Award gives validation

Havelock North bookseller and part-time magician Gareth Ward has won the Storylines Tessa Duder Award for a young adult manuscript, sponsored by Walker Books Australia and open to published and unpublished writers. "The judges were delighted to find that the author of The Sin Chronicle: New Blood was a new writer of great talent," said Tessa Duder. "His Steampunk novel set in Victorian England is great fun, with a series very likely." Linda Hall asks him five questions.

1 What does this award mean to you?

It's fantastic and a brilliant opportunity for me.

As part of the prize my book will be published next year by Walker Books, which is amazing.

I've been writing for many years, developing my craft and I guess winning this award is some external validation that I've reached a publishable level.

It also means that my characters, whom I absolutely adore, get to be enjoyed by a wider audience.

And now I can immerse myself in all things Steampunk, which is a genre I love, and pretend it's work.

2 Without spoiling the story can you tell us a little bit about it?

As I mentioned above, it has a Steampunk feel so I'd better get the "What on Earth is Steampunk?" elephant out of the room first.

The simplest way to explain Steampunk is that it is a Victorian setting but one with advanced technology, albeit powered by steam and clockwork.

In my story Sin, an orphan roughing it on the streets of Coxford, is recruited into a spy organisation trying to prevent the next great war.

He is tasked with uncovering a mole in the organisation and in the process of doing so he meets a host of fantastical, bizarre and dangerous people.

I'm not sure how much I'm supposed to say at this stage so I really can't reveal too much more.

3 Why did you decide to write a book?

I have written for many years and this is actually my third novel but it will be the first to be published.

I love reading and stories and the way they can transport you somewhere wonderful. In a story you get to travel to distant lands, do impossible things and be the hero that you so often fall short of in real life.

I decided to write this book because it was a story I wanted to read.

I had this idea that was an itch in my mind and the only way to scratch it was to get it down on paper.

4 Tell us about your magic?

Many years ago when my children were young they saw a magician on the TV and wanted to do some magic for some friends who were coming over on Christmas Eve.

We put some simple tricks together, the climax of which was vanishing my son, and called ourselves 'The Great Wardinis' as a joke.

I got the magic bug and joined a society of magicians and it all went from there. Now that we have the bookshop, with a second one opening in Napier in July, my time to rehearse is limited so I mostly do children's parties, which are great fun.

5 As the owner of a bookstore, tell us what younger people are reading these days?

Young people's reading habits are as diverse as adults' and there are some awesome titles out there.

David Walliams is very popular, as are the Storey Treehouse books and Harry Potter has never gone away, nor would the magician in me want it too. We have some great Hawke's Bay authors too: Anna Mackenzie's Evie's War and Aaron Topp's Hucking Cody both received notable book awards this year.

I personally love the Lockwood and Co. series by Jonathan Stroud, The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson, Leviathan by Scott Westerfield and the Miss Peregrine series by Ransom Riggs. I could go on ...