Rebecca Fung

An exciting announcement! My next book, Septopus, is coming out this October. I can hardly wait …

Septopus is about a seven-tentacled octopus called Stanley. Seven tentacles, you say? Don’t octopuses have eight tentacles?

That’s right, most do. In fact all of them do … except Stanley. That’s why Stanley’s life is a bit difficult. It’s hard to live in a world that’s built for the eight-tentacled when you’ve got only seven. Even though you and I would think “Seven tentacles – that’s a lot!”, octopuses look at Stanley and think “You haven’t got enough arms and legs, Stanley!”

But Stanley’s just trying to live a normal life – sport, finding friends, going to parties, working out school and figuring out his family. That is, if only other sea animals would stop trying to remind him that he’s not their idea of normal.

This cover was illustrated by the fantabulous Kathy Creamer, who also illustrated my first chapter book, Princess Hayley’s Comet, and I’m sure you’ll agree it’s amazing!

Earlier last year I did a little interview about myself and A Very Special Moon Mission with Helen Edwards. Helen writes a blog with all sorts of Australian authors and I was very lucky to spend some time with her. I also introduced to the world my sister’s dog, Cherry.

Helen and I discussed a bit about what I enjoyed about my work and what keeps me writing. For instance, I love strong emotions in stories and I’m always asking questions – this helps me keep writing as it makes me want to know more about my story! There’s always more to explore. Every question brings up answers but it also brings up more questions!

Here is the link to Helen’s fantastic blog. You can read about some other authors there, and a little bit more about me! I’m also adding the picture of Cherry and me to this post.

Rebecca and Cherry

You may have this idea that authors do all the illustrations for their books. That sometimes happens if the author is very good at drawing AND writing but that’s not me. I needed a talented artist for both my books.

You might have some image, then, of author and illustrator working side by side. Writing and drawing and sharing hot mugs of cocoa. The author saying “I know what could happen to the characters!” and the illustrator yelling out “Hey, I’m drawing it write now!” and then the illustrator saying “Look at this picture I want to put in the book” and the author saying “That’s so perfect – it’s made me think of a WONDERFUL story I want to write to go with it – just let me jot it down!”

Then they would take lots of nice breaks, ambles among the trees and by the beach. There would be cake and chocolate. Lots of cake and chocolate. And spotting of cute owls along the way.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t work quite like this though many of us wish it would.

My gorgeously illustrated book, A Very Special Moon Mission, was illustrated by the talented David Allan and it was published and I didn’t meet him. I thought I wouldn’t.

Then last year, at a Book Fair in Sydney, David and I met. It was a lovely opportunity and David is as friendly and nice as he is a great artist. We had to take a photo of this (actually quite rare) occurrence!

While there wasn’t a lot of owl-spotting, David was making some dragon toys at the Book Fair so there was dragon-spotting – not a bad substitute!

There is a  new review for A Very Special Moon Mission on ReadPlus!

Yesterday, A Very Special Moon Mission was published! It is now available to buy – yes, actually to be handled by your fingertips which has to be one of the most exciting things about writing a book – actually making a something that is real … and yet very unreal too. Because you can do anything in books.

In this adventure, Phoebe and Elliot are best friends who go to a Space Station and meet astronauts in training. They are joined by a not-so-popular girl, Julia, and “accidentally” launch a spaceship to the moon with the help of a rather cheeky supercomputer, IMP. Of course, getting to the moon seems like lots of fun … then they realise the big problem is … getting back to Earth!

As it’s school holidays, there’s also time for activities. There are teacher’s notes and fun activities to go with the book like how to make your own rocketship out of a bottle, or a space-based word search. And I have my Goodreads page for the book if anyone would like to review it!

One of the biggest comets ever to be spotted by scientists is headed towards Earth. It can now be spotted by small telescopes and should be closest to Earth on 14 July. However, on 13 July 2022 a supermoon will be brighten the sky and this might make it harder to see, so it’s probably better to try to look for it now – or even a bit after – it might even be visible up to September.

The catchy name for this comet is C/2017 K2. I am sure Princess Hayley would have loved it.

While it won’t be out in bookshops till 5 July, A Very Special Moon Mission has landed … and a very special dragon is very eager to try it out!

Did you know that Australia has been involved in the world’s discovery of what’s going on in space? We even have our own space agency!

This is something I didn’t know until I started writing about Princess Hayley’s Comet, and even more, A Very Special Moon Mission. I read a lot about space and moon missions and it’s really interesting stuff. Of course, I’d heard a lot about space when I was growing up but most of the stories you read and movies you watch are about Americans and Russians and the space race. They’re lots of fun, of course. One of the most touching ones I read when I was younger was a great story called The Cosmonaut about a young Russian boy who wanted so much to be a cosmonaut and his teacher who encouraged his dream.

Later, I loved the movie Gattaca as it depicted a man who would go to any lengths to go to space.

But it was a very different experience when I attended a talk from a representative of the Australian Space Agency. He told us about how Australians had been assisting in these space projects. Unlike many of the Australian and Russian stories, we probably won’t be the single heroes who will have our faces in the magazines. However, as he pointed out, space projects require a great deal of collaboration and Australia is part of a team effort. We have a lot of … well … space in Australia to construct things like the infrastructure that can be helpful for these space projects (Space for Space!). We can be very proud of the contribution we make to something that’s exciting for the entire world.

I later watched a great movie called The Dish which shows the critical part that Australia played in bringing the first moon landing to everyone worldwide. Something a lot of people don’t know about. It’s funny and very Aussie and absolutely inspiring.

 

Coming out in early July, I am happy to announce a new chapter book!

This one is called “A Very Special Moon Mission” and is published by the wonderful people at Christmas Press who also published “Princess Hayley’s Comet”. As you might have guessed by the title, it is also has space themes.

This story sees best friends Phoebe and Elliott and the not-very-popular girl in school, Julia, meet aspiring astronauts at the Space Station and “accidentally” rocket off to the moon, and have to work out how to get back. They also need to work out how to get on together and face their fears in space. There’s a know-it-all computer called IMP who knows almost everything … but inconveniently doesn’t know how to land the spacecraft properly. Here’s the trailer.

The lovely illustrations are by David Allan.

I’m really excited about this one and I hope you are too!