THE FEARLESS is here!

Publication day for THE FEARLESS is here! I've already had tons of lovely messages on Facebook and Twitter, and it's only 9.30am. Thank you so much, everyone!

For the next couple of weeks I'm going to be doing a trek round the internets (wearing sensible boots, post-apocalyptic style). Today, I've got a post about the fear, the horror, the terror… of writing a second novel over at the fab Kate Ormand's blog, and a post about what inspired some of the settings in the book over at Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books.

And to whet your appetite for THE FEARLESS (although I wouldn't recommend you read this book while you're eating your dinner), here's a sneaky extract from the beginning:

From inside the house there was an animal-sounding howl, and then a gruff shout: ‘It’s locked!’ I wrenched the gate open and ran out into the lane, Mum staggering after me. Pure terror sang through my veins; I could hardly breathe. When I looked over my shoulder I saw Mum clutching her knife in one hand, the other pressed against her bump, her hair hanging in sweat-soaked strings around her face.

‘Keep going,’ she gasped. ‘Don’t worry about me.’

            I heard that howl again, echoing up into the trees, and crashes as the Fearless tried to break down the front door. I tried to run faster, but my legs felt weak; I wasn’t sure I could keep going. Acid burned up into my throat, nearly choking me.

Behind me, Mum moaned and fell to her knees on the track.

I ran back to her. Another shout – ‘There’s something in front of the door!’ – and more crashes drifted towards us. ‘Mum, get up!’ I said, frantically tugging on her arm. She shook her head. She’d dropped her knife. ‘You go, Cass. Run. Get to Sol’s.’

‘No, I’m not leaving you!’

I heard the sound of glass breaking. It sounded as if the Fearless had given up trying to get out of the front door and were smashing their way out through a window instead. I pleaded with Mum to get up. Then I heard another sound from the top of the lane.

A car.

It was coming towards us, fast.
Headlights burst out of the darkness, so bright they blinded me, and the shriek of the engine filled my ears. There was no time to get out of the way. I flung a hand across my eyes, screaming, hearing Mum screaming too, time seeming to slow as I waited for the car to slam into us, and wondering how much it would hurt.

The Fearless Blog Tour!

It's exactly ONE WEEK until THE FEARLESS invades the shelves – eek! And to help celebrate its unleashing, some writer/blogger friends have offered to host a blog tour for me. Two whole weeks of posts, interviews and giveaways! I'm so grateful to everyone who's helped me out with this, so a huge thank you to everyone, and also to Harriet Venn at Random House Children's Publishing for designing me a fab blog tour banner!

Here is where I'll be and when (click to enlarge):

See you in a week!

Ouch!

Hello lovely blog readers! I know, I know, it's been a while again. In my defence, I've been rather busy doing school visits (LOTS of school visits) and preparing for the publication of THE FEARLESS, which is out in ten days. Eek! It's all very exciting in a nerve-wracking kind of way.

Yesterday was pretty exciting too – for all the wrong reasons. I managed to slice a chunk out of the end of my finger and it wouldn't stop bleeding, which meant I had to go to A&E to get patched up. Luckily I got seen quite quickly, as when I went to the desk the admitting nurse misheard me and thought I'd cut my finger off (shudder), but, yeah. I'm going to be staying away from sharp objects for a while…

At least I can do some impressive pointing for a while… 

Anyway, you didn't come here to listen to me moaning about my hurty finger. Let's get back to THE FEARLESS.

First of all, there have been some amazing reviews coming in - hooray! If having a debut out in the world is scary, having your second book published is doubly terrifying, because what if everyone thinks it's a letdown? What if you're just a one-hit wonder and, actually, you can't do this all over again? Luckily, these reviewers seem to think otherwise (click on the links for the full reviews, I'm just going to quote my favourite bits here):

From World of Children's Books:

I love that we’ve got a strong YA writer using dystopian Britain as a backdrop, especially when it’s writing about local areas that I recognise… It’s a different type of dystopian feel to ACID, which is good, because it means there isn’t any re-treading of previous steps, and shows Emma’s breadth of writing ability. She’s got a damn fine imagination, and a damn fine way of making me skip back a few lines just to make sure I read her correctly, such are the OMG moments that regularly crop up… I’ve not read a virus-esque dystopian thriller this good, ever.

From Donna's Room for Reading:

The latest offering from Emma Pass had me gripped from the very first page… I knew it was going to be brilliant and I was not disappointed… something Pass excels in is writing a kick-ass heroine… THE FEARLESS is a fantastic read, in my opinion for ages 12+, maybe a little older depending on the child and definitely on into adulthood!

From Goodreads (thanks, Marta!):

This is a fresh take on zombie fiction… I live in England and have visited several of the places mentioned in this book but the newly named area in Sheffield had me laughing out loud! No spoilers here but those like me who've traveled to that part of the uk will surely get the joke and that surprised me if honest. Amidst all this chaos the author still managed to bring a lighter touch and we even get a canine companion whose bravery will melt the hardest heart.

And there's this one, too (thank you, Beth!):

Thrilling UKYA dystopian/post-apocalyptic combo with very scary zombiesque creatures, a worthwhile (but highly dangerous) quest and some brilliant characterisation (including a lovely hound). Definitely recommended for lovers of YA thrillers, dystopias and the post-apocalyptic.

*happy dances*

With publication day fast approaching, some wonderful author friends have offered to host a blog tour for me. Once I have my blog tour banner I'll post it here, so keep an eye out for it. There'll be guest posts, interviews and giveaways galore! I'm also going to be guest blogger over at Totally Random Books in May, which I'm really looking forward to.

I've also got a couple of VERY exciting pieces of news (not book deal-related, but equally smile-worthy!) which I'm hoping I can share soon.

And tonight, if you're on Twitter, join me for one of Project UKYA's #ukyachats at 7pm, where I'll be the featured author. Search for the hashtag to keep up with the chat, and if you want, you can follow me @EmmaPass.

Hope to see you there!