I actually never believed that I would be published! It seemed like such a pipe dream. What did the start of your journey to publication look like? So I realized that if I wanted to read about characters like me in the type of books I liked … I’d have to write them. As someone who is mixed race (Chinese-White), I struggled to find stories that represented my diverse background and experience. My favourite genres to read have always been sci-fi and fantasy, starting with the worlds of Narnia and Middle Earth, so writing fantasy was always my first love. I actually can’t remember a time that I wasn’t writing! When I was eight, I wrote a short story about getting out on the wrong side of bed in the morning, and it’s like the stories haven’t stopped since then. Nothing like puppy snuggles to turn a bad year around. I also welcomed Moose, my cavalier King Charles spaniel, into my life in June, and he has been an absolute lifesaver. Working on the first book in The Magpie Society series has given me something to focus on creatively, and Zoe and I have adapted well to working together-but-separately. On the other hand, I know I am lucky: I am healthy, and I have a job I love that enables me to work from home safely. I live alone, so I’ve spent a lot of time in isolation, which – even for this self-proclaimed introvert – has been a challenge. First of all, thank you for asking! I am okay, and I am hanging in there. McCulloch deals with the complex conflict between the desire for independence and the longing for meaningful, drawing to what may seem a shocking conclusion however, Jinxed is only the first in McCulloch’s new series, and this electrifying work sets a promising stage.First of all, how are you and how are you coping in 2020? Easy to read and fast-paced, Jinxed appeals to the same streak of independence and sometimes contrasting desire for companionship which had children of the 90s picking sides in Digimon and Pokemon, and still has people talking about their Pokemon starter with the same intensity as their Hogwarts house. In lively present tense, McCulloch pairs human and baku like Philip Pullman did human and dæmon but with a tech-savy spin. Between her goal of becoming a MONCHA engineer and her desire to keep Jinx, Lacey finds herself pulled in two directions – especially when she uncovers the dangerous secret behind the strange baku. Somehow, she gets into the elite academy which rejected her, but Jinx doesn’t act like the other baku Lacey knows. Lacey repairs the cat-shaped baku, naming it Jinx, and her entire world turns upside down. After a crushing rejection on her road to becoming an engineer, Lacey uncovers a highly advanced “baku” – a customizable mechanical “pet” invented by MONCHA – the company behind her dream job! Amy McCulloch’s latest heroine, Lacey Chu, lives in a world of technological wonder.
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