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FoOd f r thought - some fOod f o thE World OF HARry poTtEr

Crack, Angst or Fluff? -Just what is Fanfiction?

This ssue’s book reviews -

HaT Di you say -

3

14

3

10

11

uTterbeer

Feve Fudge

12

Stephen King’s Doctor leep

Marcus usa ’s The Book Thief

A collection of quotes from so e fantasti novels2

Chances a re , i f you ’ve spent any amount of t ime on the In te r ne t , o r have dared to de lve deep enough in to some of i t s da rk re -cesses, you ’ l l have come across f anf i c t ion .

Maybe i t ’s someth ing you ’ve on ly heard about in r umours, wh i spers be tween In te r ne t f r i ends recom-mending new John lock f i c s ( a s they ’re a f fec t ion-a te l y known) or shar ing news of an update. Maybe you ’re an av id reader who knows your Lemons f rom your L imes, your Angs t f rom your F luf f , your Canon f rom your Fanon . E i ther way, nowadays you ’re pre t ty hard pressed to avo id fanf i c t ion on l ine. I t ’s become a huge In te r ne t subcu l ture tha t i s on ly g rowing , a s more and more peop le d i scover and spread i t a round .

So what i s f anf i c t ion? Wel l , in i t s s imples t for m, f anf i c t ion i s f i c t ion wr i t t en by fans tha t in -vo lves charac te r s and se t t ings f rom books, mov ies, TV shows and more. I t ’s a way for f ans to cont inue the i r love for someth ing and share the i r e f for t s w i th l i keminded peop le. Fanf i c t ion i s not a new th ing - i t ’s been a round s ince the days of the or ig ina l S t a r Tr ek back in the 1960s - but s ince the concept ion of the In te r ne t i t ’s spread l i ke news of a new JK Rowl ing pro-j ec t . For the f i r s t t ime, peop le who en joyed c re -a t ing new p lo t l ines for the i r f avour i t e charac te r s had someplace they cou ld g o to do so. They had a sa fe p l ace where they cou ld share the i r c rea t iv -i t y w i th o thers who might be in te res ted in read -ing the i r work . Each wr i t e r cou ld fee l l i ke the i r hard work was apprec i a ted , whether they a re huge dea l w i th hundreds of fo l lowers or a newbie w i th on ly a coup le. They cou ld fee l the r ush f rom a new rev iew on one of the i r f i c s, o r a new fo l lower to the i r work , and g e t tha t l i t t l e eg o boos t f rom i t .

The b ig ges t f anf i c t ion p la t for m on the web cur rent -l y i s FanFic t ion .ne t , a p l ace where anyone can jo in up and s ta r t pub l i sh ing the i r works. FanFic t ion .ne t cur rent l y boas t s a membersh ip of 2 .2 mi l l ion , and hos t s s tor i e s in more than 30 l anguages f rom around the wor ld . C lose ly beh ind th i s s i t e i s Arch ive Of Our Own, known to fans a s AO3, a s i t e w i th a wa i t ing l i s t to jo in longer than War And Pea c e , a t l eas t wh i l e i t r ema ins in Beta -mode. The d i f fe rence be tween the two s i t e s i s not i ceab le – because FF.ne t a l lows anyone to jo in , av id readers of ten have to s i f t th rough s l i gh t l y l e s s we l l -wr i t t en work to f ind the rea l l y g ood s tu f f , whereas w i th AO3 and i t s se l ec t ive membersh ip means hard-core readers can more eas i l y f ind a h igher qua l i t y o f s tor y. Th i s i s not to be l i t t l e the peop le of FF.ne t ’s e f -for t s, there i s p l en ty of amaz ing f i c s on i t , bu t in a g ame of r a t ios, AO3 wins. So then , i t can be seen tha t th i s subcu l ture has a sp i ra t ions of

Rated R For Remarkable

“ I t ’ s a way for fans to cont inue the i r love for

someth ing . . . ”

3

be ing much more than they a re cur rent l y. There a re f i c s tha t ex -i t s on l ine tha t have become jus t a s f amous as the shows and books they ’re based upon , l i ke Twi s t and Shou t - a Sup e r na tu ra l f i c . The pub l i ca t ion of 50 Shad e s o f Gr e y only g oes to fue l th i s a s se r t ion , a s i t was or ig ina l l y Twi l i g h t f an-f i c t ion . I t qu ick ly g a r nered an as -t ronomica l amount of success a s an ‘ e ro t i c nove l ’ , someth ing fan-f i c t ion au thors s t i l l l e t out match-ing g roans over. What the ‘ r ea l wor ld ’ ca l l s a g ame changer inero t i c nove l s, f i c au thors ca l l a r a ther b l and , bad ly executed p iece of smut . The i s sue amongs t the wr i t e r s i s not the sub jec t mat te r, o r the f rank ly abus ive re l a t ionsh ip be -tween the protag on i s t and her ‘Mr Grey ’ – someth ing tha t con jures to mind for many a S tephen King c rea t ion – but r a ther the g ram-mar and the au thor ’s word cho ice.Many of fe red rewr i t t en parag raphs of the nove l , a l l in f in i t e l y be t te r s t r uc tured . So maybe, then , f an-f i c t ion i s b reed ing a g enera t ion of peop le who can e loquent l y for m we l l - s t r uc tured sentences. And even i f they don’t end up wr i t -ing for a l iv ing – and tha t ’s a g iv -en , maybe not even 10% of them wi l l end up do ing tha t – sure l y i t ’s s t i l l a g ood th ing , a s i t ’s ex -pand ing the i r vocabu la r y and a l -lowing them to improve upon themse lves. Th i s subcu l ture have proven they w i l l not be conta ined , e spec i a l l y when you cons ide r tha t the l ong es t p i e ce o f l i t e r a tu r e i n the wor ld i s a Sup e rSma s h B r o s f an f i c tha t c locks i n a t an a s -tound ing 3 , 592 ,814 words i n 209 chap te r s. And i t r ema in s o n g o i n g

4

React ions to the idea of f an f i c -t ion a re a s va r i ed as the f i c s them-se lves. Whi l e f anf i c t ion i s seen by some as be ing fan tas t i ca l l y c rea -t ive , and the d iverse ways tha t d i f -fe rent peop le t rea t the same p lo t l ines and charac te r s d i f fe rent l y in te res t ing , th i s i s not a lways the case. The ma jor i t y o f peop le w i l l s c rew the i r f aces up and , a f te r a sk ing you what exac t l y f anf i c t ion i s, w i l l t e l l you ‘ tha t ’s so we i rd ’ . Many t imes wr i t e r s w i l l be to ld to ‘ g e t a l i f e ’ o r to g row up and s top was t ing t ime on l ine. But th i s i s an unfa i r a s sumpt ion . There a re p len -ty of peop le above the ag es of 25 who wr i t e f anf i c t ion in the i r spare t ime, because , and here ’s the se -c re t o f the f i c wr i t e r s – i t ’s fun . Peop le en joy wr i t ing in the i r spare t ime, and fanf i c t ion g ives peop le who don’t have the t ime or com-mi tment to wr i t e for a ca reer but who s t i l l en joy be ing c rea t ive a chance to l e t loose. They ’re ab le to wr i t e w i th ready to g o charac -te r s and wor lds – they don’t need to spend days work ing on se t t ing these th ings up, they can jus t open the i r l ap top and g o. and i f they want to share i t , g rea t , there a re p l aces for them to do jus t tha t . I f they want to keep i t to themse lves unt i l they fee l comfor tab le shar-ing , o r forever, then tha t ’s a l so f ine. They can do tha t , because f anf i c t ion a l lows them to do i t .

But how do the wr i t e r s – the c re -a tors and there fore owners of the wor lds and peop le the f i c wr i t e r s a re us ing – fee l about f anf i c t ion? Sure l y a t l eas t some fee l l i ke the i r copyr ight i s be ing in f r inged upon? Wel l , some do. Anne R ice in par-t i cu l a r has been ex t reme ly voca l

5

in her v i ews on fanf i c t ion , and has even g one so fa r a s to g e t f anf i c t ion webs i t e s to remove f i c s based on her works. She re l eased a s t a tement way back in 2000 , when on l ine f anf i c t ion was on ly rea l l y s t a r t -ing to t ake of f say ing : “ I do not a l low fanf i c t ion . I t upse t s me te r r ib l y to even th ink about f anf i c t ion wi th my charac te r s.” . Th i s was then fo l lowed up by a t t acks on f i c wr i t e r s, inc lud ing ema i l ed threa t s, a t -t acks on bus inesses owned by f i c wr i t e r s, and per-sona l in for mat ion about au thors be ing dug up and used ag a ins t them by Anne R ice employees. But she ’s not the on ly wr i t e r to d i s l i ke f i c s – George R .R . Mar t in , au thor of the Game o f Th r on e s ’ books , s ays tha t us ing o ther peop le ’ s charac te r s i s ‘ l azy ’ and tha t ‘no one ge t s to abuse the peop le of Wes te ros but me ! ’ the d i f fe rence be tween fan reac t ions to these two au thors who have the same s tance i s huge – fans s t i l l love Mar t in , because he has a l -ways been po l i t e to them about h i s w i sh-es , a s opposed to R ice ’ s ex t reme reac t ion .

On the o ther hand , many au thors a re of the op -pos i t e op in ion . JK Rowl ing for one , has come out and sa id she does not in f ac t mind tha t f ans of her work a re us ing i t a s a bas i s for the i r own wr i t ing . She sa id she was ‘ f l a t t e red ’ by thegrea t in te res t in her se r i e s , bu t s t res sed tha t the books a re s t i l l ve ry much a imed a t ch i l -d ren and there fore the f an f i c t ion shou ld s t ay a s PG as poss ib le – a n igh on imposs ib le f ea t on-l ine . Ne i l Ga iman , the pro l i f i c wr i t e r whose ex tens ive b ib l iography inc ludes Co ra l i n e , S t a rdu s ta -nd The Oc ean At Th e End O f Th e Lan e , i s another who says he has no i s sue w i th fanf i c t ion . Ga iman says : ‘ I th ink tha t a l l wr i t ing i s use fu l for hon ing

wr i t ing sk i l l… i f you ’ re wr i t ing Smeago l -Gol lum s l a sh you ’ re s t i l l pu t t ing one damn word a f te r another and l ea rn ing as a wr i t e r…I th ink of f an- f i c t ion as t r a in ing whee l s . Sooner or l a te r you have to t ake them of f the b ike and s ta r t wobbl ing down the s t ree t on your own. ’

We l ive in an increas ing ly d ig i t a l wor ld , where ge t t ing young peop le to read i s harder than t ry -ing to ba t te r through a copy of Les Mi s e r ab l e s and not sk ip the seeming ly end less descr ip t ion of Wa-te r loo . Peop le jus t don ’ t want to read any more , and when they do i t ’ s on an e - reader . We a re a so -c i e ty who re becoming more used to r ead ing on sc reens than on paper . At l eas t i f peop le a re read-ing fanf i c t ion they ’ re read ing , even i f i t i s an ep ic saga about the E lves of Midd le ea r th , o r how The Avengers cope l i v ing toge ther in the i r tower .

When asked , a f an wi l l o f ten say they read or wr i t e f an -f i c t ion because they ge t to see the i r charac te r s come to l i f e once more through the power of words . Th i s i s e spec i a l l y t rue of f andoms of comple te se r i e s , l i ke Harr y Po t t e r o r Twi l i g h t , wh ich have techn ica l l y ended .

“I think of fan fiction as training wheels. Sooner or later you have to take them

off...”

6

People have fa l l en so in love w i th the not ions of these charac te r s tha t they can ’ t l e t go , and never want i t to end . The puppeteer may be d i f fe rent , bu t the be loved puppets a re back and be t te r than ever. These f i c wr i t e r s have invented a wea l th of new ad-ventures, These f i c wr i t e r s have invented a wea l th of new adventures, deve loped new re l a t ionsh ips ( ca l l ed ‘ sh ips ’ , bu t the sh ipp ing sys tem i s wor thy of an a r t i -c l e o f i t s own, so I won’t g o in to i t here ) and taken charac te r s in d i rec t ions tha t the or ig ina l au thor might never have even dreamed of . I t ’s t r u l y a s tound ing.

In a s imi l a r ve in , a lo t o f wr i t e r s (whether of books or TV shows) watch the i r on l ine f ans ver y ca re fu l l y. Sup e r na tu ra l c rea tor Er ic Kr ipke i s known for the way h i s s tor y l ines incorpora te d i f fe rent ideas tha t a re s imi l a r to what h i s f ans want in a p lo t l ine , and-he ’s confessed to somet imes read ing fanf i c t ion . So i f i t ’s insp i r ing even the c rea tors of the or ig ina l work to do be t te r, then must i t not be a g ood th ing?

Now th i s i s not to say tha t f anf i c t ion does not have i t s neg a t ive po in t s, the ma in one be ing the sheer unadu l te ra ted smut tha t many wr i t e r s pro-duce. Wi th no wor r y of pub l i shers censor ing the works, many veer in to te r r i to r y tha t e ro t i c nove l

wr i t e r s shudder away f rom. And tha t ’s f ine , i f peo-p le want i t , why not produce i t ? I t ’s the poss ib i l -i t y o f peop le who perhaps a re a l i t t l e too young for the content of ce r ta in f i c s coming across them tha t ’s the i s sue. Th i s i s par t i cu l a r l y an i s sue when you cons ider the var y ing ag e res t r i c t ions in d i f fe r-ent count r i e s. However a l l o f the s i t e s a re work ing on reduc ing the ag e - inappropr i a te mater i a l be ing accessed by acc ident by in t roduc ing ra t ing sys tems so you can’t acc identa l l y encounter your f avour i t e charac te r s in va r ious compromis ing pos i t ions. So rea l l y, th i s prob lem i s becoming a non-prob lem.

So then , f anf i c t ion i s not a bad th ing. I t ’s been con-nec t ing f r i ends w i th the same in te res t s for yea r s, decades even , and i t ’s encourag ing c rea t iv i t y among a g enera t ion tha t cou ld be a rgued as los ing i t . So a s t and must be t aken . Yes i t has i t s da rk moments, and yes, there i s odd f i c s out there , but i s tha t not a l so t r ue of ever y a r t for m? Because i t i s an a r t for m, one tha t i s jus t a s impor tant a s ever y o ther.

And I think it ’s t ime for it to be appreciated as it should be.

“The puppeteer may be d i f ferent , but the be-loved puppets are back and bet ter than ever . ”

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The Book Th i e f i s se t in Ger ma-ny be tween 1939-1943 and te l l s the s tor y of a young orphaned g i r l ca l l ed L iese l Meminger, the ‘book th ie f ’ o f the t i t l e . I t i s na r ra ted by Death , who en-counters L iese l severa l t imes in her l i f e , and the s tor y weaves a round these meet ings. Af te r be ing g iven up by her mother, L iese l i s t aken in by a Ger man coup le ca l l ed Hans and Rosa Herber mann . She s tea l s her f i r s t book ea r l y in the nove l and Hans teaches her to read and d i scover her pass ion for words. She acqu i res a sma l l amount of books in her l i f e by moder n s tandards, but each one p lays a v i t a l ro le in her jour ney throughout the nove l and bonds L iese l to the peop le a round her, f rom her ne ighbours to the Jewish man in her basement .

From the g e t -g o, you know tha t you ’re in for someth ing ver y spec i a l indeed , in wr i t ing te r ms. Anyone can wr i t e , the t r ue t a l en t l i e s w i th in mak ing the words spr ing to l i f e and pa in t a p ic ture in your reader ’s mind . Th i s i s someth ing tha t Marcus Zusak ach ieves w i th ease – h i s wr i t ing i s l y r i ca l , haunt ing , even poet i c a t t imes. Only someone of h i s t a l en t can g e t away wi th the sheer amount of adverbs and ad jec t ives. I t ’s f i t t ing , g iven tha t the book i s about the power of l anguage.

The nar ra t ion of Death ca l l s to mind the work of Ter r y Pra tch-e t t in h i s D i s cw o r l d s e r i e s, and i s r endered fan tas t i ca l l y, a lone ly be ing drawn to ch i ld ren and one who has had t ime to obser ve

humani ty and wonder a t i t . Zusak has wr i t t en h im br i l l i an t -l y, de tached but s t i l l invo lved , a nar ra tor tha t de l ive r s a f a i r and compass iona te vo ice tha t can comment on humani ty ’s in -humani ty towards each o ther w i thout be ing ponderous. He had th i s g rea t humour to h im, and the way he emphas i ses l i t -t l e de ta i l s o r even speech works rea l l y we l l w i th in the p lo t . His nar ra t ion s ty l e i s someth ing e l se , g iv ing l i t t l e me lodramat -i c pronouncements and g iv ing us the end a t the beg inn ing.

The sub jec t r ea l l y r uns the r i sk of be ing depress ing , WW2 was no p icn ic. ‘Di r ty ske le tons of Jews ’ be ing paraded in the s t ree t , bombs dropp ing , and ma imed ve te rans k i l l ing them-se lves a re a l l dea l t w i th w i th in the nove l . However the s tor y i s never morb id – a humour danc -es through the pages, and the wr i t ing i s up l i f t ing. I t ’s a l so a wonder fu l l y ba l anced s tor y – b londe, b lue -eyed Ger mans a re jus t a s a t r i sk a s the Jews, and we see a l l shades of Ger man , f rom the commit ted Naz i s to the com-pass iona te and peacefu l Hans.

There a ren’t enough ad jec t ives in the wor ld to descr ibe th i s nove l , and none tha t w i l l do i t jus t i ce . I t ’s thought provok ing , l i f e -a f f i r ming , t r iumphant and t rag ic, a rea l nove l of brea th- tak -ing scope. I t ’s a book tha t , once you read i t , w i l l r ema in in your hear t forever, and one tha t you wi l l both want to t e l l ever yone about and keep to yourse l f .

The Book Thief - Marcus Zusak

8

Read It And Weep

Read It And Weep

35 years a f te r penn ing one of the most i con ic hor ror nove l s to ever g race th i s p l ane t , the Mas te r o f Hor-ror has re tur ned wi th h i s f i r s t ever seque l to one of h i s s tor i e s – Doc t o r S l e e p . He ’s spent yea r s t eas ing us w i th the knowledge tha t th i s book was in the p ipe l ine but i t ’s a r r ived . And i t ’s tha t much sweete r for the wa i t .

The nove l fo l lows Danny in the year s fo l lowing h i s hor-r i f i c w in te r a t The Over-look , a s he s t r ug g les w i th the ghos t s he unwi t t ing ly ca r r i ed away wi th h im and h i s g ene t i c pred i spos i t ion to a l coho l i sm. He eventua l -l y manages, w i th a l i t t l e he lp in the f i r s t r e spec t f rom h i s o ld f r i end Dick Ha l lorann and an AA g roup for the second , to se t t l e in a sma l l New Hampsh i re town. Dan then s ta r t s to use h i s ‘Sh ine ’ (wh ich i s now marked ly weaker than i t was in The Sh in i ng) for g ood , and wi th the he lp of a ca t tha t can apparent l y sense dea th , a ids res idents a t a ca re hosp ice pass on , and thus becomes the eponymous ‘Doctor S l eep.’ Whi l e here , he es -t ab l i shes a psych ic connec-t ion wi th a nearby g i r l ca l l ed Abra who ‘Sh ines br ighte r than any th ing [he ’d ] ever seen’ . She war ns h im tha t there i s a nomadic g roup of peop le ca l l ing themse lves ‘The Tr ue Knot ’ who s tea l the Sh ine f rom the peo-p le who have i t , and tha t they a re c los ing in on her. Dan then ente r s a despera ts t r ug g le w i th th i s ev i l g roup

to save h i s young f r i end before they can g e t to her.

As usua l , K ing manages to ba l ance the super na tura l w i th a g r i t t y rea l i sm tha t makes i t u t te r l y be l i eva -b le . I t ’s th i s r ea l i sm tha t s tops us a s readers f rom ba t t ing an eye l id a t the in -t roduct ion of a g roup of what a re es sent i a l l y phys i c

vampi res. The hones ty of Danny ’s a l coho l i sm rea l -l y b l eeds through the pag-es, and you can fee l King put t ing h i s pas t o f ad -d ic t ion in to ever y word .

The nove l per fec t l y embod-ies the t ype of seque l King was look ing to wr i t e . He comfor tab ly s t r ides down the l ine tha t a l l too many seque l s

o f ten c ross, tha t l ine of how much of theor ig ina l s tor y to inc lude. He takes the bi ts from The Shin ing ,l i ke us ing Horace Derwent and the woman f rom room 217 in the f ina l showdown, and ba l ances them per fec t l y ag a ins t th i s new canvas. King obv ious ly recogn i sed tha t i t was v i t a l tha t he d id not g loss over the events of the f i r s t nove l , nor wr i t e them of f in a parag raph . As read -er s, we needed the c losure , and he g l ad ly prov ides us i t .

What most peop le a re prob-ab ly wonder ing i s whether or not th i s seque l l ives up to the or ig ina l . And tha t ’s a d i f f i cu l t ques t ion to answer, s imply on the g rounds tha t the two nove l s a re not a l l tha t s imi l a r. The Sh in i n g was ver y much a c l a s s i c ghos t s tor y – haunted hote l , man s lowly s l ipp ing in to insan i ty – whereas Doc t o r S l e e p c loser to a thr i l l e r w i th i t s packed p lo t l ine and g ood versus ev i l showdown. And th i s i s on ly to be expec ted , S te -phen King i s not the same man tha t wrote The Sh in -ing decades ag o. Anyone who comes in to th i s expec t -ing a nove l exac t l y l i ke The Sh in i n g w i l l be d i sappo in ted – for one th ing i t i s much longer, and the p lo t tha t b i t s lower a s a resu l t , and tha t i s perhaps i t ’s on ly rea l f l aw. Doc t o r S l e e p may not have the same l eve l o f sca res a s i t s p redecessor, but i t more than makes up for i t in sus -pense. Th i s i s a def in i t e mus t - read for any King fan .

Doctor Sleep - Stephen King

9

10

11

Food for ThoughtFol lowing JK Rowl ing ’s announcement tha t there w i l l be more mag ic re l a ted mov ies, we dec id -ed to mag ic up some spe l l -b ind ing ly g ood rec ipes !

butterbeerWho needs a t r ip in the co ld to Hogsmeade when you can make th i s popu la r w iza rd dr ink a t home?

Ing redients :

For 2 se r v ings you wi l l need :

1 cup (8 oz ) c lub soda or c ream soda1/2 cup (4 oz ) but te r scotch sy r-up ( i ce c ream topp ing)1/2 tab lespoon but te r

Direct ions :

Step 1 : Measure but te r-scotch and but te r in to a b ig g l a s s - a p in t g ass works bes t .

Step 2 : Microwave on h igh for 1 to 1 -1/2 minutes, o r un-t i l s y r up i s bubb ly and but -te r i s comple te l y incorpora ted .

Step 4 : Ser ve in two cof fee mugs or sma l l g l a s ses ; a per fec t l y war m Hogwar t s t r ea t for two !

Step 3 : S t i r and coo l for 30 seconds, then s lowly mix in c lub soda . The mix-ture w i l l f i zz qu i te a b i t .

12

Feel just like a student of Hogwarts during Umbridge’s reign of terror with this fever-inducing sweet!Note : Th i s fudg e may no t ha v e a s s t r ong an e f f e c t on Mug gl e s a s i t do e s on w izards .

Fever Fudge

Ing redients :

3 cups whi te choco la te ch ips1 can sweetened condensed mi lk (14oz)Red pas te , powder, o r g e l food co lorB lue pas te , powder, o r g e l food co lor1 teaspoon c innamon

Cayenne pepper - amount var-i e s ; 1/2 teaspoon for low-g rade fever, 1+ teaspoon for hosp i t a l w ing1/2 teaspoon van i l l a ex t rac t ( i f you want a f ros t i e r coo l s ide , mint ex t rac t can be used ins tead)

1 loa f panParchment paper or fo i lSpray o i l

Step 1 : Line your loa f pan wi th fo i l o r parchment paper. Grease the fo i l and/or uncovered a r-eas a round the parchment .

S tep 2 : P l ace the choco la te ch ips in a med ium micro-wave sa fe bowl . Pour the con-densed mi lk over the ch ips.

Step 8 : Pour the b lue fudge over the red and ch i l l un t i l s e t . The hea t f rom the war m b lue fudge shou ld be enough to ‘we ld ’ the co lors toge ther a t the jo in t .

Step 9 : Once fu l l y se t , r emove the se t fudge f rom the pan . Tr im to make n ice squared-of f edg-es. S l i ce in to long s t r ips. Lay these two- toned s t r ips on the i r s ides and cu t in to even p ieces.

Step 6 : Pour the red fudge in to the loa f pan . Tap the pan on the counter to l eve l the top and re l ease a i r bub-b les. Ref r ig e ra te unt i l s e t .

Step 5 : To one ha l f o f the fudge, add c innamon, des i red amount of cayenne pepper, and red food co lor ing. S t i r to b lend in the co lor. Con-t inue to add red food co lor-ing unt i l the des i red shade i s r eached . You may a l so want to t e s t sp ice l eve l s a s we l l and ad jus t the amount of pepper.

Step 4 : Pour approx i -mate l y ha l f o f the mol ten fudge in to another micro-wave sa fe bowl and se t a s ide.

Step 3 : Microwave a t 30 second in te r va l s, s t i r r ing inbe tween unt i l ch ips a re thorough ly me l ted and the sweetened con-densed mi lk i s incorpora ted .

Step 7 : Once the red fudge i s se t , war m the unco lored ha l f o f the fudge by microwav ing and s t i r r ing as before unt i l the fudge i s r unny. Add the 1/2 teas van i l l a (or mint ) ex t rac t and b lue food co lor ing. S t i r un-t i l the food co lor ing i s mixed in . Add more b lue co lor ing un-t i l the des i red shade i s r eached .

Directions:

13

“Without pa in , wi thout sacr i f i ce

we would have noth ing . Like the

f i r s t monkey shot in to space . ”

Chuck Pa lahniuk , F ight Club

“ I t ’ s s t i l l m a g i c e v e n i f

y o u k n o w h o w i t ’ s d o n e . ”

T e r r y P r a t c h e t t , A H a t

F u l l o f S k y

“ H a p p i n e s s c a n b e f o u n d i n t h e

d a r k e s t o f t i m e s , i f o n e o n l y r e -

m e m b e r s t o t u r n o n t h e l i g h t . ”

J . K . R o w l i n g , H a r r y P o t t e r

a n d T h e P r i s o n e r o f A z k a b a n

“ P e e i n g i s l i k e a g o o d b o o k

i n t h a t i t i s v e r y , v e r y h a r d

t o s t o p o n c e y o u s t a r t . ”

J o h n G r e e n , P a p e r T o w n s

Say Whaaaaa?!

“ L i f e i s i n f i n i t e l y s t r a n g e r

t h a n a n y t h i n g w h i c h t h e m i n d

o f m a n c a n i n v e n t .S i r A r t h u r C o n a n D o y l e ,

A C a s e o f I d e n t i t y

“ P o l i t i c s a l w a y s c h a n g e .

S t o r i e s n e v e r

d o . ” S t e p h e n

K i n g , I t

“ Y o u ’ v e g o t t o g o t h r o u g h

i t t o g e t t o t h e e n d o f i t . ”

S u z a n n e C o l l i n s , C a t c h i n g F i r e

“ T h e y w e r e h i s l a s t w o r d s , b e -c a u s e M a u r i c e h a d d i s a p p e a r e d t h e r e a b o u t s , l e a v i n g n o t r a c e o f h i s p r e s e n s e e x c e p t a l i t t l e p i l e o f t h e p e t a l s o f t h e e v e n i n g p r i m -r o s e , w h i c h m o u r n e d f r o m t h e g r o u n d l i k e a n e x p i r i n g f i r e . ”E . M . F o r s t e r , M a u r i c e

14

“Death wai t s for no man -

and i f he does , he doesn ’ t

usua l l y wai t for very long. ”

Marcus Zusak , The Book

Thie f

“ Y o u h a v e b r a i n s i n y o u r h e a d . Y o u h a v e f e e t i n y o u r s h o e s . Y o u c a n s t e e r y o u r s e l f a n y d i r e c t i o n y o u c h o o s e . Y o u ’ r e o n y o u r o w n . A n d y o u k n o w w h a t y o u k n o w . A n d Y O U a r e t h e o n e w h o ’ l l d e c i d e w h e r e t o g o … ”D r S e u s s , O h T h e P l a c e s Y o u ’ l l G o

“ I t w a s a p r e t t y c o m p l e t e l i s t .

T h e k i n d o f l i s t o n e m a k e s w h e n

o n e c a n n o t f a l l a s l e e p b e c a u s e

o n e ’ s t h o u g h t s k e e p s w i r l -

i n g t h r o u g h o n e ’ s b r a i n l i k e a

b u n c h o f s p a r r o w s o n c r a c k . ”

J a m e s P a t t e r s o n , N e v e r m o r e

T h e R o a d g o e s e v e r o n a n d o n

D o w n f r o m t h e d o o r w h e r e i t b e -

g a n .

N o w f a r a h e a d t h e R o a d h a s g o n e ,

A n d I m u s t f o l l o w , i f I c a n ,

P u r s u i n g i t w i t h e a g e r f e e t ,

U n t i l i t j o i n s s o m e l a r g e r w a y

W h e r e m a n y p a t h s a n d e r r a n d s

m e e t .

A n d w h i t h e r t h e n ? I c a n n o t s a y .

J . R . R . T o l k i e n

“ W e t e l l o u r s e l v e s s t o r i e s

i n o r d e r t o l i v e . ”

J o a n D i d i o n , T h e W h i t e

A l b u m

I t s t r u c k m e a s p r e t t y r i d i c u l o u s t o

b e c a l l e d M r . D a r c y a n d t o s t a n d o n

y o u r o w n l o o k i n g s n o o t y a t a p a r t y .

I t ’ s l i k e b e i n g c a l l e d H e a t h c l i f f a n d i n -

s i s t i n g o n s p e n d i n g t h e e n t i r e e v e n i n g

i n t h e g a r d e n , s h o u t i n g “ C a t h y ” a n d

b a n g i n g y o u r h e a d a g a i n s t a t r e e .H e l e n F i e l d i n g , B r i d g e t J o n e s ’ s D i a r y

“ T h e h o u s e s m e l l e d m u s t y a n d d a m p ,

and a l i t t le sweet , as i f i t were haunted

b y t h e g h o s t s o f l o n g - d e a d c o o k i e s . ”

N e i l G a i m a n , A m e r i c a n G o d s

15

Author ProfileThis issue, Scottish author Karen Campbell

Karen Campbell was born in 1967, in Paisley and was brought up in Glasgow.

Karen studied English, Drama and French at Glas-gow university, before joing the police force in 1987.

It was here she met her husband, who had joined on the same day as her!

While on the force she worked in a variety of posts, from Communi-ty Involvement to the CID at Police HQ.

She comes from a police family, with both her mother and father in the Strathclyde force.

After taking a break to have two daugh-ters, Karen worked for Glasgow City Coun-cil, before deciding to apply to Glas-gow University’s Creative Writing Programme.

In 2003, she received a New Writer’s Bursary from the Scottish Arts Council, and this allowed her to work on her debut novel.

Her first novel, The Twilight Time, was published in 2008.

Her follow-up, After the Fire, was published in 2010, and was chosen as a Scottish Summer read.This was quickly followed by her third, Shadow-play, which was shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger

In 2009, Karen won Best New Scottish Writer at the Scottish Va-riety Awards.

She currently lives in Galloway with her family.

Her fourth novel, Proof of Life was published in February 2012.

Her fifth novel, This is Where I Am, published in 2013, breaks from the police procedurals that were her first four books, and tells the story of an asylum seeker in Glasgow.

It was selected as the BBC Ra-dio Four Book at Bedtime in April.

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Upcoming Releases

Allegiant - Veronica Roth (2014) Number three in the Divergent series, this has been eagerly anticipated

City of Heavenly Fire - Cassandra Clare (2014) The sixth installment in the Mortal Instruments Series, and it looks to be just as good as it’s predcessors

The Seeker - Stephanie Meyer (2014) FollowingthesuccessofthefilmadapatationofTheHost,Meyerisreleasingasequeltoher novel

Hild-NicolaGriffith(Dec2013) set in 7th century Britain, in the Synod of Whitby, where people were deciding what kind of Christians to be, this is set to be a fascinating read.

The Isle of Youth - Laura van den Burg (Dec 2013) This collection of short stories from the magical writer is sure to be fantastic.

On Such a Full Sea - Chang-rae Lee (2014) thisdebutpieceoffictionsetinadystopianfutureinhwichAmericaisinsteepdeclineandurban neighbourhoods have been turned into walled labour colonies looks to be a classic.

Perfect - Rachel Joyce (2014) Joyce is looking to best her great debut (the Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry) with this story about two boys in the 1970s and a man in the present.

Leaving The Sea - Ben Marcus (2014) Marcus has long been a champion of experimental writing and innovative usage of labguage, and this will surely be no different.

Silence Once Begun - Jesse Ball (2014) This story of a man who confesses to a string of crimes in writing then never speaks during his arrest and interrogation and the journalist obessed with his case is sounding like it’s going to be one to watch.

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From the award winning Dean Koontz

Number 1 New York Times Best Selling Author

of TickTock and Intensity

Coming December 10

In a dark world, they light each other’s way...

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