Category: appearances

Apocalypse Moon at Riveting Reads

Post author By MG
Post date July 3, 2013
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Last week I emerged from the self-imposed semi-hermitage of finishing a manuscript, to drive up north to Wakefield and the Riveting Reads Awards. The lovely kids of Wakefield had picked APOCALYPSE MOON to be on the shortlist, and presentations of each author’s books were promised, so I was keen to go.

With South Parade pupils at Riveting Reads 2013

The Yr5s of South Parade School had made artwork around the APOCALYPSE MOON jacket, with different textures and using materials including papier mache, chalk, oil pastels and paint. Lovely! They very kindly gave it to me at the end, so when I can find some wall-space (on a non-rainy day!) I’ll take a photo for the blog. My first time seeing artwork based on the final dark book – before it’s usually been Invisible City.

A group of Yr7s from Ossett Academy did something else I’ve never seen – they acted out a scene from the book! The scene was set in the ‘Muwan’ – the advanced aircraft flown by the Sky Guardians of Ek Naab. The kids had made a control panel from a keyboard and some painted cups, and of course – tin foil. Four kids held the Muwan scenery in place around the actors, who played Josh and Tyler. Two boys did Josh’s inner voice (nice! I hadn’t ever really thought about the dramatic possibilities of that!). I wish I’d videoed them, they were all so great!

Riveting Reads 2 — Ossett Academy Yr7s and their Muwan control panel stage scenery.

The chose to dramatize the section where Josh shows alt-Tyler (from the parallel future) the Muwan. This Tyler hasn’t ever seen it, is only just now beginning to accept that maybe Josh is telling the truth about time travelling from June 2012. He gives a speech (inspired by Kurtz’s famous speech from Apocalypse Now). I really enjoyed watching it and talking to the students afterwards about why they picked that particular piece. I’ll admit, I’m happy that a scene that I hoped would resonate, had an effect on these readers. Tyler, in a very toned down way, of course, is the Colonel Kurtz character of this story. The one who’s had his innocence ripped away by living through the horrors.

Often the difference in making a story work for young people lies simply in which end of the story you choose to tell. Tyler’s story would be a lot darker and grittier than Josh’s. Josh leads a charmed life, by comparison. But hopefully, that makes him easier to relate to.

I was delighted to thank all the kids who made artwork or presented the drama, a package of Joshua Files goodies, the gym bag, enamel badge and wristband. Lots of happy faces!

Ah but – the book didn’t win the award! That honour went to the impossibly youthful-looking Ciaran Murtagh with GENIE IN TRAINING. Congrats!

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Apocalypse Moon has landed!

Post author By MG
Post date April 5, 2012
2 Comments on Apocalypse Moon has landed!

MG Harris at Elthorne High — With Yr 7 students at Elthorne Park

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.

I’m delighted that Lovereading4kids, who’ve been consistent supporters of THE JOSHUA FILES have made me the Featured Author of the Month. Here’s the lovereading4kids entry for APOCALYPSE MOON.

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!

The BookZone’s review of APOCALYPSE MOON.

The Bookbag review of APOCALYPSE MOON.

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.

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!

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When MG met LJ

Sometimes I don’t blog everything interesting that happens to me right away; I save it up for a rainy day. Back in Nov 2009 I was on BBC TV’s Click – a show devoted to all things techie and presented by a fab fellow geek girl, the multi-talented LJ Rich. I made a little video of our meeting, the clip itself and then a chance meeting with a certain children’s TV presenter…

LJ asked me to go on the show to talk about the emerging phenomenon of self-publishing, mainly fueled by the print-on-demand revolution. You can see what I thought two years ago. My how things have changed, in only two years. Note how little we talk about ebooks! That’s where the action is nowadays.

Maybe I should go on Click again to update LJ on my opinion now… because as some beady-eyed members of the Joshua Files Facebook group may have spotted, I myself will be testing the waters in the brave new world of publishing and putting out an indie-published techno-thriller for older readers, set in the fictional world of The Joshua Files around May 2012…

LJ meanwhile has been developing her talents as a musician. Her latest album features her own gorgeous arrangements of traditional Christmas music, performed by LJ herself. Very tasteful and classically inspired, with a touch of gospel. I think my favourite is “I Saw Three Ships”. Perfect background music for a Christmas drinks party or the long drive to visit family, I’d say.

You can preview or download here at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/ljrich3

apocalypse moon appearances

Hurray for Oxford! (Kennington Literary Festival and Murakami love)

Post author By MG
Post date October 10, 2011
1 Comment on Hurray for Oxford! (Kennington Literary Festival and Murakami love)

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.

(Big announcement about Joshua 5 over on themgharris.com, btw)

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!

Here’s the article in The Oxford Times: Literary line-up to aid village library

You can download the full brochure for the Kennington Literary Festival 2011. Or later today you can go pick one up from Starbucks in Summertown or the Jericho Cafe, where I will be dropping some leaflets.

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…

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The Dark Parallel Reverse Diaries: Sneak Preview Schools Tour

Post author By MG
Post date May 31, 2011
2 Comments on The Dark Parallel Reverse Diaries: Sneak Preview Schools Tour

SANYO DIGITAL CAMERA — World Book Day 2011 - St Barts, Newbury

So we come to the final post of the Dark Parallel Reverse Diaries wherein by a time paradox I revisit the early days of the launch of the fourth Joshua book and jump back to weeks before all the last few entries. In fact in chronological order this post fits between Author Visits 2011. C’mon in, sit a spell and Return to Eggli Mountain.

Weeks before the launch of Dark Parallel, I’d managed to get my hands on a bunch of ARCs (Advance Review Copies) as well as a very small number of finished copies. With these in my suitcase, I set off across the land, well across Oxfordshire and Berkshire. Kids were pretty excited to have a chance to win one of these rare ARCs and early copies of the fourth book. Winners won their copies by winning a badge-guessing contest about authors, or a quiz about Joshua Files, or by designing an alternative cover of on of the Booked-Up listed titles.

MGH-and-Olivia — Yr 7 student's design for Invisible City

I showed the new trailer for Dark Parallel to audiences of hundreds, and was relieved to see that the young actor playing Josh still looks good when his face is blown up to cinema-screen size! Kids were also treated to some of the behind-the-scenes footage from the brief filming session.

After a full week of visits, I was off to Switzerland for the two-day visit to College Du Leman, Geneva. (This is where the weekend of relaxing at the Eggli Mountain blog post fits in…)

Visiting CDL was a hugely fun experience, although a bit daunting – five sessions each with around 200 students. And one session en francais! I’d had massive help from the French publishers of Joshua, who had translated a transcript of the talk I’d prepared. But as I looked over the notes in the hotel the night before, I realised that I hadn’t spoken French for any length of time for 25 years. Even reading it aloud – was I going to be comprehensible? Well I won’t lie – I practiced a bit, and crossed my fingers that the kids would be able to understand my lazy English accent.

It was fascinating to observe the differences between schools in England, the English-language side of CDL and the French-speaking side. In England, especially in state schools, students were expected to be quiet whilst waiting to hear the talk, and were occasionally reminded. Afterwards they were allowed to show their excitement, queuing for autographs and photos.

In the English-speaking strand of CDL the corridors looked like US high-schools with casual hanging around lockers. Once in the hall, the students chatted quietly but weren’t expected to be silent while waiting. The French-speaking strand of CDL, a classical Lycee type education, were used to much stricter teaching conditions, absolute silence in class, for example. But for a more entertaining session like an author visit, these same kids kicked back and relaxed, and the teachers were fine with that.

In fact the French-speaking grades 5&6 were the most energetic and excited group I had ever visited! They clapped along with the music in the videos, they whooped and cheered, they clamoured to ask questions at the end.

Three different styles of behaviour management, but all worked out pretty well with the kids seeming happy and relaxed. It was a pleasure to meet everyone and I’m delighted that quite a few young people added me on Facebook in the following days and weeks.

Thanks so much to all the wonderful school librarians and teachers who invited me into school, as well as to Krysia Rodak and all the brilliant Parent Faculty Association of College Du Leman for such a wonderful visit to Geneva!