On Sunday the 8th of June, at the Cheltenham Science Festival, fantasy author Michelle Paver will hosting a special Living in the Stone Age event. The author of the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series will be time travelling back 6,000 years to when people had to make their own clothes and shelter, find and hunt their own food, and build their own fire. The event takes place at Cheltenham Town Hall from 10am to 11am, with tickets costing £5, suitable for children aged from 9. Michelle ... read more
Posted: June 7th, 2008 by Lee | No Comments Filed under Michelle Paver
The UK’s biggest audio-book web site has a fantastic array of fantasy books from all the top authors. The top 10 for May 2008 shows that Philip Pullman and Terry Pratchett transfer extremely well to audio-book - Terry Goodkind’s Wizard’s First Rule is the Editor’s Pick. The links below lead to reviews on the titles (written word not audio-book). Click on the Audible.co.uk banner on the right to download these titles today. Northern Lights (Unabridged) - Philip ... read more
Posted: June 6th, 2008 by Lee | No Comments Filed under Audio-books, JRR Tolkien, Philip Pullman, Susanna Clarke, Terry Goodkind, Terry Pratchett
Fantasy author Steven Erikson will be doing an atypical book tour in the UK during the month of July, 2008. He will be promoting Toll the Hounds, the eighth book in his fantasy series, The Malazan Book of the Fallen. Tuesday 1st July: LEEDS / YORK 12.30-1.30pm - Waterstone’s Leeds, 93-97 Albion Street, Leeds LS1 5JS Signing session For further information telephone: 0113 244 4588 6.30pm - Waterstone’s York, 28-29 High Ousegate, York, YO1 8RX. Talk, Q&A, Signing This is a ... read more
Posted: June 6th, 2008 by Lee | No Comments Filed under Steven Erikson
Empire Online spoke to Christopher Lee and discovered that the esteemed 86-year-old has hopes of dusting off his wizard’s robes to play Saruman again in Guillermo Del Toro’s adaptation of JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit. How will Saruman make an appearance when the character never appeared in the book itself? The two-film adaptation will doubtless need to add an abundance of new material and Lee’s expertise on his character could help fill-in the gaps. I’ve read the ... read more
Posted: June 6th, 2008 by Lee | No Comments Filed under JRR Tolkien
Philip Pullman, winner of the Carnegie Medal and Guardian Award for his trilogy entitled His Dark Materials. Northern Lights is set in a parallel world alike to our own. It is the tale of a twelve-year-old called Lyra and her quest to rescue a friend and find her father, aided by her daemon, an armoured bear, and a witch-queen. Northern Lights is written and narrated with vigour and vitality by Philip Pullman and a full cast. Audiobook downloads - Visit audible.co.uk Philip Pullman was born ... read more
Posted: June 6th, 2008 by Lee | No Comments Filed under Audio-books, Philip Pullman
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke read by Simon Prebble English magicians once amazed the known world; they had fairy servants at their command, the winds, mountains, and woods were theirs to control. But by the early 1800s they have long mislaid the ability to do magic. They can only write long, dull papers about it, while fairy servants are nothing but a fading memory. Sophisticated, witty, and ingeniously convincing, Susanna Clarke’s magisterial book weaves magic ... read more
Posted: June 6th, 2008 by Lee | No Comments Filed under Audio-books, Susanna Clarke
Catherine Banner first started writing at the age of 14, scribbling down sentences as she sat at the back of the classroom. Now 19, Catherine Banner is being tipped to be the new JK Rowling. The Eyes Of A King is a fantasy novel and the first book in a trilogy. Eyes Of A King is now available in bookstores. Last night Miss Banner, who lives with her parents in Cambridge, told how she started writing as a "bit of fun". Catherine Banner has always loved stories and writing, CS ... read more
Posted: June 6th, 2008 by Lee | 1 Comment Filed under Catherine Banner, JK Rowling
JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series is being blamed for the escalation in the number of owls being abandoned at an animal rescue centre. Flintshire Wildlife and Pet Rescue Centre say that Harry Potter fans have bought owls, only to find they can’t handle them as pets. There are presently approximately 10 barn and tawny owls at the Holywell-based rescue centre, some of which have been sent in by families who can’t look after them. In the fantasy books, Harry Potter has a ... read more
Posted: June 6th, 2008 by Lee | No Comments Filed under JK Rowling
Philip Pullman, children’s laureate Michael Rosen, Michael Morpurgo and David Almond, over 80 authors, illustrators, librarians, teachers and booksellers will publish a statement in this Friday’s Bookseller opposing the initiative and disassociating themselves from age guidance. The authors’ statement describes the proposal as "ill-conceived, damaging to the interests of young readers, and highly unlikely, despite the claims made by those publishers promoting the ... read more
Posted: June 6th, 2008 by Lee | No Comments Filed under Philip Pullman
The two British fantasy authors behind the publishing phenomenon, Tunnels, have landed a million-pound film contract. Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams, authors of the series that has already been called the “new Harry Potter” have been signed up Relativity Media. The deal was arranged Barry Cunningham, the man who published JK Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone after she had suffered many refusals. Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams are excited by ... read more
Posted: June 6th, 2008 by Lee | No Comments Filed under Brian Williams, Roderick Gordon
