I will finish this book, purely out of my respect to Loki. But I’m also sorry that another piece of pop culture involving him as a main character is such a crap. Burgess recounts Loki’s genius . . . with great gusto, pulling together many tales into one sometimes beautifully lyrical masterwork.’ SFX MAGAZINE Dates are 7th – 14th September. The area around the Rancho is just lovely at this time of year. With fields of cosmos and Mexican sunflowers in full flower, the wildflowers are stunning. There are some beautiful hummingbirds and butterflies – clouds of them in some cases – a great array of bird life and rides through some of the loveliest countryside you’ll have seen.

The relationships Loki has with his fellow gods and giants is the crux of the story. This is a story about the characters, rather than the plot, and their importance in Loki's life, whether positively or negatively. Especially his relationship with Odin. In recent years, thanks to marvel, Loki has been associated with Odin as his adopted son, and whilst that does make for a compelling dynamic, the relationship between them in the mythology is more like brothers, as shown in this book, being sworn brothers. Alongside the politics of Asgard, it charts the course of Loki’s many loves and families, from his mothering of Odin’s famous horse to his intense, turbulent, and, eventually, fatal relationship with Baldr the Beautiful – a tender and moving story of love that goes wrong, jealousy and a transitioning that is forbidden by society. Burgess’s approach is different. He writes from Loki’s perspective, in the first person, which lends the book the air of a young adult novel. Loki, far from being a liar, wants to inform us that he’s been telling the truth all the time. It’s the other gods who have been defaming him. Book signing, Forbidden Planet, 179 Shaftesbury Avenue, London; WC2H 8JR. 4pm Sunday 29th July YALC @ Kensington Olympia

Featured Reviews

I have a crazy dream about working my way through the Norse pantheon and writing in the voice of each god and goddess. In reality, that’s not going to happen. Not many of them have such complete stories around them as Loki does. Most exist in only a few separate tales, and the goddesses in particular are badly served, only really coming down to us in dribs and drabs. It seems that a great deal has been lost over the ages, which is very sad. I don’t really see the point of making the whole thing up from scratch. What follows is an entertaining, unexpectely moving novel in which Loki, a self-admitted liar, lays bare the failings of the other gods and outlines his pivotal role in... well, everything. It's an interesting spin on the subject matter, even if it doesn't have anything especially insightful to say about Norse myth as a whole. I am fascinated by mythology. The stories of ancient gods and heroes seem to have a staying power that has outlasted belief in them. Endlessly invented and reinvented, they clearly remain relevant today, immensely popular and indeed seem to be having a bit of a moment now, especially through feminist versions and as here, those which re-evaluate the villains of the pantheons. Bob Mortimer wins 2023 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction with The Satsuma Complex

Doing] this is just a question of doing homework. I was writing a book many years ago about a deaf girl. I gave it to some people with hearing problems because there is always stuff you don’t know. If I’m writing in a woman’s voice, there are always some things I’ll miss, so I give it to my female friends.” The narrator’s voice (Loki) is an ass. “Nothing ever was my fault, everything that you have read about me was an Asgard propaganda!” - like, really, wtf? So we’ve listened and organised our next Retreat on those lines. MORE spare time to write … MORE 1-2-1’s with myself and Lucy, and still plenty of time to ride, to sit in the hot tub with a beer, a daiquiri, Margarita or pina colada. a mischievous, unpredictable and clever book that breathes new life into an already fascinating character and godly race.' CULTUREFLYLoki also shares his experience of love in its many forms including shape-shifting into a mare to distract a stallion resulting in the birth of Odin's famous eight-legged horse, his marriages to Sigyn and Angrboda, his monstrous children by the latter, and his intense, doomed relationship with Baldr the Beautiful. Not, alas, from his imprisonment deep in the world’s bowels, where he has been trapped by the other gods, but his voice, his book – in which I had a small part to play in writing it down – is available to buy. Waterstones Manchester Deansgate event with Mark Illis. It’s a double launch!– Mark’s launching his book, The Impossible; on the Run. I’ll be talking about The Lost Witch. JULY 21st

For me, YA is not so much about writing “for” young adults as writing about being that age. It’s a very exciting period of life to write about, because it’s a period of change – the biggest change of all, from child to adult. It’s all about becoming. But I’ve written many books about that subject now, and I just feel there’s nothing much more for me to say. And when you run out of things to say, what’s the point in saying it? I’d never say never, but for now I’m more interested in writing books for an older readership. Pete, Tariq and myself were interviewed by A M Dassu in the Portico Library’s Pathways to Publishing, part of the Manchester City of Literature, Festival of Libraries. You can listen to it here. Lucy and I will be on hand to read, discuss and advise you on your work in the mornings and early evenings. You can divide your time between writing, going on the morning, afternoon or day-long rides available at the Rancho, or else taking time out to go on one of the many trips on offer. How you spend your time will be entirely up to you.Give a dog a bad name they say, and never was there any dog with a name worse than mine. I am a bad person, I expect. You will begin with your suspicions about me and I don’t expect to convince you otherwise.“ There was no question of it being something I was aiming at young people. When you write for young people, it’s not that you’re censoring yourself, it’s that you’re writing about being that age. Loki isn’t about being that age; there isn’t anyone of that age in it. I’ve made a career out of remembering being a teenager and trying to relate to that time, but it was bloody long ago! I don’t really have much more to say about it. Adult stuff is where I’m looking now. I’ve got more Norse gods bubbling away – I want to get grips with Odin at some point – as well as a long-term project around the childhood of Bill Sikes [from Oliver Twist]. If you don't like swearing and crude humor, maybe reconsider this one as well. I personally thought it fit in just fine and was funny, but I see others saying it was a bit much.