It's one week until Eren comes out in paperback in the UK - and that sounds like a good excuse for a give away. I'm excited about the paperback - as well as looking absolutely beautiful (thank you, people at Atom), the book comes with bonus content; one of the Eren Tale short stories printed at the back, along with the story's artwork.
I think you'll agree, that's a Very Cool Thing.
For the next week, I'll be giving away two copies of the paperback here on the blog. I'll sign them, if you want, and send them off to the lucky winners. It's UK / Ireland only, I'm afraid (but if you're in the U.S., the book'll be out in hardback in October - right in time for Halloween. Oooh.)
So, here you go - it's time to win a copy of Eren in paperback. Good luck.
Yes. I know - it's been a while since I posted anything here. What can I say? Life keeps happening. I've found some time to write a brief update, though, mostly because so many Good and Exciting things have happened this month. I'm in the UK right now, and because of that I've been able to make it down to London for a couple of book-ish events.
First, the Children's Book Circle Summer Party. I hadn't really been planning on going, Jim Dean from YAYeahYeah told me it'd be fun, and he was not wrong. The get-together - which is, as far as I can tell, mostly to celebrate making it through the first half of the year without all of publishing going mad - was held in The Library, a club just off Trafalgar Square. It was noisy and packed and great fun. I hung out with David Owen, who wrote Panther, and managed to avoid seeing Marieke Nijkamp (This Is Where It Ends, coming out in January) mostly because it was a bit hard to move around. There were probably other people I didn't see, but that was all OK, because (for me) the party was really just a warm up for...
I'm a bit late in posting my YALC update, but... I don't care. YALC (Young Adult Literature Convention) is only in its second year, but that didn't diminish its popularity. The idea behind the whole thing is simple: Why doesn't the UK have a gathering focused just on young adult books? YALC was held as part of London Film and Comic Con and - for me - provided a calm and much more relaxed counterpoint to the chaos and vibrancy of the rest of the con.
It was awesome.
There's too much to share here, really, so I'll pick some highlights: Finally meeting Kat Ellis (Blackfin Sky), spending more time with David Owen, finally meeting Non Pratt (Trouble, Remix), seeing Patrick Ness and Ben Aaronovitch, visiting the Atom stand and finding paperbacks of Eren, seeing Cassandra Clare, meeting some readers (!), and - perhaps best of all - seeing how many people, young and old, were happy to spend two and a half days talking about their love of books. In a world with library closures and arts funding cuts, it's invigorating to see passion and honest love of stories.
For more of a feel, check out Booktrust's round-up videos:
So, that's what I've been up to. I will be posting something else exciting tomorrow - but until then, take care.
