Odin’s senescent rule becomes more and more oppressive, and the gods of Asgard start to resemble the tyrannical elements of our own civilisation. But the solutions Loki proffers are adolescent: can’t we, like, imagine a world without war, he wonders at the end. 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.

Illustrated by the wonderful Chris Mould, Count is about a boy who boasts that he can count up to ten million. No one believes him – he doesn’t even believe it himself. But once he starts, he falls in love with the numbers and they fall in love with him …. and you just never an tell what numbers are going to do next. Every living thing has a spirit and some people – some very special people – can see those spirits. Some can have relationships with them; some can even have powers over them. Here’s some truly wonderful news – I’m to be the IBBY UK nominee for the Hans Andersen Authr Award 2018, with the wonderful Jane Ray put forward for illustration. Many congratulatns to her – she must be feeling as pleased as I am. Melvin Burgess is a British author of children's fiction. His first book, The Cry of the Wolf, was published in 1990. He gained a certain amount of notoriety in 1996 with the publication of Junk, which was published in the shadow of the film of Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting, and dealt with the trendy and controversial idea of heroin-addicted teenagers. Junk soon became, at least in Britain, one of the best-known children's books of the decade.It is also a book that does not gloss over the queerness of Norse mythology. Loki is a shapeshifter and spends time as a man and as a woman, and loves both - and that takes centre stage in this retelling. It also looks at how the body of Norse mythology includes both queerness and homophobia, and I really liked that it didn't try to erase one to make the other fit. I’m doing a Fane event about the 25th anniversary of Junk and the launch of Three Bullets – details in the panel on the right. Compelling and funny – truly hilarious – at times. His Loki doesn’t feel like a powerful god, but rather like a flawed being trying to make the most out of the situations and life he has in front of him. Burgess leans into the queer elements present in the traditional stories and expands on them, makes them a focus of his retelling. Loki charms his way into readers’ hearts again and again, whether they want him to or not." Twenty years since it was first published, JUNK was awarded the YA Book Prize special achievement award. Melvin Burgess now writes full-time and lives in Yorkshire.

The story does play around with the original myth, taking the blame away from Loki in almost all of the stories, but keeps the stories as accurate to the original source material as possible, which makes it a really interesting read. Beth should be just like any other student. Living away from home for the first time, her life should be a haze of boozy nights out and snoozing through morning lectures. Except Beth is beginning to realise that she isn’t normal. She has started to wake up each morning with dirt under her fingernails, an insatiable appetite, and the unmistakeable smell of death follows her everywhere. Either this is the mother of all hangovers, or some more sinister force is at work - and when bodies start to go missing from a nearby graveyard, Beth fears that this cannot be a coincidence. Unable to control or understand what’s happening to her, she enlists the help of her friends to work out the truth – but none of them is prepared for what they are about to discover. Burgess recounts Loki's genius . . . with great gusto, pulling together many tales into one sometimes beautifully lyrical masterwork.' SFX MAGAZINE The winner is announced at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair on 27th March. I’ll be there. Maybe I’ll even win – although the competition is very hot. Fingers crossed. Well, I didn’t win – that honour goes to Paola Zannoner her book, L’Ultimo Faro – The Last Lighthouse. But I did have a lovely time. I love Italy; my publishers there are fabulous and of course it was a delight to be up for a big prize.i was not prepared for this since i only bought this book because of its title, nor have i any knowledge of Norse myths (MCU knowledge doesn't count) - i did/do not know which stories are true to the original myths and which are not. This is the very lovely Italian edition of The Cry of the Wolf, published last year by Equilibri – and shortlisted for the Children’s Strega Prize! It’s a big deal in all sorts of ways. My first shortlisting in Italy and for such a big prize, too! Burgess recounts Loki’s genius . . . with great gusto, pulling together many tales into one sometimes beautifull lyrical masterwork.’ SFX MAGAZINE Alongside the politics of Asgard, the novel 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 a love that goes wrong.

i finished the book regardless of my misgivings and i won't say that i regretted it but neither can i recommend it in good conscience. a little harsh maybe, after all it was an easy read and relatively entertaining in its own way gradually getting better and better with each chapter after a slightly dull start, entering enjoyable territory by book three and reaching its zenith by book four, my favourite part by far that felt almost out of place – a touchingly earnest recounting of loki's relationship with angrboda and the birth of his children hel, jörmungandr and fenrir, and one nowhere near as juvenile, crass, or sardonic in tone as the rest of the book. In conversation with Juno Dawson – main stage event. I love Juno#’s work – very muchlooking forwrd to this one. Have a listen to the opening, when Bea first discovers her powers. http://melvinburgess.net/news/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/The-Lost-Witch-Chapter-1.m4aI'm not sure whether this is meant by Burgess to be a depiction of Loki as a being with a supreme ability to distort the truth, or as a genuinely wronged figure in the narrative that's presented. You will have to read the book and judge. This is a retelling that is contemporary in tone, at once amusing and relatable. It is a heartfelt plea to overthrow the old gods of power and authority and instigate a new era ruled by love and intelligence.