First of all, apologies to everyone who logs onto my website. I know I appear here far too infrequently. But if you took a quick look at my workload, you’d see that I’ve been horrendously busy this year. Here’s a list of the projects I’m working on right now:

DIRTY GOLD – a new eight-part series for ITV
FOYLE’S WAR – it’s not definite but we may be coming back in 2013 and I’ve already started the research
OBLIVION – the last part of the Power of Five (Gatekeeper) series
TINTIN 2 – the sequel to The Secret of the Unicorn
ARSENE LUPIN – an action film for Warner Brothers
ALEX RIDER – a short story for World Book Day

So although I know I ought to blog more often, sitting down at my computer is a bit of a strain. (Something exploded in my right eye a couple of weeks ago. I saw a doctor…well, I saw a blurry doctor. He says it’ll be fine if I rest a bit. Not easy.)

Anyway, here’s a quick Christmas update of what has been a fantastic year. And there’s a special Christmas present, as usual concealed in the text!

The big thing in 2012 was undoubtedly THE HOUSE OF SILK, my take on Sherlock Holmes. It’s my first successful adult novel – though anyone aged around 13 and over will quite possibly enjoy it. There’s nothing embarrassingly physical in it but it does have what critics might call “an adult theme” and it’s fairly violent. But I think it’s as pacey as an Alex Rider novel with plenty of action so do give it a try.

The reviews for the book were fantastic and for a brief time I was a number one bestselling author in Taiwan, which is certainly a talking point. But if you think I’m giving up writing for teens…no way! I’m about 160,000 words into OBLIVION which is the long-awaited fifth volume in my Power of Five series following RAVEN’S GATE, EVIL STAR, NIGHTRISE and NECROPOLIS.

I think it’s going to be a fantastic book though I should warn you that it has a pretty bleak conclusion…but then (like the title suggests) it is about the end of the world. It takes place in the UK, America, Egypt, Italy, Brazil and Antarctica and on January 12th I’m off to the last of these to spend a little time among the ice and the glaciers, absorbing the atmosphere. I actually hope to write the last pages of the book there for delivery to my various publishers in April. We’re looking at publication in October 2012. It will, by the way, be more than twice as long as any book I’ve ever written -but I’m confident it’s not too long.

Otherwise, 2011 saw the transmission of INJUSTICE on ITV over five nights in June. It was also well received and the audience stayed with us until the end which is the important thing.

And, of course, SCORPIA RISING was published in May. The last ever Alex Rider book (until I write YASSEN, which I hope to start next year). It was really sad to say goodbye to Alex and quite a few people were annoyed with me because of the shock ending. But I think I did the right thing. I tried to make each Alex better than the one before and hope I ended on a high note. Actually, I’ve just finished a 10,000 word short story about Alex Rider which will be available as a download on World Book Day. At the moment the title is A TASTE OF DEATH – I’m waiting to hear if my publishers like it.

This was the year that I met Steven Spielberg – which was fairly intense. I’ve been asked to work on the sequel to the extremely successful Tintin film which opened in November. A few months ago I found myself in a hotel room in Paris, talking to him and to Peter Jackson. I felt like a sheep, lost in the fog and caught between two mountains. All quite scary, really. I’m trying not to be overawed but these are probably the most successful film directors on the planet. But I read Tintin when I was eight. I know the books inside out. I even wear Tintin underpants. With a bit of luck, the collaboration will go well.

The worst thing about 2012? The departure of my chocolate Labrador who (the best way of putting it) went for a long walk. He had been credited in every one of my books but his name always changed so he appeared, variously, as: Lucky, Mucky, Plucky, Yucky, Lenny, Loony, Limpy, Louis, Lupus, Loser and Fang. By the end of his life he was hopelessly confused. In fact, if I shouted “Fire!” he’d come running. I still see his ghost from time to time, padding behind me, so I don’t need to get another dog. And he will continue to appear in the books.

But let’s end on a cheerful note. Your surprise present is the first chapter of OBLIVION. I shall ask Liam, the brilliant designer of this website,(Editors Note: Anthony’s been at the Christmas Sherry a little early!) to conceal a link somewhere on this page. This is a world exclusive. Not even my publishers have read the book yet. I’ll be interested to know what you think.

By the way, if you want to know what I’m up to – and in particular how the books are getting on – I’ve started tweeting again. If you want to follow me, you can find me @AnthonyHorowitz

That’s it. Have a great Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

Anthony Horowitz
Clerkenwell – December 15

PS: Anthony decided to hide the first chapter of The Power of Five: Oblivion in Charles Dickens’ house! Call that a clue if you like!

I went to Paris for a reunion of secret agents who worked for the SOE, the Special Operations Executive in the second world war. I wrote about the SOE a few years ago in an episode of Foyle’s War and developed a huge admiration for them…they were incredibly resourceful and brave. Nowadays, the survivors are extremely old but still as sharp as knives…in their case the Fairbairn-Sykes double-edged commando knife with eight-inch blade that was developed for their use. I listened to a talk by a saboteur who must have been almost ninety but looked thirty years younger. I also met a lady whose job was to “seduce” SOE agents and see if she could get information out of them. If she succeeded, they were sent home. It was bizarre because I actually created such a character when I was writing Foyle…and here she was for real!

While I’m on the subject of TV, next month COLLISION is being shown on ITV, starting on a Monday and ending on a Friday. I’ve mentioned this programme before and here it is again but I’m really proud of it and hope it’ll do well. When you make TV programmes, so much can go wrong. You get the wrong director or the weather’s bad or you run out of money or whatever. But this time everything went perfectly and I honestly think it’s the best thing I’ve ever done. You can expect to read quite a bit of it in the month ahead and there are going to be some big posters too. Let’s just hope it pours with rain so people stay in and watch.

And at more or less the same time (I don’t have the exact dates), I’m setting off on my CROCODILE TEARS tour which takes me to Edinburgh and Birmingham before I head back to London and finally – at the end of the month – Dublin. If you’ve ever been to one of my talks, you’ll know that usually I just walk onto the stage and answer questions for an hour. This time, we’re doing it rather differently. It’s going to be more of an interview with clips from STORMBREAKER, COLLISION and FOYLE’S WAR. The interviewer is a journalist/presenter called Paul Blezard who does a brilliant job. He could make a study of thirteenth century paint drying techniques sound interesting. There’ll still be time for questions from the audience – but it makes it all a bit more varied and, more to the point, less work for me.

I will, of course, be signing copies of CT – and the publishers have come up with a special stamp that’s unique to these events. And I can catch up with my family on the way. My son, Nick, is at university in Edinburgh and my mother-in-law lives in Birmingham so maybe they’ll come along and heckle.

Then I’m off to America, which I mentioned in my July blog. The cities have now been chosen and include Boston, Detroit, St Louis, Raleigh, Atlanta and Washington DC. So many flights! I’ve begun to worry about my carbon footprint which may surprise you but I’ve been researching global warming for my next book – the last in the Power of Five series – and the facts do seem to be rather alarming…which is probably the understatement of the millennium. I’ve also joined something called 10:10 which is a rather smart campaign by The Guardian to get everyone to cut their emissions by 10% in the year 2010. Normally I don’t join campaigns. God help me if I become a do-gooder in my old age (actually, He likes do-gooders so He probably will). But it seemed hard to refuse this one. Apart from anything else, I’ve noticed the water getting closer and closer to my little house in Orford. I used to live beside the sea. Now I seem to live in it…at least some of the time.

And here’s something else that I’ve joined. I’ve become a judge for Divine Chocolate who are running a poetry competition. You have to write a poem (which can be rude, funny, sad, serious, whatever) called “If I owned a chocolate company” and the winners will receive large quantities of chocolate, book tokens and a recording of the poem by me. Since I have a stammer and a lisp, this may not be the best part of it, but I’d say otherwise it’s definitely worth a go. It was my friend, Anne Fine, who introduced me to the competition and I have to say I do absolutely love the chocolate and I suppose I ought to mention (doing good again) that it’s a Fair Trade product and so worth supporting. You can find more details on their website:

http://www.divinechocolate.com/news/showNews.news77.aspx

I recently judged a short story competition too. The quality of the writing was very high but I have to say that a lot of the entries were rather depressing. Subjects included suicide, self-hatred, cancer, autism and disability…and those were some of the more cheerful ones. I met the winners at a reception at 10 Downing Street and that was rather depressing too. G. Brown looked worn out and miserable. Not surprising, I suppose, given the bashing he gets in the press. Anyway, if you want my advice, if you do write poems, you’ll find something cheerful to say. But then how could owning a chocolate factory not be fun?

Finally, while I’m away, I’m going to be tweeting again. I joined Twitter last year and twittered or tweeted every day for a while but then I got fed up with it. I thought it was getting a bit naff what with people like Jonathan Ross and Stephen Fry even twittering when they tied up their shoelaces. But my American publisher insists that it’s worthwhile and my son Cass is currently on the road in Australia and he may pick up some of my messages so as from today, I’ll be sharing my own trivia with the world once again. If you’re interested, you can follow me on tour.

The next time I write a blog, it’ll be Christmas. In fact, in half the shops in my area, it already is. Sometimes, I’m tempted to throw bricks…

Happy Halloween!

Anthony Horowitz

25th October 2009

This is a picture, my son, Nick, took when I was in Kenya, researching Crocodile Tears. And it's not a long-distance lens! He managed to snap them moments before they attempted to snap him.

First of all, I’ve been all over the planet since January, starting with the last days of my holiday in Kenya…which is where, by coincidence, Alex Rider is also heading.

I started on the wonderful island of Lamu (no cars, just donkeys and amazing beaches, turtles, beautiful old dows and much too much to drink). Then I went on two safaris. The first was brilliant. I saw cheetahs stalking their prey, herds of elephants, giraffes…and I got so close to crocodiles that I could have taken the cover photograph for my new book. The second safari was less good. I saw lots of flies. Anyway, I wrote all about it for the Mail on Sunday. Some of you may have seen the piece.

I hadn’t been home for a week before I was off to Cairo for a book fair organised by the British Council. My recent photo competition showed me standing in front of the famous pyramids on what was an unforgettable visit. I arrived at first light, half an hour before they opened – but for some reason I was still allowed in. For the next forty minutes I was there almost entirely on my own. Just me, my guide -  and the pyramids! He showed me into some tombs far underground. I saw statues and paintings thousands of years old…an entire boat that had once sailed before Christ was even born. If I had hairs on the back of my neck, they would certainly have risen. Actually, maybe I do have hairs on the back of my neck. I’ve never looked.

After Egypt, a couple of weeks at home, then off skiing in Switzerland. (By the way, if you’re thinking that I don’t seem to have been doing much work, my notebooks and computer come with me everywhere). I’m not a great skier but this year the conditions were perfect. Fresh snow, loads of sunshine and even though it was half term, not too many crowds. You may have noticed that I’ve opened an account with TWITTER – it’s shorter than these blogs and more immediate. I filed quite a few reports from the slopes.

Two days after Switzerland, it was another book fair, this time in Dubai – which will feature strongly in the fifth volume of the POWER OF FIVE series. It’s a bizarre place, a major city which doesn’t seem to have any sensible reason to exist, certainly not in its desert setting. The oil has run out. The tourists are running away. The whole place could all too soon be run down. I’ve got great ideas for a nightmare sequence to be set there.

That said, the festival was a lot of fun. The writers were all treated like royalty and I liked hanging out with so many famous authors, some of them (including an incredibly foul-mouthed but much loved children’s writer) were nothing like I’d imagined them. Notice how discreet I’m being. No names. “What goes on tour, stays on my tour,” as my son put it.

Five days in Dubai, then straight back to Orford, in Suffolk – which is where I’m writing this now. I may have mentioned this before, but Orford is quite simply the most beautiful place in the world. There’s a great expanse of silver water, the River Alde, right outside my window. A scattering of boats. Gulls and cormorants wheeling overhead. It’s a miracle really I get any work down at all. I could just stare out of the window all day.

But I have been hard at work.

This week I visited the John Innes Centre in Norwich which is one of the main centres for the study of genetically modified crops. I got shown round the whole place, given lunch (including their own Norwich Bio Centre Blend coffee…modified for a better taste?) and, best of all, I was able to tell them the plot of CROCODILE TEARS and it works!!! It’s really important to me that the Alex Rider books should be based on scientific fact. I wonder if my readers know anything about GM crops? Well, they will soon…

After that, it was off to the nuclear power plant, Sizewell B, which is just up the coast from Orford. The people there really were incredibly kind, particularly as I’d told them that I planned to blow up a power station in the new book. They kitted me out in safety helmet and goggles and showed me round…not everywhere of course. But I did see the vast turbines in the turbine hall, and the very deadly, spent fuel sitting in a bright blue swimming pool in the storage chamber. They wouldn’t let me anywhere near the reactor though.

And it turns out that it’s much harder to blow up a power station that I had originally thought. There are so many safety measures that you can’t even walk down a staircase unless you’re holding the rail. The reactor is contained in a building with concrete, steel-reinforced walls 1.3 metres thick. And just to be on the safe side, that building is in another building so even if there was an explosion nobody would really notice.

This is all extremely annoying. My idea – a cleaner with a floor polisher packed with high explosive – has gone out of the window. Of course, there are no windows at Sizewell B. I’ll have to think again.

Which brings me back to where I began.

I’m five chapters in to CROCODILE TEARS and so far I think it’s going well. At least, I’m enjoying writing it which is always a good sign. I’ve finished the entire Scottish sequence (set around Loch Lochy) and now I’m back in London.

At the same time, I’ve completely finished my next book, out on Halloween and now named: MORE BLOODY HOROWITZ. I hope you like the title. It was dreamed up by my eighteen-year-old son, Cass. Walker Books showed me the cover last week and I think it looks great. Expect cannibals, a deadly game show, a robotic nanny that goes out of control, a haunted Sat Nav system…and more.

Now I’m off to Aldeburgh with Dreary (the dog). The best fish and chips in England.

Suffolk – March 6^th 2009

The first correct answer came from Sophie in Essex, UK. Congratulations Sophie, your prize is on it’s way!

Anthony was in Egypt on a research trip for the next Power of Five book. Keep watching this space for a new blog from Anthony coming very soon!

Anthony Horowitz, Egypt, 2009

All the best,

Anthony

Where is Anthony?

NOTE: Please be very specific with your answer. You can enter the competition by adding your answer in a comment reply to this post. Remember, all comments are not automatically published, we do moderate them first. Please ensure that you use a valid email address so that we can contact you for your address details should you win the prize. If we cannot contact you by email the prize will go to the next correct entry.

THE COMPETITON IS NOW CLOSED. WE WILL ANNOUNCE THE WINNER HERE SHORTLY. THANK YOU.

OLD MAN OF N3, a rather grim tale about an MP3 player and the misery of getting old, will probably appear in my new collection of horror stories appearing on Halloween, 2009 which will be either my 35^th or my 36^th published book. COLLISION is an epic, five-part series based on a multiple pile-up on the A12 and I honestly think it’s the best work for television that I’ve done with a fantastic cast headed up by the brilliant Douglas Henshall (from Primeval) and featuring one of the most expensive car crashes ever filmed for TV. Oh…and can I mention that I’ve got a short play called A HANDBAG which will be doing the rounds as part of the National Theatres “Connections” programme next year? Do look out for it!

I was really happy that NECROPOLIS did well this summer and thanks to everyone who went out and bought it…around 190,000 of you, or so I’m told. Lots of people thought it was the best one in the series so far and I’m looking forward now to the fifth volume which will finish the adventure as each one of the five gatekeepers travels across the world to meet one final time…with civilisation crumbling all around them. Even I have no idea when the book will be finished but as it will probably be about 200,000 words long and will include a series of fairly epic battles, it could be a few years.

The important thing is to get on with Alex 8 and the good news is that the plot is more or less bolted down and, better still, I finally have a title and that’s the whole point of this brief Christmas message. Exactly one week from now I’ll be in Kenya, hopefully relaxing in the sun, but also searching out some of the locations – jungle, the villain’s island hideaway and a giant dam – because that’s where the second half of the book takes place. As for the title, I’ve been struggling for the last six months, searching for something short and snappy (quite literally as it turns out) and I’ve even been offering money when I’ve been on school visits although sadly with no success. 

Recently inspiration struck and finally, finally I have a title which I have actually concealed inside this blog and anyone who has read THE SHORTEST HORROR STORY EVER WRITTEN (More Horowitz Horror) will know how to find it.

So – I hope you like it and I wish everyone a fantastic Christmas and a prosperous, healthy New Year.

Anthony Horowitz

December 2008

Link to Waterstones Events page

Please make sure to contact the venue before travelling.
Waterstone’s

203-206 Piccadilly,

London W1J 9LE

Tel: 0207 851 2400

So here’s the latest news from the world of Anthony Horowitz…or Antoine Horwitzer as it seems I should now call myself. We’ll get to that in a moment.

But with Halloween just a week away, I’m about to hit the road as we launch NECROPOLIS, the fourth book in my Power of Five series. As you may know from my earlier blogs, this wasn’t an easy book to write…in fact I had to tear it up completely and start again. Yes, this is the book with my first heroine instead of a hero – Scarlett Adams – but that wasn’t the problem. The story takes place in Peru, London and Hong Kong as well as the mysterious dream world. All five of the main characters are present (that is – Matt, Pedro, Scott and Jamie as well as Scarlett). It was really difficult weaving all the action together what with explosions, chases, betrayals, fireworks, monsters, major criminal organisations, the sword ladder and all the rest of it.

That said though, I really do think it works and the first reviews have been great. If you haven’t read the first three books in the series – RAVEN’S GATE, EVIL STAR and NIGHTRISE – this one does stand more or less on its own as everything is explained in the first chapter. But for those of you who have read all the ALEX books and are waiting for the next one…do give this series a try. Strange to think that there’s only one more title and it will all be over.

Since I mention ALEX RIDER, you may have noticed that my publishers have produced a sort of Christmas special, THE MISSION FILES which will fit neatly into your stocking…if, that is, your stocking is large and rectangular. It’s quite a hefty book, full of envelopes, posters, code books and further information about some of the characters in Alex’s world. I also threw in a story that I originally wrote for a newspaper, CHRISTMAS AT GUNPOINT. It’s an early incident in Alex’s life before he became a spy and I’m glad that it’s now in book form.

And again, on the subject of Alex, I’ve finally started work on the eighth novel although I don’t think it’ll be out for quite a while. After much thought, I’ve decided to leave YASSEN (the book I was planning) to the very end of the series. This follows a whole series of school visits where people have been a bit half-hearted about the idea…and I do try to listen to what my readers say! So instead, I’m going to write a full-blooded Alex adventure which begins straight after SNAKEHEAD with Alex on a skiing holiday with Sabina, then moves to England and finally to Africa with a plot that includes GM crops, international aid and…well, I’m probably giving away too much already. Annoyingly, a school in East Croydon (I won’t mention its name) threw out the title which was going to be ENDURANCE POINT. But if anyone reading this likes the title, please let me know. I was quite fond of it…and titles are the hardest thing to think up.

Next week I’m touring York, Leeds and Manchester and looking forward to heading north. I was at university at York but don’t ask what I got up to there as it’s all lost, fortunately, in the haze of time. All I can remember now is that it had the world’s biggest duck pond and you could be expelled – or sent down or whatever – if you killed and/or cooked a duck. Not that they were particularly tasty. I was once told off by the Archbishop of York for climbing half-way up the Minster (it was in scaffolding at the time) but I hope they’ve forgotten and forgiven this by now.

Immediately after that, I’m off to New York where a play of mine, MINDGAME, is opening. I hope no parents will bring their children, thinking it will be the theatrical equivalent of an Alex Rider book as it’s full of bad language and insanely violent. One of the characters actually gets killed twice. The play stars Keith Carradine who was great as the detective in DEXTER 2 (one of my favourite TV programmes). It’s being directed by a man called Ken Russell who was the UK’s most famous film director when I was in my teens…I absolutely loved his films. He’s now about seventy, very eccentric (you may have spotted him on Celebrity Big Brother for a short time) and I have absolutely no idea how the play will do. It opens the day after the American elections…so fingers crossed.

And finally to Darren Shan. I don’t know how many of you have been reading his DEMONATA series. I must say I’ve been enjoying it. But Volume 8, WOLF ISLAND, has just come out and I notice that there is a character in it called Antoine Horwitzer. Any ideas who that could be? In the story, he’s a sort of mad scientist type and at first (page 64) he seems pleasant enough. Shan describes him as: “a tall, handsome, tanned man…his hair looks like a film star’s, thick and carefully waxed into shape.” But it soon becomes clear that he’s untrustworthy and arrogant and by the time you get to page 194…well, I won’t spoil the ending but it looks unlikely that Antoine will be appearing in Volume 9.

Anyway, my lawyers have studied the book and the bad news for Darren Shan is that they agree it’s definitely defamatory…which is to say that I could win millions from him in court. The good news is that I’ve decided not to sue. If there’s one piece of advice that everyone should stick to in their life it’s AVOID LAWYERS. This is good advice even for lawyers. However, I will be having my revenge. Next year, I have a third collection of horror stories coming out. The title (at the moment) is: AAAGH: TEN UNUSUAL WAYS TO DIE and one of the stories is called THE MAN WHO KILLED DARREN SHAN. I have started re-writing it. Out go all the compliments about CIRQUE DU FREAK and THE DEMONATA. And instead…

Next Halloween, Darren. Wait and see.

Anthony Horowitz

28 October 2008

Technorati Tags: alex rider, Power of Five

So far I’ve managed a week in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia which might well crop up one day in an Alex Rider novel. It’s a horrible place. Boiling hot but no real sun due to the clouds of sand blowing in from the desert. Too much concrete. And a couple of skyscrapers that could have come straight out of someone’s bad dream. I was there as a journalist to visit a weird “prison for terrorists” where I drank tea with a suicide bomber who had managed to blow himself, and nine other people, apart. Somehow he survived. You can read all about it in the Sunday Telegraph on-line.

Then I went up to the West Coast of Scotland and stayed on a tiny island called Eilean Shona which would also make a good setting for a bad guy in an Alex book…complete with ruined castle, caves and basking sharks. It’s very private. Trespassers could be shot and nobody would know. During my time there I managed to kayak a reasonably impressive 14kms in three hours and swam every morning in water which must have been about zero degrees. My voice is now very high.

I’m writing this back in London and here’s what I’m doing for the rest of the summer…

COLLISION is a five-part TV series which I’ve written for ITV and which will be shot this September. It’s going to feature the largest road accident ever filmed and I’ve asked the producer (ie my wife) if I can feature as one of the victims. We’ll see.

NECROPOLIS is now being printed and it’s a bit of a monster at 105,000 words. It was fairly exhausting to write and when it was finished I decided it wasn’t good enough and wrote the whole thing again. It comes out in October and it looks as if I’ll be in Manchester, Leeds and York promoting it.

FOYLE’S WAR is returning. This is my other TV series which got cancelled last year by some idiot at ITV but which is being brought back “by public demand”. More murder mysteries set during the second world war.

HORROR STORIES. There’s another set on the way. My publishers have come up with a great idea for the look of the book which will be like nothing you’ve ever seen before, but so far we haven’t got a title. Their suggestion: DIAL H FOR HORROR. But that’s a bit lame. I wanted to call it: AAAAGH! At least it would come first on any alphabetical list. But perhaps you can do better. Twelve stories incuding a psychopathic massage chair, a lethal TV reality game show, a bloody French exchange, the murder of Darren Shan and a snake in a bed. Do send in any thoughts!

And ALEX 8…

I’ve had second thoughts about telling Yassen’s story, which was going to be the subject of this book. I’m thinking of leaving that to number nine. Instead, I’ve got the beginnings of an idea set partly in the UK and partly in Africa. Alex hasn’t been there yet. But it’s very early days. I plan to start writing in October/November for delivery in spring 2009. The challenge is always the same. How to make the book better than the last one. Only two more Alex Riders after this one and that’s it!

Finally, a goodbye to Horowitz HQ. This site has been run for the past three years by my assistant, Cat Taylor, who- for her own, mad reasons – has decided to leave. She says that working for me is something she will never forget…at least, that’s what her therapist tells her. But the website will continue. And I will still look in from time to time and answer questions as they arise.

That’s it. Have a fantastic summer.

Anthony Horowitz