Floodland

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Zoe ends up on an island (called isle of the Eels) which is run by a sinister boy named Dooby, who holds an unpleasant control over all left on the island. This is essential reading for it paints a vivid picture of what life may well be like in the not too distant future if we don’t do something NOW about global warming. Rest assured though it’s not a rant about that but the author brilliantly interweaves our possible future into an utterly compelling story. I have a pet raven called Edgar, though he doesn’t say much, eat much, or indeed, move much. There’s a possibility that he’s stuffed, I guess. Finding an empty shell casing on the pavement in St Petersburg. It was a long way from there to the finished book but that was the start of it. What if the sea began to rise . . . and rise . . . until the land began to disappear? A brilliant futuristic fantasy by an acclaimed new writer.

Marcus began to write seriously in 1994. His first book, Floodland, was published by Orion in 2000, and won the Branford-Boase award for best debut children's novel. Witch Hill followed in 2001, and was nominated for an Edgar Allan Poe Award. Yes, I always loved myths and legends - I used to read and re-read two books from the library - one a big illustrated edition of Greek Myths and the other Old Peter's Russian Tales. I don't know why I was fascinated by these stories, but maybe simply because I find them to be more glamorous than contemporary stories... Many of your novels are inspired by history and by myth and legend - have these areas always been a fascination of yours since childhood and if so how did this passion come about?This was hailed as one of the most extraordinary debuts when it was first published in 2000. Set in the near future on the east coast of England that has been reclaimed by the sea it tells the story of a girl who, having been mistakenly left behind by her parents escaping from the flood, she heads off to find them but ends up in the hands of a mob of nasty men on a small island. Marcus has been shortlisted for the CILIP Carnegie Medal five times, the Edgar Allan Poe Award (twice) and the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize (four times). He is also the most noted author in the history of the Printz Award, with one win and two honour books,for Revolver, The Ghosts of Heaven and Midwinter Blood. Imagine that a few years from now England is covered by water, and Norwich is an island.Zoe, left behind in the confusion when her parents escaped, survives there as best she can. Alone and desperate among marauding gangs, she manages to dig a derelict boat out of the mud and gets away to Eels Island. When I first saw Floodland on the shelf, I was intrigued by a storyline from the climate fiction genre. Could this be the new, go-to branch of dystopian fiction? Although this genre may still blossom, Floodland is not its flag bearer.

Recommended for ages 10 to 13, this book falls into the category of "Surviving Environmental Catastrophes." Set in the near future, global warming has caused the Earth's sea levels to rise and flood the coastal nations around the world. Zoe's family is last to leave their flooded town in England, and she is sadly separated from her parents as they get on the last boats. She is fortunate to uncover a small rowboat submerged in the mud, and fixes it up so she can escape her town and find her parents. Zoe faces many challenges on her journey, particularly when stopping at a small "island" of an old cathedral that is overrun with wild children competing for space and resources. This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. And how do you think people have survived? How do people remember who they are and where they're from? And how do they know what it means to be human, what makes us more than animals? How do they pass these things on to their children? Stories, that's how."I started to write as a teenager a bit, but properly when I was in my mid-twenties. It took a few years to think it might actually happen! Zoe, left behind in the confusion, survives there as best she can. Alone and desperate among marauding gangs, she manages to dig a derelict boat out of the mud and escape to Eels Island. But Eels Island, whose raggle-taggle inhabitants are dominated by the strange boy Dooby, is full of dangers too. Zoe as a character was fleshed out enough to get a sense of her goals and motivations but I didn't really identify with her. Other characters were also fleshed out and I found some of the side characters interesting. I love music, both listening to it and playing it (I'm a drummer). A day without music is not a proper day... I also love travel and try to travel as much as I can manage.

The Raven Mysteries are full of humour and mad-cap action, which is quite different from your novels for older readers. Was this a conscious decision of yours when setting out to write this series? In his spare time, was also a stone carver and wood engraver and illustrated all his novels. Marcus was also an enthusiastic drummer. The most important thing is to know your market! Who do you think your book is going to be read by? What else is out there that's like it? Are you writing something that will sell?

A middle-grade short novel about a post-global-warming world in which much of what was England is now under water. Ten-year-old Zoe and her parents struggle to survive in Norwich, now an island, until the last supply ship is set to take them away. But Zoe gets separated from her parents and misses the boat. Months later she finds a small boat and sets out to try to find them. I fell in love with this story. Based in a post apocalyptic world (the future of the world if global warming keeps happening) it approaches many themes. This book takes a look at one of the possible futures in our path if we continue on the destructive route humans are currently on. saw Marcus turn his attention to books for younger readers with the launch of a humorous new series: The Raven Mysteries, narrated by a grumpy raven, Edgar.