Red House Books: Blog Tour / Shadow Magic by Joshua Khan Q&A and GIVEAWAY

Hey guys! Today I've got a middle grade treat for ya in the form of a little Q&A and Giveaway for Shadow Magic by Jashua Khan.

Hey, that rhymes...Q&A and Giveaway! Q&A and Giveaway! Q&A and Giveaway! -- can you see me doing a conga line all by my lonesome? No, well try harder!

Q&A and Giveaway! Q&A and Giveaway!

Ok, ok I'm done now ;)

On with the show!

Thorn, an outlaw's son, wasn't supposed to be a slave. He's been sold to Tyburn, an executioner, and they're headed to Castle Gloom in Gehenna, the land of undead, where Thorn will probably be fed to a vampire.

Lilith Shadow wasn't supposed to be ruler of Gehenna. But following the murder of her family, young Lily became the last surviving member of House Shadow, a long line of dark sorcerers. Her country is surrounded by enemies and the only way she can save it is by embracing her heritage and practicing the magic of the undead. But how can she when, as a girl, magic is forbidden to her?

Just when it looks like Lily will have to leave her home forever, Thorn arrives at Castle Gloom. A sudden death brings them together, inspires them to break the rules, and leads them to soar to new heights in this fantasy with all the sparkle and luster of a starry night sky.

Amazon | B&N | Indiebound | iBooks | The Book Depository

About Joshua Khan

Born in Britain.
Lives in London.
Would rather live in a castle.
Writes fantasy.
Enjoys it.

Q&A With Joshua

1. What’s the twitter pitch for SHADOW MAGIC (sum the book up in 140 characters of less!)?
There was once a princess who loved the dark and all that dwelt within. She befriended a boy with bloody hands and secrets in his heart.

That’s 136 letters.

2. If you weren’t a writer, what would you be doing?
It’s Sunday, so I’d be getting ready for my job, which was as an engineer. It wasn’t the best job in the world, but I knew some good people and had some great adventures. It allowed me to travel a lot of the world, and that’s no bad thing.

3. What do you enjoy about writing for Middle Grade?
The challenge of fresh storytelling to an audience that, frankly, have the best authors in the business. If I think about it too much in freaks me out. There’s Rick Riordan, JK Rowling, Phillip Pullman, Tolkien and the rest. We will be reading Harry Potter a hundred years from now.
The mid-grade audience know when their being conned. They will no suffer through dull, preachy chapters where nothing happens on the off-chance it’ll pick up later. They will close the book and move on.

Plus, and this is crucial, it’s here you make readers. This is the age kids are searching for their favourite book, the genre or author that will create the joy of reading. People say they don’t like reading, that’s because they never found that book that would have opened up the world of literature when they had the chance. You make the fans of READING at this age. It’ll be the first book they read by themselves, it’ll be the one they look back on, years down the line, and still remember where they were, whether it was raining or shining or they were tucked in their beds the time they took that train to Hogwarts, or joined Galdalf or collected that Golden Ticket for Wonka’s factory.

I still remember where I was when I discovered hobbits. I’ve read it to my wife when she was giving our baby those 4am feeds, me sitting half in the dark bedroom and half in the lit corridor. That baby is now 15, and as keen a reader as you can hope. Sometimes I do wonder if she has subconscious echoes of Bilbo and his adventures, there in her earliest memories.

4. What do you have coming up next?
DREAM MAGIC, the sequel. It picks up three months later from SHADOW MAGIC, and the stakes have risen. Lily and Thorn are more established than they were, but now have greater responsibility. Lily’s ruler of Gehenna, but that means she is more alone than ever, people look to her for the answers. They see Lady Shadow, but forget she’s still just a thirteen-year-old girl. Thorn’s fame is spreading, he’s the master of Hades, the ancient, gigantic vampire bat, and utterly one of a kind.
So, can they measure up when the trolls come down for winter? When people start vanishing from the villages? When monsters start infesting their dreams...
That’s due out April 17. It will rock.