Honor Cargill | Tales of Yesterday

I am so beyond honoured to be celebrating the release of Waiting For Callback: Take Two by the super lovely, hilarious and best mother/daughter writers around, Perdita & Honor Cargill.

Waiting For Callback: Take Two is the hilarious follow up to last years debut Waiting For Callback which was one of my favourite reads of 2016

Take Two is released today, 26th January 2017 published by Simon & Schuster Children’s UK and I simply cannot wait to find out what Elektra gets up to next!

I know one thing for sure…..I will be smiling and laughing lots!

I’m over the moon to have been asked to be part of the fab blog tour and today Perdita and Honour chat about direction in this fab and super funny guest post….

Elektra has finally landed a part in a film. It’s the dream. Well … until she works out that Straker is a movie so dystopian that within weeks most of the cast and all of the crew wish that the world had actually ended (preferably in scene one). And while it’s obviously great news that she’s moved from the friend-zone with Archie to become his almost-girlfriend, it would be better if he hadn’t immediately relocated to Transylvania to play a vampire hunter surrounded by ‘maidens of peerless beauty’… Full of humour and warmth, this new series is perfect for fans of Geek Girl and The It Girl.

DIRECTION – Working Together, Collaborating London-Oxford

Day Four of our Take Two blog tour and today we’re chatting about Direction (although we should have called it Co-Directing). Just to set the scene this time I (P) am talking and typing this while Hon is talking very fast and eating (classic multi-tasking).

H: Have I said enough in the last year to explode the No. 1 Misconception that because we’re family we work side-by -side sitting at the kitchen table, steaming mugs of tea and freshly baked cake in front of our matching notepads, birdsong in the background?

P: I don’t think that anyone who knows us will still be under any illusions. And we’re getting further and further apart. This time last year we were working in different rooms then you (Hon) discovered the joy of working in cafes and I stayed in the attic. Then you went to Uni and now in term time at least you’re in Oxford and I’m in London. God, I hope it’s not some dark metaphor…

H: Not that ‘dark’… Oh God, except for That Train Journey – the one where we sat side by side working on edits all the way from London to Newcastle and had nearly dissolved the partnership by York. That was dark.

P: *shudders* But we do loads of the actual writing during your holidays.

H: I work very hard in London cafes! But (at arm’s length) we’re surprisingly harmonious collaborators. Ok, there’s some pretty brutal editing along the way but I can’t think of any bits that in the end we disagreed on.

P: No, it works well. Although there were a couple of…misunderstandings that underlined that I must never be allowed to write contemporary teen on my own.

H: Ha! Like your tendency to put add full stops to the end of texts and the great bucket hat fiasco? We probably plotted better together because we were on a tighter schedule for Take Two so we had to be more focused.

P: I’m quite proud that we got Take Two done to deadline. It was hard work. You did so much of the writing this time that I wanted to change the name order on the cover because I felt guilty! (We couldn’t).

H: I still didn’t do any of the copy editing stuff. I’d be useless at that. And I think Take Two was easier to write than Waiting for Callback because we know all the characters so well. I am genuinely fond of them – even Flissy.

P: Have you got a new fave character or does your heart still belong to Archie?

H: My heart will always belong to Archie… whether he’s in character as a vampire-slaying-hero or not …

(Random cute baby vampire bat)

But I’d quite like to go clubbing with Hot Carlo…

P: I’m quite glad that we’re talking about fictional characters. I’ve got a soft spot for Amber. She is truly dreadful (“very shiny, possibly made in a lab in Beverley Hills. Scary handbag dog named after a vegetable.” Ch. 7) and yet mastering yogic breathing is definitely one of my 2017 resolutions.

H: Good luck with that.

Thank you Chelley for hosting us! Come and join us tomorrow on Vivienne’s blog, Serendipity Reviews where we will be chatting about Special Effects (our glossy cover and lovely inside Extras!)

You can buy a copy of Waiting For Callback: Take Two here or from you local bookshop

About Perdita & Honor Cargill

Perdita Cargill

I co-write the WAITING FOR CALLBACK series with Honor Cargill. She’s my daughter and it’s something of a miracle that no only do we write together but we have a lot of fun doing it. She’s in her first year at Oxford University reading Classical Archaeology and Ancient History (niche…). I used to be the least numerate tax barrister ever to practise in the English courts. It was a relief to everyone when I hung up my wig and gown and took to writing funny teen novels…

Honor Cargill

I’m 18 and I’m in my first year at Oxford Uni reading Classical Archaeology and Ancient History (bit rogue) and I co-write the WAITING FOR CALLBACK series of funny teen novels with Perdita Cargill (who is, conveniently, my mum…). I’ve done some acting and although I’m nothing like Elektra (our main character) I feel her pain because her most humiliating moments are strangely similar to mine…

You can find out more by visiting the website – www.waitingforcallback.com

Or why not follow Perdita on Twitter – @perditact

Or Honor on Instagram – honorcargill

Blog Tour

You can catch up or follow the rest of the awesome blog tour at the following stops.

A huge thank you to Perdita and Honor for a fab guest post and making me laugh always. Also a huge thank you to Jade for asking me to be part of the blog tour and for organising.

Have you read Waiting For Callback: Take Two? Are you intrigued? Did you read the first book in the series too? What parts made you laugh out loud? I would love to hear from you! Why not leave a comment using the reply button at the top of this post or tweet me on twitter using @chelleytoy !

Happy Reading

It’s no secret that I am a huge Emma Carroll fan girl! Not only is she a lovely person her books are always wonderful!

You can find out more about Emma’s books in these previous guest posts on Tales….

Extract From Strange Star

Do You Believe In Fairies?

National Transplant Week

#WinterCarrollReadAlong

Strange Star is the breathtaking new book from Emma Carroll, the critically-acclaimed author of Frost Hollow Hall, The Girl Who Walked On Air, In Darkling Wood and The Snow Sister, is a deliciously creepy story inspired by the creation of Frankenstein, and is brought to life by a leading talent in children’s literature.

So when the lovely Perdita Cargill, co author of Waiting For Callback asked if I would feature a guest review of Strange Star I jumped at the chance!

They were coming tonight to tell ghost stories. ‘A tale to freeze the blood,’ was the only rule.

Switzerland, 1816. On a stormy summer night, Lord Byron and his guests are gathered round the fire. Felix, their serving boy, can’t wait to hear their creepy tales. Yet real life is about to take a chilling turn- more chilling than any tale. Frantic pounding at the front door reveals a stranger, a girl covered in the most unusual scars. She claims to be looking for her sister, supposedly snatched from England by a woman called Mary Shelley. Someone else has followed her here too, she says. And the girl is terrified.

Review Of Strange Star By Perdita Cargill

**Please note this review is as spoiler free as possible**

I’m a huge fan of Emma Carroll’s writing and her latest novel Strange Star recently published by Faber & Faber is my favourite so far. Powerful and moving, it’s electric with intelligence and humanity.

The writing is of course absolutely assured, beautiful and sensory (‘Change was coming. You could smell it in the air, all sharp and peppery like radishes.’), never slowing down the fast drive of Carroll’s big, complex story about death and life and prejudice and bravery. This is a middle grade novel that has huge respect for its young readers and their ability to rise to serious issues and clever ideas and to be thrilled and scared along the way.

Inspired by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein as well as the true story of that book’s stormy genesis, there are roles for Lord Byron, for Claire Clairmont, Polidori and the Shelleys, ‘As individuals they were interesting enough, but together their sparks became flames’. Mary Shelley especially is key to Carroll’s story, the scene where she relives the failed efforts or missed chance to resuscitate her premature baby is heartbreaking and sets up one of the big themes of the book ‘”there would always be those that couldn’t be saved.’ But the ‘ghost’ that knocks at the door on the night of the storm is not a figment of any of the stellar imaginations in the Villa Diodati but is Lizzie Appelby ‘There’d been no need for tales to freeze the blood. Not when real life had brought death to the front doors.’ and this clever framing makes the story that Lizzie tells the ‘true’ story. Lizzie has travelled to Switzerland from her home in Somersetshire and what’s been going on at Eden Manor has been so shivers-down-the-spine dark that it would be no surprise were Lizzie running away but no, she’s running to the rescue. I have to be careful here to give nothing away, I didn’t know what was coming and had all the thrill of turning pages and gasping. All I will say is that the monsters in this book are subtle monsters. A clever woman who’s made monstrous by ambition, and an animal whose raw, brute threat is abused by adults. And Carroll gives a powerful message about prejudice and the ignorant, fearful and misguided response to that which is perceived as different. This is strong stuff, readers who’ve come to love and respect Lizzie and Felix will be outraged that they be judged on their skin and appearance. But dark and thrilling though this book is, the message running through its pages is one of hope, Lizzie has learned the myth of the Phoenix from her mother, ‘In the story they rise up from the flames, just to prove that even when everything’s destroyed, life can begin again,’ and Carroll hopes for her readers a better less prejudiced, braver future where ambition doesn’t need to destroy kindness and goodness.

I loved this book.

You can buy a copy of Strange Star here

About Emma Carroll

When I’m not writing books, I’m reading them. For many years I was an English teacher in a secondary school in Devon. Nowadays, I write full time. It’s my absolute dream-come-true job!

As a child, I wrote stories about ponies and pop stars, though not together. Nowadays it’s called fan-fiction; back then it was just weird.

After school, I worked as a reporter on a local newspaper. From there I went to university to study English Literature. After backpacking around the Middle East, South America, Australia, I did a PGCE in English and became a teacher.

Many years later, I bought myself a lovely big notebook and some new pens. I enrolled on the MA Writing For Young People at Bath Spa University, and got writing again. ‘Frost Hollow Hall’ was started on the MA course. It is my first novel, and took two years and many cups of tea to write.
I live in the Somerset hills with my husband and two Jack Russell terriers.

You can find out more about Emma Carroll on her website – www.emmacarrollauthor.wordpress.com

Or why not follow her on twitter using @emmac2603

About Perdita Cargill

Perdita Cargill is co-author of Waiting For Call back with Honor Cargill and are a mother and daughter writing team living in North London. Perdita used to be a barrister; Honor is studying for her A levels. Once they’d discovered the secret of mother/daughter collaboration (separate rooms and cake) writing Waiting for Callback together was enormous fun. Honor’s (limited) experience as a child actor gave them lots of funny material for their novels.

When Elektra is discovered by an acting agent, she imagines Oscar glory can’t be far away, but instead lurches from one cringe-worthy moment to the next! Just how many times can you be rejected for the part of ‘Dead Girl Number Three’ without losing hope? And who knew that actors were actually supposed to be multi-lingual, play seven instruments and be trained in a variety of circus skills?
Off-stage things aren’t going well either – she’s fallen out with her best friend, remains firmly in the friend-zone with her crush and her parents are driving her crazy. One way or another, Elektra’s life is now spent waiting for the phone to ring – waiting for callback.
Can an average girl-next-door like Elektra really make it in the world of luvvies and starlets?

You can buy a copy of Waiting For Callback here

A huge thank you to Perdita for a fab guest post review and for asking me to feature it!

Have you read Strange Star? What did you think? Have you read any of Emma Carroll’s other books? Do you have a favourite? Have you read Waiting For Callback? I would love to hear from you! Why not leave a comment using the reply button at the top of this review or tweet me on twitter using @chelleytoy!

Happy Reading!