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Welcome to the Every Word Blog Tour!
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Ellie Marney’s Every series, which began with Every Breath and continues with Every Word, takes a look at a contemporary, teenage Sherlock Holmes-esque character, James Mycroft, and his neighbor-turned-partner, Rachel Watts. (You can read my reviews of the books at their respective links.)
For those of you who haven’t read the first book, you might want to skip over the synopsis.
Here’s the official word:
James Mycroft has just left for London to investigate a car accident similar to the one that killed his parents seven years ago...without saying goodbye to Rachel Watts, his 'partner in crime'.
Rachel is furious and worried about his strange behaviour—not that Mycroft's ever exactly normal, but London is the scene of so many of his nightmares. So Rachel jumps on a plane to follow him … and lands straight in a whole storm of trouble.
The theft of a copy of Shakespeare's First Folio, the possible murder of a rare books conservator, and the deaths of Mycroft's parents … Can Watts help Mycroft make sense of the three events—or will she lose him forever?
Sparks fly when Watts and Mycroft reunite in this second sophisticated thriller about the teen sleuthing duo.
As part of the novel’s blog tour, Ellie stopped by our lockers to give us answers to five zany questions.
Five Zany Questions with Ellie Marney, author of Every Word
Hi there! *waves* Welcome to the Every Word blog tour!
As an author, you get asked a lot of odd questions about yourself and your book (trust me, it’s not just a North American thing, Australians ask weird questions too!). Today I thought I’d share a few of my answers to some of the questions lobbed at me during panels and interviews.
Some of the questions are about the second book in the Every series, Every Word (for the uninformed, the synopsis is roughly: ‘wannabe Sherlock and his girl Watson investigate murder between Melbourne and London’ … you get the picture). And some of the questions are just … well, I’ll let you find out.
Hope you like my answers, and hope you enjoy the book!
xxEllie
1. One curious or unusual thing about me that most people don’t know:
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I have a neat scar between the second and third toes of my right foot that is a relic of when I nearly chopped my toes off with an axe.
You know, I lived in Indonesia for a long time, and it was mainly in rural parts of West Sumatra. People there use cookfires, and the family we lived with always had a fire going—and of course, you need to chop wood for that.
So, one day, everyone in the house had gone down to the padi (rice fields) and I was the only one hanging around in the kitchen, finishing off the food we’d been preparing, and I figured Wow, I should chop some wood for the fire, cos the stack is getting low. Only … well, I was only wearing thongs (what you folks call flip-flops, I think) and when I brought the axe down on a log that I was oh-so-helpfully steadying with my foot, the axe kind of bounced off a knot in the wood and …
Yep—blood everywhere. I have no idea how I managed NOT to chop my toes off, that was a bit of a miracle I think. I never received stitches for the wound (which is about two inches long, and runs from the webbing between my toes to the middle of my foot) because the village we lived in was so remote and the local midwife (who did the stitching thing) was in the next village at a birth. So I just kind of bandaged it up, used Chinese herbs and local remedies, and it slowly healed.
But I have a really cool scar to remind me of the moral of the story, which is DON’T CHOP WOOD IN THONGS, FRIENDS.
2. ‘James Mycroft is a jerk’—discuss:
Okay, I admit it, Mycroft is a bit of a jerk in Every Word. He races off to London without talking to Rachel about it, and even before that he’s all broody and uncommunicative.
I could understand why he was like that, though. I mean, James is pretty screwed up. His past history —which all comes tumbling out in Every Word—involves a lot of pain and death and loss. And since then, he’s lived in a semi-hostile relationship with his aunt in Melbourne, disconnected from who he was and where he’s come from …
He’s never really had a chance to grieve, and he’s not great at trusting people with his personal stuff (in fact, he’s bad at it. Like, really bad). So in his universe, it makes sense that he would withdraw and take off for London without a discussion.
The other issue, of course, is that he recognises he’s doing something jerk-worthy. And he feels crappy about it, and he feels like Rachel deserves better. Someone better than him, at any rate.
So I get where he’s at, and I have a lot of sympathy. But I’m glad Rachel has the chance to wail on him when she gets to London.
3. Would I ever jump on a plane at a moment’s notice to go rescue a friend in need?
Absolutely. I mean, it’s like Mike’s girlfriend, Alicia Azzopardi, says: ‘People invite you to their wedding in, like, Bali. But they don’t ask you to come support them when they’re in pain’.
I would go, if someone I cared about really needed me. In Rachel’s case, she goes even when she’s pretty sure Mycroft doesn’t want her there. Sometimes you have to do the necessary thing.
4. The zombie apocalypse strikes, but it’s okay, cos I have my choice of weapons, and I choose … :
The Uzi, of course.
Nah, actually, I’d probably go for a machete, I’m handy with a machete. Just don’t give me the axe, I’m not so great with axes!
5. Melbourne vs London—which city rates best on the ‘Gritty Mean Streets Every-Word-o-meter’ and why?
Ah, this is a tough question! London is soooo beautiful and archaic and atmospheric. I mean, look at this:
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I’d happily write another book set in London, just for the chance to visit there again! But I love Melbourne, and I feel confident writing its mean streets. Gimme Melbourne any day.
About the Author:
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Ellie Marney was born in Brisbane, and has lived in Indonesia, Singapore and India. Now she writes, teaches, talks about kid’s literature at libraries and schools, and gardens when she can, while living in a country idyll (actually a very messy wooden house on ten acres with a dog and lots of chickens) near Castlemaine, in north-central Victoria. Her partner and four sons still love her, even though she often forgets things and lets the housework go.
Ellie’s short stories for adults have won awards and been published in various anthologies. Every Breath was her first novel for young adults.
You can get to know Ellie better via her Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and/or Pinterest.
Be sure to visit the other stops on the tour:
Monday, Nov. 16
Samantha at Bellsie Books
Mandy C. at Forever Young Adult—You are here!
Eri at Airy Reads
Heather at Books and Quilts
Nicole at Reading Lark
Tuesday, Nov. 17
Shelly at Books and Writing
Michelle at Michelle & Leslie’s Book Picks
Jen at The Starry-Eyed Revue
Amanda at Gun in Act One
Wednesday, Nov. 18
Gillian at Writer of Wrongs
Shilpa at sukasareads.com
Sabrina at Hiver et Café
Adrienne at Books and Bassets
Thursday, Nov. 19
Michelle at FAB BOOK REVIEWS
Marie at Ramblings of a Daydreamer
Liz at Midnight Bloom Reads
Amy at Tripping Over Books
Rachel at The Readers Den
Friday, Nov. 20
Lauren at Love is Not a Triangle
Kristen at My Friends Are Fiction
Morgan at Gone with the Words
Leanne at Author Leanne Dyck
You can also find Blog Tour posts on Twitter with the hashtag #wattscroft.
Want to win a copy of Every Word? In the comments, tell us your craziest scar-resulting story, or which weapon you’d want in a zombie apocalypse. We’ll pick a winner at random Nov. 23. Per the publisher: U.S./Canada only, please.
Every Word is available now.