Lost in a Sea of Words: Review of Larby Lodge

Lost in a Sea of Words: Review of Larby Lodge: Hey everyone!!! It's review time! I met this awesome husband/wife writing duo on www.worldliteracycafe.com and recently read their novel. T...

                                            Amanda Hocking, Gail Gallacher, Eric Goldman

Amanda Hocking and the Kindle Million Club!

Here I am with the uber successful Amanda Hocking - one of the first members of the Kindle Million club. She self published her popular Trylle series and sold so many copies that she had agents and publishers chasing her. She's now a New York Times Bestselling Author, and she buys cool things with her earnings like a life-size replica of Hans Solo frozen in carbonite...I think Paul would probably love one of those too! This is Amanda doing an event on behalf of Waterstones at Aylsham High. She was jetting off to Spain just after to continue her worldwide tour...that's the life!

Amanda was adamant that her success was due to the enthusiasm and support she got from the blogging world. So bloggers everywhere we salute you, but do give self-published authors a chance - a lot of the time they are fantastic writers. It's tough to get a break at the moment, so why not publicise your own work if you have the creative means?

We'd love to hear everyone's thoughts on this;

Are you struggling to get a deal?
Have you decided to bypass submissions completely and do it for yourself?

Another mock-up of characters. I guess this is almost like a mood-board for what is now book 3: Mitford Falls. Note the prominence of Pandora (Marilyn Monroe-inspired), she was to be just as big a character as Eve in the original book 1, but we quickly realised that we were narrating from too many different perspectives, so we honed in on Eve's story. Pandora is a really strong character though, so she will most definately bob up to cause some conflict later in Eve's journey.

Characters: Part 2

When we write, it's like we have a movie playing in our head. These were the actors in our imagined movie of Mitford Falls, which was originally going to be book 1, but has now become book 3 in The Sword And The Flame series. Note that unfortunately two of these actors are dead. Heath Ledger was going to be Marcus, you'll have to wait for his character! Marilyn Monroe (or as close as we could get) is our Pandora, again, you won't discover her for a while yet...but boy is she an amazing character. Josh Hartnett is our vision of Jude Cawood (Pandora's love interest). Liv Tyler (or Jennifer Connolly as she was in Labyrinth) has always been our vision of Eve. Heather Graham is an older and more together version of Iris, if you want a version of her as she is in Larby Lodge, check out the actress from Wild Child and St Trinians: Juno Temple.

Note: Someone missing? You're right! James was only a minor character in Mitford Falls, but drew our attention so much, that we had to give him a bigger role, so as Eve's love interest, we have always imagined James to be played by Alex Pettyfer.

Let us know if you think different and if so, who do you picture as Eve, James and Iris?



Eve at the pond by Gail Gallacher 2012

Characters:

Eve Rivers is the central character (the female protagonist) in Larby Lodge. She is 14 years old and going through a tough time, as she reaches what can only be described as a magical puberty, or as we call it her Awakening. Not only does Eve have to learn to deal with her fledgling magical powers, she also has to cope with great personal loss; following the death of her sister and her mother.

But as Eve has believed all along, foul play is at work. And if she doesn't figure out who killed her family and why, she will most certainly be next on their list.

After an outburst of wild magic nearly kills her father and his new girlfriend, Eve is sent to Larby Lodge; a correctional facility for troubled girls. Surrounded by other users of wild magic, Eve must learn the technique of self-control from a peaceful group called the Paters, who negate all of their magical powers, to lead a simple life.

But will their simple lifestyle put everyone in danger? Or can Eve escape in time to defend herself from those that bear a grudge against her and her family?


More characters to follow!