Patrick Ness's Blog, page 39

Gigs

Busy week!  Wednesday was the announcement of the Booktrust Teenage Prize, which went to Neil Gaiman for The Graveyard Book, thereby beating The Ask and the Answer.  But don't feel bad for me.  The Knife of Never Letting Go won it last year, after all, and then Neil said very nice things about me in his press interview after.  I'm good.

Then last night I went to gig by the brilliant Decemberists at the Coronet in south London.  The Hazards of Love is easily the best album of the year, and...

The Ask and the Answer in Sunday Express Best Christmas Reads

Well that sort of covers it, doesn't it?  Rachel Carlyle, in S Magazine for the Sunday Express, included The Ask and the Answer as an "award-winning must-read for this year".  Which is nifty.  She also included Helen Grant's The Vanishing of Katharina Linden, which I'm up against for the year's Booktrust Teenage Prize, which will be announced on Wednesday.

And all of you good folk who've been asking me what to read for the next 6 months until Monsters of Men comes out could do a lot worse...

Swindon visit

Had a fantastic visit to Swindon yesterday as part of the S10 Youth Festival of Literature.  What a great couple of groups I had.  Enthusiastic and interested and smart.  They've already left a couple comments on the Visitors page, too (hi, Faye and John).  An excellent day.

And there are a huge number of other new commenters, too:  Kendra, Jane, Rob, Virginia, Elizabeth (for a very thoughtful post), Rachel, Claire, Alison (with her nifty blurb game), Maddy and Sai, Laure (who's English is...

A world exclusive premiere - the cover of Monsters of Men

Now, here's a nice surprise.  Would you like to see the UK cover of Monsters of Men?  It's pretty cool...

Like the others, this just gives a slight impression.  The book itself will be black and the white printing will be on clear acetate sleeve like The Knife of Never Letting Go and The Ask and the Answer, with the Noise stretching all over the spine and the back, too.  Wait 'til you see it for real, it's awesome.

The US cover is also underway, and I'll debut that as soon as I can (it's...

Two award nominations for The Ask and the Answer

I just found out today that The Ask and the Answer has been longlisted for two very excellent awards here in the UK.

It's been nominated for the prestigious Carnegie Medal (along with 55 other titles, so a long longlist).  This is the award that's decided by children's librarians, and which uses the shortlist (announced this coming April) for their utterly brilliant Carnegie Shadowing Scheme, where thousands of young people across the country read and debate the books.  I was lucky enough to b...

Monsters of Men - the end is nigh(ish)!

Well, not only is Amazon already selling Monsters of Men as a pre-order several months in advance, they've also put up the first plot teaser.  I can tell you right now that it's not the final version, but as teasers go...

The cover is also coming together very nicely indeed, and as soon as I'm allowed to show that to you, it'll be here first.  An exclusive to this site, so stay tuned.  It looks pretty awesome, I must say.

And hello to latest commenters:  Peter (me, too!), SophieAnne, Frazer...

Two US Best Books of the Year Lists!

I just found out that The Ask and the Answer is on two Top Ten Books of the Year Lists, both very prestigious.  Nifty.

It's on the Amazon.com year-end round-up for Best Teen Books of 2009, with some seriously swanky company.

And it's also on the Publishers Weekly (the leading industry magazine in the US) Best Children's Books of 2009, one of the 15 fiction titles it selected.  Seriously pleasing all around.  Check out the other books, too, there are some interesting things to be read.

And in...

Those talking dogs

I keep having people that I must see Up (it's only just opened here in the UK) for a number of reasons, not least of which seem to be the dog collars which reveal very doggy thoughts, not dissimilar to a certain canine in The Knife of Never Letting Go.  I've also heard it's an amazing flick, so can't wait to see it for myself!

I've also just ordered Bellowhead DVD Live at Shepherds Bush for which I was an innocent concert-goer.  I shudder to think if there's any accidental footage of me...

Apparently, you can already order it

Back from meeting some very nice people over the weekend at the Cambridge Festival of Ideas, including Cristin who introduced herself on the train (Hi, Cristin!  And yes, I've already changed the title of Chap 14; it was wrong anyway).

I also had a review in the Guardian over the weekend of Dave Eggers' novelisation of Where the Wild Things Are, called The Wild Things.  It'll pretty much make you want to buy the original all over again.  No bad thing.

I've also just discovered that Monsters of...

Cambridge tomorrow and Monsters of Men news(ish)

Just a reminder that I'm appearing tomorrow at at the Cambridge Festival of Ideas on Saturday at 1.30pm.  I'll be in Lady Mitchell Hall on the Sidgwick Site at Selwyn College.  Like I said, I don't think you don't need to book!  You can just pitch up on the day (but do check the website to be sure).  Hope to see you there.

Also, lots of questions about release dates for Monsters of Men next year!  Now, I don't want to be evasive, but I also don't want to put things down too firmly.  I have...