Once in a lifetime chance to meet Stephanie Meyer!

Stephanie Meyer is holding a video competition and the prize is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to meet the author of the Twilight series in person!

You need to record a short film of you explaining why you are Stephenie Meyer’s biggest Superfan and why you should get to meet her! Your video should be no more than 60 seconds long. Even one second longer and you’ll be disqualified!

For more info on how to enter, go to www.stepheniemeyer.co.uk

Even if you don’t win, send your videos to us! We’d love to see them!

Pretty Little Liars

If you’ve ever wanted to read Sara Shepherd’s ‘Pretty Little Liars’ series, but you don’t have time to come into the library, then there’s good news for you! The first book in the series, ‘Pretty Little Liars’, is available from Harper Collins as an e-book from their website that you can browse for free from home!

Click the widget below and it will take you straight to the book, it’s just that easy! If you prefer to read them in physical form, then don’t forget we’ve got the whole series in the Mosman Library Teen Zone.

f2m:the Boy Within ‘The Two of Us’ and Writing From a Different Perspective

Check out the f2m: the boy within Book trailer

We’re co-authors who are very different.

Ryan Kennedy and I collaborated on writing ‘f2m; the boy within.’ Even choosing the title was shared. Ryan thought it sounded like texting. I wanted a sub title, which would hint the YA book, was about transitioning gender.

Like most people I didn’t know much about terms like mtf or ftm before I started researching this YA novel. ( mtf is Male to female) ( ftm is female to male)

But Ryan did.

We called our novel f2m to describe how we worked 2gether. Across two countries (Australia and New Zealand) on Skype, web chats and email, and across genders and generations.
He is inbetween my kids in age.

A family friend, I knew him when he was passing as an 11 year old girl.
Now he’s a man, and this is his first novel. But our character Skye-who is later named Finn, is 18, just at the age when big decisions have to be made about ID and formal stuff like driver licenses, passports, work. Skye is a punk, and punk music is another language I had to learn as well as the language of gender.

What’s the novel about?

School-leaver Skye plays guitar in her all-female Chronic Cramps
band. Making her name in the punk/indie scene is easier than
FTM (female to male) transitioning: from Skye to Finn, from girl
to man. Uncovering genetic mysteries about family heritage tear
the family apart. Trans gender identity is more than injections and
surgery, it’s about acceptance. Going public, Finn sings ftm lyrics on
TV. With a little help from bemused mates and family who don’t want
to lose a daughter, but who love their teenager, Finn is transitioning.

Ryan says: Being the transgender half of the writing team, it was up to me to bring my trans perspective and make the transition story real. It would take years of research for a non-transgender person to write this kind of story while accurately reflecting what we feel and experience during transition. At the same time I didn’t want to ‘represent’ all trans people by presenting only one way to transition. This is just one possible way to transition and not the correct way or the only way. It’s a fictional character’s experience based loosely on my own.

Hazel says:
‘I think a good writer needs to be androgynous and able to create credible characters of gender, age and interests different from their own biological details. The skill is research and observation PLUS I think you also need an expert reader from those areas to check you have picked up on the nuances of other gender or occupations. I’ve written from the viewpoint of a 21 year old male expeditioner in my ‘Antarctica’s Frozen Chosen’ but checked with other expeditioners I had the male viewpoint right. That’s why Ryan was such an important co-writer on ‘f2m’. It was a genuinely equal partnership, even if it was his first book and my 200th.

In the YA novel f2m’the boy within, we’re in the situation of having an 18 year old protagonist who transitions from female to male (although always male inside).. Do you use ‘he’ or ‘she’ ? The great challenge is the pronouns, and trying to write a blurb where the protagonist changes gender in one sentence. And not making a complex situation sound glib. But it’s been a satisfying working partnership, especially as we’ve done much online. Exciting. I think writing from a different viewpoint for the length of a novel is excellent discipline for an author.

What about the punk research?

Ryan says:

I’I was just as committed to presenting an accurate version of the punk scene as I was a transgender character. It’s a culture that’s often misrepresented. On the musical side there’s everything from pure noise bands to skilful musicians, and everything from those who’ve had many music lessons to self-taught artists. The fans are diverse and welcome diversity, and there’s a culture of questioning and equality. I found it a great setting to explore my identity and I am dismayed when punk is portrayed as being wild for the sake of wild. Its rebellion is usually focused towards social change. Some rebellion is healthy. Transgender people are gender rebels.’

The electronic way in which we co-wrote this novel, using Skype and email has been an innovation. So it’s been pleasing to see the way YA bloggers have picked up the novel for their reviews and guest blogs. We hope that soon it will go into an audio format so you can listen to ‘f2m;the boy within’ and maybe one day watch the film or TV adapation. We’re open to new media offers! But at 70,000 words , the novel is a bit long to Twitter.

Check out the authors websites –
Ryan Kennedy – www.ryanscottkennedy.com
Hazel Edwards – www.hazeledwards.com

If you would like to find out more about the book and the topic the following reviews are very thoughtful-
The Great Raven
January Magazine
Reading Stack
Genre Flash

Garth Nix at Mosman Library!!

Hi Guys,

Garth Nix is coming to Mosman Library to talk about his new book, the final chapter of The Keys to the Kingdom series Lord Sunday on Tuesday 16 February at 4:00pm.

Master of the Incomparable Gardens, the last of the Trustees, and the most powerful Denizen in the house, Lord Sunday is a fierce opponent. And Arthur is running out of time.

What will be revealed when the Will of the Architect is finally made whole?

This is a free event and a great chance to listen to a fantastic writer talk about a fascinating series.

Bookings are essential and can be done at the library or by using the Make a booking at the top right of this screen.

Check out Garth’s website here or his facebook page

For any more info get in touch with the library on 9978 4091

Edwina Harvey guest blogs on The Whale's Tale!!

Hi guys, and thanks for giving me the chance to chat to you about my new SF novel, The Whale’s Tale and also about the part I play in Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine

I think I fell into science fiction before I even knew what it was. I enjoyed watching TV shows like Astro Boy, The Thunderbirds, Dr Who and Star Trek when I was a kid, and I still do!

I’m also a self-proclaimed “whale and dolphin geek”. I started collecting dolphin and whale figurines while I was in high-school, and I started reading non-fiction books about them around then too. I was horrified to learn that many cultures around the world still hunt whales and dolphins, especially when so many sub-species are considered endangered because of declining numbers.

There have been a lot of experiments done that show dolphins appear to be very intelligent creatures . In the past many scientists, including John Lilly, have experimented with dolphins and killer whales to see if they could communicate with humans, and those experiments were successful to a certain degree.

That idea stuck in my mind. I believe dolphins and whales are sentient creatures. There have been numerous cases of them interacting with humans from dolphins saving drowning swimmers, to humpback whales carefully moving their pectoral fins out of the way so they didn’t hit a diver. So then I started asking myself “What if…?”

What if these creatures had a voice and they could tell us what they thought about being hunted?

What if they‘re as intelligent as us, or even more intelligent than us?
Lots of people around the world listen to whalesong. What if aliens also liked hearing whales sing?

And what if a Japanese teenage girl and a humpback whale – two past adversaries- were thrown together? In this case on the whale’s spaceship while he toured the galaxy performing whalesong. Would the whale’s memories of the past stop him accepting the girl because of her heritage?

That’s pretty much how The Whale’s Tale came about. I don’t think it’s as dorky as it sounds whenever I try to describe my book to people.

My book’s fantastic cover was produced by brilliant young artist, Elleanor Clarke. I’ve worked with her before when she designed a cover for Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine. I’m a member of the Andromeda Spaceways co-operative. We all take turns at doing different jobs, and editing issues of the magazine which is available in print and PDF form through andromedaspaceways.com

Reading submitted stories, and editing four issues of Andromeda Spaceways has taught me a lot about how to improve my own writing. I don’t only write science fiction either. I’ve had a couple of stories published in collections for children, and I’ve written interviews and articles, including an article on how to turn your dog into transport published in Grass Roots magazine recently.
I’d be happy to chat to anyone and answer questions.

Edwina