Getting to know Shanta Everington

Please give a warm welcome to author Shanta Everington who drops by the Reading Nook to answer a few of my questions as well as share her latest young adult release, Boy Red. 

Do you have any guilty pleasures?

Vegging on the sofa, watching trash TV, eating chocolate. But doesn't everyone do that?!

 How do you get yourself in the mood to write?

I have no problem getting in the mood to write. The difficult bit for me is finding the time to write among all the other things that demand my attention, such as earning money and raising my children. But even when I am not actually writing, I spend a lot of time creating stories in my head, talking to characters, working out plot lines etc. So, I might look like I am cleaning out the bath (or even vegging on the sofa, watching trash lol) but if you could peer inside my mind, you would see thath I am actually working on my next writing project!

If someone hasn't read any of your work, what book would you recommend that they start with and why?

Why not start with my first novel, Marilyn and Me, narrated by a young woman with a learning disability who is fixated with Marilyn Monroe? It is an adult novel but accessible to young adults too. For readers wanting to get stuck into YA fiction, I would suggest starting with my current novel, Boy Red.

Where do you find the inspirations for your stories?

Everywhere. Characters come to me in a range of ways, usually related to things I've seen, heard or stumbled across in some way. Stories usually come out of my personal obsessions, things I need to act out on the page. I find writing very cathartic. It sort of exorcises stuff and then I can move onto the next obsession!

If you could collaborate with one author who would it be?

Gosh, there are so many. It's so hard to pick one. I greatly admire the work of both Malorie Blackman (Noughts and Crosses trilogy) and Jackie Kay (Red Dust Road, Trumpet), as both are mighty fine writers, dealing with issues and themes that resonate with me in my personal and writing life, so I would have to say either.

Coffee, tea or other drink to get you moving in the morning? 

Tea every time. Although black coffee is usually required for the afternoon slump!

What has been the defining moment in your career that made you think “Yes, I am now a writer!”?

The day I found out my debut novel would be published was pretty significant to me. Another vivid memory is seeing the cover for the first time and feeling hugely excited. But really there is no single defining moment. The feeling of being ‘a writer’ comes and goes, along with rejection and self-doubt. There are days when I fear I’ll never get anything published again, and then something will get accepted and everything will be okay again.

What is coming up from you in 2014? Anything you want to tease us with?

My next book will be young adult dystopian novel, XY, joint winner in the Red Telephone Books Young Adult Novel Competition, due out with Bridge House Publishing later this year. Set in a world where it is the norm to be born neither male nor female, sex is determined at birth via compulsory Gender Assignment. The story opens with fifteen-year-old Jesse, who has been asked out by her brother's friend, Zeus. She likes him but is hiding the secret that she has not had Gender Assignment and remains intersex. The story follows Jesse's journey exploring her identity, first love and family ties against a backdrop of gender politics and social revolution.

 What is the last album you've had on repeat?

Kate Bush 50 Words for Snow. I love everything by that woman - the lyrics, the atmosphere, the eccentricity. I just love her.

Boy Red by S.D. Everington

Musa Publishing

Young Adult 

Available at Publisher

Boy Red is a story about identity, about where you come from and where you belong.

The day after his sixteenth birthday, Red discovers that the man he calls ‘Dad’ is not his biological father. Will Red be able to track down the anonymous sperm donor who gave him life? What will he learn about himself along the way? And just what else are his parents hiding?

Teaser Excerpt:

 

Happy birthday

It was Saturday night, and Mum was up on the makeshift stage doing a classy number—that is to say Tina Turner complete with big hair and five-inch red heels. The booths were taken by the karaoke regulars clutching their song sheets and medallions. A throng of studded students drank cheap German beer at the bar, disappearing outside every few minutes for a smoke. Tourists dripping with backpacks chatted in a zillion different languages.

A few weeks ago, I told Mum I wanted low key, meaning a night out down the Lock with Si—no wigs, microphones, or other parental contributions in sight. But she would have none of it.

“Red, baby, you only turn sixteen once,” she’d said. “You’ve got to mark it in style. You’ve got to have a party.”

My name’s actually Jed, but everyone calls me Red. I share two things with Mick Hucknall: mad orange hair and a slightly odd face. Sadly, I don’t have his musical talents. Not like Mum. She wins a lot of prizes. It’s embarrassing to see her in her Cher wig and polka dot dress, but it could be worse. She could be something really boring like an accountant. Dad’s an academic. He’s a professor of science. They make for a strange combo, but Camden caters for all sorts. The posh and the rough rub shoulders every day. Not that I’m saying Mum’s rough or anything, but her Madonna impersonations can make for scary viewing.

So there I was down at the local pub, staring at the purple swirly carpet, starting to feel nauseous. My sixteenth birthday party. It may as well have been musical chairs and pin the tail on the donkey. It was that bad. My six-year-old brother, Freddie, sat smirking in the corner while Mum warbled out her rendition of City Limits. Dave, the karaoke organiser, all burly biceps in a frilly pink shirt, tapped his right foot in time to the music. Dad smiled amiably at the bar as he downed an orange juice. That man lacked the capacity for embarrassment. He must have a gene missing or something.

“Your mum’s reading the lines off a television. Where’s the harm in it?” he reasoned. He could be so rational, it was maddening.

Si was chatting up a pair of Asian twins who’d just finished their version of The Cheeky Girls’ “Touch My Bum.” He winked at me to join him, while Mum carried on gyrating in red polyester as she reached the climax.

“Dad. Dad!” Freddie tugged at Dad’s jeans.

Dad checked his watch, stood up, and cleared his throat. Uh-oh.

“Oh, yes. Thank you, Freddie. Gaye!”

Uh-oh. Uh-oh.

Mum smiled at Dave as she gripped the microphone. “Thank you, everybody. I have a little announcement to make,” she said. The shrieks and applause died down, leaving a low hum of conversation. The Cheeky Girls stopped drinking their Barcardi Breezers and looked expectantly at Mum. They wore white PVC hot pants and matching kneehigh boots. They were hot all right. Not the type of girls I wanted around to witness this kind of embarrassment. I looked on in horror and considered my options. This would have been a good time to escape to the bog, but Dad had already covered that one by asking Dave’s brother, Stu, to keep guard. Dad’s best mate, Phil, stood to my right, smiling inanely at me. There was nowhere to run. So I downed half of Stu’s pint instead. He didn’t seem to mind. Just winked.

“Okay, guys and girls,” continued Mum, running her hands through her wig. “I hope you’ll all join me in wishing our Red a very happy sixteenth birthday.”

I’d never get served alcohol in here after that. It was all right for girls, they always got served. The Cheeky Girls couldn’t have been much older than I was, and they were knocking them back.

Stu waved manically over my head for the benefit of anyone who might not know who the lucky boy was. The Cheeky Girls whispered to each other and raised their collective eyebrows as I fixed a boomerang smile on my face.

“Ha-a-a-a-ppy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you…” Mum had gone into Marilyn Monroe mode, all silly girly voice, while Dave brought out a blue football cake fit for a five year old, complete with sixteen flaming candles. It was excruciating.

When the humiliation was over, Mum came over and kissed me on the forehead and ruffled my already wild hair, just to add insult to injury.

“I think that needs a cut, mister,” she said.

I looked at Freddie’s smooth pudding basin cut performed by Mum the day before and shuddered. I didn’t think so.

I’d always been the odd one out with my orange mane. Jokes about the milkman were rife.

I blew out my candles and cut the cake as a million digital cameras flashed in my face. Another one for the family album.

It was all so normal. Well, normal as far as my family went anyway.

There were even napkins.

Author bio and links

Shanta Everington is the author of five published books, including literary novel, Marilyn and Me (Cinnamon Press), and young adult novels, Give Me a Sign (Flame Books) and Boy Red (Musa Publishing Euterpe) A third young adult novel, XY, will be published by Red Telephone Books in 2014. Shanta lives in London, UK, with her husband and two sons. Visit www.shantaeverington.co.uk