Authors Electric

I suppose it's a good idea to take a short break from writing from time to time, re-charge batteries and so on. Unfortunately, in my experience other things just rush in to fill up the space usually taken up by writing -- if I could work out what the scientific analogy for this was, I would cite it at this point. I suppose it has something to do with a vacuum. Unfortunately it's some time since I learned any basic science, although I am a sucker for popular science stories in newspapers and online, and despite most of my knowledge of dinosaurs being based on the 'Jurassic Park' movie franchise, I was fascinated recently to read about a man who has apparently worked out the exact sequence of events during the meteor strike that killed the dinosaurs. I wonder if it's better to carry on, always having a writing project in hand, just as I always have to have at least three unread books on my Kindle in case I become bored with one of them or want to read something i...

A Book Birthday this month, on the 1st of May. Meet friendless old Stan whose only passion is for money which he never actually spends - he just enjoys counting it. Cue his somewhat overweight Fairy Godmother who can still fly - well she's magic, so no problems there. She's come to, rather reluctantly, give him his obligatory three wishes, but hey! Stan's clever, and take the obvious route of asking for even more wishes. If you want to know what happens next, you'll have to buy the book. It's published by Franklin Watts at Hachette Children's, and you can find it on their website. It's an old story, of course, and based on greed and its possible consequences. The earliest version was called, I think, HOW THE SEA BECAME SALT, and there's another one about a magic porridge pot. The moral is that greed, and wanting more and more of something without thinking of the consequences, tends to misfire. These ancient stories seem to be in our blood and get re-...

When I was a kid, my mother complained to one of my teachers that I read the same books over and over again. “Just as long as she’s reading,” said the teacher, with a smile. There were, of course several reasons why this happened. Firstly, we didn’t have that many books at home, so the choice was limited. My father’s books were all in Polish, and as I didn’t speak the language I didn’t find out until many years later that Sienkiewicz was a terrific writer. The book most people have heard of is Quo Vadis , which was made into a film. It’s available free on the Kindle. Secondly, I’d often enjoyed a book so much that I wanted to repeat the experience, get that same glow of visiting a favourite haunt once more. I think I practically knew The Chronicles ofNarnia and the Silver Brumby books off by heart. And thirdly, by the time I was ten I’d read all the ones that interested me in the junior library. A couple of years later I managed to persuade the librarians to let me have a ticke...