Patrick Ness's Blog, page 27

Back from holiday!

So I'm back from holiday (hence the silence for a while).  A very nice time away involving quite a lot of rollercoasters.  Truly, it actually did.  Also a visit to Harry Potter World at Universal Studios Orlando, which is really quite good.  The set design is amazing, and they even sell Butterbeer (tastes a bit like cream soda; brilliant)!  I even bought a wand.  Professor Snape's.  Oh, yes, I did.

I'm visiting a school in London tomorrow and getting back into the swing of things, which are starting to heat up as the publication of A Monster Calls nears.  I've also got a couple of really awesome announcements in the near future, so lots of good things to come. Stay tuned.

I'm also back in the London Marathon!  My leg has been doing all right, so I'm going to give it a go.  I'm still running for Breast Cancer Campaign so please donate, if you're so inclined.

Greetings to the raftload of new commenters since I've been away (and yes, I do read every single one).  More soon.

Radiohead

Right, so since it was you guys (specifically Ben and Mark) who alerted me to the new Radiohead album, which I naturally downloaded today (and also bought in the special deluxe edition), I thought why not do my top 10 tracks?  Nobody might be interested but me, but hey, it's my website...  In no particular order:

The Gloaming, them at their spookiest.

Life in a Glass House, the laziest, scariest Dixieland horns ever.

Sulk, I love the way the guitar surges in the middle bit.

Anyone Can Play Guitar, from when they wrote (great) pop songs.

[nice dream], quite possibly my favourite ever Radiohead track.

Lucky, unless this one is.

The Bends, "fans" who now smirk at this as "early work" are twats.

Idioteque, epigraph to Monsters of Men for very good reason.

I Might Be Wrong, I coulda sworn I saw a light/Coming on.

Reckoner, gorgeous track from In Rainbows.

There's mine.  Very happy to hear yours.  Greeting to all the new commenters, great to hear from you all (even though I'm not sure I'm collaborating with a Dave, but hey, the year is young).  More soon, you lovely things.

Calm before the storm

Hey, everyone. SOOOOOOOO many new commenters since last time!  And how cool to find out about Radiohead's new album from you guys (which I genuinely did)?  Brilliant.

Not a lot going on that I can report lately, hence a bit of silence, but LOTS in the planning works for the publication of A Monster Calls in May, including public appearances and exciting stuff.  So stay tuned!

In the meantime, I'm afraid you're all asking far more questions than I can answer!  I do have more books to write, after all!  But I can say, that if you would like to write me a proper letter (as some of you have asked), all you have to do is address it to me care of the publisher of my books in your country.  They forward them on to me.

I'm going on holiday in a few days, so might stop in before then, but more soon, I promise.  It's all in the works.

Illustrator!

I finally, finally got to meet the brilliant illustrator of A Monster Calls in person today.  At last!  He's called Jim Kay and just wait 'til you see his illustrations.  Unbelievably good, and perfect for the story.  They're just incredible.  I can't wait for the world to see them.  And he's lovely, too, really nice guy.  Definitely check him out.  (For those of you who've been asking, more info about the book is here)

I've also got a few comments lately about how I haven't updated the Events page in a while.  It's true, I haven't, but that's just because nothing's firm on the schedule just yet.  BUT there are some very exciting things in the works, including in a number of different parts of the world (and England and Ireland and Scotland and Wales, of course), just nothing I can write down quiiiiiiiiite yet.  But soon.  As soon as I know for sure, you will, too.

Thanks to all the new commenters, some really cool things there lately (including your own iPod eps, nice stuff).  One of these days in the not-too-distant future, I'll get around to a re-design so you don't have to scroll through 1500 people to write your own, I promise!

Quick hits (and Lady Gaga)

A couple of quick hits today.  First is that the most, most excellent Meg Rosoff (whose books you should all have read!) says an extremely nice thing about A Monster Calls on her blog.  She's also dead right about Mal Peet's brilliant upcoming Life: An Exploded Diagram, by the way.

Second is that Monsters of Men was just announced as Runner Up in the Speculative Fiction category of the Independent Literary Awards, picked by independent book bloggers.  A very cool thing indeed.  Check out all their winners, some really good stuff.

I'm still resting my leg, but hopeful.  Exercise bikes aren't as good as running.  They just aren't.

Greetings to the new commenters, and as it's so brief today, I can answer two quick questions!  First is that the "theme song" to The Ask and the Answer (since all my books have their own private theme songs) was Intervention by Arcade Fire.  Not the lyrics so much, but the way the music builds and builds.  Second is that, yes, I do occasionally like me a little bit of Lady Gaga.  Good to run to, though I confess I do tend to prefer Little Boots for my synthpop needs.  More soon.

The 2nd month, all's well

There's a lot going on behind the scenes, and a lot of news about things to come (UK audiobooks for Chaos Walking are their way, for example), but not a lot I can/should report online just yet.  I did have another review in last week's Guardian, which not everyone has agreed with.  Such is life!  I'm afraid I do need plots to make sense, though, no matter how good the writing...

But as I've had private requests and enthusiasm for the iPod stuff I've been doing lately, and as I did an iPod of One for January, how about an iPod of Two for Feburary?  Amazing how many songs have sequels...

Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains), Arcade Fire - My favourite song off that album.  You can often hear me singing it (badly) as I run.

Two Divided By Zero, Pet Shop Boys - One of the great early PSB tracks.  Let's not go home, let's run away.

The Crane Wife 1 & 2, The Decemberists - Second Decemberists track in a row, yes, but this one's equally amazing.  Just so happy and yearning, I could cry.  And often do.

England 2, Colombia 0, Kirsty MacColl - "It is not in my nature to ever pick a winner/I always pick a bastard who would have me for his dinner"  She's missed, a lot.

Revenge 2, Eurythmics - "It has to be dangerous/It has to be refined/It has to be skillful/You need to take your time"  Yes.  Yes, you do.

Bonus track - Clint Eastwood, Gorillaz - See what I did there?

Greeting to all the new commenters.  Yes, absolutely, A Monster Calls will be coming out the in the US, due in September.  More soon...

German interview and mistaken identity

Just a quick note today to say first for all the German readers of Chaos Walking (called "New World" in Germany), that there's a brand new interview with me (in German!) on Lovelybooks.de.  Check it out. 

Second, I really did want to emphasise that this book is not by me.  It's interesting, this, I'm not - by some measure - the only Patrick Ness who's ever written books.  There was actually a female travel writer who wrote in the thirties who wrote under the name Mrs Patrick Ness, who was no relation to me at all.  There's also this book, which GoodReads (a really good site otherwise) has had on my page for ages, even though it was written many decades before I was born.  So, you can buy the ebay book if you like, of course, but it really was written by some other Patrick Ness.  Why not?  The more the merrier.

Greetings to the two new commenters (excellent French ones who of course I remember).  More soon.

Q

It's been a slow news week for me, mainly just resting my leg (I'm walking again fine, fingers crossed for a very quick return to running).  Otherwise, I've been writing and doing lots of planning for the release of A Monster Calls in May.  In the meantime, I thought, why not another EP from my own iPod.  So few songs begin with Q, let's do that, shall we?  I present to you the IPod of Q:

The Queen's Rebuke, The Decemberists - Off the staggeringly brilliant "Hazards of Love" album.  Basically, if you don't love this album, you can't be my friend.

Quand Vous Mourez de Nos Amours, Rufus Wainwright - Gorgeous. And in French.

A Question Mark, Elliott Smith - The chorus is only two notes repeated, but as in all the most superb pop music, they're the right two.

Queer, Garbage - "Hey, boy, take a look at me/Let me dirty up your mind."  Okeydokey.

Queen of the Savages, Magnetic Fields - A chirpy song on a ukelele about being in a love with a cannibal.

Bonus track:  A Question of Lust, Depeche Mode, this EP's had a pretty pervy vibe anyway, might as well close it out.

Enjoy!  Greetings to the new commenters.  More (proper) news soon.

A long week

It's been nearly a week since my last post, but what a very long week it's been.  Why?  Well, that's really none of your business, suffice to say the crutches (yes, the crutches) are temporary and - all things being well - my poor shin should heal up just fine.  Fingers crossed.

On the bright side, Japanese class was great!  Hajime mashte?  Patrick-dess.  Dozo Yoroshiku!  I'd write them in Japanese characters except 1) I haven't learned them yet (even in hiragana there are more than 70) and 2) my wee little web programme can't handle them.  Fun stuff, though.

I reviewed Kenneth Oppel's Half Brother in the Guardian today, along with Jason Wallace's Out of Shadows last week.  Two books you should definitely check out.  I've also just read an early copy of Mal Peet's Life: An Exploded Diagram, which is out in June and bloody brilliant.

In closing, welcome to all the new commenters, and for your kind attentions, I can only say, Arigato gozaimas.  Sayanora (which isn't quite pronounced the way we've all been taught...)

iPod of One

Hey, all, a few things to note today, including a review I wrote of the very fine new Children's Costa Winner and a terrific shout out on NPR last week.

But mainly, I'm moaning because a terrifically sore shin (of all things) made me pull up at the 10-mile mark of a 16-mile run today.  It'll heal, but it's annoying because I was feeling great otherwise.  Still, 13 weeks until the marathon (for which I'm raising money, feel free to donate!), so I thought I'd do another iPod EP from my own selection (which I listen to constantly while running).  In honour of still being in January, let's call this the iPod of One:

One, Metallica - Not U2's "One" (I never did like that song), but Metallica's grim, heart-murmur-inducing nightmare. 

One of Us, Joan Osborne - I still think "If God had a face/What would it look like/And would you want to see/If seeing meant that you would have to believe?" is actually a profound question.

The One You Love, Rufus Wainwright - If I could sing (which I can't) I'd never stop singing the twisting melody of verse two.

The Only One (I Could Stand), Waterlilies - If you're not paying attention, you think it's a love song.  It's really not.

One Life Stand, Hot Chip - Because you never get enough Hot Chip.

Greetings to the new commenters (especially my first native Hungarian reader!). Off to Newcastle this week to visit some schools.  More soon.