Look at this!

It’s the brand spanking new UK mass market edition of TIM, published this week!

As well as being a fair few quid cheaper than the first edition – a giant monster bargain, guv’nor! – on the back it’s also got some of the cracking comments and quotes that the book got when it first came out. My absolute favourite is the one by Finn, a young gentleman who kindly wrote a shelf recommendation about TIM for my brilliant local independent booksellers The Big Green Bookshop. In case you can’t see it above, it says:

“If you don’t like books with big scary monsters wrecking national monuments and giant cockroaches killing people, you will not like this book. I loved it.’ Finn, 12

-Thank you, Finn.

To celebrate, the monsters are allowing me out of the cave to visit a school tomorrow. Yes! Out of the cave! To interact with people who aren’t imaginary! -Ahem, I’m rather excited. Unless, of course, the visit turns out to be just some cruel April Fool prank of theirs, in which case I may have to batter out my poor remaining porridge brains against one of these handy stalagmites they have here. I’ll let you know one way or the other. Well, if it’s “the other” I guess I /won’t/ let you know, but you know what I mean. ;p

The monsters allowed me out for several days to do a series of school visits.  My cunning plan, to do a runner, was thwarted when I discovered there was water in every direction.  They had released me on the Channel Island of Jersey – there was no escape!

I decided to makes the most of it, and had a thoroughly wonderful time – all under the sickly yellow eyes of my monster warden.  However, I did discover a ray of joy – a Jersey based website that offers weekly jokes, podcasts and comic strips.  It kept me sane (well, as sane as can be expected under the circumstances) You can check it out at:

http://www.thelittlestar.com/

Whilst I was there, ITV news tracked me down and did a piece on me.  They ignored my cries for help, and thought my tales of being trapped by monsters where the ramblings of a madman.  Instead they asked me about my books.  You can see it here…

Andy Briggs on ITV news

It’s true! Everyone loves a good villain. Alan Rickman’s portrayal of Severus Snape in the Harry Potter films is a fantastic example. Didn’t you just want to punch his lights out every time he walked into a scene? He’s the guy everybody loves to hate. I thought he was even better as the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood Prince of Theives. Well if you like well rounded bad guys, here’s another great story with villains that you’ll love to hate – Villain.net by Andy Briggs. You can take your pick of the superb villain characters, but Basilisk takes the biscuit for me. You might almost call him a monster … but my present company might take exception to that!

Jake Hunter is more of an anti-hero than a super-villain – to begin with he’s too likeable to make a true villain. However, as he is introduced to the Villain.net website and begins to download super-powers he starts to develop a more ruthless edge that eventually could see him tip into the truly bad guy category. This is a book where the action is non stop and black and white are never what they seem. Shades of grey exist on all levels and Jake Hunter must navigate a labyrinth of treachery and deceit if he is to find the truth and avoid being nailed to the sacrificial cross by the superheroes who are out to stop his mentor, Basilisk.

Basilisk is, of course, the classic genius villain teetering on the edge of sanity … and he has a most dastardly plan. The problem for Jake, it seems, is that being one of the bad guys means the only thing you can rely on is for those around you to lie and cheat at every turn. Oh, the joys of being a villain!

I loved reading this book. It has all the elements of YA fiction that I most enjoy: fantastic chase scenes, monologuing super-villains, twists, double crosses, mystery and mayhem – brilliant! I’ll be sure to read the rest of the series in due course. (I might even see fit to turn from the dark side and read the story of the good guys as well eventually … but not until I’ve fully explored the depths of darkness that Villain.net has to offer. Mwah ha ha ha!!!)

OK, so there are plenty of disadvantages to being stuck in a cave and guarded by foul-smelling monsters.  The rotten food is one, Joe’s snoring is another – but I’ve recently discovered a plus point, too…

As authors, we’re still writing and, as our books come close to release, our various publishers produce something called uncorrected proofs of our books.  Basically a ‘proof’ is the story in basic book form so that readers and reviewers can enjoy the story before it hits the shelves.  That’s why new book releases already have glowing reviews by the time they hit the shelves.

I’ve been honoured to read two of these proofs over this last week, and will blog about them separately – starting with Dark Summer by Ali Sparkes…

What can I say?  I went to bed last night with the intention of reading a chapter or two but literally could not put the book down.  I finished at 3.10am knowing that I had read possibly the best children’s book, ever.  That might sound like a cliche but, trust me, it’s not.  This is a GREAT book!

Without giving too much away, Dark Summer tells the tale of Eddie – an intelligent if slightly sensitive boy who is forced to spend the summer with his aunt and cousins near the Wooky Hole caves.  But, what begins as a bog-standard family day out to the tourist attraction, turns into so much more and changes not only Eddie’s life, but that of an arthritic distant uncle and several never-seen-before characters.

Dark Summer isn’t out until July, but I urge you to go out and pre-order a copy.  Books rarely get better than this.

I managed to sneak a story past my monster jailers recently for the utterly brilliant Reading Zone website.  It’s the tale of Rumpled Split-Skin, a mysterious zombie who has the power to turn gold into pure brains…

You can read the story here: http://www.readingzone.com/?zone=cz&page=fullnews&id=599

If you dare, that is…

I managed to get a few days out of the cave to visit both Abingdon and Oxford…

A HUGE thank you to Mark Thornton and everyone at Mostly Books in Abingdon for a tremendous event yesterday.  I took my box of Scream Street relics down south for the audience to experience, and did my best to spook the entire audience:

As you can see from the video footage below, some of the crowd were braver than others…

If you’re looking for an independent bookshop from which to satisfy your literary needs – you won’t go far wrong with Mostly Books!

Next, a FANTASTIC visit to the Oxford Literary Festival yesterday where I staged my anarchic Vampires vs Werewolves Game Show for pupils from three different but equally noisy schools!  I also got to meet two of my own favourite writers – Tony Bradman and Justin Somper.

Whilst in Oxford (one of my favourite places in the UK!), I took the opportunity to see the sights (again)…

…and hang out at the Eagle and Child pub, once home to the Inklings society – a group of writers whose members included C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien.  I guess using your initials was a condition of membership.

T.C. Donbavand

Imagine one minute you’re a weedy 11-year-old whose sister can get you in a headlock while filing her nails – and the next minute you’re backflipping right through the glass of first floor windows, fighting off full grown trained agents, running like a cheetah and basically defying all the usual laws of 11-year-old physics…

Well that’s what happens to unsuspecting Jimmy Coates when shadowy government men come to ‘collect him’ from his family one evening. As soon as he’s got over the shock of instant superpowers, Jimmy has to deal with finding out that he’s only 38 per cent human. It’s a lot to take in on a school night.

This is Joe Craig’s amazing idea and the trauma of it rings all the way through poor Jimmy’s life in the first book of the series. If you love high octane adventure, this is the book for you. I really started squeaking when Jimmy flew a helicopter along the River Thames, ducking under bridges, chased by missiles – and then casually jumped out of the moving chopper to swim his way to freedom beneath the river.

All sorts of disturbing secrets get revealed along the way, as Jimmy fights against some overwhelming programming by a government intent on using him as a lethal weapon (even before he’s done his SATs!).

And plenty of new plotlines are smartly set up along the way, for an action packed series which is going to run and run…

(And between you and me, I think Joe has a bit of a thing for Greek food. There’s a lot of kebab-based action here!)

Ali Sparkes

If there’s one thing better than finding a great book to read – it’s finding a great book that’s also the first in what looks to be a great series. The monsters had a delivery of fresh books the other day and, while Mark distracted the guards by zooming around the cave, pretending to fly a fighter jet (he does that a lot), I snuck into the pit that doubles as a warehouse and liberated a copy of Flood and Fang by Marcus Sedgwick.

The book is the first in the new Raven Mysteries series and, in a move that shouldn’t therefore have surprised me but somehow did, is narrated by a raven itself.  Edgar, the ‘pet’ raven of the Otherhand family (I say ‘pet’, but it’s very obvious that Edgar practically runs the place), has the advantage of being able to get just about anywhere to witness goings on around the castle (but only by flying – a raven’s walk, claims Edgar, is often ridiculed) but the disadvantage of not being able to communicate what he sees to the other residents.  So, when the castle begins to fill slowly but steadily with water – water with something big and scary swimming in it – it takes an act of superhuman (or should that be superraven?) effort to warn everyone of the danger.

Flood and Fang is as funny and twisted as the members of the Otherhand family themselves – from the scientificly curious Valevine to the cake tray obsessed Minty, the darkly beautiful Solstice to her monkey loving brother, Cudweed.  You’ll laugh when you read this book – a lot.  You’ll also realise that your family is actually quite normal, after all…

As expected, I didn’t win the Enfield Children’s Book Award this morning. The monsters did!

In a cruel joke, they let me out for the award ceremony, then sent one of their own to collect the award and laugh in my face.

The monster they sent was a chilling beast disguised as a sweet an innocent writer-lady. Called Jacqueline Wilson.

And they didn’t even send her in person. They provided a rather sweet video message. But too sweet if you ask me. It’s a fine line between sweet and smug. Yes, I’m talking to you, Dame Jackie.

Ahem, OK. Composure regained.

It’s just upsetting to be back here in the cave knowing that somewhere out there, trotting freely around, is a writer whose books I really would love to hide away forever.

It was a very fun event though, and I got to meet Jonny Zucker and SF Said, both of whose books I certainly do recommend.

SF Said’s first Varjak Paw book was pretty inspiring back when I was writing the early Jimmy Coates books. If you haven’t read any Varjak Paw you should check it out. It’s about a ninja cat. Very cool.

Anyway, back to my main theme: Dame Jacqueline. Honestly – I know her books aren’t aimed at me, but there are plenty of books not aimed at me that I can still appreciate as being well written or funny or interesting in some other way. For example, I think Louise Rennison is absolutely brilliant. Cathy Cassidy is great too.

Are there people out there who can explain to me the appeal of the great Dame?

OK, whinge over. Back to my gruel.

I really thought the monsters were finally getting to me when I started reading a book about fairies… but what a book it turned out to be!  I couldn’t put it down – and that had nothing to do with the gloopy slime that has started oozing from the walls.  THE THIRTEEN TREASURES hooks you from the word go.

Tanya is a young girl cursed with the ability to see the fairy realm that exists all around us.  Now, forget your cute winged fairies and replace them with grotesque beasties who talk in rhyme, have bad attitudes and are often downright repellent – like a lot of people in this cave (Tommy… put that stick down, I meant the monsters, not my fellow captives!).   The fey folk revel in punishing Tanya every time she tries to reveal their existence to others – punishments that result in chaos around the house.  Tanya’s weary mother wrongly construes the mysterious breakages are her daughter’s desperate pleas for attention, so Tanya is sent to her grandmother’s house in the country.  And that’s where life gets complicated for Tanya. 

With Fabian, the son of the sullen caretaker, they get caught up in the mystery of a girl who vanished fifty years ago, stolen babies, ghostly figures and an unexpected nighttime intruder…

Michelle Harrison expertly weaves an atmospheric story that keeps you guessing, and looking over your shoulder, as you’re taken to dark places within the realm of mischievous and sinister fairy creatures…