Dan Smith's Blog, page 4

Stories and Dreams

Looking back, it seems that books were always an important part of my life. Or, rather, stories were. Y’see I would look for great stories wherever I could get them. In fact one of the things I remember most fondly about boarding school was watching the Saturday afternoon film, clutching a paper bag of sweets bought from the tuck shop. Mum and Dad kept all my weekly letters home which now bear testament to my love of those Saturday afternoons – my first letters tell them little more than the plot of the film I saw the previous week.

While my friends wanted to watch football on the tv, I wanted to watch the shows. The Tomorrow People, Doctor Who, Star Trek, The Invisible Man, The Six Million Dollar Man . . . stories.

And although spending so much of my youth abroad opened a daily door to adventure – from climbing volcanoes and trekking through the Sumatran rainforest, to fishing in the wilds of Brazil – the nights were long and dark and dull. No TV, no internet, no games consoles, no ipads, no cinema. So we used to read. Stories.

So books were entertainment, but they were also an escape from the daily grind of boarding school. Those precious ten minutes before lights-out were a chance for me to be somewhere else. Instead of lying in my bed, I could be flying through space, storming a machine-gun nest, riding across the desert, investigating a crime, or solving a murder. I could be anywhere, doing anything I chose, as long as I had a book in my hands.

As a teenager, I discovered Stephen King. I read ‘Salem’s Lot first, then raced through his other books like a crazed addict. The Shining, Pet Sematary, The Dead Zone, Christine, Firestarter, and on and on.

That’s when I wondered if I could do it too. Could I write my own stories? So I began to put down my own words. I began to create my own stories.

With those first stories came a dream – that I would one day be published. And nestling beneath that dream was something else. A dream within a dream.

‘Just Imagine,’ I used to think. ‘Just imagine how it would feel to have a book at number one, and right there beside me, sitting at number two, would be Stephen King.’

Well, it was only brief. Just one single day in a very specific category but, hey, a guy can dream, right?

 

That’s all.

Big Game is Big News!

Wow, it’s been a fantastic few days for the BIG GAME film!

If you’ve been looking at my Facebook updates, or following me on Twitter, you’ll have seen that the film had its first public showing at the Toronto International Film Festival last weekend.

Well, the audience loved it (of course) and were cheering by the end of the adventure, so that’s great news. Even better news is that the fantastic reception and all the gushing reviews have lead to a US distribution deal for the filmmakers.

All this, of course, is the best kind of publicity for both the film and the book which has been picked up now in over twenty countries and looks set for a January 2015 publication. Watch this space for updates!

Here are a few of the film reviews . . .

‘Big Game is clearly a winner.’

‘It is FUN with a capital F-U-N, and it is wildly commercial.’

‘Big fun that feels totally fresh.’

But you want to see something, right? You want to watch something. Well, Samuel L Jackson couldn’t be there for the showing because, well, he’ll tell it better than I ever could . . .

 

 

And here’s another little treat – the first official clip from the film . . .

 

 

That’s all!

Scottish Children’s Book Award

Earlier this year I was honoured to be asked to join the shortlisting panel for the Scottish Children’s Book Awards. Well, who knew there would be so many books to read?!

There were almost thirty books spanning two categories (8-11 and 12-16) and the competition was intense. For me, it was an excellent excuse to spend lots of time reading so many great stories. And after several weeks, the shortlisting panel met in Edinburgh for what I thought might be a heated debate, but in the end everyone was pretty much unanimous in their decision.

The shortlisted books are:

 

Age 8-11

Precious and the Mystery of the Missing Lion – Alexander McCall Smith

Pyrate’s Boy – E B Colin

Attack of the Giant Robot Chickens – Alex McCall

 

 

Age 12-16

Mosi’s War – Cathy MacPhail

Dark Spell – Gill Arbuthnott

The Wall – William Sutcliffe

 

Well done and good luck to all those shortlisted authors!

There’s more detail about the award on the Scottish Book Trust Website.

 

That’s all.

Patron of Reading

I’m absolutely delighted that Kings Priory School in Tynemouth has invited me to be their Patron of Reading! What on earth is a ‘Patron of Reading?’ I hear you ask. Well, a Patron of Reading is a school’s special, designated children’s author with whom the school forms a personal attachment. The author might be a writer of fiction, a writer of non-fiction, a poet, a storyteller, a graphic novelist or an illustrator. They will work with the school for a period of approximately three years to raise the profile of reading for pleasure with pupils, parents and staff.

I visited Kings Priory just before Christmas last year, and returned home with the buzz that only comes from a great visit. The staff and students were all so welcoming and there was a lovely feel about the school. On top of all that was an obvious love of books, reading, and stories in general. So, of course, when I was asked to be their Patron of Reading, I jumped at the chance, and now look forward to visiting the school and getting involved in all things bookish!

Oh, and I hope you like the freshened-up look to my blog!

 

That’s all . . .

Win Win Win!!

Over the past few days, I’ve been popping up on various blogs to share some thoughts about The Darkest Heart and Red Winter. There are still a few more days left to go, but I thought I’d make a note of the links here, just in case you’ve missed any of them. Oh, and yesterday’s post was an opportunity to win a copy of The Darkest Heart . . . don’t miss out!

 

Crime Thriller Girl - Win The Darkest Heart

Crime Fiction Lover - The dark heart of Brazil

Crime Book Club – Extract from The Darkest Heart

Trip Fiction – Travel and Story

Raven Crime Reads – The inspiration behind Red Winter

The Murder Room – Extract from Red Winter

Shots Blog – The beliefs and superstitions in The Darkest Heart and Red Winter

 

 

That’s all . . .

The Big Blog Tour!!

This month has already seen the UK publication of MY BROTHER’S SECRET and the US paperback publication of THE CHILD THIEF. But it’s not over yet . . . The next couple of months will be an exciting time as a few more Dan Smith novels emerge into daylight.

THE DARKEST HEART (UK hardback) 3rd July, RED WINTER (UK paperback)  3rd July, MY FRIEND THE ENEMY (US Hardback) 26th Aug, and LE VILLAGE (French edition of The Child Thief) 21st Aug.

But let’s not jump the gun. It’s now just three days until The Darkest Heart and Red Winter come out to play, so the fantastic Graeme Williams, Senior Marketing Exec at Orion towers, has organised a blog tour. For the next ten days, I’ll be popping up around the internet appearing on various booky blogs to talk about the two novels and the inspiration behind them. There’ll be extracts, a chance to win a copy of the books, and there’ll be music, tea, biscuits, murder, and monsters.

Today I’m talking about murder for $40 over at CRIME FICTION LOVER. Why not come and join me?

 

 

 

Chocolate Books?!

Friend and fellow Chicken, Fletcher Moss, has only gone and tagged me on one of these blogging memes. But, y’know, I can step up to the challenge. I can do this. Oh, and it doesn’t hurt that it involves chocolate and books, two of my very favourite things. The idea is to recommend three books in a chocolately kinda way, but seeing as I write books for adults and younger readers, I’m going to recommend six books.

Here goes . . .

White Chocolate – It doesn’t even taste like chocolate but has a creamy flavour and vanilla undertones. It can be a bit too much at times, but it always leaves you wanting just a little bit more.

 

The Maze Runner (James Dashner)

This book is Non. Stop. Right from the first page, it grabs you by the scruff off the neck and hurls you from chapter to chapter. You just don’t want to stop reading. You’ve got to know what comes next, you have to know what the grievers are, you have to know what . . . oh, it’s getting late and you’re tired and you’ve read far too much.

 

The Beach (Alex Garland)

Another book that makes you want just one more chapter. You can’t pick it up and have just one, because that wouldn’t be enough, so you keep on reading and then, whoa! That ending. When the book is done, there’s definitely an aftertaste.

 

Milk Chocolate – Milk chocolate comes in all shapes and sizes and has pretty much any filling you can imagine, so there really is something for everyone. It’s good at any time. Whenever, wherever.

 

Holes (Loius Sachar)

There are so many stories intertwined through this book, that there really is something for everyone. You will laugh out loud, you will reel in horror, and when it all clicks into place you will marvel at how brilliant it is.

 

 

Out of Sight (Elmore Leonard)

Oh, Elmore Leonard, with your books you are spoiling us! Every single one is brilliant. If they were chocolates, you could fill a box with them and put a menu on the inside of the lid. There’d be hard centres and soft centres, but non of the fruity ones that no one likes. Out of Sight is one of the best – hard and soft centred.

 

 

Dark Chocolate – Now we’re talking. Bitter. Sweet. Complicated. Delicious. This is the cheeky devil of the chocolate world. It lurks in the shadows and beckons.

Lord of the Flies (William Golding)

One of my all time favourite books. Ever. This is one for the top end of the young readers, because although it sounds like an exciting adventure – boys stranded on jungle island – there’s a dark and menacing side to this book. A bitterness that makes it all the sweeter.

 

 

The Road (Cormac McCarthy)

Another of my all time favourites, this is the best chocolate you can buy. High in cocoa solids, straight from the Incan temples of Peru. It’s dark, pure, and unrelenting. Everyone should try this at least once in their life, even if they find it too rich for their taste.

 

 

So now I have to pass the torch to the next blogger. Who’s it going to be? You’ll have to wait and see . . . watch this space.

That’s all.

North East Book Award 2013 ‘Highly Commended’!

When an author sends their work out into the world, what they really want is for people to embrace the book, to love the book, and find something in it that they enjoy. Doesn’t always happen, though. In fact, it’s difficult to even let people know that your book exists, and it’s easy for it to get swept along with all the other books, and disappear.

That’s why it’s so great to be shortlisted for something. It means people have noticed your book, and that they’ve seen something in it they like. So I was excited to learn that My Friend The Enemy was shortlisted for the North East Book Award 2013, along with some other fantastic books – Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell, Frost Hollow Hall by Emma Carroll, Poison Boy by Fletcher Moss, and Chasing The Dark by Sam Hepburn.

And last night was the Award Presentation Party . . .

What a great evening! Over 250 young readers came along and some of them braved the long walk up to the stage to introduce their favourite books – Sarah and Anna did a fantastic job of introducing me (and My Friend The Enemy). I spoke to them before the event and knew they were a little nervous, but no one would have known. They delivered their introduction like seasoned professionals. After our introduction, the authors each spoke for a few minutes, answered a few questions, and then it was golden envelope time.

Well, My Friend The Enemy didn’t win – that honour went to the very deserving Emma Carroll – but MFTE was picked out as the ‘Highly Commended’ book, so that’s fantastic. And what made it even more special was that the voting was all done by the young readers (not a panel of stuffy adults) and that I was standing in front of my home crowd!

So here’s a huge thank you to Eileen Armstrong for organising such a fantastic event, to Sarah and Anna for their brilliant introduction, and to all the young readers who came along to meet us and talk to us afterwards. It is, after all, those young readers who matter the most, and it was such a privilege to see them so excited about books and stories and reading.

 

 

That’s all.

No pressure, then

It’s that time again. The moment when I’m faced with the blank screen and have to fill it with words. I’ve written twelve novels in my lifetime. Six of them have been published. A seventh will be published in July (The Darkest Heart), with number eight at the beginning of 2015 (Big Game) and number nine later that year (I’m not telling you the title of that one yet!).

Despite all that practise, it never gets any easier. Writing something new is still a daunting prospect and I still wake up every morning wondering if it’s all going to come together. It’s that blank screen. The cursor just sits there and blinks as if it’s daring me. ‘C’mon,’ it says. ‘Impress me.’

So I’m trying to impress it, and I’m trying to impress myself. I’m also trying to impress my first reader, my agent, my editor and, ultimately, my readers. No pressure, then.

The great news is, I have an idea and I think it’s a good one. I even have a few thousand words down on paper. The story has life and it wants to go somewhere. I think I know where it’s going, but have no idea if I’m right. Maybe my characters will decide they don’t like what I have in store for them, and will take a new path.

I suppose I’ll find out soon enough.

What else? Well, I’ve been reading, reading reading! A huge box of books arrived a few weeks ago and I’ve been working through them in my role as shortlisting judge for The Scottish Children’s Book Awards. I feel very honoured to have been invited to sit on the panel, and have enjoyed reading so many fantastic novels. It’s going to be a tough decision!

Oh, and here’s a big shout out to all the brilliant boys and girls I met at Duke’s School in Alnwick a few weeks ago! I had a great morning talking about books with year 5, and hopefully inspired a few young readers/writers. Here are a few photos of the hard work they’ve been doing since my visit!

 

 

That’s all.

‘How’s the book doing?’

‘So how’s the book doing?’ people ask.

Well, My Brother’s Secret has been out there for a couple of weeks already. The world hasn’t changed – though I like to think it’s a slightly more colourful place for having my story in it.

But how is it doing?

I’m not even sure what the question means. Does it mean ‘How many have you sold?’ Does it mean ‘Do people like it?’ Does it mean ‘has anybody actually read it?’

I don’t really know the answer to any of those questions, I’m afr- or do I?

As it happens, there is a website. A rather lovely website called lovereading4kids which is dedicated to being the best recommendation website for children’s books. They do all kinds of great things like provide downloadable book extracts, books of the month, book trailers, author comparisons and, of course, expert reviews. But . . . and here’s the best bit . . . as well as having a panel of adult experts, they also have a children’s reader review panel.

That means young readers review the books. And who better to say what they think of books written for young readers?

I’m pleased to say that My Brother’s Secret has been selected as a Book of the Month, and a number of the young reviewers have already read it and, so far, it seems to be getting the thumbs up.

Have a look . . .

‘A brilliant book full of breath taking moments. I couldn’t put it down!’ Benjy Randall, age 10
‘My Brothers Secret is a gripping novel that will make you want to stay up late and finish it. Ten out of ten…it was as though the book had sprouted arms and was never letting me put it down. ‘ Stuart Philpot, age 10
‘My Brother’s Secret was riveting, and I did not want to put it down, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.’ Ellen Faulkner, age 12
Rory Faulkner, age 9 – ‘a mixture of exciting and at times scary and it really gripped me…I definitely recommend you read this book.’ Rory Faulkner, age 9
‘World War Two from another perspective. Karl is in the Junior Hitler Youth, but his older brother Stefan is a pacifist. Their father is killed at war, and things start to change. I loved this book.’ Ellie Frost, adult
‘I loved this book and I learned a lot about how Germans thought during World War Two…They cared about their country and their friends and family.’ Eloise Mae Clarkson, age 11
‘GREAT READ – you won’t be disappointed. I have read a Dan Smith book before and his detailed writing style continues into this book, this detail enables you to imagine that you are right at the side of Karl.’ Rose Heathcote, age 15
‘A gripping book full of adventure and sadness.’ Traviss Chaytors, age 11
‘The book is interesting as it tells you lots about the war from the view of Germans rather than the British…I really enjoyed reading this book although it was sad in places.’ Alice East, age 9
‘I really enjoyed this book and became fascinated by WWII. You learn that not all Germans behaved the same and I was surprised how I ended up feeling about the German boys. I highly recommend it!’ Annie Coffman, age 10

 

You can read the full content of these brilliant, well-written reviews here. What better recommendation could there be?

 

That’s all