Jonathan Stroud's Blog, page 70

Live Online Chat on Bartiforums

For years, Bartiforums has been the best online forum for fans of the Bartimaeus books. I’ve visited from time to answer questions, but this weekend I’ll be doing my first live online chat on the site. We’ll be talking about Bart, Lockwood and who knows what else. Join us on Saturday between 7 and 8 pm, UK time, at http://bit.ly/1bvN9OB. It’s worth logging on in advance to join and fix your password (easy) - hope to see you there.

Fantasy Worlds at Cheltenham!

Only a few days now until my public event at the Cheltenham Festival, alongside Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell. We’ll be discussing Fantasy Worlds, Lockwood, Bartimaeus, the Edge Chronicles, Wyrmweald and much else - it should be a fantastic day.

The event is on Sunday, 6th Oct, at the Parabola Arts Centre, at 4.15pm. For full info, and to get tickets, visit http://bit.ly/1bquzqY.

And Ptolemy’s Gate. The Ring of Solomon will follow later...

And Ptolemy’s Gate. The Ring of Solomon will follow later in the year.

Here’s the new Chinese Golem’s Eye.

Here’s the new Chinese Golem’s Eye.

The beautiful new mainland Chinese edition of Amulet, to be...

The beautiful new mainland Chinese edition of Amulet, to be published on 30th October. The artist is Shel.

Interview with Rick Riordan

A few weeks ago, Rick Riordan and I interviewed each other for the Amazon Kindle Daily Post, asking each other lots of questions about our experiences of being writers. It was one of the most fun and interesting interview experiences I’ve had. An edited version is now online at: http://bit.ly/187VSBS. I hope we can get the full transcript up as well, before too long.

Cancellation of US tour

You may have noticed I’ve been a bit quiet for the last ten days or so – no blogs or tweets or anything. It’s because we had a medical emergency at home. Last week, my daughter suffered a burst appendix, and was very sick in hospital. The good news is that she’s much better now – back home again and steadily recovering.


Her illness meant that I had to cancel my US tour after just one event – a talk at Barnes and Noble, Huntington Beach, CA on 16th September. This was a fantastic evening (see photos below), with ghosts, cobwebs, chains and cookies all laid on by Jeanne Ferrara and her brilliant team. It was lovely to meet old fans and new, and chat about Lockwood (and Bartimaeus). I’m just sorry that this, for the moment, will be my only American event. The plan, though, is to reschedule my US tour for next spring when I very much hope to visit the same stores and schools that I’ve missed out on seeing now.


So: big apologies to everyone who was hoping to come to one of the cancelled events. Hopefully I’ll see you in a few months’ time. Meanwhile I look forward to catching up with all the great Lockwood coverage that’s been going on, and to continuing work on book two. Plus: it isn’t long before the start of my UK and German tours. Can’t wait! I’ll fill you in on all the news from these very soon.

Checking our ghost-hunting equipment at Barnes & Noble,...

Checking our ghost-hunting equipment at Barnes & Noble, Huntington Beach.

An unexpected visitor attempts to join the event.

An unexpected visitor attempts to join the event.

Protective chains required at Barnes & Noble, Huntington...

Protective chains required at Barnes & Noble, Huntington Beach, CA, September 16th.