The Inky Awards 2012 Shortlist Announced

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Below are the details of the Inky Awards 2012 Shortlist! I had so much fun being an Inky judge; I got to meet some wonderful bibliophiles and had the opportunity to read and champion some fantastic books!

I owe a big thanks to the State Library, Centre for Youth Literature and Inside a Dog for inviting me to judge (and calling me an 'industry expert' - watch my ego inflate!)

Congratulations to all those who made both the long and short list (it was seriously tough competition), I hope that everyone who is eligible votes, and that everyone attends the awards on October 23 (I'll be there! With bells on!)

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The Inky Awards are Australia’s teen-choice awards as voted for online by the readers of insideadog.com.au. It recognises home grown writing talent with the Gold Inky, and titles from across the ocean with the Silver Inky.

The judging panel consisted of four teenagers from around Australia; author and 2011 Gold Inky Award winner James Moloney; and industry expert Danielle Binks. Together they whittled down the 2012 Inky Awards Longlist to five Australian titles (Gold Inky), and five international titles (Silver Inky), for the 2012 Inky Awards Shortlist.

The Inky Awards – Vote Now!

Voting is now open on insideadog.com.au/vote.

Include your username while voting and you will go in to the draw to win the entire shortlisted books!

*If you’re not registered you can register at insideadog.com.au.

Voting is open to ages 12-20.

Voting closes on the 14 October 2012.

Winners will be announced at The Inky Awards event on the 23rd of October. Find out more about the event on the State Library of Victoria’s What’s On page.

Follow the Inky Awards experience via -
Twitter: @insideadog #Inkys Facebook: Inside A Dog

Gold Inky (Australian books)
★ Shift by Em Bailey
★ Night Beach by Kirsty Eagar
★ Act of Faith by Kelly Gardiner
★ Queen of the Night by Leanne Hall
★ The Reluctant Hallelujah by Gabrielle Williams

Silver Inky (International books)
★ BZRK by Michael Grant
★ The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
★ Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler
★ A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
★ Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

'Shift' ** WINNER **

And the winner of my international 'Shift' giveaway is - Drum-roll, please . . .

Aik!

Congrats and happy reading!
And thanks to all who entered

'Shift' international GIVEAWAY! + Q and A with Em Bailey

I recently had the great pleasure of reading 'Shift' - the new YA thriller/supernatural novel from Aussie author Em Bailey. The book had me in its throes from page 1 - a captivating and intense read.

So I was very pleased to be given the chance to interview Em Bailey - picking her brain and getting to the nuts and bolts of her thrilling story!

I am doubly excited to announce that (thanks to the lovely Hardie Grant Egmont!) I have one copy of 'Shift' to give away in an INTERNATIONAL contest!

So, without further ado, it is my great pleasure to give you - Em Bailey!

♥

How were you first published, agent or slush pile?

Neither. I got my break when a friend of mine started working for Hardie Grant Egmont in Melbourne. She knew that I was interested in writing (she’d read some of the short stories I’d had published) and she suggested that I submit a book idea to HGE, which I did. They accepted and I’ve been working with them ever since. I know, I know. I was hideously lucky. But I am also very grateful.

Where did you get the idea for ‘Shift’?

The idea came from a couple of different places. The initial trigger was a jokey conversation I had with some friends one night about which celebrities were actually reptilian shape shifters. We had a long discussion about how you could pick them (I think enlarged webbing between the fingers was one of the criteria, as well as having no earlobes). It was silly of course, but it put the idea of shape shifting into my head.

Then a few days later I was walking in town and saw a bunch of high school girls who all looked so similar that it was seeing some kind of freaky optical illusion. It wasn't just that their clothes were the same, it was also the girls’ mannerisms and the way they spoke. They’d obviously spent a lot of time together as they were so perfectly in sync. Watching them I had a flashback to school, remembering how a lot of people (including me) tried to be as much like everyone else as possible. You didn’t want to stand out or be different. I started thinking about how well suited a shape shifter would be to the high school environment, because it would be able to blend in perfectly.

Olive's character came from accidentally overhearing (OK… I was actually eavesdropping…) a girl tell her friend that back at school she was an 'alternative princess.' I was intrigued as to what this phrase meant and starting thinking about what an alternative princess would look like and the path she would have travelled to become one.

How long did it take you to write ‘Shift’, from idea to final manuscript?

It seemed to take forever – but in reality it was about 2 and a half years from the initial idea to the final, final, I-promise-I-mean-it-this-time, manuscript. I discovered during the process that I am a slow writer - and not one of those fortunate people who can bulls-eye a book with the first draft. It took many painful rewrites to get Shift right and I am eternally grateful that my editors at HGE were so patient with me. I would've booted me out the door around the 12 month mark.

So much of ‘Shift’ is ambiguous and, ironically, always shifting. Readers are never quite sure if they’re reading a paranormal thriller or a psychological suspense. Was it hard to write a book that constantly kept readers guessing – and where you had to leave breadcrumbs for readers to pick up?

I'm so glad you found that Shift didn’t quite slot into one particular genre – it’s exactly what I was aiming for. My publishers describe Shift as 'sitting on the edge of sci fi' and I like this. The balance of genres switched around a bit over the various drafts. In some versions it was more of a sci-fi book and in others it was hardly paranormal at all. So yes, it was tricky getting it right. I learned that the hardest thing about writing something 'suspenseful' is that after you've been working on it for a while it all feels so obvious that it's hard to pull back enough to tell if the tension is working or not. It’s like having someone tell you the same joke over and over – the humour rapidly diminishes!

It’s also really hard to resist ‘over-telling’. I hate it when books do this – I like being able to figure things out for myself – but writing Shift I realised how hard it is to stop yourself.

You have picked the perfect terrain to set this novel – the landmine of high school. ‘Shift’ actually feels a lot like ‘Mean Girls’, but with a more sinister, supernatural twist. What is it about girls backstabbing and cliques that held such chilling fascination for you?

Because the initial idea for Shift came after seeing a bunch of high school girls together I never had any doubt that it needed to be mostly set in the school environment. A lot of what goes on between girls in high school is so subtle but can be so devastating. Around the time I started thinking about Shift there were some really tragic stories in the news about high school bullying which I found incredibly heart-breaking. I wanted Shift to touch on some of these issues, looking at how hard it can be for someone lost in the middle of those school years. The central character of Shift – Olive - has been through some big, traumatic changes in her life and feels raw and horribly exposed at school. One of the major threads in Shift is the things Olive does cope with being in this environment.

‘Shift’ has a very different narrator in the form of Olive Corbett – a girl with cracks and big secrets. She’s very interesting for her flaws – but what made you write such a different, skewed YA protagonist (as opposed to a princess-perfect character like Katie)?

Olive went through a lot of changes as I redrafted. She was a lot perkier and more 'together' in the early drafts, but as the book took on a darker tone Olive became darker too. I was happy with this. Flawed characters are much more interesting to write than perfect, well-adjusted ones and Shift needed a narrator like Olive – someone who has positioned herself on the outside, watching what is going on around her. She is also someone whose troubled history makes us unsure how much to trust her. Someone like Katie is too deeply involved in everything that’s was going on to have time to sit back and observe.

Music plays a big role in ‘Shift’ – as a coping mechanism for Olive and a signpost of madness for others. What five songs would you want to appear on a ‘Shift’ soundtrack?

Olive wouldn't approve of anything I suggested. She really only likes music that no one else has ever heard of. She does admit to having crushes on Jeff Buckley and Kurt Cobain so perhaps some of their songs could be on it – but they'd have to be rare B-sides or something previously unreleased.

Who would your dream cast be in a movie adaptation of the novel?

Sadly, I’m hopelessly out of touch with the starlets of today! I always have been, but I’m even more so now that I’m living in Germany and haven't been to the movies for two years. Any suggestions?

Speaking of which . . . have the movie rights been sold yet?

Not yet, as far as I know!

‘Shift’ ends interestingly . . . with a small possibility for more. Do you have plans to write a sequel? If not, then what’s the next book project you’ll be working on?

Originally Shift was going to be the first book in a trilogy, but HGE and I decided in the end that it would work better as a stand-alone novel. There's an ambiguity about Shift that we liked and that would've been lost if I'd written all three books. All the same the other two books floating around in my head so you never know!

Favourite book(s) of all time?

Such a hard question! I’ve really loved a number of Margaret Atwood’s books – in particular Cat's Eye, The Blind Assassin and The Handmaid's Tale. I also love Lorrie Moore’s short story collection Birds of America – the stories are so funny and yet so sad at the same time. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon is another favourite book as is The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides.

Favourite author(s)?

Apart from the authors listed above my favourite author is a friend of mine, Chrissie Keighery. She has a new YA novel out called Whisper which is about a teenage girl who suddenly becomes deaf after an illness. Now she has to adjust to a whole new way of defining herself and work out how to live her new life. It’s the most gorgeously written book – it’s moving and true and sweet and sad. I feel proud to know her!

What advice do you have for budding young writers?

People always say that budding writers just need to get to it and write – but personally I find it hard to write just for the sake of writing. One thing I found useful was to enter writing competitions and submit stories to small press publications. It meant I had something to aim for and was a good way to stay focused. Keeping a blog can help too – especially once you acquire a few followers because then you learn about writing for an audience.

♥ International GIVEAWAY - A copy of 'Shift' ♥

How to enter:

♥ Become a follower of my blog (if you aren't already)

♥ Answer the question: 'if you could shape-shift yourself into looking like anyone, who would it be?'

♥ Include a way to contact you (e-mail addy is fine)

♥ One post per entrant

♥ This is an INTERNATIONAL giveaway!

♥ Contest closes August 31st
I will announce the lucky winner on September 1st

'Shift' by Em Bailey

Received from the Publisher

From the BLURB:

There were two things everyone knew about Miranda Vaile before she'd even arrived at our school. The first was that she had no parents - they were dead. And the second? They were dead because Miranda had killed them.

Olive Corbett is definitely not crazy. Not anymore. These days she takes her meds like a good girl, hangs out with her best friend Ami, and stays the hell away from the toxic girls she used to be friends with. She doesn't need a boyfriend. Especially not a lifesaver-type with nice eyes and a broad back. And she doesn't need the drama of that creepy new girl Miranda trying to make it with her ex-friends. But then, against all odds, Miranda does make it with them. Or she best-friends one of them and makes the others go away. As Miranda emerges from the shadows, Olive begins to realise something sinister going is on. Something almost…parasitic. Either Olive is losing her grip on reality, or those crazy rumours are true. Maybe Miranda is a killer. But who would believe Olive? She does have a habit of letting her imagination run away with her…

Miranda Vaile was infamous long before she set foot in the small suburb of Jubilee Park. Stories about Miranda were swirling in the weeks prior to her arrival – stories about her life in Europe, the crazy aunt she was coming to live with . . . and the fact that she killed her parents.

The attention and attraction of Miranda is a reprise for Jubilee Park’s resident psychotic – Olive Corbett. Olive, whose family life has disintegrated in the wake of her ‘mistakes’ and recovery from circumstances unknown. Olive, who used to rule the school with her best friend, Katie – but in recent months has filled out, quirked-up and shut herself away. Not even the cute new guy at school, Lachlan, can distract or tempt Olive back to the glamorous clique. She seems content to wear her frumpy op-shop clothes and hang with her new friend, Ami.

But when Miranda and Katie start an unlikely and suffocating friendship, Olive becomes suspicious. The closer Miranda and Katie become, the more Katie seems to be vanishing before her very eyes – wasting away into a thin, sunken-eyed shell of her former self. Meanwhile, Miranda flourishes – her glassy eyes reflect Katie’s old verve, her hair has a similar shine and lustre that once crowned Katie’s head and Katie’s boyfriend is even gracing Miranda’s arm.

Something is not right about Miranda Vaile. But, then again, something is not right with Olive Corbett either.

‘Shift’ is the new YA novel from Australian author Em Bailey – a pseudonym for Meredith Badger, of the highly-acclaimed ‘Go Girl’ and ‘Zac Power’ books for younger readers.

I saw this novel advertised at the recent Australian Bookseller’s Association book fair – the cover was utterly striking, and when I read the blurb I was doubly intrigued. And it seems my curiosity served me well . . . because I think ‘Shift’ is shaping up to be a hot new Australian release.

Our narrator is Olive Corbett – a wise-cracking, self-imposed outcast from a broken home who is hefting a heavy weight on her shoulders. Olive is initially intrigued with Miranda Vaile for the same reason as everyone else – the rumour of her parricide. But when Miranda is revealed as an ordinary orphan, content to slink into the background, Olive’s private hopes for a little excitement are dashed . . . until Miranda takes a keen interest in Olive’s ex-best-friend and current tormentor, Katie.

Miranda’s fascination with the beautiful and popular Katie is at first hopelessly embarrassing, but quickly progresses into an unlikely friendship, and then devolving into an unhealthy obsession. As the girls seclude themselves into a private clique, Olive becomes increasingly paranoid that Miranda is up to something – convinced that the new girl has ‘mirror eyes’ and is starting to resemble Katie . . .

And herein lies the brilliance of ‘Shift’ – for just as Miranda’s behaviour becomes increasingly disturbing, so too does Olive reveal some deep cracks within herself. Olive talks cryptically of fearing the ocean since her ‘incident’. She blames herself for her parent’s divorce, but won’t discuss the circumstances surrounding her father walking out on the family. Olive admits to having seen a Dr. Richter for some time, but refrains from detailing the reasons for her visits. Thus, as Olive begins to notice Miranda’s strange behaviour, so too will readers begin to pick up on Olive’s oddity . . .

Em Bailey has written a mystery within a mystery as ‘Shift’ straddles the line between psychological and paranormal, sinister and supernatural – taking readers on a rollercoaster thrill ride that dips into the damaged psyche of a young girl, and then soars back into a horror novel of epically spine-chilling proportions.

The novel is a real chill-ride for a number of reasons – not least of which is the genre guessing-game. ‘Shift’ works so well because Bailey has captured and distilled the menace of high school with ironic brilliance. It’s disturbing that, as you read, you’re never quite sure if Miranda is something dangerous and supernaturally ‘other’ . . . or if she’s in fact just another queen-bee bitch from the popular hive. Is Olive seeing something dangerous and paranormal in Miranda – or is she simply another high school menace?

There’s also a small romance in the novel, as Olive becomes begrudgingly enamoured of the popular new boy, Lachlan. But Olive’s murky past and her current loner-status make her wary of starting something with one so beautiful and clearly meant for better things than her frumpy old self. I really enjoyed this romance, even if it wasn’t always the focus of the novel. Lachlan is charming and sweet, a rarely understanding teenage boy who is enraptured by Olive’s quirkiness. And as the novel progresses, he also becomes a lodestone for Olive’s sanity.

“Do you believe that weird things can happen?” I said. “You know – the kind of things that you shouldn’t really believe in if you’re a normal, sensible person?” I was speaking quickly, before I could change my mind.

Lachlan was silent for a moment. The water lapped around us. “I guess I believe in grey,” he said eventually.

“What does that mean?”

“It’s something my grandpa used to say,” said Lachlan. “Some things aren’t straightforward. Not everything is true or false. Real or imaginary. It’s not that simple.” He looked at me, a shy smile on his face.

Olive was wonderful for her imperfections. She’s a very messy character (not least because she’s an unreliable narrator) – but Olive’s cryptic past, her self-hatred and coping mechanisms make her infinitely fascinating. She’s definitely not your typical heroine – but I found myself liking her for her flaws and rooting for her, regardless. If I had any complaint it’s that I felt Bailey didn’t address Olive’s home life satisfactorily by book’s end. Much is made of her father walking out on the family months ago – and I expected a dénouement would have to include a confrontation with the absent patriarch . . . but it never happens, and Olive’s ending seems slightly unfulfilled because of it.

Em Bailey’s ‘Shift’ is ‘Jennifer’s Body’ meets ‘The Roommate’ in a novel that’s supremely chilling and psychologically thrilling. Bailey writes a masterful mystery and plays a guessing-game with readers as she meshes supernatural horror with high-school melodrama through the fissured psyche of a young girl.

5/5

Publication date: 1st September 2011