I just read Zombie! by our own Tommy Donbavand, and I loved it. One by one – sometimes all at once – it’s sweet, gruesome, funny, tense and touching: Tommy mixes up the elements like a story mad scientist, but the resulting concoction goes down a treat. Congratulations, mate. I doff my hat. Hell: for [...]
Archive > December 2009
Two Joe Mojo
A pair of links for you, to recent interviews with the authors of two of the finest books I’ve read this year, namely: Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie, and- Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft by Joe Hill. Both interviews are a blast to read, but there are some great writing tips in there [...]
Monster Attacks Commonplace at Christmas!
I had no idea that in Germany, Austria and parts of Italy it is commonplace for monsters to attack at this time of the year. Apparently they take to the streets and openly beat the local citizens with sticks … not sure that the folk of the UK would cope with this sort of behaviour. [...]
Frivolous science? Perhaps not…
It’s not unusual to open a newspaper, or catch the end of an evening news bulletin, only to be presented with the latest ‘findings’ of some team of government funded scientists somewhere – findings which, to the average person, seem like an utter and unforgivable waste of time and resources. Equally as often, you’ll hear [...]
Fun with Photoshop
I spent half an hour this morning mucking about with a camera, Photoshop, and Sam Enthoven’s hat. I’d have loved to have had more time to work on this picture, but I’ve got a stack of work to get through before Christmas, so unfortunately I had to rush through it. Still, I think the finished [...]
The Sound of Muse-Sick
You know, in some ways being kidnapped by monsters and held prisoner in a cave for nearly a year isn’t quite as bad as it might be. For one thing (and maybe I’m reaching here, but…) thanks to the monsters’ internet connection, I haven’t been deprived of music. Not at all long ago, a music [...]
Zombie! Trailer
While I had my undead glad rags on recently, I figured I should make a trailer for Zombie! – my first book to be published by Barrington Stoke. Here it is…
Flips!
Those of you in the UK may have seen the recent TV ads for Flips – the new way to read books right on your Nintendo DS… Now, I’m all in favour of encouraging kids to read in any form – but I’m particularly excited about Flips because one of the available series is Too [...]
Conflict, Structure, Character, Setting – In That Order
I was at Epsom College today, allowed out of the cave for my final school event of 2009. While being dragged back to the cave by my ankles by the monster I know simply as ‘Miss Angelina’, I was mulling over the elements that distinguish children’s books from adult fiction. It’s something I spoke about in [...]
Kentucky Fried Fairy
During my school workshops I mention an early attempt I made at writing a children’s book – a comedy fantasy novel called KENTUCKY FRIED FAIRY. I’ve mentioned it on my own blog a few times, and if you do a search for it on there you’ll even find a few sample chapters to download and [...]
