Patrick Ness's Blog, page 36

Radio 3 appearance, eBooks, Australia and Monsters of Men

Very busy entry today.  I'm very near the end of my Australia/New Zealand tour (which has been brilliant), finishing up yesterday through tomorrow at the Somerset Festival, who have been excellent on all fronts.  Met some great people, too, including Jack Heath and a panel today with Markus Zusak.  My last events are tomorrow (Friday) and then I'm off on a well-deserved holiday and probably won't be updating this.

So, before I go, just to say that I'm part of The Sunday Feature this Sunday on ...

The wind keeps whirling - Auckland, now Brisbane

I've just arrived in Brisbane after a whirlwind couple days in Wellington and Auckland.  Great days, though, a couple of terrific school events (with lots of new comments from St Cuthbert's girls, hello right back).  I'll be doing the same in Brisbane, including one event open to the public on Monday night at Queensland University of Technology, Kelvin Grove Campus, Lecture Room N515 from 6.30-7.30.  Booking info is on ci.publiclectures@qut.edu.au, but I think you can just pitch up, too.

Later...

Me on TV

A friend found a link to my appearance on Good Morning, New Zealand.  Two important lessons learnt, though:  1) Lower your chin or you'll look haughty and 2) for God's sake, no matter how uncomfortably slouchy the couch, take a moment to smooth the wrinkles out of your shirt.

I'm on "Good Morning" on TVNZ tomorrow!

...so if you live in beautiful New Zealand, tune in!  I'm currently scheduled for 9.15am (that's Thursday, 11 March), but of course that's subject to change.  They do podcast their show for 24 hours, though (until the next episode is ready, I wager), so for tomorrow only, you should be able to watch it here.

The Sydney leg of my trip has just finished, too, culminating in a really enjoyable big event at Sydney University last night.  A big crowded room and met lots of great people.  Terrific f...

Sydney and Tasmania

I'm in Sydney now, having a quick stop here to visit a couple schools (including two this morning, Fort Street and St Joey's, meeting excellent students at both).  I'm also presenting at Sydney University tomorrow night (9 March), before jetting off to New Zealand for a couple days, including appearing Thursday morning on Good Morning on TVNZ, so if you're in New Zealand, have a peek!

I also spent this last weekend in very beautiful Tasmania, a place I never thought I'd ever get to.  Great...

Melbourne

...has been excellent.  A lot of great events with great groups.  Geelong yesterday, Melbourne city today and looking forward to the Dandenongs tomorrow.  I even got to meet April and Tess from the comment page, who were mortified at being noticed so i'm doing it again!

It's been brilliant meeting people and a lot of the new commenters are people I've met in the last couple days.  There's a lot so, deep breath, hello right back to Viv, Xavier, Kate, Kathy, Karlene, Alice (in italian!)...

Perth

Perth has been excellent.  Unbelievably hot (seriously, Thursday was 42C, 107F), but a very friendly, well-organised Festival with good, smart crowds.  A pleasure, even in the heat.  Everyone's funny and nice and helpful.  Not a bad part of the world at all, eh?

Plus, I took a boat ride out to Rottnest Island and got some Indian Ocean snorkelling in.  It's not a bad life.

I came back to the website to see a whole ton of new commenters, far too many to thank individually, so just to say that...

Australia/New Zealand tour starts this week

Thursday, to be precise, my first events at the Perth Writers Festival, followed by visits to quite a few places in Australia and New Zealand.  I'll be visiting quite a few schools, doing more than quite a few interviews, and will be doing a large number of public events that anyone can come to, so check out my Events page.

Can't wait to finally meet all you fantastic Australians and New Zealanders who've been writing in over the past two years!  Maybe even see some of you on Thursday.  In...

Interview on BBC Radio 3 and also leaving soon...

I'm leaving for Australia and New Zealand on Monday, so the updates here could slow down a bit pending travel time, wireless availability, a lack of desire not to come out of the sun...  But I'll be meeting quite of few of you in person anyway, so that'll more than make up for it.

Yesterday (it was done a bit early because of that very trip), I recorded an interview for The Sunday Feature programme on BBC Radio 3 to air on 21 March (don't worry, I'll remind you).  This one is presented by

Monsters US Cover!! Exclusive!

So exclusive, apparently, I need exclamation points!  But, yes, here it is.  The US cover of Monsters of Men.  I think it's pretty excellent and looks great lined up next to the other American covers.  Kudos to Candlewick, my lovely US publishers.

To have a look (and compare and contrast) at the UK cover, take a look here.  As soon as I have other covers from around the world, I'll share them, too.

And hello to the newest commenters:  Jeri, Ghausia, Ronan, James (you can always write me...