Frozen Charlotte: 1 (Red Eye, 1)

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Everyone believes that Salil Singh killed his girlfriend, Andrea Bell, five years ago—except Pippa Fitz-Amobi. Author Guy Bass introduces SCRAP, about one robot who tried to protect the humans on his planet against an army of robots. Now the humans need his... They were popular during the Victorian period and are based on a ballad about a young woman who refuses to wrap up warm for a sleigh ride to a ball and, when they arrive, her fiancé discovers that she’s frozen to death during the journey. The dolls are normally made of white porcelain and have unjointed “frozen” limbs that are intended to portray a corpse. It seemed so typically macabre of the Victorians to create dead dolls for their children to play with! The dolls all come naked, with only painted hair, facial features and shoes. The idea was supposed to be that children would make dresses for them out of any spare fabric their mothers might have lying around. The revelation of how the evil little Frozen Charlotte dolls came to have their power is unsettling and chilling, and reading parts of this late at night in a quiet house I ... admit to looking over my shoulder more than once!... I'd love to see more historical type novels from Alex Bell in future, and eagerly await her next offering. -- Michelle Harrison author of The Thirteen Treasures

even gorier and scarier than the first novel [...] the harshness of [the historical setting] made this ever more horrific. Wonderful work yet again from Alex Bell! -- Miss Fay Myers NetGalley The inspiration for Sophie’s character really came from a lot of gothic romances I’ve read by writers such as Victoria Holt and Madeleine Brent. These often involve a fairly ordinary heroine finding herself in extraordinary surroundings where she has to deal with strange/fascinating/eccentric characters who most often have various dark secrets. There’s very much a sense of not knowing who to trust and things not being as they seem in this type of book, and I really enjoy that kind of ambiguity as a reader. My favourite scene in the book is probably the end scene in the schoolhouse – and also the bathroom scene – but I can’t say too much about those without giving away spoilers! What sort of stuff did you have to research for this book and how did you sleep at night afterwards?!I still think that the old Point Horror series from the 90s deserves reading, although those books might be a little harder to find now. In terms of chilling ghost stories, I have a fondness for classics such as The Turn of the Screw by Henry James and The Haunting of Toby Jugg by Dennis Wheatley. And for YA horror I’d recommend the other Red Eye books (the series that Frozen Charlotte is from). I have another Red Eye novel called The Haunting, which is about witches and haunted ghost ships. I also enjoyed reading Sleepless by Lou Morgan from the Red Eye series, as well as Jekyll’s Mirror by William Hussey. To that end she eagerly started a Law Degree only to find it so boring that she was at a very real risk of going completely insane. To mitigate this she started writing again. The second book got her an agent with Carolyn Whitaker of London Independent Books but, unfortunately, not a publisher. The third book, written during her first summer holidays off from university, found a home with Gollancz. The Ninth Circle came out in April 2008 with possibly the most beautiful cover ever created (matched only by her second book, Jasmyn). Penny’s sleepy little farming town hasn’t been the same since it was terrorized by a masked killer who claimed five teenage victims last Halloween.

This is horror. Torn between needing to know and fearing for the characters, I read this fast... Compulsive. -- Dawn Woods NetGalley Why did you decide to include frozen charlotte dolls in the story? What creepy stuff can you tell us about them? I obviously did a lot of research about Frozen Charlottes. I also researched other famous haunted dolls, such as Annabelle and Robert. A common theme seemed to be for a child to be given a haunted doll that caused all kinds of problems in the house, which was blamed on the child at first, until the parents came to believe that the doll moved around by itself, or when there was no one home. I suppose I just think of the things that would most frighten me if I was to experience them! I think that you should always be aiming to scare yourself when writing horror, or else you can’t really hope to scare your readers – which is what we all want from a good horror story! That shivery feeling is why we seek out these types of books and films in the first place. I particularly like subtle, chilling horror, as opposed to big slasher type scenes, because I think this helps create a more insidious atmosphere that can be quite claustrophobic and effective.Night Mayor Franklefink has vanished from the Transylvanian Express - and it's up to you to solve the case! Part of the Solve Your Own Mystery seri... This feels like such a great introduction to horror for teens. What is it about horror that appeals to you? Have you always been a fan?

Author Luke Palmer introduces his new book, Play (Firefly Press) about four boys growing up together, the challenges, the friendships, and what hap...Was it difficult to make a Victorian ghost story seem contemporary and relevant for modern readers? What do you think modern technology like the Ouija board app and mobile phones added to the story?