March 2009

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) 

 

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MARCH 2009

 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

Filed under: Simba's Blat by Louise
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