I’m very proud to reveal the cover for Scream Street 7: Invasion of the Normals, which will be published in the UK at Halloween this year.

“But, how can there be a seventh book?” I hear you ask.  “Did Luke, Resus and Cleo fail in their quest to collect the relics of the founding fathers?  Are Luke and his parents now trapped in Scream Street forever?”

All will be revealed…

One of the advantages of not spending a lot of time on line recently is that I’ve been able to read quite a bit – and so I was delighted when a proof copy of the third book in Alan Gibbons’ Hell’s Underground series, Renegade, popped through my letterbox.

In this installment, renegade demon Paul Rector is taken back to the 1830s to face up to his ancestor, Samuel – also known as the Satan of Spitalfields.  The monstrous villain at the head of the gang of Rat Boys, Samuel has stolen, assaulted and killed his way to the top of the local crime scene – but he has darker goals in mind.  Through the torture of a railway engineer’s daughter, he plans to break further into the crypt of the evil Lud and help return his master to the throne.

The only people standing in Rector’s way are a young Jewish boy searching for a lost relative, Samuel’s unwilling girlfriend and Paul himself.  Will they be enough to stand up to the vast army of the undead the Rat Boys are working to rise up against the East End?

Renegade is easily the most powerful and terrifying of the Hell’s Underground series so far and I, for one, can’t wait to see where the ghostly train will take Paul Rector on his thankless journey next.

Tommy

A few of the more observant blog visitors may have noticed that I’ve been missing for a while.  It all started when I moved with my family to Lancashire, and then Kirsty fell ill…  Let’s just say the last few weeks have been among some of the most stressful ever!

But now – I’m back!  And just in time for Towel Day, the day each year when fans of Douglas Adams’ brilliant Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series of books carry a towel with them to show their appreciation of the great man and his work.

Adams, who suffered a permanent existence failure in 2001, wrote 5 books in the trilogy – and there’s another on the way – And Another Thing, courtesy of Artemis Fowl author and all round top bloke, Eoin Colfer.  News of the book was greeted with mixed reaction among Adams’ fans but, personally, I can’t wait.

Until then – Don’t Panic, and always know where your towel is.