[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-fangirl-reviewing-pull-out-all-the-stops-with-philip-reeve":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"I recently read two books by the marvelous writer \u003Ca href=\"http://www.geraldinemccaughrean.co.uk/index.htm\">Geraldine McCaughrean\u003C/a>, \u003Cb>\u003Ci>Stop the Train\u003C/i>\u003C/b> and its brand-new sequel, \u003Cb>\u003Ci>Pull Out All the Stops!\u003C/i>\u003C/b> Geraldine is one of the best wordsmiths on the planet, and reading her books is like getting into a big steaming bubble bath, with chocolate and a glass of champagne. True luxury. \\r\n\\r\nThe writer and illustrator \u003Ca href=\"http://philipreeve.blogspot.com\">Philip Reeve\u003C/a> is a big-time fanboy of Geraldine, and when he heard I'd nabbed a proof copy (at that odd librarian speed dating event in Birmingham), he asked me if I'd write a review for his website \u003Ca href=\"http://the-solitary-bee.blogspot.com/\">\u003Ci>The Solitary Bee\u003C/i>\u003C/a>. I thought, oh gosh, Philip is going to think I'm a terrible writer. So I fudged the assignment and sent him \u003Ca href=\"http://the-solitary-bee.blogspot.com/2010/12/pull-out-all-stops.html\">some crazy letters instead...\u003C/a>\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://the-solitary-bee.blogspot.com/2010/12/pull-out-all-stops.html\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/missloucien_sm-97bbad3f0f.jpg\">\u003C/a>\\r\n\u003Cb>\u003Ca href=\"http://the-solitary-bee.blogspot.com/2010/12/pull-out-all-stops.html\">Click over to \u003Ci>The Solitary Bee\u003C/i>\u003C/a> to read my 'review' of \u003Ci>Pull Out All the Stops!\u003C/i>\u003C/b>\\r\n\\r\nThese two ripping yarns start in a tiny turn-of-the-century pioneer settlement next to a railway. But in the first book, \u003Ci>Stop the Train\u003C/i>, the train driver get annoyed at the settlers and dooms their town by refusing to make it a stop on his line. The townsfolk, a brave but nutty group of people, make it their mission to get the train to stop, and madcap ruckus ensues. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://the-solitary-bee.blogspot.com/2010/12/pull-out-all-stops.html\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/mccaughrean2-2550e12344.jpg\">\u003C/a>\\r\n\\r\nIn \u003Ci>Pull Out All the Stops!\u003C/i>, two of the town's children (Cissy Sissney & Kookie Warboys) are sent away to escape an epidemic of diptheria, escorted by a very prudish schoolmarm to stay on a washed-up showboat theatre with their mostly-illiterate former spitfire of a teacher, Miss Loucien (who, as she hints in a letter, is in 'a interestin condishun'). The humour reminded me of one of my favourite films, \u003Ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fargo_%28film%29\">\u003Ci>Fargo\u003C/i>\u003C/a> by the Coen Brothers, starring a police chief named Marge Gunderson (who is also in an interestin condishun). The daft adventures of Geraldine's pioneers had me laughing out loud.\\r\n\\r\n\u003C!--more Lots more under the cut!-->\\r\nHere's a picture I took of Geraldine at this year's Oxford University Press summer party:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/oup_sumparty10_2-f87dce396a.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Ci>Geraldine McCaughrean and \u003Ca href=\"http://www.tomtrueheart.com\">Ian Beck\u003C/a>\u003C/i>\\r\n\\r\nI first came to Geraldine's work a couple years ago through her novel \u003Ci>\u003Cb>The White Darkness\u003C/b>\u003C/i>, about a girl who's in love with dead explorer \u003Ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Oates\">Titus Oates\u003C/a> (best known for his final words, \u003Ci>I am just going outside and may be some time\u003C/i>) and journeys with her uncle to Antarctica in very strange and sinister circumstances. The story and its main character deeply resonated with me, and I went to the National Theatre clutching my book and a ticket to hear Geraldine give a talk about it. Since then, I've read \u003Ci>The White Darkness\u003C/i> four times and bought about ten copies because I keep giving it away to people as gifts. She also wrote a tribute to my favourite story, \u003Ci>Cyrano de Bergerac\u003C/i>, (in her retelling, \u003Ci>Cyrano\u003C/i>) which made me like her that much more. (Read my Cyrano \u003Ca href=\"http://www.jabberworks.co.uk/others.php\">fan comic\u003C/a> here.)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/whitedarkness-981b5f6e76.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nNow \u003Cb>Philip Reeve\u003C/b>, I only met him for the first time this autumn \u003Ca href=\"http://jabberworks.livejournal.com/319280.html\">in Edinburgh\u003C/a>, but he is already one of my all-time favourite writers... and coincidentally, he also writes some of the most marvelous books I have read in years! After I met him, I got completely caught up in his world of Mortal Engines, whipping through \u003Ci>Fever Crumb, A Web of Air, Mortal Engines, Predator's Gold, Infernal Devices\u003C/i> and \u003Ci>A Darkling Plain\u003C/i>. (And if you've been reading my blog, you know there's been a lot going on in the past two months, so that's saying a lot.) Philip wrote the first two books recently, as prequels, but started with the Mortal Engines quartet (renamed \u003Ci>The Hungry City Chronicles\u003C/i> by editors in the USA). He's currently working on edits to the follow-up to \u003Ci>A Web of Air\u003C/i>, titled \u003Ci>Scrivener's Moon\u003C/i>, and I can hardly wait.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://philipreeve.blogspot.com\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/philipreevebks-7260dc7d42.jpg\">\u003C/a>\\r\n\\r\nOn Tuesday, I was thrilled to find out Philip was coming from his home on Dartmoor to London to do some audio book recording sessions, and Stuart and I met up with him for a lovely French dinner on Charlotte Street. Philip really is one of my favourite people. \u003Cb>**Dear Santa... and any event coordinators, if you're reading this, please line me up for lots of events with Philip, or at least back-to-back events, so I can go hear him talk. And you'll make both us extremely happy if you can also line us up with Geraldine. Thank you!**\u003C/b> I'm deliberately not going to take on a lot of events this year, to catch up with my book work, but if it's something where I'll get to hang out with Philip (and Geraldine), I will make a big whopping exception.\\r\n\\r\nHere we are, geeking out over Geraldine's books. Best evening ever!\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://philipreeve.blogspot.com/2010/12/oh-snow-not-again.html\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/philip_sarah-4cc4fcd173.jpg\">\u003C/a>\\r\n\u003Cfont size=\"1\">\u003Ci>Philip Reeve and Sarah McIntyre with Pull Out All the Stops! and Stop the Train; photo by Stuart Pyle\u003C/i>\u003C/font>\\r\n\\r\nI had a nosy rummage through Philip's sketchbook, and found this drawing he made on the train after his last trip to London. It's me with the Post Office Tower! Here's \u003Ca href=\"http://philipreeve.blogspot.com/2010/12/oh-snow-not-again.html\">Philip's take on the evening\u003C/a>; it made me go all blushy.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://philipreeve.blogspot.com/2010/12/oh-snow-not-again.html\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/sarah_philipreeve-0a8913ae03.jpg\">\u003C/a>\\r\n\u003Cfont size=\"1\">\u003Ci>Sketch by Philip Reeve\u003C/i>\u003C/font>","2010-12-03T11:25:00.000Z","fangirl-reviewing-pull-out-all-the-stops-with-philip-reeve",[],"fangirl: reviewing 'pull out all the stops!' with philip reeve",1776628719264]