A strange sort of crowd.

The Bolton signing went all right in the end, but it was a tough crowd. This last week has been school half term in Bolton, and this has certainly affected the people out and about. A huge number were with children in tow and headed straight for the children's section (the author of Horrid Henry seemed to be doing rather well). Other people were moving through going for the Costa for a coffee and left again 30 minutes later without having looked at a single book.

A lot of people did stop and talk. There were a few who already had a copy of the book, and a number who did buy a copy too. But there were also a lot who were very interested in the book but said that cash was too tight at the moment. Maybe after the end of the month payday some will come back and buy a copy off the shelf. It does tally though with the struggle that a lot of people face in a recession so I cannot complain. Still, we did enough to keep me happy so that's the main thing.

Next stop will be Durham and Gateshead Metrocentre Waterstones back-to-back over a Saturday and Sunday in March.

Test card Jenny

It wasn't meant to, but this picture reminds me of the old test card on television when I was a child.

New venue dates

I'm signing books tomorrow in Waterstones Bolton. I've also been booked today for Waterstones in Chester and Hanley (Stoke). Two days ago I got booked for Waterstones in Warrington and the Metrocentre so all is going well :)

The full list of signing dates is now up on the front page of the website.

New signing dates:

Warrington Waterstones on the 23rd of April
MetroCentre Waterstones on the 13th of March (I'm in Durham Waterstones on the 12th)

Chester Waterstones; dates to be confirmed in the next few days.

This is what every morning is like!

'Bed head' is the newest strip on 'All over the house' and mirrors my real mornings. It is safe to say that the artist I work with isn't a morning person! (Or at least: not one for the part of the morning that comes just before lunchtime).

Get up first thing in the afternoon, she says.

Jennifer Kirk Book Signing in Wigan

A video that Zoë took on the day of the Wigan Waterstones signing.

The Wigan debrief.

I've just returned from Wigan and another highly successful book signing event. They're a very chatty crowd in Wigan, and I spent a lot of time talking passionately about books and writing with people. I signed a lot of books too! I've been invited back later in the year, so I mustn't have been too annoying!

I failed to find pie in Wigan, resorting to pasties instead for lunch. Whoever told me that Wiganers love pies failed to mention that they would have eaten them all too by the time that I arrived!

Wigan Waterstones signing tomorrow

Just a quick reminder that I will be at Wigan Waterstones tomorrow from 11:00am. I'm looking forward to seeing people there!

Acclaimed sci-fi author in book signing event - Lifestyle - Wigan Today

More media coverage for the signing this weekend in Wigan.


Acclaimed sci-fi author in book signing event - Lifestyle - Wigan Today

Another project reaches completion.

It has taken a little longer than I would have liked, but the edit of 'Twinkle little star' is complete. The third quarter of the book took more work than I thought, but it's much better for it. For those who like numbers, the book shrank by 5,000 words in the edit, though I rewrote a lot more besides. Surprisingly there were not as many typos as I thought that there would be. I guess my phonetic spelling habits are finally getting broken? Still, I'll be glad to be able to move on and write something new.

I haven't quite decided what the next project will be. There are a few options open to me and they include another 'stars' book (publishers seem to like trilogies, though I tend to resist them - there is no requirement in the plot of 'Twinkle little star' to do another book as it is all neat and self contained in its story. There is also the second book to follow 'Orb of Arawaan' which was started a number of years ago and for which I have some notes. I refreshed my memory of the plot when I edited 'Orb of Arawaan' for a second edition, so that is a possibility. There is also an idea for a children's book swilling around my head, and I have notes too for other ideas to write.

First I will take a well-deserved break. Back to work Monday then?

I just spent ten minutes looking for the glasses I was already wearing. Looks like I'm getting old.

"I need the world to be so sharp I could cut cheese at a thousand paces!"

'Twinkle little star' editing progress.

I'm half way through editing 'Twinkle little star' (follow-up to 'Bringing home the stars') and it is a good read. Luckily it isn't needing a huge amount of work doing, so editing is not too tough. By the middle of next week it should be ready for packing off to the publisher to see what they think, then back to make any recommended changes.

Ever eager for this book, Zoë has created a mock up cover design (do you think she is hinting that she wants to get this into print and on sale?) The back cover text is obviously fake - nothing to do with the real book and everything to do with the cover artist having fun!



Hopefully it might make an August publication date? Fingers crossed.

Deep fried, the Scottish way.

I once visited a Fish & Chip shop in Ayr in Scotland, and they did - with a straight face - deep fry a pizza dipped in batter for the woman in front in the queue.

All over the house » Archive » Token healthy

New cover design for an old book.

Zoë has put together a new cover for a future release of 'Orb of Arawaan'. It's designed to match the cover for 'Bringing home the stars', and the forthcoming 'Twinkle little stars' (yes, I know that the proposed title is in a state of flux at the moment). The back cover text is merely a place holder. The entire book has gone through an edit, and the back cover needs updating so that it isn't in amateur-o-speak. Anyway: behold!

Mugshots - "Have you seen this woman?"

The website has had a little spruce. It seemed a little bizarre that I had forgotten to have a proper media section. Up until now newspapers and magazines that wanted an author picture just had one emailed. Then we thought "Why not have a gallery of high resolution pictures they can just pick from?" So Zoë set that up.

You can find them from the 'press' tab on the website. Click on the four thumbnails to get taken to a gallery with around a dozen high-resolution pictures.

Feeling dirty at downloading music.

I have just downloaded the digital *.mp3 version of Röyksopp's album 'Junior'. For some-one who is a staunch supporter of physical media this now makes me feel dirty! It is totally legal and legitimate - I feel compelled to add this as I am of an age where 'downloading music' still brings to the fore images in my head of hoisting the Jolly Roger and being a naughty pirate.

Of course, I hasten to add that I received this album on Gate-fold double LP first over Christmas, to add to my several thousand strong LP collection. It simply came with a little slip of paper with a code on that allows me to get, for free, a high quality digital version of the album. I was about to transfer the LP to my computer anyway, due to the frequency that I was playing it so that I didn't risk damaging the vinyl LP, so that little slip of paper with the code on was a fortuitous discovery.

Joining this strange digital revolution is but a brief interlude for me. My next LP is on the way courtesy of Amazon UK. It will be over the dead remains of my Technics SL1210MkIIs that I would ever buy a digital copy of an album in favour to the LP or even CD version. And I assure you that the 1210s are alive and well even if they live in separate rooms these days since the demise of my DJing days.

Editing - book #3 for the Kindle done and dusted.

After a hard week, I've finished the second book from my back catalogue. 'Orb of Arawaan' is a sci-fi/fantasy book set in a medieval-punk universe, for want of a better description. It is without doubt the best of my first six books, and luckily this meant that it did not need quite as much work doing to it as The Atlantic Connection did for me to be happy enough to make it available again. It's been uploaded to the Kindle, and will be available for download within the next 48 hours or so.

The manuscript I will be tackling next will be the follow-up to Bringing home the stars whose title has nominally been changed to Face your Demons at the publisher's request. You do not need to have read the first book to read this one, and similarly the first book is a nice neat self-contained story that does not require you to read this one. However, the main character is the same, and it follows what happens after he returns from deep space in the first book. Suspense and sci-fi/horror goodness all the way! It won't be going straight onto the Kindle though, as it will go through the publishing process for a hard copy release some time in August, all going well.

I still keep myself busy though, and following on from the Orb of Arawaan editing I shall be looking into doing a similar release for Countdown to Extinction on the Kindle. I may also look into doing Syndicate Dawn, but no promises. Homo Superior and Daytrippers, before you ask, are unlikely to reappear either in print or electronically for the foreseeable future. And if you thought there was a chance I would run out of things to do, I also have another complete manuscript, The long summer of war to go through. That isn't likely to see publication though until 2012 in all probability - I like to keep ahead of the publishing schedule! I'll also try and start work on something new in between all this editing, because otherwise I may end up beating myself repeatedly over the head with my keyboard - editing is something that I find mind-numbingly boring compared to writing from afresh, even if it is something that does have to be done.

Interview for Wigan newspaper.

I was interviewed today for a local newspaper in the Wigan area. It went really well, despite me being really nervous before every media interview - I'm not sure why given the number of times I've gone live to several thousand listeners on local radio stations?

We talked a lot about the book and my writing career to date (as you would expect!). It was interesting to note that the interviewer had also noticed the rise of the Kindle reader over Christmas. I think this is a format that is one to definitely watch, though we were both agreed that we preferred a paper book to read. The times are changing, and I am aware that I certainly became a minority when it came to preferring my music still on LP in a gatefold sleeve.

I'm not sure when the article will appear. I think AMM are going to be sending a review copy of the book, so I'm hopeful that a favourable review might also be in the pipeline if they like the book. They're going to send a copy of the article when it's done. I do hope that I don't come across as a bit of an idiot! Though Zoë assures me that I sound okay when I get interviewed.