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

…Erm, not me! ;p As you may have read by now on the Waterstone’s site, their Children’s Book Award was won this year by Sally Nicholls, for her debut novel WAYS TO LIVE FOREVER. Here’s a pic of her making her prize acceptance speech…

…and here’s a link to an interview with her on the website Write Away. Congratulations, Sally!

Honestly I feel no ‘sour grapes’ about this at all. On the contrary, the book sounds like an incredibly ambitious piece of writing, and one that must have taken an enormous amount of talent – not to mention courage – to pull off. [Check out this review by Mal Peet]

I’ll admit, however, that when the first letters to come out of the judge’s mouth were ‘SA…’ I did get a bit of a jolt. Fact is, the Enthoven’s agent Penny had just taken me out for a rather powerful spicy dinner in London’s Chinatown. If I’d ‘ad to make a speech, there might have been some unintended extra sound effects: URP! (‘scuse me) ;p

All the authors who’d been shortlisted were invited up on stage and given bottles of champagne (see? I ain’t complaining!) And while the cameras flashed at us, the current UK Children’s Laureate, the inspirational Michael Rosen, kept us grinning with an impromptu song, the words of which appeared to be… ‘Weeeeeeeeeee’re top of the league, top of the league, top of the league; Weeeeeeeeeeee’re top of the league, top of the league.” -So, while he might accidentally look half-asleep in the photo above, I can assure you he most certainly was not. HEE HEE HEE HEE! 🙂

It was a fine do all round, with lots of people saying kind and lovely things about TIM (aw, shucks). But a particular highlight was when the indispensible LAURA H. (of whom I’ve already written, see below) managed to sneak me up to the booksellers’ staff room balcony on one of the highest floors of the Waterstone’s Piccadilly building, there to take some spooky photos of the foggy London night. Check out this one, of Nelson’s Column…

…and this one, of The London Eye:

As some of you may know, over the course of the story of TIM, DEFENDER OF THE EARTH not just one but BOTH these iconic London landmarks are ignominiously and utterly destroyed. I’m therefore trying to take as many pics of them as I can, partly to help people really visualize those bits of the book, and partly for a possible future competition, to be held on these pages. [Can’t tell you about that now, but watch this space… ;)]

Meanwhile, as if all the excitement of being up for this year’s Waterstone’s Children’s Book Award wasn’t enough, this morning I ‘eard that the Enthoven’s ‘orrible first book, THE BLACK TATTOO, has just made the shortlist for another, namely the Leicester Book of the Year Award for Teenage Fiction! Over the next few months everyone who attends a Leicester City secondary school will get to vote on which is their favourite out of the following:

BEING, by Kevin Brooks

THE BLACK TATTOO – feh, you know the fool wrote that one ;p

THE ANGEL COLLECTOR, by Bali Rai

JUST LISTEN, by Sarah Dessen, and-

BERSERK, by Ally Kennen

Here’s a link to the award’s blog.

…I’m tense! I’m filled with tension! It’s a TENSION CONVENTION! URP (‘scuse me) Ahhh, thass better… 😉

Sorry for lack of bloggage these last few days. The reason is that I’m rapidly becoming a total basket-case…

Back in October ’07 I received an astonishing piece of news, namely that TIM, DEFENDER OF THE EARTH was to be shortlisted for the 2008 Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize. For those who don’t know, Waterstone’s is currently the biggest chain bookstore in the UK. For the last month, every book on the shortlist (including TIM) has been out on special display in every branch in the country – a pretty awesome start for a young book’s life, I think you’ll agree!

Well, over the last couple of months Waterstone’s booksellers have been voting on which of the shortlisted titles is their favourite. And TONIGHT, at a special party at their biggest branch, in London’s Piccadilly Circus, the overall winner is going to be announced.

Here’s the full shortlist, together with their UK publishers:

Tumtum and Nutmeg by Emily Bearn (Egmont)
Broken Soup by Jenny Valentine (HarperCollins)
Stone Goblins by David Melling (Hodder Children’s Books)
Blue Sky Freedom by Gabrielle Halberstam (Macmillan)
Between Two Seas by Marie-Louise Jensen (OUP)
Shadow Forest by Matt Haig (RHCB)
Ancient Appetites by Oisín McGann (RHCB)
Tim, Defender of the Earth by Sam Enthoven (RHCB)
Ways to Live Forever by Sally Nicholls (Scholastic)

Oisin McGann is a terrific writer and Ancient Appetites is tremendous. But if I was a betting man and I had to pick one, I have to say my money would be on Matt Haig’s Shadow Forest. It’s for slightly younger readers than Oisin’s and my stories here, but it’s wonderfully twisted and subversive and funny, with a proper old-school Roald Dahl flavour. However, that’s only taking account of my fellow authors published by RHCB!

As you can see, there’s an extraordinarily wide variety of writing on the list – all sorts of different types of stories. This in itself is a fine indication of the rude health that publishing for young people is currently in (HURRAH!) Plus, in a sense – if it’s not too corny to say it – we’ve all of us won already by having our work highlighted like this, held up for all to see. So, you know what? I’m actually not bothered if I don’t win…

…YEAH, RIGHT! ;p That might be what I’m telling myself. But there’s going to be a lot of people at the awards tonight. And right now folks, I tell you, I’m a nervous fool.

I’ll try to take lots of pics and report back in the next day or so. Wish me luck,

-JagmAHEM: I mean, ‘Sam’ 😉

Anyone reading this with a long memory (so not me, then: I have to write everything down!) might conceivably remember that the Enthoven mentioned back in September on ‘is Black Tat News page that he’d been invited to an event to do with a brand new book prize – the Lewisham Book Award. Today was the day. As the Enthoven found out when I wreaked my grisly pink vengeance upon him, I always keep a promise – so off to the London Borough of Lewisham I went.

The reason for the invitation was that – much to my astonishment – the Enthoven’s ‘orrible first book, The Black Tattoo, has made the shortlist for the Award. But it’s up against some serious competition. Take a look:

THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS, by JOHN BOYNE

THE WAVE RUNNERS, by KAI MEYER

THE BOOK OF EVERYTHING, by GUUS KUIJER

THE OUTLAW VARJAK PAW, by S F SAID

and

HYBRIDS, by DAVID THORPE

…An extremely impressive set of contenders, I think you’ll agree.

For the last six months, to my absolute delight, students at schools all across Lewisham have been reading every book on the shortlist, and then casting votes as to which is their ultimate favourite. The overall winner won’t be announced until this March. But today a select team from each of the participating schools was invited to Lewisham’s excellent Central Library – there to put presentations together designed to convince the world of why their title should win. The Enthoven’s – heh! – I mean, MY job (;p) …was to judge the presentations. Here are some pics to give you a flavour of how it all went.

The presentations took place in the afternoon, so since I was going to be in the area, the LRC Manager at one of the participating schools invited me to do a talk there in the morning. My gleeful and grateful thanks to Ms Moulding and everyone I met at Sydenham School for what was an absolutely brilliant session! Talking to an audience who were so familiar with every aspect of The Black Tattoo was a joy in itself, but the depth and quality of the questions were phenomenal.

But next came the event itself. Each team picked a title from the shortlist at random out of an envelope, and then set to work putting their presentations together using PowerPoint on the library computers and – of course – their own ingenuity. Especially considering the (as it seemed to me!) knuckle-whiteningly short time in which they had to prepare, the results were tremendous. My task was to play the part of a buyer, waiting to be sufficiently convinced of the merit of a particular title to stock it in my bookshop. The sensation of having not just one team but two suggesting their own jacket art, blurbs and selling points for Black Tat was quite peculiar, I can tell you!

Each team put their case across with great aplomb, speaking with huge and heart-warming passion and enthusiasm. But in the end there could only be one winner, and it was Team Three, combining technical panache and evangelical conviction for their presentation of David Thorpe’s HYBRIDS.

Here they are – the winners! And here (below) is a pic of me shaking hands with Lewisham’s Young Mayor, Justin Cole.

What an absolute pleasure and privilege it was for me to be involved in this wonderful event. My thanks to Jo Moulton for inviting me, and my very best wishes to everyone who took part.

I’ve just returned from an excellent session with the Chatterbooks reading group of CLR James Library, in Hackney’s Dalston Lane. What a great group – and so full of fantastic questions! I spoke for about forty-five minutes but the time flew past so quickly that I only had time for one reading! My thanks to Kerryn and everyone else I met at CLR James for what was a lovely warm welcome. I hope you got something out of listening to me – I certainly enjoyed speaking to you. 🙂

Speaking of questions, it’s high time I tackled at least a couple of last week’s ones from the Guestbooks. Here we go…

From the Black Tat site, Robert and Adam from Newcastle ask ‘How many books do u plan to write?‘ That’s an easy one so let’s begin with that. I’m just starting out on this ‘being published’ caper, and I have a whole slew of story ideas bubbling and fermenting in the depths of my slurry-like brain. I can’t tell you them here, as I haven’t written them yet! But they’re all for young people, they’re all (if I can pull them off) pretty flippin’ exciting (if I may say so!), and I’m looking forward to having the chance to write each and every one of them. -So, the short answer about how many books I plan to write is… ‘As many as I can get away with!‘

Again on a Black Tat tip, Sean from Cramlington asked a question that the WebSphinx and I had to xxx out, as it contained a potential SPOILER, revealing one of the secrets of the book (sorry, Sean! Hope you understand!) It’s a straight question, however, and deserves a straight answer, so if you, reading this, haven’t read Black Tat yet and don’t want to know one of the story’s key secrets, SCROLL DOWN NOW!

SPOILER WARNING! — SPOILER WARNING! — SPOILER WARNING! — SPOILER WARNING!

Sean asks, ‘Why did you make Esme the Scourge’s daughter?’ -The main reason, Sean, was to do with SUSPENSE. Esme is a very powerful character: she’s strong, she’s tough, she’s independent, she’s quick-witted and (oh yeah!) she’s got superpowers. In most situations she’s nigh-on unstoppable. So in order to bring the story to a climax that would put her in real danger, I (or, heh! /the Enthoven/-!) had to come up with something a bit more sophisticated and involved than just another face-off with a demon. Having Esme’s strength, her speed and her flying all come from the Scourge seemed to me to be the best possible answer. The source of her power is the very thing she’s trained her whole life to fight! However strong or fast she is, the Scourge will always be faster! If she is to beat her nemesis Esme will have to find another way, one she can only find in herself. And that, to me, seemed like a proper test for her – one that most people can relate to, I hope.

In practice, hints are dropped about Esme’s parentage throughout the book – almost from the first page in fact! And having one’s father be the villain has always been a classic story element (even before Star Wars!) The revelation, when it comes, is supposed to be one you’ve pretty much guessed already, so I don’t think anyone who reads this post accidentally is going to have the story ruined for them or anything. But I thought in answering this question that I’d better be a bit careful. Hope you’re ok with that, Sean!

SPOILER WARNING! — SPOILER WARNING! — SPOILER WARNING! — SPOILER WARNING!

…Okay, all clear! 😉

There’s quite a stack of questions in the TIM Guestbook right now. My apologies for not getting to those today, time’s a bit short, but I’ll try to tackle ’em later in the week – I promise! 😉

In other news, yesterday (4th Feb) was the birthday of one of my very favourite authors, namely the awesome RUSSELL HOBAN. Here’s a link to The Head of Orpheus, a tremendous fan-site dedicated to the man and his works. Such is the devotion he inspires in his readers that some of them celebrate his birthday by picking out quotations from his books and leaving them in special places for people to find and (hopefully) discover about him. This now happens not just in London, where many of his books are set, but all over the world! [You can read all about that here.] And if you haven’t read anything by Russell Hoban yet, then I can hardly recommend him highly enough. His books are full of wit, warmth, wisdom and weirdness – the kind of stories you keep by you and treasure always. -Mr H., in case you’re reading this, I raise a tentacle in your general direction. You’re an inspiration! A very Happy Birthday to you!