Emily Diamand's Close Encounters

Emily Diamand, author Ways to See a Ghost, publishing July 2013, introduces us to the paranormal and why it has captured her imagination since childhood.

When I was twelve, I used to spend a lot of time looking at the stars. This wasn’t because I was a budding astronomer (I couldn’t have spotted Orion if he’d been waving) instead, I was scanning the sky for movement. I don’t mean the red and white flash of aeroplanes, the slow glide of satellites, or even the bright streak of a meteorite. I spotted all of those, and dismissed them. What I wanted was something else; something that, by rights, would be accompanied by the eerie strains of the theremin.

I’d watched Close Encounters, so I knew that if you were in the right place an alien space ship would suck you up in a beam of blinding light. I hoped my garden was that place. I’d seen E.T. too; I didn’t have a very big wardrobe in my bedroom, but I was pretty sure I could hide an alien in there, if push came to shove. And when it got to the tearful farewell at the spaceship, there was no way I’d be waving them off. E.T.’s aliens weren’t exactly fast on their feet; I knew I could beat them up the ramp, no problem. Star Trek, Blake’s Seven – I didn’t mind who it was, as long as they’d whisk me off for a tour of the galaxy.

Of course, you don’t have to believe in aliens to appreciate UFOlogy. As a writer, I love the wonder. Every UFO story has the sudden transition from the mundane into the fantastical, that so echoes traditional folklore - our ancestors were cursed or blessed by fairies and sprites, while people today are abducted by aliens, but the themes can be similar in both types of close encounter. And while explanations range from the subconscious re-workings of films, to cold-war paranoia, to the decline in formal religion, I hope there might also be the possibility that at least some of the tales are true.

It’s decades since E.T. and Close Encounters were released, and a long time since The X Files unravelled its last mystery, yet UFOlogy in the real world is thriving:

In 2012, the UK government released the last of its previously secret UFO files, after claiming to have been overwhelmed with freedom of information requests http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ufos/ 

In April 2013, a group of former members of the US congress held ‘citizen hearings’ into evidence about the existence of UFOs and alien contact http://www.citizenhearing.org/witnesses.html

There are ongoing claims that alien activity is behind mysterious attacks on livestock in parts of the US and UK http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/ufo/7555431/Unexplained-sheep-attacks-caused-by-aliens-in-UFOs-farmers-claim.html 

And into these fascinating waters drop counter claims that much UFO-lore is actually the creation of US intelligence agencies, as a cover for the testing of spy planes http://www.miragemen.com/.

My kindly aliens never came, but I still love a good UFO story. That’s why, even though the title of my new book is Ways to See a Ghost, it’s as much about the world of the UFO enthusiast as it is about ghost hunters. With a young teenager as narrator, there had to be a little scorn for the adults involved, but I admire all the Mulders still working out there. And if you’re reading this, Doctor Who, well I’m still waiting… 

Alex Gutteridge on shedding a tear...

To coincide with the publication of Last Chance Angel this month, we asked Alex Gutteridge to tell us how she ended up writing a tear-jerker

I have to confess to being a bit of a weeper and wailer, to the extent that I tend to avoid films, plays and books which I suspect will make me cry. So no-one was more surprised than me to find myself writing a book which, by its very nature, could be construed as a tear-jerker. In Last Chance Angel, Jess is knocked off her bike and ends up in a coma. On the point of death she is given a few days’ grace and the opportunity to return to earth for the purpose of visiting her friends, in invisible form.

This has not been an easy book to write and it has taken quite a time and many drafts to get it right. But from the very beginning it was an obvious choice to use the first person, not just because it made it easier for me to place myself in Jess’s situation but, by seeing life and death from only her point of view, I hoped that my readers would also closely identify with Jess’s character and predicament. Sometimes, when writing Jess’s story, I did find myself close to tears and, strange as it may seem, I was pleased when that happened. It confirmed that I was absolutely on the same wavelength as my character and for me this is at the heart of every story I write. I knew what Jess was thinking and feeling and how she would react in any given situation. This means that if your plot takes a sudden twist or turn, and this does happen to me because I’m not a planner, you are better equipped to deal with it and to retaining the authenticity of the story.

Indisputably tension heightens emotion. Throughout the book the clock is ticking down until Jess’s date with death. But that tension would not work, that emotion would not be ignited unless my readers care about what happens to Jess. But life is all about finding the right balance and I applied that principle to Last Chance Angel. Too much heartbreak would, I have felt, made the book extremely heavy going and probably made readers switch off. The addition of humour varies the tone but I also hope that these lighter passages contrast with the darker chapters, thus adding to their intensity.

In conveying tension and emotion dialogue is vital. You can say so much through a conversation but often it is in the pauses, the things left unsaid which tug at the heartstrings. In the conversations between Jess and her beloved Gramps I called upon my own memories. My own grandfather died over thirty years ago but I still miss him very much indeed and the tenderness, patience and wisdom which he showed to me has definitely contributed to the character of Gramps in this book. Writing those passages proved to be both comforting and painful.

So are there any boundaries when writing something which could prove upsetting? For me one of the boundaries I imposed upon myself was not to describe Jess’s medical condition. Not only did I consider graphic description to be unnecessary but also to be inappropriate. In some cases less is more. This applies too to language. There is always a danger of making subject matter like this overly sentimental. I have tried to avoid that as, in my opinion, sentimental writing does not necessarily access deep emotion. In fact it can have the opposite effect.

I never deliberately set out to write something that would upset my readers or try to make them cry and to be honest if that had been my aim I don’t think I would have succeeded. Instead my focus, when writing Last Chance Angel, was purely to create an interesting story about friendship and how well we really know people. Pivotal to this was my main character, Jess. I have spent so much time with her that I love Jess almost as if she was a real person. So when someone says to me that this book has brought tears to their eyes I take it as a huge compliment because it means that they love Jess too. As an author what more could you want than that?

Shadow Lantern post-tour thoughts from Teresa Flavin

-->

Full Circle

Seven years ago, I began writing a story inspired by labyrinths.  I had absolutely no idea that this creative experiment would result in a trilogy of novels, many talks at schools, libraries and festivals, and a writing residency on a Finnish island!

When you begin walking a labyrinth (which, unlike a maze, has one path to the centre) it seems straightforward. There are no decisions to make. You just follow the path, or so it seems. The centre doesn’t seem too far away at first and the path seems to be taking you straight there, but suddenly it turns. You find yourself continually walking away from the centre, but you have to let go of frustration and trust that you will get there in the end. This is a nice metaphor for writing a book, I think. You set off on the path, are diverted and seem to go backwards, but if you stay the course, you work your way to completion. 

 

Last week I travelled around Scotland and spoke to schools about the inspirations, stories and pictures that are behind The Blackhope Enigma, The Crimson Shard and most recently, The Shadow Lantern.  I told them about all the places where my creative path had been diverted and how I often went backwards instead of forwards, but that this is an important part of my writing process.

As I stood onstage at one school, looking out at eighty eager faces, I realised what a long way I had come. At the start of this writing journey, I struggled with reading my stories aloud to listeners (too fast, too breathless!) but now I love it. I couldn’t have imagined the stunning places I would read aloud in, from the Outer Hebrides to the West Sussex coast, from the Great Hall in Lennoxlove House to the cosy tents at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Visiting each place and meeting its readers has been an amazing privilege brought about by the excellent support of Templar Publishing.

 

I was a bit unprepared for another realisation: that it felt different (and very good) to speak about the trilogy as a completed whole. I had come full circle. Of course I wanted to introduce The Shadow Lantern and to explain why the story excites me so much, but it was wonderful to place it in context. And I particularly loved meeting pupils who brought me a pile of all three books to sign, then ran to sit down and start reading from the very beginning of The Blackhope Enigma. It was a slightly odd and very gratifying feeling to see a row of children buried in one or the other of my books.

After I had answered the last question, signed the final book and waved goodbye to the pupils, I ate a huge piece of cake and drank a whole pot of tea in Edinburgh’s Looking Glass Books. I could have sat there all afternoon but there was something niggling at the back of my mind. The pupils and lovely bookseller had told me about a labyrinth in George Square, very near to the bookshop. I could not think of a more fitting end to my book tour than to walk a new path.

I was the only one there in the pouring rain. Entering the circular replica of the famous Chartres Cathedral labyrinth and following its path, I was once again struck by how it wove close in, then far away from the centre. When I reached it, shoes soaked and umbrella dripping, I paused: here I was at the powerful core of the intricate tiled pattern. Where would my imagination be transported next?

As I retraced my steps and left the labyrinth, I experienced the joy of having come full circle and the anticipation of finding the next point of embarkation on the writing journey.

Emily Diamand at Templar Towers

This afternoon we had the lovely Emily Diamand visting us to talk about the marketing of her new book Ways to See a Ghost. 

The book is not released until July, but without setting of any spoiler alarms we can promise you an exciting paranormal adventure where horror meets ghost story in a contemporary setting.

Eyes open in July everyone!

Meet Justin Richards

Author of The Wolfstone Curse, Justin Richards, popped into the office, and so we took the opportunity to ask  him the important questions...

How do you take your tea/coffee? 
JUSTIN: White, no sugar, and often! I ha

ve a little sign up in my office that says: 'No coffee - no workee'

Who should we be following on Twitter?  
JUSTIN: Apart from me, of course - @JJCRichards - and @TemplarBooks I'd suggest Mr Ripley's Enchanted books - @EnchantedBooks

What super power would you have? 
JUSTIN: The ability to streeeettttttcccch time, so that I can get more things done!

6 things you couldn't live without:
JUSTIN: Well, my wife and two sons for starters - is that three or can I just say 'Family'? I think I can. And I'm assuming nourishment and shelter are sorted or it'd be a boring list of Food, Drink, Clothes, House, Health, and Vampire-Killing stakes.
So: 1 - Family
2 - Doctor Who
3 - Laptop
4 - Bacon sandwiches
5 - Coffee (see above!)
6 - Imagination
 
What would your last supper be? 
JUSTIN: It's be a million separate courses, with a long break between each - I mean, like, hours between each course. Really.

What's the biggest secret that you're willing to reveal on our blog? 
JUSTIN: Well, I did once kidnap someone. But that was an accident.

Follow Justin on Twitter @JJCRichards
The Wolfstone Curse is publishing July 2013 - preorder your copy here

Guest post from Don Calame

Author of the hilarious Swim the Fly, Beat the Band and Call the Shots books, Don Calame joins us today on the Templar blog to talk about where he gets his inspiration from

“Oh, I’m going to have to use that in a book some day.”

I can’t tell you how often that thought occurs to me as I bumble around in my daily life. It can be distracting sometimes. Intrusive even. All the little details, the strange characters, the snippets of conversation one overhears. I should probably be one of those writers who carries around a notebook to jot these nuggets of gold down.

But I’m not. So I don’t.

Instead I figure that the true gems will stick somewhere in the brain to be mined when I am looking for that telling detail I need for a character in a story.

And then, of course, there are those times where actually forcing yourself to pay attention to the particulars can save you an aneurism.

Case in point:

A man stands at a checkout at the supermarket. That man is me. I’ve dashed in to grab some milk. Trying to get home before breakfast guests arrive. I am already running behind. Going to be cutting it close.

 The cashier is chatting with her present customer. But not just chatting, like, “How’s the weather out there?” or “Baking oatmeal cookies today, are we?” No, this is a full on conversation like the one you might have at a dinner party. Or at the coffee shop. Or with your psychotherapist.

Cashier says, “Oh, no, my cat’s just got sick. The vet bills were enormous. Kidney stones if you can believe it. Who knew cats even got those? Took them three visits to diagnose. It was so stressful.”

Lady with the green knitting needle stuck in her straggly white bun responds, “We had to put our little Millie down last year. It was terribly sad. She was a tuxedo cat. Sweetest thing.” Her groceries are all rung up and bagged. Her tiny tattered red coin purse is in her bird-claw hands. But she’s not opening it. Not even making a move to open it. She’s just going on about her pets, and her children’s pets, and her grandchildren’s pets. How the animals are mostly all related. What they all died of. She’s laying out her entire family’s pet ancestry and the cashier is nodding and listening attentively. As if this were her job. As if she were some sort of grief counselor.

Instead of a cashier at the grocery store.

And all I want to do is buy a bottle of milk before the sun sets. The glass of the container sweating, getting slick in my hand. My blood pressure rising. My teeth gritting. I look back over my shoulder at the bug-eyed, overall-clad guy behind me who’s shaking his head. But neither of us say anything. Because this is the country. Small town friendly. Where this kind of thing is supposed to be quaint.

Instead of infuriating.

I take a deep breath. And go into writer mode. I can use this is a book someday, I tell myself. Or maybe a blog. What are the details? Study these people. Who are they? Why does this old lady not want to go home? Why does this cashier not notice the line of red-faced people backing up at her station? Why does the fact that Neil Diamond’s Heartlight playing over the supermarket speakers make this entire situation seem that much more surreal?

And why are all of us in the line being so damn polite?

But it saves me. This shift. Saves the cashier, too, if I’m being honest. Not that she has any idea she’s been spared a nasty scowl. A sarcastic word or two. Some passive aggressive bill counting and coin slamming.

It’s these kind of situations—the ridiculous ones, the insane ones, the ludicrous ones—that make some of the best writing fodder. Even if you don’t have the wherewithal to recognize it at the time. These are the gems that stick.

While I was writing my latest book, Call the Shots, I scoured my memory for just such occasions. Situations and experience I could tap for inspiration.

Call the Shots is the story of three teenagers who are trying to film a low-budget horror film and so I brainstormed any and all of my personal escapades—and humiliation
s—that I might foist onto these kids.

There was the time I was hired as a videographer for a sixtieth birthday party where the guest of honor was universally despised by everyone in the room.

There was the time in high school where I agreed to go out with a slightly unhinged girl who liked me—but who I had no interest in—simply because I was the only one of my friends who didn’t have a girlfriend.

And then, of course, there was a bird soiling incident.

All of which I mined for their respective revealing details and then fictionalized for the purposes of the story. It’s the easiest way I know how to make a scene come alive. To feel true. Even if it’s just one small thing. Like a knitting needle in the hair. Or an interminable conversation about pets.

It’s all usable grist.

Things you might use in a book some day.

Watch Don's video trailer for Call the Shots
 

Easter reads!

Escape from the cold biting winds this Easter to a more regent time with Stephanie Burgis' Unladylike Adventures of Kat Stephenson series. 

All three adventures are currently only 99p on Kindle - what better way is there to spend a bitter Easter weekend than to curl up with Kat's magical story?

Book 1: A Most Improper Magick

Book 2: A Tangle of Magicks

Book 3: A Reckless Magick

Read more about the series in this guest post with author Stephanie Burgis:
http://templarpublishing.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/stephanie-burgis-guest-post.html

Guest blogger! Daphne finds herself in Me, Suzy P

Today we'd like to welcome Daphne from Winged Reviews onto our blog!

We asked her which character she is most like in Karen Saunders' Me Suzy P and here is her fab answer!

I was thrilled to be asked to write a guest post on Me, Suzy P on the Templar blog. As I've tweeted before, Templar are my go-to publisher for books that I know are fun, well-written and I'm going to enjoy.

One of the reasons I loved Me, Suzy P by Karen Saunders is that she wrote such heart-warming and realistic characters. I saw a little of myself in the characters in the book (both good and bad), which is why I loved it so much.

In Suzy, I saw my bored teenage self. When I was 13, I had someone who I was perfectly happy with, but when someone better came along I jumped ship. Thank goodness I now have more sense 15 years later!

In Harry, I saw my mischevious side, the prankster who took pleasure in teasing my loved ones.

In Milie, I saw the supportive best friend who loved and was there throughout all the bad break-ups and new guys.

In Jade, I saw the snooty girl, who gossiped about others behind their backs (something I'm not proud of).

In Amber, I saw the slightly crazy bride-to-be, panicking over each wedding decision (although not, thankfully, dressing my bridesmaids in lime green)!

In Danny, I saw someone who didn't give up, who found someone perfect and fought to win them back.

To read more about these amazing characters, pick up Me, Suzy P now! To quote my own review: I absolutely flew through this book. I salute you, Karen Saunders, for making me laugh and giving me a true taste of teenage woe.


Me, Suzy P is still 99p on Kindle until the end of March!

Be sure to check out Daphne's blog, or follow her on Twitter @wingedreviews.
Keep up to date with all Karen's news on Facebook or her twitter account: @writingkaren

Guest post: Katherine Roberts on Crown of Dreams

Katherine Roberts, author of the Pendragon Legacy, has written us a guest post about the series so far, what we can expect from Crown of Dreams and what the future holds!

Writing the third book of a four-book series can be tricky. The overall quest will not come to a climax until the final book, and yet Rhianna and her friends have already found the Sword of Light (Excalibur) and the Lance of Truth. If you’ve read The Sword of Light and Lance of Truth, the chances are you’ll know my characters and their world of Camelot almost as well as I do!

If you haven’t read them yet, you’ll meet Rhianna’s mist horse Alba, her friend Prince Elphin from the magical land of Avalon, her brave but rather hopeless squire Cai, and her shy maid Arianrhod. You’ll know what happened to Merlin (which probably served him right), and you’ll do battle with the dark knight Mordred, arch-villain of the stories, several times. In other words, the quest is in danger of getting boring… what new angles could I introduce for the third book?

Setting: Having begun book 1 in Avalon, and book 2 at Camelot, I decided to make the dragon’s lair (where the Crown of Dreams has lain buried since a dragon stole it from the battlefield after Mordred killed King Arthur) into a gateway leading to the shadowy land of Annwn. This added a ghostly dimension to the quest, and enabled Rhianna to meet her dead grandfather Uther Pendragon, as well as setting the scene for another encounter with Mordred’s witch-mother Morgan Le Fay.

Magic: The verse I wrote to introduce the Pendragon series names “the Crown of Dreams, which hides the Jewel of Annwn” – i.e. the Jewel is almost as important as the Crown. Since dragons were already involved, I decided this special jewel would contain the secret of dragon riding (which is not quite what you’d think). The smaller jewels were not going to be magical at all, until I realised they could be useful to my plot. Rhianna is given one of these jewels by her mother at the end of book 2, which turns out to contain King Arthur’s secrets… including how to find the Grail of Stars, which has the power to bring her father back from the dead. Unfortunately, the jewel is useless on its own. It needs to be put back into the Crown before Rhianna can see its secrets, while Mordred wants the missing jewel, because while it exists the Crown is dangerous for him to wear – which does not stop him from trying, of course!

I hope I’ve given Rhianna’s third adventure enough intrigue to keep you turning the pages until the final book The Grail of Stars, which is already with my editor and scheduled for publication this autumn (unless Mordred manages to stop Rhianna from completing her quest, that is… good thing she’s got Excalibur!).

You can follow Katherine on Twitter @AuthorKatherine, her website and blog.
Rhianna Pendragon tweets at @PendragonGirl

Pride and Prejudice, 200 years on... by Stephanie Burgis

28 January 1813 saw Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice published for the first time, 200 years on Stephanie Burgis tells us how Austen continues to inspire her. 

I still remember my dad opening the big hardcover book. I was eight years old, and he was about to start reading me a new bedtime book. “This one is special,” he said. “I think you’ll like it.”

The book was Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice - and he was right, on both counts. It was special…and from the first chapter onwards, I was enthralled.

Jane Austen

Something about that glimpse into a different society, filled with balls and visits and rigid social rules about how men and women could interact, completely fascinated me. Having to say yes or no to a potential husband after only meeting him four or five times, always in public? Having to risk your whole future on how he’d seemed to be at a few balls and a few supervised visits? Well, no wonder Lizzie Bennett, the heroine of Pride and Prejudice, makes some mistakes about the men she meets, based on those first impressions!

The whole Regency-era society felt every bit as foreign and as incredible as any of the imaginary worlds in the fantasy novels I loved. And when you add in the passionately-felt romance and the sharp, biting humour - because Jane Austen’s novels are ruthlessly funny, especially in the way she pokes through all her characters’ illusions and pretences - oh, I was lost. I was a fan forever.

Laurence Olivier as Mr. Darcy

After my dad finished reading me Pride and Prejudice, I immediately read it to myself. Then I watched the old movie with Laurence Olivier and the new (at that point, in the 1980s) BBC miniseries version. And of course I hunted down every other Austen novel, from Sense and Sensibility (which turned out to be my favourite, as a kid) to the “novels” and “histories” that she wrote as a teenager, which show where her brilliant adult writing had its roots.

(It’s so encouraging, when you’re a kid who wants to be a writer yourself, to read your favourite writer’s childhood writings! There are moments of great humour in Austen’s earliest works, but of course they aren’t anything like what her adult books would become…so they showed me that I could get better and better, too.)

Now, I’m 35, and I can’t count how many times I’ve re-read Jane Austen’s novels, or how many movie versions of each of them I’ve watched. I don’t love every single Austen novel, but I admire every one, and I learn from all of them - as a writer and as a person - every time I read them.

And oh, the ones I love - Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, and Northanger Abbey (which I read again and again as I wrote A Most Improper Magick and A Tangle of Magicks) - those, I really, REALLY love. They’re imprinted in my bones.

When I was creating Kat Stephenson’s family, in my Unladylike Adventures of Kat Stephenson, I based some of their situation on Austen’s own family - she, too, grew up in a house with lots of siblings but not much money, and with a father who was a minister. Austen’s father, like Kat’s father, used to hold a Fellowship at Oxford before he married, and he took in students to help make ends meet, just as Kat’s father does. Austen’s family, like Kat’s, was on the lower end of gentility - respectable but not wealthy and certainly not invited to the highest social circles - although not for any of the scandalous magical reasons involved in Kat’s family history!

Every time I sat down for a writing session, I spent 10 minutes reading through Jane Austen’s letters first, to try to imprint that Regency style in my head.

Now it’s the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice, the novel I first fell in love with twenty-seven years ago. I can’t imagine my life without it, either as a reader or as a writer. I’m so glad that I don’t have to.

I hope people keep falling in love with her novels for the next 200 years and beyond.

Deborah White's exclusive Nefertaru story!

New for January 2013: Deceit by Deborah White!
Paperback 978 1 84877 413 1 £6.99

In the follow-up to the thriller Wickedness, modern-day teen Claire and her seventeenth-century counterpart Margrat discover it is impossible to escape the clutches of the sinister Doctor, who has pursued them across time.

What do you think of our new look covers for the series? 

To celebrate the publication of Deceit, Deborah White is touring UK blogs with a serialisation of her untold story of ancient Egyptian Nefertaru, dancer at the Temple of Sekhmet and the mummy who inspired White's story. 

Follow her story:

Monday 7th January - The Bookbag

Thursday 10th January - Books for Company

Wednesday 16th January - Totally Bookalicious

Tuesday 22nd January - Bookbabblers

Friday 25th January - Dark Readers

Keep up to date with all Deborah's news on her website, or follow her on Twitter - @DeborahJWhite

Karen Saunders UK blog tour!

This week, Me, Suzy P author, Karen Saunders is taking part in a virtual blog tour. 

Follow her guest posts on the blogs below to find out more about Karen, Suzy and the gang!

14th January
Chicklish

15th January
Bookster Reviews

16th January
I Want to Read That

17th January
Readaraptor

18th January
Bookcrazed Reviews

2013 YA Debut Event

Megan McDade is hosting a 2013 YA debut author event on her blog, Reading Away the Days, and two of our lovely authors have agreed to take part!

Karen Saunders, author of the new hilarious chick-lit series Me, Suzy P will be appearing on Megan's blog on January 1st to talk about her inspiration, writing for the first time and a few of her favourite things. You can read Karen's interview here.

You can follow Karen on Twitter, Facebook and on her blog. 

Look out for Suzy Puttock's Tweets in January! @SuzyPuttock

And Ferryman author, Claire McFall, will be answering questions about her new epic love story on 9th January.

 Follow Claire on Facebook and her blog 

You can pre-order Me, Suzy P and Ferryman now.

Indian Takeway Facts

As India Dark, a tale of intrigue and mystery set in the Indian subcontinent, is part of today's Kindle Daily Deal, we thought we'd wet your appetite with some surprising facts about Indian takeaways!

• In London there is a greater number of Indian Restaurants than there are in Mumbai and Delhi combined! 
• Britain’s first curry restaurant was opened in 1809. 
• Two thirds of all meals out in the UK are Indian Food.
• Record Breaking - Poppadom Tower 5’8” in 2012 – 1280 poppadoms!

• Chilli is the most popular spice in the world - it can help combat heart attacks and strokes and extends blood coagulation times preventing harmful blood clots.
• The biggest curry (10.3 tonnes!) was made in the UK, of course, by Abdul Salam of the Eastern Eye Restaurant in Lichfield, in 2005. 

• Largest onion Bhaji. As part of the Curry Capital of Britain Awards in 2011, a team of cookery students from Bradford College and Prashad Restaurant created a 102.2kg onion bhaji. Despite the abnormal size, the team made sure the many layers were cooked so that it would be edible. In the end the length of the bhaji was 40.94 inches, the width 29.62 inches and the height was 12.20 inches. 

Click here to get your kindle copy for 99p

Where are they now?

India Dark follows the lives of Tilly Sweetrick and Poesy Swift as they sing and dance across hundreds of stages in India as members of a troupe of Australian child performers. This got us thinking about child stars in the media, and where they are now... here are some our favourites:

Britney Spears

1993 - Mickey Mouse Club

2012 - X Factor Judge

Jodie Foster

1973 - One Little India

2012- At the Cannes Film Festival

Lindsay Lohan

1998 - Parent Trap

On the red carpet - 2012

Macaulay Culkin

1990 - Home Alone

February 2012

Dani Harmer

2007 - Tracy Beaker

2012 - Strictly Come Dancing

Dakota Fanning

2005 - War of the Worlds premier

2009 - Twilight Saga's New Moon

Where do you think Tilly and Poesy would be now?

India Dark is 99p today in Amazon's daily deal: http://amzn.to/UwcoBn