On writing

Below you'll find a number of photos of me (which range from animated to portly), taken when I visited a local school to talk about my work as an author. Questions ranged from 'Where do you get you ideas from?' to 'Which book did you enjoy writing most?'

If you are a teacher, or you work in a school, and would like me to come in to to talk to a class about my current work or just what it's like to be an author, then please contact me by posting a comment on this blog.

Match Wits is Book of the Month!

At least it is in W H Smith in Hammersmith.

If Smiths think Match Wits with the Kids is good enough to be non-fiction book of the month, don't you think it must be good enough for you too?

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To find out more, simply click the following link.

(Thanks to Catherine for the heads up on this one.)

Blog update

It takes a bit of work keeping five blogs up-to-date and today I've published ten different posts on the Internet (if you include this one).

I thought the best way to let people know what was going with all the different projects I have on the go, was to post a missive linking to the various items I've recently published. So, here it is.

Unnatural History

Recently I've been talking about Gaining momentum with a writing project, Alex Milway on blogging, The Art of Clint Langley and Martin McKenna and Misterstourworm.

Match Wits with the Kids

You could Win a copy of Match Wits With the Kids, find out why Love Reading loves Match Wits, and at the same time read about Match Wits in The Independent.

What is Myrrh Anyway?

Over on this blog I've been alerting people to the fact that there are Only 180 shopping days to Christmas.

Pax Britannia

I'm now busily beavering away at my latest Pax Britannia adventure. To find out more, check out Back to Britannia, and to find out how old maps of London have been making a difference, read A life in maps.

Happy reading!

Match Wits With the Kids reviewed in The Independent

So, you've a bit about my latest publication Match Wits with the Kids, and you're intrigued by the idea of it, but you're still not quite sure if it's the book for you.

Well, if that's the case, you could do a lot worse than read the review that appeared in The Independent's book section on Friday. If you missed it, you can read it online by following this link.

Go on, you know you want to!

What's your number one Christmas song?

Over at this blog's sister site What is Myrrh Anyway? there is the chance to take part in an online poll to decide which of all the Christmas number one songs is - well - number one.

Why not follow this link and take part?

Radio interview

I was on the radio last night. No, not sitting on top of it, but actually talking on it, on BBC London's Late Show with Tessa Dunlop to be precise. We were discussing my new book Match Wits with the Kids, amongst other things. If you would link to find out more, click here.

Match Wits in the Sunday Times

Match Wits with the Kids got a mention in the Sunday Times, as part of an article about books aimed at adults to remind them of what they once learnt when they were at school.

If you missed it yourself, follow this link to read more at Times Online.

Author interview

Graeme Flory, a fan of my Pax Britannia stories, recently interviewed me over the Internet for his own blog Graeme's Fantasy Book Review. Follow this link to find out more for yourself.

Coming soon

Regular readers of this blog (as well as first-time visitors - Hello there!) may be interested to hear about a couple of forthcoming publicity items concerning my fun learning book Match Wits with the Kids.

This Sunday, all things being well, a major national newspaper will hopefully be running a feature about Match Wits with the Kids, while on Monday night (at around 11.40pm) I am going to be on The Late Show on BBC London radio, talking about the book.

So why not pick up a copy or tune in to find out more?

Pax Britannia Competition Winner!

I am pleased to announce that we have a winner! Head over to the Pax Britannia blog to discover who has won a walk-on part in the next Ulysses Quicksilver adventure Human Nature (out this December from Abaddon Books).

Match Wits with the Kids video

Here, at long last, is the video clip I recorded with Meet the Author to accompany the release of Match Wits with the Kids.



Feelings of smug self-satisfaction to anyone who spots the 'deliberate' mistake ;-)

The competition is now closed!

The deadline to submit entries for the Pax Britannia competition I've been running has been and gone.

Thank you to everyone who entered. I will be going through the entries and deciding a winner shortly.

I will let everyone here know the results as soon as I have them.

A chicken and an egg situation

Some of you may recall that I was rather excited a couple of weeks ago about the prospect of appearing in a national newspaper today. Well, I duly went out this morning and bought said paper, only to find that I'm not in it.

Hopefully, the feature may appear at a later date, and I'll be sure to let you know if it does, but for the time being I've learnt a valuable lesson regarding the totting up of farmyard fowls.

You shouldn't count your chickens before they're hatched, as you may end up with egg on your face if you do.