This afternoon I met this dude: Isn’t he handsome? His name is Silver Streak. He was created by David Mach, he’s a good couple of metres tall and he appears to be made entirely out of coat hangers. Silver Streak is currently part of a really brilliant (and free) little exhibition called The Power of [...]
Archive > September 2011
My New Favourite Monster Film
The Troll Hunter is the most fun I’ve had in the cinema in years. I’m not going to tell you anything else about it: I just urge you to check listings, find somewhere it’s on and go, go, go. The Troll Hunter is BRILLIANT. Sam
I’ve been busy!
If you’ve wondering why I’ve been quiet recently, it’s been on account of this: I’ve been locked in my cave editing like crazy and I’m pleased to say that I think I’ve created my best story yet. If you like action, thrills, spills and surprises, this story has them all. It’s gone along paths that [...]
Hugless Douglas
How do you make a great picture book even better? Simple – you bring it to life! Hugless Douglas, written and illustrated by one of my fellow Trapped By Monsters inmates, David Melling, is now an app for the iPad and iPhone. You can read the book – now with animated illustrations – yourself, or [...]
Hide and Eek!
Check out this exclusive Scream Street short story, written especially for Tesco Magazine Kids’ Book Club… http://kidsbookclub.tescomagazine.com/books-and-stories/hide-and-eek.html
Beware the Full Moon
I was delighted to have this little book poked through the doorway to my cave yesterday. The cover, with its blood red title of ‘Wolf’ and its fantastic illustration, instantly caught my attention. WARNING! This book grabs you by the throat and snarls ‘READ ME!’. Unable to resist a snarling book, I thought I’ll just [...]
Bringing Boys to Books
If you’re interested in writing for children, and boys especially – you might like to read an article I’ve written for the October issue of Writing Magazine. Bringing Boys to Books looks at everything from plotting with boys in mind, to writing techniques that will help reluctant readers stick with your story and root for [...]
He Is…
You are alone, surrounded by blood-sucking mutants who will stop at nothing to turn you into one of them. Well, maybe your schooldays aren’t quite that bad (;p), but as a back to school read I reckon I Am Legend by Richard Matheson is pretty much unbeatable. It’s hard to believe it was first published [...]
Putting in Chapters and Rewriting
Some writers do their plan in chapters – they work out what’s going to happen in each chapter. I don’t do that…
B-B-B-BACK TO SCHOOL
It’s nearly BACK TO SCHOOL in the caves. You might not think that school term times would have much meaning for we authors as we scribble away at our literary masterpieces under the watchful eye (literally, one eye) of INTESTINES JIMMY – the biggest and longest Monster in the caves. He gets the most author guard [...]