Gemma’s first book, Moondust, a teen sci fi thriller set on a lunar mine, was voted one of World Book Days top 25 Stories to Share, and her second, City of Rust, is published this spring.

Bestselling author Alexandra Christo, author of TikTok sensation To Kill a Kingdom, introduces her new book, The Night Hunt (Hot Key Books), a dark... The cover is by the amazing Karl James Mountford, and definitely deserves a mention here too. It’s so beautiful!I grew up loving the Magic Mirror in Snow White, and Enid Blyton’s winged Wishing Chair. When I was older I snorted with laughter at the escapades of The Luggage in Terry Pratchett’s The Colour of Magic, and most recently, have fallen in love with a cloud in Tamsin Mori’s The Weather Weaver. Boxville is built of scrap metal and trash that hasn’t made it up into the Soup. It is a warren of rust and darkness - a junkyard home to the poor and forgotten. Glass City is all gleaming metal and glass, and the rich inhabitants make sure their junk doesn’t interfere with their comfortable lives. Coffee house Caffè Nero has announced the 16-strong shortlist for the inaugural Nero Book Awards, recognising the outstanding books of the past 12... I was drawn to City of Rust right away because of the characterful futuristic steam-punk junk yard vibe, and because it’s a sci-fi. I do love a sci-fi. This one is set in a future where land and air are dominated by junk. But when junk is all that is left, it becomes a commodity, a currency, a beast that sustains existence as much as it threatens it… You could say that this vision is a direct consequence of our current-day throw-away lifestyle. But let’s put that to one side and skip to the action. And there is a lot of action!

Despite this idyllic East Midlands childhood, something bigger soon called, and after an eventful sojourn at the University of Lincoln, Gemma made her way to London. The book also contains some heavy world building, so maybe getting readers to visualise things like Boxville and Glass City and the Sphereships would be great (I would also love to see what they come up with!). Gemma Fowler’s world-building is exceptional, and her version of Earth has echoes of Blade Runner, Wall-E and Star Wars. A thrilling galactic mystery with a powerful message at its heart about caring for the planet we call home.” Book Trust, Best new books for April Dapo Adeola, Tracy Darnton, Joseph Coelho and Chitra Soundar are among the 19 authors and illustrators longlisted for the Inclusive Books for Child...

Customer reviews

I think the themes around waste, the environment and STEM are great general talking points for classroom discussion – I’d love for the book to instil a make-do and mend attitude. Can we look at rubbish and see what it can be remade into? How can be reused again, rather than just recycled? An art project (Care, one of the Junker characters, creates art out of rubbish) would be amazing! Ok, I’m going to talk about my IDEAL day. If I have a deadline approaching my day is basically just tapping away at the keyboard until my fingers hurt and making a million coffees, which is boring to hear about. But my ideal writing days are like this: City of Rust is an original and thought provoking novel for readers aged 9+. It is an entertaining and the perfect space mystery for KS2/KS3 readers. How would you envisage teachers using your book in their classrooms? What age group is it aimed at? Do any activities or ideas spring to mind? Fiction carrying a strong social or ecological message is a difficult thing to pull off when readers are in the mood for an entertaining story and adrenaline rush, but City of Rust succeeds without question on both counts.

Despite being a complete layman, she still has an unwavering passion for space, and loves nothing more than sharing that passion through her stories and author events. An edge-of-your-seat thriller, combining an authentic YA contemporary voice with high-concept but accessible science fiction. Buy here! I love the creativity of bringing character to something unexpected like an inanimate object. These characters might not always have the best lines (because a lot of them don’t talk) but they nearly always steal the show. It was during this time that her dad set up an old telescope in her room, and a fascination with space began that would fill notebook upon notebook with half written, hastily scribbled stories about worlds made out of biscuits, aliens called Bob and homemade portal machines.

About the book

I’ve found that human beings learn from their misdeeds just as often as from their good deeds. I am envious of that, for I am incapable of misdeeds. Were I not, then my growth would be exponential.” ― Neal Shusterman, Scythe I’m excited to see where and who my next story will take me to, an eggplant having an existential crisis like Marvin the Paranoid Android? …the beauty is, who knows?

I always bang on about a book called The Otherlife by Julia Gray. It’s set in our world, but with a touch of Odin and Loki, heavy metal, and two of the most engaging characters I’ve ever read. I love it. City of Rust is a must read for sci-fi fans, perfect for anybody who loves star wars, The Danger Gang or other out of this world adventures. I remember reading Iva Ibbotson’s The Secret of Platform 13 a million times, and a book that I think was called the Gameboard Map (it’s probably called something completely different!), which I’ve never been able to find again, about a strange world made out of board games. I also loved audio books, In particular the Narnia series. So here are some of the non-human characters that I’ve fallen in love with, and that have influenced my writing over the years: City of Rust is the first middle-grade (ages 9+) offering from author Gemma Fowler. This delicious, dystopian novel is the perfect mixture of Mad Max, Cogheart (Peter Bunzl) and The Tin Forest (Helen Ward) – a perfect choice for young readers who have a thirst for sci-fi adventures. The intricate, golden cover design by Karl James Mountford immediately draws the reader into a junkyard world, where waste is treasure.

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