8. The Forum – LIOS

‘Camilla’s dad even scores tickets for us to see Foals at the Forum for Mike’s birthday… Mike and I spend most of the Foals gig staring at the fake Roman statues in the theatre, and trying to stop Adrian from hyperventilating with excitement.’ – pg 141

1. I have never been to the Forum theatre but if I do, surely the only thing that I will be able to concentrate on is the fake Roman statues.

2. I have never listened to a Foals song but I’ve spent the past 15 minutes google-image-searching and I highly approve of the lead singer with the curly hair so now I’m off to fix that.

– Rachel

7. The Costume Shop In Kensington – LiOS

‘… Camilla dragged me to a costume shop in Kensington that had an honest-to-god Star Wars Stormtrooper outfits for hire, which suddenly rendered the Spring Dance passably endurable.’ – pg 140

Melissa Keil told us that the costume shop in LiOS is based on The Costume Factory in Kensington, which has sadly burnt down in the years since the book was written. Sad face.

HOWEVER.

In the original draft, the costume shop was based on Rose Chong Costumiers so of course we decided to HAD to visit that… but it was closed on the day we went. More sad face. I guess that’s what we get for book touring on a Sunday?

We didn’t let the locked doors stop us entirely though, no sir-ee. We cupped our hands to the window, pressed our noses to the glass and had a good ol’ peer inside. We couldn’t see a stormtrooper costume but we did spy a sailor moon outfit and a golden morphsuit, so that was cool. I know where I’m going if ever I need a Serious Costume.

So even though we didn’t get to go inside, I’m glad we visited it because the outside is so damn cute! And doesn’t it totally look like a place Camilla would go?

– Annette

6. The Yu Kan-do It Karate Dojo – LiOS

‘The Yu Kan-do It Karate dojo looks like a cross between a Japanese tea house and a medieval torture chamber’ – pg 134

When we emailed Melissa to ask if Mike’s karate dojo was based on a real one, she replied with that while she didn’t want to base it off her old karate school, quite a few similarities did sneak in. Melbourne Kyokushin Karate is in the Banana Alley vaults near Flinders Street Station and I quite enjoyed visiting this location because even tho the dojo is initially mentioned in the above quote, it’s also the scene of this hilarious moment later on in LiOS when Sam is trying to get Mike to forgive him after they’ve had a fight. It’s one of my fave parts because it’s so ridiculous and I remember laughing my head off when I read it for the first time (as well as every time since). We went there on a Sunday so there wasn’t a lot going on – it looked mostly empty from the outside when we were trying to discreetly peer in so we got our pic and left pretty quickly, but it was a nice walk, even though it was a bit longer than we expected because google maps didn’t know how to direct us there, onya google maps.

– Rachel

5. Brighton Beach – LiOS

‘Apparently, I am going to a beach party… I’ve never been out to Brighton. When the train pulls into the station, we pile onto the platform in a confusion of bags and towels…’ – pgs 96 & 103

I mean, how lucky are we?  Not only does Australia have the best YA authors, but they also write scenes in their books that mean we get to visit some of the best beaches in the world.  #grateful.

When we pulled up in the car park we saw that they had a Mr Whippy van which was super exciting.  So we scrounged all our change together and bought an ice-cream each.  Actually – I’m pretty sure Rachel paid for mine and I probs owe her money for that… Then we strolled along the beach, eating ice-cream and not being able to converse properly because of the wind.  It was pretty great.

-Annette

4. Minotaur – LiOS

 

‘So are we still on for Minotaur tomorrow?’ – pg 64

Confession: I’d never been into Minotaur before going for LiOS book tour reasons and Annette promised me life size cut outs of Daryl Dixon and Rick Grimes so I was pretty excited. But Minotaur didn’t deliver on this, therefore I don’t like Minotaur.

Juuuuuuuust kidding. Minotaur is the average nerd’s dream shop. It truly is pop culture galore and you could spend an entire afternoon in there and not get bored. I like that the shop is underground too, it’s like a Cave of Wonders in the Melbourne CBD. Also, that purple sign totally lures you in.

– Rachel

Life In Outer Space Book Tour – Part 1

We have really outdone ourselves this time with our lack of timely posting!  We did the majority of our book tour about 6 months ago and so far we haven’t posted that much.  But aaaanyways, heres a snippet of what our day was like.

3. The Kino Cinema – LiOS

‘The Kino is one of my top five favourite cinemas…’ – pg 58

Because I am not Rachel and I have a terrible memory (srsly people, she’s like rain man) I could never remember when or why the Kino was referenced in the book and I kept picturing it as a pub (any one else remember playing Keno as a kid?). Turns out it’s actually much nicer than a pub.

The Kino is a cinema which we did not go into, but it looks much fancier than my local (although Eastland does now have reclining seats in all cinemas).  I mean, check out that font!  We visited this location towards the end of the day and, while I was pretty tired, I also thought it necessary to try to ruin every one of Rachel’s photos.  I succeeded.

-Annette

2. The Astor Theatre – LiOS

‘… I know he’s a fan of classic horror movies because I’ve seen him a couple of times at the Astor Theatre… at the Astor, which is showing a 1940s comedy double feature on Saturday afternoon. The Astor is icy. The movies suck. It doesn’t matter at all.’ – pgs 9 and 171

The Astor Theatre was probably one of my fave locations because it’s one of Sam fave places in the world and I am goddamn sentimental like that. Seeing a movie there is something I’ve wanted to do since I read Life In Outer Space for the first time but sadly, it is yet to happen – mostly because driving to St Kilda terrifies me and there’s sooooooooo many options and making decisions is something I like to avoid at all costs. As of about 10 minutes ago tho, I’ve made the decision that I’m going to go THIS year and I’m dragging Annette along with me and we’re going to see a movie featured in LiOS. I know, what a great idea (how the hell did it take me this long to think of that, good lord Rachel).

Also, the Astor smells bloody delicious so you know, even if we don’t see a movie for some nonsensical reason, we could just hang out in there and breathe in the smell for hours on end like complete and utter weirdos BOOM.

– Rachel

1. Bowen Lakes Secondary – LiOS

‘I have never been a fan of Bowen Lakes Secondary. If my life were a screenplay, BLS is nothing more than the slug line above the first scene…’ – pg 5

Oh look, another photo of a street sign! Sorry, but we are trying to collect them all, like Pokemon. Sadly, Bowen Lakes Secondary doesn’t actually exist, but our reliable source (i.e. the one and only Melissa Keil) informed us that it was named after Bowen Crescent in Brunswick. I think it could easily be a street that a high school would be located on, busy-ish but not too busy-ish, if ya know what I’m sayin’, but really, there isn’t anything remarkable to tell about this location. The street sign pole is pretty short, if you find that kind of thing interesting? Also, I considered climbing it but I didn’t because pole climbing is haaaard, man.

– Annette

Life In Outer Space – Our Thoughts

Annette

I know you’re not MEANT to judge a book by its cover, but let’s be honest here, we all do it, which is totally fine when it’s Life In Outer Space because the story is even more adorable than the cover.  Seriously, how effing cute is it?  I just want to frame the book and hang it on my bedroom wall because it’s so darn pretty, but then I’d want to read it all the time and I wouldn’t read anything else and I’d fail at my Goodreads challenge and it would be this whole thing.

So, wanna know what I love about this book? Of course you do, that’s why you’re here!

1. The language and dialogue is funny and young and on point.

I’ve seen LIOS recommended to fans of Rainbow Rowel and John Green and I can see why.  These authors do have that language ‘thing’ down.  You know that thing?  I can’t explain it, but…you know.  However, dare I say it; I think it’s more authentic in LIOS.  *Gasp* *Shock* *Horror* yes I did just say that.  But seriously, y’all need to get on the Australian YA authors because they absolutely nail it and don’t get the recognition they deserve.

2. There’s so much nerdy fandom stuff in it, it’s great!!

It reminds me of high school (I pictured good old Croydon S.C. the entire time I was reading it) because I was one of those ‘un-ironically enthusiastic about stuff’ people and, you know, high school was maybe not the best time for our kind but we kill it in the real world.

3. Those ship feelings. ‘nuff said. 

4. It’s Australian

I mean…this is pretty obvious because that’s why we’re touring it but still…it is very ‘Melbourne-y’ and there’s a kind of road-trip-not-really-but-they-do-visit-cool-places-over-a-period-of-days.  I just like that it’s Australian, not ‘Strayan if ya know what I mean.

5. ALL THE FEELS

It’s a fun read with a bit of romance, but it’s not fluffy or un-important, it still deals with important stuff and it has good characters and the structure is awesome and it has funny chapter titles and it makes you feel all the things and it’s just GOOD.

Rachel

Life In Outer Space was one of those books that I’d-read-about-was-really-excited-for-hurry-up-release-date, then completely forgot about until I saw it sitting on the shelf in Dymocks. I was actually shopping with Annette at the time and we decided to treat ourselves to one book each (although let’s be real, I was going to buy it anyway). I started it a few days after buying it and ended up devouring it in one day. I loved it. It is a sweet, adorable and ridiculously charming story. It’s not often I read a book that made me laugh and smile as hard as this one did. And it was refreshing to read something that wasn’t too deep and didn’t leave me wrecked with sad feels for days after (not that I don’t love that), or worse; a book that fell short of my expectations and made me feel like I wasted my time on. I’ve re-read it twice since then and it makes me happy, you know? Just really happy.

Set in Melbourne, the story follows our MC Sam Kinnison, Star Wars + horror movie fanatic, and his small group of fellow geeks as they navigate their way through their penultimate year of high school. Sam is happy enough with the status quo, until new girl Camilla Carter walks into the IT office and turns his world upside-down.

I loved Sam’s voice. Melissa Keil hit the nail on the head with a perfect blend of humour and wit, and Sam’s confusion over how the effortlessly cool Camilla was changing things for himself and his misfit friends was very entertaining to read. She is just what Sam needs to shake him awake from his ordinary existence.

I also fell in love with stoic Mike, idiotic Adrian and quirky Allison just as much as Sam and Camilla.

‘Mike is beside me, expressionless and silent, as is his MO in any public setting. With his brown hair and brown clothes, Mike blends in to most backgrounds. I’m half-expecting him to develop the ability to change skin colour as well, like a cuttlefish.’

‘Adrian appears beside me, glaring down the corridor. He has his about-to-open-a-can-of-whoop-arse face on. Objectively, Adrian Radley has zero cans of whoop-arse to open.’

‘On my other side, Allison Winfield is doodling on her loose-leaf with a chewed on Hello Kitty pencil. She looks sideways at me and grimaces. She grimaces a lot. I don’t always understand why. But in spite of the Hello Kitty, I know that a habitual grimacer is one of my people.’

Some of my favourite parts:

– Sam’s method in his determination to get to the bottom of Mike’s ‘downward spiral’ (which is, of course, inspired by a movie) in the last quarter of the book. I was laughing my head off.

– The explanation of the Extremely Gay Weekend. Hahaha

– Sam and Camilla’s speeches to each other at the end of the book (yes, it’s such a movie cliche, but that’s precisely why it works in this book). Also I’m a sucker for declarations like that, not matter how unrealistic.

Life In Outer Space is everything you could want in a contemporary Aussie YA, so I hope you’ll give this book a go, if you haven’t already and hey, hope you have fun tome-travelling through the story with us!