LoveReading4Kids Says
This is the thrilling sequel to the 'steampunk' fairytale Haywired. Once again the author has successfully touched the nerve cells of 11+ year olds by delivering a clever gothic horror adventure full of intrigue, suspense and plenty of humour thrown in. Brothers Ludwig and Hephaestus are once again drawn into their father's machinations as they hunt for Grilsgarter, a strange creature and harbinger of a nightmare future. It has come to collect on their father's promises. As the ghosts of von Guggenstein's past catch up with the present, the brothers find themselves at the ends of the earth, desperate to stop a terrible war that will tear their home apart.
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Alex Keller Press Reviews
'Deliciously dark in places' Book Zone 4 Boys
'Intelligently written with...steampunk machinery, dark twists and some excellent grimness' Un:Bound
About Alex Keller
Alex Keller lives in North London. Haywired, a Steampunk fairytale, was his first novel released in 2010. The sequel Rewired, was released in 2011 and he is currently working on Justice - the second book in the Order of the Furnace series. In his spare time, he occasionally writes for various blog sites including the Solitary Bee and Geek Syndicate.
Q&A with Alex Keller
What inspired you to become an author? I’ve always wanted to be an author. For as long as I remember I’ve read at least a book a week and the idea of writing my own appealing to be a great deal.
Who influences your writing? I’m a huge fan of an author called Terry Pratchett. His books are very clever and very funny, and I would love to be able to write like him.
If you couldn’t be an author, what would you be? I would love to be a rock star (maybe that’s something for the future).
How do you write? I normally spend some time writing notes and making plans in notepads. Once I’m happy with at least a part of the story I start writing the first draft on a computer. Once the first draft is complete I rewrite the story until I am satisfied it works.
Where do your ideas come from? My ideas for the books come from all over the place. I studied Ancient History and Archaeology so some ideas come from there, but there’s no particular place I draw the ideas from. If something interests me or I like something then it’s likely to end up in a story; from musicians to places I’ve visited.
What made you write Order of the Furnace? I’ve been really interested in the Medieval period recently. I love the imagery of castles and knights and grand battles. However, I also like creating fantasy worlds so rather than try to set it in the real world I made a more fantastical one with weird machines in it as well.
Also, I wanted to play around with the idea of what a “boy” and what a “girl” was. In Order of the Furnace, boys and girls are not expected to act differently just because of their gender. It was a lot of fun thinking in that way.
What’s the next book you are writing? I’m doing a sequel to Order of the Furnace and then I’m not sure. I’ve been playing around with some ideas for a book aimed at grown-ups so I may do that.
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