Timesmith Brazil
- At July 14, 2016
- By Niel
- In Events/News, News, Writing
0
My copies of the Brazilian Portuguese translated edition of Timesmith have finally arrived! Called O Artifice Do Tempo the book was released in July last year, so I’ve been waiting with anticipation for my copies to arrive for some time.
Timesmith arrives in Brazil
- At July 21, 2015
- By Niel
- In General
- 0
Cover art for O Artifice do Tempo
Sometimes authors are the last to know about foreign edition release dates. That might seem hard to believe (I’m still getting used to it myself) but having spoken to several other authors it’s not unusual. So it was with some surprise and delight that I stumbled on a familiar image via Twitter. There was the Brazilian Portuguese edition of Timesmith, or O Artífice do Tempo, which is due out this week!
It seems to be a straight reuse of the UK cover, designed by James Fraser, which is a slightly different approach taken with the Brazilian edition of Sorrowline last year.
It’s great to see both books published there and I’m looking forward to having a copy on my shelf some day soon!
Reading – Timesmith, chapter 1 – The Scream
- At August 09, 2014
- By Niel
- In Video
- 0
Want a taste of Timesmith? Here’s me reading from chapter one – The Scream.
What I’m doing next…
- At July 26, 2014
- By Niel
- In News, Writing
- 2
A few people have asked me what I’m working on right now. It can seem like a long time between book releases for the readers (and the writer) and it might appear as if nothing is happening. You might imagine I’m spending the summer lazing about the garden, topping up my tan and sipping mojitos while I wait for the spark of creativity to hit me, but the truth is far less exotic.
Right now I’ve three – no, four – projects on the go. The third book in the Timesmith Chronicles is in there but it’s not at the top of the list. Why? Well, I wanted a change, and I thought it might be good fun to try something different before I jumped back into time-travel and epic blitzpunk action.
The main project taking up my time is a new stand-alone novel about the end of the world, told through the eyes of a 13-year-old boy and his 8-year-old sister. This one is more science fiction than the Timesmith books. There are no magic swords, mind-readers or trips to other realms. It’s a contemporary account of the world descending into chaos over a few short days while two ordinary children try to find their mother.
The third project is a mix of comedy and fantasy featuring an ancient map-maker who looks like a teenage boy, his decapitated brother, and their search for a missing artefact that could bring about the last war between Heaven and Hell. But with laughs.
Finally I have a picturebook in the works. The story is written, I’m just debating with myself if I want to draw it as well. Ideally I’d love to but I’m not sure when I’ll get round to doing it!
Timesmith Trailer
- At April 03, 2014
- By Niel
- In Animation, Video
- 0
I’ve just finished putting together a little trailer for Timesmith – hope you like it!
Timesmith Publication Day! World Book Day!
- At March 06, 2014
- By Niel
- In Events/News, Schools, Talks/Events, Writing
- 2
It’s here at last! My second book is officially published today and it feel so much different to when my first book, Sorrowline, came out.
Last year we marked the day with a trip to York and champagne in First Class – I even bought myself a ukulele! That was January last year. This time round publication has landed on World Book Day and it’s a busy week! I’ve been doing lots of visits to libraries and schools this week and today I’m travelling to Leeds to The Morley Academy! I’m really looking forward to it, I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the launch of Timesmith and celebrate World Book Day all in one go!
If, like me, you live in the North East of England you might want to come along to my book signing event in Waterstones Middlesbrough. It’s happening on Saturday 15th March between 11 and 2. It’d be great to see you there!
Enjoy World Book Day!
Countdown to Timesmith – 50 days!
- At January 14, 2014
- By Niel
- In Events/News, Writing
- 0
Now that the inconvenient nuisance of Christmas and New Year have been bashed about the head and put out of its misery we can look forward to the publication if Timesmith on March 6th!
It’s not long! 50 days! That’s all! I know some of you are too impatient to wait that long so I’ve devised this helpful list of things you can do between now and then to help make the time fly!
- Have a Star Trek Marathon! Get all the TV episodes (Original series, Next Generation, DS9, Voyager, Enterprise) plus all the movies and you have a solid 10 hours viewing per day for the next 50 days! The weeks will just fly by!
- Commit yourself to 50 days of silence and meditation as you ponder the wonders of the universe. Be sure to pack plenty of sweets.
- Buy a new copy of Sorrowline every day and give it to a friend/colleague/school mate/stranger/lover. You’ll be the most popular person I know!
- Camp outside your local bookstore and form an orderly queue until publication day! Get there early for the best spot!
- Prefer to get on with your usual routine? Then pre-order Timesmith now and sleep easy! You can pre-order from any local bookstore, big or small, or online from one of the links below:
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Judging a book by its cover
- At December 03, 2013
- By Niel
- In Awards, Events/News
- 1
We all do it! We’re not supposed to but we DO judge books by their covers. If we didn’t then why would publishers spend money commissioning artists and designers to create works of art to represent the book’s contents? It’s the closest books come to having film-style trailers. They’re there to intrigue you, to make you pick up the book and (hopefully) buy it.
I’m a big fan of classic movie posters of the 70s and 80s, especially the work of Drew Struzan. I love the way his work encapsulates the essence of a movie, its main characters and themes, into one bold image. Stephen Lavis‘ beautiful cover paintings manage the same trick, making you want to read the book immediately. I wanted to capture something similar with the covers for my books and luckily designer James Fraser did exactly that!
You might have heard me mention about Timesmith being in competition in Mr Ripley’s Book Cover Wars this week. Well, I’m delighted to say that it won! Given the excellent competition it was up against it makes it a particularly thrilling victory! The voting went right up to the 12 midnight deadline (far too late for this sleep-loving monkey) and there were only 2 votes in it! It could so easily have gone to the excellent Terminal by Roderick Gordon & Brian Williams. Praise must go to all the finalists and their books:
Alexander Gordon Smith – The Fury – Published by Farrar Straus Giroux – 23, July 2013 – Cover by Christian Fuenfhausen. Roderick Gordon & Brian Williams – Terminal – Published by Chicken House – 2, May 2013 – Cover by David Wyatt. Thomas Taylor – Dan and the Caverns of Bone – Published by A&C Black Children’s – 6th June 2013 – Cover by Thomas Taylor. Ian Johnstone – The Bell Between the Worlds ( The Mirror Chronicles) – Published by HarperCollins – 6 June 2013 – Designed by Blacksheep UK.
Thanks to Mr Ripley and all the other competing covers. The end result for all of us is that we’ve been exposed to covers – and writers – that we might not have seen before, so even a beauty contest like this can be a good thing for the words hidden under the covers.
Timesmith lives!
- At November 28, 2013
- By Niel
- In Writers
- 1
Today I got a parcel from my publishers! Inside was a proof copy of my second book, Timesmith! It feels great to have a copy to put next to Sorrowline. They look perfect together! It’s due out in March 2014, so not too long to wait now.
Right now Timesmith is competing in the Book Cover Wars on Mr Ripley’s Enchanted Books website. Why not show your support and give it a vote? And you can win a haul of books if you leave a comment!
And if you want to share the glorious moment of unpacking Timesmith take a look at the video below!
100 Days to Timesmith
- At November 25, 2013
- By Niel
- In Writing
- 0
Yes, it still feels like a long way away but I started counting down to Sorrowline 100 days before publication and the time flew by! So here we go again – 100 days to go till Timesmith is out! All the heavy lifting has already been done, the book is written, edited and copy checked. It won’t be too long before I have a proof print in my hands!
