anthonyhorowitz.com

I visited HHQ today and I was asked to write something for the website as I haven’t posted for a while. Actually, “asked” is the wrong word. Strong-armed, intimidated, bullied even. I’m going to have to avoid this place.

And what have I got to offer today? I’ve just emerged from a dark room for the first time in weeks which means that I haven’t seen anyone or done anything. But, on the other hand, I have a new book!

Weighing in at 108,000 words (the longest yet but still not quite Harry Potter standards, you’ll be glad to hear) NECROPOLIS is volume four in the Power of Five and although my two editors haven’t got their hands on it yet, I think this series is going from strength to strength.

I’ve probably told you this already but the book is in three parts, the first narrated by Scarlett, the second by Matt. The last part – the shortest – is told by me. It’s a very dark book, quite gruesome in places (until the editors have had their say) and very different to anything I’ve ever done. My visit to Hong Kong was really inspiring and the city comes over more horrible than you would believe – which is a bit unfair as I actually quite enjoyed being there.

The editors are getting it on Wednesday. I’m then fleeing to Suffolk where I plan to hide out for the rest of May. Limpy (the dog) will be with me. Do say hello if you happen to see me around Orford!

Three other things to mention about this month.

I had a great tour of Scotland and the North of England. This was my “sorry, I’m not visiting prep schools” tour and I found myself in some unusual places, starting with a really great crowd at Everton Football Ground (I know…I don’t support them either). I met a bunch of youth offenders there…at least, I think that’s what they were. They all seemed bright and pleasant to me. I couldn’t help but wonder how they’d got into trouble. I suppose it can happen to anyone.

I was also at Howdenhall Secure Unit in Edinburgh where I met some “looked after children” which is what you’re supposed to call them but again, we had a good time together, interesting questions…all in all the place was a lot nicer than my own prep school – no beatings or cold showers for a start.

And a quick hello to Roycroft Unit in Newscastle. Not somewhere I’d want to spend too much time in myself to be honest but I hope you’re still going to your book group and maybe even reading some of those books I left behind.

Moving on…

I had another birthday. Anyone who has read Granny knows my feelings about old age. The only good thing was getting an iPhone from my dear wife as a present. This is the most fantastic device. Well, I’m not going to do advertising for Steve Jobs just both my sons are massively jealous so it’s done the trick.

And I went to Paris for the day. Also celebrating (if that’s the word) twenty years of being married. We had dinner half-way up the Eiffel Tower which was amazing…until the bill came, when I was tempted to throw myself off.

Things to look out for…

THE ALEX RIDER MISSION FILES. I saw the roughs of Walker’s latest extravaganza last week and it looks pretty good. I wrote quite a lot of it myself and if you never read it (in the Daily Mail) you’ll find an early chapter in the life of AR.

HORROR STORIES. They’ve been put on hold. I have too many books at the moment and don’t want to look like I’m just churning them out. They’ll probably come out next year.

MORE FOYLE’S WAR. Just thought I’d mention it. Due to the stupidity of the men in suits, they cancelled my detective series, then changed their minds. I’m now working on a new series, set in the month after the war. This may be of interest to your parents and/or grandparents.

YASSEN. That’s not the title – I’m still working on it. But I hope to head off to Russia later this year to research Alex 8.

NECROPOLIS. Out October.

No more tours for a while, thank goodness. And now a quick escape from HHQ.

Anthony Horowitz

From the CITV site:

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.

Actually, it’s a bit embarrassing. Here we are in the middle of February and this the first message I’ve posted in 2008. Apologies all round to those of you who are regular visitors to this website. On the other hand, if you are regular visitors, you’ll know how irregular I am with my blogs. HHQ at Central Control keeps on sending me threatening emails but I have been busy (as I’m about to explain) and abroad and worn out after 2007.

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)

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