Yes folks, the summer is nearly over (okay, so that’s not great), and everyone is back to work (again, not so good). But hey, it’s not all bad. The sun is still shining – well, kinda, we’ve still got some kind of tan (again, kinda), so let’s put on our dancing shoes (or strange clothing for two), and get to it. There are books to read, stories to write and pictures to be made. Happy New (school) Year!

I found this on my drawing board this morning.

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I found this on my drawing board this morning.

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I found this on my drawing board this morning.

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I found this on my drawing board this morning!

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I’ve spent a lot of time drawing monsters of late. Monsters are potentially very scary indeed, although the one you’ll see here has an element of cuteness, I think – hooves always temper a creature’s nastiness.

So this is the Jersey Devil, a meanie reported to have been sighted in the depths of the New Jersey pine forests. It’s quite terrifying, but the best part about this monster is that there’s a very faint chance that it’s real.

Cryptozoology is the study of mythological creatures (many of them monsters) and the search for the truth as to whether they once existed or actually still exist.

Creatures like the yeti, bigfoot, jersey devil and so on, all fall under the title of ‘cryptids’, and its these that I write about in the Mythical 9th Division books. Some cryptids are nasty – check out the goat-sucker (chupacabra) – and some cryptids are harmless, like the Loch Ness Monster. But it’s the not knowing whether they’re real or not that makes them interesting.

I’d love for them all to exist, because it would be lovely to know that there are still secrets to be found in this world. And because we don’t know for sure it makes the scary ones even scarier. After all, what would you do if you were lost in the South American jungle and the bloodsucking chupacabra emerged out of the darkness?

THE UNSPEAKABLE HORROR!

A Trapped by Monsters story

With art usually by David Melling

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

Me lurched over to one, er… one, two…  one, two…  Flug!  What come after two…?  OK, start again…

Me lurched over to lots of tables on which more than two aufors were strapped.  Me looked down at them.  Them looked up at me.  We looked and looked and looked, and them me fought it must be my turn to talk.

“Me will eat you!” me said, in a scary way.  Them looked scared.

“I don’t actually taste very good,” said one of the aufors.  Me don’t know her name, but she was wearing a shirt that said, ‘Buy The Clumsies by Sorrel Anderson – it’s really good‘, and a badge that said, ‘Hi – I’m Sorrel Anderson, author of The Clumsies‘ and a hat that said, ‘Stop me and ask if I’m Sorrel Anderson‘.  So, I fink it might have been Gillian Philip.

“No, I’m Gillian Philip!” said the aufor on the next table.  Me wondered how she had been reading my foughts, but then me realised me must have been finking with the outside voice again.

“Don’t forget me,” said the last aufor.  “My name’s Barnaby Richards, and I’m an illustrator – so I shouldn’t really be here at all!”

“Silence!” me roared.  These aufors were giving me a tummy ache in my head.  “Me and Rodney will eat you all!”  The first aufor pulled a ‘Sorrel Anderson souvenir handkerchief (3 for £4.99)’ from her pocket and blew her nose.

“Rodney?” asked Gillian Philip.  “Who’s Rodney?”

Then the door swung open and me looked to see Rodney slide in.  Rodney is my best friend.  He’s a blob monster with four eyes and no legs.  “Rodney is my best friend,” me said.  “He’s a blob monster with four eyes and no legs.”

Then somefink weird happened.  Rodney pulled off his head and it wasn’t really Rodney at all.

“I’m not really Rodney at all!” announced the person inside the Rodney costume.  Then he fumped me on the head wiv a big stick.  As me slumped to the floor, me watched in terror as another aufor stepped out of the hollow Rodney.

“Thanks!” grinned Barnaby Richards.  “But who are you, brave rescuer?”

“I’m Alex Milway,” replied the not-Rodney, “and I managed to escape from my own cell just in time, by the looks of things.  Now, follow me – I know where the others are…”

Then, as this looked-like-Rodney-but-wasn’t-Rodney stared down at me, everyfink went black.  Me like black.  It goes wiv anyfink.

I found this on  my drawing board this morning!

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I like to keep a seperate sketchbook for each book title I do.

This page shows the character Magpie from the picture book The Ghost Library.

My exhibition officially opened yesterday at The Garter Lane Gallery as part of the SprOg Children’s Festival.

Alas, I was foiled by a dribbling monster when I tried to escape on time! The monster heard that marshmallows and Jammie Dodgers were to be served instead of the usual wine and cheese. And he would not let me GO!

In case you get a chance to drop out of the sky and go along, the show runs until 28th August at Garter Lane Gallery, in Waterford.

I have eight pieces of original art from The Ravenous Beast. 

Annie West, Adrienne Geoghegan, Bruce Ingman, and Oisín McGann are in the exhibition too.

Save me a Jammie Dodger if you go along!