[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-awake-among-the-stars-passengers-and-cakes-in-space":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"Are you and your family looking forward to seeing \u003Ci>\u003Ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passengers_(2016_film)\">Passengers\u003C/a>\u003C/i> with Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt?\\r\n\\r\n\u003Clj-embed id=\"3503\"/>\\r\n\\r\nJennifer and Chris may be voyaging into deep space, but this is charted territory...\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/reeve_mcintyre_cakesinspace_zps9au5cct9-56cede96b4.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nYes, you guessed it, my book with \u003Ca href=\"http://www.philip-reeve.com/\">Philip Reeve\u003C/a> from a couple years ago, \u003Ci>\u003Ca href=\"http://jabberworks.co.uk/cakes-in-space/\">Cakes in Space\u003C/a>\u003C/i> (now published in at least 20 languages)! From the trailer, I can see similar themes...\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cakes_covers_zpsaihbpn8n-64b8b01f22.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Ci>\u003Cfont size=\"1\">UK colour hardcover edition, UK black-and-white paperback, USA black-and-white paperback\u003C/i>\u003C/font>\\r\n\\r\n\u003C!--more Click here for lots more under the cut!-->\\r\nA ship carrying sleeping passengers on a voyage that will last longer than a lifetime, travelling to colonise a planet:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cakes_voidspace_lj_zpsd9b1mj6f-9f23f1899c.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cakes_smallship_lj_zpsiqayqvoh-b3b7c417b4.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cakes_largeship_lj_zpsvsfjs0sd-984c8b597a.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cakes_100yrs_lj_zpsdths4pff-1df617469b.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cakes_family_lj_zpsldbodq0z-9b85e26e97.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cakes_endpapers_zpsex5ecidp-c9ae41b46b.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nBut while \u003Ci>Passengers\u003C/i> is a grownup story with romance, ours is seen very much from young Astra's perspective. The thought is being frozen for 199 could be quite scary, but Astra's family helps reassure her. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cakes_greetingrobots_lj_zpsdr5xylln-b8d670c4f1.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nThe beds even look quite cosy (the shapes inspired slightly by my tours of Scottish whisky distilleries). \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cakes_sleeppods_lj_zps4szacouv-3ebfab33e1.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nBut just as in \u003Ci>Passengers\u003C/i>, something goes wrong and Astra wakes up. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cakes_wakelj_zpse5r2zqte-0e76228894.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nDo you remember being a kid and waking up in the night, when everyone's asleep? It's a bit scary and magical at the same time. We were very much inspired by Tove Jansson's \u003Ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moominland_Midwinter\">\u003Ci>Moominland Midwinter\u003C/i>\u003C/a>, when little Moomintroll wakes up from hibernation in the middle of the winter and steps out into a world of sparkling whiteness. We wondered, what if that same sort of thing happened in the gleaming whiteness of a spaceship? Here's Astra drifting among the pods of sleeping space pioneers. (I loved drawing a landscape without gravity.) \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cakes_podsnight_lj_zpsr6eu31vp-8057f0002d.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd things have gone very wrong with the ship, but at least Astra has a rather sweet robot friend (named Pilbeam) for company. Could the problem be this strange black sentient spaghetti-like being? \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cakes_nameless_lj_zpsqm35xiai-e28f196d8b.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nWe have Astra stuck in a bubble as we realise the ship is very much Not Alone in space. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cakes_flush_lj_zpsgsehwu0c-2be883c240.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nBut here's where \u003Ci>Passengers\u003C/i> departs. In \u003Ci>Cakes in Space\u003C/i>, the initial fault is due to Astra messing around with the ship's food machine, the Nom-O-Tron. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cakes_nomotron_lj_zpsb1wkyfr3-753c6bdd17.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd I'm fairly certain \u003Ci>Passengers\u003C/i> will not have KILLER CAKES. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cakes_killers_lj_zpsu096zbux-3e25383a62.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nSometimes these things just happen, two groups of people get the same idea at the same time, totally independent of each other. Or perhaps the film producers sat around in a meeting looking at a copy of \u003Ci>Cakes in Space\u003C/i> going, 'I love this book, and the concept, but... KILLER CAKES? REALLY? No one's going to fall for that one.' Which is exactly what we love about our book, it's a complete flight of fancy and the absurdity of the Cakes take away the distinctly terrifying edge of being trapped in a spaceship with possibly vicious aliens. At the same time, I think it's actually the most profound of our books. Everyone says \u003Ci>\u003Ca href=\"http://www.jabberworks.co.uk/pugs-of-the-frozen-north/\">Pugs of the Frozen North\u003C/a>\u003C/i> is our book with the most 'heart', because it makes them cry at the end. But I think \u003Ci>Cakes in Space\u003C/i> touched on something even more deep in us, the idea of being alone in a vast stretch of universe, and having to rally whatever we can find to connect with living people once again. \\r\n\\r\nI'm looking forward to seeing the film, and I hope you and your family can enjoy both our book AND the film! (We find it's popular with boys and girls ages 7+ if people are reading it to themselves, or you can go a bit younger if you're reading it aloud to someone.) \u003Ca href=\"http://www.jabberworks.co.uk/cakes-in-space/\">Click here for links\u003C/a> to the book and to learn how to draw some of its characters.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/Cecily_Astra_costume_zpsbhx2blbr-96598fc5bc.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Cfont size=\"1\">\u003Ci>Photo by \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/Alexmilway\">Alex Milway\u003C/a>\u003C/i>\u003C/font>\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ci>\u003Cb>Edit\u003C/b> 1 Dec 2018 (as Passengers goes live on Netflix UK): Tweeted by our Hungarian translator:\u003C/i>\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/601005_original-225ca2418a.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">","2016-11-29T13:48:00.000Z","awake-among-the-stars-passengers-and-cakes-in-space",[],"awake among the stars: passengers and cakes in space",1776628729589]