Wednesday, 21 December 2011

Nice review in Scotland on Sunday

Got a review from Jasmine Fassl on Scotland On Sunday's 'Santa's Spellbinders' ...


'... for newly confident readers, There’s A Hamster In My Pocket by Franzeska Ewart (Frances Lincoln, £5.99) is just about perfect – a laugh-out-loud tale about pets, deadly curses and eccentric families.'


That's a nice little Christmas present!



Sunday, 18 December 2011

Christmas holidays!!

Yes - they're finally here, I've decided! On Thursday I wrote the last part of Chapter 5 of my latest book and now I'm concentrating on Christmas.

The 'latest book' is Book 3 in the series for Frances Lincoln which so far contains Sita Snake-Queen of Speed and There's a Hamster in my Pocket!


In this book - which hasn't quite got a title yet - I'm introducing the indomitable Poppy O'Day, aka 'Pod' who, with the help of her psychic red squirrel glove puppet Mr Mystico, makes poor Yosser Farooq's life a bit of a misery one Christmas time.

Delivery date is the end of February, so I'm well on track and even hoping perhaps to have it finished ahead of time.

Not that the end of February will see the end of Yosser and Kylie! I've got a two-book contract this time, so there will be another title following soon after.

Which is great news - but right now I'm knee-deep in tinsel, candles and festive fayre, and enjoying every seasonal minute of it!

Monday, 5 December 2011

Nicola Morgan - Mondays Are Red

I braved snow, ice and sleet today to visit my 'old' friend Nicky Morgan in her lovely flat in Edinburgh.

I hadn't seen Nicky for quite a while, so we had a lot to talk about, including the Scottish Children's Book Awards which take place in February 2012. Nicky's fabulous new novel Wasted is shortlisted in the 'Older Readers' category and her The Highwayman's Footsteps was previously shortlisted.

One of the projects we discussed today was her latest venture into the world of ebooks with a title of hers I particularly like - Mondays Are Red

When I first got to know Nicky Mondays Are Red had just come out, and I loved its vivid, chilling descriptions of the world of synaesthesia.It's great to see it making a come-back now, with all sorts of new additions.


If you'd like to have a look at the Kindle edition of Mondays Are Red click here.