Floodland

Product Information

Marcus began to write seriously in 1994. His first book, Floodland, was published by Orion in 2000, and won the Branford-Boase award for best debut children's novel. Witch Hill followed in 2001, and was nominated for an Edgar Allan Poe Award. To help teach the lessons, there are 101 SMART Notebook screens (in one file) for the teaching sequence and each lesson is clearly marked, along with details about which chapter should be read with each of the lessons. I have to say I finished this book wondering what the message was? If it was to make people aware of the dangers of global warming it didn't touch on what had actually happened to bring about this world with any clarity. If it was that tragedy brings out the worst in humans then it did a good job but it didn't go deep enough. Imagine that a few years from now England is covered by water, and Norwich is an island.Zoe, left behind in the confusion when her parents escaped, survives there as best she can. Alone and desperate among marauding gangs, she manages to dig a derelict boat out of the mud and gets away to Eels Island. I started to write as a teenager a bit, but properly when I was in my mid-twenties. It took a few years to think it might actually happen!

I love music, both listening to it and playing it (I'm a drummer). A day without music is not a proper day... I also love travel and try to travel as much as I can manage. There are 20 lessons planned in total , all with SMART Notebook screens, task sheets and header sheets to aid teaching and learning. It varies from book to book but it's not a chore as I love to do research. It's easier than actually writing the things! For Revolver, the research spanned about 16 months, of little trips here and there and lots and lots of reading! I write at the weekends, and mostly in the study in my loft, but also sometimes I travel to write - eg much of Revolver was written on trips to Sweden. I have a pet raven called Edgar, though he doesn’t say much, eat much, or indeed, move much. There’s a possibility that he’s stuffed, I guess.Great question, impossible to answer. So many amazing things to go and see – the building of the pyramids, a Viking boat putting out to sea, Man Utd winning the European Championship in 1968… The Raven Mysteries are full of humour and mad-cap action, which is quite different from your novels for older readers. Was this a conscious decision of yours when setting out to write this series? Marcus has been shortlisted for the CILIP Carnegie Medal five times, the Edgar Allan Poe Award (twice) and the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize (four times). He is also the most noted author in the history of the Printz Award, with one win and two honour books,for Revolver, The Ghosts of Heaven and Midwinter Blood. The pacing was fast, choppy even at times and the narrative quite disjointed. the ending came with a large dose of skepticism on my part as it was unbelievable and unsatisfactory. What age did you first start writing and when did you think that one day you'd write a novel that would actually be published?

saw Marcus turn his attention to books for younger readers with the launch of a humorous new series: The Raven Mysteries, narrated by a grumpy raven, Edgar. Zoe as a character was fleshed out enough to get a sense of her goals and motivations but I didn't really identify with her. Other characters were also fleshed out and I found some of the side characters interesting. But Eels Island, whose raggle-taggle inhabitants are dominated by the strange boy Dooby, is full of danger too.The belief that she will one day find her parents spurs Zoe on to a dramatic escape in a story of courage and determination that leads to an unexpected and touching conclusion.In his spare time, was also a stone carver and wood engraver and illustrated all his novels. Marcus was also an enthusiastic drummer. The most important thing is to know your market! Who do you think your book is going to be read by? What else is out there that's like it? Are you writing something that will sell?