‘Bye 2012

One year is coming to an end and the other is right around the corner. Time to look back (and look forward.) So here are some things I liked/disliked over the last 12 months and things I’ve planned for 2013.

 

Highlights of 2012:

  • Being chosen for the first ever UNESCO Dublin City of Literature Childrens reading project
  • Meeting so so SO many Arthur Quinn fans and forgetting about any earlier book events nerves
  • Matilda: the Musical
  • Barcelona
  • The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt
  • Locke & Key: Clockworks by Joe Hill
  • City of Bohane by Kevin Barry
  • The Dark Tower series by Stephen King
  • The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
  • Croc & Bird by Alexis Deacon
  • ZomB by Darren Shan
  • Argo, Looper, Paranorman, Skyfall, Cabin in the Woods
  • Boardwalk Empire Season 3
  • Finally watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer from start to finish!

Lowlights of 2012:

  • Prometheus, Dark Knight Rises
  • Homeland Season 2
  • HHhH by Laurent Binet (didn’t live up to the hype at all.)

Plans for 2013:

  • The release of Arthur Quinn and Hell’s Keeper (I’ve been looking forward to this one coming out since before book one! There are some big surprises coming and I can’t wait for them to be finally revealed.)
  • I have a VERY rough idea for a short film that I’d like to make. It’s been a few years since I wrote/directed anything so it’ll be nice to get behind the camera again this year.
  • There are some books coming out in 2013 that I’m really looking forward to. Neil Gaiman and Joe Hill’s new works are top of the list!

Christmas Countdown: 3

image

Nothing says Christmas like gingerbread and I found this great simple recipe. Other recipes I’ve tried have been too bitter or even too time consuming. But this one is perfect. I advice rolling it quite thick so you get nice chewy cookies.
Via BBC

Ingredients
– 350g/12oz plain flour, plus extra for rolling
out
– 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
– 2 tsp ground ginger
– 1 tsp ground cinnamon
– 125g/4½oz butter
– 175g/6oz light soft brown sugar
– 1 free-range egg
– 4 tbsp golden syrup
To decorate
– writing icing
– cake decorations
Read the rest of this entry »

Christmas Countdown: 5

It’s Christmas in a mere five days so I decided to do a quick advent calendar with some Christmassy things I like.

First up is this brilliantly deranged poem by Ogden Nash. I first read it in a book of Christmas poems I got as a boy and I soon learned it off by heart (I was that kind of kid!) It’s such a funny little poem that it deserves to be shared. Stick with it till the grisly end.

 

THE BOY WHO LAUGHED AT SANTA CLAUS

By Ogden Nash

Copyright Linell Nash Smith and Isabel Nash Eberstadt

In Baltimore there lived a boy,
He wasn’t anybody’s joy.
Although his name was Jabez Dawes,
His character was full of flaws.
In school he never led his classes,
He hid old ladies’ reading glasses,
His mouth was open when he chewed,
And elbows to the table glued.

 

He stole the milk of hungry kittens,
And walked through doors marked No Admittance.
He said he acted thus because
There wasn’t any Santa Claus.
Another trick that tickled Jabez
Was crying “Boo!” at little babies.
He brushed his teeth, they said in town,
Sideways instead of up and down.

 

Yet people pardoned every sin,
And viewed his antics with a grin,
Till they were told by Jabez Dawes,
“There isn’t any Santa Claus!”
Deploring how he did behave,
His parents swiftly sought their grave.
They hurried through the portals pearly,
And Jabez left the funeral early. Read the rest of this entry »

Arthur needs YOU

ARTHUR QUINN NEEDS YOU TO SAVE THE WORLD!

How would you like to have a character named after you in the final Arthur Quinn book?


Well you can! The competition opens Monday (10th December) and closes the following Friday morning (14th). All the details of how to enter are above and Alan will reveal the winner on Elev8 on the 14th.

Remember, the competition is only open from the 10th to the 14th so get your entries in straight away!