Mortlock - Jon Mayhew

(Note to reader: I’ve a SIGNED copy of ‘Mortlock’ to give away and all details can be found at the end of this long (but very interesting) post)

“For orphan Josie, life is good with Cardamom, the great magician who took her in as a baby and with whom she now performs her astounding knife-throwing act. But then three mysterious ‘aunts’ turn up - taking over the house and transforming into vicious, giant crows, in thrall to evil Lord Corvis. With his dying breath, Cardamon tells Josie to ‘seek the Amarant - and Mortlock’.

So begins a terrifying quest for Josie and her newly discovered twin, Alfie, the undertaker’s mute, who soon realize that the legendary Amarant is a plant with power over life and death, which Cardamon, Corvis and Mortlock first discovered many years ago in Abyssinia. Josie and Alfie will need all their courage and skills to save themselves and the world.”

‘Mortlock’s’ dark and alternative Victorian world is unforgiving as it pulls you into its grasp, snagging hold and refusing to let go until it has disgorged its gruesome secrets.

At times the story feels familiar, as Mayhew tantalises the reader with hints of books from their past. You might catch the odd sniff of Sherlock Homes or a whisper of Edgar Alan Poe or perhaps a glimpse of the unspeakable H.P. Lovecraft. Yet, ‘Mortlock’ is never clichéd. Instead, these familiar interludes are nothing more than a brief holiday from Mayhew’s own dark vision before the reader is once again hurtled into the writer’s utterly strange and rivetingly uncomfortable imagination.

You may think that you’ve read a book like this before, but you’re mistaken. Mayhew’s vision is something new. He has constructed a genuinely unique world of gruesome villains and swashbuckling heroes. His themes may be as old as the hills, but his delivery, his pacing and his imagination will keep readers coming back for more and more and more. This is a remarkable debut.

‘Mortlock’ is The Observer’s Children’s Book of the Month, it is flying off the shelves and first edition copies are already difficult to find. The books are stunning, works of gruesome art and I honestly believe that Mr Mayhew is one to watch.

Asking Jon:

We love to hear about publishing journeys, so tell us, Mr Mayhew, how did you come to be published? A long story but not as long as some I suppose. I’ll keep it brief! A broken ankle in 2006 left me in a sitting position with a laptop in front of me, so I started writing. Like so many others, I guess, at the end of this, I found myself with what I thought was the best novel ever. But actually, it was rubbish and it took me some time realise this. When I did, I decided to get some professional help (of the literary kind, psychiatrists had given up on me years ago!). Cornerstones Literary Consultants gave me lots of tips and guidance and I went away and refined my story.

I was pleased with the result, which was essentially a fragment of the old story reworked into Victorian Gothic. Mortlock was ready for action! But honing those writing skills is only part of the process. A certain someone invited me to her book launch and introduced me to Clare Christian who was then with The Friday Project. She liked the sound of the book and asked for the MS but as fate would have it, it was not to be. However, the fact that I was able to say that the book had the interest of a publisher seemed to open a few more doors and soon there was a bit of a ‘buzz.’

Interest is one thing but I felt that an agent would help me secure a deal that was tantalizingly close but still out of reach. Cornerstones had kept in touch and I approached them again to help me find one. In the end I had the choice of two and went with Sarah Davies of the Greenhouse Agency. Then the real work and excitement began! Redrafts, rewrites, tightening, crafting, 12 months of graft until Sarah was happy to send it out. And finally, Bloomsbury loved my work!

Is writing your full time job? Would you like it to be? No, I’d love it to be but realistically, I think the day job is going to be there for a while yet. Writing at the moment wouldn’t support my vast tribe and menagerie. But who knows? One day!

Writers often find redrafting and self-editing difficult. Can you offer any words of wisdom? I keep a very open mind when it comes to redrafts. You have to develop thick skin. If someone doesn’t get something, then maybe you haven’t communicated that idea as well as you thought. This is especially important with children’s literature. There’s all the usual stuff such as hunt down the word, ‘was’ and kill it mercilessly. It’s passive, dull and the enemy of showing not telling. Adverbs too.

I quite enjoy redrafting. If you set yourself the target of ’smoothing out’ a page or a chapter or a paragraph each day then you soon get through it. I know many people become impatient to see something finished but patience is a necessity in this game. Nothing happens quickly and rushed writing won’t impress anyone.

And what would be your advice to someone who’d just today received a rejection letter from an agent or publisher? Don’t give up. Get used to it. Rejection is part of the process too. What happens when you get a deal and your editor doesn’t like it? Or you get an agent who then fields your rejections? What happens when your book is published and you get a bad review? And are you going to write for that publisher forever? One day, they’ll not like your latest MS/ proposal and you’ll have to move on. That may sound harsh but publishing is a business and you need to bear that in mind.

Who do you feel would be your ideal reader? Tim Burton.

No, really anyone who likes a bit of gruesome spookiness. Some people have identified the book as ideal for boys but it has a female main protagonist and there have been as many girls in the signing queues as boys. I think a lot of adults will enjoy it too.

And which one person would you most like to read your ‘Mortlock’? Neil Gaiman. I loved American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book. It would be great if he read and enjoyed Mortlock. I’d be chuffed to bits!

What do you plan to write next? Sitting on the editor’s desk as we speak is Book 2, The Demon Collector. It’s set in the same time as Mortlock and has crossover characters but new main protagonists. Edgy Taylor, a young boy from the streets of Victorian London, finds himself mixed up in the Royal Society of Daemonologie, ends up on a quest for the corpse of the arch demon Moloch and finds out more than he ever wanted to about demons and himself!

If you weren’t a (fabulous) writer, what would you like to be (when you grow up)? I always said I wanted ‘idle rich’ to be written next to the ‘Occupation’ section of my passport. I’d like to do something creative, a sculptor or a painter or something. Actually, I always fancied being a philosophical hairdresser and engage punters in deep discourse whilst trimming their locks.

And, finally, (with the skilful smoothness of the finest of interviewers) do you in any way know Simon Cowell? Sadly, no. I know how much this means to you which is why I hitched my beltline to my nipples and got a square haircut as compensation but I must confess, I have no connection with Mr Cowell whatsoever.

You can buy a copy of ‘Mortlock’ by Jon Mayhew HERE.

And the talented Jon has agreed that I can give away a SIGNED copy of ‘Mortlock’. All you have to do is leave a ‘please pick me’ comment by 3pm (GMT) April 15, then I’ll pop all names in a mug and ask a small child to select a winner. This competition is open to all.

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About Jon Mayhew: Jon Mayhew lives on the Wirral, always has and probably always will. He grew up playing in what became Eastham Country Park but it was then the overgrown ruins of a Victorian pleasure gardens including a zoo. He often imagined that the creatures hadn’t all left…

Storytelling has always been a big part of his life, from the gossip of the street to the ghost stories he traded with his brothers and sisters, Jon soaked them all up until he didn’t know truth from reality.

He now lives on the edge of the Dee marshes with his wife, four children, two dogs, one cat, ten chickens and a tortoise.

Jon blogs HERE and the ‘Mortlock’ website can be found HERE.