Just another chance for you to hear the audio version of the short story A Tall Tale again, click here to listen.

Had the privilege of going to the opening of a new school library in Dulwich on Wednesday night and read to the gathered govenors and teachers et al. They were all sat down on bean bags and on the floor and were ‘treated’ to a a splattering of poetry and Fynoderee. The loveliest part was having one or two people coming up to me, not just with kind words of praise, but excitment that this was the first time they had been read to since they were children.

I also approved of one teachers comments that he had tried to order in several childrens books that were now sadly out of print…..’Curious George and the High Voltage Fence’ and ‘Strangers Serve the Best Candy’….you can always rely on teachers to be un-p.c.

Some wonderful person has found and put up a terrific Alan Moore documentary called Monsters, Maniacs and Moore from the mid ’80s with thin white ties and everything. It was made just after his legendary run on Swamp Thing for DC and just at the start of Watchmen….as he was changing the face of popular fiction. Watch it here (there’s also a good song about ducks……I promise)

Been to a few very fun author evenings in the past fortnight. First with Susanna Clarke, the huge brain behind the huge book Jonathan Stange and Mr Norrell, a book a got so lost in whilst on tour in sunny Windsor, that I hardly spoke to anyone and was asked to leave a coffee shop because I’d only bought one cup in four hours. The perfect Victorian fantasy where a career in magic is considered as dull as a career in academia, except with far more dusty old books and dusty old men. The evening was made slightly more interesting with a fire alarm and the building being evacuated and a cold 45 mins spent on the street before the fire men decided it was something to do with the nano technology in the opposite building….

Secondly was an ever entertaining evening with Neil Gaiman at the Criterion Theatre, where we were treated to a reading from Stardust and a very amusing moment where a raffle bucket was handed around the theatre and people got very stroppy. Also managed a small moment with the man himself where I shoke one of his hands and forced a copy of Fynoderee shamlessly into the other, I won’t quote what he said but he seemed very pleased and used several flowery expletives….

Wonderful new site over at Pulp Secret, where you get the pleasure of watching three very funny guys be funny about funny things (oh and there’s comics too…or ‘funny’ books as their sometimes known).

I took heed of one of their recommendations and went and picked up the first issue of the terrifically titled The Mice Templar and oh-my-days please go and read it. It’s some sort of fabulous melting pot of ancient folklore, Richard Adams meets Mike Mignola. Glass and Oeming have brought us a true original that jumps off the page and has some of the most tense battle scenes that I’ve come accross since the early Terry Goodkind books. Oh, and did I mention there’s mice in it…a lot of them.

As the sun is still rising over Laxey and lending its light to the great Lady Isabella, I thought I’d pause and find a little pic for you…..

Autumn is slowly rearing it’s head in the city, and though few of you would have to guess, it’s fairly obvious it’s my favourite season. Fynoderee was started in the autumn and I’ll have pen in hand this autumn for it’s sequel. More news on that soon.

Back on English shores, after a terrific time on the Isle of Man full of walking and driving through the countryside and more walking….only to be halted by red tape and nasty signs declaring Foot and Mouth warnings (which thankfully haven’t grown into the horrors of a few years ago and double thankfully haven’t crossed the sea onto the island).

And my online absense for a short while has fortunately been due to writing a little more. Several things in the pipe, including some graphic novel work, more short fiction and work on the Fynoderee sequel (which may or may not contain these very steps where your author once jumped off and swam with seals)

Reading Steven King’s Dark Tower series and loving it, un-nerving and wonderful to be in the middle of a fantastical world and story that could jolt in any direction…part western, part urban drama, part sci-fi, part fantasy quest and part nothing like anything else I’ve ever read.

And on a lighter note, you probably know how much I like the spoken word and audio drama and comedy. If you know what’s good for you you’ll check out the wonderful new BBC Radio 4 series Bleak Expectations, wonderfully lampooning Dickens in a very Blackadder with extra sillyness kind of a way. Listen Here.

I’m flying back to my lovely island in the sea today, so if you happen to see a man who looks suspiciously like the photo opposite but with worse hair then do make sure to say hello to him and make him feel welcome and all of that.

The wonderful manx artist Juan Moore is holding an exhibition on the Isle of Man, if you happen to be passing go and see it….

another look at his fantastic Fynoderee pics, just ‘cos I love ‘em….

I’m not one of those folk who never read their reviews (I’d probably sit in a corner a stew with imaginary evil critics prodding me), it’s nice to read what people think of the work you’ve slaved over, and it’s especially nice if they’ve got nice things to say…..nice, nice, nice.

So here is a nice review from the young Sam Schofield, 12 years old from London:

I have been reading this book for two days now and am two thirds of the way through it. Overall I have really enjoyed it and can’t wait to finish it. I think this book is suitable for good readers aged ten to fourteen. I think it would mostly appeal to boys, but some older girls might like it.

The book is about evil creatures called Bugganes which lived on the Isle of Man many years ago, they were forced to go underground hundreds of years ago and are waiting to come back and take what they believe belongs to them. The heroes of the book who try to stop them are called Juan (who is human) Bea (who is a Fynoderee) and Sophia (a fairy) who comes into the book later. I think these characters are believable and I cared what happened to them. I could believe in the magical creatures as they keep hidden from all humans apart from Juan.

For the first few pages it was a medium pace start and it was a little confusing to work out who the magical creatures were and picture them in my mind. Then the plot started to get more interesting and I became engrossed. Although it is a slow start I think that the majority of readers would keep on going because the first few pages make readers think “What’s happening here?” and want to read on and find out if the creature is good or bad, and discover what he is doing.

I think the author uses good descriptive words that really paint pictures in the readers mind, but there is a good balance between dialogue, description and action. The plot is exciting-it reminds me of an airplane taking off. At first it trundles along describing one character, then it picks up speed and soars off as you become glued to the pages. I also liked the cover because it is mysterious and makes you want to know what is going on.

I would definitely recommend this book-I would give it 8 ¾ out of 10 so far, and please can I keep it until I’ve finished it!!

I have now finished the book and I thought it got even better, the plot was more exciting and there was a great climax. I would increase the mark I gave to 9/10, and I would definitely like read the sequel if there is one!

What a good lad.

And if you’ve any sense in knowing what’s good for you, go and see Transformers, truthfully the most fun you can have in the cinema without being asked to leave…..

When Juan is running through the school…I think it’s in the 3rd chapter of Fynoderee, he comes accross the school motto Disce Pati, latin for learn to suffer. I hate to be the one to break it to you, but that in fact isn’t the motto of the school Juan attends but the family motto of the Duncan’s, so yes it’s mine!…..and no, you’re right it isn’t very inspiring, but it’s the only one I’ve got so I’m going to be proud of it!…

Watched Spirited Away last night, having forgot what an extraodinary piece of storytelling it is. Hayao Miyazaki truly is one of the few original and outrageously creative folk-story artists the world has maybe ever had. I remeber about two years ago on film 4 they had a season of Studio Ghibli films on every day, so for a fortnight I watched nothing but anime….great memories brought back by this 10 minute version of Princess Mononoke (click here to watch).

This was written by an anonymous eight year old and put into a glass frame in the entrance hall to a school I visited several years ago….

One day people will touch and talk perhaps easily. And loving will be as natural as breathing, as warm as sunlight. And people will untie themselves, as string is unknotted. Unfold, uncurl like seaweed returned to the sea. And work will be simple and swift as a seagull flying. And play will be casual and quiet as a seagull settling. And the clocks will stop, and no one will wonder or care or notice. And people will smile without reason even in the winter, even in the rain.

The runic inscriptions that appear throughout the Will Faulds‘ art work (and Juan’s markings) in Fynoderee take their shape from the Anglo-Saxon rune work that can be found on such pieces as the Thames Scramasax the enchanted sword made by Beagnoth:

The simple angular shape of the runes originally came about beacause of the practicallity of inscribing them onto rock or wood. If nine twigs are placed in a certain pattern all runes will be able to be taken from that pattern; nine twigs and nine worlds…

“…for Woden took nine glory twigs. He smote then that it flew apart into nine parts,”

The Isle of Man is thick with the left overs from Norse-Celtic societies, most particualary, the Andreas Stones, depicting the myths of the Northern Gods and Ragnarok the “Destiny of the Gods”.

It’s all pretty rousing stuff. And to top it all off, here’s one of my favourite music videos of all time by the base and wonderful Sigur Ros, I feel it’s got quite a nordic feel to it. Click here to watch.