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Also, turning the “let’s throw things at Baldr” game into an orgy of transphobic violence is absolutely nutso to me. So too is all the fixation on Baldr’s penis, which really seems to reinforce some super transphobic tropes. Look at this great cover. It's a new edition of my very first book, The Cry of the Wolf, published in Italy by my wonderful new publisher over there, Equlibri. And the cherry on the cake is that it's been shortlisted for the prestigious Children's Premio Stregga Award. Compelling and funny – truly hilarious – at times. His Loki doesn’t feel like a powerful god, but rather like a flawed being trying to make the most out of the situations and life he has in front of him. Burgess leans into the queer elements present in the traditional stories and expands on them, makes them a focus of his retelling. Loki charms his way into readers’ hearts again and again, whether they want him to or not." Alongside the politics of Asgard, it charts the course of Loki’s many loves and families, from his mothering of Odin’s famous horse to his intense, turbulent, and, eventually, fatal relationship with Baldr the Beautiful – a tender and moving story of love that goes wrong, jealousy and a transitioning that is forbidden by society.
He recounts the Norse creation myths and tales both familiar and unfamiliar. Yet it is clear that despite his inclination towards rebelliousness he still seeks a place among the old guard and willingly negotiating the turbulent politics of Asgard. Melvin Burgess revolutionised children's literature with the infamous cult novels Junk and Doing It. In his first adult novel, Loki, he breathes new life into Norse myths. Waterstones Manchester Deansgate event with Mark Illis. It’s a double launch!– Mark’s launching his book, The Impossible; on the Run. I’ll be talking about The Lost Witch. JULY 21st Maybe you know one. Maybe you are one and you just don’t know it yet. But watch out if you are. The Hunt is drawing near – and they want your powers for themselves. Junk is 25 years old this year! That would make Gemma in her early 40’s by now. I hope she’s managed to stay clean.
Lucinda Roy continues the Dreambird Chronicles, her explosive first foray into speculative fiction, with Flying the Coop, the thought-provoking sequel to The Freedom Race Told with wit, verve and some decidedly adolescent scatological humour, it’s a book that exerts a curious charm’
Melvin Burgess revolutionised children’s literature with the infamous cult novels Junk and Doing It. In his first adult novel, Loki, he breathes new life into Norse myths. That reading was for me a fun and enthralling experience, the Norse myths being dismantled and reassembled with a very modern sensibility. Indeed some of the overtly "religiously" aspects are presented in what was for me, as a Christian, a very suggestive way - clearly, for all his confinement, Loki has a good knowledge of the modern work. Take for example Thor's passion, dying nailed to a tree before descending to the Underworld and arising again, bearing the scars of his experience. This was a very horrifying, but also moving, account, as much so for me as any Easter passion. Other elements touch on the modern understanding of gender fluidity, with one of the gods (I won't say who, because spoilers) challenging the rigid, patriarchal regime of Thor and Odin with their developing understanding of their own identity. A new drug is out. Everyone is talking about it. The Hit. Take it, and you have one amazing week to live. It's the ultimate high - at the ultimate price. My aim is not to deny anything. I have my flaws. Unlike the other gods I am aware of them. I embrace them, in fact. They make me what I am. But I have also done a great deal of good in my time – more good than bad, I like to think. I have been your friend from the beginning. I gave you fire, when the gods would keep you in the darkness. They changed my name so that you could not know, but it was me, it was me all the time. I showed you the wheel, the smithy, the plough to name but a few. Believe me when I say that my compa- triots have not loved me for any of it. I’m not sure if it’s because I read this on audiobook and the narrator sounded very much like MCU Loki or if it was indeed the voice the author intended but I found the “woe is me” and the “it’s everyone’s fault but mine” quite tiresome by about 2/3 of the way through.this book demands some open mindset, the retellings are unfiltered, and the vocabulary vulgar (readers get insulted). My most overwhelming thought while reading this was, ‘this is bizarre!’. I mean myths and gods are always kinda weird but some of this was like what on earth!?? The story of human origins and the reader consequently being referred to as, ‘arse born’, was a particular highlight of weirdness.
her and her hubby, Bill, who filmed the video below – a behind the scenes look at an interview I did at the Bologna Book Fair. Thanks to Bill and Woolf Digital for letting me use it. The winner is announced at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair on 27th March. I’ll be there. Maybe I’ll even win – although the competition is very hot. Fingers crossed.In a recent interview Burgess spoke of how inspired he has been by the immediacy of recent first person narratives of Greek mythology and applied this style to his favourite, the Norse myths. By end of this story you will wish and hope and pray that the misunderstood, sometimes mis guided, (as he admits by his own foolishness) Loki, is on the winning side. But that reader, is your mystery to solve. I especially enjoyed Burgess’s take on Loki’s love with Angrboda, his fierce love for the strange kin he fathers with her, and the story of Baldr the beautiful and the fate of the same. I did shed a tear or two. Illustrated by the wonderful Chris Mould, Count is about a boy who boasts that he can count up to ten million. No one believes him – he doesn’t even believe it himself. But once he starts, he falls in love with the numbers and they fall in love with him …. and you just never an tell what numbers are going to do next.
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