Friday, March 29, 2013

Discover ...The Master's Book


Today we are gathered here to learn more about...

Sean moves to Brussels to a house that is a crime scene...

For a FREE copy of THE MASTER'S BOOK to review, just scroll down to the end of this post and answer the simple question...


Philip, thanks for agreeing to share a little about yourself and your novel today.
Your book has been released through Museitup Publishing. Can you tell us what inspired you to write The Master’s Book? Reading the blurb, it sounds like a thrilling YA adventure
.
First of all, I lived in Brussels at the time when my son and daughter were the ages of Sean and Maeve in the story (but there the resemblance ends, I must stress!). I started writing the book at a time when I was a bit down and wanted to re-capture that happy period of my life. Stephanie, the main female protagonist, was inspired by the many beautiful mixed race children that my own children mixed with in the European school, although again her personality is her own.

Did your characters follow your plot path or did they take on a life of their own? Do you keep them in check or let them take control?

They very much take on a life of their own so that any prior plotting tends to end up in the bin! Still, I have to keep some rein on them or the story can go off-piste (you can see that I’m learning to ski just now).

Writing the story is only half the exercise though, isn’t it. Becoming published is not always easy. Even with self-publishing as an option. What do you think is the most important thing a writer needs to face, along the road to publication?

First of all, especially with children’s writing, it’s very important to be realistic. Lots of well-meaning people remind me of J.K.Rowling’s experience but that is so untypical. Most authors struggle, even when they get published. Also, while you mustn’t give up writing, you need to learn to move on from one project to another after a certain point, because otherwise you just risk disappointment and demotivation. Besides, trying different styles and scenarios is good practice.

What has been the hardest hurdle for you in getting your novel published?

Both this novel and a previous project twice got to second readings with potential publishers before being turned down so I experienced the frustration of knowing I was doing something right but not knowing what I was doing wrong. All in all it’s just been a long haul and if I’d taken the advice I just gave above I’d have moved on (I had, in fact, started on another project).

Have you always been a writer?

Not since my teens until about seven years ago, when I was inspired to write after reading Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy. So it’s no surprise that I like feisty girl characters – although in the case of The Master’s Book, the feisty girl (Stephanie) is counterbalanced by a more uncertain boy, who is the narrator.

What is your favourite pastime, when not writing?

Anything that revolves around food and drink; either cooking food, eating it, reading about it, watching food programmes on TV, or just talking about it! That said, I love reading (fiction and history), cinema and classical music. In terms of physical stuff, I live in the mountains so I’ve plenty of opportunities to walk or ski. I also like swimming and I go to the gym to work 
off the food!
BLURB
In 1482 Mary, the last Duchess of Burgundy, lies on her deathbed in a castle in Flanders. She is only 24. In her final moments she makes a wish that, 500 years later, will threaten the lives of a boy and a girl living in Brussels.
The Master’s Book is the story of Sean, an Irish teenager, just arrived in Brussels to a house that is also a crime scene. Together with Stephanie, his classmate, he finds an illuminated manuscript, only for it to be stolen almost at once.

Where did this manuscript come from? Who was it originally made for? Is there a connection with the beautiful tomb Sean has seen in Bruges? Above all, why does someone want this book so badly that they are prepared to kill for it?

Part thriller and part paper-chase, this book is aimed at boys and girls of twelve and over.

EXCERPT:
“So tell me more about this murder.”

What am I to say? I’d love to tell her what I found this morning, but can I trust her?

“There’s not really much more to tell,” I said. “The house was ransacked, but we don’t know what they were looking for.” 

“Hmm. So you don’t think there’s still something hidden somewhere in the house?” 

She’s near the mark.

“No, I’m sure there isn’t,” I said, trying to hide my surprise.

“Oh, come on.” She poked my shoulder. “You realise you’ve missed a chance to make up a really good story.”

The laugh I gave mustn’t have been very convincing, maybe because I’d fixed my gaze on the floor. She stared hard at me and suddenly gave me a nudge. 

“You’re not telling me everything, you sly thing,” she cried. “You did find something. You were trying to keep it a secret, weren’t you?”

Inside, we could see neat stacks of framed pictures against both walls, their backs facing out. Starting with the left-hand stack, I pulled them forward one by one: an old-fashioned painting of some horses in a field, another of a mountain waterfall, one of a woman in a blue dress, and then a painting of a vase of flowers. 

“I’ve no idea if these are valuable,” I said, “but they’re certainly old.”

I turned to the right-hand stack, all black-and-white stuff like sketches and architectural drawings. 

“What’s in here?” Stephanie asked, turning the light on a steel cabinet with an airtight door that was set into the end wall. “Here, hold the torch.”

The big handle of the cabinet reminded me of one I’d seen on a walk-in meat store once. Stephanie had to use both hands to swing it open. Inside we could see two rows of folders hanging sideways like files from metal frames. She pulled on the lower frame, and it slid out. She lifted one of the folders out at random.

It contained several yellowing sheets of paper with old-fashioned writing, each one separated from the next by a piece of tissue paper. We tried another folder and found more of the same. 

Stephanie fingered them gently. “What can these be, I wonder? I’m not sure if I can read them. Some of the words look like Flemish, and some like German.”

She put the folder back carefully and took out another. “I think these ones are in French, but I’m not sure. Some of the words are strange.”

“Well it doesn’t look like there’s anything here in English, anyway.” I looked into the gap where she’d taken out the folder. 

That was when something else caught my eye.

“Wait a minute,” I whispered, the hair on the back of my neck standing up.

“What?” asked Stephanie, also dropping her voice to a whisper.

“There’s something else behind these folders. Here, help me get a few more out.”

She did as I asked, and we looked into the space again. 

“What the—” I began, but Stephanie got there first.

“Why is there a safe hidden back here? It’s not as if this room is easy to find.”

“Or that the rest of the stuff here isn’t worth a lot,” I added.

 “Exactly.” Stephanie exclaimed. “What on earth was this guy up to?”

The safe looked like the ones you see in hotel bedrooms, with buttons instead of a combination dial, only a bit bigger.

“Whatever’s in there must really be in a different league,” I went on, probing the buttons.

“I don’t suppose you can figure out the combination, can you, mister smart kid?”

“No,” I muttered. I couldn’t tell if she was being sarcastic when she called me “mister smart kid”.

“Pity. You’ve been doing so well up until now.”

I still didn’t know if she meant that as a compliment or not. Best not to take the credit if I didn’t know her intentions.

“Well, it was Maeve who first spotted that the basement was smaller than it should be,” I reminded her, trying to sound as if I didn’t care about her compliments. 

“I forgot about that,” said Stephanie, laughing. “Maybe we should bring her in on the whole thing now.”

“No way.” The last thing I wanted was for Maeve to butt in on my time with Stephanie, not that I was going to admit why I didn’t want Maeve there. “If we do that, we might as well tell my folks, because I reckon that’s what she’d do.”

“Oh, well, we can’t have that. At least, not until we see if we can work out for ourselves what’s in there. It might be diamonds or something. Maybe the guy was a crook. We could get a reward.”

“Well, Dad said the neighbours didn’t like him, but that doesn’t mean he was a crook. Still, I suppose you never know. Anyway, we’re not going to find out one way or the other if we can’t work out the combination, are we? 

“He’s probably written it down in code somewhere.”

“Yeah right. Now who’s been watching too much TV?”

“No, I think people actually do that. If this guy—what did you say his name was?”

“Jan. Jan de Meulenaer.” I’d heard Dad mention it often enough to remember.

“Well, maybe this Jan guy made some kind of a note of it somewhere to make sure he wouldn’t forget. But if the safe is this well-hidden, he won’t have just written it down somewhere obvious where everyone can find it. He’d leave himself a clue somewhere.”

“I don’t think so,” I said, reluctantly starting to put back the folders. “The house was completely empty when we moved in. They’d even redecorated it.”

“Let me think,” said Stephanie slowly, fingering her lower lip.

“Well, we can’t stay down here, anyway.” I glanced at my watch. “The folks might walk in anytime. And Maeve is always nosy.”

“All right. Let’s lock up then.”


Sounds great Philip... Thanks for sharing a little about The Master's Book with us today.
You can discover more about Philip, at THE RELUCTANT IRISHMAN

Now... the simple question to answer to get yourself a FREE copy of THE MASTER'S BOOK
Where does Sean move to?
Email your answer to CaleathsQuest @ Gmail.com (no spaces) and I will forward your request to the author.
Thanks again for dropping in.


3 comments:

Wendy said...

Nice to meet you Philip.
I enjoyed your excerpt. You've set up some intriguing story questions to delight your YA audience. I like the way you show Sean's both faces. Stephanie comes across as lively and both are likeable.
Sounds like a wonderful book. Good Luck with it.

Rosalie Skinner said...

Thanks for dropping in Wendy...
Philip's book does look interesting.

Philip Coleman author said...

Thanks Wendy. Hope you enjoy reading it.