Charlotte Naylor joins John Jarrold Literary Agency
John Jarrold’s latest client is British fantasy writer Charlotte Naylor, who is planning a fantasy series that will appeal to readers of Trudi Canavan, Kristin Cashore and Maria V Snyder, opening with The Lady of Eslaya.
‘When I read the opening chapters, I was entranced by the immediacy and fluency of Charlotte’s prose and her young protagonist, Lily,’ said John Jarrold. ‘It reminded me of my reaction to Maggie Furey’s debut Aurian, which I acquired for Random House in the 1990s. I wanted to cheer her and shout at her at one and the same time (and occasionally give her a clip round the ear). She’s bolshy, intelligent and hugely loyal to her friends. And her story is wonderful! It’s great to see another young writer in this genre.’
Jarrold will be working editorially with the author before submitting her work to major publishers on both sides of the Atlantic.
Charlotte Naylor is twenty four years old. She has always been a keen reader of fantasy and started writing her own novels when she was thirteen. Over the years both the world and the stories have grown and developed. When she was eighteen, and back to writing the umpteenth new incarnation of The Lady of Eslaya, it suddenly started to fall into place.
Throughout her pre-university writing career Charlotte was part of an online writing group, working on what started out as a role playing game but turned into a giant, ongoing story. Members of the group took it in turns to write sections, exploring different ideas, writing styles and influences.
She did a BA hons degree in English at the University of Lincoln, where her creative writing dissertation won the Nigel Winn memorial award for ‘Best Piece of Creative Writing by a Student Studying English’. She went on to do a Masters degree in Creative Writing at Nottingham Trent University tutored by novelists Graham Joyce (who suggested she contact John Jarrold as a literary agent) and David Belbin, for which she was awarded a distinction.
After graduating from Trent she and others from the course formed a writers group which still meets up regularly to critique their work. She lives in Nottingham with her partner and two pet ferrets.
In another announcement, JJLA horror novelist Adam Nevill has a brand, spanking new website that can be seen be visiting http://www.adamlgnevill.com/newsite/. Nevill’s novel Apartment 16, published by Pan, is due out in the UK in May 2010.
Posted: February 5th, 2010
Author: Lee
Categories: John Jarrold, Trudi Canavan
Trudi Canavan wins Aurealis Award
Trudi Canavan has been awarded the 2009 Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel for her 2009 novel The Magician’s Apprentice. Released in 2009 it was a prequel to her Black Magician Trilogy, a trilogy that also saw her nominated for Best Fantasy Novel in 2002 for the second novel, The Novice.
The Aurealis Award is an annual literary award, established in 1995 by the publishers of the Aurealis Magazine (for which Trudi used to work, as an art and cover editor, reading manuscripts and more). The award is divded into multiple categories across Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror, as well as including sections for Young Adult and Children’s.
In 1999 Trudi won the Best Fantasy Short Story for her work Whispers of the Mist Children. She has also been nominated in the Ditmar Awards (another Australian award created in 1969) four times, and won once.
The Magician’s Apprentice takes place hundreds of years before the events in Canavan’s bestselling The Black Magician trilogy. Check out the review for it, as well as reviews for all three books from the original trilogy. Additionally, if you just can’t get enough Trudi Canavan, check out my interview with her published in August of 2009.
From all of us at Fantasy Book Review, we’d like to congratulate Trudi Canavan on her win!
For a full list of the winners of the 2009 winners visit the website here.
Posted: January 24th, 2010
Author: JoshSHill
Categories: Trudi Canavan
Trudi Canavan interview (August 2009)
It has become quite apparent to me that Australia is producing more and more of fantasy’s best writers. Thankfully for me, they are also some of the nicest people around, and one of the best, Trudi Canavan, was happy enough to sit down with me a few weeks ago.
Funnily enough, it turned out that we lived pretty close to each other, and so we met at my local shopping centre for coffee and lunch, and what followed was two and a half hours of great conversation with one of the better Australian writers’ I’ve come across.
Life for Trudi, however, is simple, and focuses very much on her writing. From dawn till dusk the computer is on and she is writing. But when dinnertime comes, her husband Paul and Trudi taking it in turns to cook, the computer goes off.
Some nights the pair can be found at a group of people interested about writing, bitching about one book or reliving the joys of another. Other nights might see them at the Melbourne Science Fiction club, or simply resting at home together with their 14 year old ginger cat.
Born and raised in Victoria, Australia, Trudi Canavan has always had a passion for stories. When in primary school Trudi’s librarian started to read a story that she had already read herself, she complained. In fairness, Trudi had read the vast majority of the library, so this was probably a little unfair on the librarian. Nevertheless, seemingly unfazed, the librarian asked Trudi if she would like to tell the students a story.
She agreed.
What followed was a lesson in storytelling that could very easily have turned Trudi off writing altogether. She reversed the original Little Mermaid story so it was the human male falling in love with the mermaid. For those who know the original story, you’ll know that the mermaid actually ends up dying, kinda. Trudi found that, despite hating the ending to the original story, she couldn’t change the ending in her own story. She had to kill off the human man who had fallen for the mermaid. Trudi noted that “the other kids didn’t like it very much. And that was my first introduction to how fans will react when you kill off their favourite character.”
Personally, I think we’re lucky to have any stories from Trudi Canavan.
Maybe we can owe our thanks for Trudi’s perseverance to the 80’s radio production of Lord of the Rings, which inspired her to not only read the book but to want to create something as epic. Or maybe we can thank the teacher that, after Trudi mentioned she wanted to make something like the Empire Strikes Back.
Trudi tells of what life was like after the second Star Wars movie was released. Between hooning around the playground with the boys pretending to be tie-fighters, Trudi went to a teacher and said that she wanted to make movies when she grew up. The teacher told Trudi that the movie industry was hard to get into, so maybe she should start writing her ideas down.
“I actually have a little book somewhere that I made by hand, the story of the Dollmouse, and I would have done that when I was 8; my first written book.”
Not surprisingly then, Trudi has a large collection of notes that date back to 12 years of age. Trudi’s most recent trilogy, the Age of the Five Trilogy, actually dates back to one of those original ideas.
“The Age of the Five actually saw me go back to a story I was writing at age 14. So I took out the really embarrassing elements, like the telepathic miniature winged horses, and the villain who wore leather so he creaked all the time. “
But it was in her mid twenties, when Trudi attended classes on writing and grammar that her writing began in earnest. And, following in the steps of her love for research, Trudi found herself investigating other Australian authors, looking for signs of tertiary education. What she found is truly fascinating.
“I did a lot of research before I was published, and I looked at all the authors that had been published and whether they had a degree and what the degree was in. And I found that only about half the authors had a degree, and only half of those had anything to do with writing. The other ones had degrees in other subjects like geology and biology and things like that. So I think you always need to have a great enthusiasm for other things as well. “
“I’ve got a great curiosity about the world,” Trudi continued. “I love reading non-fiction books, I love watching documentaries. I love going out and trying something. I’ve learnt weaving recently, and I know how difficult weaving is. I’ve done woodcarving, I’ve done pottery, and I’ve done fencing for awhile.”
Trudi is probably best known for her Black Magician’s trilogy, first released in 2001 (but originally written well before Harry Potter). She spent a long time waiting for one publishing company to get back to her, and dealing with a troublesome commissioning editor before Trudi moved on. “Eventually I got a real commissioning editor who took me on and then got me the publishing deal at HarperCollins. So I didn’t get any rejection slips. I always wanted them to give me a rejection slip so I could pass it on to someone else. So I wrote another book in the meantime, because you don’t just sit around and wait.”
Following on from the success of the Black Magician trilogy, came the prequel, the Magician’s Apprentice. And naturally, Trudi will be continuing that series with the Traitor Spy trilogy, set to be released early 2010, and to be set about 20 years on from the end of the trilogy.
According to Trudi, the titles to the books are a huge hint as to the content (The Ambassador’s Mission, The Rogue and The Traitor Queen). And for those who have read the previous books, the titles will probably tell you we will be seeing more of Savara and her people, who are also (probably) the women who disappeared out of Sachaka into the mountains at the end of Magician’s Apprentice.
One of the questions I love to ask authors is whether anyone in their books mirrors people in their real life. And though Trudi wouldn’t tell me who the character was, she does explain why she doesn’t like doing it.
“I always said I’d base characters on character types, not on people. But a few years ago I was scratching around to name a character, and I didn’t know anything about her, I just needed to replace a character. And so I stole a friend’s name, and altered it a bit, and I thought, what the hell, I’ll make it like this friend, because the friend had lots of personality. And then, this particular character decided to grit her teeth and become a totally different character, and she became evil. And I had this friend who knew I had based a character on her, but the character had turned evil, and I thought ‘I’m not doing this again’.”
There was a lot more to our interview, a lot that I’ll keep to myself. But for a lot more information on the author, make sure to check out Trudi’s website at www.trudicanavan.com.
Inspirations
- Star Wars
- The Lord of the Rings
- Ursula Le Guin
Favourites
- The Belgariad (David Eddings)
- Magician (Raymond E. Feist)
- Tanith Lee
- Glenda Larke
- The Southern Vampire Mysteries (Charlaine Harris)
Posted: August 12th, 2009
Author: Lee
Categories: Interviews, Trudi Canavan
Fantasy Book Review: The High Lord by Trudi Canavan
Review by Joshua S Hill
In reading an increasing amount of fantasy books over the past few years, I have found myself continually looking for “that” book that makes me feel something. The first time it happened was with Lord of the Rings, followed a year or so later by Robin Hobb’s trilogy of trilogies. Looking for books in which “that” has happened beyond those two series is a challenge. Not saying it hasn’t happened, but they don’t jump out at me.
The stories heroine is left bereft and unfinished as the story ends, which made for a wonderful change. It is not a result of poor storytelling, but rather the exact opposite. Canavan has made me care so deeply for Sonea that not seeing her placed back into the perfectly sculpted world that I deem she deserves after all she has gone through.
Without a doubt, Trudi Canavan, with her Black Magician’s Trilogy and its prequel, The Magician’s Apprentice, has managed to craft a book that is both easy to read and magnificently crafted. I would recommend this to anyone who likes reading, of any age.
Read the full Fantasy Book Review of Trudi Canavan’s The High Lord
Trudi Canavan was born on the 23rd October 1969 in Melbourne, Australia. She won the Aurealis Award for her fantasy short story Whispers of the Mist Children in 1999 and has never looked back. In 2001 she further established herself as a fantasy writer of rare talent with The Magician’s Guild, the first book in a trilogy which included The Novice and The High Lord.
Posted: July 15th, 2009
Author: Lee
Categories: Trudi Canavan
Fantasy Book Review: The Novice by Trudi Canavan
Review by Joshua S Hill
The second book in Trudi Canavan’s The Black Magician trilogy continues on from the first flawlessly, almost as if there should not have been a break. Sonea has decided that staying at the Guild is in the best interests of all she cares about, and is not entirely as distrustful of magic as she had been starting out in book one.
As such, she begins her studies as a novice in the Guild University. Subsequently, Sonea’s storyline is very much a similar story to that of Harry Potter. The magician from a lowly station, with great power, suffers the ill attentions of the class king, despite her best attempts to remain anonymous.
While sometimes a story that mirrors another can be a detriment to the second, in this case it is not so. Trudi Canavan has a better grasp of storytelling and writing ability than Rowling does, and makes Sonea’s journey through her classes all the more interesting. She does not fall for creating a character that is flawless in every regard, but simply allows the well established upper class distaste for “dwells” carry the antagonism.
Read the full Fantasy Book Review of The Novice
Trudi Canavan was born on the 23rd October 1969 in Melbourne, Australia. She won the Aurealis Award for her fantasy short story Whispers of the Mist Children in 1999 and has never looked back. In 2001 she further established herself as a fantasy writer of rare talent with The Magician’s Guild, the first book in a trilogy which included The Novice and The High Lord.
Posted: July 14th, 2009
Author: Lee
Categories: Fantasy Book Review, Trudi Canavan
Fantasy Book Review: The Magician’s Apprentice by Trudi Canavan
Review by Joshua S Hill
I find myself more and more encountering books to review that are invariably part of a series. Whether it be a trilogy or a Feist-ian epic, it varies. The point remains, I find myself suckered into reading all the books…
… From the end of the first third of the book, right up until writing this review, I am eagerly awaiting entering the original trilogy to see where the information I have acquired matches up. The Magician’s Apprentice is a novel for anyone looking for a beautifully written fantasy story.
Read Josh’s full review of Trudi Canavan’s The Magician’s Apprentice
Trudi Canavan was born on the 23rd October 1969 in Melbourne, Australia. She won the Aurealis Award for her fantasy short story Whispers of the Mist Children in 1999 and has never looked back. In 2001 she further established herself as a fantasy writer of rare talent with The Magician’s Guild, the first book in a trilogy which included The Novice and The High Lord.
Posted: April 29th, 2009
Author: Floresiensis
Categories: Trudi Canavan
The Magician’s Apprentice coming in February 2009
Trudi Canavan’s world of fantasy has become an international phenomenon, with close to one million readers worldwide. In February, Orbit will release The Magician’s Apprentice, the prequel to her wildly popular Black Magician Trilogy, and a gateway to an even wider readership within the U.S.
In The Magician’s Apprentice (Feb. 23, 2009; Orbit Books; $24.99), set six hundred years before the events of the Black Magician Trilogy, Canavan paints a stark world of warring empires. Kyralia, a former territory of the powerful Sachakan kingdom, is in danger of losing its tenuous grasp on peaceful independence—there are some in the former mother country are convinced that it ought to be reclaimed. On the borderlands between the two countries, a humane Kyralian magician, Lord Dakon, takes a healer’s daughter named Tessia as a new apprentice when she shows a surprising natural talent. Before Tessia can begin to get used to this range of new opportunities—and obligations—the political tensions rise to a dangerous pitch, and with the ruling classes of both kingdoms equivocating about open war, a rogue band of powerful Sachakan magicians vows to take matters into their own hands. Just as Tessia finds herself drawn to the center of the action, the Sachakans launch an attack so brutal that it will affect her world for centuries to come.
A boldly imaginative, action-packed story of war, loyalty and finding one’s place in the world, The Magician’s Apprentice will appeal to both Black Magician fans and new fantasy readers. Canavan’s vivid, feisty characters resonate with readers, and her sense of balance, emotion and detail make her stories, laced through with magic and the impossible, very real indeed.
Canavan’s U.S. readership already numbers over 100,000, and judging by the loyalty of her fans, that number will only keep growing.
Posted: November 21st, 2008
Author: Lee
Categories: Trudi Canavan
Trudi Canavan on the difficulties with writing a prequel
Trudi Canavan has updated her blog with an interesting post on the obstacles she has encountered whilst writing The Magician’s Apprentice, the prequel to the events in the Black Magician Trilogy.
After receiving feedback from trusted readers she found that they did not know when the story was taking place, whether it was 6 years or perhaps 600 years in the past. To solve this, she realised that the information needed to go into a blurb … What is a blurb? You need to read the whole post to find out.
Posted: January 19th, 2008
Author: Lee
Categories: Trudi Canavan
Book review – Magician’s Guild by Trudi Canavan
Inspired by the forced removal of the homeless in Barcelona before the 1992 Olympic Games, The Magician’s Guild by Trudi Canavan is an enjoyable read for young adults and the overall rating of 7.9 out of 10 that places it #44 in the list of the best books of all time.
Posted: January 11th, 2008
Author: admin
Categories: Trudi Canavan
A difficult year for Trudi Canavan
Trudi Canavan has not had the best year in her life. This is an excerpt from her news post:
“I haven’t posted in this blog for some time, and I’d like to explain why. My partner and I have just had a very stressful year. I feel that my author blog should be bright and exciting, and when I got to the point where I just couldn’t be bright and exciting any more I figured it was better not to post at all. I didn’t want to bore my readers with one winge after another. (Friends, on the other hand, have sat through plenty of long winges – but that’s what they’re for, after all.) All the wonderful fanmail I’ve received from readers have kept reassuring me that the fight is worth fighting, and each time I read one I felt angry on their behalf, because the whole debacle we were going through was likely to cause the late release of The Magician’s Apprentice and that just wasn’t fair – though I’m hoping that I between us, Orbit and I can perform some miracles and still get it out on time.”
Trudi Canavan now has a new blog that can be found here: http://www.trudicanavan.com/trudi_canavan/
Trudi Canavan was born on the 23rd October 1969 in Melbourne, Australia. She won the Aurealis Award for her fantasy short story Whispers of the Mist Children in 1999 and has never looked back. In 2001 she further established herself as a fantasy writer of rare talent with The Magician’s Guild, the first book in a trilogy which included The Novice and The High Lord.
Posted: December 29th, 2007
Author: admin
Categories: Trudi Canavan
Book of the Month
Apartment 16 by Adam Nevill
Some doors are better left closed . . . In Barrington House, an upmarket block in London, there is an empty apartment. No one goes in, no one comes out. And its been that way for fifty years. Until the night watchman hears a disturbance after midnight and investigates. What he experiences is enough to change his life forever.
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Book View Cafe is a cooperative site created by a group of writers - including internationally renowned authors Katharine Kerr, Ursula Le Guin and Vonda N. McIntyre - who want to take advantage of the internet's possibilities for reaching a wider audience and to distribute their work directly to their readers. The Book View Cafe is a place where you can find free, original fiction plus the authors' best and out-of-print work for a fee. Fantasy Book Review spoke to Book View Cafe member, science fiction author and memoirist Chris Dolley in February 2010.
Special Feature: Understanding the author of Alice in Wonderland
Lewis Carroll, the elusive author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, has been the subject of enduring fascination for the past hundred years. The destruction of many major documents about his personal life by his descendants has only magnified the mystery. Jenny Woolf's biography, published to coincide with the release of the new Tim Burton Alice in Wonderland film, lays waste to the myths and suspicions that have obscured Carroll's reputation by placing him firmly in the context of his own time.
