The Return of the Blog

This is my first post for quite a while. There are various reasons for that, but the main one is that this website had to be shut down for a time as it was infected with malware. Hopefully the problem is sorted by now, thanks to Crediton-based internet security expert Chris Underhill. If you’re reading this, it’s thanks to Chris, and if you ever run into similar problems with your own site, he’s the man to turn to – he’s been endlessly patient and helpful.

So the blog is (hopefully) back in action, but I don’t have much to post on it. I’m not writing anything at the moment, and the only publication in the forseeable future is the next Reeve & McIntyre Kevin book in late August – more about that nearer the time.

The recent half-term holiday saw the first performances of the Pugs of the Frozen North stage show, co-written and directed by Brian Mitchell, and performed by him and Amy Sutton and Joshua Crisp (of the Bard & Troubador theatre troupe). The cast are brilliant, Brian’s songs are superb, the friendly audiences made very enthusiastic pugs, and the show has been a great success, selling out venues in Sussex, Yorkshire and Devon. Here’s Sarah McIntyre’s account. We hope there will more dates around the country later in the year – more about that nearer the time, too.

Sarah McIntyre and I will be doing our own event at this year’s Oxford Literary Festival on Saturday 4th April, and later the same day I’ll be in conversation with authors Philip Womack and Frances Hardinge. I’ll be talking about Station Zero and the rest of the Railhead trilogy, and Frances will be focusing on her latest, Deeplight, which is a fantastic book and highly recommended for all lovers of fantasy or just good writing. Philip Womack is the chair, or referee, or whatever you call it (I’ve forgotten!) but I hope he’ll tell us something about his own novels, like the excellently eerie Darkening Path trilogy or the eagerly awaited Arrow of Apollo. I know the country is currently cursed with floods, plagues, and rail-replacement bus services but if you can make it to Oxford, it would be good to see you!

Finally, I’ve had to disable comments on the blog because I was getting too much spam, so if you do want to get in touch, Twitter or Facebook are the best places to find me.