Patrick Ness's Blog, page 24

Songs based on A Monster Calls

Quick hit today to say that the awesome event I got asked to do at Mr B's Book Emporium in Bath last week included The Bookshop Band singing two songs they wrote based on A Monster Calls.  And now you can see them, too.  One song is here, and the other here.  How cool to have someone write songs based on a book you wrote, eh?  Nifty.

Also, check out this "It Gets Better" video from a bunch of US children's authors and illustrators.  It really does, you know.  Take it from me.

First US review (and it's a good 'un), plus a Twitterview (or whatever they're calling it)

The first official US review of A Monster Calls is in Publisher's Weekly today.  And it's very, very good, gosh!  A starred review (which is great) and lots of very nice things to say.

Also had a really good review in the Irish Independent over the weekend, so I shall now go and say bad things to myself in the mirror, lest I get a big head.  Ah, a big head!  That's a good place to start...

On Wednesday, I shall be doing an interview on Twitter from 1.30-2pm BST with the Carnegie Shadowing Group at Roundwood Park School, the day before the winner of the award is announced.  To have a look, follow both me on @Patrick_Ness and them on @RPS_Library and look for the hashtag #nessvisit. 

Greetings to the new commenters and, as always, more soon...

A Monster Calls on Irish TV (and radio!)

A real quick hit to say that the excellent Kim Harte was on this week talking about a couple of books for young readers, including A Monster Calls, so check that out .

There's also a podcast of me on RTE's Arena programme, and another where the panelists do a big, long review of A Monster Calls (though in the second one, they do get Jim's name wrong; it's Jim Kay), so check 'em out!

Greetings to the new commenters (and tons of writing tips here), more soon...

Edinburgh Fest and Carnegie Medal coming up

I can't believe how slack I've been on updating this lately, but I've been VERY BUSY with all the stuff for the publication of A Monster Calls.  I do have some things upcoming, though.

I've heard rumblings that my event at Mr B's Book Emporium in Bath on Thursday may be sold out, but give them a call and see.  In the meantime, I'm doing two events at this year's Edinburgh Festival. The first is a solo one about A Monster Calls on Saturday, 20 August, at 3.30; the second is a panel with Moira Young the next day, Sunday, 21 August, also at 3.30.  Hope to see you there at both.

In the meantime, Monsters of Men has, as you probably know, been shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal.  The winner is announced next Thursday, so fingers crossed!  But check out the Carnegie Shadowing Site.  There's video of me and lots of reviews of all the books.  A good site.

Also just to say again that you don't need an e-book reader to read the free Chaos Walking prequel short story "The New World".  Just go to this site and download it as a pdf.  Free for all fans of the books.

Thanks to all the commenters from all over the globe (and the poets, too).  Much more soon...

Event in Bath and Korean covers!

I've got a public event coming up next week at Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delights in Bath, on Thursday, 16 June, at 7pm.  These are a really different kind of author event, so take a look.  Tickets are very limited, but give them a shout for more info.  Hope to meet some of you there.

I've also just go brand new covers for the Korean versions of Knife of Never Letting Go and The Ask and the Answer, plus the Turkish version of Ask.  I'd love to hear from readers of both.

In the meantime (and completely un-book-related because I do get weary of only seeming to write about book stuff lately! I'm a person! I'm interested in lots of things!) here's the happiest 4 minutes of music you'll ever see in your life.  Greetings to the new commenters (I do read them all), and (much) more soon...

In so many languages...

It's been a bit, hasn't it?  Sorry, but very, very busy and travelling and promoting (and writing!  Don't forget that).  In the meantime, there's been such a lovely flood of reviews for A Monster Calls on some terrific blogs, including Capricious Reader, Jess Hearts Books, It's a Book Thing, Ficsation and The Book Smugglers (and others I'm sure I've missed, sorry!). 

There's also, just today, a really nice review by a young reader on the Guardian Children's Book website.  Nice stuff.

I've also had a flood of copies of Chaos Walking in other languages!  At the moment, you can check out one, two, or all three of the books in French, German, Italian, Spanish, Turkish, Swedish, Hungarian, and most recently, Korean (which I'd love a link for), Slovenian and now Bulgarian.  With more to come, including Czech, Serbian and Hebrew very soon.  I'm always DELIGHTED to hear from readers who've read me in translation.

Greetings to all the new commenters from around the world (and I've been to Canada several times, but can't make any promises about the biting).  Much more to come in the weeks ahead, just you wait and see.

Back and off again

Well, I'm only back from a short holiday and heading out again!  So a quick hit.  My next trip is tomorrow to the Hay Festival for my event with the superb David Almond on Saturday at 5.30pm.  Hope to see some of you there!

And there've been some excellent articles and reviews on A Monster Calls, including one in the Irish Times magazine (with a photo of me that isn't what I choose to think I look like, but there you go, can't have everything), and reviews in the Times and the Sunday Times, where it was Children's Book of the Week.

There was also this interesting thing in Total Film.  Hmm....

Don't forget to follow me on Twitter (@Patrick_Ness), greetings to the new commenters, and I'm off again...

Full blog tour details and Hay

Okay, I really am travelling, starting any minute now, so this'll be the last update for a little over a week, but I made a mistake last week about the blog tour for A Monster Calls and wanted to get it all correct here.  It's eight blogs, each containing a successive extract from the opening of the book (so you can read several chapters!) and visit some great blogs on the way.

It kicked off on Undercover Reads, with the first extract on Mountains of Instead (which also has an interview with me), then Serendipity, Wondrous Reads, Empire of Books, the Crooked Shelf, back to Undercover Reads, then My Favourite Books, then on my Waterstones author page and finishing up on Booktrust.  Check 'em out!

And a reminder that I'm appearing at the Hay Festival with the excellent, excellent David Almond on 28 May at 5.30pm, so hope to see some of you there.

I also received my first copies of Monsters of Men in French yesterday.  It's called La Guerre du Bruit and looks great!  And now I'm off, more in a week or so!

Travelling and more reviews

Just back from a great week in the Midlands (where I spoke to schools in Coventry, Solihull and Birmingham and had a terrific public event in Dudley) and Ireland (where there was a really fun launch party and an event at Easons in Dublin).  I got bumped from Irish TV for a breaking story about security for upcoming visit by the Queen, but that's how live TV goes...

While I've been away, there have been some really fantastic reviews for A Monster Calls in The Daily Mail, the Guardian, the Independent, the Irish Times and Bookbag, plus some terrific blog reviews on Jess Hearts Books, Serendipity and Things Mean A Lot and a bunch of others that I hope you seek out.  Really nice stuff.

I'm travelling (again) this week, so no updates for a bit.  But I'm recording a piece for Arena on RTE1 in Ireland tomorrow, so listen out for that sometime soon.  Greetings to the new commenters including my Bulgarian translator (nifty!).  I'm sorry I can't answer all your questions but I do read them all.

BBC Scotland, podcasts, more

Frantic week!  Jim Kay (brilliant illustrator of A Monster Calls) and I look to be on Book Cafe on BBC Scotland today at 1315.  In the meantime, the podcast of Open Book with me chatting to Mariella Frostrup is online; I start about the 21.40 mark.

Touring this week, so don't forget my free events in Birmingham tomorrow night (10 May) and in Dublin on Thursday night (12 May) at Easons.  Details here.  Scroll down for even more...