Hurrah for Hay! My first visit in 2009 proved to be a wonderful introduction to authors like Andy Stanton, Anthony Horowitz and Robert Muchamore, whose author talks were wildly successful. Horowitz solved the Invisible City postcard clue in no time at all. Andy Stanton (author of the bonkers and brilliant Mr Gum books) and I hung out at Jimmy Cobb’s jazz concert.
Smooth.
This year Team Gemini Force descended on the tiny Welsh town, Jamie Anderson, Nina Douglas from Orion Children’s Books, me and my teenage daughter. Martin Chilton, Cultural Editor of the Telegraph, was on board too, interviewing Jamie and me on stage for two events.
During the first event, on the Wales Stage, I mentioned that I drew inspiration from Prince Harry for the character of Ben Carrington. I’d previously mentioned this to interviewers from Reading Zone and The Sun, so was surprised and delighted that the Telegraph were keen to talk more about this. Martin Chilton sent his colleague Anita Singh to interview me and before we knew it, Jamie and I were having our photo taken just in case the story ran the following day.
Watch the video to find out what happened next! Filmed and narrated by The Teen Harris aged 13&3/4.
Gemini Force One cupcakes at Waterstone’s Piccadilly!
With cousin Lilia at Waterstone’s Piccadilly launch of GF1.
Nina Douglas (Orion Children’s Books) and MG at Blackwell’s part for GF1 and Sally Nicholl’s An Island Of Our Own.
Jamie Anderson, MG Harris and Sally Nicholls at Blackwell’s part for GF1 and Sally Nicholl’s An Island Of Our Own.
(many more photos from both launch parties on my Flickr Gemini Force One album.)
Time for a quick recap on the launch of Orion Children’s Book’s edition of GEMINI FORCE ONE: BLACK HORIZON. For long-term followers of what is now admittedly a very occasional blog, the Blackwell’s cake party will be familiar. But this time, as a special treat for some Kickstarter backers and book bloggers, Waterstone’s Piccadilly also invited us to put on a London bash.
As we say in the publishing world – Hurrah!
In another first, I also decided that the Oxford party would be even more fun to share the occasion with my good friend and fellow children’s author Sally Nicholls. Sally’s latest title – AN ISLAND OF OUR OWN – was published the same day as BLACK HORIZON.
Jamie Anderson and I have been booked for a number of literary festivals and conventions this year – to date we can go public about Hay Festival, Andercon and SciFi Wales. We’d already had a trial run of our ‘festival event’ at the fab SciFi Scarborough, so the Waterstone’s Piccadilly launch gave us a chance to hone our double act a little more.
Next stop – Hay Festival!
Hope you enjoy the photos. If you’d like to follow updates more regularly, you can add me on Twitter or Facebook – links on the right of the website!
Thanks are due to Vincent Ripley for such enthusiastic organisation of the voting across four heats, to James Macey, the designer at Blacksheep, and most of all to the brilliant fans who racked up almost 42% of the total 918 votes for this, Gerry Anderson’s final project.
If you voted for BLACK HORIZON then THANK YOU from all at Team Gemini Force (MG Harris, Jamie Anderson and Orion Children’s Books).
I thought it would be interesting to see a some of James’s progress artwork. So here as a special treat, some of the early concepts that our designer worked on before the final version.
Fascinating to see the evolution, eh? That’s one of the great things about books – great book design becomes an instrinsic and memorable part of the story.
Jamie Anderson, MG Harris and Lisa Milton (Orion) at the Black Horizon cover reveal
August, 2014. It was meant to be discreet. Jamie and MG signing tip-in sheets on their dining room tables, getting together to sign the paperback Kickstarter edition, quietly sending out delicious packages to all our lovely backers. No publicity, no party.
A STEALTH LAUNCH.
But then Goldsboro Books, our exclusive retail partner for the collector’s edition of GEMINI FORCE ONE: BLACK HORIZON, decided to invite us to a party – Fantasy in the Court, their knees-up for LONCON3, the World Science Fiction convention. And…party! We couldn’t say no.
Orion Children’s Books very kindly threw in another small party, just for Team #GeminiForce1 and other friends from Orion Publishing Group.
The only teeny tiny problem was the date. I was going to be in deepest southern Spain that morning. It was going to take two moderately long car journeys, a flight and a train to get me there on time. Frankly I though there was no chance.
And yet, somehow. God is great, as they cry out from minarets, of a Friday. Or at least decided to look elsewhere that day when it came to random calamity. Thank you Lord.
Lovely photos here show Jamie, me and Lisa Milton from Orion, drinking fizzy wine and cheering for the first hardback copies of the book, as well as the exciting moment of cover reveal.
Look at our pretties!
Backer Rob Dyer’s copy (photo by Rob too)
The story is pretty darn good too, you really can’t go far wrong with a classic Thunderbirds type rescue combined with family drama. Here are just some of the many lovely comments we’ve had on Facebook and our Kickstarter page from the first backers to read the book among our Kickstarter backers.
Angela GC Howard: “Reading Gemini Force One and just got past the first daring rescue…. I have no fingernails left!”
Nicole Dyer: “Well the first adventure is over for me.. I’ve finished the book (Gemini Force One – Black Horizon) it was absolutely amazing!!! I enjoyed every single page and can’t believe we got to be a part of something so awesome! Its all only just begun and I can’t wait to see where it all leads!!”
Richard Bailey: “So after a dull and miserable morning what cheered me up today…have a guess…reading Gemini Force One Black Horizon.”
In April 2015, you can all find out what the Kickstarter backers are so excited about. 🙂
A new era begins – and it all takes me back to the first days of THE JOSHUA FILES, when I posted a photo of the proof pages of INVISIBLE CITY.
We went on to have postcards, enamel badges, glow-in-the-dark wristbands and T-shirts too, but it all starts with a manuscript. For GEMINI FORCE ONE we’ve got the whole kit and kaboodle ready from the start – thanks to the Power Of Kickstarter. How proud I was to turn to the back of the pages and see the list of awesome Kickstarter backers who donated enough to get onto the Official Backers list. Everyone who backed us gets a gift of some kind, but the Official Backers list will go down in history. Thank you all, guys!
In fact there is even more on its way than shown in the photo – also in the works are embroidered patches, a GF1 jacket, postcards of original artwork from Andrew Probert and others. We might even have a poster. And verrry excitingly, a team of costume designers who’ve worked for the BBC on top genre shows have offered to design and make a full GF1 uniform as worn by the official crew, in time for display at LONCON 2014.
Meanwhile, how is the story coming along, you may ask?
Well, the first draft of book 2 (working title, GHOST MINE) is about 80% completed. As far as Ben Carrington goes, as well as GF1, we’re still in Origin Story country here. Ben is finding his feet on GF-One, hoping to prove his worth to the elite team. But aspects of Ben’s personality make him a difficult recruit. Is it that he’s reckless, too eager, or does boy have a flippin’ deathwish? Either way, Truby has a tricky decision to make regarding the latest recruit to GEMINI FORCE.
I do find myself reflecting on the differences between Josh Garcia and Ben Carrington. We get to know Josh from a younger, perhaps more callow age. At just 13 when his adventure starts, Josh is more a reluctant hero. The end of the story sees him turned into a skillful pilot and fantastic problem solver, and a time-traveler to boot.
By contrast, Ben Carrington is 16 when we first meet him. There is nothing reluctant about his heroism. There’s a huge hole in his life where a family should be and he’s determined to fill it with something equally worthy and resonant. He’s more gleefully physical than Josh, far, far less adept when it comes to girls, but in one aspect, they are very similar. Reckless! Why? Because it is SO fun to write these boys into horrible situations, and then to help them find a way out.
Ben steps up the official recognition of his role in GF1
First mention of a character named after Gerry Anderson – his role in the evolution of GF1 is in the backstory but crucial.
We now have a date for the publication (7th August) of the special collector’s edition of GERRY ANDERSON’S GEMINI FORCE ONE: BLACK HORIZON. You can only get this from Goldsboro Books, unless you were one of our £50+ backers. Numbers are strictly limited – order now to be sure of a copy!
Hurrah for Hay! My first visit in 2009 proved to be a wonderful introduction to authors like Andy Stanton, Anthony Horowitz and Robert Muchamore, whose author talks were wildly successful. Horowitz solved the Invisible City postcard clue in no time at all. Andy Stanton (author of the bonkers and brilliant Mr Gum books) and I hung out at Jimmy Cobb’s jazz concert.
