Teresa Flavin's Blog, page 4

A rather momentous change.

I’m writing this from my new studio in Leeds, West Yorkshire. Yes, Leeds! After many happy years in Scotland, we took the plunge and moved the whole kit and caboodle to lovely Yorkshire, including all these fabulous stones and shells I’ve collected in my travels. It meant saying goodbye to many friends and leaving one of the most stunning landscapes in the world, but we’re settling in another friendly city in a beautiful county. It will take me a while to get used to a completely new accent a...

Art inspired by The Blackhope Enigma!

I’m really pleased to post the winners of Whitburn Academy’s S1 Art Challenge! In May I spoke to all the first year pupils about The Blackhope Enigma after they had read the first four chapters in class. I was asked to set them an art challenge that day and I proposed an illustration inspired by the book. I was invited back in June to see the work in progress and when all the images were done, I helped choose the winner and three runners-up.

It was hard to choose one but I really liked the bir...

At the End of a Busy Spring

My silhouette along with that of a raven, my character Fausto Corvo’s symbol. Photo by M Barbour.

Was it only seven weeks ago that we launched The Shadow Lantern? I’ve had a rip-roaring ride around Scottish schools and libraries, from Aberdeen to Perth and Edinburgh, over to West Lothian and East Dunbartonshire, and back to Glasgow. It’s been fabulous seeing the response kids are having to all three books in the trilogy and I’ve had a ball answering some pretty astute questions. One boy even a...

My new websites!

It’s official! I have two new websites that are linked under one umbrella – or should I say tree? It’s taken months to get all the materials together for my new author site and to update my illustrator site, but I think it was well worth the effort.

It’s wonderful to have the sites ready in time for the launch of The Shadow Lantern on 1 May. I hope you’ll click here to check out my new landing page and navigate to both sites from there. Comments and suggestions are welcome!

THE SHADOW LANTERN Available to Pre-order!

UK readers, it’s only a matter of weeks untilThe Shadow Lantern is published by Templar Publishing! You can now pre-order the final book in the Blackhope Enigma trilogy online. I’ve made it easier for you by including some links here.


The Book Depository currently has it at a fantastic price and they deliver free worldwide.WaterstonesandBlackwellsalso have it in their online shops and ifAmazonis your bookseller of choice, you can find it there too.



As of this writing, it’s only 47 days till The...

THE SHADOW LANTERN cover reveal!

I’m pleased to announce that ace book blogger Serendipity Reviews is the first to reveal The Shadow Lantern‘s cover here. Once again, I’m thrilled with the fine workTom Sanderson of The Parish has done with the design. I couldn’t have asked for more appropriate and classy covers for all three books!

The Trilogy Is Finished!

It’s been a week since I said goodbye to The Shadow Lantern and wished it well on its journey to the printer. The next time I see it, the pile of papers that made up the proof copy will have been transformed into a bound book with another stunning cover. One small part of me feels a bit melancholy about finishing my characters’ stories, but mostly I am excited about the book launch and UK tour later this spring.

It still feels slightly unreal to have created three novels. If anyone had told me...

The 2013 Teen Choice Book of the Year

I just found out that The Crimson Shard, the second novel in the Blackhope Enigma trilogy (published in the US by Candlewick Press), has been nominated for the 2013 Teen Choice Book of the Year in the USA! Needless to say, I am totally thrilled to be on the nominations list with so many fantastic authors. The great thing about this award is that YOU can vote! And not just that, you can vote for your five favourite books of 2012 to be finalists (from the nominations or you can choose a book th...

The Year Ahead

Two weeks in and 2013 is looking pretty eclectic. Just the way I like it.

There hasn’t been any time for hibernating. I’ve just finished inking the interior illustrations for The Shadow Lantern and, any day now, the typeset script will come back to me for proofreading. By the end of this month, the book will be ready for reproduction and I will begin looking forward to the first of May, its publication date.

I’m also juggling a couple of other projects right now: a downright fun illustration co...

The Next Big Thing!

Last week children’s author and friend Lynne Rickards kindly ‘tagged’ me in her blog post called ‘The Next Big Thing’. I was one of five authors she mentioned – just as she had been mentioned along with four other writers in author Lari Don‘s blog the week before. Each tagged author answers some set questions about his or her current project and tags five more authors whose work s/he admires. This ‘meme’ has grown and grown in the children’s book online world and this week it’s my turn to ans...