Archive for May, 2008

Posted on May 30, 2008 - by MG

Very Cool Things to promote “The Joshua Files”

Today I’m especially excited because a) I’ve seen photos of the AWESOME point-of-sales materials that are going to be used to sell ‘Geheimakte Joshua: Die Unsichtbare Stadt’ in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and b) the lovely publicity department at Scholastic have been working with me to develop some fact cards to play a Joshua-themed game at events on my upcoming book tour. They are fab!

So without further ado, here they are…

If you know anyone who runs a bookstore in a German-speaking country, they can order these from the publisher (Dressler):

http://meta.verlagsgruppe-oetinger.de/index.php?id=3391 (scroll down to Geheimakte Joshua)

Also – very exciting – here’s an excerpt of Frank Böhmert’s translation of Joshua Files.

And below is an example of the Tyler fact card. Aintitcool?

Posted on May 25, 2008 - by MG

MG on BBC Radio 4′s go4it

Behind the scenes at go4it…even woozy with pain killers for a fresh football injury, Barney kept us all laughing.

Earlier this week I joined two terrific kids named Mia and Joss to meet children’s presenter Barney Harwood at the BBC…where we recorded an episode of BBC Radio 4′s children’s magazine show, go4it.

We talked about Mexico, the Maya, UFOs, wondered what mysterious event will occur at the end of the Mayan Long Count in December 2012, and of course – talked about The Joshua Files.

You can listen again to the programme via the go4it Website.

Posted on May 22, 2008 - by MG

ManU’s Premiership and Champions League Double – I’m faint with joy

The first time that United won the European Cup was 1968 – when I was too young to appreciate them. By the time I became a fan we were in the Second Division. The dizzing hights of a European Cup win seemed to me, quite unimaginable.

My best friend was a boy called Eoin who lived across the road. One day Eoin’s mum told me about United’s glorious past, and the Munich air crash. Quite clearly I can remember wondering if ever in my lifetime again I’d see a United team of that calibre.

Eoin and I grew up going to United games together – at one stage most home games. When we were 14 Eoin moved to Ireland and I started going to matches with my friend Sally. The best we could hope for in those days was the FA Cup, which we won a very respectable number of times. Sally and I even saw us win once – United 4- Brighton 1 (1983?).

But still the Division One Championship and with it the triumph in Europe – it was always Liverpool or Nottingham Forest, never us.

And then Fergie arrived in town. Eoin sent me a letter once where he lamented that his young daughter should be considered for selection – the team could hardly get worse. Thank goodness in those days they didn’t fire coaches after a couple of poor seasons, and he had a chance to build up the team.

But WHAT drama, what emotion, what an incredible achievement! As I watched the Champions League Final last night I was totally awestruck by the levels of both teams – not that it was the best game of football ever – although it was a fabulous match. But just the levels of fitness, determination, the strength and energy needed to compete at that level; the endurance.

Bad luck Chelsea. Seriously worthy opponents…but it was our night.

Posted on May 16, 2008 - by MG

Geheimakte Joshua: Joshua Files in German!

Yay, I’m very excited indeed that a German language version of Invisible City will be published this autumn in Germany.

Firstly, I have always suspected that Germans might enjoy Joshua’s adventures slightly more than British. Not to say that I’m not getting lovely feedback from British readers!

But there’s no doubt that many Germans seem to share my fascination with exotic adventure stories, going all the way back to that famous adventure writer, Karl May. And when I’ve visited the ruins in Mexico I’ve hardly ever met any British people, but mainly Germans and French. (And other North Americans of course).

If you follow this blog you may have seen that the German translator of Joshua Files, Frank Boehmert, occasionally posts a comment. (Hi Frank!).

Well all today I’ve been working with a translation of the brief video interview I recorded in the offices of Scholastic. I’ve dubbed myself into German and recut the video…I’m sending this to the media company in Germany who are going to add graphics etc to produce a book trailer for the German book trade. (Hence the long bit of title page at the end).

Here it is. What do you think? I have another day to improve it, if it’s really too bad…

Posted on May 12, 2008 - by MG

Magdalen College School – thanks for the flowers!

 
MG with Kirill Lasis, Billy Richards, Charlie Cook, Thomas
Whitehouse, Eddie Weaver and Trystan Jones.

I had a perfectly lovely visit to Magdalen College Junior School where just over 100 impeccably behaved, intelligent boys and I discussed codes, the ancient Maya, the 7 wonders of the ancient world, the possibility of the collapse of civilisation and the craft of writing.

I treated the boys to a snippet of a VERY early draft of the book trailer for ICE SHOCK, the sequel to INVISIBLE CITY which is out in March 2009. And then the boys tried to guess the location of the mysterious ruins near Oxford in which Josh Garcia has a dramatic encounter in ICE SHOCK…

MG with Daichi Kusonoki

And look at the lovely flowers they gave me!

Thanks to Deborah Gordon (school librarian), the staff and to all the boys. I had a great time and really enjoyed meeting you!