Authors Electric

This is Sheffield on a cold but sunny Saturday in November. Galaxy 4 is a shop specialising in Dr Who merchandise, and those people are queuing to buy a DVD and/or books. I am sitting just inside the window behind a table with a black cloth and a name placard with a pen and ready to sign purchases! Yes, those people are queuing to see me! Well, OK - they are more likely to be queuing to meet Damaris Hayman , tv actress who starred in the early 1970s Dr Who story The Daemons . She's also just starred in White Witch of Devil's End - a follow-on from the original story. Part monologue, part drama, this is a sequence of six short episodes where Olive Hawthorne talks about her life as protector of Devil's End. White Witch launched in November - and I wrote one of the episodes. So I now have my first IMDb credit as a scriptwriter and I get to sign DVD sleeves alongside Damaris and some of the other writers. Plus there is the book too - a novelisation and expansion of ...

Last Thursday, while Britain was busy voting on its EU divorce, I managed to indulge two of my passions - writing and martial arts - with a fundraising launch of the Zombies v. Ninjas series in Stonehouse Books, Kilkenny, Ireland. Coach Gary (left) and author Ruby (right) at the launch of Zombies v. Ninjas It was a great event, well-attended and raising a good few euros for the club, Evolution Martial Arts Academy . The whole thing turned into a signing fest when we came up with the idea of club members wearing their outfits. Readers were encouraged to ask anyone in karate regalia to sign their newly purchased books as the trilogy features all the club members. It was a unique experience for everyone. Members of EMAA as featured in Zombies v. Ninjas The launch had been greatly anticipated. My ZvN trilogy was a rapid project, first chapters being penned in February 2015 and the final edit of the third book completed in May 2016 (they're only 40k words each). This proj...

As a writer there is no end to the things which happen in your life. Opportunities come along when you are least expecting them. Recently I went in to The Royal Bank of Scotland in Broughty Ferry, Dundee to pay in a cheque. The teller who served me asked what I would be doing for the rest of the day. I said that as it was sunny (yes the sun does shine in Dundee) I would be writing in the garden. It turned out the teller was Rachel, the Bank Manager, and she asked me to do a book signing. Never one to let an opportunity go by I agreed. To put this in to context I had never set foot in this particular bank previously. So it all came as a complete surprise.  As the title of this blog suggests I believe that this may a first in terms of book signings. Banks are not the usual place that you find an author. So I wasn't sure how this would go. I took along books and set up my signing table complete with a noose as can be seen in the picture.  The noose is crucial ...

Here's a true story. A couple of years ago, it had been arranged for me to do a talk and a signing session at a bookshop situated in the middle of a very large and very busy shopping mall (I can tell this story now 'cos the shop - and indeed the mall - are no longer there). A pretty big deal for me - I'd never done a bookshop signing before. Some classes from nearby schools were going to be bussed in, and the local press would be there. The day of the event dawned after a night in which I was sleepless with excitement. To cut a very long story short, I arrived at the bookshop with seconds to spare (the train was late, and my station-to-shop map was rubbish), and dripping wet (the rain had started belting down seconds after I left home). Holy moley, I thought, what a journey, at least I got here in one piece, and I am at least on time. Phew. I went into the bookshop. Hello, I'm Simon Cheshire. The staff gave me a funny look. Who? Umm... I'm Simon Cheshire? The ...