Thursday, 11 February 2016

5-4-3-2-1: Melissa Keil


Great to have Melissa Keil, author of The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl, posting today. We've 'borrowed' 5-4-3-2-1 from its usual home of Teens on Moon Lane as a one-off!


FIVE songs that sum up the last novel I wrote perfectly

Forever Young, the Rod Stewart song, but this acoustic cover:

What Are You Doing New Years Eve. For obvious reasons (well, obvious if you read the book!) This version is great (though a ukulele theme does seems to be emerging):

Featherstone’ by the Paper Kites. I don’t know why, but something about the feeling this song inspires perfectly fits Cinnamon Girl. And it has an awesome video too:

It’s the End of the World as We Know It by REM – it playing in the background of a particular scene in the book, and I listened to it a LOT while I was writing (mostly trying to learn the words, which I don’t think I ever successfully achieved).

The Last Day on Earth’ by Kate Miller-Heidke. Though unnamed in the book, this song is also playing in a key scene, and it’s gorgeous and sad and perfect for a particular moment.


FOUR places I love to read

Bed. Definitely bed, in winter when it’s stormy outside, with a cup of tea and a hot water bottle and my dog curled up beside me. Perfect.

Outside, in summer (or any warmish, sunny day), in the park, under a tree, with a blanket and a big bag of chips.

My very special green reading couch – I think it’s actually a vintage kids’ couch so it’s too small for even short me to stretch out on, but it’s covered in soft green velour and has lovely sink-y cushions.

Any long train trip – I love getting lost in a book and then looking up to find I’m in a totally different place.


THREE books I’d save from a burning bookcase

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams – easily my all time favourite book, and one of the weirdest, funniest, most re-readable comfort books I have.

The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver. I read this (and then re-read it several times) just after high school, the first time I travelled independently overseas, after picking it up from a tiny bookstore in rural Minnesota where I was living for a few months. It has a special place in my heart because of the moment in time its reading is tied to (it’s also a gorgeous book).

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, the illustrated Dame Darcy version, because in all the multiple editions of Jane Eyre that line my shelf, this is the most plush and lovely.


TWO relationships I love reading about

Watts and Mycroft from Ellie Marney’s Every Breath series. I’m a sucker for smart characters, and relationships that are based on genuine friendship and trust and chemistry. Oh, and it has a few super-hot kissing scenes too!

Baz and Simon Snow from Rainbow Rowell’s Carry On, only because I have just finished reading it, and I so wanted more of them. I’m also a sucker for a great enemies-to-friends-to-more-than-friends story.


ONE item of swag I’d love to see made

Alba’s The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl comic book, the final version that she creates. I have zero artistic talent and can barely draw a stick figure, but I have such a clear idea in my head of what Alba’s comic book art would look like – I would love someone to be able to bring that to life.

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