Forgotten your password?
Enter your username or email address and we'll send you reset instructions
Tube ads for The Shining Girls just went up in London! I can pretty much die happy now.
Unfortunately I’m gonna miss seeing them “for real life” as my daughter would say, because although I’m flying off to Australia-USA-UK today for the Epic Book Tour of Doom (check out my full schedule here), they’ll be down again by the time I get to London.
Curses!
Anyway, here’s the poster. If you spot one in situ, please post a pic to Twitter #shininggirls.
If you buy (or have bought) your copy of The Shining Girls from The Book Lounge in Cape Town, 10% of the proceeds goes to Rape Crisis, an organisation working to fight violence against women and support survivors.
I’m also very happy that we’re going to be doing a Shining Girls charity art show (curated by Jacki Lang) in conjunction with the Open Book Festival in September to benefit Rape Crisis. Details in the next few weeks.
But hey, maybe you already have a copy of the book or won’t be in Cape Town in September. You can still make a difference.
Sign up for Rape Crisis’s 1000 Hearts Campaign to commit to just R100 a month, or make a donation (it’s tax deductible and tax certificates can be arranged) or volunteer.
The Shining Girls hit the shelves in the UK today! Which makes today crazy happy and crazy stressful. Eeek! It’s lovely to see the response on Twitter and blogs so far.
You can pick it up from all major bookstores, some major supermarkets or order online by clicking here.
Here’s the trailer by the evil geniuses at One Darnley Road.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go1sVbjxHVw
Here’s a round-up of some of the reviews so far:
SciFi Now says, ”The Shining Girls is both a fascinating journey through modern American history and an utterly compelling and chilling thriller.”
“It’s the chapters devoted to Harper’s victims that really stand out. The shining girls are chosen because of their strength and potential, and each one is a fully realised character. Their separate eras are wonderfully rendered and Beukes endears these women who are doomed to meet Harper’s knife to us with great speed and skill, from the paranoid Fifties architect to the ship-welding WW2 widow to the radium-painted ‘Glow Girl’.”
Naomi Frisby on The Writes of Women: “It would be difficult to overstate how much I loved this book. It’s a thriller for people who don’t read thrillers; fantasy for people who don’t read fantasy, and literary fiction for people who don’t read literary fiction. It’s a bloody good book for people who like to read bloody good books.”
Curiosity Killed The Bookworm: ”A genre defying novel… solidly crime but with an SFF element, weaving through periods in recent history as well as being a gripping thriller… [it] will stick with you long after.”
Over at Excuses And Half Truths, Rob Wickings said, “The Shining Girls is boldly inventive, fearlessly intelligent and bracingly original. Along with Michael Marshall, who made his name with a trio of mind-bending SF novels before moving into thrillers, Lauren Beukes is showing that it takes a writer with a taste for the fantastical to twist the serial killer genre into something new and exciting.”
KJ Mulder on Worlds In Ink: ”It’s a fantastically creepy, mind-bending read that grabs you and just doesn’t let go until the very last page… The ending is worthy of anything Stephen King can come up with. It’s satisfying, gives closure but also brings things full circle in the most unexpected way… I found myself haunted by the implications for days afterward.
@mattlibrarian on the Teen Librarian blog: “The Shining Girls has a breathless, multi-layered narrative that kept me guessing… It is the type of book that grips you, demanding your attention and then rewards you with a thrilling story and ideas that stay with you long after you have closed the covers.. In closing please let me say AUGH! This book is amazing! You have to buy it, read it then tell your friends to do the same!”
Liz Wilkins on Goodreads: ”Don’t let the “Thriller” tag give you preconceptions – it is thrilling, but trying to put this novel in a genre box is like trying to explain to people why you love your children.”
Dave Brendan’s blog: “This novel is disturbing, thrilling and intelligent – Lauren has shifted into new territory ”
With a week to go before The Shining Girls launches in South Africa and two weeks til it hits the UK, here are HarperCollins creepy-beautiful trailers, made by the evil geniuses at London creative agency One Darnley Road.
(Sorry, USA, you have to wait til June 4th, but that’s still pretty soon)
Click here to pre-order the book right now.
And let me know what you think of the trailers.
Teaser Trailer 1
Teaser Trailer 2
Full Trailer
Ad Astra’s edition of Moxyland arrived in the mail with a very cyberpunk-y cover by Kira Santa and a ridiculously cute mini Moxy fridge monster.
I love that Kira references the original covers with her work – this little guy now adorning my fridge is based on the Moxy monster on the first edition South African cover, designed by Joey Hi-Fi and made-up by Michelle Son .
I love, love, love, love the very limited edition The Shining Girls viewfinders that HarperCollins UK sent out to a select few. (Author had to beg and plead to get her paws on one.)
From 22-24 March, I’ll be in Rochester, Minnesota to attend the first ever Fablescon, aka Fabletown & Beyond, a convention put together by Bill Willingham to celebrate comics and books that riff off mythic fiction.
“Mythic Fiction comics are Fables and Sandman, The Unwritten, Bone, Kill Shakespeare, Mice Templar, Stuff of Legend, Memorial, Fairest, The Abominable Charles Christopher, Mouse Guard, Hellboy, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Arrowsmith, House of Mystery, Castle Waiting, and dozens more truly wonderful books. Mythic Fiction is that magic-bound alliance of fairytales, folklore, myth, legend, talking animals and characters from literature, given new life, new challenges to face and new adventures to chronicle.”
The line-up includes amazing writers and artists like Mike Carey, Gene Ha, Peter Gross, Adam Hughes, Chris Roberson, Sean E Williams and Chrissie Zullo among others, as well as Vertigo Executive Editor Shelly Bond, who will be reviewing artists’ portfolios, Not forgetting, of course, Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham, multi-Eisner award-winning creators of the fairytales-in-exile series, Fables.
I’ll be hanging at the Kill Shakespeare Bar and doing some cool panels with interesting people, talking about the recent Rapunzel-in-Japan remix I wrote Fairest: The Hidden Kingdom, a Fables spin-off with art by the amazing Inaki Miranda.
If you’re in Minnesota, or nearby, swing by. All the details for registration and accommodation are at the Fablescon site.
You can get Fairest: The Hidden Kingdom (six issues spanning #8-#13) at any good comic store (the final issue is due out this week) or wait for the trade paperback, coming in July.
Brilliant illustrator/designer Kira Santa who does the Hungarian covers of Moxyland and Zoo City for Ad Astra has been doing some gorgeous character studies for Moxyland (and one cool coffee mod).
First barista to do this to my cup of coffee gets a R50 tip!
And here are her original covers for Zoo City and Moxyland for Ad Astra:
And finally, I love this. Facebook’s translate claims it says: “Zoo City or Moxyland? Two exciting vision of Africa, but is also similar: both have a hell of a secrets below the surface, and all the darkness. Which South Africa would you?”
Which South Africa would you, indeed.
I’ll be doing some hectic touring around my new novel, The Shining Girls, in the next few months.
Here’s a list of the confirmed public events so far (some details still to follow).
If you’d like me to do an event at your bookstore/library/college/school/culture-tech conference (see my talks at Webstock and DConstruct) /set up an interview / podcast while I’m in your city, please email me on lauren at lauren beukes dot com and I’ll forward to the relevant publicist. Or see below for publicist contact info in each country.
Some events are entirely free and open to the public, others require that you book a ticket / membership. If in doubt, please contact the RSVP email address.
USA in March
March 22-24 Fablescon, Rochester Minnesota celebrating mythic fiction in comics and novels with Bill Willingham, Mike Carey, Mark Buckingham, Gene Ha, Adam H Hughes, Chris Roberson and Chrissie Zullo at a brand new awesome con called Fabletown & Beyond. I’ll mainly be talking about my run on Fairest: The Hidden Kingdom set in Willingham’s Fables universe, but I’ll also be doing some pre-arranged press stuff in New York and Chicago on The Shining Girls beforehand.
South Africa in April
Contact Kim Peters at Random House for interview/publicity requests.
CAPE TOWN
3 April SA Librarian’s Conference (for librarians only!)
JOHANNESBURG
15 April 18h30 Magwood & Twigg Book Salon. BOOKING REQUIRED. camillatwigg@iburst.co.za
16 April 18h00 CitiVibe launch at Exclusive Books Melrose Arch. Shop HL19: Melrose Arch Piazza Melrose Arch Boulevard. RSVP melrosearch@exclusivebooks.co.za
17 April 18h00 Love Books Launch, The Bamboo Lifestyle Centre, 53 Rustenburg Road, Melville. RSVP: info@lovebooks.co.za
18 April TBC Jenny & Co Book Club BOOKING REQUIRED. RSVP: justjenny@iafrica.com
CAPE TOWN
19 April 17h30 The Book Lounge 71 Roeland Street, Cape Town. RSVP booklounge@gmail.com
23 April 18h30 Kalk Bay Books 124 Main Road, Kalk Bay RSVP: books@kalkbaybooks.co.za
24 April 17h30 Exclusive Books Canal Walk, Shop 428 Canal Walk canalwalk@exclusivebooks.co.za
UK in April/May
Contact Louise Swannell at HarperCollins for interview /publicity requests
29 April 17h15 Forbidden Planet Launch, 179 Shaftesbury Ave London WC2H 8JR
30 April 17h30 Signing at Waterstones London Wall
30 April 19h00 Kitschies Event TBA at Brixton Ritzy (very cool line-up but I can’t say more right now)
1 May 13h00-16h00 Clarke Award Conference at the Royal Society
1 May 13h00 -19h00 SOAS discussion at signing, Brunei Suite, SOAS University, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Sq, London WC1H 0XG
1 May 19h30 Arthur C Clarke Award at the Royal Society
South Africa in May
CAPE TOWN
May 10/11 Grande Roche Hotel, Paarl TBC
May 17-19 May Franschhoek Literary Festival, Franschhoek
Australia in May
Contact Kelly Fagan at HarperCollins Australia for interview/publicity requests
May 23 – 26 – Sydney Writer’s Festival
USA in June
5 City Tour.
Details To Come.
TBC: Europe / South Africa / USA July-August-September
European Festivals various that haven’t been announced yet
.
South Africa September:
7-11 September Open Book Festival, Cape Town
MORE EVENTS TO BE CONFIRMED FOR THE END OF THE YEAR.
