Dan Smith's Blog, page 7
August 5, 2013
An Intense Red Winter
Just a quick post to say how pleased I was to see two great reviews for Red Winter over the last week.
The Times reviewed it on saturday 27th July as having a
‘superbly shivery atmosphere’
and then, The Sunday Times reviewed it just yesterday with the very quotable
‘Smith has fashioned a story of page-turning intensity that simultaneously possesses real depth of characterisation.’
The Child Thief even gets a mention as being ‘one of last year’s most gripping historical thrillers’!
I am, as you can imagine, very pleased with both reviews and, should they encourage you to pick up Red Winter (or The Child Thief), then I hope you enjoy reading it/them. If you’ve already got them . . . well . . . thanks and . . . happy reading!
That’s all.
July 23, 2013
Red Winter and Disneyland!
Red Winter is here!
Actually, it was officially published last Thursday, but things seem to have run away with me and I haven’t had a chance to shout about it yet. So here I am, shouting about it . . .
RED WINTER IS HERE!
I haven’t spotted many reviews yet, but there’s a good one over at Raven Crime Reads, if you want to get some idea of what the book is all about.
So, yeah, things have been pretty busy for the last couple of weeks. For one thing, we’ve been away . . . we took the children to Disneyland Paris for a few days and, well, here are a few things I learned from the experience:
1 Riding Space Mountain: Mission 2 is like being put through a washing machine (but fun).
2 Riding the Tower of Terror is terrifying (but fun).
3 Thunder Mountain is just FUN.
4 Magic hours are pointless – almost nothing is open.
5 Everything in the park is hugely overpriced.
6 Europeans would much rather push and shove than stand in a queue.
7 The fireworks/light show is fantastic.
8 The ‘cast’ members are grumpier than they should be.
9 Chip or Dale makes little girls cry by refusing to have a photo taken because it’s time for their break. (Yep, I saw it happen)
Does Goofy look scared to you?
10 Air France will bump you off your flight.
Oh yeah – a big thanks to Air France for turning the end of our great holiday into an ordeal by overbooking the plane and bumping us off. After hours of hanging around in the airport, with two young children in tow, we ended up spending a night in the Campanile, in the hotel graveyard on the outskirts of Charles de Gaulle airport, and then flew home a day late.
Zut Alors! and Pah!
Oh yeah, and . . .
RED WINTER IS HERE!
That’s all.
July 6, 2013
School’s Out!
Publication day is always a funny one. I mean; nothing really changes. Your book is out there, of course, ready for the world to see, but everything else is exactly as it was.
This is something that can sometimes leave debut authors feeling a little flat. After all the build-up and excitement of seeing your book in print, maybe having a launch, and then . . . well, and then you get on with writing the next one and hope that people will like what you’ve done.
And that’s how it usually goes.
My Friend The Enemy has been a little different, though. This feels like it’s had something of a fanfare, at least. With the super-organisation of the fantastic team at Chicken House, and the support of my brilliant publicist, I’ve been quite busy promoting the book. There have been some excellent reviews, I’ve been on BBC radio Newcastle talking about my books, I was live on Lionheart Radio ’School’s Out’ show yesterday, and I’ve been lucky enough to do some great school visits.
Needless to say, the first time I was faced with 200 year 7 and 8 children, I paled at the thought of keeping them entertained for an hour but, you know what? They were great – not nearly as scary as they look! And there’s the added bonus for them of missing lessons to come and listen to me.
There’s nothing better than seeing so many people excited at the prospect of reading my book and having them crowd round after the session, asking questions about being an author.
Oh yeah, and the organiser from one visit tweeted to let me know that a year 7 student described it as ‘the best day ever in school’!
So, here’s a MASSIVE thanks for the warm welcome at Churchill Community College and Cramlington Learning Village. Both schools were fantastic!
I have some more visits lined up for next week, some for the beginning of next term and there’ll be the Durham Book festival in October and . . . phew. It’s great to be busy.
So My Friend The Enemy is out there and now there are just another two weeks to go before we see Red Winter hit the shelves.
Two books published in such close succession . . . that’s pretty awesome, right?
That’s all.
Related articles
Book Birthday Interview – Dan Smith and MY FRIEND THE ENEMY (authorallsorts.wordpress.com)
June 27, 2013
Crash!
Well, it’s exactly a week until My Friend The Enemy is published and I thought it might be a good idea to whet your appetite with a little sneaky preview so . . . well, how about the first chapter?
Just close your eyes, say ‘My Friend The Enemy’ three times, and click the picture below!
June 26, 2013
Crash Landing Next Week!
Like a beautiful butterfly emerging from its cocoon, so I have emerged from Danworld!
Well. Maybe not a beautiful butterfly. Perhaps more like a pit pony. Bleary-eyed and confused. But – and this is the important thing – I have emerged!
Actually I couldn’t have finished editing God and The Devil at a better time, because things are getting a little busy round here. Of course, there’s the usual end of term stuff to organise for the children; speech days and sports days and this day and that day, but there are other things too because . . .
My Friend The Enemy is published next week!
I’m very excited to be sending my first book for younger readers out into the world. It’s almost like being published for the first time all over again, and is made all the more fun by a number of impending school visits which have been lined up by my fantastic publicist. You see, this is one of the great things about writing books for children – I get to meet lots of the people who will be reading my book and what could be better than . . . oh . . . oh yeah . . . I hope they like it . . . I hope they . . .
Ach. It’ll be fine. What, me worry?
Anyway, I’ve had a few great reviews from bloggers and, well, I know it’s a bit crass to blow your own trumpet, but I’ve put some links at the bottom so you can read them if you fancy a look.
Oh, and there was a great review in First News – the newspaper for 7-14 yr olds. My daughter reads it every week and did a double take when she saw the review for My Friend The Enemy. It’s my first review from a genuine-honest-to-goodness-child, oh yes it is, so that makes it really special. Particularly as the reviewer – Maribel Ercilla – gave me 5 shiny stars out of 5!
And, last but not least, I’ve just been down to the BBC Studio to record an interview with Simon Logan for BBC Radio Newcastle, so if you want to hear me embarrass myself on air, tune in tomorrow between 12 and 4pm!
That’s all.
Reviews . . .
June 11, 2013
Good Looks and a Warm Heart
Well, I’m still pretty much lost in Danworld, but I’ve sharpened my machete and the jungle seems to be thinning here. Snatches of daylight are visible through the trees. I’m knocking this story into shape and it’s starting to look good.
But that’s not what I came to talk about. Really, I just popped in to show you what came through the letterbox yesterday. I just can’t keep it to myself . . .
The first copy of My Friend The Enemy, in all its embossed, foiled and shiny glory. Those clever people over at Chicken House have done a fantastic job with the book and I think it might turn a few heads when it hits the shelves on 4th July. I don’t need to tell you, though, that looks aren’t everything.
It’s what’s inside that counts.
That’s all.
June 2, 2013
MAMILs, Lycra and a Book Birthday!
Whoa!
We get a bit of sunshine and then . . . BAM! . . . MAMILs take over. They’re everywhere. You’ve seen them, travelling in small packs. You know who they are. Maybe you even ARE one.
Middle Aged Men in Lycra.
Cyclists.
Scary.
. . . words fail me . . .
Sorry about that. I was distracted for a moment. I just opened the curtains and there they were, zipping past like peacocks in their bright colours and gel padded shorts and . . . oh, for the love of all things good in this world, can’t someone please invent some kind of modesty gear for these guys?
Anyway, what I actually wanted to say is that The Child Thief was officially released in the United States yesterday!
I was pleased to see it appear in the Los Angeles Times Summer Book Guide, and the New York Book Journal has given it a great review calling it a ‘ . . . straightforward, beautifully written thriller . . .’ And, Publisher’s Weekly says ‘From the arresting opening to the tense finale, Smith doesn’t hit a false note in this captivating tale of the power of the human spirit when pushed to the brink.’
So there it is – a quick bit of self publicity which is, hopefully, not too vulgar. I mean, I could have shown you a picture of men in lycra and that would have been . . . oh. I did. Yeah. Sorry about that.
Thats all.
May 28, 2013
Manuscripts Having Fun!
I filmed this a few days ago but forgot to post it on here so . . .
. . . here’s another example of those pesky manuscripts getting up to their tricks again!
May 27, 2013
Lost in Danworld™
A few days ago, my eleven year old daughter turned to me at the breakfast table and said, ‘You’re here, Daddy, but it’s like you’re not.’
Wow. That’s a serious shot of guilt, isn’t it? It’s not a scattergun blast of shame, but a direct, pint-point rail-gun shot of guilt straight at the heart.
My seven year old son followed it up with the double-tap that only a child can do properly. You know the one. The slightly raised eyebrows, the narrowing of the eyes, the tilt of the head and the sarcastic, ‘Yeah.’
So, now I not only have a mountain to climb in terms of editing this book, but I also have the added feel-bad factor of my children glaring at me when they ask me a question and I stare vacantly and say . . .
‘Wuh? Duh?’
You see; I am on an editing mission. I am deep in the foreboding jungle of next year’s book and I just can’t escape the trees.
I am lost in Danworld™.
The story is written – it’s there on the screen – but it just isn’t quite what I want it to be. It doesn’t 
have that . . . that thing I want it to have. That feel. So I need to fix it and I am obsessing. My wife tells me this is something I do with every book, but it always feels as if it’s the first time and I just can’t get this story out of my head. It’s there from the moment I wake to the moment I fall asleep, and even then it’s in my dreams.
All. The. Time.
I can’t concentrate on anything else.
I want to be able to gather it all up in my mind and spit it back out, fixed and gleaming and perfect. But I can’t do that. Instead, I can only remind myself of Samuel Johnson’s words and keep chipping away, one chapter at a time, one page, one sentence, one word. And when I am finished, it still won’t be what I want it to be. It won’t quite capture the mood I want to convey, or the complexity of the characters as I see them in my head, or the tension and turmoil of the plot, but it will be closer. Much closer. I will make it out of here. I really will. And when I emerge, I will be clutching a book that is ready to be seen. But, for now, I am in lost Danworld™.
I may be some time.
Oh, and Samuel Johnson’s words?
‘What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.’
That’s all.
May 11, 2013
A New Face for My Friend The Enemy
The fantastic team at Chicken House has been busy spreading the word about My Friend The Enemy and receiving a great response, which is very exciting! Thew book now has the backing of some big booksellers and clubs which will give a dash of that elusive support we authors crave for our books.
Anyway, one of the results of this is that there have been a few tweaks to the cover design. It still has similar imagery but the tone has been changed slightly.
The downside is that my good friend Graeme has just printed a pile of promotional postcards for me . . . but, y’know what? I think it’ll make the postcards more special. They’ll be a kind of limited edition. Which is good, right?
The upside is that it still looks great and it’ll really stand out – which is important.
‘Never judge a book by the cover’ is what we’re supposed to believe, but life doesn’t work that way. A cover has to appeal to the reader; it has to draw the eye, capture the imagination, tell the reader something about what they might expect to find between those beautifully printed covers. And that, I think, is what this new design does just as well as the previous design. Maybe even better.
So, here it is . . . .
Oh, and there’s still a little while until publication date – 4th July – but if you mooch on over to Goodreads, you can enter the giveaway and, you never know, you might win a signed copy.
That’s all.
Goodreads Book Giveaway
My Friend the Enemy
by Dan Smith
Giveaway ends July 04, 2013.
See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.
