Omnimystery News is delighted to welcome Andy Mulligan as our guest blogger. Andy is the author of Trash (David Fickling Books, October 2010, 978-0-385-75214-5), a young adult thriller set in the not-so-distant future.
Today, Andy writes about what readers look for in a book.
But that's not all! You can win a copy of Trash by simply posting a comment with an answer to a scavenger hunt trivia question; more details below!
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Photo credit Jun Santos,
provided courtesy of Andy Mulligan
Hello from the Philippines, where I am bracing myself for the reception of Trash. The big bookstores have taken delivery and are about to put it out on the shelves. And I’m wondering what people look for when they saunter past and think, "Hmmm…shall I buy that one?"
It’s about trash — how depressing!
Are there any elves? I want a book with elves or vampires.
Maybe a quick re-write is in order: "Three dumpsite boys discover in the night that they’re growing fangs, and so begins a rollercoaster bloodbath …"
What do you look for, what do I look for? — I look for a good story, and if the story’s no good I give up pretty fast. All that stream-of-consciousness psycho-stuff — it was fine when I was at college, and — yes — Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway was mind-bending, life-changing. But it was still a hard climb up vertical rock and I don’t want to go back there.
Have you ever read the first chapter of John Grisham’s The Client? I defy you to get to the end of page 32 and put it down. I have seen entire class-loads of children addicted to that book, clamouring for their fix. It’s got good child characters — kids who live dangerously and are drawn to the dodgy things in life — and then a crackling plot.
I was asked by a teacher of nine year-olds the other day if I thought Trash was suitable for that age-group, and first I said "Yes," and then I said "No" — and then I said, "What kind of nine year-olds are they? What are their parents like and what is the school like? What’s the religious faith? What’s the state of their mental health? — I don’t know!" What I do know is that most children like reading what they’re not quite ready for. I also wonder if anyone has been seriously harmed by anything they’ve read … because it’s not quite like swallowing a spiky toy or drinking the bleach — you won’t need your stomach pumped after reading Trash, unless you’ve done something very unpredictable with it.
There’s an extraordinary chapter of Brett Easton-Ellis’ American Psycho called "Killing Child at Zoo." Our hero does the unthinkable: he spots a five year old at the zoo, and murders him, and the account is so real, so ugly, so scary, so total that you’re shunted to a different place. I read this to my class of fourteen year-olds recently, and one poor pupil had nightmares, and I ended up explaining myself in the boss’ office and received my letter of warning, and to this day I’m uncertain. I’m not proud of giving someone nightmares, but on the other hand, that class had an experience of literature many will never forget. They discovered that a good book is beyond television, beyond movies, beyond good food and almost beyond good sex and maybe just about on par with a good rock concert when the band come back on-stage and play "Sympathy for the Devil" or "Stagger Lee" — a good book lifts you up.
A good book isn’t a diversion from the subway. A good book should give you nightmares, if you’re sensitive enough to have them.
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Andy Mulligan was brought up in the south of London. He worked as a theater director for ten years before travels in Asia prompted him to retrain as a teacher. He has taught English and drama in India, Brazil, the Philippines and the UK. He now divides his time between London and Manila. Visit his website at AndyMulliganBooks.com.
Andy is on tour all this week (yesterday visiting Library Lounge Lizard and today, in addition to ourselves, Random Acts of Reading), and will also be chatting with readers at RandomBuzzers.com.
We are excited to be included in the Trash Scavenger Hunt. Visit the RandomHouseKids Twitter page to look for today's question. Post your answer in the comments section of this post for a chance to win a copy of Trash, courtesy of Random House.
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About Trash: In an unnamed Third World country, in the not-so-distant future, three “dumpsite boys” make a living picking through the mountains of garbage on the outskirts of a large city.
One unlucky-lucky day, Raphael finds something very special and very mysterious. So mysterious that he decides to keep it, even when the city police offer a handsome reward for its return. That decision brings with it terrifying consequences, and soon the dumpsite boys must use all of their cunning and courage to stay ahead of their pursuers. It’s up to Raphael, Gardo, and Rat—boys who have no education, no parents, no homes, and no money—to solve the mystery and right a terrible wrong.
