Station Zero

 The fifth book in the Adventuremice series is in UK bookshops now. It's called The Ghostly Galleon and has a spooky, autumnal, halloween-y vibe, with the Adventuremice investigating some ghostly goings-on on Bramble Isle. But are those real ghosts? Or are they just mice with sheets over them? People often say that children love scary stories, but I never did, and nor did Sarah McIntyre, so we try to make our stories as un-scary as possible, and any ghosts you may meet are more likely to be cute than terrifying. Captain Cheesebeard here is doing his best to be terrifying though... Sarah's artwork in these books goes from strength to strength, and the original paintings are all available through the Adventuremice.com website (you'll have to hurry though - they're selling fast). The website also features quizzes, videos, step-by-step drawing guides, and more. Meanwhile, Sarah's just finishing artwork for book six, which will be out next spring, and I'm writing b

It’s just under a month until the publication of Thunder City , my new novel set in the world of Mortal Engines . To mark the occasion I’m lining up a bunch of events in September and October: the itinerary currently looks like this… On Monday, 30th September , I’ll be talking about the book at Waterstones in Bath as part of the Bath Children’s Literature Festival . On Saturday 5th October First Draft Books in Bovey Tracey, Devon and Bovey Paradiso arts centre are arranging a whole afternoon of Mortal Engines , kicking off with a screening of the movie, followed by a chat with me and book signing.   On Tuesday 8th October I’m part of a panel event at Cheltenham Literary Festival along with authors Liz Hyder and Piers Torday, discussing the creation of fantasy worlds. This is a school event, but I’ll be signing books afterwards if you happen to be at the festival that day, or want to pick up a signed copy from the bookshop later. On Saturday, 12th October I’ll be in Totnes for a lat

I’ve been spending the summer in the Wild West, which Sarah Reeve and I have very convincingly recreated in a field near our house. Unfortunately it hasn't been very Wild West weather, but occasionally the sun shines, and we've made the most of it. Prairie Rascals , our new Bonehill Films production, is a Western, in which Dartmoor gets to stand in for the prairies and pinewoods of Arkansas while a cast of top Devonian and Cornish actors put on their best American accents. When her no-good homesteader husband is murdered by outlaws hunting for the the gold he stole during the Civil War, Annie Harper sets off to find the treasure for herself. Annie's played by Rosanna Lambert, a local actress who appeared briefly in our film Gwenevere as a mystical maiden. She’s great, and it’s been good to give her more to do in this one. Also returning is our Gwenevere title star, actress and artist Laura Frances Martin . Gwenevere was rather a serious role, but Laura’s a tremendously fu

It’s time to announce a new Bonehill Films production. Making Gwenevere over the past couple of years has been one of the most enjoyable things I’ve ever done, so we’re going to try our luck in another genre which combines wild landscapes, dressing up, and a cavalier attitude to historical accuracy. We’re making a Western. Of course, most Westerns are filmed in America, and ours will be filmed in Devon, which might seem to put us at a considerable disadvantage. But our local bit of Devon looks like this… …and I think we can turn it into America with this one simple trick: (Banjo music intensifies.) Actually, I like the audacity of pretending Dartmoor is the Old West, and we’ll be joining in a time-honoured tradition - the first ever Western was filmed in Blackburn , and I remember my grandad telling me how as a boy he watched actors dressed as cowboys and Indians making films in Brighton, probably before the Great War.  Our film will be a hard-hitting tale of wrongdoing and revenge ca

This September Scholastic will be publishing my new novel set in the world of Mortal Engines . Here’s the cover, created (like all the others in the series) by Ian McQue . The rule I set for myself when I was writing this one was that it shouldn’t feature any of the people or places from previous Mortal Engines books. So  Thunder Cit y takes place just over a century before the original book, when the town-eat-town world of Traction Cities is slightly less ruthless than it will become later, and none of the characters from the original quartet has even been born yet. (I suppose Mr Shrike must be bimbling about somewhere, but he’s still just yer basic implacable killing machine at this point so there’s not much point in paying him a visit). So hopefully this new take will be accessible to people who’ve never read Mortal Engines , and hopefully people who have read it will enjoy an adventure set in the same world. My pen and ink drawing of the Traction City of Thorbury,  after a painti

 The year has got off to a slow start here because I’ve been poorly, so I’ve started illustrating The Lord of the Rings (as you do). The idea is to do drawings of the bits that don’t usually get illustrated (or that I haven’t seen many pictures of, at least). My favourite parts of the book are the early chapters about the Shire, Bree, and Eriador , so I may just concentrate on those, though maybe I’ll venture further for a bit of variety. I doubt I could manage the big cities and battles in the later parts, but who knows, maybe my penmanship will improve with practise.  Here are the elf towers on the Tower Hills: The Last Bridge over the River Hoarwell… The road from Hobbiton to Buckland… And a random hobbit lady feeding her chickens. More to come, though productivity will probably drop off because I have Actual Work on now, and a new small film to plan. Announcements about both next week.