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.
Starting with the Norse creation myths, the trickster god Loki takes the reader on a wild ride through Norse mythology, from the time the gods – the founders of Asgard – defeated races of monsters, and hurtling through famous stories, including Odin hanging himself on the World Tree, the theft of the corrupting gold ring and the murder of Baldr, the god of love and the Sun. This narrative may seem familiar enough at first, but the reader should beware.

Born within the heart of a fire in the hollow of a tree-trunk, Loki arrives in Asgard as an outsider. He is a trickster, an unreliable narrator, the god of intelligence and politics. In spite of his cleverness and sparkling wit (or, perhaps, because of this…) Loki struggles to find his place among the old patriarchal gods of supernatural power and is constantly at odds with the god of thunder – Thor.

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.

This is a retelling that is contemporary in tone, at once amusing and relatable. It is a heartfelt plea to overthrow the old gods of power and authority and instigate a new era ruled by love and intelligence.

I’ve been absent from here for along time, mainly because not much has been going on, writing wise. But now things are stirring – I have two new books out this year. Three Bullets is a YA, one part of a Triptych; three novels written by three writers set in the same world – the UK as it might have been, or perhaps how it will be. Pete Kalu wrote One Drop, Tariq Mehmood wrote Second Coming …. and my Three Bullets completes the Triptych. You can read more about this and the other books on our Triptych website, Ruled Britannia or on Facebook.

England has been taken over by the Bloods, a far right Christian sect, white supremicists propped up by a fanatical new government in the USA. Marti, a mixed race trans girl, represents everything they hate in one person. All she wants to do is leave the country, even if it means dumping her baby brother Michael and her best friend Maude. But there she discovers that her dad might still be alive, and has had his mind re-written by the Bloods in the ERAC, the Evangelical Rehabilitation Centre in Huntingdon, she has no choice but to go down south into Blood’s territory, in the very slight hope that she can rescue him.

Needless to say, she’s furious about the whole thing.

Pete, Tariq and myself were interviewed by A M Dassu in the Portico Library’s Pathways to Publishing, part of the Manchester City of Literature, Festival of Libraries. You can listen to it here.

I’m doing a Fane event about the 25th anniversary of Junk and the launch of Three Bullets – details in the panel on the right.

Also out this year, my first book for younger readers …

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.

These are the ones we call witches.

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.

This is my first book for five years. I hope you like it.

I SUMMON YOU, YOU CROWNED RUNNERS, I SUMMON YOU FROM SLEEP. I SUMMON AND COMMAND.

***

‘No,’ said Odi. ‘You must never forgive yourself your sins. You must live with them forever.’

***

Lars was dreaming, and as he dreamed, his shape changed.

***

The Huntsman stared down at her, his teeth gleaming like china. ‘Got you,’ he said.

***

Have a listen to the opening, when Bea first discovers her powers.

‘A dark, deep tale of magic and manipulation.’ – DEIDRE SULLIVAN.

‘Myth, magic and following your instincts in a much-anticipated thriller.’ – THE BOOKSELLER.

LOST WITCH DATES

Here’s some places and dates where I’ll be reading from and talking about the new book. See if I’m coming anywhere near you. More detail to follow as I get it myself.

JULY 18th 18.30 – 20.00

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

The Northern Literary Festival

53 Degrees, Brook Street, Preston PR1 7BQ

The Supernatural & Fantastical in YA

3pm – Supernatural Panel. David Owen will be chairing a discussion with A.J Hartley, Melvin Burgess and Marcus Sedgwick. Be prepared to be spooked as these bestselling authors discuss everything we love about the supernatural.

Saturday 28th July

Book signing, Forbidden Planet, 179 Shaftesbury Avenue, London; WC2H 8JR. 4pm

Sunday 29th July 

YALC @Kensington Olympia

You have to love YALC. Take a look at this years programe – fabulous.

13:00 – Signing – stop fora chat! (2 hours approx)

16:00 – In conversation with Juno Dawson – main stage event. I love Juno#’s work – very muchlooking forwrd to this one.

17:00 – Signing.

AUGUST 21 – 23

Edinburgh Festival, public and schools

SEPTEMBER 6/7
School Events – The Wirral and Manchester

SEPTEMBER 15th RSA

Benjamin West Lecture Theatre, Saturday 15th 3.30pm

SEPTEMBER 22
YLG Conference, Salford

SEPTEMBER 23rd –

Dublin – Children’s Books Ireland conference.

SEPTEMBER 30
Bath Festival

OCTOBER 1

Ilkley Festival

27/28 OCTOBER
London Literary Festival – Southbank TBC

 Lucy Christopher and I are back at Rancho Los Cascados in 2019, this time for a writing retreat. With so much on offer – western horse riding, yoga, trips out and about in this fascinating part of Mexico – we’ve been getting feedback; MORE writing – less tutorials.

So we’ve listened and organised our next Retreat on those lines. MORE spare time to write … MORE 1-2-1’s with myself and Lucy, and still plenty of time to ride, to sit in the hot tub with a beer, a daiquiri, Margarita or pina colada.

Lucy and I will be on hand to read, discuss and advise you on your work in the mornings and early evenings. You can divide your time between writing, going on the morning, afternoon or day-long rides available at the Rancho, or else taking time out to go on one of the many trips on offer. How you spend your time will be entirely up to you.

Dates are 7th – 14th September. The area around the Rancho is just lovely at this time of year. With fields of cosmos and Mexican sunflowers in full flower, the wildflowers are stunning. There are some beautiful hummingbirds and butterflies – clouds of them in some cases – a great array of bird life and rides through some of the loveliest countryside you’ll have seen.

The riding of course is superb – even an inexperienced rider like me can canter and gallop in those wonderful western saddles, although perhaps the best thing is just to amble through the beautiful Mexican countryside. In 2017 we were lucky enough to go bareback swimming with the horses in a lake. When the horse’s feet leave the ground and you pick up speed in the water, it’s a wonderful feeling.

There is an early bird Price is $1,957 USD for 7 nights, including airport transfers, single occupancy, all food and drink, yoga, riding, excursions and of course all writing tutorials.

AS many of you will know, Lucy is the talented author of the Killing Woods, Stolen and Flyaway. She’s also a great tutor, teaching at Bath Spa, the UK’s most prestigious course for Creative Writing. I’ve tutored with her many times at Arvon and I think we make a great team. 🙂 Check Lucy out on Facebook and at her website here.

See you there? – Cheers!

It was also very lovely to meet up again with my fabulous Italian translator, Angela Ragusa. I had a great time hanging out with

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.

The Andersen Award is the most prestigious  prize internationally in writing for young people, judged on the whole body of an auther’s work. I’ll be up against some of the very finest writers from around the world, but just to be nominated is a tremendous honour and I’m enormously flattered, delighted and proud. I shall be going round with a big smile on my face for a good while,

Wish me luck, I’m gonna need it!

You can read an interview with me and Charlotte Eyre from the Bookseller here.

Here’s Junk, reissued by Andersen Press with an intro by Malorie Blackman and some extra material, from the letters to and fro-ing between myself and the editors, while it was actually being written. It was quite a struggle, as you can read. Interesting – I’d forgotten a lot of what went on at the time myself.

Many thanks to Andersen Press, and to Bookseller who sponsor the YA Book Prize.