Jason Arnopp's Blog: Jason Arnopp's Blog, page 5

Jack Sparks: The Radio 2 Book Club Effect

On Monday September 5, I went on Simon Mayo's Drivetime show to talk about The Last Days Of Jack Sparksfor the Radio 2 Book Club segment. The Book Club only picks twenty-six books per year, so it was truly amazing when they so wholeheartedly embraced a scary thriller like Sparks.

Simon and everyone involved with the show couldn't be more welcoming. They immediately smooth over any last-minute nerves you might experience as you enter the studio. Before I had too much time to con...

Jack Sparks: Radio 2 Book Club Pick!

Sweet galloping Christ! My Orbit Books novel The Last Days Of Jack Sparks has become the latest selection of Simon Mayo’s Radio 2 Book Club.

This is a truly wonderful development, which will expose Jack Sparks to millions of potential new readers. And God knows, Jack was a duplicitous scoundrel who badly needed exposing. Thanks so very much to Simon Mayo, Radio 2’s book boffin Joe Haddow, The Reading Agency and all the UK librarians who helped make this possible. Yes, librarians,...

PANELS! Signing! Socialising! Chainsaw Juggling!

Okay, maybe not chainsaw juggling, but the first three are definitely happening this week and weekend at two awesome events. Apologies - I really wanted to present my picks for the most interesting panels at Nine Worlds that don't involve me. I would also normally endeavour to rave about as many of the other authors at these events as possible, but I frankly haven't had such a manic working week in a while, so I'm afraid time pressures have stabbed all these good intentions to death. You'll...

Not The Booker: I Got Ninety-nine Problems

Well now! I have no idea how this came to be, but my novelThe Last Days Of Jack Sparks has made the longlist of The Guardian's annual Not The Booker prize.

While the longlist has ninety-nine other books on it, I'm still very much amazed and delighted to find myself on there, alongside the incredible likes of Alan Moore, China Mieville and my Orbit Books stablemate Claire North!

The competition is stiff, to say the very least. I got ninety-nine problems, you might say. But the shortlist will be...

The First Award Of Jack Sparks?

Well now! I have no idea how this came to be, but my novelThe Last Days Of Jack Sparks has made the longlist of The Guardian's annual Not The Booker prize.

While the longlist has ninety-nine other books on it, I'm still very much amazed and delighted to find myself on there, alongside the incredible likes of Alan Moore, China Mieville and my Orbit Books stablemate Claire North!

The competition is stiff, to say the very least. I got ninety-nine problems, you might say. But the shortlist will be...

Held At Gunpoint By The Pope!

Hello! My supernatural thriller novel The Last Days Of Jack Sparksconcerns an arrogant celebrity journalist who finds himself in trouble with unseen forces, after he laughs during an exorcism in Italy, organised by the Catholic church.

So to celebrate today's paperback release, I want to tell you about the day my former journo self got into trouble with seen forces in Rome. Namely, the Pope’s armed forces. That would be nice, wouldn’t it? Yes.

Life sometimes throws up subtle signa...

Behold! The Jack Sparks Blog Tour

Hello! Step into my study, would you? You'll find it cool enough in here, thanks to the enormous electrical fan whirring away. This costly device also makes for a wonderful white noise generator if you happen to have a spot of the ol' tinnitus.

Now, whether you realise it or not, we're heading towards the July 28 UK mass-market paperback release of my novel The Last Days Of Jack Sparks.The March release was a mere soft launch, compared to this one. This new release is the big kahuna. The grand...

My First Book Reading, At Edgelit

I'd never done a book reading before, but this weekend's Derby Edgelit genre event has changed all that, oh yes. And no, despite the picture above, I was not on drugs. And neither was I eighty years old. HOW DARE YOU.

Book readings weren't necessarily something I've always been dying to do. Like many authors (I suspect, anyway), I'm happier for people to read the words I've written, vacuuming them into their own brains from the page. Depending on how you choose to approach the task of reading...

Edge-Lit 2016: Bookmarks & Babble

Hey, look at these brand new Jack Sparks bookmarks! I will definitely bring some of these to Edge-Lit 2016, the Derby genre event at which I'm appearing this Saturday alongside a whole constellation of star writers like Sarah Pinborough, Paul Cornell, Edward Cox, Alistair Reynolds, Emma Newman, Conrad Williams, Johnny Mains and many more. If you're at the event, stride up to me and pledge allegiance to Satan (or just say hello) and I'll hand one of these bookmarks right over. If you want one,...

Get Jack Sparks Half Price! Plus: Other News

Hello! Come on into my blog boudoir and for Christ's sake put down that axe. Here's the latest news on my authorly behaviour.

In five weeks on July 28, the mass-market paperback edition of my Orbit Books novel The Last Days Of Jack Sparks will be unleashed. In addition to the original cover blurb courtesy of the great M.R.Carey, this new editon carries a new quote from the one and only Alan Moore - 'A magnificent millennial nightmare'!

If you simply can't wait to read the book, though, the good...