Mortal Chaos Blog Tour - Q&A with Matt Dickinson

To celebrate the release of his debut YA novel Mortal Chaos this Thursday (the 2nd of February) I'm thrilled to have Matt Dickinson here today to answer some of my questions.  I will be posting my review of Mortal Chaos later today but trust me this is an action packed thrill ride that you don't want to miss so if it's not already on your wish list you need to add it now!

The Butterfly Effect: the scientific theory that a single occurrence, no matter how small, can change the course of the universe forever.

Jamie and Will have bunked off school to go hunting. Kuni, an 18-year-old Japanese climber is approaching the summit of Mount Everest. Tina is piloting a troublesome flight from Heathrow to Moscow. Six-year-old Bakili is desperately guarding his family's crops from bloodthirsty baboons in Malawi. Shelton, an unhinged father in Washington DC, is hooked on revenge and building a bomb . . .

Flashing between characters around the world, Mortal Chaos is a heart-stopping adventure that will leave readers breathless. Though the action starts with an innocent beat of a butterfly's wings in sleepy Wiltshire, this sets in motion a global chain of events that build to a nerve-jangling climax of mayhem and destruction.

Some will live.  Some will die.  All are connected.

Mortal Chaos Series:
Mortal Chaos
Deep Oblivion (July 2012)

Visit Matt Dickinson's website for more information

So without further ado please give a warm welcome to Matt Dickinson!

Matt Dickinson

About the book:

· For anyone who is yet to read Mortal Chaos, can you describe your book in 5 words?

Chaos. Connections. Crisis. Carnage. Catastrophe.

· What was the inspiration for the story and what gave you the idea of exploring the butterfly effect?

I have always been really fascinated by the way that small incidents can so often lead to big events. But I think the moment when I got really hooked was when I made a film about avalanches and discovered that avalanches weighing millions of tons can be triggered by a single snow flake.

· Character Kuni has some pretty terrifying experiences when climbing the north face of Everest, how much of that was based on your own climb?

Kuni has kind of a hard time of it on Everest. We were quite lucky by comparison but we still had our scary moments. There was a huge storm when 12 people were killed, and some quite edgy climbing to do on the summit day. My heart was in my mouth right until I got back to base camp.

· Can you tell us anything about the next two books in the series? Will there be any cross over of characters or events?

Mortal Chaos books are stand alone. That’s to say the characters are fresh in each book and so are the incidents. So there’s no run on between them and you can read them out of order without any problem.

· Do you have any tips for aspiring writers?

Write about your passions! Ask yourself what you are in to and get writing about the things you love. It’s always good to set yourself a target. If you were a writer still studying at college, for example, you could say ok—a thousand words a week. Then you have to stick to that target whatever happens! One year later you will have a novel sitting on your computer!

And some fun questions:

· How would you spend your fantasy 24 hours, with no travel restrictions?

Only one contendor for this one; straight out to the Baikal space centre in Kazakstan and a Soyuz 5 rocket into space. How cool would that be to see the earth from space? I can’t think of anything which would quite match that adrenaline rush!

· Who would you invite to your fantasy dinner party and why? (dead or alive!)

Leonardo Da Vinci, a Neanderthal and Audrey Hepburn (aged 30). the first because it would be cool to know who the Mona Lisa really was, the second because I’ve always had a hunch they were a lot more intelligent than we give them credit for, and the third because I really wouldn’t mind having a photo of myself with the most beautiful woman who ever walked the earth.

· Who would you like to play you in a film of your life?

Ben Stiller---I wouldn’t want to lose the comedy element. Even when disasters happen on expeditions there’s still a funny side to everything and I like to think I can always find it.

Thanks so much for stopping by Matt.  I have to admit I was reading most of the parts about Kuni's climb from behind a cushion so I'm scared to even think about how frightening the real thing would be!  I love the idea of taking a rocket into space though, what an amazing experience that must be.

Don't forget to check back later today to read my review of Mortal Chaos and make sure you check out the rest of the tour stops below: