Do you fancy winning some fangtastic prizes – such as full set of signed Scream Street books?

Then all you have to do is enter this creepy competition set up by Stories from the Web. Just video yourself telling two spooky jokes, and you could be a winner! Full details in my hilarious video below…

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Now here’s a story with a difference. Set in a world of sweets, where being able to cook up tasty treats can give you celebrity status unlike anything Jamie Oliver or Gordon Ramsey could ever dream of, Lydia’s Tin Lid Drum is a most extraordinary story. Debut author, Neale Osborne, has a most unusual style of writing that is almost more poetry than prose. With oodles of rhyming, alliteration, assonance, and onomatopoeia his writing is a Primary School Literacy teacher’s dream come true! Here’s an example taken at random:

And then came the rasp burr ripply crush of flossy pink snow tumbling in torrents. The crater, a great grumbling belly, filled with lashings of ice cream and jelly. The sizzling mill and its guardian crabs buried under an avalanche of floss.

Even with their ears bunged up, the girls felt shock waves rumbling under them. Their sled raced downhill just ahead of this flossy snowslide. Down down to a place of jumbled jelly shapes, moulded hills and pillars of jello in orange and yellow, all riddled with dribbly streams of ice cream.

The entire book is written in this style… and when I say the entire book, it is a bit of a monster in itself at 512 pages long! I can imagine the concept and storyline appealing to younger girls and possibly some boys who like the idea of a land of sweets, however, if I were to make an observation I’d say the story is too long and has too many characters for the audience it appears to be intended for. That said, as a piece of writing to admire… it is one heck of an achievement.

It’s hard for me to say ‘You have to go and get a copy of this’ because I think the market for it is a niche one. However, for those looking for something a bit different to read to a little girl at bedtime, this might be the one for you. There are some great metallic monsters in it too!

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I do try to read a diverse selection of books and when possible I try to read at least one of a series before buying them for my daughter (to make sure the content is suitable). While on holiday this summer I decided to try the first of a series by Ally Carter: I’d Tell you I love you, but then I’d have to kill you.

What can I say? It’s got a school for girls of exceptional ability who are secretly being trained as spies, some fun girl characters, one poor unsuspecting boy for the girls to practise their skills on, some great spy adventures blended with teenage angst and romance, and a snappy sense of humour. What more could a girl want in a book? (except maybe a monster or two … I was forced to write that – I was!)

So entertaining was the story that I went straight on and read the second book, Cross my Heart and Hope to Spy, (even though I probably don’t fit the author’s intended readership) which was just as entertaining. My daughter devoured them in no time flat! I have since gone on and bought the others for her … though I may have to steal them at some point to find out what happens next!

The main character, Cammie Morgan, could certainly trade a few secrets with Femke, the main girl spy from my Imperial trilogy. Though Cammie has a lot more spy toys to play with than Femke did. I’d say that Femke was not so easily distracted by boys as Cammie, but that’s really the entire point of Ally Carter’s books, so it’s not a criticism – more of an observation. A great fun read for girls, though I’m sure there are plenty of boys who would be amused by the girl spy antics as well.

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I promised an update on some of the stuff I’ve been reading and here it is, long overdue! Starting with my favourite writer for children, Philip Reeve. I’ve read two of Philip’s books over the Summer, and I’ve still got a few left that I haven’t found time for yet, so no doubt I’ll be writing about those at some point.

Scrivener's Moon - Hardback Edition

Philip’s latest offering set in the world of Mortal Engines is Scrivener’s Moon and it’s another classic. Beautifully written, as ever, and totally spellbinding in every sense, Philip shows us a whole new side to Fever Crumb in this book. The story takes her down a relationship path that I doubt many saw coming, while launching her headlong into another fascinating adventure. Aside from the breathtaking action, the maelstrom of emotion and the usual mix of extraordinary characters that appear throughout this series, this book does a huge amount of world-building that fans will love as they learn the origins of the cybernetic Shrike and something of the history that has shaped the world in Philip’s mind. I had been waiting with baited breath for this title and it did not disappoint.

One aspect I particularly like about stories in this series is that nobody is safe. The author shows no favouritism to his characters. No one is wrapped in cotton wool to enjoy the adventure. They suffer and we suffer with them. And (more often than in most books for children) major characters who the reader has come to know and love, die – sometimes through brutal, horrible circumstance. Scrivener’s Moon is no exception when it comes to major characters meeting ugly ends. I do hope Philip will keep coming back to this world with future stories, as it really is one of the all-time classic sff adventure series for young people.

The second Philip Reeve title I read this summer was Larklight – a book I’d picked up in bookshops many times and for some reason wasn’t drawn to in the same way I was to all of Philip’s other titles. Having now read the first in the trilogy, however, I find I am once again hooked by the author’s incredible imagination and word-wizardry. Larklight is a much lighter read than Mortal Engines, with so many fun concepts, bizarre creatures and crazy adventures that I found myself wondering why the series has not proved more popular. Steam punk has been a growing genre over recent years and Philip has mastered it, as he seems to master every genre he turns his hand to.

I’m very much looking forward to reading the rest of the series now. Mothstorm and Starcross are sitting on my bookshelf begging me to read them, but I do try to read books by lots of authors, and I don’t get anywhere near enough time to read all the books I want, so I’m going to hold off for a while and savour them when I next go on holiday.

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What is The Incal?

I’ve read and adored this story a bunch of times now and frankly – like its protagonist, John diFool – sometimes I’m still not sure. As far as I can figure, The Incal is a godlike entity with the power to unite the population of the universe against the invading forces of the Great Darkness. Sometimes it takes the form of a pyramid-like object small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, but sometimes it’s a spaceship. Sometimes it speaks as a character in the story; sometimes it remains silent, but its very presence can change people’s behaviour, lives and appearance in ways that they (and the reader) could never have imagined or expected.

What I’m certain about is that The Incal is also over three hundred pages of inspired Sci-Fi lunacy: a wildly imaginative and occasionally saucy ride touching on themes of spirituality, meditation and tarot symbolism while also being packed with adventure, action, explosions, monsters and gleeful madness.

In the rest of Europe The Incal is rightly considered a comics classic. In the UK, inexplicably, it’s been out of print for years: I was only able to read it before due to luckily picking up an incomplete selection of volumes from the series secondhand, long ago. But now – thanks to publisher Self Made Hero – the whole story is available in English again, in a single and very handsome volume, with all the colours of Jean ‘Moebius’ Giraud’s extraordinary artwork painstakingly restored to their original eye-sizzling glory.

Writer/creator Alejandro Jodorowsky’s The Incal is a rare, raw jolt of imaginative genius. If you’re up for something unusual I heartily, heartily recommend you check it out.

Sam

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Are we sitting comfortably, dear ones? Because today we’re talking about magical horses.

LOVELY!

NOT.

Isn’t he adorable? This is a kelpie. Kelpies live in lochs and rivers in Scotland, are very beautiful horses, and are terribly friendly. A kelpie will always be happy to help, a bit like an assistant in B&Q, but with teeth.

Well, you can always trust a B&Q assistant, but NEVER get on a kelpie. You can’t get off. And once you’re on, a kelpie will execute a sudden flip to the Dark Side, gallop into the loch with you, and eat you.

Except for your liver. They don’t like liver. Your liver will float to the loch’s edge, where the local farmer will find it and pick it up, shaking his head sadly, and musing on the naivety of tourists.

Allegedly, according to my trusty Myth Book, this legend came about because of a form of waterweed that lives in lochs; apparently, when it’s saturated, it looks exactly like a human liver. This is self-evidently VisitScotland spin, because it isn’t weed, it’s liver.

I love kelpies. Not in the flesh, obviously. I get enough leftover internal organs from my cats each morning. But I always wanted to get them into a story, so I’ve made them the warhorses of the Sithe in my Rebel Angels series. After all, you can’t beat a warhorse that is even happier to kill your enemies than you are.

They are also enormously useful for scaring your disobedient children away from dangerous water.

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Got to love this!

Now that’s a monster that will make many Y7s run for their lives!

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On Friday 6th October 2006, I spent the day running creative writing workshops at a school in Wallsend, Newcastle.  I’d quit my day job as operations director for a children’s touring theatre company a week earlier to become a full-time writer, and was throwing myself into school visits as a way to earn some money.  At that point, I’d had four non-fiction books published (all out of print by then), I wrote regular columns and articles for a number of teaching and parenting magazines, and I’d just been accepted as a writer on the forthcoming Too Ghoul For School series from Egmont Press.

As I was driving home from my school visit, I began to brainstorm ideas for a series of books of my own.  I knew I wanted to write something about haunted houses, and it occurred to me that whenever you saw a haunted house in a movie, cartoon or book – it always stood by itself, either at the top of an inaccessible hill, or in a large plot of land.  You never saw a haunted house with a next door neighbour.  Or, even better, a whole street of haunted houses.

A whole street of haunted houses!

The name Scream Street popped into my head, and I started making notes as soon as I got home.

Four days later, on 10th October, I had to travel to London for a couple of meetings.  One was with Helen and Bec – the publisher and editor of the Too Ghoul for School series, and the other was with a literary agent – Penny Holroyde of the Caroline Sheldon Literary Agency.  My wife, Kirsty, and son Sam – then just 10 days old – came to London with me.

I had a great time chatting to Helen and Bec (although Sam stole a lot of the limelight!), and then went on to my meeting with Penny.  She had read a novel I had submitted to her – a science fiction comedy called Soppy Susans from Space – and I really hoped she liked it.

She didn’t.

But, she did ask me if I had any other ideas.  Yes, I said – how about a street full of haunted houses?  Luke, who finds himself transforming into a werewolf, is moved to Scream Street by the government and has to find a way to take his unhappy parents back home.

This idea she did like and, a few days later, I had an agent.

I wrote the first draft of Fang of the Vampire (then simply called Scream Street) in around 6 weeks, and sent it to Penny for her thoughts.  She gave me some wonderful editorial notes, and I set about writing a second, and eventually a third draft.  By the spring of 2007 the series was ready to submit!

Originally a six-book series (and later increased to twelve, then thirteen adventures), Scream Street was taken on by Walker Books with the first four titles – Fang of the Vampire, Blood of the Witch, Heart of the Mummy and Flesh of the Zombie – being published on 4th October 2008.  Exactly two years after I first had the idea.

Three years after that – 6th October 2011 – and the thirteenth and final book in the series, Flame of the Dragon, is published today.

It’s been an incredible ride, and I have so many people to thank…

Emma Lidbury – my amazing editor, who has stuck with me through bad characters and bizarre plots – and sometimes let me get away with writing in gratuitous body parts if I thought it was funny!

Gill Evans – my wonderful publisher, and the person at Walker Books who first saw the potential in Scream Street.

Lily Bernard – the brilliant illustrator for Scream Street, who always got what I was trying to say and managed to put even the most unusual scenes into pictures.

Patrick Insole – the faultless designer for the first 10 Scream Street books before he moved on to pastures new.  The grubby pages, crawling spiders and claw marks that accompany the text are all his work.

Jacky Paynter and Jack Noel – the amazing designers who took on Scream Street for the final four titles and remained patient when I repeatedly asked for layered cover images so I could make desktop wallpapers.

Caroline Muir and her superb foreign rights sales team for their tireless efforts to sell Scream Street into 13 territories, and counting!

Jane Harris – sales director extraordinaire who has pushed Scream Street as much as anyone possibly could.

Helen McAleer – Walker’s managing director, Scream Street advocate and constant friendly face whenever I visit the office.

Alice Burden, Eve Warlow, Rebecca Harper, Sean Moss, Jo Humphreys-Davies, Rekha Patel, Sophie Burdess, Elise Burns, Angelica Dawidowicz, Corinne Gotch, Jan Gryzinski, Connor Hackett, Anya Hollis, Fiona MacDonald, Julia Posen, Ruth Maurice, Helen Prentice, Sophie Stott, Colette Whitehouse, David Lloyd and EVERYONE I’ve missed out from Walker Books (sorry!), past and present, who have helped me develop, write, promote and sell Scream Street.

Everyone at Candlewick Press – my US publishers – for their help in getting America to love Scream Street.

Everyone at Walker Books Australia – they could not be more enthusiastic about Scream Street.

The countless booksellers, librarians and teachers who have believed in Scream Street and my quest to get kids reading over the past five years.  You have all been amazing!

My thousands of readers and their parents for accompanying my characters on their adventures.  They would be nothing without you all.

Penny Holroyde for her continual support, advice and friendship.  I couldn’t have done any of this without her.

Kirsty, Arran and Sam for their love and support, always.  I’m doing this for you guys.

Luke Watson, Resus Negative and Cleo Farr – in my thoughts every day for the past five years.

And, finally, my Mum and Dad.  I’ve always tried to make you proud of my achievements, and wish with all my heart that Mum was still here to see them.

Tommy Donbavand, 6th October 2011

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Look out for my STONKING new picture book and tell your CHUMS to SKIDADDLE down to your local bookshop and get one!

(Well, there’s three words I’m not sure I’ve ever used before – strange I should do so now – can you guess what they are?

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