Alex Bell – fantasy author

Just a quick post to say that I will be there this weekend. I’ve never done Fantasycon before so am very much looking forward to it, especially as I missed Eastercon this year, what with turning a quarter of a century old on Easter Sunday (arghhh!).

Anyhoo, I’m afraid I haven’t signed up for any panels or anything, partly due to the fact that I’m still not totally sure when I’m going to arrive tomorrow and, yes, all right, partly because of laziness. I’ll be lingering in the bar most of the time chatting with my writing pals and my reviewer pals and my twitter pals. A couple of people have mentioned bringing books for me to sign and if anyone else wants to do so then please feel free and don’t worry at all about approaching me in the bar (especially since that’s the only place you’re likely to see me) – I always used to feel awkward approaching an author in a social setting in case I was making a nuisance of myself but authors are an egotistical bunch and I can assure you that, personally, I love signing books because it makes me feel writerly and important and pleased with myself. So if you present me with one of my own books to sign, I shall beam at you radiantly.

Eeks, October was a crazy busy month for me – hence the lack of blogging. This was partly due to the launch party we had for Lex Trent. I love launch parties (in fact I love any kind of party), and the ones I had for Ninth Circle and Jasmyn just flashed by too damn fast. So, this time, we decided to make a weekend of it with a murder mystery at Stratford with some of my favourite people from the book world.

And before anyone can make any shrill accusations of cronyism or nepotism or whatever kind of favouritism this might be considered to be – I must point out that, of the three reviewers who attended, only one of them (Amanda Rutter from Floor to Ceiling Books) had actually given me a good review. And Amanda is my favourite because she stays up drinking with me until 5am, not because of the review (although that certainly doesn’t hurt – I like a person who has good taste in literature.) Amanda’s write-up of the event, complete with a small selection of the less obviously drunken photos, is here: http://floor-to-ceiling-books.blogspot.com/2010/10/its-murder.html

So October was a bit mad, and it looks like the rest of the year is going to be pretty much the same.

First up – there’s the Richmond Literary Festival where I will be holding a Fantasy Adventure workshop on 13th November for kids from 10 years up (older kids and teenagers are also very welcome – the workshop will suit both). Please note there will also be chocolate and prizes because . . . well, I really like chocolate and prizes.  Here is the facebook event link: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=162168253815519&index=1 Here is the link for the Richmond Festival: http://www.richmond.gov.uk/literature_festival And here is the Chainsaw Gang flyer advertising me and my fellow Chainsaw Gangsters, who are also doing workshops over the festival: 

I have no idea why they’ve used the book covers to advertise Gordon, Sarwat and Alex’s workshops whilst using my face to advertise mine. Either they really dislike my book cover, or they really like my face.  Anyway, moving on . . .

Secondly, I will be attending a Local Author Evening at Waterstones in West Quay on the 18th November from 5.30-7.30pm. I’m not sure of the exact format of the evening yet but it will be a multi-author event to coincide with the turning on of the Christmas lights at West Quay and, last I heard, there was talk of mince pies being present as well (win!)!

Thirdly, I will be doing a panel event for teens at Redbridge Book Festival on the 11th December. I believe the other panellists will be fellow Chainsaw Gangsters Sarwat Chadda, Alexander Gordon Smith, Sarah Pinborough and Sam Enthoven. That’s all I know at present so will try to remember to confirm details of those last two events once I have more information.

Welcome to the Chainsaw Gang! We are a select group of UK-based YA writers, writing about a variety of different things but – as you may have guessed by the rather awesome blood-soaked banner – there are no sparkly vampires here, my friends. There are no moping teenage girls whose lives are incomplete without their vampire/angel/(insert appropriate brooding stereotype here) boyfriends. Instead, we write about killer dragons, and underground prisons, and yetis, and werewolves (proper ones – not loved-up ones), and heroines who are Templar warriors rather than simpering cheerleaders. All this and more. So if you like your YA fast-paced and furious – and maybe a little bit bloody – then you have come to the right place. Without further ado, I give you the other members of our brand-new, and ultra-cool, gang (I always wanted to be in one . . . ):

First up, Sarwat Chadda (unofficial leader of the gang – and the one with the Templar warrior heroine):

Stephen Deas (the dragon man of Gollancz):

Sam Enthoven (writer of fantastical action thrillers):

David Gatward (lots and lots of DEMONS!):

Steve Feasey (writer of ferocious werewolves):

William Hussey (who writes about ancient horrors):

 Jon Mayhew (demons plus fog-drenched Victorian London = a double win in my book):

Alex Milway (he writes about yetis! And I agree with Sarwat on this – there just aren’t enough yeti books out there):

Sarah Pinborough (aka Sarah Silverwood – writer of murder, madness and the Knights of Nowhere):

Alexander Gordon Smith (yes, there are three Alex’s in the gang. At a future date I may stage a mutiny and attempt to rename the group The Alex Gang . . .) He writes about an underground prison run by demons! What more do you need to know? :

And, of course, me. And that’s it!

The Chainsaw Gang will be blitzing the UK over the Halloween period, so here are some dates for the diary:

 Alexander Gordon Smith:
13th October, 4.00, Thornton Heath Library, Croydon
14th October, 4.00, Coulsdon Library, Croydon
19th November, 4.00, Worksop Library

Jon Mayhew:
21st Oct: Crosby Civic Hall: Scarefest
26th: GobbledeBook Festival Chester: Teen Panel AM, Full Event PM
27th: Newport Big Read, Riverfront Theatre Newport
29th: Booka Bookshop Oswestry: A Hallowe’en Party
30th: Lancaster Castle

Steve Feasey will be at the Cheltenham Festival on Oct 10th.

Sarwat Chadda will be at GobbledeBook Festival, Chester on Monday 25th, 2.30pm to 4.30pm.

And, finally, the big three multi-author events:

Crystal Palace Children’s Book Festival on Sat 23rd October with Jon Mayhew, Alexander Gordon Smith, Sam Enthoven, Steve Feasey, Alex Milway, Sarwat Chadda and MYSELF. The event is free, but ticketed, so book now to avoid disappointment!

Norwich Millenium Library on Friday 29th October, 2.30pm with Alexander Gordon Smith, William Hussey, Sam Enthoven and Sarwat Chadda.

Foyles, Charing Cross Road. Their big Halloween Angels and Demons extravaganza running Saturday and Sunday, 30-31st October. With William Hussey, Sam Enthoven and Sarwat Chadda. Contact the store and book your place now.

And watch this space . . .

Alt Fiction (http://altfiction.co.uk/): I will be there this year. In fact I’m even giving up attending the Youth and Student Labour Leadership event in London in order to be there. That’s how committed I am to this writing thing. Nothing trumps it, not even politics.

I’ll be doing a couple of podcasts and a panel, so if there’s anyone around who would like to see me talk learnedly about whatever the heck the panel is about then do come along. I may not talk learnedly, though, I might just talk. But it should be good!

And if anyone has any books they want signing them bring those along too. I like signing books for people – it makes me feel important. So make my day. And if you ask me nicely I may give you a Jaffa Cake. I always have Jaffa Cakes with me at these things because conventions and literary festivals always give me the munchies for some reason and, as every ex-student knows, nothing fixes that better than a big tube of Jaffa Cakes.

Last week I went to the fantastic Headline Bloggers Party in London. After meeting up with my new BFF, Amanda, from Floor to Ceiling Books, at Waterloo, we made our way to Headline Towers an hour early so that we could have a coffee and a gossip first. On the way we happened to run into a group of other bloggers who had also arrived early, and who came along with us. There was Jenny from Wondrous Reads; Sophie from So Many Books, So Little Time; Carla from The Crooked Shelf; and Carolyn from Book Chick City. I had never met any of them before so it was great to have a proper chat before the event, and put some names to faces.

I’ve seen that a couple of these lovely ladies have hinted at scams on their blogs. Despite the merciless teasing at the time, it seems they’re all too polite to name and shame me outright but I’ll do it happily enough – it was me. I’m the one who got scammed. Whilst we were sat there drinking coffee, a rather sleazy looking guy in a cheap suit came up and said he’d left his oyster card at home, that he had a meeting to get to in the next ten minutes, and that he wanted two pounds for the bus. It was so obviously a scam, but I’m ashamed to say that whilst the others treated this request with the cool scepticism it undoubtedly deserved, I was practically lunging for my wallet. Even though I knew it was probably a scam, I just couldn’t stop myself. It’s quite embarrassing really, when you consider that my Headline book is all about a conman. I ought to know better. So if any readers of my blog happen to meet me in the flesh, please don’t ask me for money, because I will probably give it to you. I’m just a sucker that way. Sometimes I wonder how I manage to survive out there in the real world. The one inside my head is so much easier to cope with.

Moving swiftly on – the event at Headline was brilliant. There was a big table heavily laden with cakes and other food, and the room was stuffed with books for people to help themselves to. There were loads of lovely bloggers there to chat to, and it was great to meet the five other Headline authors – Dan Wells, Carole Matthews, Paul Magrs, Sean Cregan and Jonathan L Howard.

I did some schmoozing, signed some books, had some laughs, grinned like a fool for some photos, yadda yadda. And then the authors were split up for the quiz. I was in a team with Carla from the Crooked Shelf, Sophie from So Many Books, So Little Time, and Becky from the Bookette. We . . . er . . . didn’t do terribly well, but there were only four of us in our little team, compared to a whopping six in the winning team. If we’d had six people, we would have won that shiny trophy for sure!

After all that we went to the pub for some well-deserved beer. Much fun was had, and I was delighted that the midnight train was running for once. Unfortunately I did make a small fool of myself on the train on the way back home. Whilst attempting to put my Burger King bag in the bin (don’t worry, it was a veggie burger – I wasn’t that drunk), the lid snapped shut and pulled my ring off – just as we were pulling into my station. It may be a cheap, plastic, Jack Skellington ring from Disneyland but I love it dearly (partly because it reminds me of the singing ring in The Tenth Kingdom), and they don’t make ‘em like that any more – I know because there was this other time when I thought I’d lost it and tried to get another one online, only to find there were none to be had. Of course, it fell right to the bottom, so I’m afraid I had to resort to shoving my hand in, grabbing pieces of rubbish, and throwing them out like a crazy hobo person. An expensively dressed hobo, to be sure, but a hobo nevertheless. This was shortly before 2am and, trust me, you really don’t want to know what kind of stuff is inside a train bin at that hour. But I wasn’t forsaking Jack and – damn it! – I managed to get that ring, and even stuff most of the rubbish back in the bin before I leapt from the train – even managing to land on my feet despite the high-heeled boots - just mere seconds before it was pulling out of the platform! Oh yes, it’s an exciting life being an author. And fear not, I washed my hands, and the ring, most thoroughly when I got home.

I didn’t take my camera to the Headline event, so I don’t have pictures, but if you head over to Wondrous Reads (http://www.wondrousreads.com/2010/03/event-report-headline-meets-online.html) and Floor to Ceiling Books (http://floor-to-ceiling-books.blogspot.com/2010/03/headline-party-ftcb-on-tour.html), both these fine blogs have some great snaps of the event. Many congrats to Sam Eades, and all the other lovely ladies at Headline for the very first bloggers party being such a success!