So the day finally rolled around – the day that Josh Garcia’s 2012 adventures come to an end. APOCALYPSE MOON, the final instalment, is published today. for the past two weeks, I’ve been showing its sleek black coat to children in schools.
Everywhere I go, I get the same ‘oooh, cool!’ reaction and the question – “Will you write more stories about Josh?”
I’m making no promises. . . But you never know. Those who’ve already read the finale will know that it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that Josh might have more adventures in store. Let’s see if any of them come to me!
You can now order APOCALYPSE MOON from Amazon.co.uk or The Book Depository (free worldwide delivery!)
Many, many thanks to St Gregory the Great School and Oxford High in Oxford for hosting the official launch events of APOCALYPSE MOON and to Mark Thornton of Mostly Books for being with me that day and for his absolutely lovely write-up of APOCALYPSE MOON on the Mostly Books blog.
Thanks also to Elthorne Park High School and St John’s Primary, Banbury for inviting me for slightly postponed World Book Day celebrations.
A few reviews of APOCALYPSE MOON have already appeared, all of which manage to express enthusiasm without revealing any spoilers, which can’t have been easy!
Thanks very much especially to readers who’ve reviewed APOCALYPSE MOON on Goodreads and Amazon. Keep ’em coming! (Unless you didn’t like it. Then keep it to yourself!).
It means a great deal to me that you all seem to be enjoying the finale so much. I really wanted to leave you satisfied and hopefully, happy.
With New College School and Oxford High
Meanwhile the poll to decide what song Josh Garcia records next on his video blog has a couple of days still to run. You can vote here, (see the sidebar to the right), or at fb.com/joshuafiles
And over at the Official Joshua Files Facebook Group, we’re discussing ideas for a final big competition to win rare, neon-PVC sleeved copies of the winner’s choice of any of the five books. This could be your chance to finally complete your collection! I’ll announce the competition at the end of the Easter holidays, over at themgharris.com
Meanwhile, there are still a few more Joshua-related events coming up. All five books should be available as ebooks soon (really! Honest!). The hotly-anticipated Gramedia (Indonesia) edition of DARK PARALLEL will be out soon. And in the USA, Catalonia, Turkey and Vietnam, this will be the year of ZERO MOMENT.
And guess what. . . there is still one untold story from the world of THE JOSHUA FILES.
It’s the very first one I wrote – before I realised that Josh had a part to play. The first book I wrote when I was laid up with my broken leg and finished in two months, only to realise that another story was breaking out – the story of a teenage boy in search of a lost Mayan codex. I set that manuscript aside to concentrate on telling Josh Garcia’s story.
But if you have a yen for yet another thriller that plunges you into a world of ancient civilisations, secret societies, genetic manipulation and global conspiracy, you might like to meet my very first action heroes, the Bennett brothers, Jackson and Connor.
First though – read APOCALYPSE MOON! Find out how it all ends! Post online reviews! Tell your friends! Enter the competitions!
Here’s an excerpt of the opening of the final chapter of The Joshua Files. You can pre-order the book from Amazon.co.uk
Blog Entry: The Joshua Doomsday Manifesto OR How to deal with the possible end-of-the-world
1. Keep busy. Learn a skill or trade. Do your exams. Take me, for example, I’m learning to be a pilot. OK I’ll admit that I’m partly doing it to impress a girl, but also, it might come in handy, especially if the end-of-the-world starts to look likely.
Mainly, keep your mind off the possible impending doom. The trade/skill/exam thing is just a bonus.
2. Stay in denial. The world is NOT going to end. Tell yourself this a few times a day. Thoughts of what might happen may spring up on you when you’re least expecting it. In those moments, you’ll need that denial to be rock solid.
3. DO NOT look at videos on YouTube about the world ending. Most of them have got it badly wrong anyway. They talk about asteroids crashing into Earth or the Planet Niburu or some other rubbish. You won’t find much about a Galactic Superwave and a gigantic electromagnetic pulse wiping out all the computer technologies. That’s so much less photogenic. Instead of massive fireballs, there will be a massive no-show. No TV, no InterWeb, no money going through the banking system and no twenty pound notes in the ATMs. No food trucks going to the supermarkets, no power in the hospitals. The whole developed world relies on computer technology. Very definitely don’t think about what would happen if there was suddenly a great big OUTAGE.
4. Make a bucket list – a list of all the things you want to do before you ‘kick the bucket’. Quietly. Show it to no-one. This is just for you. You’ll never have to use it, probably, because the world won’t end. It’s a just-in-case. Look at it for a long time and think about what really matters, what you really want to DO or BE.
You might surprise yourself. I did.
5. Stop reading this blog. How did you find it anyway? What makes you think I’m not making it all up?
6. Trust the adults to sort everything out and save the world. Hey, they usually do, right?
7. If you’ve tried all of the above and you still wake at 3am with a cold, vacant pit where your stomach should be, wondering if civilisation is on the brink of destruction – then there’s always this: GET INVOLVED.
Chapter One
Lately, I’ve been having the feeling that people aren’t being straight with me. Or some people in particular; my parents.
By ‘parents’ I mean my mother (Eleanor) and her partner Carlos Montoyo. If it weren’t for the fact that my real father died pretty recently, Mum would probably already be married to Montoyo. They fell for each other after a few months. Now they’re definitely a couple. But when you marry a widow, I think you’re probably meant to leave a polite interval.
Montoyo is an interesting guy and I won’t deny that I respect him. He’s been on the Ruling Executive of Ek Naab – a hidden, ‘invisible city’ – ever since the last proper Bakab Ix died – my grandfather. Now I’m the Bakab Ix; I’m next in line to succeed to the Ruling Executive. When I turn sixteen.
That’s if Montoyo will give up his place for me. If ever there was a wheeler dealer, it’s him. About nine months ago Montoyo played a sneaky trick on me. Since then things have gone downhill. Nine months ago, he tricked me into traveling in time in search of an ancient Mayan codex – the Ix Codex. Montoyo might say he had his reasons for tricking me, but it’s not easy to get over being conned into risking your life. It’s probably fair to say that if Montoyo could have managed the time travel bit, he’d have done the deed himself. If he could have touched the Ix Codex, that is. Like my dad used to say, if we had eggs, we could have ham and eggs, if we had ham.
Of all the people in the ‘invisible city’ of Ek Naab, only I can use the time travel device, the Bracelet of Itzamna. Only I can touch the Ix Codex. It’s not a magical power, it’s a genetic ability: I was born with it.
Until nine months ago, Montoyo didn’t think twice about risking me on a dangerous time-travel adventure. If the Ix Codex went missing, I was the guy for the job. It’s what I was born for, after all. Prince William doesn’t whine about being second in line to the British throne. And I try not to whine about being what I am, the Bakab Ix – genetically tweaked to be the protector of the Ix Codex.
There’s an ancient legend that the world-as-we-know-it will end in December 2012. The bad news is that it’s true. What is going to happen, has happened before. It will all happen again, too. The good news is that this time, we’re meant to be prepared – thanks to the Ix Codex.
The instructions for how to save the world from the coming Galactic Superwave of 2012 are in the Ix Codex. But the cover of the Ix Codex is impregnated with a poisonous gas. Only a Bakab Ix can touch the book and survive.
There were times when it was very hard to carry all that responsibility. I didn’t ask for the job; I was born into it. I wasn’t always keen. But I did what was needed, I risked my life again and again. I’ve been shot in the leg, attacked with knives, experimented on, watched people I care about being hurt by my enemies, seen my father in prison, seen him plunge to his death saving my life.
All to try to protect the Ix Codex, to do my bit to save the world from the Galactic Superwave.
So when apparently I’m too young and too inexperienced to play a part in this incredible plan to save the world…when I’m completely side-lined and ordered to ‘Get on with your studies and leave everything to us’…
I get pretty annoyed. I get a bit suspicious too.
It has something to do with what happened nine months ago, when I time-travelled. That’s when everything changed. Before that, I felt like I was on the inside, allowed to know what was going on, how the 2012 plan was coming along.
Now – nothing. No part in it for me. I’m surplus to requirements.
On the up-side: you can get a lot done in nine months, if you really focus. I had no idea. Nine months of intensive maths coaching and I’ve covered a decent chunk of the A-levels in maths, further maths, physics.
Not that I was a huge fan of maths before I came to live in the city, but for trainee pilots, maths is essential. My second cousin Benicio passed his pilot exam when he was fifteen. I’m determined to at least equal that.
And there are only six weeks to go, before I turn sixteen.
There’s a knock at the door to the apartment I share with my mother. Right now I’m here alone – Mum is off with some new friends, teaching them Irish cookery, soda bread, Irish stew, things like that. She and I are the only foreigners, the most exotic people to have lived in Ek Naab for over a hundred years. After six months of determined friendliness, my Mum seems to have won over even some of the more xenophobic residents, who weren’t too happy when we moved in. But after a while, her relationship with Montoyo made her quite popular – it seems people have been keeping their fingers crossed that he’d marry again – either that or leave town. Being alone didn’t suit him; that’s what I’ve heard.
I zip up my flight jacket, empty the pockets of lint and a half-eaten flapjack. Still only half-dressed for my flying lesson, I move out of my bedroom and into the living room, open the door. Standing outside is my girlfriend, Ixchel. She’s smiling and carrying a basket of something wrapped in a white linen cloth. It smells delicious
“Surprise!”
“Hey! What are you doing here? I’m supposed to be out. Already late for Benicio.”
“You’ve got time to taste a cookie though, yes? I just came from your mother’s class.”
I put my head on one side. “Aw honey, you baked!”
She grins. “Try one.” The grin vanishes for a second, to be replaced by a look of mock ferocity. At least I’m hoping she’s joking. “You’d better be nice. It’s the first time I’ve baked anything.”
She opens the cloth and hands me a crisp, warm, shortbread biscuit. I take a bite and the warm, buttery pastry crumbles in my mouth. I close my eyes and give a long sigh of appreciation. She watches with a hopeful expression. I’m silent, experiencing the delicious sensation of the freshly baked biscuit at the same time as gazing at her shoulders and neck. They’re tanned the colour of honey, a wonderful contrast to the strappy purple top she’s wearing.
“Good?”
“Amazing. Marry me.”
Ixchel is momentarily taken aback. So am I. The phrase just tripped off my tongue, a joke, yet not a joke, because for Ixchel and I, the whole subject is a bit tense.
After a second or two, she recovers her composure. “Josh Garcia; you don’t get away with proposing as easy as that.”
Thank goodness. We’re back to joking about it. “Why not?” I mumble, mouth full of shortbread. “We’re already engaged after all. I’m the Bakab Ix and you’re my betrothed. It’s all been agreed.”
“Engaged, betrothed. Do you even know the difference?”
“Give us a kiss, sweetness, and I’ll tell you.”
She plants a kiss on my cheek and grins as she pulls away. “Engaged is when you give me a ring and get down on one knee, and since you’re only…what age are you, again?” Silently, Ixchel pretends to compute my age in her head.
“I’m fifteen, almost sixteen,” I growl. “And you’re already sixteen, I know, I know.”
“It’s not that you’re a few months younger. It’s that we’re both too young.”
“Who says I even want to marry you anyway? I’m just being accurate about our relationship.”
“’Betrothed’ is just something our parents decided on.”
“What’s going to swing it for you, my good looks or charm? Or the massive political power I’m going to wield when I’m finally sixteen? They say it makes you irresistible, you know.”
She gazes at me. “Josh. Be serious. We both know you don’t care about power.”
“But they could at least listen to me, right? I know the rules say that Bakab can join the Ruling Executive of Ek Naab when he’s sixteen but…”
“…that’s never actually happened.”
“Right. And can you see Carlos Montoyo letting it happen? He’s doing everything he can to keep me out of the planning for 2012.”
Ixchel shakes her head in sad agreement. “I know. I’ve heard that he’s going to try to change the law. Make it so you have to be twenty-five. He’s arguing that the ancient law exists because life expectancy used to be so short.”
“Twenty-five will be about ten years too late. This 2012 stuff is going down in December! Now is when they should be asking for my help.”
From behind us a voice calls out lazily, “Maybe they don’t need you.”
Ixchel and I turn swiftly to see my cousin Benicio standing at the door to my apartment. He gives us a sheepish grin and knocks twice on the door jamb.
“Whoops. Knock, knock.”
Benicio is fully kitted in his flying gear; black trousers and a navy blue flight jacket that hangs open to reveal a clean white vest underneath. All ready for our lesson: me, Benicio and a Muwan Mark 2, the nimble little ‘sparrow hawk’ aircraft based on the technology of the super-ancient, lost civilisation, the Erinsi, whose writings are inscribed in the Four Books of Itzamna, including the Ix Codex.
“I guess you forgot about the lesson,” Benicio says with a nod at my shoeless feet.
“I’m nearly ready. And what do you mean, ‘they don’t need me’?”
“I’m not denying you’re handy when the Ix Codex is around,” Benicio says, lightly. He’s teasing me, but there’s just a bit too much truth to what he says. “But what we need now are grown-ups! Experienced soldiers in the battle to save the world from the Galactic Superwave!”
Ixchel says quietly, “Benicio, don’t.”
It’s too late, I’m already getting annoyed. “People like you, you mean?”
“Hey buddy, I’ve saved your life more than once.”
“I know. I’m grateful. But you know what I’m talking about. You know I’ve been in dangerous situations, right? You know I can handle myself, yeah? And Ixchel is, like, this total genius with ancient languages. We should be on the team to decipher all those ancient instructions. We should be helping with the 2012 plan.”
Benicio’s easy grin falls away, to be replaced with an expression of caution. “Yeah. Maybe. I couldn’t really say.” And I know Benicio well enough to recognise this behaviour – hesitant, as though he’s afraid to say any more on the subject. This is how he acts when he’s been ordered to keep information from me.
“OK Josh, but right now, let’s focus on turning you into a pilot. Today, I’m teaching you a flight manoeuvre that’s sure to make you vomit.” He snatches a second piece of shortbread out of my fingers before I can put it to my mouth. “So, no more cookies for you.”
Well, I’m back on the blog. An extended holiday packed with houseguests and road-tripping gobbled up July and August, and the edit of Joshua Files 5 gulped down my September.
Rewriting, as any author will tell you, is mentally exhausting. You have the editor’s notes that point out all the flaws in your manuscript, all that’s needed is to fix things. Sometimes this means breaking your plot and putting it together in a better configuration. I received my editor’s notes whilst on holiday in Spain. During a long swim, I mentally put together the new, improved plot. Luckily, it still seemed to work when I returned to my computer.
So after emailing the second draft of Joshua 5 to my editor, I’m now free to write about two exciting upcoming events I’m involved in. Two events which demonstrate the awesomeness of Oxford.
The first, next Saturday, is the 2nd Kennington Literary Festival. In aid of the wonderful little Kennington Village Library, this event is pure ‘localism’. You can come along and meet Oxford authors including Bill Heine, Brian Aldiss, Korky Paul and also – me!
BBC Oxford’s Jane Markham interviewed me about Joshua Files, time-travel fiction and the Kennington Festival – you can listen on the interviews page.
My event is on SATURDAY 15TH OCTOBER 2.20pm-3pm. Free for under 16s! Send your teenagers along to hear some Joshua secrets, tea and biccies in the village hall afterwards.
Meanwhile fellow Oxford author Dan Holloway and I seem to have successfully lobbied Blackwell’s, Oxford to organise an event to celebrate the launch of our beloved Haruki Murakami’s new book, IQ84. Read more about our plans here: We Love Murakami. I’ll be making Cosmopolitans and Coolman Martinis, still deciding on which mocktails… Dan might be making Wind-Up Bird spaghetti. Any volunteers to make rude phone calls to him while the pasta cooks?
So much excitement! And Swindon Youth Literature Festival coming up in November!
Meanwhile I will now work on Surprise New Project – an adult techno-thriller set in the Joshua Files universe. More on this soonish! And Ultra Secret New Project, about which I am still keeping mum…
