Guest Post: Jeff Norton, Author of the MetaWars Series

A little while ago, I reviewed the first book in the MetaWars series, a interesting and fast-moving take on the dystopian genre. Well, now that series is coming to an end with the release of the fourth and last book, so today, I welcome the author Jeff Norton, to talk about the mixed feelings that come with saying goodbye to characters after a long journey together...

I’ve spent the past four years with my characters.  And now it’s time to say goodbye.

Characters occupy a strange part of a writer’s brain, an uncharted netherworld somewhere between dream and reality.  To me, these people are real. I see them. I hear them. But to everyone else, they are fictional constructs that exist only on the page.

My greatest hope is that Jonah and Sam become as real to the reader as they are to me. They’ve already made the great leap from my brain to the page.  And now they exist on their own, for readers to meet and inspect and analyze.  I’ve done what I can. It’s up to them to make the final jump from page to heart, to take up residence in some small corner of the reader’s life. 

If you’ve read the MetaWars novels, you’ll know that immortality is a central theme of the books.  In the world I’ve created, people yearn to live forever in a digital way – “Uploading” their consciousness to the internet in order to outlive their mortal bodies – digital immortality.  And I suppose that’s what I hope to achieve for my characters. 

Long after I’m gone, like authors of long gone generations, I hope that future readers will discover Jonah’s quest, his troublesome coming of age in a confusing world, and his friendship with Sam, and the two main characters will live anew in the mind of those unknowable, future readers.  Likely, they’ll read the books in some digital form that we haven’t yet dreamed up, and not on paper, and in that way, reality will mirror fiction: Jonah and Sam will achieve their digital immortality.  They will outlive me, outlive their current physical (paperback) form, and jump from generation to generation along a digital spectrum.  And if they do that, they can truly live forever and my “goodbye” will not final.

Thank you so much Jeff for sharing this rather moving take on well-loved characters. And I'll be reviewing some more of the MetaWars book in the very near future...

Jeff Norton is the author of the MetaWars saga from Orchard Books.  The final installment, MetaWars 4.0: The Freedom Frontier publishes 2^nd January, 2014.  Find Jeff on the web at www.jeffnorton.com, twitter at www.twitter.com/thejeffnorton and facebook at www.facebook.com/thejeffnorton.

TRAVEL MONTH GUEST POST - POTENTIAL BOOK IDEA THAT AUTHORS SHOULD WRITE FOR ME (PBITASWFM) by Jo from Wear The Old Coat

Now, with a theme month comes guest posts, and I knew exactly who I as going to ask to do my first one. I am very, very, immensely pleased to welcome the very funny, very fabulous Jo from Wear The Old Coat. Her reviews always have me in stitches as I'm sure they do you, because if you're not reading them, then you bloody well should be. 


Anyway, over to you Jo...

Now because I have the slightest of slight book buying problems, most of my money goes on decorating my bookshelves and adding to my teetering ‘to-read’ pile. And because I’m an impoverished book buyer, I don’t have much spare cash lying around to go wandering around our glorious globe. 

But one of the joys of reading for me is the ability for them to take you to places that you’ve never been before.
I know that sounds like an awful cliché, but it’s true.
The rain can be hammering on my bedroom window or I could be stuck on a crammed train pressed up against a random stranger who is eating cheese and onion crisps, but if I’ve got a book in my hand, I could be anywhere.

The books transported her into new worlds and introduced her to amazing people who lived exciting lives. She went on olden-day sailing ships with Joseph Conrad. She went to Africa with Ernest Hemingway and to India with Rudyard Kipling. She travelled all over the world while sitting in her little room in an English village.” 

― Roald Dahl, Matilda

However, when I am sitting in my little room in an English village, there are a few places that I would like to travel to but these books haven’t be written yet.
And I know young adult authors are very busy people, what with the writing and all, and they just don’t have time to plan and write books willy-nilly.
So, to help them out, I have compiled a list both of places I’ve been to and would like to go again and places that I’m desperate to go to and I’ve come up with a Potential Book Idea That Authors Should Write For Me [PBITASWFM].


Berlin.

 
I have always, always wanted to go Germany and do it properly. I say ‘properly’ because I have actually been there once (a high school trip to Cologne but we were there for approximately two hours and I nearly fell down the stairs of the bell tower. If any of you have ever been there before you will know that there was a great risk of me breaking me face!). A couple of months ago, the comedian Al Murray did a travel documentary around Germany and it was absolutely wonderful. I fell in love with the beauty of the landscape, the breath taking architecture and the fantastic characters he met along the way. And ever since I saw that, I have been desperate to go. 

PBITASWFM: This is going to be a historical novel and before you groan and roll your eyes and shout at me because woah, woah, woah Germany was only part of one period in the entire history of the world… I want this to be set in the ‘60s at construction of the Berlin Wall a la Goodbye Lenin!     

I’m going big with this one because I am desperate for this book to be written. I’m thinking that this book is going to have to be told from two perspectives because I believe it would be the only way to do this subject justice. The first perspective is going to be in modern day Berlin where the MC looks back at his/her history and the second is going to be told by a person who was directly affected by the construction of The Wall. After all, history affects everyone, doesn’t it?
I would love a young adult book that not only gave a realistic portrayal of this period but also celebrated the brilliant spirit of Germany and its culture and, of course, took me on a tour around modern day Berlin.
Obviously, this book would be a bit of a project, so I would not mind coming to Berlin and helping out with the research and the eating of delicious German cuisine. 


New York.

Like any girl who has watched every single episode of Sex and the City approximately ONE MILLION times, I want to go to New York. To me, New York is the place where you go when you’ve made it. Naïve, I know, but I don’t care. I do heart NY.
But because I’m a bit of a film geek [I actually did my dissertation on films set in NY] and I’ve seen lots and lots of films set there, I feel like I’ve already been there. That’s not to say I wouldn’t go in a heartbeat if someone said “HEY JO! FREE TICKETS TO NEW YORK. GO!”
So if there is a book that’s going to be written set in New York, I want it to be somewhere I’ve never been before. Like this: 

   

Isn’t that gorgeous?! That’s the abandoned underground station underneath City Hall. 

PBITASWFM: Basically, I’m after Cath Crowley’s Graffiti Moon… but set in New York. A mad night in New York where two characters who have only just met run around the streets of NY, seeing things that tourists aren’t usually privy to, and fall in crazy, beautiful love. 


Kenya

If I could visit anywhere in the world, it would be here. Can you imagine waking up to a giraffe looking at you through your window?! 

PBITASWFM: Who am I kidding? I would literally read anything set here. You want me to be more specific? *Sigh* OK, fine. I’m using the idea that Reynje and I came up with a few weeks ago.
Warning: It’s mental.
A girl discovers that she can change into a lion when she gets angry and discovers that her sensitive best friend who has been in love with her since she was about two can turn into a zebra. One day, she turns into a lion and runs around the Serengeti and meets a brooding Wildebeest who turns into a dangerous boy with floppy hair and a crooked smile.
And together they… like, save the world or something.  


Edinburgh 

OK, I’ve been to Edinburgh so many times I’ve lost count but, after Manchester, it’s my favourite city that I’ve been to. I just love everything about it.
This book is going to be set in Mary King’s Close. You can find out more  here but basically, it’s an underground street just off Edinburgh’s Royal Mile and it combines period dress, history and GHOSTS. That’s right, ghosts.

PBITASWFM: A history student from Edinburgh University gets a job as a guide in Mary King’s Close and… wait… why am I telling you this? This is the book that I want to write. You’ll just have to wait and see...



Thank you to the gorgeous Anna for allowing me to ramble all over her blog!




Wow, thanks Jo! I think you'll all agree that these MUST BE WRITTEN. Preferably by Jo herself. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Check out her awfully good blog right here folks. Maybe we can all start petitioning her to write the German one...