Wheels Start Turning...

After my last, rather morose posting, I've decided to stop muttering darkly about lone magpies and bad omens and try and be a bit more upbeat about things. 

And besides, I've recently heard that Tesco are going to take a large number of copies of Alec Devlin: The Eye Of The Serpent for their book club. I'm so excited, I've decided to give you a glimpse of one of Julek Heller's fabulous illustrations. here are three hyenas looking well scary, I think you'll agree...

And yes, I know, it's a sad day when an author has to get all excited by the fact that his masterpiece has been purchased by a supermarket chain, but hey, these are hard times and Tesco are very influential in the book trade, so... bring it on, I say! 

I've decided to do everything I can to bring my work to a wider audience, which is why, in two days time, I'll be heading off to Southport, to speak to several hundred school children, in what promises to be an energetic sort of day. Actually, I love going into the schools and meeting the audiences, it's one of the nicest things about being a children's author.

I also heard this morning that Alec Devlin is finally going to press today, which means we'll soon have some advance copies to send out to those publishers who asked to see it at the Bologna Book Fair - and I think I can confirm at this stage, that it's quite a list. 

And from Random House, I've been picking up the first mutterings about plans for the launch of Alec D in August - some pretty exciting things, if the stories are to be believed, though I dare not mention any of them yet, in case they don't happen and I end up looking like a bit of a prat. 

Now, I understand this blog is mostly about Alec Devlin, but I have a bit of news about Sebastian Darke too. Both of the available titles have made it onto the SLA Boys Into Books lists. This is great news because it means they will be recommended to children all over the country. Prince Of Fools made it onto the list last year and I was thrilled because it's up there with classic titles like Treasure Island and Wind In The Willows. I'm currently putting the finishing touches to volume three, Prince Of Explorers and meanwhile, I'm hoping that I might just be able to persuade Random House to go for two more adventures to complete the series. Watch this space...