The complete and unabridged books come in a lovely package of 3 CDs, and the story is narrated by actress Jilly Bond. Jilly’s superb reading brings Lizzy’s story vividly and excitingly to life, to the point where I found myself getting completely engrossed, even though I already knew what was going to happen!

The first two titles are now available in Oakhill’s catalogue, at £20 each.

THE SILVER DOLPHIN – ISBN 978-1-84648-564-0  (COCD 068)

Playing time 2 hrs 56 mins

THE BLACK PEARL – ISBN 978-1-84648-649-4  (COCD 081)

Playing time 2 hrs 45 mins

Here’s what David has to say about the bibliography’s contents:

*           Complete, up-to-date listing – includes every book & story ever published (together with forthcoming titles/editions)

*           All appearances in collections, anthologies & magazines

 *           Detailed information on over 300 editions, including all English-language & numerous foreign editions

 *           39 pages including appendices & index

 Anyone who would like to know more can contact David at lordofnotime@btinternet.com. All I can say is, thank you, David!

Well, I knew it was going to be great… but not as great as this! The “Trolls et Legendes” fantasy festival took place in Mons, Belgium, on the 11th and 12th of April, and I can honestly say that it was-no pun intended-one of the most fantastic events I’ve ever attended!

I was invited as a guest author by the lovely people at Bragelonne, who publish French language editions of Time Master (Le Maître du Temps) and Chaos Gate (La Porte du Chaos), and for two days I signed books, met a host of readers and participants, and was dazzled by the fabulous array of art, costumes, performances and just about everything else connected with fantasy that anyone could think of. Cas came with me, which made it even better, and came back with two souvenirs that he found among the many amazing trade stalls-a drinking horn and (believe it or not!) a kazoo! It was also our first experience on travelling on the Eurostar cross-channel train, which was terrific.

But the most exciting moment of all came on the Sunday afternoon. My French is wonky at best, so when Christophe, proprietor of Les Quatre Chemins (the bookshop in Lille who organised the signings and looked after me as if I was royalty!) asked me-or so I thought-to present the festival’s Literature Award at a special ceremony, I said, of course, I’m more than happy to present it. “No, no,” said Christophe; “I didn’t say present it, I said be presented with it. You’ve won it!” To coin a phrase, you could have knocked me down with a feather! So I’m now the thrilled possessor of an exquisite figurine designed by French fantasy artist Sandrine Gestin. That’s also a lovely piece of synchronicity, as Sandrine has created two covers for me, which grace Nestiveqnen’s French-language editions of Sacrament of Night and Our Lady of the Snow. I met her for the first time at the festival, so was able to thank her personally. The award is a great honour, and the figurine-of course-has pride of place on my desk. I even managed most of my acceptance speech in French. I don’t know how much of it made sense, but I’ll put that down to excitement!

So it’s huge thanks to Leslie, Christophe, Morgan, Valerie and everyone else who made the festival into a truly magical experience. Cas and I came back to Cornwall on the overnight sleeper train from London, and the final touch of magic was waking during the night and looking out of the window to see the moon sailing high in the sky above the sea as the train passed the South Devon coast.

Here’s a mini-gallery of photos, from the weird to the wonderful…

Signing another book!

One very proud author…
and the award figurine

Musicians of legend – and very good they were, too

Wood spirits

Creatures of every description were there, from monsters to warriors – and even a steam-age centaur!

P.S. Simba asks me to tell all his friends that he had a great time while we were away. His friend Kim house-sat for us, and she spoils him even more than Diana-next-door does, which is saying something!

Spring has arrived! About time, too, as we’ve had one of the gloomiest winters here for some years. There’s a joke about a holiday visitor who, after 10 days of teeming downpour, gets talking to a local small boy and asks him, “Does it ever stop raining in Cornwall?” The kid shrugs and replies, “How would I know? I’m only eight.” That about sums up the last few months-oh, and not forgetting the days of hard frosts (unusual in Cornwall) and even snow that didn’t melt within 24 hours but settled and stayed. Being an optimist, I tried to find a bright (?!) side to look on, such as the fact that I wasn’t tempted to go and play outside when I should have been writing. Now, though, we’ve had a week of sunshine (OK, it’s bucketing with rain again at the moment, but that’s not the point!), the days are getting longer and longer, and everything in the garden is growing like crazy. Especially the weeds…

A magical experience in Spain

Cas and I recently returned from a week in Barcelona, where we were invited as guests of the British Council, who run the “BritLit” project-a fabulous scheme to provide material for teachers of English to students in Spanish schools. I was a speaker at a teacher’s convention, and also visited several schools as guest author, where Cas and I held double-act workshops using my words and his art. The students have been using stories from my “Short and Scary” children’s collection. One class had written new takes on old fairy tales, which they read (or in some cases performed, complete with sound effects) before presenting me with a gorgeous book of the stories, which they had produced themselves. There’s some real talent out there-the tale of “Little Red Surfing Bikini”, for instance was very apposite for someone living where I do. J And at another school, we were treated to an afternoon of short plays and video movies based on my stories. The interpretation of “The Girl in the Picture”, complete with two new (and hilarious) hippy characters had me clutching my sides with laughter, while the darker tales “Come Back” and “Scary Story” were spine-chilling and produced some genuine shocks. Watch out, Hollywood!

It was my first visit to Barcelona, and I loved it. It’s very beautiful city, and the wealth of astonishing architecture by the magnificent Gaudi gives it a special quality that grabs at the soul of any lover of fantasy. Visiting Parc Guell, designed by Gaudi, was like stepping into another world. And the sound-and-light display at the magnificent Montjuic fountains is an experience that everyone should have once in their lives. The photos I’ve included here can’t do it justice, but might just give a flavour…

Books Online

After some unexpected delays, I’ll soon be re-releasing the eBook of Lord Of No Time, the novel I wrote in the 1970s that gave rise years later to Time Master and its companion trilogies. For various technical reasons it’s been off the market for a while, but now it’s coming back in a new edition with additional (and also brand-new) illustrations by Cas. Because the new edition has been made in-house, I’ll also be able to offer it at a lower price than before.

 Lord Of No Time will be issued in PDF format, and following it will be another title of mine-my very first published novel, The Book Of Paradox. Paradox has been out of print for more than thirty years, and I’m absolutely thrilled to be able to turn it into an eBook and make it available as a downloadable PDF through our own Dancing Mackerel imprint. I’ll post full details here as soon I have a release date.

 Still more eBook news (it’s all happening at the moment!) is that Puffin will be issuing eBook versions of my Sea Horses and Mermaid Curse children’s quartets. I’m especially delighted by this, as it will make the books much more easily available to readers around the world, including the USA where I know the printed editions are hard to find.

For those who are waiting for further news of The Angel Of Vengeance, as mentioned in my journal a while back, I’m afraid there’s a snag with the planned eBook. A section of the original manuscript, which I found buried among some ancient scrolls (J), has gone astray-again. I KNOW it’s somewhere in the house, and I WILL find it! But it’s put back my eBook publication plan for this title, so apologies to all, and I hope you can bear with me.  

Festival of Fantasy

Are any of you going to the Trolls et Legendes festival in Belgium on the 10th-12th April? If so, I’ll see you there! Bragelonne, my lovely French publishers, have invited me to what looks like being an absolute dream of a convention for all lovers of epic fantasy. The festival covers every imaginable aspect-literature, music, cinema, gaming-Guests of Honour are Brian and Wendy Froud, and I’m also looking forward to catching up with some old friends; fellow-author Stan Nicholls, and Robert Gould, who created the original, magnificent Time Master covers. You can find out more at www.trolls-et-legendes.be. Take a look-it’s breathtaking!

All in all it’s going to be a busy spring and summer, as after Belgium we have a growing list of Falmouth Shout shanty-singing gigs, the annual Shanty Festival in June, and… gulp!… the re-roofing of our house. There will also be some new editions from Mundania Press; following the recently issued Star Ascendant and The King’s Demon, Eclipse and Sacrament of Night are scheduled for publication soon. And I hope to have some news on short-story downloads before long, too. One way and another, I don’t think I’ll have time to twiddle my thumbs!

With that in mind, I’d better go and move Simba off my new printer so that I can do some work… (see his latest Blat for more on that subject! J) 

 Mwow, everyone.

 My two-legs have been away for a while, and Diananextdoor looked after me. I like Diananextdoor. Her real job is as Miss Bella’s servant, but Bella gave her permission to put in some extra hours giving me food and games and cuddles. I call that very gracious. Of course I could have gone to Barcelona too, but to be honest I’m not very keen on travelling. No, I’ll rephrase that: I HATE travelling! If I have to go to the v** (sorry, can’t bring myself to say that word!), then as soon as I’m put in the carrying basket I just YOWL, and I don’t stop until I’m back home again! Well, do you blame me? I mean, it’s not dignified, is it? It wouldn’t be so bad if the travelling conditions were better-a basket the size of the two-legs’ bed, say, with velvet cushions and a lovely dish of raw steak to distract me.

            Since my two-legs returned, they’ve been working nearly all the daylight hours in the garden. I must say it needed it; everything was getting very overgrown. But they do make it unnecessarily complicated. They ought to let someone sensible, like me, redesign the whole thing. Then they could have catnip trees, a catnip hedge, catnip beds, topiary catnip, bonsai catnip … it would make their lives so much simpler! And I was particularly annoyed when that lovely pile of old leaves and grass mowings was “cleared up” (as they call it) and taken away. I used to like sleeping on that!

            Actually, though, I have got a new and special cat seat. Louise bought it for me, and put it on her desk beside the screen thing with the moving pictures on it (she works the pictures herself, with something she calls a Mouse, though it certainly isn’t like any mouse I’ve seen. I mean, it doesn’t even squeak when I pounce on it!). Where was I? Oh, yes: my new seat. I didn’t know what it was at first. It’s a sort of silvery-grey colour, very square, with compartments that open, and when Louise fiddles with it, it makes whirring noises. So I sat on it-purely in the interests of research, of course-and as soon as I discovered that it was just the right size and shape for me to curl up on, I understood. The compartments are obviously for storing food and toys, while the whirring noises are electronic purrs to make me feel at home. And when it gets warm as well as whirring-what luxury! I think it’s a very clever design.

            I thanked Louise with my very best purrs and nose-rubs. She said something that I didn’t quite understand (human languages are very garbled compared with Cat!) but it sounded like, ‘Look, I know you like sitting on it, but it’s my new printer and I want to USE it sometime…’

Anyway, she’s put my favourite blue blanket on top of it, so I think, roughly translated, her words meant ‘My pleasure’ !

For all my fans, here’s a picture of me on My New Seat. Arty, or wot???

Prrrrewew till next time,

SIMBA

I’m slowly coming back to something like normal—perhaps I should say back to life—after recent events, and starting to feel more like myself again. Thank you to all who sent me such kind messages after my Mum’s death. I appreciate your warm wishes very much indeed.

In the wake of all that’s happened, Cas and I felt in need of a break, and our chance came at the Tall Ships Festival, which this year took place in Falmouth, not far from where we live. The festival marked the start of the Funchal 500 race, and the sight of the magnificent sailing ships, some recently built and others genuinely old, setting out for the open sea was something to be remembered. We’ve recently got our own boat (haven’t told you that before, have I?). She’s just—and I mean just!—big enough to sleep on, so we took her to Falmouth and stayed there for the festival week. Falmouth Shout, the shanty group we belong to, were taking part in the fun. We sang our socks off for five days! Any more and I think we’d have been reduced to miming along to our CD!

Here are some photos, which I hope will give you an idea of the lovely atmosphere, beginning with our lottle boat… and me!

Falmouth Shout at an evening gig (I took the photo, so I’m not in it!)

A magnificent Tall Ship passes the lighthouse on St Anthony’s Head

Now, writing news! I’m delighted to say that The Golden Circlet, the fourth and final book of my “Mermaid Curse” children’s quartet, will be in the shops on October 2nd. This completes the story of Lizzy and Kes, and their efforts to thwart the evil mermaid Queen, Taran, in her bid for ultimate power. As always, Puffin have come up with an absolutely superb cover! (Ah! I tried to upload it but for some reason it won’t… Sorry about that!) If you’d like to get yourself a copy, the ISBN number (which makes ordering easier at bookshops) is 978-0-141-32228-5.

And this week sees the publication of L’Usurpatrice – the French language edition of the second Chaos Gate volume, from  Bragelonne. Again, another superb cover! People keep asking me for Ygorla’s ‘phone number… but I’ve warned them that they might get more than they bargain for if they ask her for a date!

I hope to have more news about further publications before long. In the meantime, I’m working on some new ideas; and one in particular that I think might be just a little bit different. Not wanting to tempt Fate, I won’t say more yet. But I’m planning a very active winter, writing-wise. Oh, and so is Simba. Well, when I say “writing”, in his case it means dictating the next episode of his Blat to me, as he hasn’t mastered the computer keyboard yet. In fact he’s beside my chair now, giving me That Look…so I’d better obey orders and get my notebook out!

The past few weeks have not been happy ones, as on August 3rd my mother, Pat, passed away. She was 93 years old, and had been in a nursing home for some years following a stroke, and I can take some comfort from the knowledge that her passing was peaceful and without pain. But such a bereavement still hurts, and I will miss her very much. Though she had no formal training, she was a wonderfully talented artist—her favourite thing was to paint portraits from her own imagination, of people in historical dress. Cas and I called them ‘instant ancestors’! She also made beautiful costume dolls, many of which I still have and will treasure. From an early age she encouraged me to write and to follow my own star, and that is something for which I will always be grateful. So I’ve included a photo of her here, taken on her 80th birthday—what a long time ago it seems—to show you the lovely person that she was…

As I’m sure you’ll all understand, this is just a brief journal entry. I should have written it before now, I know, but it’s taken me a while to find words to say, even though they express only a fraction of what I’ve been feeling. But life is returning to normal now, and there’ll be more news, hopefully of a happier nature, soon.

First Number Two involves music. Did you know that as well as being a novelist I’m also a songwriter? Neither did I! J Or at least I’d forgotten. But someone remembered, and a few months ago I was contacted, through the website, by an old friend whom I hadn’t seen for the best part of 40 years. Ken Okines is an absolutely terrific singer and musician (who also teaches guitar); he came across this website, suspected that I was the same Louise he used to sing with on occasion in the 1960s, and got in touch. I was astonished and delighted to hear from him, and even more so when he asked my permission to record, on his new album, a song I wrote in 1967, called Harbour Of Days Gone By. To my eternal shame, though the title sounded familiar I couldn’t recall the song at all. To jog my memory Ken sent me an MP3 file of his recording… and it all came back to mind.Of course I said an eager ‘Yes!’ to the recording request—and the song is now the title track on Ken’s latest album, HARBOUR OF DAYS, which he launched at the recent Falmouth Sea Shanty Festival where he and his lovely wife, Barbie, came as our guests. I know I’m biased, but I think the album is really fabulous. If you want to see what you think, you can listen to clips from the tracks—including the only Louise Cooper song ever recorded! J—on Ken’s website. Go to:

 http://web.mac.com/okines

and click on the Harbour Shop page. There’s a player button just below the album cover photo. I think you’ll be impressed! And I’m very proud to be a recorded songwriter for the first time ever!  

  Still on the subject of music, First Number Three is the new CD by Falmouth Shout, the shanty group that Cas and I sing with. It’s the first professional recording of my singing voice! This CD, too, was launched at the Sea Shanty Festival last weekend—and though we all sez it usselves, me ‘earties, we’re pretty chuffed with it! The title is FALMOUTH FOR ORDERS, and it has the honour to be the official souvenir CD for the 2008 Funchal Tall Ships Regatta, which will set sail from Falmouth, amid much celebration, in September. For a taster of some of the tracks, go to: www.falmouthshout.com. Oh, and that’s me duetting with shantyman Nigel on A Sailor Ain’t A Sailor ! (I also lead another shanty on the album, Skipper Jan Riebec) Have a listen and tell me what you think! (Isn’t that brave of me???)

20th June

I was feeling lively, wasn’t I? So naturally when the sparrow flew past in front of my nose, of course I was going to chase it! It was a young one, and it really was a bit dim. First it flew in through the window of the two-legs’ bedroom and got itself in a tizzy because the wardrobe door was open and it just had to investigate. Then, when Louise finally managed to get it to fly out again, what does it do but charge straight for the fruit cage in the garden and get under the netting (which is supposed to be un-get-underable**). Cheep, cheep, flap, bounce, flutter squawk—you’ve never heard such a racket! Louise to the rescue again, and that was when the idiotic bird shot past me at about Mach 3. Well, I ask you! I’m a cat. Pure reflex took over, and I made a hurtling dash, followed by a magnificent leap, and—CRUMP! I landed wallop in the middle of a large fern, legs sprawled, dignity hurled to the four winds. That dash-dot-comma bird perched on a branch of next-door’s apple tree and smirked at me. And did Louise sympathise? No, she did not! She doubled up with laughter, hooting and cackling like a madwoman. I extricated myself from the fern fronds and stalked off with my tail lashing and ears laid back. I was so furious I wouldn’t speak to her for a whole two minutes! And if she laughs at me again, I will harden my heart and refuse to bring her any more presents of tasty mice at 5 o’clock in the morning!

Anyway, the two-legs went away last weekend. They sometimes make these extraordinary noises that they call ‘singing’, and apparently they and some of their friends were ‘singing’ at a ‘sea shanty festival’. I don’t really know what one of those is (as far as I know you can’t eat it, play with it or sleep on it) but no doubt Louise will tell you more in her journal. I think she’s up to something else, too, because she’s been muttering about ‘news’ and ‘See Dees’ and things. I’m as much in the dark as you are! Oh well, we’ll all find out soon, I expect.

Another of my servants, Kim, came to look after me while Louise and Cas were away. Having staff come to my home is far better than staying in a cattery. Cattery service really isn’t up to the mark, and some of the other guests can be very noisy or vulgar. I remember a Persian who had the room next to mine in a cattery a couple of years ago—pedigree as long as your tail, but her manners…  Anyway, I like Kim. She makes a fuss of me, and she doesn’t know me well enough to see through the pathetic ‘I’m-starving-to-death’ look that I can do so convincingly (I’m a very good actor), so I can persuade her to serve extra portions of food.

The only thing I do feel like grumbling about at the moment is the weather. It’s wet. I hate wet. In June I think wet certainly shouldn’t be allowed. I woke Louise up at 6:30 this morning and told her what I thought. For some reason she didn’t seem very interested. And all right, I know the duvet cover’s cream coloured, but it wasn’t clean on last night, and I think dark brown paw-prints on that pale background look rather stylish… prrrr.  

The only sensible thing for a cat to do in weather like this is sleep. So that’s what I’m going to do. I shall dream of sunshine, and what I’m going to have for my tea (salmon and shrimps is favourite at the moment) and wish you all many purry things until next time.

Wwwrr-mow, prr, prr (yawn) mmmpfff…

Simba

**L – There’s no such word 

S – Yes, there is. I just invented it. Mrow.

P.S. It’s me again. I’ve woken up, the rain’s stopped, and I’ve been outside playing with my new toy. I thought you might like to see it. I found it, though I’m not telling anyone where because it’s one of my secret places thateven Louise doesn’t know about, but I’m not quite sure what it is. But it’s lots of fun, and none of the other cats round here have got one. Here’s a picture of me and it…

I’m excited to say that Thursday June 5th sees publication of THE RAINBOW POOL, Book 3 of my Mermaid Curse children’s quartet from Puffin.  

Taran, the evil mermaid Queen, is determined to get her hands on the silver pearl that will make her more powerful than ever. Only Lizzy, Kes and their friends from the undersea world can stop her. But when Taran takes a very special hostage, Lizzy and Kes are faced with a terrible choice. Must they give up the precious pearl? Or do they have the courage to challenge Taran, and defeat her?

Set in the wild and beautiful scenery around Mount’s Bay in Cornwall, THE RAINBOW POOL continues the magical adventure that began with THE SILVER DOLPHIN and THE BLACK PEARL.  

Published by Puffin at £4.99

ISBN 978-0-141-32227-8 

The fourth and final volume, THE GOLDEN CIRCLET, will follow in October – in the meantime, I’ll be posting a ‘taster’ from The Rainbow Pool in the Children’s Fiction section!