Category: Literature Events

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Author Interview- Rebecca Stone

This week I was lucky enough to interview upcoming Indie Author, Rebecca Stone about her YA Thriller debut, Burn at the Roots.

Burn at the Roots follows Alice Bridges’ journey to self discovery through her university life. As soon as Alice begins Freshers Week, her life is thrown upside down to a tragic incident that will change her family forever. In order to understand how to move forward, Alice must unravel the past that lead to the tragic event.

I am now joined by Rebecca Stone.

Hi Rebecca, thank you for setting up this interview with me, I’ve been really excited to ask you some questions on your upcoming book. We’ll start with the question that everyone has been asking. Is this your first book?

Hello Charlotte, thank you for having me! Yes, this is my first published book. I’ve written many for my eyes only but this is the first one that’s actually ready to be shared with the rest of the world – I’m so excited! Burn at the Roots is my first YA book and it’s mainly based around York.

I’m not surprised! After reading Burn at the Roots, I noticed that the book is mainly set in York. Was there a particular reason in setting the location in the North of England?

Yes, actually there is. I’m a fellow Northerner myself! I was born in Leeds and used to love visiting my relatives in York. I would always be found wondering the Shambles during the weekends and having a bite in Betty’s – if it wasn’t fully booked that is. I mean what’s not to love about the place, even JK Rowling was inspired by the city!

I’ve heard there’s so much memorabilia all over the place?

There is! Some of the shops now focus on trying to create the magical experience. I’d definitely recommend going near Halloween! (laughs)

So about your book, the first question from one of your fans has asked: Who is your favourite character?

Ooh that’s a tricky one! I’d probably have to say Pasha. I love how confident she seems, despite owning the fact that she’s a total swot! I wish I was that confident when I was her age!

Ah, so are any of these characters based on yourself?

They’re all an extension of my personality really. I love being active similar to Matt, I’ve always had an interest in academia and I love travelling just as much as Alice. I can’t speak another language yet but I am trying!

Are any of the characters in Burn at the Roots based on real people?

No, but I hope they seem like they are! I’ve tried to focus on some of my personality traits and tried to stretch them out to form characters on their own. Hopefully I’ve done them all justice!

We’ve got another one from a fan here too – Where did you get your inspiration from?

This is going to sound really cheesy but it was actually a dream I had on holiday! I remember dreaming about York Maze and knew that I wanted that to be the final scene of my story. I then worked back from that and ended up coming up with the plot along the way. I normally read thrillers and wanted to write something that I knew I would’ve loved to have read growing up. There was no Holly Jackson or Karen McManus around when I was a teen, so why not just come up with your own story?

I know! I wish I had those authors around too! I think I would’ve been reading a lot more if they were published back in the day. With your book talking about secrets and lies, what’s the biggest lie you’ve ever told?

That’s really difficult as I’m actually a really honest person – probably to a fault to be honest! If I had to say my biggest lie was probably signing a note to get out of swimming in secondary school. I didn’t have my kit and it was a last minute change. My dad ended up getting a phone call and thankful he covered for me!

I think there’ll be loads of people reading this that can relate Rebecca, I’m, sure I’ve done this myself at one point! Going back to the book now, did you have any alternative endings?

I did actually and I can’t say much else about them to be honest because they might still come true.

Ooh, meaning?

The alternative endings weren’t necessarily scrapped. I’m hoping to see if I can keep the endings for the next few books. I’m hoping it becomes a series.

That’s so exciting! I’d love to follow Alice, Matt and Pasha on their next journey, even if it hasn’t happened yet!

(laughs) yes, but stay tuned!

Will it be a prequel or a sequel?

I can’t say fully now but something is definitely happening behind the scenes.

Now I know I already have a copy but when can our readers get their hands on it?

Burn at the Roots will be out on Wednesday 27th September and it will be available to buy on Amazon as an ebook. There might be a few deals coming too around Kindle Unlimited which I’m really excited about!

That’s great. Will there be a paperback version?

Not yet but I’m hoping there will be in the near future.

So there we have it! I hope you’re all as hooked with Burn at the Roots as I am.

Grab yourself a copy of the book here!

Literature Events

Jo Colley’s Book Launch of ‘Bones of Birds’

Bones of Birds by Jo Colley

Smokestack Books £7.95  ISBN: 978 0 9929581 1 4

On Tuesday 24th Februrary, The University of Teesside were proud to host Jo Colley’s book launch of her new anthology Bones of Birds. The evening at The University of TeessidIMG_2375e kick started with Andy  Croft, founder of Smokestack Books, describing Jo Colley’s latest anthology Bones of Birds as “a beautiful book inside and out” and “extraordinarily original.” After such a warm welcome, Jo Colley began to read several of her poems out of her anthology, to help lure the audience into her way of seeing the world.

 Bones of Birds is about flying and falling from one extreme to the other. The anthology describes the act of flying and falling physically as well as describing the highs and lows of everyday life and dreaming into the abyss.

Throughout the night Jo Colley explains her influences for each poem, so that her audience can understand the relation between the two. After discussing several of her poems, a Q and A session took place, to learn more detail of why she had created the collection and what it meant to her for the anthology to be published. Colley explains that her work focuses on escapism. With her father being in the RAF, she was brought up around planes and even wanted to be an air hostess at one point. Everyone laughed in nostalgia, I mean who wouldn’t want to be an air hostess? With escapism coming naturally to her when thinking about flying, it was well suited that she decided to write Bones of Birds. With this, the crowd listened intently on her further readings of her anthology, applauding each piece along the way.

 Each poem that was read at the book launch of Bones of Birds was written effortlessly, as if the wording was at ease upon the ears. The storytelling performance of the poems helped intrigue the audience and rightly did so. Not a word or sound escaped the audience as they fell in trance to another one of Colley’s mesmerising pieces.

Towards the end of the night, refreshments were given and people were able to buy their IMG_2370copy of Colley’s anthology, followed by a signing of the book. Everyone was in high spirits as laughter filled the room and discussions of the poems followed into the night. This event was organised by Andy Willoughby and Bob Beagrie, founders of Ek Zuban and senior lecturers in Creative Writing at The University of Teesside. If anyone would like to learn more about Jo Colley’s Bones of Birds, visit http://smokestack-books.co.uk/book.php?book=103 were you are able to purchase the book and read some of the sample poems that were performed at the launch.