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I started researching Black Hole Cinema Club when I was eight years old. That’s when my elder brother Nick took me to the local cinema to watch E.T. The showing was sold out and the only seats left free were those on the very front row. My neck ached as I peered up at the screen, but as the film began all thoughts of neckache were forgotten as the darkness suddenly filled with stars and I found myself swept into the story on the screen.
That’s when it began – losing myself in a new favourite movie, an experience I’ve since repeated countless times. Raiders of the Lost Ark. The Matrix. Back to the Future. Spirited Away. 2001: A Space Odyssey. Inception. Jaws. Every film a chance to escape from the ordinary world and step into a brand-new adventure.
I think it was the memory of that first cinematic experience that gave me the idea for Black Hole Cinema Club. In the story, Lucas meets his friends at their local cinema, nicknamed the Black Hole. They’re there to watch a movie marathon – the Black Hole Cinema Club – but when a jet-black tidal wave comes crashing out of the cinema screen, it sweeps them into an epic adventure like no other. From spy movies to sci-fi films, jungle adventures to monster movies, the five friends find themselves living a cinematic rollercoaster ride with action and excitement galore, mind-blowing twists and turns, and a homage or two to some of my favourite films.
This was one of the pleasures of writing Black Hole Cinema Club. Just like a special edition of a movie on blu-ray or DVD, you’ll find lots of Easter Eggs hidden inside the story. If you’ve watched movies like Raiders of the Lost Ark and Jurassic Park you might spot a reference or two to famous scenes from these, but I was aware too that readers might not necessarily have seen these films, so I wanted to capture the essence of these movie genres. For over a hundred years, movies have been the language of pop culture, so even if you’ve not watched Jaws you’ll recognise its famous theme and I had a lot of fun giving a Black Hole Cinema Club twist to some blockbuster movie moments.
The twists and turns in my stories are always very carefully planned, so every movie that Lucas and his friends live through in Black Hole Cinema Club link to things that are revealed later in the story. With Black Hole Cinema Club, I knew the opening and the ending of the story when I began to write, so for me the challenge was to keep on raising the stakes as the challenges faced in each film get bigger every time. One of my favourite scenes comes near the end of the story in a short chapter which almost felt like a Christopher Nolan movie when I was writing it and which has a special effects budget to match!
I hope readers will be swept up in the adventure they find inside Black Hole Cinema Club. When we step inside a cinema, we escape from the world, but so often the movies we watch show us heroes who are trying to save the world and they show us why it’s a world worth saving. And when readers reach the end of the book, I hope it helps them to see that they can be the heroes of their own story and that we’ve all got the power to save the day.
About the Author: Christopher Edge
Christopher Edge is a highly acclaimed author known for his unique ability to blend scientific concepts with engaging storytelling in children’s literature. His books, including The Black Hole Cinema Club, Escape Room and The Infinite Lives of Maisie Day captivate young readers with their imaginative plots and thought-provoking themes. Christopher’s writing blends both entertainment with education with his knack for making complex ideas like quantum physics and cosmology accessible to a younger audience. These books are great as class reads that whisk readers off at pace while inviting them to think and discuss incredibly wide reaching topics. They are also wonderful to read aloud to a class and are sure to garner more than a few “can you read one more chapter please” from avid listens keen to know what happens next!
Many of Christopher’s titles. including the brand new Black Hole Cinema Club, are included in our Class Set Summer Promo, so if you need class sets do have a look.
The Longest Night of Charlie Noon
Original price was: £6.99.£4.89Current price is: £4.89.
The Infinite Lives of Maisie Day
Original price was: £7.99.£5.59Current price is: £5.59.
The Many Worlds of Albie Bright
Original price was: £7.99.£5.59Current price is: £5.59.
