Giveaway and Interview: Glee Girl by Magda Knight

Glee Girl by Magda Knight

Megan is blessed with a voice so unique that everyone around her is more inclined to think it's a curse. It's getting so bad they're saying it to her face. Her only dream is to get into Glee Club, but as her astonishing vocal talents lead to friction, frenemies and a series of near-lethal accidents, she may have to seriously rethink her options...

Glee Girl (Banshee Myth)

Mythology note: The Banshee of Irish myth was sometimes a hag but often a beautiful woman wearing white, her eyes red, as though she’d been crying. Her wailing keening cry would foretell a death. She often attached herself to families and picked them off one by one. The Banshee wasn’t entirely a creature to be feared: It is said that bad people who heard her cry would die a bad death and suffer thereafter, but good people would die and remain happy in the Celtic version of the afterlife.

The Campbell High canteen walls are crammed floor to ceiling with posters promoting next week’s Battle of the Bands, but I lower my head and focus on my cold fries instead. The problem is that (a) that on a scale of one to appealing my fries register a fat zero and (b) being a lead singer in a band is what I want more than anything in the world, ever ever ever.

Magda Knight writes speculative fiction, both YA and adult. Sci-fi, horror, dystopia, urban fantasy and steampunk are the things that dreams and futures are made of. When she grows up she would like to be a sword or a bear.

--The Twitter version: tell us about your book in 140 characters or less.

Real-life #mermaids rock. But high school bullies who shun you because of your fused hands suck. Meet Ondine, the Seal Girl.

--How did you get the idea for the story?

I’ve always been interested in selkies – they’re like mermaids, but they swim in the seas of the North Atlantic and they’re truly tough. I tried to think what a tough mermaid-girl would be like in real life, because the bottom half of a fish and a reluctance to wear anything other than a shelled bra probably wouldn’t cut it in high school. Then I learned about Type IV syndactyly, which leaves you born with fused-together hands, and Irish swimming champion Ondine was born…

--Which character would you most/least like to have dinner with?

I’d like to have dinner with Candy because she’d do my nails, she says anything she likes and she knows how to have a good time. I think she’s had a hard life and it doesn’t faze her. She’s just relaxed and cool.

I’d also love to meet Colleen, the hacker in Geek Girl. You’ll meet her in Seal Girl, the first in this Mythology High trilogy, but you’ll never even notice she’s there. She just hands Ondine a bikini and that’s it. But then she gets a story all to herself in Geek Girl and you discover she’s AMAZING. She’s a hugely opinionated hacker who can do just about anything with a computer terminal and the only thing that holds her back is her slightly shaky moral code. I love the idea that someone who gets a single line in a story is the fabulous star of another one. Isn’t that just like people in real life? You pass someone in the street, and just file them under “nice coat” or “good hair” or “seriously, pushing-past-me-person, could you be any more rude?” but they’re the star of the film of their own life. We all are. A cameo in one person’s life story is the star of their own.

--Do you have any other works in progress? Any teasers or release dates?

I’ve just finished putting the finishing touches to a YA psychological mystery novel called House of Sighs. The plot? Jane wakes up in an orphanage where the friendly nurses all wear eerie white masks and literally eat you alive, and the only thing she remembers is her name. I’ve had great fun writing it. It’s creepy and cold, full of Bad Things and statues at midnight. It takes the idea of ‘hanging out with the wrong crowd’ to a whole new apocalyptic level. I think this book might be a bit dangerous. Good.

--What are some of your favorite books? Do you still have much time to read?

Reading is one of my great pleasures, and as I travel to work on the train I have to toss a mental coin between reading a lovely book dripping with words, doodling in my Big Book of Things or playing a video game instead (currently playing ‘Knights of the Old Republic’ on the iPad mini, but I hugely recommend ‘Broken Sword’). My favourite ever adult book is probably ‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt. I read a lot of comics, and if you love things on the creepy side of YA you should read ‘Locke and Key’ by Joe Hill immediately. I’m not going to lie, I just love the cosy joy of Harry Potter #nohaterz #stayingstrong #kthxbai. Like everyone else, I think ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ by Madeleine L’Engle is one of the best children’s books ever. And the wisest man I never met was Dr. Seuss.

--If a fairy godmother told you could be put into the world of your favorite book for 24 hours, which book would you pick and why?

First, I would try to cut a deal with the fairy godmother to see if she could offer me something else more useful instead, because I love to cut a deal. Obviously she’d tell me in no uncertain terms to take it or leave it, so…

I would pick His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman. A boyfriend once suggested that every time you go through a gate you pass into a very slightly different world. I love travel, and I want to world-hop with the best of them. I want that aleithometer. I want that knife. I’d love to meet my daemon, too.

--Do you need anything to write (music, coffee, etc)? Are there any songs on your playlist- songs that inspired you or that were playing while you wrote?

If I don’t have coffee by my side when writing I will kill someone. Hopefully just a character, of course. So there you have it… give me coffee, or a character dies. I tend to write very hard and fast, and usually finish the first draft of my novels in a week before the tweaking begins. To achieve this I need (a) a lovely holiday cottage to write in and (b) my prized possession, a dead butterfly (genus: Morpho Aurora) in a glass case. It travels everywhere with me when I’m in a writing mood. I don’t know why. I think it’s because butterflies represent transition. Ideas being born, maybe, and book-butterflies rising from cocoons… Sure, something like that. It’s not like I’m really into dead butterflies. That would be a little weird.

--If you could have any superpower what would you choose?

Ah, I read a lovely YA book recently by Kim Curran called ‘Shift’, which is all about the power to turn back time and undo your mistakes. A great power but full of responsibility. Would I ever dare use it? I think I’d most like the power to travel in time and space without the aid of a TARDIS. And to bring people with me, of course. Where’s the fun in escaping exploding Krakatoa on your own? No fun at all. Experiences like that, you’ve got to share them with someone so that when someone says “Krakatoa” at a party you can give each other a meaningful look and never say a word.

--Besides writing, what do you like to do in your free time?

I’m the co-founder and editor ofMookychick.co.uk. It’s an amazing feminism, fashion and lifestyle website for alternative young women and you should check it out. It’s got over 5,000 forum members who are now friends in real life and go to university together. Like I said, AMAZING. We’re about to celebrate Mookfest 2013 in London and host a feminist writing competition.

--What is one thing you would tell your 15 year old self?

You don’t need to wear baggy clothes and hide away all the time. Trust yourself and your body. It’s okay to express yourself and sing more. You were quite right to dye your hair because red hair looks awesome. That thing where you told yourself you would 100% definitely be a writer? YES. All power to you, keep it like that.

--Is there anything else you want to add or say to your readers?

Always keep a party between your ears J

Lightning round: this or that?

Vanilla or chocolate?

I’m a big fan of chocolate. It’s dark and rich and bitter with faint tinges of Peru. I’m also a fan of the Cadbury’s chocolate Freddo frogs because they’re amazing, and you’re eating a frog, but it’s made of chocolate.

Edward or Jacob?

Ahaha! Team No-shirtJ

Hockey or soccer?

The only games worth playing are the Hunger Games. Play them, then destroy them from within. Don’t forget: always know where you’ve stored your bow, your arrows and your moss.

Ebook or paper?

Both are essential in my life. I need to lend the books I love, and paper lets me do that. Also, I love it when people talk to you about the book you’re reading on trains. Ebooks won’t let you do that because no-one can see the cover. But ebooks are awesome and convenient and here to stay. Just give me words. I don’t care how you wrap them!

Salty or sweet?

There’s a mad fifth taste sensation the Japanese call ‘umami’. Salt, bitter, sweet, sour, umami. But that’s just me showing off. Salt for me. Popcorn rules my world.

Beach or mountains?

Mountains are rather special. I am massively a child of the mountains. I explore as many as I can, all round the world. The best thing about mountains is they go as deep as they go high, with caves full of secrets and shadows. Mountains are yummy. Build me a mountain out of salt-sprinkled chocolate and send me into the past to climb it, and I’ll be happy.

Phone call or email?

Texting, email or seeing people in The Real is what I love best. Phone calls always come in the middle of a very tense moment while I’m watch something marvelous, like a french film about zombies. I love films with a passion and the pivotal scene is always when the phone calls come. Why, phone-people? Why?

Early bird or night owl?

Early bird. They say beware the early risers, for they want the world to themselves… Many creative people find they work best in late night or early morning, because all the other minds are asleep so you can hear yourself think.

Dog or cat?

I’ve got both. Cat. Don’t tell the dog I said that, but cats are great and dogs think everything’s awesome so he won’t mind. My cat is called Mina Harker (a nod to ‘Dracula’) and she is white and grey with David Bowie eyes, one green, one blue. She is beyond clumsy and loves a tummy ruffling. I love her to distraction. She loves moths to distraction. We are very happy, Mina and I! The boyfriend likes dogs best so all is well and everyone gets a slice of love pie.

Messy or neat?

Neat. And yet my home is a hovel. I hold regular games nights in my home and a friend recently said “I love coming round to your house. It’s just so relaxed, so… squalid.” And then he beamed round at the house I’d tidied up especially for the games night. I think it was a compliment. So there you go. My idea of neat is someone else’s idea of squalid.

Ninjas or pirates?

Ninjas. I know I’m in the minority here – no haters, please! Ninjas had to do all the dirty work that samurai warriors needed done but couldn’t because of their ‘honour code’. Sure, uh-huh, whatever, samurai warriors. Give someone else your dirty work, why don’t you? Ninjas weren’t cowards. To be fair, it’s a hard question because who could ever hate on a pirate? They’re wonderful. Loads of women pirates existed too, like Anne Bonny, rocking the ocean waves…

-Ebooks of Glee Girl, Geek Girl and Seal Girl by Magda Knight (Int)
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