FANNY FITZPATRICK AND THE SIRENS
Dana Hammer
GENRE: MiddleGrade Fiction
BLURB:
It’s the end of the school year. For most kids, it’s time to relax and get ready for summer. For Fanny, there’s work. She has a brand-new baby brother, and she’s been hired by Zeus to look after his “injured” son. And she still has her and her friends’ cheesemaking business! Fanny is overwhelmed.
But then she meets three sirens who want Fanny to join them on Feather Island for a summer of singing, instrument playing, and fun at the beach. The program is totally free and could start an amazing musical career-the thing that Fanny has always wanted the most.
Athena and Gemma are dead set against it. Athena says that the sirens are bad news; that their whole purpose in life is to lure men to their deaths with their beautiful singing. Gemma says that Feather Island is part of a network of unmappable islands, the type of place where criminals and sketchy organizations hoard their wealth and do their crimes.
Surely, the sirens don’t do that anymore, right? All that stuff was a long time ago. If the sirens want to keep their island paradise a secret, well, that’s not so weird, is it? Fanny has talked to them, and she just knows that they aren’t as evil as everyone says. They are perfectly nice ladies.
Right?
Follow Fanny Fitzpatrick as she navigates big sisterhood, friends who disapprove of her life choices, burning ambitions, and a bunch of sirens luring her away to their private island.
Purchase FANNY FITZPATRICK AND THE SIRENS on Amazon
Excerpt:
But I don’t have a chance to practice or not practice, because I remember that I have a Zoom date with Gemma and Athena. I head down to the computer and log in to the meeting.
Gemma and Athena are already in there, talking about something. They look serious and sour, but Gemma is wearing the most adorable newsboy hat with embroidered flowers on it, and I squeal when I see it
“Gemma, that hat though!”
They stop talking and look at me, not smiling. I realize something weird is going on, and so I stop smiling.
“Fanny, we need to talk,” says Athena.
That’s not good.
“Um. Gemma? How’s England?” Gemma shakes her head at me.
I look back to Athena, who has crossed her arms, which makes her look like a strict disciplinarian who’s about to give me a terrible lecture. And I realize that’s exactly what’s about to happen.
“Herman told me everything,” Athena says.
“Um.”
“You let those things in your house! After I specifically told you how dangerous they are!”
“I didn’t let them in,” I say, which I realize is a wimpy thing to say, but I can’t think of anything better. “My dad did.”
“What did they want? Why were they there, at your house?”
“Well—”
“Do you have any idea how many people sirens have killed over the course of these millennia?”
“But that was a long time ago!” I say, sounding desperate and silly, even to my own ears.
“Fanny,” Gemma says, quietly, looking around to make sure no one is listening to her. “I’m not supposed to say this. But there are these islands. A few of them. And they have special deals with the UN, NATO, the African Union, and a few others that I’m not allowed to even say the names of. They have diplomatic immunity. They operate under their own laws, and they answer to no one. They’re unmappable, untraceable. I’ve been talking to Athena, and I think these islands are owned by the sirens.”
“You sound like conspiracy theorists,” I say, rolling my eyes. “How do you even know about these top-secret islands if they’re so top secret?”
“My parents,” Gemma says, like it’s obvious. I guess it should be obvious. I still have no idea what her parents do for a living, but they seem to jet around the planet a lot, with machete-bearing security guards, so I guess it must be important. Still.
“Well, Feather Island is a school. A school for musicians,” I say, trying to reassure them. “There’s a brochure and everything.”
I wish I had the brochure so I could show it to them, how lovely and harmless the place is, but my parents have put it somewhere and I don’t know where it is.
“How do you know about Feather Island?” Athena demands, looking even more furious.
Whoops. I guess I’ve gotta tell them now.
“That’s what the sirens wanted. To tell me about their music camp.”
“NO!” Athena shouts, banging her fist on the table in front of her. Splinters of wood fly everywhere and I’m kind of scared now. This is intense, even for Athena. “You can NOT go to this island. I don’t care what they told you. It’s bad news.”
Interview with Dana Hammer
Have you read anything that made you think differently about fiction?
The Hole, by Guy Burt made me realize that fiction could be actually scary. I never been truly horrified while reading a book until this one came along. And it’s done with a single sentence, in the very last chapter. The twist, the sudden realization — mind altering.
How do you select the names of your characters?
Honestly? I hate naming characters. If I think about it too much, I’ll never get anything done. So I use random name generators most of the time, unless I have a very specific reason for choosing a name.
Do you hide any secrets in your books that only a few people will find?
No.
What was your hardest scene to write?
I don’t want too give to much away, but there is a scene in this book where a lot of characters are fighting. The characters involved are incredibly powerful, and serious about the fight. It was difficult to write this scene in a way that conveys real danger, while also being kid-friendly.
Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build body of work with connections between each book?
Each book in this series can be read alone, but you will get more out of them if you read them in order. Fanny Fitzpatrick and the Sirens is going to be more enjoyable if you have a familiarity with the characters and what happened in the previous book.
What were your goals and intentions in this book, and how well do you feel you achieved them?
In the first two books, Fanny is surrounded by powerful gods and goddesses and incredible wealth, while remaining magic-free and working class. In this book, I wanted Fanny to experience a call to the extraordinary, and to see how her character withstands it. I definitely achieved this goal.
What inspired you to write Fanny Fitzpatrick and the Sirens?
I wanted to continue Fanny’s story. In book two, we left off with Fanny stuck caretaking an “injured” god, while trying to run a cheese business, while also preparing to be a big sister. All of those were threads I wanted to explore, while also introducing some very cool new characters. Also, sirens are cool, and I wanted to write about them.
Can you tell us a little bit about the next books or what you have planned for the future?
This might be the final book in the Fanny Fitzpatrick series. It will depend on how well this book is received. If people want more, I will deliver.
I am considering writing an adult book that takes place on Feather Island. I love the sirens, and the world they inhabit, and I would like to explore more grown-up themes, as they continue their eco-warrior adventures.
Can you tell us a little bit about the characters in Fanny Fitzpatrick and the Sirens?
Of course, we have the best friends, Fanny, Athena, and Gemma. Zeus is still being his bossy self. Dion (Dionysius) is still pretending to be severely injured so he can lay around all day while Fanny serves him. (We do discover that Dion has a special power that he hasn’t explored in previous books.)
New characters include the sirens, Lotus, Orion and Mara. They run Feather Island, which is an unmappable island inhabited entirely by sirens. They also run a summer camp for aspiring sirens — and they want Fanny to attend.
Other new characters include Elvira, Delfina, and Cleo, the other girls attending siren camp. Each has her own set of challenges, and of course, Fanny is determined to help and befriend them all.
What did you enjoy most about writing this book?
I enjoyed writing about Dion’s ever-increasing insanity and diva-rage. He’s always a fun character to write. One of my reviewers described him as “Auntie Mame meets Nora Desmond meets David Rose” and I think that’s totally apt.
I also enjoyed letting Fanny deal with increasing moral complexity. The gods and goddesses are absolutely united in their suspicion and hatred of the sirens, which makes Fanny question whether they might have a point. Fanny’s friends tell her that the sirens are evil, and this conflicts with her own experiences with the sirens. Should she trust her own mind, or the advice of people who perhaps know more about the situation than she does?
Part of growing up is learning when to think for yourself and when to trust the expertise of others. It’s not an easy lesson, and many adults still cannot do it. I’m proud of how Fanny handled this conflict, and I hope my readers are proud of her too.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Dana Hammer is a novelist, screenwriter and playwright. She has won over forty awards and honors for her writing, few of which generated income, all of which were deeply appreciated. She is not a cannibal, but she is the author of A Cannibals Guide to Fasting. Dana is also the author of middle grade fantasy My Best Friend Athena which was inspired by a desire to write something her 9 year old daughter could read.
Connect with Dana Hammer
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9 comments:
Terrific interview
Thank you so much for featuring this book today.
I enjoyed the post. Sounds like an entertaining story.
This looks really good. Thanks for sharing
My granddaughter will like it.
Looks like a book my niece would enjoy.
I enjoyed the interview.
Fun & clever cover
cool
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