EVENT: Atom Books Blogger Party 2010
Most of you probably won’t know, but yesterday I was invited to Atom Books’ Blogger Party (link also contains links to the 10 other bloggers who were present), where the Atom team would present the books coming in the first half of 2011. This being only my second publisher/blogger event, I was quite excited.
It started at 4:30, with a bit of ‘mingling’. For some reason, nearly everyone was chatting about Twilight (no doubt because Atom has been recently republishing the series with white covers…). I joined Andrew Hall from Pewter Wolf, Matthew from Teen Librarian and Kate, one of the nice people at Atom. Basically, we were talking about ‘”boys’ books”, something I am a keen advocator on, as the publishing industry seems to be publishing lots of “girls’ books” in the last few years. (Luckily, Atom will be publishing several “boys’ books” in the next few months!)
After our mingling session, we all sat down round the (rather) large table, which I think was even larger than the one in The Apprentice… Anyway, the Atom team gave us previews of the books coming in spring/summer 2011. Here are some of the ones I picked out:
Rosebush (coming in March)
Although Rosebush has a very girly cover, and is based on three girls, it’s not your standard chick lit/paranormal romance/etc. novel. It follows Jane, an American teenager, as she tries to uncover which of her friends nearly killed her. According to the Atom team, Rosebush is more of a crime/mystery novel. I started reading it on the train home, and it’s certainly intruiging, albeit very feminine.
I Know What You Did Last Summer (March)
This is a reprint of the 90’s hit, but with a modern twist. The author, Lois Duncan, has gone back and scrapped the 90’s references, replacing them with mobile phones and all things 00’s.
The Game (coming in May)
Set in an elitist school, Julia and her brother discover a dead body in their last week. The Valley has many secrets of its own, and not all of them are nice…The Game is Atom’s first translated book, and was originally in German.
Chasers (coming in June)
A new dystopian YA series from Australian author James Phelan. Jesse’ subway carriage is rocked by a large explosion in NYC. When he and his friends crawl out, they discover a very different city to the one they were in only moments ago. Streets are deserted, buildings are broken. And the only other survivors carry a terrifying virus….
One Seriously Messed-Up Week in the Otherwise Mundane and Uneventful Life of Jack Samsonite (June)
Atom says this novel by Tom Clempson is a cross between Adrian Mole and The Inbetweeners. And it certainly sounds funny… Jack Samsonite is tackling his GCSEs, girls, and his arch-enemy. He won’t be sucessful, but you can always live in hope, right?
Those are just a few of the books I was interested in. You can view the complete catalogue.
After a glance through the catalogue, the Atom team also divulged with us a project they will start called The Atomics. It’s only for under-18s (so I’m in!), and it’s a way for us teens to get books early, and review them. This is open to anyone under 18, whether they have a blog or not, and should certainly be a lot of fun. More information will be coming soon about this, so keep your eyes peeled.
We were then invited into the Little Brown Book Group’s library, where I’m sure eveyone was admiring the lovely, shiny, new covers! Pewter Wolf, Kate, and (I think) Carleen (also from Atom) and I started talking again about books we love. It wandered from Harry Potter to The Hunger Games to employment, and we were chatting for quite a while, pretty much until 6:30, when it officially finished. Returning to the board room, most of the books on the gigantuan table had been nabbed by other bloggers, although I did manage to grab a white copy of Twilight (because I still haven’t read it, and ought to). They also gave me a copy of the Graphic Novel of Daniel X, and of course we had Rosebush and Nightshade in our goody bags.
All in all, it was a very fun evening, with a lot of great chats about books. I did have my camera, but forgot to take any pictures, I’m afraid (I really should get in the habbit!) Anyway, I met some lovely people, and it was well worth travelling for 2 1/2 hours.
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