This event starts with a Brave New Words reading from Jim Alexander
Fantastic(al) worldbuilding is at the heart of the work of Shona Kinsella and Alex Pheby.
In Shona Kinsella’s novella The Flame and The Flood, one child in a hundred is born with an affinity: a magical link to an element, able to shape and use it as they choose. If they are lucky they will become a master craftsman, able to command high prices; if they are unlucky, the factories always demand new wielders, kept as slaves and worked to exhaustion.
Alex Pheby’s Mordew is a city built on the dead body of a god, where strange creatures are born out of the mud. In the slums of the sea-battered city a young boy called Nathan Treeves lives with his parents, eking out a meagre existence by picking treasures from the Living Mud. Until one day his desperate mother sells him to the mysterious Master of Mordew. The Master derives his magical power from feeding on the corpse of God. But Nathan, despite his fear and lowly station, has his own strength - and it is greater than the Master has ever known.
About the event:
Chaired by ABS
Running time: 60 minutes
Tickets: £3 / £5 (plus 50p booking fee)
The event will be live on Zoom.
This event includes a Brave New Words reading from Jim Alexander
About the authors:
Alex Pheby was born in Essex and moved to Worcester in his early childhood. He currently lives with his wife and children in London, where he teaches at the University of Greenwich. Alex’s second novel, Playthings, published by Galley Beggar Press in 2015, was shortlisted for the 2016 Wellcome Book Prize. His third novel, Lucia, published in 2018, went on to be the joint winner of the 2019 Republic of Consciousness Prize. Alex’s fourth novel, Mordew - the first in an epic fantasy trilogy - was published by Galley Beggar in August 2020.
Alex is on Twitter.
Shona Kinsella is an author of speculative fiction who lives in the West of Scotland, near picturesque Loch Lomond. She has a degree in Law and has worked in varied jobs, from acting to the civil service. Shona is an avid reader with a love for language and is most often to be found with her nose in a book. Shona lives with her husband and three children. When she's not writing, doing laundry or wrangling the children, she enjoys cooking, geocaching and nature walks with her family.
