Event: Forbidden Plant Author Signing + GIVEAWAY!!

My Signed Copy of Minority Council!

I was sent an email from the nice people at Orbit UK publishers a few weeks ago letting me know about a double signing at Forbidden Planet, Shrewsbury Avenue – Kate Griffin, author of the Matthew Swift series and debut author, Benedict Jacka. I’d never been to an author signing before. Heck, I’ve never (to my knowledge) met an author before, but as I absolutely adore Kate Griffin’s writing (It’s so lyrical and lush) I dragged Sarah, my guest reviewer up there Thursday just gone.

We got there early but were able to restrain ourselves from buying any additional books. Standing in the relatively short queue, I couldn’t believe how nervous I was. I had no idea what I was going to say to either them. By the time I got to the front, I could barely stammer out my name to Kate as I handed her a copy of her latest book – The Minority Council. Luckily she was so friendly and much more relaxed than me as she asked me how to spell Melissa and we had a short discussion about variations on spellings. Even so I wished I’d been brave enough to ask her numerous questions about her writing process or what the future has in store in for Matthew Swift!  

My signed copy of Fated!

Luckily I was a little more relaxed when I moved onto Benedict and a little less star struck and we had a short chat about London and how no-one can ever know all of London well, but we stick to our comfo

rtable areas. I admitted that I’d never really spent much time in Camden where Fated, his book is set, but he said he’s not spent much time south of the river either.

All in all, it was other rather quickly as we moved on to make way for other people - and had a lovely dinner at one of our favourite restaurants in Covent Garden! So that was my first ever author event. I have to admit I felt like a real fan-girl and so nervous, despite knowing that they are just people! Does anyone have any tips on how to behave when meeting their favourite authors? I'm hoping I'll be more relaxed when I go to another one. Or perhaps you have any stories where you’ve totally embarrassed yourself in front of your favourite writer?

To celebrate I’m going to give away to one person their choice of either The Minority Council by Kate Griffin or Fated by Benedict Jacka. Just fill in the form below. Open Internationally and ends on Midnight GMT on 9^th March 2012. And to help you decide which you would prefer here are the synopsis:

The Minority Council (Matthew Swift 4) - Kate Griffin

Publisher: UK - Orbit

Matthew Swift, sorcerer, Midnight Mayor, is in charge. Or so he'd like to think. And London, being London, is having its issues. Drug use is rampant. Teenage vandalism is driving away business. Violent crimes are on the rise. Once upon a time, Matthew Swift wouldn't have given a toss. Now it's his mess to clean up. Especially when the new drug on the market is fairy dust and the production process involves turning humans into walking drug labs. And when the teenage vandals are being hunted by a mystical creature. And when the petty criminals of London start dying by magical means.
It becomes clear that not only is this Swift's mess to clean up, but someone is trying to tell him how to do his job. Now he has to sort out who's behind the crime wave and who's interfering in his business. Swift has a lot of old enemies and few friends. If he's going to save London from a rising tide of blood -- he's going to have to learn his lessons and fast.

Fated (Alex Verus 1) - Benedict Jacka

Publisher: UK - Orbit

Alex Verus is part of a world hidden in plain sight, running a magic shop in London. And while Alex's own powers aren't as showy as some mages, he does have the advantage of foreseeing the possible future--allowing him to pull off operations that have a million-to-one-chance of success. But when Alex is approached by multiple factions to crack open a relic from a long-ago mage war, he knows that whatever's inside must be beyond powerful. And thanks to his abilities, Alex can predict that by taking the job, his odds of survival are about to go from slim to none...

Both sound good, huh? If you want to get your hands on a copy, just fill in the form below!

<<<GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED>>>

Book Temple #2: Forbidden Planet Megastore

This a new monthly feature for Mel’s Random reviews where I wax lyrical about a place dedicated to books or reading. It can be a shop, market, website or even a place to curl up and read in. There’s no sponsorship  involved and as such is subject to reversal, mood changes and general inaccuracies - I just want to share my favourite book places! I’m afraid it will be focused on London as it’s where I live and the place I do most of reading – but feel free to join in! If you have your favourite Book Temple you would like to share through a guest blog, please contact me – my email in on the right!



Forbidden Planet Megastore Entrance



For this months ‘Book Temple’ I want to focus on a store that is probably well know to most of the genre readers in the UK – Forbidden Planet. I’m focusing on the Forbidden Planet Megastore on Shaftesbury Avenue in central London as it’s their Mega store and one which I make the point of visiting regularly. Forbidden offers loads of items for the cult fans but I always head straight for the basement and turn left where their book department is. And what a collection of books!



At the north end of Shaftesbury Avenue, close to New Oxford Street

Anything with a speculative fiction nature is include – from urban fantasy and paranormal romance to high fantasy and science fiction to conspiracy thrillers and mysteries to horror to YA and film/TV tie ins. If it is a fiction book with a ‘what if’ idea, then you can probably find here. It is a huge collection with lots of imports from the US and elsewhere (I can usually my Aussie authors here as well!) an I’ve been able to start a lot of series that regular book don’t stock because of the collection. There is a big area dedicated to new releases from both sides of the pond and around the corner is the A-Z of genre fiction books. I can and have spent hours exploring, discovering new titles, completing collections and rediscovering old favourites here. It’s the best collection of speculative fiction I’ve ever seen and there’s something comforting that everyone else there likes the same type of books as you.

There’s a bonus at Forbidden planet as well as they frequently hold signings with loads of different authors. This means you can meet and talk to some of the best writers around – check out the website for who’s coming by next.

If you want to explore book temples in London then I recommend the Forbidden Planet Megastore in London – but be warned you might spend more time and money there than you were expecting!