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

Crime Traveller by Anthony Horowitz on DVD

Crime Traveller

Win a copy of Crime Traveller!

The nice people at Revelation Films have given us three copies of the Crime Traveller DVD box set to give away. Written by Anthony Horowitz and broadcast on BBC television in 1997, Crime Traveller is a sci-fi crime series that is “sure to entertain” .

To win a copy of Crime Traveller just tell us who directed the series and email your answer making sure to put Crime Traveller as the message subject with your full name and postal address to [COMPETITION CLOSED]

Closing date for entries is Friday August 15 at 14.00 GMT. Only one entry per address is allowed. Competition is open to all countries. The DVD is Region Free and will play on any DVD player worldwide. Three correct entries will be selected at random and the prize will be sent by post.

More about Crime Traveller

Meet the most unconventional investigative team of all time, in the BBC mystery adventure series, Crime Traveller.

Written by award-winning author Anthony Horowitz, creator of the brilliant Alex Rider adventures, Foyle’s War, Rosemary and Thyme and Midsomer Murders, Crime Traveller stars Michael French (Eastenders, Holby City) and Red Dwarf’s Chloe Annett (Casualty, Doctors) as sleuths Jeff Slade and Holly Turner.

Detective duos come and go, working on intuition, clues and good luck, but Slade and his beautiful colleague Holly are armed with something very special in the ongoing fight against crime – their very own time machine. Invented by Holly’s father, Professor Frederick Turner, the time machine may be a bizarre mixture of D.I.Y. technology, but it works, just, sending the charming, maverick detective Slade on a dangerous rollercoaster ride through both the present and the past. Intriguing complex puzzles are solved with the aid of their unreliable collection of nuts and bolts and flashing lights, but they must always obey the rules of quantum physics, or risk being lost forever…

Aided by a superb cast that includes Waking The Dead’s Sue Johnston, and directed by Brian Farnham (Rosemary and Thyme, Poirot, Heartbeat, Bergerac) Crime Traveller is a stylish, fast-paced drama that was shown on prime time BBC television during the late 1990’s, gathering a strong and loyal cult following hooked on the mysteries of time travel and crime fighting, and paving the way for dramas such as the BBC’s acclaimed series, Life On Mars.

This DVD Box Set includes an exclusive interview with writer and creator Anthony Horowitz, the man behind the newest big screen hero; Alex Rider.

DVD Special Features

Cast and Crew Biographies, Episode Synopsis, Exclusive Anthony Horowitz Interview and Original Production Trailer.

Click below to view an excerpt of Anthony’s interview from the extras of Crime Traveller:

Online Videos by Veoh.com

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

I’m the Co-Administrator of a literary/book review site and I’ve recently interviewed Jay Benedict, who played John Kieffer in the Foyle’s War episodes “Invasion” and “All Clear”.

Quite apart from being a lively and wide-ranging interview (the first he’s ever given, I believe …) he mentions Mr Horowitz - not once, but twice.

Firstly, as one of his children’s favourite authors, and secondly in a rather sweet ‘thank you’ for creating the role of Kieffer and writing it so well!

I should, perhaps, just mention that for anyone who hasn’t yet seen “All Clear”, the interview contains a major spoiler.

I ought also to mention that Jay has a colourful turn of phrase from time to time …

Read the full interview here.

His hero is Tintin, he was once a cowboy, and he’s currently dreaming of a nice long skiing holiday! Who are we talking about?

Cattle chaser extraordinaire, and all round stupendously splendid storywriter Anthony Horowitz - that’s who!

And in our latest interview, he’s having a good old natter with Claire Briscoe about all things Alex Rider…



Find out more. Read the full interview.

Let’s start there! 2007 was an amazing year with the publication of SNAKEHEAD which seems to have gone down really well. For some reason, even when I’m pleased with a book, I get hugely nervous just before publication and there seemed to be a lot riding on the 7th Alex Rider. Well, I’ve read the reviews and signed enough copies to know that people enjoyed it and that almost nobody guessed the twist at the end. I loved writing SNAKEHEAD. I’m always being asked which is my favourite Alex and although I’m never sure of the answer, I’d put this one right up there in the top three – with SCORPIA and SKELETON KEY.

The paperback of SNAKEHEAD comes out in April and I have to say that Walker Books have given it an amazingly slinky cover. They also persuaded me to write an extra chapter which, among other things, tells you what A.S.H. stands for. But just so I can’t be accused of ripping everyone off by making them buy a whole book just to see a single chapter, you’ll be able to download it free from Walker Books’ new website. Details are inside the book – just take a look at it in the store.

Anyway, at the end of the year I managed to sneak away for a three-week family holiday in Jamaica and Cuba. Came back with a tan and a liver complaint…all that rum! No drinking since them. I’m also on the alphabet diet, my own invention. You give up alcohol, biscuits, chocolate, desserts, eggs, fries and keep going until you’re only allowed to eat yoghurt and zucchini. By which time you’ve either lost weight or died. I’m not sure I recommend it.

2008 began with a tour of the USA which, to be honest, I had been rather dreading. I love meeting readers in America but fourteen cities in sixteen days, airport security systems where you almost have to strip down to your boxers just to get on the flight, late finishes and early starts, hotel after hotel…it can all get a bit exhausting and you can’t be sure that when you arrive to give your talk, anyone will actually show up.

Well, this tour was brilliant. It seems that Alex Rider has finally landed across the Atlantic. The books have been in the bestseller lists for forty-nine weeks in a row and SNAKEHEAD sold over 200,000 copies. I don’t mean to sound boastful but my publishers at Penguin are a cut-throat lot and if the sales ever dip, my next tour will be in some of the more remote parts of Alaska and they won’t supply a plane.

I started in New York and then went up to Philadelphia, back to New York, down to Miami, over to Cincinnati, then Chicago, Iowa City, Des Moines and Kansas City. Then we nipped up to Vancouver in Canada before returning to Seattle, San Francisco, La Jolla and Los Angeles. Apologies if I’ve missed anyone out.

I was amazed by the size of the audiences I was getting and by the vast range of questions. (As you may know, I never give long talks…I’m too scared of boring people. I prefer Q&A sessions and making stuff up as I go along). Some favourite sessions. The Peter Norton Symphony Space in New York was great…interviewed by John Shea who acted as Lex Luthor in the TV version of Superman. Books & Books in Coral Gables, Florida was a real eye-opener. I thought people in Florida didn’t read – but this is one of the liveliest bookshops I’ve ever visited. I did an amazing event at the Tivoli Theatre which was a beautiful 1920’s building near Chicago. It was completely packed out and after I’d finished my session, they showed the movie of Stormbreaker. I loved hearing Alex Pettyfer being gunned down again (and surviving) while I was signing books outside. I got to talk in a temple for Rainy Day Books in Kansas City. And I’ve got to mention another bookstore, Kepler’s Books in Menlo Park, CA. They’d gone to town with computer-disc entrance tickets and packed in a huge crowd. It was a great evening.

Six years ago, I remember going to a Barnes & Noble in a shopping mall somewhere and although ninety seats were set out, only two kids came. In the end, I didn’t give a talk. I just bought them each a coffee. But when I think how far I’ve come, it brings a lump to my throat…although that may be my wife’s cooking.

I didn’t come home after America. Instead, I got on a fifteen-hour flight from Los Angeles to Hong Kong and that’s where we get to current work in progress.

I’m now about half-way through NECROPOLIS: CITY OF THE DEAD – and I’m hugely enjoying writing the new book, Volume Four in the series which is called THE GATEKEEPERS in the USA and THE POWER OF FIVE in England. If you haven’t read RAVEN’S GATE, EVIL STAR and NIGHTRISE, please do! I never use these occasional blogs to sell myself but I think this series is shaping up to be really special.

NECROPOLIS is very different to anything I’ve done so far. It’s in three parts. The first part is narrated by Scarlett. Yes…I’ve finally created a heroine! It’s also been a long time since I’ve written a book in the first person. The second part is narrated by Matt. The third part is told by me. A lot of the book is set in Hong Kong (obviously) but it also takes place in Peru, London and – believe it or not – the Ukraine. The basic set up is that the Old Ones find Scar, who is the fifth of the five, and use her as the bait in a trap to capture Matt.

So far, it’s easily the scariest and darkest book I’ve ever written. It’s also the violent although my two editors at Walker Books – both violent women themselves – will probably bully me into making cuts. We’ll see. I had a fantastic time in Hong Kong, tracking down the locations (I also took the jet foil to Macau, which is a small island about an hour away and which features in the story) and picking up the atmosphere. I loved the city although it’s a consumer nightmare. You’ve never seen so many Armani suits and Rolex Watches. I wouldn’t have thought there were enough people with enough money in the world to buy all the stuff you see in the windows.

I expect to deliver the manuscript to Walker in about three months. Expect publication in April next year.

But before that, Walker are bringing out a new collection of horror stories, my third. I wrote these off and on last year in quiet moments before SNAKEHEAD came out – and I think they’re fun. One of the stories is called THE MAN WHO KILLED DARREN SHAN. That will teach him to write rude things about my books! (Incidentally, I hear a rumour that there’s a character based on me in his next one. Are there any spies in the Shan camp who can let me know if this is true?)

“Spies!? Where? Darren Who? I’ll have them all shot immediately!” - Xero

One other small bit of news before I stop and go to bed (I’m writing this in Orford, Suffolk. The dog and I did a four-hour walk today so we’re both worn out. He’s snoring so loudly that the whole house is vibrating). You may have read that I was writing a television drama – Raffik - for the Fox Network in America. Well, not any more! I was forced to go on strike by the Writers Guild of America and so the *~#$£+&% sacked me. Can you believe it? At least they’d paid me, but that’s not the point. I thought it was a good show and now we’ll never know. Oh well, at least that gives me more time to get on with the next Alex. I’m leaving for Russia later this year…

But I’ll write about that next time. This has stretched to three pages so I hope Control will leave me alone for a while.

I hope you all have a great year…or what’s left of it.

Anthony Horowitz

Orford

13th February 2008 (Cass’s birthday)

Technorati Tags: alex rider, anthony horowitz, Power of Five, Stormbreaker

Snakehead has been released. If you didn’t know that - then crawl out from whatever rock you’ve been living under and get a hold of the latest promotional swag from Walker Books at AlexRider.com

There is a downloadable Fan Pack including Bebo skin, MSN icons and wallpaper.

If that wasn’t enough there’s also a code cracking competition with prizes including a Nintendo Wii Console plus £200-worth of games, a signed copy of Snakehead and an exclusive limited edition Alex Rider t-shirt, postcard and poster.

Go now!!!!