#18 Rosie Haigh
Congratulations Rosie! You will already have received an email from me and your book will be posted to you shortly. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Thank you once again to everyone that entered the giveaway
Showing posts with label JD Sharpe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label JD Sharpe. Show all posts
Monday, 27 February 2012
Oliver Twisted - JD Sharpe giveaway winner
Thank you to everyone that entered my international giveaway to win a copy of 'Oliver Twisted' by JD Sharpe. If you weren't successful this time then check back again soon when I'll be having another giveaway on the blog. 
I'm pleased to announce that the winner is:
Tuesday, 7 February 2012
Blog tour: Oliver Twisted - J.D Sharpe
I have a wonderful guest post today by J.D Sharpe, the author of the fabulous 'Oliver Twisted'. This was a fantastic read combining all the things I loved about Dicken's original novel with a fresh and unique new twist.
Me, Dickens and London
London was Dickens’s greatest inspiration. He knew its backstreets and alleys better than anyone. The slums that populated the city may have long-since been torn down for tube stations, but his vivid descriptions remain with us, a living, breathing history. Dickens often walked the streets, for hours on end, plotting his novels and observing the lives of men, women and children around him. With his words he conjures up for us the sights, smells and sounds of a bygone London.
As a born and bred Londoner, the city has a lot to do with how I define myself as a person. I love its busyness, its craziness. I love its glitter and grittiness. Living in London is like living in Technicolor, you have to be switched on and aware in a way that just isn’t quite the same anywhere else.
I no longer live in London but if you opened up my veins I think I would bleed a Central Line red with a bit of Piccadilly Line blue.
To write Oliver Twisted, I did quite a lot of research on Dickens. He had his frustrations with the city - he hated the poverty he saw and the bureaucracy of government that had its seat in London but when all is said and done he loved the city as much as I do.
So, as we are both such fans of big smoke, here are some of my favourite London haunts/memories and some of Dickens’s as well.
Favourite Theatre
CD For Dickens his favourite theatre may well have been the Lyceum Theatre. A stage adaptation of A Tale of Two Cities was performed here with Dickens overseeing rehearsals. It is said he might have even directed the play!
JD One of my favourite theatre experiences has got to be Accomplice. It is part show, part tour, part mystery and all of awesome. You can buy tickets at the Menier Chocolate Factory but London is really your stage for this event!
Favourite Restaurant
CD Rules is one of the oldest restaurants In London, it began its life in 1798. Dickens used to eat here often as have many other actors and literary greats including HG Wells and Charlie Chaplin.
JD Abu Zaad – A fantastic Syrian restaurant in Shepherds Bush. Great kebabs and fabulous fruit juices.
London Childhood Home
CD Dickens spent a chunk his childhood in Camden, at 16 Bayham Street to be precise although this building has now been torn down. He lived here while working near Covent Garden more of that later.
JD Hornsey. Home of Alexandra Palace Ice Rink, thespian Crouch End with lovely cafes, and the awesome Stroud Green and Harringey Library where I spent many an hour immersed in books when I was younger.
Toughest London Job
JD Working in a McDonalds, near the old Arsenal football stadium, when I was 16. Let’s just say that football fans + hungry does not = a pretty picture.
CD. Working just off the Strand, sticking labels onto pots of paste blacking used for boot polish when he was just 12 years old.
Favourite way to see London
CD Walking
Dickens would walk anything from 10 to 20 miles a day. He did this for exercise, recreation and thinking time. These series of apps capture his walks brilliantly.
JD Tube. I love writing on the tube, something about the movement helps me to think. Also it’s a great place to people watch [not in a creepy way] and is a marvellous vehicle of discoveries.
So, the next time you’re at a loose end, get a travel card and get off at a stop you’ve never been to before. I love doing this. I remember the first time I headed south of the river and went to Elephant and Castle because it sounded so cool.
I don’t know what I was expecting but it wasn’t that rather forlorn pink elephant on top of the shopping mall . . .
Me, Dickens and London
London was Dickens’s greatest inspiration. He knew its backstreets and alleys better than anyone. The slums that populated the city may have long-since been torn down for tube stations, but his vivid descriptions remain with us, a living, breathing history. Dickens often walked the streets, for hours on end, plotting his novels and observing the lives of men, women and children around him. With his words he conjures up for us the sights, smells and sounds of a bygone London.
As a born and bred Londoner, the city has a lot to do with how I define myself as a person. I love its busyness, its craziness. I love its glitter and grittiness. Living in London is like living in Technicolor, you have to be switched on and aware in a way that just isn’t quite the same anywhere else.
I no longer live in London but if you opened up my veins I think I would bleed a Central Line red with a bit of Piccadilly Line blue.
To write Oliver Twisted, I did quite a lot of research on Dickens. He had his frustrations with the city - he hated the poverty he saw and the bureaucracy of government that had its seat in London but when all is said and done he loved the city as much as I do.
So, as we are both such fans of big smoke, here are some of my favourite London haunts/memories and some of Dickens’s as well.
Favourite Theatre
CD For Dickens his favourite theatre may well have been the Lyceum Theatre. A stage adaptation of A Tale of Two Cities was performed here with Dickens overseeing rehearsals. It is said he might have even directed the play!
JD One of my favourite theatre experiences has got to be Accomplice. It is part show, part tour, part mystery and all of awesome. You can buy tickets at the Menier Chocolate Factory but London is really your stage for this event!
Favourite Restaurant
CD Rules is one of the oldest restaurants In London, it began its life in 1798. Dickens used to eat here often as have many other actors and literary greats including HG Wells and Charlie Chaplin.
JD Abu Zaad – A fantastic Syrian restaurant in Shepherds Bush. Great kebabs and fabulous fruit juices.
London Childhood Home
CD Dickens spent a chunk his childhood in Camden, at 16 Bayham Street to be precise although this building has now been torn down. He lived here while working near Covent Garden more of that later.
JD Hornsey. Home of Alexandra Palace Ice Rink, thespian Crouch End with lovely cafes, and the awesome Stroud Green and Harringey Library where I spent many an hour immersed in books when I was younger.
Toughest London Job
JD Working in a McDonalds, near the old Arsenal football stadium, when I was 16. Let’s just say that football fans + hungry does not = a pretty picture.
CD. Working just off the Strand, sticking labels onto pots of paste blacking used for boot polish when he was just 12 years old.
Favourite way to see London
CD Walking
Dickens would walk anything from 10 to 20 miles a day. He did this for exercise, recreation and thinking time. These series of apps capture his walks brilliantly.
JD Tube. I love writing on the tube, something about the movement helps me to think. Also it’s a great place to people watch [not in a creepy way] and is a marvellous vehicle of discoveries.
So, the next time you’re at a loose end, get a travel card and get off at a stop you’ve never been to before. I love doing this. I remember the first time I headed south of the river and went to Elephant and Castle because it sounded so cool.
I don’t know what I was expecting but it wasn’t that rather forlorn pink elephant on top of the shopping mall . . .
Monday, 6 February 2012
Review and Giveaway: Oliver Twisted - JD Sharpe
Oliver Twisted by JD Sharpe, published by Electric Monkey on 6th February 2012
Goodreads synopsis:
The world according to Oliver Twisted is simple. Vampyres feed on the defenceless. Orphans are sacrificed to hungry gods. And if a woe-begotten catches your scent it will hunt you for ever. When a talking corpse reveals that Oliver will find his destiny in London, he sets out to seek the truth. Even if it means losing his soul.
Review:
'Oliver Twisted' is one of the first offerings from Egmont's new young adult imprint Electric Monkey. Published to tie-in with the bicentenary of Charles Dickens, 'Oliver Twisted' puts a fresh spin on the Dickens classic while remaining true to the spirit of the original.
I'm a huge admirer of Dicken's work so I was immediately intrigued about this title. Much like the author JD Sharpe, I've always loved 'Oliver Twist' and enjoyed the story of an orphan boy whose life eventually takes a turn for the better after enduring hardship and adversity. I was curious to see how the author was going to reintroduce this story to a whole new audience of readers while injecting it with a modern twist. The introduction of vampyres, zombies and werewolves does the job quite nicely!
Familiar characters are not forgotten and are cleverly interwoven into the story, including faces such as the Artful Dodger, Nancy, Bill Sykes and the wicked Fagin. It was fun to see Dodger turning himself into a wisp of smoke and Fagin having a magical hold over his boys.
A new backstory is invented for Oliver who is still an orphan but now also becomes a pawn who the infamous and evil Brotherhood want to use to defeat the Knights of Nostradamus. I thought this was an interesting subversion of the original plot and meant that the story actually became far darker and creepier than the classic we all know and love. Before starting this book I did worry that it might be a bit too gory for my tastes but in actuality I found that there were just the right amount of thrills and spills to make this a compulsive and exciting read.
'Oliver Twisted' is an inventive take on a much loved classic and one which will have widespread appeal for both a male and female readership. I really enjoyed reading it and look forward to more books by JD Sharpe in the future.
To celebrate the release of 'Oliver Twisted' I'm giving away a paperback copy of the book. The giveaway is international but you must be a follower of my blog to enter. Just fill out your details on the form below. Good luck!
Giveaway rules.
Goodreads synopsis:
The world according to Oliver Twisted is simple. Vampyres feed on the defenceless. Orphans are sacrificed to hungry gods. And if a woe-begotten catches your scent it will hunt you for ever. When a talking corpse reveals that Oliver will find his destiny in London, he sets out to seek the truth. Even if it means losing his soul.
Review:
'Oliver Twisted' is one of the first offerings from Egmont's new young adult imprint Electric Monkey. Published to tie-in with the bicentenary of Charles Dickens, 'Oliver Twisted' puts a fresh spin on the Dickens classic while remaining true to the spirit of the original.
I'm a huge admirer of Dicken's work so I was immediately intrigued about this title. Much like the author JD Sharpe, I've always loved 'Oliver Twist' and enjoyed the story of an orphan boy whose life eventually takes a turn for the better after enduring hardship and adversity. I was curious to see how the author was going to reintroduce this story to a whole new audience of readers while injecting it with a modern twist. The introduction of vampyres, zombies and werewolves does the job quite nicely!
Familiar characters are not forgotten and are cleverly interwoven into the story, including faces such as the Artful Dodger, Nancy, Bill Sykes and the wicked Fagin. It was fun to see Dodger turning himself into a wisp of smoke and Fagin having a magical hold over his boys.
A new backstory is invented for Oliver who is still an orphan but now also becomes a pawn who the infamous and evil Brotherhood want to use to defeat the Knights of Nostradamus. I thought this was an interesting subversion of the original plot and meant that the story actually became far darker and creepier than the classic we all know and love. Before starting this book I did worry that it might be a bit too gory for my tastes but in actuality I found that there were just the right amount of thrills and spills to make this a compulsive and exciting read.
'Oliver Twisted' is an inventive take on a much loved classic and one which will have widespread appeal for both a male and female readership. I really enjoyed reading it and look forward to more books by JD Sharpe in the future.
To celebrate the release of 'Oliver Twisted' I'm giving away a paperback copy of the book. The giveaway is international but you must be a follower of my blog to enter. Just fill out your details on the form below. Good luck!
Giveaway rules.
- There will be one winner.
- Open to International entrants.
- Please fill out the form completely - especially the required details.
- You must be a follower to enter.
- Deadline for entries will be on 22nd February.
- Winner will be drawn by random.org
- Winner will be contacted via e-mail, and will be given 48 hours to response. Otherwise, a new winner will be drawn.
- Any details will be deleted after use and will not be passed on to any third party.
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