goals for writing or editing, and since I started using this site, it’s become a vital part of my writing routine. It has a lot of the same features as the NaNoWriMo website, but it’s available all year long and has less pressure.
It helps me keep organised, stops me feeling overwhelmed or panicking about how little time I have left to do things. Here are my current goals. If you use it, you can add me as a friend here.
In other news: You can enter a raffle to win a signed copy of The Next Together and lots of other amazing prizes to raise money for the charity Mind here.
The Next Together was included in an Australian subscription box The YA Chronicles for the October theme of ‘time and time again’! It came with River Song’s journal, a time turner and some ‘timeless hearts’ bath melts and honestly it just looks incredible! I’m a little jealous!
📷: @bedazzledbybooks
Finally, good luck to everyone doing NaNoWriMo this month. The Next Together started out life as a nano, so if I can do it, you can too!
It’s Halloween! Obviously that means it’s time to share some of my favourite creepy books with you. Hopefully there are some here you haven’t heard of before, as well as some old favourites. (Includes links to both Goodreads and the Book Depository.)
A blackly comic tale about two children you would never want to meet.
Set in the Cornish town of Fowey, all is not as idyllic as the beautiful seaside town might seem. The body of a young woman is discovered in the nets of a fishing boat. It is established that the woman was murdered. Most are shocked and horrified. But there is somebody who is not – a twelve-year-old girl. She is delighted; she loves murders. Soon she is questioning the inhabitants of the town in her own personal investigation. But it is a bit boring on her own. Then Miles Giffard, a similarly odd twelve-year-old boy, arrives in Fowey with his mother, and they start investigating together. Oh, and also playing games that re-enact the murders. Just for fun, you understand…
A book about two twelve-year-olds that is definitely not for kids.
This is the only YA book on my list. I read it very recently, and it shot up to one of my favourite books of 2015. It’s intensely dark and horrifying in the funniest way, and the ending genuinely shocked me (which seeing as I guess most book endings – so much so that author friends have banned me from trying to guess what happens when I read their manuscripts – is saying a lot). If you’re a fan of Hannibal or Black Mirror you should definitely check this out.
AURORA tells the incredible story of our first voyage beyond the solar system. Brilliantly imagined and beautifully told, it is the work of a writer at the height of his powers. Our voyage from Earth began generations ago. Now, we approach our destination. A new home. AURORA.
This isn’t actually a horror novel – it’s science fiction. But it’s so intensely creepy and unnerving, that it got deeper inside my head than any thriller could.
I highly recommend this for anyone curious about deep space travel – the stuff that comes after the journey. What happens to the descendent of the original voyagers, the ones who never chose to be in space at all?
The idea of being on a vulnerable spaceship trapped at the edge of the universe in orbit around a hostile planet, with nowhere to go and no way to talk to the rest of humanity, will freak me out forever.
Merricat Blackwood lives on the family estate with her sister Constance and her uncle Julian. Not long ago there were seven Blackwoods—until a fatal dose of arsenic found its way into the sugar bowl one terrible night. Acquitted of the murders, Constance has returned home, where Merricat protects her from the curiosity and hostility of the villagers. Their days pass in happy isolation until cousin Charles appears. Only Merricat can see the danger, and she must act swiftly to keep Constance from his grasp.
I saw a comic on tumblr based on the first paragraph of this book, and had to buy and read it immediately.
I fell in love. This book is a work of art. It’s disturbing and insidiously affecting and has a surprisingly happy ending. I don’t often reread books, but I will reread this many times.
The village of Hemmersmoor is a place untouched by time and shrouded in superstition: There is the grand manor house whose occupants despise the villagers, the small pub whose regulars talk of revenants, the old mill no one dares to mention. This is where four young friends come of age—in an atmosphere thick with fear and suspicion. Their innocent games soon bring them face-to-face with the village’s darkest secrets in this eerily dispassionate, astonishingly assured novel, evocative of Stephen King’s classic short story “Children of the Corn” and infused with the spirit of the Brothers Grimm.
I read this last week, as someone recommended it to me as being similar to WE HAVE ALWAYS LIVED IN THE CASTLE. It was . . . a lot more intense than that. At times it goes a little for the shock factor, but it doesn’t hold back. It’s brutal and apathetic and the ending has left me cold. A short read, but I don’t think I could have handled it had it been any longer.
You are mine, you shall be mine, you and I are one for ever.
When a mysterious carriage crashes outside their castle home in Styria, Austria, Laura and her father agree to take in its injured passenger, a young woman named Carmilla. Delighted to have some company of her own age, Laura is instantly drawn to Carmilla. But as their friendship grows, Carmilla’s countenance changes and she becomes increasingly secretive and volatile. As Carmilla’s moods shift and change, Laura starts to become ill, experiencing fiendish nightmares, her health deteriorating night after night. It is not until she and her father, increasingly concerned for Laura’s well-being, set out on a trip to discover more about the mysterious Carmilla that the terrifying truth reveals itself.
This is one of the original vampire stories, and stands the test of time very well. I recommend listening to the audiobook, which you can find for free here, as the book is in the public domain (along with many other classics! I hugely recommend Librivox as a site/app. Look out for any narrated by Elizabeth Klett, as she’s my favourite.).
Years ago, when House of Leaves was first being passed around, it was nothing more than a badly bundled heap of paper, parts of which would occasionally surface on the Internet. No one could have anticipated the small but devoted following this terrifying story would soon command. Starting with an odd assortment of marginalized youth — musicians, tattoo artists, programmers, strippers, environmentalists, and adrenaline junkies — the book eventually made its way into the hands of older generations, who not only found themselves in those strangely arranged pages but also discovered a way back into the lives of their estranged children.
Now, for the first time, this astonishing novel is made available in book form, complete with the original colored words, vertical footnotes, and newly added second and third appendices. The story remains unchanged, focusing on a young family that moves into a small home on Ash Tree Lane where they discover something is terribly wrong: their house is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside.
Of course, neither Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Will Navidson nor his companion Karen Green was prepared to face the consequences of that impossibility, until the day their two little children wandered off and their voices eerily began to return another story — of creature darkness, of an ever-growing abyss behind a closet door, and of that unholy growl which soon enough would tear through their walls and consume all their dreams.
I read this novel (piece of modern art?) when I was about seventeen, and it terrified me so much that I still shiver to think about it today. As well as being beautifully designed, it’s a many layered story-within-a-story book, each of which is affecting in different ways – my favourite being the house of leaves itself. A couple discover the dimensions of their new house don’t match up, and find mysterious appearing and disappearing doors. When they open one, they find a black and endless void. With the help of a cave exploration team, they venture inside . . . and I won’t tell you what’s in there. You’ll have to read it and find out. The house plotline would stand up as a novel on its own, so everything else is just a bonus, but as another incentive, here’s an example page of the book:
Late one night, exploring her father’s library, a young woman finds an ancient book and a cache of yellowing letters addressed ominously to ‘My dear and unfortunate successor’. Her discovery plunges her into a world she never dreamed of – a labyrinth where the secrets of her father’s past and her mother’s mysterious fate connect to an evil hidden in the depths of history.
Another vampiric story-within-a-story, this will keep you hooked until the final page – and hopefully send shivers down your spine.
Award-winning author Jennifer Egan brilliantly conjures a world from which escape is impossible and where the keep-–the tower, the last stand-–is both everything worth protecting and the very thing that must be surrendered in order to survive.
Two cousins, irreversibly damaged by a childhood prank, reunite twenty years later to renovate a medieval castle in Eastern Europe. In an environment of extreme paranoia, cut off from the outside world, the men reenact the signal event of their youth, with even more catastrophic results. And as the full horror of their predicament unfolds, a prisoner, in jail for an unnamed crime, recounts an unforgettable story that seamlessly brings the crimes of the past and present into piercing relation.
There are scenes in books which you remember forever, and the climax of this book – involving a secret dungeon underneath a castle – is one which I will never forget. There’s also an overgrown algae pool which was close to giving me nightmares when I read about it. Excellently cinematic.
Five mysterious, spine-tingling stories follow journeys into (and out of?) the eerie abyss. These chilling tales spring from the macabre imagination of acclaimed and award-winning comic creator Emily Carroll.
Come take a walk in the woods and see what awaits you there…
A graphic novel with a monstrous twist, I think I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. Here’s my favourite:
Something strange is happening at the Orsk furniture superstore in Cleveland, Ohio. Every morning, employees arrive to find broken Kjerring bookshelves, shattered Glans water goblets, and smashed Liripip wardrobes. Sales are down, security cameras reveal nothing, and store managers are panicking.
To unravel the mystery, three employees volunteer to work a nine-hour dusk-till-dawn shift. In the dead of the night, they’ll patrol the empty showroom floor, investigate strange sights and sounds, and encounter horrors that defy the imagination.
A traditional haunted house story in a thoroughly contemporary setting, Horrorstör comes packaged in the form of a glossy mail order catalog, complete with product illustrations, a home delivery order form, and a map of Orsk’s labyrinthine showroom.
This is WONDERFUL. It’s up there with HOUSE OF LEAVES as one of the creepiest, most mind-consuming thrillers. During a night shift at what’s basically Ikea, strange things start happening – weird smells, new graffiti, strange men appearing. I read this in the dark on my phone, and I had to get up to turn the lights on. The second half is genuinely chilling.
It’s a little slow to start, and the first half is more retail-employee-satire than horror, but once it gets going it just goes and goes and goes. Some of the images will stick with me for a long time. I’m not sure I can go into an Ikea ever again. *shudders* The book is also laid out like an Ikea catalogue, which makes it extra special.
In other news: The Next Together is released in Australia on November 1st! You can follow my blog tour below if you wish.
Smallish Magazine called it “Utterly gripping” and The Herald Scotland said: “The Next Together, is a rather clever piece of time-travelling science fiction meets romance, by debut author Lauren James. Katherine and Matthew are teenagers who meet and fall in love in numerous different time frames. Rather satisfyingly they come together for the “first objective”, a kiss, numerous times, and find themselves caught up in the violent dramas of history as well as the future. Smart and hugely creative.“
The Lancashire Evening Post said “Funny, unique, filled with passion and danger, and utterly addictive, The Next Together is one of this year’s best young adult romances. James knows her audience and writes with the assurance and well-honed imagination of a seasoned novelist. No self-respecting teen would want to miss it!“
So THANKS, Scotland and Lancashire!!
I also loved this so much I have to share it: Georgia at Teen Book Hoots wrote her own ‘next together’! I LOVE this idea – and I would not complain about being in her scenario either! 😉
And finally, because no Halloween blog post would be complete without a Brooklyn Nine Nine gif:
D’aaawww.
You can find a rebloggable version of this post here.
Originally posted at the Dymocks blog
This week is the publication of The Next Together in Australia and my friend Alice Oseman’s e-novella 
Book: 
This is a super cute and whimsical comic about a group of girls at a camp where magical, evil things start happening. It’s very upbeat and modern and diverse and I’m in love in a big way. Volume 3 isn’t out until April and I’m SO READY.
The Next Together was included in an Australian subscription box
Years ago, when House of Leaves was first being passed around, it was nothing more than a badly bundled heap of paper, parts of which would occasionally surface on the Internet. No one could have anticipated the small but devoted following this terrifying story would soon command. Starting with an odd assortment of marginalized youth — musicians, tattoo artists, programmers, strippers, environmentalists, and adrenaline junkies — the book eventually made its way into the hands of older generations, who not only found themselves in those strangely arranged pages but also discovered a way back into the lives of their estranged children.
Wren James 
