Diary - June 2007:

Hello,

We're having a very busy and productive year, with lots of projects underway and a whole load of visits under our belts already.

In the early spring, we went to the States. It was our third tour there, and this time we were promoting not only the Edge Chronicles, but also our Far-Flung Adventures. Our itinerary was pretty tight. In three weeks we visited schools, libraries, theatres, tv and radio studios in at least twelve cities, including Atlanta, Chicago, Kansas City, Porland, Columbus and - after the scariest flight we've ever been in - New York. It was even rougher than being up on a sky pirate ship in the middle of a white storm! Our US publisher is based in New York, and while we were there we recorded a 'classroomcast' - like a podcast - which should be up and running on the randomhouse.com website soon. We'll keep you posted.

Back in England we've also been out and about. Greetings to all those kids (and teachers and parents) who we met in Haywards Heath, London, Milton Keynes, Saffron Waldon while we were out promoting Hugo Pepper - and thanks to all of you for making us so welcome. Our most recent event was at the Brighton Festival where, despite the attraction of the sea and sun, we managed a sell-out session at the Market Theatre. It was great seeing you all there!

With all this 'talking', you must be wondering whether we've done actual 'writing'. Well, the good news is, yes, we have!

As you know, even though we've written nine Edge Chronicles and will be finishing off with a massive Book Ten, we had some extra tales to tell that didn't fit in the longer novels. First there were the World Book Day books, Cloud Wolf and the Stone Pilot. We've had lots of letters from kids about how to get hold of Cloud Wolf and when I saw one being advertised on ebay for £50, we decided that those two stories would have to be reprinted. So, they are being bound up with two other brand new stories.

The Slaughterer's Quest is about Keris, who some of you will remember is Twig's daughter and Rook's mother. The fourth story is called the Blooding of Rufus Filatine and is set in the future when the Freeglade Lancers, of which Rufus is a lowly lance-cadet, become embroiled in a horrendous battle with death-cheaters, nameless-ones and an insane armourer... The whole book is called The Lost Barkscrolls, and it will be published in September. On the back cover is one of the white goblins that Keris meets. Blind, bleached and with whiplash feelers, white goblins are among the creepiest and most deadly creatures in all the Edge.

In the meantime, the first of our Barnaby Grimes books is about to hit the stores. These books arose on a flight to Dublin. Paul was musing over the words, 'the Life and Times of Barnaby Grimes.' Chris drew a picture in his sketchbook of what this Barnaby Grimes might look like, and a new hero was born. We wondered what sort of books he might appear in. Westerns. perhaps? Or sci-fi? Or maybe we should turn our hand to romance? However, with working-titles like Curse of the Night Wolf, Return of the Emerald Skull, Legion of the Dead and Phantom of Blood Alley, I think you can guess the route we took. Horror! We had so much fun out-ghouling each other. The first book - Curse of the Night Wolf - is out in July. We went to the book warehouse in Colchester and signed 5000 books, so if you're lucky, you might even find yourself with a signed copy!

Now, we've started on Book 10. It's going to be the biggest and best of all the Edge Chronicles. We'll keep you up to date with how it's progressing.

Finally, we'd like to welcome you to our brand new web site. As you will see, the site is split in to three different areas - Far-Flung Adventures, The Edge Chronicles and Barnaby Grimes, with each containing lots of exciting new features. The Barnaby Grimes area will be the first to go live in June, with The Edge Chronicles and Far-Flung Adventures areas following soon after. We hope you will enjoy it.

Keep reading!