Take a look at this…!

Today it was my great pleasure to return to the Marcus Garvey Library, to speak (for the second time!) to its excellent Teenage Reading Group. Supreme ninja librarian DAMLA, the sinister mastermind behind the Marcus Garvey TRG(!) always creates wonderful posters and literature to promote events. Her flyer for the Enthoven’s previous visit was a very fine thing, but this (above) was an absolute beauty. Thank you, Damla!

To my delight, two of the young people who were there last year had come back to see me again — and seemed to have no trouble recognizing me even though I’ve hardly got any hair these days! (;p Together with the other attending members of the TRG we had a fine natter ranging over all sorts of topics, including the nature of horror in fiction, poetry, punctuation, and the process of submitting one’s work to agents — plus, of course, the indisputable fact that reading is the SECRET KEY TO THE UNIVERSE. Special thanks to Deko for bringing me in the copy of her school magazine with the interview she conducted with me last time (YAY!) And thanks again to Damla for inviting me back. I’m already looking forward to next year — except, yikes! I guess I’d better get on and write another book! 😉

Currently Reading:

DEATH IN THE AFTERNOON, by Ernest Hemingway

FLAT EARTH NEWS, by Nick Davies

and (slowly-!)

A STUBBORNLY PERSISTENT ILLUSION – The Essential Scientific Works of Albert Einstein, ed. Stephen Hawking

Favourite human word of the week: GRUMOUS – ‘1. Of a fluid, esp. blood: clotted, viscid.’ (New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary)

Well, here I am, fully recovered from last week’s excitements (check out the full story of the opening of The Big Green Bookshop here) And I’m now gearing up for TIM’s impending launch in the USA! It’s officially out in America at the end of this month, but I’ve already received my author copies, and that means it could be in shops any day now.

Pauses to wave tentacles in the air in what’s probably a thoroughly uncool way: YAAAAAAAAAAAAH! HEE HEE HEE HEE HEE!

Ahem. ‘Scuse me! 😉

All sorts of cunning plans are afoot. Allow me to share a couple with you…

First up, here’s an article I wrote for the SF wiki site SCIFIPEDIA. My US publishers, Razorbill, asked me to write my own entry there, to explain what I do – and let me tell you, for a while I was completely stumped! I had to tear up what I wrote and start again, something like three times, before I realised that a certain correspondence I’d had with one of Black Tat‘s young readers a couple of months back seemed to sum up for me what this sinister masterplan of mine is really all about. Hope it does the same for you. [And thanks again, Jasmine!]

Speaking of Black Tat, it’s with great glee and delight that I can announce we have another winner for the No Monsters Were Harmed In The Making Of This Website Competition! Not content with clinching Round Two with his fabulous frog photo, the awesome SKULLIAN has stormed back into the fray to take the NMWHITMOTWC crown once again in Round Five with his gorgeous Snakeskin. Check it out, it’s a stunningly beautiful image – and while you’re there, be sure to take a look at our other winners, which are every bit as sinister and striking! Time to ask yourself: do you fancy a chance at monster glory? Closing date for Round Six is May 26th, so send us what you got. 🙂

Lots more good stuff in the pipeline, I’ll be back soon to keep you posted. But before I slither off into the night again I have one more item of news to show you. Awesome up-and-coming scary-story-author Barry Hutchison has been reading TIM and saying all sorts of kind and flattering things to me about it (ahh, cheers Barry! [blushes a meaty pink] ;p) But even better, he sent me this link to a BBC News story that seems eerily close to a certain set of inventions by TIM’s nemesis Professor Mallahide. As Barry said in his email – “Just found this and thought you might appreciate it. Or cower in terror.” HEE HEE HEE HEE!

Today’s big event for me was a visit to Jo Richardson Community School, in Dagenham, Essex – one of the finest-looking and best-equipped schools at which it has been my privilege to do my stuff so far. The JRCS Boothroyd Hall, where my sessions were held, in particular, is absolutely jaw-dropping – take a look:

This pic’s a bit dark, but the whole of the rest of the school seems designed to be as light and airy and modern as possible: it looks fabulous, and its facilities (particularly the music department) are nothing short of stunning. But my positive feelings about the place were more than matched by the impression I got of the JRCS students, who were without exception an absolute pleasure to speak to. Each of the three sessions bubbled and fizzed with energy and enthusiasm – and questions, on everything from inspiration to Batfink. Awesome!

My thanks to Miss Meek and Miss Foreman for inviting me to JRCS and for making me feel so welcome. My thanks, too, to the students: I hope you got something out of listening to me – I certainly enjoyed speaking to you.

Wow. What a week it’s been. I am absolutely shattered, and just like last year (ew) someone I met at one of these events has left me with a powerful cold to remember them by! My nose is running like a tap, I feel like I’ve been punched between the eyes, and – now all the day’s coffees are finally wearing off (thanks, Heather!) – I’m drooping like a puppet whose strings have just been cut. But when I think of all the terrific young people I’ve met this week, I couldn’t be happier with how it all went.

As an author of books for young people, I sit at my desk and write books that I think young people would like – or, more accurately, what I think /I/ would have liked when I was eleven to fifteen. But of course, I’m an adult: separated by years, there’s no way of knowing whether my stuff is really getting across to my audience unless I take it out to schools and libraries and bookshops and actually put it to the test. Speaking to young people – listening to their questions, discovering their concerns and interests – is a crucial source of inspiration for me and my work. I’d therefore like to offer my thanks to every single young person I’ve spoken to over the last five days.

Sincerely. Thank you.

-So: just one more event now remains before my second World Book Week as a published author comes to an end. Tomorrow is a bit special: it’s the gala opening day of a brand new independent bookshop in my area – The Big Green Bookshop, in Wood Green. As you’ll see from their blog if you click on the link, samurai booksellers Simon and Tim have been working flat out to get everything ready in time – I can’t wait to see how it’s all turned out! Do come down for a natter if you’re in the area: I’ll be there (to help celebrate!) from about 2pm.

But now… now I’m going to fall into a deep sleep. Hope I can muster the energy to turn the computer… off… before… I… zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz ;p

YAY! And the event onslaught continues. I’ve only got about ten hours ’til I’ve got to be back out on a train again – and I ‘aven’t ‘ad me dinner yet! – so this is gonna be brief. But today was tremendous. The main meat-and-potatoes of the day (yeah, food’s on my mind right now! ;p) was a sort of flying tour around the libraries of Haringey, through which I was ably shepherded by supreme ninja librarian Sean Edwards, of Wood Green Central Library (thanks, Sean!) At each stop, young people from nearby schools were visiting their local public libraries, in order to find out all about them and the fine reading delights on offer there (particularly the book clubs!) First up was Alexandra Park Library, for a fine question-filled session that was also (I couldn’t help noticing) attended by this dude:

The session went so well that the librarians there kindly presented me with – I kid you not – a KIPPER TIE of all things! I’m always on the lookout for a good kipper, they’re hard to find these days, and this one with its brown stripes and all-unnatural feel is an absolute /corker/. Hurrah! 🙂

Next came St Anne’s Library, for a fine natter with some students from Crowland Primary School – another great group, full of fantastic questions.

After a quick sandwich break I did another forty-min talk, for another 24 spirited and enquiring young people, this time at Coombes Croft Library. Then it was off to my fourth event of the day, a panel discussion and talk at Hackney Museum – a special World Book Day event organized as part of the borough’s current Big Read initiative.

This was a fine affair, nicely relaxed and not too formal. The other two authors with me in the pic above are (on the left) the awesome David Clement-Davies, and (on my right) the delightful Catherine Johnson. The young gentleman on the right hand side is called Henry. While the camera has accidentally caught him looking a bit dubious here, he chaired our discussion in fine style, fielding the audience’s questions with professional panache.

Here (above) is a last shot of me attempting a Jedi mind trick on another young attendee, whose name was Ben. But such feeble ploys work only on the weak-minded: Ben soon put me in my place, and I had to apologize. ;p

What a day. What a week. And there’s more to come. Got to stop, I’m knackered (but happy! HEE HEE HEE!)

So! I have returned! -Yes! Again! ;p (Wow, two blog posts in one day, eh? Who’d’ve thought it?)

Today’s visit was to John Ruskin Primary School, in Southwark, London. I’d been invited there to do two sessions and – with the aid of Bushido Bookseller George H., of Tales on Moon Lane – hopefully shift some copies of TIM and Black Tat at the school’s book fair, that afternoon. Coming as it did between the Wiltshire Whirwind and tomorrow’s Wood Green Whistlestop tours I’d allowed myself to think that today might actually be quite quiet compared to the rest of this week.

Not a bit of it. HEE HEE HEE!

The students at John Ruskin Primary School are BRILLIANT: unfailingly attentive and polite, while also being supremely enthusiastic and welcoming, they made me feel like an absolute rock star all the time I was on school grounds (aww, thank you!) And – as with the Stamford Hill Library Teenage Reading Group last week – the questions came thick and fast right from the start of each session.

At the students’ gleeful prompting, discussion ranged widely over all sorts of topics that I don’t necessarily get onto every time. One question that particularly stood out for me was about DESCRIPTION – conveying enough information for the reader to picture what’s going on, but without interfering too much with the pace of a scene. It can be a hard balance to strike: Roald Dahl was one author who was an absolute genius at that, by the way – take a look. But the other standout question for me concerned (oof!) my HANDWRITING.

I’ll admit it, folks: it’s absolutely diabolical. I type all my stories out straight onto the computer, and anyone who’s seen my handwriting will understand why. In fact, whenever I’m asked to sign a book (and at John Ruskin Primary, to my delight, I was asked to sign plenty!) I always double-check with the book’s new owner whether they’re absolutely sure they want me writing on it! I dread to think the number of migraines it must have caused my poor teachers at school. One tutor at my university (Manchester) once feelingly described it as being ‘a bit like bar-code, only… sort of… melted.’

Well, my protestations were in vain: the students in the first session insisted that I had to write something on the board to demonstrate – and a gasp went up as they witnessed my scrawl’s true grisliness. By the way: thanks for inviting me, Ms Madeira! I hope I haven’t ruined that board permanently or anything! Hee hee hee!

Take a close look at the picture above. Yes, it’s yet another shot of the dreaded Enthoven gesticulating (and turning blancmange-pink again with excitement HUR HUR HUR ahem ‘scuse me ;p) But there’s something next to him that hasn’t appeared on these pages before, namely a beautiful and brand new first edition hardback of the US edition of TIM!

I didn’t have time to tell you about this this morning, but a big box of author copies was waiting for me on my return from Wiltshire last night. The US edition of TIM is finished at last; it will be in shops in the States any day – and it’s absolutely GORGEOUS. Take a look:

I think the Razorbill production team have really surpassed themselves. I mean, the shininess! And the SCALINESS! It’s a true, monstrous thing of beauty (or it was until I defaced it with my signature – see what I mean?? ;p) But as if that wasn’t enough…

…check out this gobsmacking gatefold illustration by artist Dan Dos Santos, bound into every copy of this edition! For those that don’t know, that’s Tim and Professor Mallahide, squaring off for one of the book’s climactic battles in London’s river Thames (for a view of the pic without flare from my camera, click here). I couldn’t be happier with how this American edition of Tim has turned out. In fact, if this week carries on being as exciting as it has been I may do myself a mischief: here’s hoping I don’t explode with glee or something before Saturday. I mean, the stains would be impossible to get out of the carpet…!

Eat yer later humans,

Jagm-AHEM! I mean, /Sam/ 😉

…Or at least, the schools I visited there certainly welcomed me! 😉

I’m writing this post in a tearing hurry, as I’m about to rush out the door for another event, but before I do here are a couple of pics to give you an idea of how things went yesterday.

After a lovely leisurely breakfast (sausages and mushrooms HURRAH!) it was my great pleasure to speak to some 120 of the students of Marlborough College.

This was a terrific session, with some excellent questions from pupils and staff alike. To my absolute delight, one Marlborough teacher decided on the spot to make The Black Tattoo into a class reader – ie all his students are going to read it, en masse, at once, as a class. AWESOME! If any of those students – and anyone else reading this, for that matter! – happens to have any follow-up questions for me about the book, then do please feel free to write them on one of my websites’ Guestbooks. If the questions are ones I haven’t addressed before (do check the Q&A pages under ‘Who Is…’ first!) then I’ll do my best to answer them, just as soon as I get the chance.

After a quick but delicious lunch (got to say, I’ve fed pretty well these last couple of days, HUR HUR HUR!) I was driven away (at lightning speed!) across the Downs, to my next engagement. First up was a brief chat to twenty extremely enthusiastic Year 6 students from St Margaret’s, Calne. My initial worries that maybe my stories might be a little too scary for such a young audience were quickly proved groundless: when I announced that my next book – the one I’m working on now – is going to be a bit ‘like ALIEN meets NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD – for kids!‘ the whole group actually cheered! HEE HEE HEE! 🙂

The third event of the day was a double length session with 47 Year 7 students from nearby St Mary’s School for Girls, Calne. Here’s a pic of me waving my arms about as usual, apparently completely oblivious of the Imperial Star Destroyer that happened to be flying past overhead…

…OK, I’m kidding! ;p This talk took place in the unusual (for me!) but undoubtedly spectacular surroundings of the St Mary’s school chapel. The session lasted about an hour and fifteen minutes. Even I, frankly, have trouble sitting still for that long(!) but the students’ attention was absolutely impeccable throughout, their questions were tremendous, and the time just zipped past. YAY!

My huge and grateful thanks to ninja librarians Lindsey Pilkington (of Marlborough) and Charlotte Smith (of St Marys’), for inviting me along to these three terrific events and looking after me so kindly. My Wiltshire Whirlwind Tour has been an absolute delight, and I look forward to coming back one day very soon.

Right: must dash, got another school to visit. On with the sinister masterplan! Bwha-ha! BWAH-HA-HA-HA-HA! 🙂

Well folks, here we are at the end of day one of my Wiltshire Whirlwind Tour. I’m staying the night at Marlborough College, I’ve just consumed a vast pizza covered in chilli and pepperoni and all is right with the world, for a I have just had a terrific day’s visit to Swindon Academy!

And what a great way to start this monster week of events: I was HUGELY impressed with this school – not ‘just’ with its atmosphere of commitment and enthusiasm, but also (hurrah!) with the impeccably high quality of attention (and questions!) I received from its students throughout the day. Doing FOUR sessions – plus a quick informal chat in the library at the end – has left me with a delightfully frazzled sensation and the knowledge of a day well seized (hee hee hee!) My thanks to Ms Ellis and the other staff for their warm welcome. And thanks, too, of course, to Swindon Academy’s students: you were a pleasure to speak to!

I’d write more, but I might fall asleep on the keyboard, and whenever that happens (see THE ENTHOVEN IS DEAD, right) it’s almost impossible to get the pink stains out of the keys.  😉

Instead I’ll just say that if the rest of the week carries on like today, it’s going to be AWESOME.

Apologies for slight radio silence, but I’ve been fixing things up. See, next week is World Book Day week – and in the UK’s NATIONAL YEAR OF READING, to boot. The Enthoven was busy last year I hear, but that was /nothing/ on what I’ve got going on this time. Listen to this:

This MONDAY marks the start of a kind of Wiltshire mini-tour. I’m booked to catch an 8.15am train to arrive in time for an all-day visit to The Swindon Academy (formerly Headlands School). After three sessions there (plus some signing and informal Q&A) it’s off to The Marlborough College, for an overnight stay so I’m in place for a couple of sessions there on TUESDAY morning. That afternoon I go to St Mary’s School, Calne, to do my stuff there. Then it’s back ‘ome to London, to gather me wits together. Because the week isn’t over, not by a long shot…

On WEDNESDAY I’ve been called in last-minute by the ninja booksellers of Tales on Moon Lane to go put my thing down for some two hundred young people at the John Ruskin Primary School, in Southwark.

On THURSDAY – World Book Day itself – I’m doing something like four appearances for class visits at various public libraries in and around Wood Green, in (my manor!) North London. And as if that’s not enough for one day, I’ve been invited to appear on a public panel discussion organized by bushido bookseller Jo of Victoria Park Books (cheers, Jo!) as part of Hackney Council’s current Big Read initiative.

FRIDAY I’ve got another all-day booking, this time at Jo Richardson Community School, in Dagenham, Essex. Should be tremendous.

Then on SATURDAY (yep, long week! but listen, this is good…) on SATURDAY, I’ve been invited to something really special. Sat 8th March is going to be the offical opening day of The Big Green Bookshop, a brand spanking new independent bookshop in Wood Green, right near where I live. For the last few months samurai booksellers Tim and Simon have been chasing their dreams of setting up a bookshop of their very own — you can check their exploits (and what a saga it’s been!) on their blog, here — and now, not only is it all coming together at last and going ahead, but they’ve invited yours truly to come and support the cause on their gala opening day. IF YOU’RE IN THE AREA, DROP BY! I’ll be there from around 2pm. Yay! Can’t wait!

I’ll keep you posted as best I can throughout the week. -I know, I know: the questions in the Black Tat and Tim Guestbooks have been piling up lately, and I WILL get to them, I promise. But I hope you’ll understand why you’ll have to bear with me a bit longer. 😉

Meanwhile, a couple of items of more-than-slightly-awesome other news…

John Jude Palencar – the artist behind the jaw-droppingly gorgeous original cover imagery for The Black Tattoo (as well as a ton of other much more famous and important stuff!) has just been awarded this year’s Spectrum Grand Master Award in recognition of his long career of glittering visual achievements. I’m /still/ gobsmacked that the humble Enthoven ended up with such a beautiful piece of art on the cover of his very first published book. But on top of that, IMHO, this award just couldn’t have been given to a nicer fella. Huge congratulations to you, John!

…And second, still with the art stakes, my very very good friend BARNABY RICHARDS has just begun a new weekly webcomic. Barnaby’s art just gets more beautiful and mysterious every time I see it. Sign up for his mailing list and keep up to date with the latest from RADBOD. You’re in for a treat, I guarantee it.

OK, that’s me done like a dinner. Catch you next week.

Currently reading: IF THIS IS A MAN/THE TRUCE by PRIMO LEVI

Another tremendous session, this time with the Teenage Reading Group of Stamford Hill Library (just a short walk from where I live! Hurrah!) And what a great group they are.

At the start of my talks I always explain that what’s going to happen is basically down to my audience: I have some readings prepared, sure, and I’m happy to stand there blethering, but what I like to do to keep things fresh (for me as well, I hope, for my listeners) is to throw things open for Q&A straight away. It’s a point of honour with me at these things to answer anything I’m asked, no matter how direct or peculiar. Well: some groups prefer to listen – I respect that – and some groups just take a while to warm up (I respect that, too). But this group, to my great glee and delight, obviously just love to ask questions! No less than five hands shot up straight away, and off we went. Here are some pics (thanks, Teresa!) to give you an idea of what the session was like.

As anyone who’s met me or heard me speak will tell you, when I get excited about something (which is, erm, most of the time) I tend to start waving my arms about like a big, black-clad, blonde baboon – almost as if I’m conducting an imaginary orchestra. These pics have caught that nicely. Take a look.

…And he’s off!

Look (below) – I’ve got someone else doing it now…

And now the left arm for a while…!

And… /relax/. 😉

Well, I couldn’t help myself: the questions were terrific, and I had a lot of fun answering them. Hee hee hee!

A huge and joyful thank you to everybody who was there, and thanks, too, to Librarian Heather for organizing the session and having me along. It was an absolute pleasure.

Just returned from an excellent session with the Teenage Reading Group at Selsdon Library in Croydon, South London. I did four readings – two from Black Tat and two from Tim – and discovered in the process an unfortunate side-effect of the ongoing recovery from last weekend’s dental shenanigans: I kept spitting, by mistake! Now, I put a lot of wallop into my readings, and you have to expect the odd fleck to fly out every now and again (the key thing is not actually to gob on your audience – or if you do, to apologize straight away 😉 ) But this, I mean, it was even more than usual! EW!!! ;p

My thanks to Aaron (hope I’ve spelt that right!) for those excellent questions, and to the rest of the Group for not only containing their disgust (hee hee hee!) but also for listening to me so wonderfully attentively. Thanks, too, to Liz Rose, Children and Young People’s Librarian at Selsdon, for inviting me along and giving me such a warm welcome. Hurrah!

My next event will be this Tuesday, from 4.30-5.30, at Stamford Hill Library. Let’s hope by then I’m able to keep my natural juices under more control, eh? ;p