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This website is dedicated to the memory of Jessica Lincoln Smith, a John Marsden fan.
Lost tragically at 26, but never to be forgotten.


WHILE I LIVE
by John Marsden

A new book in the world of the "Tomorrow" Series
Sequel to "The Other Side of Dawn"
and the first book in a new series, "The Ellie Chronicles"

Due for Release in Australia and New Zealand on 29th October 2003
This page last updated 20th October 2003

The following is courtesy Pan Macmillian Australia as is the cover image. The Pan Macmillian page for this book can be found here.

Well, well, what do you know. Someone has been playing with the blurb for "While I Live" again.

Here is the new one.

"While I Live: The Ellie Chronicles

We were halfway up the spur when we heard it. Homer and Gavin and I, just the three of us... I’d say there were fifteen shots in the first volley, evenly spaced, lasting about twenty-five seconds... All the way down the spur I’d heard the scattered shots, getting closer as I got closer, and all the way down I tried to think of reasonable explanations for them, and I couldn't think of a single thing that made sense.

Wars never end. They go on loudly or they go on quietly. They grip you with bulldog teeth.

The town of Wirrawee is emerging from war, slowly. School's back in, Juicy's is open for coffee, farmers are bidding at the cattle sales.

Ellie Linton at last gets what she longed for and what she fought for, to be back on the farm with her parents.

But it's not the same. A new nation is on the other side of a new border. Suddenly the war is about to explode into Ellie's life again. The effects are devastating. The consequences will change her forever."

and the old

"We were halfway up the spur when we heard it. Homer and Gavin and I, just the three of us... I’d say there were fifteen shots in the first volley, evenly spaced, lasting about twenty-five seconds... All the way down the spur I’d heard the scattered shots, getting closer as I got closer, and all the way down I tried to think of reasonable explanations for them, and I couldn’t think of a single thing that made sense.

The town of Wirrawee is emerging from war, slowly, like a flower after a cold snap. Businesses are starting to reopen, the school has re-commenced classes, and local farmers are gradually repossessing their land. But it's not the same Australia as before the war. A new nation exists just a few miles away, a new border that separates Australia from its invaders. Or does it?

For Ellie Linton, being back on the farm with her parents is what makes the terrible things that happened during the war - the things she and Homer, Lee, Fi and the others had to do - all worthwhile. It's where she belongs.

But the war won't let her go. A devastating tragedy has shattered any hope she ever had to reclaim her life, or herself. It's a new kind of fight.And the enemy isn't always from the other side of the border.

While I Live: The Ellie Chronicles is the first book in a new post-war series featuring the immensely popular Ellie Linton, heroine and narrator of the Tomorrow Series."

Now the blurbs on the back of Tomorrow series books often have only a passing relationship to the content, but they are all I have right now so I will assume they are (both) accurate.

 

Competition?

Pan Macmillan, JM's Australian Publisher, is offering 20 signed copies of "While I Live" as the prize in a completition. This competition is open to reader's world wide. For the details check out the page here.

There you will also find a link to Chapter 1 of "While I Live". Looks like I guessed right here as to what was goining to happen. Now the question is "why?"

Want a copy?

As the books now has an ISBN you should be able to go into any bookstore in Australia or New Zealand and order it, quoting ISBN 1405035544

If you want to order a copy via the internet, you can use this link to pre-order "While I Live" from www.bookworm.com.au, an internet accessable bookstore based in Western Australia. Usual disclaimers apply - use at own risk - this link as a service to visitors - this site and its operator receive no renumeration of any kind if you use this link to order - this bookstore is being used because they provided a link to order via, have a decent website and charge a realistic price for shipping - that is all.


Be careful of what you wish for, as you might get it.

At the end of "The Other Side of Dawn" Ellie says she "I know I won't live happily every after. I want more than that ... I want to go right up close to the beauty and the ugliness. I want to see it all, know it all, understand it all. The richness and the poverty, the joy and the cruelty, the sweetness and the sadness."

Well, it seems John Marsden has decided to return to the world of the "Tomorrow" series and in this new book give Ellie an extra big serving of ugliness, poverty of the soul, cruelty and sadness. Though being the writer he is, there is sure to also be beauty, richness, joy and sweetness scattered throughout the story as well (for examples from the existing books, see: the wombat, Ellie and the bush, support and reaching out among many others).

This page explores what we know about this new book, has a guess as to why John Marsden may have returned to the world of the "Tomorrow" series, speculates as to what may happen to Ellie, what some of the parameters for the new story may be, and lays out what might happen in the new novel.. It also takes a look at availability overseas and at lists how we got to the current point of knowledge about the new series and this book in particular.

 

So what do we actually know ?

 

In addition to the advertising blurb, the following information is in the public domain.

  • "While I Live" is the first of three new works currently contracted in the "Tomorrow" universe and chronologically comes after "The Other Side of Dawn".
     
  • These three new books are the start of a new series called "The Ellie Chronicles". The total number of books that will comprise "The Ellie Chronicles" is currently unclear.
     
  • This new book has "more or less the same characters as the last" and "takes another visit to their lives and their world"
     
  • It is both a new series and a continuation of the old. It is a new series in the sense that "It is a whole new era and whole new beginning for them" and presumably a continuation of the old in that we have the same characters in the same world, but at a later point in their lives.
     
  • The book's title is a shorted version of a motto of a famous (and now vanished) Australian department store. The store was "Anthony Hordern's", their symbol "an acorn and a mighty oak" and the motto "While I Live I'll Grow", supposedly inspired by a huge English Oak near Picton, outside Sydney. The full phrase was a candidate title at one point. Quite a powerful title once you know the derivation - especially since the tree died long ago.
     
  • In the online forum after the ABC program all Mr Marsden would add about the new book (apart from info on the title) was that "the first chapter is pretty full-on... emotionally tough to write!". Make what you will of that - I have a stab below.

Most of the above, courtesy of the ABC "Radio National" program "Australia Talks Books". My thanks to Sandy McCutcheon and the crew.

 

Why a new series ?

 

Now, why on earth is there an new series ? John Marsden has previously listed all sorts of problems with letting a world go on too long (Marsden on Marsden, p93/94) and he is entirely correct. So why return a second time ?

Well, that certainly suggests that the largest problem Mr Marsden saw - that he would run out of energy - has proved false.

There is one other possible explanation as to why now. In the ABC TV "Australian Story" episode on John Marsden, shown in September 2002 he mentions he has been struggling with writer's block and has produced no fiction since "Winter" (published in 2000). Here is what he had to say "For quite a while now I've had massive writer's block after telling everybody else for years that writer's block doesn't exist. There's no such thing as writer's block. But it's a long time now since I've been able to write any fiction, and I wonder if it's because, as I get older, I'm getting a stronger sense of self, and maybe that then makes it harder to write about someone else, to go into a fictional life." Now this was shown in September 2002 and thus likely filmed in early 2002. Just about enough time to have gone "Bugger the risks. I'll have another go with Ellie's voice" and write again about the environment and characters that must by now be just about old friends.

Only one person really knows the answer here for sure, and he isn't talking.

If that is the case, then I would not expect any radical departures from the style of novel we have seen before. I may well be wrong, I often am, that is why this is called "speculation".

 

Availability Overseas

 

There is quite a bit of interest from around the world in these new books, but I don't yet have any information on their availability in non Australian/NZ editions. I will try and get some better information but that will take time. Whatever I know will be put on this page. I would not expect to see "While I Live" in a local language unless "The Other Side of Dawn" was already available.

The English language editions will be available in Australia and New Zealand on 1st of November 2003, though in hardcover. For anyone who is comfortable reading the books in English, I suggest ordering them from a local (Australian) internet accessible bookstore. The book now has an ISBN (1405035544) and can be pre-ordered.

I have had a chat to the helpful folks at www.bookworm.com.au and they have provided a link to pre-order through. They are the same people linked to on the "Find the Books" page for ordering john Marden's books from Australia.. Usual disclaimers apply. Neither I or this site have anything to do with www.bookworm.com.au nor do we receive any commission on sales of any kind. This company simply has a good ordering system, a good price on shipping and are very helpful - so I link to them.

Use this link to pre-order "While I Live" from www.bookworm.com.au.

The English speaking world appears to be broken into several copyright zones. The US (and Canada ?), Great Britain and colonies and - in this case - Australia and New Zealand. I would expect publication in these other locations to be significantly slower, but I will try to confirm this. Thankfully it seems that Australian authors are flavour of the month in the youth segment of the US market, so maybe we will see a US edition quickly this time round.

If anyone actually understands how the international publication process work, please drop me a line.

Publication in other languages of course requires translation. Presumably each translation and publication needs to be negotiated separately, which takes time (thus the advice to get the book in English if you are comfortable with that language). I am trying to get together some publication dates for various translation of earlier books so I can give a best case estimate, but that is all I can do right now. I expect even Mr Marsden is largely in the dark on this - it is still very early days - but I will firm this data up as soon as I can.

 

 

Speculation

 

Now I do need to put in a warning here. The following is pure speculation. I do not have inside knowledge about this book (well, not much) and the next few sections are based entirely on information that is on this page plus the contents of the "Tomorrow" series and "Marsden on Marsden". As such I am most likely wildly out in some if not all of this speculation, that's why its called speculation after all. That said, lets gather up the limited supply of straw that is available and start making bricks.

Note: If I am right with even half of this speculation I will be quite impressed.

 

What happens to Ellie?

 

I think John Marsden kills Ellie's parents in Chapter 1 of "While I Live".

Huh ? How do I know that ?

I don't. But it is my best guess assuming the old blurb and Mr Marsden's comments on Chapter 1 are accurate.

Brutal ? Quite, but John Marsden has never been one to let sentimentality get in the way of the story (OK, so he did in "The Other Side of Dawn" but you have to cut him some slack here).

Why her parents?

What else could "shatter any hope she ever had to reclaim her life, or herself"?

Ellie has four key vulnerabilities at the end of "The Other Side of Dawn". All are people. If there is one thing that Ellie has learnt over the course of the war it is that people are what matter, not things. She loves her farm, but she is not emotionally attached to it in the same way she is to:

  1. The ferals.

    Originally a nuisance they eventually come to represent what Ellie and her friends are fighting to protect. She loves them dearly, especially Gavin and Casey and the loss of one or more of them would be a terrible blow.
     
  2. Kevin, Lee, Homer and Fi

    From the time of "Darkness, Be My Friend" when Lee was missing, Ellie has desperately worried about losing one or more of her remaining friends. She was convinced that doing so would be the end of her, that she would not be able to go on. Of course, when she did eventually lose them (or thought she had) in "The Other Side of Dawn" she did not come apart completely, but she was deeply affected. Certainly a vulnerability.
     
  3. Mrs Yannos and Mrs Mackenzie

    These two women are Ellie "substitute mums" who she would go and talk to when she could not talk to her own, Mrs Mackenzie in particular. While she does not have quite the emotional attachment to them that she has to her parents, she is certainly close to both.
     
  4. Her parents.

    Through the whole of the "Tomorrow" series it was Ellie's parents and her hope of helping them that drove her on. Her love of and devotion to her parents was the overriding factor that held her to her task. That was made quite obvious at the start of "Darkness, Be My Friend" and was emphasised over and over again through the rest of the novels. Their loss, especially if pointless or cruel, would be truly devastating.

A hit in any of these 4 key vulnerabilities would hurt Ellie, but "shatter any hope" ? I can only see the loss of at her parents as doing that.

I have a few problems with this analysis.

The first is the title, which is derived from "While I Live I Grow". All "Tomorrow" series titles are meaningful and it seems unlikely this one is any different. Yet if John Marsden kills Ellie's parents at the start of this novel, then where does that leave Ellie? Ellie was not exactly stable in "The Other Side of Dawn" and has not recovered by the end of that novel. There are still plenty of unconfronted issues sitting in the back of her mind (try page 227/228 of "Burning For Revenge" for an example of something she has been dodging) and the loss of her parents would have to be the cruelest blow Ellie could now suffer. If they die for a reason related to what Ellie did in the war, then Ellie could hardly avoid blaming herself for what happens. If her attitude is going to be "While I Live I Grow" by the end of this new novel, then that will be quite a journey in the space of one book.

The other problem is "why?". Why kill Ellie's parents ? What purpose does it serve? That one I really draw a blank on, though I suspect if we had an answer to that, then we would know a lot about the plot of this new novel.

You will notice the new blurb is much less explicit than the old - after all the war has already had a devastating effect on Ellie and she has already been changed by it forever. This might mean JM noticed that the first blurb put things too strongly and toned it down - so this speculation might be pure rubbish - but for the moment I will assume JM meant what he wrote in the first blurb.

Agree ? Disagree ? Have a different perspective ? Send me an email and share your thoughts: richard@rsimpson.ia.au

 

Starting Conditions

 

A lot of things have changed since the start of "Tomorrow, When The War Began". This section takes a look at the "starting conditions" for the new novel.

Who is involved ?

Well John Marsden did say the new book involves "more or less the same characters as the last" and the blurb makes it pretty plain that Homer, Ellie and Gavin are in. Lee is in the Melbourne with his little brothers and sisters, Fi is there as well with her parents, going to a girl's school (Warrington - as a day girl ? All of John Marsden's females character seem to go to Warrington. Even Miffy did before she got expelled). Kevin is in New Zealand (probably - Ellie had not heard from him for ages). That said, if Wirrawee is not overrun then it is hard to imagine Fi and Lee not moving heaven and earth to come and help their friends

Kevin on the other hand? Kevin served an important role in the "Tomorrow" series, but he personally is not that important. There are potentially plenty of others who can serve as contrast to highlight the heroism of the main characters. I would not be surprised if it takes a long time to bring him back, or he never shows up at all.

When does it start ?

Soon after the end of "The Other Side of Dawn". Despite the rewriting of the end of "The Other Side of Dawn" that is done in the blurb, Ellie was planning to leave home when she finished school, in about 2 months. She is still at home in the blurb so we are looking at a few weeks to a few months after the end of "The Other Side of Dawn".

OK, so when does "Dawn" end ? Around October, about 5 months after the end the war (which lasted 15 months - "Marsden on Marsden"). The key passage is on page 325 when Ellie talks about Kevin. Now John Marsden really tried to make sure his characters didn't age too much through the series, then tosses away about 5 months in a chapter or two at the end (after all it didn't matter - he was finished). As a result I would not be at all surprised if he rewrites history a bit here to compress the timeframe, we will have to wait and see.

Maintaining isolation and keeping up the pressure

In the "Tomorrow" Series, John Marsden went to a great deal of trouble to physically isolate the characters and leave them entirely reliant on their own resources (the concentration camp at the show ground, Harvey's incompetent heroes, Harvey himself, making the commandoes disappear, Finley's betrayal, etc). It was not until Camp 23 that Ellie meets competent adults who she can trust , who are are willing and able to help. Of course, within hours of her finding them they are gone. That Ellie and her friends are on their own, and so in command of their own fate, is part of the underlaying structure of the "Tomorrow" series.

Such physical isolation is no longer required, the characters have come along way from the naive youngsters of "Tomorrow, When The War Began" and even "Darkness Be My Friend". Their rejection of extraction at the end of "Burning for Revenge" and particularly their blackmailing of Ryan into taking the Ferals in "The Other Side of Dawn" shows that. They have stopped being "innocent rural teenagers", they are no longer "polite obedient kids", instead they are now indeed "a force to be reckoned with" ("Tomorrow, When The War Began", p82). They characters may now be just 18 but they have developed the maturity and strength to act - even in life or death situations - against the wishes of adults to whom they would have once deferred.

This is not to say they won't be physically isolated, just that it is no longer required. If John Marsden wants to, isolation of the characters and forcing them back onto their own resources can be accomplished psychologically this time rather than physically. (Psychological isolation could be achieved via as simple a mechanism as a mismatch of objectives, for example) It could also be a bit tricky to come up with a way of physically isolating them that leaves them effective, and that is plausible, sustainable and new. That said, I would be quite surprised if the characters were not isolated from support in some way. All of John Marsden's novels I have read feature main characters isolated in some way from the rest of the world.

I also expect no change in the pressure cooker environment the characters live in. Everything in the previous series revolved around keeping the pressure on the characters. How they are put under pressure may well change, but that they will be under sustained and extreme pressure seems very likely indeed.

The character's fame

The characters are now famous, much more than they were at the start of "Darkness Be My Friend". They now have no hope that their enemies will not know who they are, what they look like, where they live or who their relatives are. That has to influence how they operate - they can no longer hope to get away with the "we are just innocent kids" line - on either side of the boarder.

Hell

They have lost Hell. Should it come to all out war, with Wirrawee again overrun, the lack of a useable bolt hole would be a severe problem. Worse, enemy intelligence will now be quite familiar with their operational style and unless they change how they work, survival becomes quite problematic if Wirrawee is again left deep in the enemy rear. A single load of Napalm would also take care of Hell quite comprehensively.

All this sort of suggests Wirrawee will not be overrun and left deep in the enemy rear. It would also be a bit repetative and if John Marsden is anything as a writer, he is not repetative.

Equipment

The characters are actually quite well equipped, or easily can be. There is still a substantial cache in Ellie's swamp - though obviously no radio. Ryan came in with much more than they could carry. Cavendish was returned (Kevin's parents move there after all) so their gear could have been retrieved before the start of the novel or collected during it.

That means the tools of the trade are readily at hand should they need a private supply.

The character's psychological state

The characters have greatly matured through the seven books of the "Tomorrow" series, yet at the same time they have also been suffering. They were put under such pressure in "The Third Day, The Frost" that they broke down. Deployed back into Australia they are again breaking down in the early parts of "The Other Side of Dawn". (Don't believe me ? Go and read Chapter 5 of "The Other Side of Dawn" again, then their plan for the truck stop attack, then their plan for the attack in Cavendish - compare these to their work in the earlier books - they are out of it). This time there is no counseling, no support, they are left to their own devices.

The realistic portrayal of the character's reactions to stress is one of the things that sets this series head and shoulders above others in the "action/adventure" genre, but it does leave a issue for John Marsden to deal with in "While I Live".

Keeping them going. None of the characters are 'well' at the end of "The Other Side of Dawn". Sure they are functional, but none have had a good rest, the primary cure for combat fatigue, none have had time to work their emotional responses to what has happened or what they did. What they did was pretty confronting, especially the militarily pointless (but very understandable), "stress relief" killing in Stratton near the start of "Dawn". Ellie, Lee and Homer still appear to be largely "shut down" at the end of "The Other Side of Dawn" and for good reason. John Marsden didn't have the time and space to deal with this at that point (it is neither simple nor easy, JM spends a whole book (Checkers) after all dealing with a much less confronting situation) but that does leave them, well, rather brittle.

How John Marsden handles this will be, for me, one of the most interesting parts of "While I Live"

Agree ? Disagree ? Have a different perspective ?: Send me an email and share your thoughts : richard@rsimpson.ia.au

 

So what happens in "While I Live" ?

 

"It is a whole new era and whole new beginning for them"

"...a new border that separates Australia from its invaders. Or does it?"

"But the war won't let her go."

"It's a new kind of fight. And the enemy isn't always from the other side of the border."

"first book in a new post-war series"

and from the new blurb

"Wars never end. They go on loudly or they go on quietly. They grip you with bulldog teeth."

and "Suddenly the war is about to explode into Ellie's life again."

What to make of "Wars never end". This is both obviously true and obviously false. Conflict does not end until the basic issues are resolved and they are obviously not resolved at the end of "The Other Side of Dawn" - after all, as the saying goes "The only sure result of victory is revenge". At the same time, even when a war is truely over it never ends for the participants. Wars change people and many people never escape the concequences. We will have to see what JM means here over this new series.

What happens to Ellie is clearly related to the war, though how that is the case is unclear. Even whether a full scale war is raging again is unclear, though something is obviously up. The blurb says "their enemies are not always from the other side of the border", therefore some are from the other side.

What can you make of this ? Very little other than that "While I Live" will be somewhat different to the novels that have gone before.

Whether what happens to Ellie is part of a full scale reignition of hostilities or an "incident" is unclear. To hazard a guess I will go for the "not get a full blown war" view at present. After all restarting the war right away denies JM lots of opportunities to create conflict on Ellie's side of the fence about how to respond.

To hazard another guess, Ellie's tragedy, with the response of her and her friends to this event (or its root cause) will form the core of this novel and may well set the course of the series..

Ellie and her friends are clearly taken by surprise in Chapter 1 of this new novel and "a tactical retreat is not a bad response to a surprise assault .... First you survive. The you choose your own ground. Then you counterattack." We will have to wait to see what they do.

What I can say with confidence is that this book will contain surprises - unanticipated to John Marsden when he started out and to the reader as they progress through the novel - that is just the way he writes. None of John Marsden's books are simple, straight forward texts so why should this one be any different? (Thanks for reminding me Ruth) How many people predicted the plot of each following novel as they progressed through the "Tomorrow" series ? I certainly didn't.

Got any comments ? Feedback? Disagree? Agree? Recognise the quote above? Drop me a line: richard@rsimpson.id.au

 

History

 

On Mon 28th April 2003, Vic publicly revealed the existence of an 8th book in the universe of the "Tomorrow" series, via this this message to the John Marsden Discussion Forum. He posted this follow up in reply to questions.

On the 7th of May, 2003 John Marsden's publishers in Australia confirmed that there was to be another book. It will be called "While I Live" and will be released in November 2003 (planned).

On the 13th of May, the publishers updated this information. Title is currently "While I'm Alive" and release is date is (at present) just "late 2003".

30th May, John Marsden, on the ABC program "Australia Talks Books" pointed out the older title is the correct one "While I Live". He also provided some more information. See the section "What do we know?"

Early July, Pan-Mac published the blurb and cover for "While I Live".

Some time in September, the released a new cover and new blurb.

This series was originally a trilogy, ending with "The Third Day, The Frost". John Marsden has already extended it once. Now he is doing that again. Given that I found books 4 to 7 more interesting than the original three I certainly wish him luck.

 

 

Comments, thoughts, other issues ? Send them through to me at richard@rsimpson.id.au or pop over to the John Marsden Discussion forum and share what you think.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Got something to say ? You can contact me at: richard@rsimpson.id.au