October 2009 Archives

I keep having people that I must see Up (it's only just opened here in the UK) for a number of reasons, not least of which seem to be the dog collars which reveal very doggy thoughts, not dissimilar to a certain canine in The Knife of Never Letting Go.  I've also heard it's an amazing flick, so can't wait to see it for myself!

I've also just ordered Bellowhead DVD Live at Shepherds Bush for which I was an innocent concert-goer.  I shudder to think if there's any accidental footage of me dancing like a goony bird.  It doesn't help that I'm a foot taller than the rest of the audience.

And hello to the newest (and hugest) batch of commenters!  Cristin (hello again!), Jack (again, too), Linda and John G and Hayley (all school and library-affiliated, which is music to my ears), Andrew (it means "between", by the way), Katie, Haley, and Alison twice.  Thanks again for all the kind words, really.  Keeps an author going through those long prose nights of the soul...

Back from meeting some very nice people over the weekend at the Cambridge Festival of Ideas, including Cristin who introduced herself on the train (Hi, Cristin!  And yes, I've already changed the title of Chap 14; it was wrong anyway).

I also had a review in the Guardian over the weekend of Dave Eggers' novelisation of Where the Wild Things Are, called The Wild Things.  It'll pretty much make you want to buy the original all over again.  No bad thing.

I've also just discovered that Monsters of Men is already available for pre-order on Amazon.co.uk, six months before release.  No cover or info up yet, but hey, there you go.  The cover, by the way, is going to be really, really cool, wait 'til you see it.

And hello as ever to the new commenters, Strange Person, Calum (thanks, Calum, and best of luck with your own writing), Marianne, Laura, Cora, Samantha, Kendra (that's a very kind offer, Kendra, but I have to regretfully decline), Pixy, Seonagh, our very own Cristin, and Jack, who's slyly trying to manipulate the ending by bringing up the dreaded "fashion".  I can only follow my muse, Jack, and see where it takes me... 

Just a reminder that I'm appearing tomorrow at at the Cambridge Festival of Ideas on Saturday at 1.30pm.  I'll be in Lady Mitchell Hall on the Sidgwick Site at Selwyn College.  Like I said, I don't think you don't need to book!  You can just pitch up on the day (but do check the website to be sure).  Hope to see you there.

Also, lots of questions about release dates for Monsters of Men next year!  Now, I don't want to be evasive, but I also don't want to put things down too firmly.  I have great publishers all over the world, and I don't want to say anything that affects any of their plans.  I do know that the first releases look to be in the UK and Australia, almost certainly in May. 

As for the rest of the world (and even 100% definites on the UK and Australia), you'll just have to stay tuned, I'm afraid.  When I know for sure, you'll know for sure.

And hello and thank you to all the new commenters:  Charlotte, Laura, Becka, Kate & Sophia, Jenny, Paul, Kirsty and Stefano.  All those kind words!  They'll probably go straight to my head.

Went to see Life is a Dream at the Donmar Warehouse last night.  Excellent show (despite a single diabolical perfomance by a supporting actor old enough to know better).  It had Dominic West - McNulty from The Wire, which was enough for me the snap up a ticket - who was great, as was Kate Fleetwood.  And what a tangy little ending, too.

In Event news, I'm going to be at the Cambridge Festival of Ideas on Saturday at 1.30pm.  I'll be in Lady Mitchell Hall on the Sidgwick Site at Selwyn College.  You don't need to book!  You can just pitch up on the day.  Hope to see you there.

Lots of new comments from visitors!  Hello then to Annika, Rachel, Ellie (sorry about the trouble in textiles), Dan, Peter (great about the reading aloud; if you're interested, a teacher in the UK did a lesson plan for the books here), and Rachel (I do expect to go back to Norwich, so stay tuned).

Deep breath.  Also to Alina (book three should be summer-ish in Germany, I think, I'll put up a precise date when I have it), Chris (the decision if it's young adult is entirely yours, my friend; make it, make it strong, and then run with it), two more teachers in Paul and Annette (great to hear from you both, most gratifying of all to hear the reception in classrooms, great stuff, I'm really grateful), and finally Kari Olson, who shares her exact name with my cousin but is not my cousin.

Well, phew!  I'm back from my trip up north, where I visited schools and bookshops and a lot of cities beginning with N.  Highlights include Moor Park School in Preston (plus all the great people I met at Borders, Preston, later that day), Fernwood School in Nottingham, and Norwich School on the cathedral grounds.  An excellent trip.

Welcome, too, to new commenters Sarah, Jack, Jane, Jen and Alice.  Excellent to hear from you all, thank you!  And comments, by the way, are the best way to speak to me directly.  I do read them all. 

I also wanted to say something about Facebook.  I joined Facebook because there were two different people pretending to be me.  Since I write for teens, one can only assume their motives weren't great, so I had them kicked right off and staked out my own name.

I do, however, make it a policy to not officially befriend readers for this very important reason:  If a reader comes up to me at an event (and they have) and says, "I'm a friend of yours on Facebook," I want to be able to say immediately that it's not me.  That way I'll know that someone is using my own good name, but more importantly, I'll be able to protect my readers from that person, too. 

There are some great fan sites on Facebook, though.  Like this one and this one and this one and probably others, too.  So feel free to join those.  And again, feel free to contact me here through the comments page.

Now, as today is also my birthday, I'm off to a swanky dinner.  Perhaps the Menu Gourmand tonight...

In case you missed it, I announced the winner of the 2009 Guardian Children's Fiction Prize on Thursday.  (I won it last year and was a judge this year).  The winner is Mal Peet's Exposure, which is a great book you should all read.  The party was fun, too.

Welcome to the new commenters (David (who eventually decided it wasn't boring), the Wilks Cousins (who said the right things) and Sara (not for a while yet, Sara, sorry)).  Also, please know I won't generally approve comments that contain spoilers that can't be edited out.  So, very sorry, Esperanza (and I'm afraid the answer's no).

Meanwhile, I'm going up north for a big chunk of this week for school and bookstore visits.  The public is more than welcome to come to a few book signings, though, so just to repeat: I'll be at the Preston branch of Borders Books on Tuesday, 13 October, at 5pm (call 01772 703856 for info) and at the Waterstone's in Nottingham on Wednesday 14th October at 3.30pm (1-5 Bridlesmith Gate, Nottingham, NG1 2GR. Tel 0115 948 4499) for more details.  Hope to see you there.

In case you missed it, I announced the winner of the 2009 Guardian Children's Fiction Prize on Thursday.  (I won it last year and was a judge this year).  The winner is Mal Peet's Exposure, which is a great book you should all read.  The party was fun, too.

Welcome to the new commenters (David (who eventually decided it wasn't boring), the Wilks Cousins (who said the right things) and Sara (not for a while yet, Sara, sorry)).  Also, please know I won't generally approve comments that contain spoilers that can't be edited out.  So, very sorry, Esperanza (and I'm afraid the answer's no).

Meanwhile, I'm going up north for a big chunk of this week for school and bookstore visits.  The public is more than welcome to come to a few book signings, though, so just to repeat: I'll be at the Preston branch of Borders Books on Tuesday, 13 October, at 5pm (call 01772 703856 for info) and at the Waterstone's in Nottingham on Wednesday 14th October at 3.30pm (1-5 Bridlesmith Gate, Nottingham, NG1 2GR. Tel 0115 948 4499) for more details.  Hope to see you there.

I had a great visit to Dunraven School in Streatham yesterday.  And a great group they were, too.  Good questions, good energy, and even a new comment by one of them on the Visitors page who swears I wouldn't read it (wrong!).  But welcome to him and to Kimberley and Ann, the two other new comments (and, Ann, the iron man is at the Studio Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, outside of Tokyo, the most perfect small museum in the world).

Also to say that in addition to that signing at the Preston branch of Borders Books on Tuesday, 13 October, at 5pm (call 01772 703856 for info), I'm also now going to be signing at the Waterstone's in Nottingham on Wednesday 14th October at 3.30pm (1-5 Bridlesmith Gate, Nottingham, NG1 2GR. Tel 0115 948 4499) for more details.

Be great to see you there.

The German version of The Ask and the Answer is now out!  The first translation of it anywhere in the world.  It's called Das dunkle Paradies ("The Dark Paradise"), so if you're German-speaking, check it out!  Kudos, too, to my excellent German translator Petra Koob-Pawis.

I also wanted to confirm one of the comments (who got there before I did) that I'll be signing at the Preston branch of Borders Books on Tuesday, 13 October, at 5pm.  Call 01772 703856 for info.  Hope to see you there.

And speaking of those comments, thanks to Charlotte, Rachel, Christie, Fiona, Alexx, Kyle and Karen for the most recent round!  Kyle, mate, you're just going to have to keep reading, I'm afraid.  The horrible truth is all there.

And cheers to Fiona for the music suggestions.  Here's a (possibly) interesting thing.  I do have particular songs that I played a lot during the writing of each book that kind of became theme songs.  For The Knife of Never Letting Go, it was definitely "Map of the Problematique" by Muse for it's pure, thunderous pace (it's a brilliant song to run to, especially when it kicks up a notch halfway through). 

For The Ask and the Answer, it was "Intervention" by Arcade Fire.  Not the lyrics, which bear no resemblance to the book at all, but for the way it builds to a huge explosion.  Also a great running song.  And for Monsters of Men?  Well, it definitely has one, too, but it's a secret for now...

Just like I said before about Todd's accent, though, this is only the way I hear the book.  Whatever music you hear is absolutely cool with me.  Books are shared experiences, not just what the author says they are.