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The world at night book3/19/2023 This is a perfect read-aloud story for bedtime or any time. This charming story, along with stunning watercolors of night sky and wildlife, presents the thrill and wonder of a child exploring darkness without fear. With the night sky over most cities now nearly 100 times brighter than in the last century, children are missing out on the experience of the natural darkness. You can preorder Book of Night here or through Bookshop here.By Paul Bogard, illustrated by Sarah Holden To end on a fun question, which three emojis sum up Book of Night? My hope is that I can put out books for adults, teens, and kids - all of them fantasy. I am currently working on a book that’s YA fantasy, so I will definitely be continuing there. And the second was walking home from town at night with my son as he moved in between lights, and observed how his shadow bifurcated and came back together, lengthened and shrunk.īut Book of Night also comes out of our understanding of shadow selves, those unacknowledged parts of ourselves that contain all the stuff most interesting to writers.īecause I would guess your younger fans might be wondering, I wanted to ask: Will you continue to write YA in the future? Or even, perhaps, other genres outside of YA or adult fantasy? One was a folkloric account of a woman who woke up on a hill with a man leaning over her with scissors, attempting to snip off her shadow, and the terrible dread she felt about what would happen if he succeeded. I think my fascination with shadows as magic came out of two things. Definitely avoid the sickly exhilaration Charlie has always gotten from chasing disaster, even as her past returns and demands a reckoning. She’s trying to put that behind her, attempting to keep the only job she can get, not screw things up with her shadowless boyfriend, and get her sister to focus on something other than her futile and dangerous attempts to quicken her own shadow. Gloamists, however, can do more - some fly on shadow wings, sneak in to locked spaces, and even possess those not protected by onyx.Ĭharlie Hall spent half her life as a thief of secrets, stealing the books in which gloamists hide their discoveries from one another. People pay to have the appearance of their shadows changed and to be imbued with minor magic. I felt like I was in a fairy tale, weaving by day and unwinding by night.Ĭan you tell us a little more about Book of Night and what inspired you to write it?īook of Night is set in a world like ours, but where shadow magicians, called gloamists, can manipulate shadows - both theirs and those belonging to others. And then I would delete it again the following night. And every morning, she would look at me warily and tell me she liked the new one. Before I fell asleep, I would send it to the writer Kelly Link, who was also on this retreat. I couldn’t figure out the beginning for ages and ages! There was a time when I was on a writing retreat, and every night I would delete the first chapter and write another, sometimes with a new protagonist, sometimes with new rules about the magical world. And that is something that I would approach very differently in a story for adults than in one for teens. This is a book about shadow magicians, stolen grimoires, and con artistry, but it’s also a book about hidden selves, and coming back from giving up. And I wanted to write about the grind of adulthood, the disappointments and the bills and the ruts it's easy to fall into. I wanted to write about someone who wasn’t making that first bad choice, but who was sitting at the end of a road of bad choices, and who might not have another chance to turn things around. For one, I wanted to write about someone who was already in an established, complicated, imperfect relationship. What drew you to crafting this story in particular as one belonging in the adult genre, and how do you feel about making the leap?Īfter two decades of writing books for kids and teens, there were some things that I was itching to do that weren’t right for that space. Your Folk of Air series is beloved by so many, but Book of Night is your very first adult fantasy novel. It feels like only yesterday I was listening to the audio version of the Curse Workers series (which is now over a decade old!). Having written over 30 fantasy novels for kids and teens, you've been a huge name in the young adult literature space for quite some time now.
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